(no subject)

[student_of_impossibility]

Tavi's still in armor when he walks in today--as is usual these days, said armor is streaked by sickly green wax. He's looking pretty tired, too, which is why his first stop is the Bar itself for a quiet conversation and brief cup of coffee.

Then he pops out and upstairs briefly, and when he comes back down he's finally out of armor for the first time in twelve hours, and at least his face and hands are cleaner. He makes his way to a booth, the ubiquitous Papers In Hand. Milliways is rarely a break from work, for him: it's a means to get all his work done without constantly multitasking or losing sleep or food.

Today, though, he's just reading letters and is visibly more relaxed as he starts making his way through a nice solid meal--at least until a very loud "What?!" rings out and then a thump as his head meets the surface of the table.

Someone close enough to listen in might also pick up a surprisingly plaintive, "Someone could have told me!"

It's a Day.

Comments

[notapilot]

Sam just happens to come up to bar with his DVD right when Tavi's head hits the wood.

Wincing, he says, "That bad?"

[student_of_impossibility]

"Wha-- oh, uh."

Tavi smiles sheepishly, rubbing a little absently at the slightly reddened spot on his forehead.

"No, no, I'm fine. Just news I really wasn't expecting and they should have told me about sooner." And if his tone turns incredibly aggrieved like it hasn't since he was a teenager, well, he feels absolutely justified in whining a little bit. "They could have at least waited another week, I'm not in the field much longer!"

Just in case there was any doubt whether or not he was a soldier.

[notapilot]

Sam's immediate thought is the poor guy got a "Dear John", but his reaction doesn't quite match up.

"I take it you're a soldier then? I hope it wasn't bad news?"

[student_of_impossibility]

Tavi has, quite sadly for all concerned as his ego is occasionally too secure for anyone's good, never been in any danger of a 'Dear John' letter.

"Yes, I am." Well, only sort of, these days. He's tried to ignore that he's put on some weight in the last two months, since he started going back to Riva more and more to play politics.

"No, not really, it's-- my mother." Tavi waves vaguely. "She got married. I mean, I knew about them, obviously," no Tavi it's not obvious to anyone who doesn't know your history, "but they didn't tell me that they were actually planning to get married. And they didn't even wait for me to be there!"

He sounds wounded but not actually unhappy as such. And he can guess his mother's reasons for it, too, and why Araris would go along with it... Just-- after everything, really, he's not allowed to be there? He wanted to hug them!

[notapilot]

Well, that a good sign at least. Man seems to love his mother.

"That's not right. Seems basic etiquette to wait for any family to be present, not to mention a son. Unless travel takes a while in your world?"

[student_of_impossibility]

Tavi adores his mother. He's never going to forgive her for what she did to him, and there's trust she's never going to win back, but he loves her without hesitation.

"Well, my uncle--her brother--and his wife and their children were there. And my father-in-law married them, apparently," he adds as he re-scans that line. Even Doroga was in on it! Honestly. "It can take a little while, but I was going to be no more than a day's flight away by next week anyway. They could have waited."

He's so put-upon. Pity him. He suffers so.

[notapilot]

Poor guy, Maybe he needs a drink to drown his woes.

"Father-in-law being different than whom she married?" he asks carefully. Different cultures can be surprising and all. "And did they know you were going to be in closer to them soon?"

[student_of_impossibility]

"Soon-to-be father-in-law," Tavi amends. "My fiancee's father." He's made the argument to Kitai that under Marat law they're already married, and the Aleran ceremony is barely more than a month away, and Doroga knew about them before they did, so...

Yeah, he's just cutting corners.

"Of course they knew." Tavi scowls. Yes, he told them, but also while he totally could be utterly opaque about his movements, well, no one wants a repeat of Kalare so soon after his confirmation as First Lord. Everyone knows his general travel schedule. "I do know why, but-- I wanted to be there!"

[notapilot]

"Ah, sorry. Sounds like everyone was in on it except you. So why'd they leave you out? Worried you make a big production of it? Or so they could have a big production without making you live through it?"

Both are reasonable justifications for having a ceremony without the bride's son present. Another reason might be a fear the son might object, but Tavi seems in favor of the union.

[fluffiest_archadian]

"Unexpected news?"

Sherral's tone is, as ever, largely neutral, and his expression doesn't give anything away either, so if he's laughing, it's entirely on the inside.

He does, however, bring a bottle of alcohol with him as he approaches. So there's that.

[student_of_impossibility]

Tavi is well aware he's probably getting laughter. He knows he's being kind of childish.

There is, indeed, at least the alcohol--a fact Tavi will appreciate greatly once he actually looks up.

"My mother got married," he says, voice muffled by his headdesk.

Woe is him, people are hiding things from him, it's not fair.

[fluffiest_archadian]

"Congratulations in this joyous time," Sherral says, very mildly.

A waitrat arrives with two glasses, so he quickly fills one up for Tavi and slides it over wordlessly.

[student_of_impossibility]

"I'm very happy for her!" Tavi says hastily, looking up now. He doesn't want to give the wrong impression. "And for him!"

But...

Oh good, it's alcohol. He very gratefully takes that and takes a quick sip, just to test it so he knows what to expect, before downing a much larger gulp. So long as he's off-duty, might as well have a drink. "They didn't wait for me to get there! They didn't even tell me in time for me to try."

He knows he sounds quite plaintive. He's indulging. He hasn't gotten to whine about good news in a while.

[fluffiest_archadian]

"Ah, the magic of a whirlwind romance," Sherral says solemnly, pouring a glass for himself. "I'm sure they just couldn't contain themselves for a single moment longer."

[student_of_impossibility]

Tavi shoots Sherral a dirty look.

"Not that whirlwind. I'll be a day's flight away within the week, they could have just waited."

It's so not fair. And underneath the whining, Tavi is genuinely upset he's missing family celebrations for his work, for reasons Isana and Araris might not have realized he's taking very seriously even before the birth of his first child. But he is. He has no desire to repeat mistakes.

[fluffiest_archadian]

"They say love waits for nobody."

Beat.

"Someone's probably said that, at the very least. Do you know why they didn't wait?"

[student_of_impossibility]

Rolling his eyes, Tavi decides to just ignore the invented aphorism.

"The most likely reason? Being as quiet as possible about it. I don't know why they decided not to tell me, though. I would have sent a message that I could just fly out for a night, no fuss."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Should I ask?"

Ellen is in her day to day combat armor with the Brotherhood emblem stenciled on one side of the breastplate and 101 stenciled on the other. She carries a faintly lactic chemical smell about her.

[student_of_impossibility]

"My mother got married and didn't tell me."

Aggrieved son is aggrieved.

Honestly, he wanted to be there! He didn't expect her not to tell him!

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"... why?"

It is entirely up to Tavi which 'why' to address first. There are several.

[student_of_impossibility]

"She and Araris--you remember him," not a question, poor Araris was so angry at Ellen and Tavi for that one escapade, "have been together... well, longer than I realized, I think. Not more than the last three or four years, but there's history."

Tavi does not add that he suspects Araris has loved her for a very, very long time, and that it took his mother longer. He doesn't want to know the details, because he doesn't want to think about what it means about the 'what-if' where his father lived.

"Not telling me?" He sighs explosively. "Crows take me if I know. I know they didn't want any fuss or attention, but I'll be close by next week. They could have waited, and Kitai and I would have flown out, without anyone else, and it would have been just as quiet."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Ooof." Ellen shakes her head. "I realize I technically did something similar myself, as far as Milliways people go, but that had more to do with orders not to tell anyone in the Brotherhood about the Bar. I don't think your mother or Araris have that kind of an excuse. That's... awfully impatient of them."

Parents, she has found, quite often cannot be trusted to give their children proper information. There is no surprise in her voice.

[student_of_impossibility]

Tavi agrees wholeheartedly on parents not giving children proper information. But he still expected better than this.

"Orders are different," he says dismissively, "and I can't ever rely on doors anyway. Milliways is different. We do the best we can, but different rules apply."

Isana and Araris, though... "I know why they didn't marry until after I was confirmed," he adds, sounding grumpy. "And not until Araris felt it was safe to let me out of his sight. But they could have married while I was still in Riva--which would have been sooner--or waited until I got back. But they just got Doroga to marry them while I was out in the field."

He's not happy about it. He's happy they're happy, but he doesn't like missing family time for work.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Are there... I don't know... are there rules about-"

She had been about to say propriety that might apply to someone of her standing when a thought struck her.

"Oh dear. Um."

"I don't... er, I don't suppose there's a chance..." Ellen coughs. "I don't mean to be vulgar about this, but is your mother of such an age that there might potentially be a half-sibling involved?"

Look, that's THE single biggest reason for hurried weddings in Vault 101. Not as much in the Brotherhood, admittedly- there it's 'one or both of us are likely to die on this next mission'- but a Vault upbringing leaves a mark.

[student_of_impossibility]

Tavi only fails to turn bright red because he has the watercrafting now to prevent it.

"Furies, no," he says fervently. (He wonders, briefly, if there would have been had Isana and Araris become a couple while Tavi was still a child.) "It isn't impossible, but no. The only pregnancies in the family are Amara and Kitai."

Silly little smile at that last. Tavi is all knotted up with excitement and nervousness when he has a chance to think about the baby.