I WAS JUST A LOST, UNWANTED LITTLE BOY WHO DIDN'T MATTER ANYMORE

Neal had once again gotten the alert that he was being sent away to another new home. He didn't have much hope with this one either, since his times at each home was getting shorter. All Neal wanted was to be able to stay somewhere for long enough to have it considered a home. More then just temporary accommodation.

These days, Neal didn't even get his hopes up, and, he just waited for the letter revealing the fact that he was leaving the home. Neal, more then anything, wanted to not get that letter for once. Or get adopted for once, but, being nearly 16 made him almost impossible to get the eyes of couples wanting to do that.

Neal was close to being dumped back on the streets before getting this letter anyway, so, it made things a bit easier to deal with. The social worker probably wouldn't have cared about where he had ended up, if the foster parents had kicked him out rather then sent away from it.

He felt weird when most of his foster homes were in Arizona, but, this one was strangely in Minnesota. Neal didn't know why he was bouncing through states, but, he had learnt not to question anything about it these days. Neal had hopped into the social workers van, with the few belongings he'd had, preparing himself for this new foster home. Neal had been alone since being abandoned, it had been about a year, since he had landed back in this world from Neverland.

Neal had found himself falling asleep in the van, as they made the drive to the place in Minnesota he was supposed to be going to. Soon, he found himself being shaken awake by the social worker. He groaned as he woke up, and, blinked a couple of times as the sun shone into his eyes.

Grabbing his backpack, Neal placed it over his shoulder, and, stepped out of the van. Walking with the social worker, Neal kept the straps in his hands, taking a close look at the house. It seemed kind of nice from the outside, but, Neal wasn't going to let appearances be the thing that tells him that the home was a good or nice one.

Soon, the two of them reached the front door, and, he let out a soft sigh before looking up at the social worker, Neal returned the social workers smile, as he tried to hide his nerves. Neal glanced back at the front door, as the social worker knocked on it. He didn't know what to expect when the door opened, but, there was only one way to find out. Neal let out a couple of deep breaths, as the door opened, and, he spotted a nice looking lady on the other side of it.

TAGGED

Ingrid

NOTES

N/A

template by Margie @ Adoxography 2.0

Another day, another foster child. No, not really. But sometimes it really felt that way. The kids were either so badly behaved that she couldn't control them, they ran away, or they just grew up. Ingrid only had kids from the age of 13 and up. The teens, the ones that were the hardest. It was around that age that she had found her powers and she hoped, despite the fact that this world had no magic, once she found Emma, she would find out that she was special. If she was there to nurture that and to make her see that it wasn't a bad thing, she could be a tremendous help to the girl. They'd bond and her plan would go much easier. Ingrid could come up with a single reason why the girl wouldn't love her, like a sister or even a mother. Yes, it was a part of a long plan that was taking far longer than she would like, to make come true. But it would be worth the wait, she knew it would.

Today was the arrival of another foster child, Neal Cassidy. Ingrid looked over the papers one more time, knowing that he would arrive soon. There wasn't much about him, not compared to the whopper of a filesheet she normally got with a new kid. But this boy seemed to have only been in the system for about a year. Definitely interesting.
She opened the door with her usual friendly smile. Although most social workers were really tedious, the kid always deserved a smile - always. "Hi .. Please, come in"Ingrid stepped aside so the both of them could come in. The social worker was one that she had worked with before, several times actually, so there was no reason to introduce herself to her. But even if she hadn't met the social worker before, she always turned her full attention to the kid first. It was them she was meeting and them who would be living in her house. "You must be Neal" She smiled softly, reaching out towards him, to shake his hand. "I'm Sarah" Ingrid still didn't know why she didn't just call herself Ingrid, it wasn't such an odd name, was it? But her thought had been, that it would be too personal, for a place that she didn't mean to stay. But it didn't help her, with not caring for the kids. Because she did, she cared about them. Even the troubling ones, although that was harder. But this one looked like a nice kid. 
The living room that she lead them into was nice and warm, it was decorated like any 'normal' family home. It had a warm and definitely homey feel to it, at least it did to her. 

---

Neal Cassidy

I WAS JUST A LOST, UNWANTED LITTLE BOY WHO DIDN'T MATTER ANYMORE

Neal didn't really have many hopes for this foster home. It was probably just going to be another case where he was ignored or not cared about, before being sent away again anyway. From the looks of it, it seemed alot like the other homes so far, but, maybe it would be a bit different. But, he doubted it. Neal wanted more then anything to make the foster parents or his foster siblings care about him. Neal hadn't actually ever done anything to them, but, they just hadn't seemed to want him around. Which he, kind of minded, but, Neal wasn't going to let it get to him anymore. The whole 'being unwanted' thing had been going on for a while now.

He was sure that the head of this foster home would've been given his file from the foster system. It probably wouldn't have been as big as some of the other files, since he had only been in the system for a little over a year. Most of the stuff in the papers had been a bit of an explanation that was a small backstory to go with his new identity. The stuff about his parents hadn't had to be made up though. His mother had walked out on him when he was too young to remember, and, his father had abandoned him when he was 14.

Neal returned the lady's smile as she looked down at him. "Hey. Thanks." Neal said softly, before waving to her and making his way inside the house. Neal knew that the social worker was behind him, as he usually waited until he had talked to the new foster parent before taking off. He knew the drill by now, even if it had only been a couple of homes so far.

Looking around the home, he saw a few kids mostly around his age in the home. He was surprised to see that, since he was rarely around people that were close to his age. Neal then looked back at both the social worker and the woman, as she spoke and introduced herself. "Yeah, that's me." Neal said, glancing in between the social worker and his new foster mother. "Nice to meet you Sarah" Neal took the woman's hand, and, shook it gently. Sarah seemed nice right off the bat, and, that wasn't something he got from alot of his foster parents so far. Yes, he'd only had a couple of them, but, most of them only pretend to be nice until the social worker left. Although, he could usually see through it. But, this woman seemed generally caring, like she meant it. And, he kind of liked the idea of that.

Neal looked around the living room, and, he saw it had a sort of homey feel to it. Which he kind of liked.

TAGGED

Ingrid

NOTES

N/A

template by Margie @ Adoxography 2.0

He had manners, that was a very good start. Some of the kids she got, was like starting from scratch, telling them not to speak with a mouthfull of food and that kind of thing. Maybe this boy would be a little easier. Or maybe he was just good at pretending, making her think that he was a good kid, before he ran off. It would take some time, before she was able to tell.

The paperwork that needed to be done, was out of the way pretty quickly. It wasn't like this was the first foster child, Ingrid had taken in. And it wouldn't be the last either. Both the social worker and Ingrid knew the drill, so it was easy to get done. No need to look over the house or anything like that. After all, Ingrid already had 3 other kids staying with her and they would tell the social worker that it was a good home, if she should ask them. Not because Ingrid had told them to say that, but because it genuinely was. She let them have a lot of freedom, as long as they went to school and stayed out of trouble.

Once the social worker had left, Ingrid turned to the boy. "So.. would you like the grand tour, or just to see your room?" All her kids were teens and not all where easy, so she knew that some of them weren't interested in being social right away. Some just wanted to hide away in their rooms. Which was fine, for a while at least. Ingrid understood the feeling, as she had done the same thing for much of her life. But she had a good reason, most of the kids here, really didn't.

---

Neal Cassidy

I WAS JUST A LOST, UNWANTED LITTLE BOY WHO DIDN'T MATTER ANYMORE

Neal could guarantee he had manners, his social workers had taught him that way. And besides he wanted to attempt to make a good impression on this new foster parent. Neal didn’t know whether he would run away just yet, he would give it a couple of days and then decide.

It seemed that the paperwork was done pretty quickly, Neal had gotten used to just staying back and letting the social worker and the foster parents do what they had to do. Neal knew that, from the looks of it, he wasn’t the only foster kid in this home. But, he still wasn’t sure whether that would make a difference. Neal glanced around the hallway as he noticed a couple of the other kids running through the house. They looked happy, and, like they enjoyed themselves quite a bit. But, Neal wasn’t sure he’d fit in with them. Let alone the kids in school when he started at this new one as well.

Hearing the social worker leave, Neal turned his attention back to Sarah. “Hmm, the grand tour would be nice. See what exactly this house has to offer.” Neal said, smiling softly up at her. Neal wasn’t necessarily interested in being social straight away, but, he kind of wanted to see the house. Since it seemed like a nice house, and, then he would spend his time setting up his room after that.

TAGGED

Ingrid

NOTES

N/A

template by Margie @ Adoxography 2.0

He was a nice looking boy, that much was obvious. Ingrid couldn't say that she would know his past eventually. Sometimes she did get to know her kids, but some were very closed off. Which they should be allowed to be, not everything had to be said out loud. But Ingrid did try to help them, even if she didn't know their entire history.

"Well I hope it lives up to your standarts" Ingrid joked with a smile as she lead the way to the kitchen. "Here's the kitchen and through there is the laundry. The kitchen is always open, if you're hungry. We have dinner together and breakfast whenever it can be done. Otherwise it's self serving" Ingrid walked a round, around the island, brushing off a few crumbs, tossing them in the sink. "Dining room is through there" She pointed to the open door that lead into the room with the grand table, with room enough to seat a dozen. "Are you allergic to anything? " There was already a kid who was lactose intolerant, and all the rest of them claimed to be allergic to vegetables. Luckily Ingrid had gotten pretty good at hiding vegetables wherever she could.

---

Neal Cassidy

I WAS JUST A LOST, UNWANTED LITTLE BOY WHO DIDN'T MATTER ANYMORE

She looked nice enough, he’d admit that, but, to be fair a lot of them had before. Neal wasn’t sure he’d be able to open up to this lady straight away, if at all. The last person he’d ‘opened up’ to had turned out to be using him from the moment he learnt his name. Maybe, he would open up to this one, he just needed a bit of time to figure it out.

“I’m sure it will.” Neal said. He didn’t want to admit that his standards were pretty low when it came to foster homes. Neal looked at each of the rooms as she gestured to each of them. “Got it, kitchen is self serve except for dinner and when it can be breakfast.” Neal leant against the counter as Sarah made her way around the island, and, watched her scrape off some crumbs. Neal’s gaze went to the dining room as she pointed it out to him as well. At her question Neal turned back to face her and raised his eyebrows. He didn’t necessarily know what ‘allergic’ meant, but, he didn’t want to admit that out loud. “Um, not that I know of.” Neal said, looking at her.

TAGGED

Ingrid

NOTES

N/A

template by Margie @ Adoxography 2.0

Ingrid smiled a bit, as he repeated the rules. "Don't worry, I'm not that strict about it.. If I didn't tell you, you'd learn eventually" There were very few things that Ingrid was strict about, school and fighting were some. You had to do your homework, and if you threw a punch at someone, there would be consequences.
"Let's hope we don't have to find out" She smiled again, before walking on, pointing out the downstairs bathroom, before they headed up the stairs. Ingrid lead him down the hall, before turning into a room, empty except for a desk, a bed, a closet, and several posters on the walls. It wasn't a very big room, but big enough to not feel trapped. "This is your room" Ingrid walked in a bit further, to lean against the desk. "Thomas had a thing for AC/DC" she said, pointing to the posters. "You can keep them, if you want. Or put something up of your own."

She let him take that in, for a few moments. "I don't have a lot of rules here. I like to let you have your freedom, I do remember the urge to rebel on the grownups. But one rule I do have is to show respect, not just to me, but to the other kids too. Not in the way that you have to do what I tell you. But like, being nice, don't put on loud music if someone else has just gone to bed - that kind of thing.. We can be up to 5 people in this house at one time and we all have to live here. I'd rather it wasn't hell for any of us" Ingrid hoped she wasn't coming off as too strict. She tried her best not to be, since she really wasn't. But the sooner Neal leaned how things worked here, the sooner he could settle in and feel at home.

---

Neal Cassidy

I WAS JUST A LOST, UNWANTED LITTLE BOY WHO DIDN'T MATTER ANYMORE

Neal smiled softly at Ingrid, “I’ll keep that in mind. Learn by messing up.” Neal said. He was sure that this foster mother may be as strict about school as the rest of them, although they’d never really seemed to think much about him skipping it.

“Yeah, let’s hope.” Neal looked at Ingrid, and, followed her through some more of the house. Neal followed Sarah upstairs, and, he examined the hallway before she led him into a room. “Cool” Neal said, following her inside and examining the room. It was bigger then a couple of the other rooms he’d been stuck in, and, at least he didn’t seem to have to share this one with a foster sibling. “I’ll figure it out, I might keep it up” Neal said, before dropping his backpack on the bed. “I don’t have much anyway.”

Neal took the room in before sitting on the bed. “I promise I’ll show some respect. Don’t worry I’m pretty good with rules. Respect is something I do well, no matter who the person is. I understand that, and, I promise I won’t cause trouble and make it hell. I’m not going to play music loud, I usually spend my time working on my art anyway.” Neal said, taking his art book out of his backpack, and, gesturing it to prove his point, before placing it onto the desk. Neal just liked that Sarah seemed to be enforcing her rules in a kinder way then the other homes had so far, and, he just enjoyed that feeling.

TAGGED

Ingrid

NOTES

N/A

template by Margie @ Adoxography 2.0

She smiled right back at him, giving her head a little shake. He wouldn't mess up and why he would think so lowly of himself, she didn't know.

"Well, it's your space to do with what you want.. Just don't tear the walls down" She joked with another smile, trying to make him feel comfortable. Most of the kids that came here, didn't have much at all. She tried to change that, as much as she could. Not with material things, but with her attention and her care for them. But in reality, she needed them as much as they needed her. Having the house filled with kids made her feel much less alone. Here, she had a full life, instead of the half she had had back in Arendelle. And it was her goal, to make sure none of her kids felt like she had, back there. Her sisters had made up for a lot of that loneliness. But when they went out to balls or visits to the other nobles of Arendelle, Ingrid had still been alone. They had loved her, but they had life of their own too.

She almost stared at him, as he rattled off his promises to behave. Like he was trying so hard to make her like him. "Relax Neal.. it's not a prison" Ingrid didn't normally joke so much, but she had to try and make him comfortable. Hopefully joking would do that and not just create and awkward atmosphere.
But she was surprised to hear that he had a hobby. "Can I look?" She asked, looking at the book.

---

Neal Cassidy

I WAS JUST A LOST, UNWANTED LITTLE BOY WHO DIDN'T MATTER ANYMORE

Neal smiled softly back at Sarah, as she gave him that look. Neal knew that he probably shouldn’t think like that, but, he was basing it on experience.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Neal chuckled softly as he looked around. He was starting to feel surprisingly comfortable in this home, and, he hadn’t been here this long. Neal hadn’t had a comfort in a long time, not since centuries ago with the Darlings. All Neal really needed was a sense of some kind of love or that someone cared about him as a whole. Neal had always wanted that, and, all he’d gotten was a bunch of broken promises and a life of loneliness. He was sure that being in this house surrounded by people might help make him feel less lonely. The truth was, Neal had been lonely even before he was abandoned in the Forest. When his papa had done his Dark One duties, Neal had usually been left alone to fend for himself either at home, or around the Forest. Back then Neal knew that his papa had loved him, so he hadn’t minded. But, now he wasn’t so sure whether his papa had ever really loved him at all.

Making his promises to behave, Neal just didn’t know how to stop. Maybe because his other foster parents had always needed to hear as many promises as he could give. “Yeah, I guess it’s not.” Neal chuckled softly as he looked at Sarah. Neal took out his art book, no matter where he went to, art was the one constant thing he had in his life. And the one thing no-one could take from him. Neal was surprised when Sarah asked if she could take a look. “Um, sure” Neal said, sitting down on the bed.

TAGGED

Ingrid

NOTES

N/A

template by Margie @ Adoxography 2.0

This would work, this would work well. He seemed like a sweet kid and Ingrid liked him this far. Of course this could change, but first impressions meant a lot. And her first impression of him was definitely a good one. She had had both kids who didn't say a thing and kids who asked a million question. Both were fine, it was more their attitude that Ingrid reacted on. Neal was somewhere in between, he wasn't totally quiet, but he didn't ask many questions either. He was cautious, which was probably a smart thing to be. To not get your hopes up, about the new home, before you had seen it properly. Ingrid hoped she wouldn't let him down.

Opening the book, Ingrid took her time, flipping through a couple of pages, studying the drawings in there. She followed the lines of the drawings with her fingers, before looking back at the boy. "These are beautiful. You have quite the talent" She smiled softly at him. Not many of the kids she had had, had been creative like this. There was the occasional guitar player, but no one that liked drawing.

---

Neal Cassidy

I WAS JUST A LOST, UNWANTED LITTLE BOY WHO DIDN'T MATTER ANYMORE

Neal actually seemed to like this woman Sarah. But, of course things might always change later on. His first impression said that she was a potentially good person, but, Neal just needed a little bit of time to find out. She didn’t seem to want to make him talk, or just sent him straight to his room and then leave. Neal was still being cautious though, his hopes for this home were higher then any of the others he’d been to so far.

Sitting on the bed watching Sarah go through his art book, Neal awaited her reaction. He’d never really gotten a foster parent who wanted to look at it before, not even his own father had really looked at it before. “Thanks.” Neal said, in response to Sarah’s compliment. Neal sighed softly, before leaning forward. “I heard from someone once, that I got my talent from my mum. But, I would never be able to know”

TAGGED

Ingrid

NOTES

N/A

template by Margie @ Adoxography 2.0

Ingrid had often wished that she had some kind of creative talent. Like singing or art. But she wasn't very good at either of those. She could build quite stunning ice sculptures. All she had to do, was imagine how she would like them to look. But that couldn't be done here. There was no magic her. At first Ingrid had thought it would be a relief to be rid of her magic. But it was such a big part of her and she missed it badly. The longer she stayed here, the worse it got.

"You didn't know her?" Ingrid turned in the chair, to face him. "Sorry, you don't have to talk about it, if you don't want to" The past of the children who came here, was often a sore subject. It was never a good idea to pry into it, just as it wasn't a good idea for them to pry into hers. Although she had come up with a cover story that sounded a lot like the truth, but wasn't. In this version she didn't kill one of her sisters, but she did lose them, as well as her parents. Making her as alone in this world, as any of the kids who came to live with her.

---

Neal Cassidy

I WAS JUST A LOST, UNWANTED LITTLE BOY WHO DIDN'T MATTER ANYMORE

Neal hadn’t really been talented in many areas, but, one thing that he’d always bee skilled in was his art. In the other world, Neal could wield a sword and a bow and arrow pretty easily, but, he couldn’t exactly use that here. Well, not most places. These days art was all he had of his old life.

Neal shook his head at Sarah’s question, as he sighed sadly. “It’s ok I don’t mind talking about it.” Neal said with a small smile. Neal knew that talking about his past was hard, but, some parts he was ok with talking about. The story he’d made up wasn’t completely made up, he had just missed out some details. The parts about the magical land thing. In this version, Neal’s mother walked out on him when he was 5, and, his papa just dropped him in the middle of a highway before driving off. “It wasn’t that I didn’t know her, it’s just she, um, she left me when I was 5, so it’s hard for me to remember her.”

TAGGED

Ingrid

NOTES

N/A

template by Margie @ Adoxography 2.0