Arms Hotel, Saturday Morning

[spin_kick_snap]

Okay, so for all the complaining about having to get up early - especially after a night chock-full of pollen - this was Kathy's favorite weekend of the year. Surrounded by kids who called her mom, arguing over breakfast, listening to them babble on about their likes and interests and hopes, singing them to sleep at night. Even with as a late an evening as they'd had, she was still up, bright and early, humming around the public room of the suite, readying it for tiny visitors.

A hotel room meant that she had to rely on room service for breakfast, but she made due, making sure to order plenty of fruit (heavy on the strawberries), and juice, and more bacon and sausage than any one room really ought to have.

Now to wait for folks to start showing up!

[Open for all tiny children and their parents, whether related or not!]

Comments

[spin_kick_snap]

"I appreciate you indulging me," Kathy said, unable to hide how even that little bit of affection brightened her up. "I promise, we'll have some kind of ridiculous and decadent dessert to make up for that one vegetable you're having."

[bouncy_foxkit]

"It's the only way you can make up to me for this suffering, Mom."

At least he wasn't trying to claim the older version of her didn't hassle her about vegetables? Because, she did.

She so did.

[spin_kick_snap]

Yeah, there was not enough lies in the world to make Kathy believe that anyway. "Suffering builds character," she said sweetly. "As does not having scurvy. As your mother, these things are very important to me."

[bouncy_foxkit]

"My character is already built, umma."

See, because he'd suffered?

Ha ha.

Of course, he was dressing it up as a throwaway quip dripping with ego.

[spin_kick_snap]

"But scurvy is an omnipresent danger," Kathy informed him, though her eyebrows were quirking together, just a little bit. She kept getting little hints of something (or maybe nothing?), like catching scents on the wind.

[bouncy_foxkit]

Zeke shrugged and just kept muching on his daily allotment of vegetables.

Good luck trying to get him anywhere near his dad, though.

[spin_kick_snap]

But it was his dad! Of course he needed to see his dad! Why wouldn't he?

Kathy's heart was gonna shatter over this.

"It's okay," Kathy said. "I know you're just pretending. You're too Korean to be scared of vegetables."

[bouncy_foxkit]

Because being in pain was no fun.

"I'm also too much of a fox to appreciate them." He tilted his head mock-thoughtfully. "Maybe as bait..."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Do not give me that 'vegetables are my food's food,'" Kathy said, hands on her hips. "I know for a fact I don't send you scrounging around the woodlands for dinner."

[bouncy_foxkit]

Zeke gave an easy shrug. "No, I go because it's fun."

Duh.

Also it was a deep family connection thing and in his nature. But, fun was the thing he would put front and center.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Do we live out in Maine, too?" Kathy asked, chin in her hands. "Or somewhere else?"

Either way, Kathy liked to think they lived in a nice house somewhere near where he could slip into his other form and romp and play without worry.

[bouncy_foxkit]

"Currant, yeah." It was where everyone else relevant lived, too.

He was now picking at the non-vegetable foods again. "But we're not really limited to that."

Boston was still a pretty big thing.

[spin_kick_snap]

He'd eaten his vegetables, Kathy wasn't going to argue. "I'm glad," she said with a soft smile. "It seems like a really nice place to live, whenever I visit your dad there. Does he still live with Lock, or...?"

[bouncy_foxkit]

Oh, look. The food was getting super interesting again - not that that was much of a giveaway of anything for someone with his background, being a growing werefox-superball hybrid.

His tone was casual, mostly unforced. "Lock lives with Ava."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Oh good," Kathy said, pleased to hear that sometime in the next twenty or so years, they got their shit together. "Then where does Ez live? Did he end up moving in with us?"

It didn't seem like they'd had that kind of relationship the last time Zeke was here, but who knew?

[bouncy_foxkit]

Zeke was good at concealing a lot of things. But not as good as Ezra was, and not about this.

There was tension in his shoulders, and a lack of finesse to his attempt at distraction.

"Is this apple juice?" he asked, pointing at, yes, apple juice. "More importantly, is it freshly squeezed? I think with your obsession with healthy stuff, it might be."

[spin_kick_snap]

Oh Zeke.

Kathy paused, looking at her son's face with soft eyes. "It's hotel apple juice, so probably just from a bottle," she said, letting that line of questioning go. "Do you wanna go see if there's somewhere we can get a better caliber of juice on the island?"

[bouncy_foxkit]

Zeke shrugged. There was something ever so slightly stilted about his casual demeanor. "It doesn't really matter that much. You know how searching for things sounds like work, right?"

Dad had always said that.

[spin_kick_snap]

She'd mostly been giving him an excuse to leave if he needed one, but she certainly wasn't going to force him to take it.

"And heaven forbid we do something like that," she teased lightly. "I'm afraid you'll just have to settle for apple juice from concentrate."

[bouncy_foxkit]

He didn't really have anywhere else to go.

Or, he didn't want to be so obvious about being uncomfortable as to actually take the excuse.

He made a show of heaving a great big sigh. "You have failed me, Mom. But I'll live with it."

[spin_kick_snap]

"I'm a constant disappointment to all my teens today," Kathy said, giving a truly tragic sigh. Not that Evie technically counted, but she seemed like she was trying to get an early start. "Hopefully I have my act together where you're from."

[bouncy_foxkit]

"You do."

Look, with the underlying currents present here, that was one thing he didn't feel like being quippy about. Comments about her obsession with healthy foods aside, obviously.

In fact, he leaned in and kissed her temple. "You're a great mom," he said, dropping his voice a little lower because sorry, Evie, but this wasn't really for you. "And I probably don't tell you often enough."

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy looked up at him, trying not to cry with her hands coming up over her heart. "I'm pretty sure I know," she told him, just as softly. "Because I look at the person you are and there can't be any doubt. I know I spend every minute as your mom being so proud of you."

[bouncy_foxkit]

Zeke flashed her a wide grin. "Obviously. I'm fantastic."

... And he could do sincerity for so long before switching gears became a necessity.

[spin_kick_snap]

Of course. He got that from his father, too.

"Well, duh," she said, rolling her eyes at him like the teen she had been not too long ago, "You're my son. How could you be anything else? I'm flawless."