milliways_bar | (no subject)

Entry tags:

(no subject)

Mia is sitting in a booth with Cepheus snuggled next to her. Ever since she and Draco have started telling people they're expecting another baby, Cepheus has been reluctant to leave either of his parents alone.

Perhaps he's trying to change their minds?

He's not the only one surprised by the news. When Mia told her council, some of them raised their eyebrows and one of them even made mention that they "didn't know Majesty Mia was that way" and that it was ridiculous for them to be worried about the time before Cepheus was born. Mia just rolled her eyes along with Nash, who has long since learned that the Guildmaster is just another person.

She's enjoying some downtime in Milliways to be privately excited about the matter. She's wondered if it's just her imagination but some of her clothes are already starting to feel tighter. In any case, it's just made her all the happier.

Mia listens as Cepheus talks and occasionally sings to her. But mostly the child is just burrowed close to his mother.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Oh, look, a Kaworu approaching! Here's someone who hasn't heard the news. Would he be surprised by it? Will he take it badly? Well, there's only one way to tell.

"Hello," he says, because if you don't know there's news about, you don't know to be anything but simple with your greeting.

She looks up from the toddler and gives Kaworu a smile.

"Hello, Kaworu. How are you?"

Cepheus tugs at the top of Mia's dress and goes, "Mama..."

"I am alright."

Perhaps bored with life, lately. But that would be easily corrected, eventually.

"He looks frustrated."

"That's an understandable response to change."

The toddler tugs again and Mia gently takes his hand.

"I'm right here, sweetheart. What do you want?"

"Kiiiiiiss," he answers.

She shifts him over so that he's in her lap rather than at her side and gives him a few kisses.

"I don't recall any changes."

This is Kaworu, ready to be informed. He does not look unsure about it at all. We swear.

Okay, maybe a little.

"That's because this is the first time I've seen you since I've found out."

So at least he's being informed as soon as she could have told him?

"Draco and I are expecting another baby."

"Why?"

Kaworu has no idea how to react to this.

How is it that Why is such a loaded question?

"Why are we expecting another baby?" she asks to clarify. "Well, Draco and I wanted to have another child. Draco in particular seemed to be worried that Cepheus might be lonely without siblings."

Even with pre-existing honourary brothers?

His face is blank but his posture is a little stiff, a little stressed. This is really something he's not capable of grasping at all on his own.

"Is that truly fair?"

"Why wouldn't it be?"

But she notices his posture and scoots over to invite him to sit.

Cepheus doesn't seem to like this idea and whines, "Noooo," to Mia.

"Is that what he is frustrated about?"

Kaworu isn't going to invade his space.

"Probably. He hasn't wanted to leave our sides once the news stuck in his mind."

Mia strokes her child's hair and asks, "Why don't you want Kaworu to sit with us? We love Kaworu."

"Mine Mama," he insists.

"If my lack of understanding is equivalent with his, perhaps it isn't very enlightened."

Sometimes, Kaworu switches from 'worryingly uninformed' to 'stating the obvious'. It's not all that much more helpful.

"How offended would you be if I said the both of you were worrying for no reason?" Mia asks.

She rubs Cepheus's back.

"Of course I'm your Mama, Cepheus. And I'm always going to be."

"I don't see the lack of reason."

There's a quota, okay?

No there isn't.

"Are you afraid that I'll somehow stop loving the both of you when I have the new baby?"

Well, when it's put out loud that way, it sounds a little stupid.

"..."

Mia gestures with her arm to invite Kaworu to sit again. Cepheus is still a little pouty but not whining.

He does, this time around. If it feels as if it is a little less upsetting to Cepheus, then it is alright.

But unfortunately, this probably doesn't make him look any less stressed, because now Kaworu's just dreading the inevitable questions and/or necessary lecture.

She puts her arm around him and pats his shoulder a bit. She also gives Cepheus another rub on his back.

"Kaworu, love is like a lit candle. Lighting other candles with it doesn't snuff the original flame. It just grows and grows."

"No candle lights forever. Eventually they all burn down."

It might not get snuffed, but you can still use it up.

"I suppose that's true in the sense that I will eventually die. I don't know what will happen to me after that but I'll love you and Cepheus and the baby and everyone else I hold dear until then.

"And lighting a new candle doesn't snuff any of the candles that were lit before, does it?"

Those words do go a long way towards helping. At the very least, the relief is reflected in his eyes for a little while.

"It's almost always been conditional before."

With others.

"No. Love is never conditional. If it is, it's not really love."

Cepheus fusses a little more and Mia pats his back.

"Don't confuse love with like, though. Like and love often go hand in hand but it's possible to be upset with someone and still love them."

"My parental unit made it clear early on that his love was conditional."

His tone is just matter of fact about this, really. He doesn't mourn the man all that much. Maybe a little, occasionally, but it's all too fleeting in the end.

"Dependent on my usefulness to him in any given situation."

The fact that the term he uses is parental unit makes Mia unhappy.

"Kaworu, your 'parental unit' was lying to you. He used the idea of love as a tool, a carrot on a stick. Love is a gift, not something to be earned."

That may be the entire problem. Kaworu grew far too accustomed to carrots on a stick.

"Then how do you know it's true?"

"Love has a way of showing itself. Loving acts are the acts that give of one's self and expect nothing in return."

She gives him a kiss on his temple, the hand on her child's back still idly patting him.

"Kiiiiss," Cepheus whines again, jealous.

"You can have kisses, too," Mia says, giving him a few more. "I'm not going to run out anytime soon."

Kaworu is not used to such gestures and he can't help but smile for a moment. "Thank you," he says, because he is not sure what else to say but he feels that he ought to express gratitude.

Except a word does not match nearly enough and he will have to think of a better way later.

"Spring, summer, autumn, winter." Fry says, appearing next to her.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only