[prp] son and mother (leila + ezra)

[shibrogane]

Ezra sniffed. "I cut my teeth on him. You used to tell me that it was the first book I read to myself, which I always thought was ridiculous. But we all have our little mythologies."

But he was smiling, anyway. "Yeah," he said. "Mom is like that."

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

"You called us both that," Leila observed. She sounded a bit in awe of the fact. Her smile brightened, faltered, and settled as she stood back up to look at her son. "We... we talked about doing it that way. We didn't think it would've been confusing at all."

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"I'm a grown-a** man, Mom," said Ezra. "I'm not calling either of you Mama at my age, I'm just not."

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

Ezra called Leila Mom with such ease that it shook her from her feet on the ground upward and by the time he'd finished his joke (was it meant as a joke?), she was laughing more than it should have warranted. Hearing it for Eve was different than hearing it for herself. Her son was casually cracking open doors that she'd painfully barricaded shut years ago, and she wondered how much of that story he knew.

"S-sorry, I'm not--" she tried to start, wiping at her eyes and cheeks with her hands.

< please call us anything you want > came through more clearly, with burning sincerity.

shibogane

 

[shibrogane]

Ezra nodded, firmly, his scarred expression full of understanding. There was an element of discovery for him, too, in this, after all. "Sure," he said. "Can't promise it'll always be Mom, but I'll try not to be weird about it."

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

"It's going to be weird, no matter what," said Leila, with a sigh and a shake of her head. She was still smiling, though. The desire to show Ezra some affection was enormous, but her powers being what they were, she opted for the cautious route and reached forward to fidget with part of his shirtsleeve instead. "I remember you mentioned how the role changes between cycles; the role we play in each other's lives. The way you've become our son this time is so different."

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"It could be worse," said Ezra. "Imagine if I had not been your son, and ended up in this world, in this body, where I was." He laughed. "You mentioned another time where I was Mom's brother. That'd be... awkward and strange, if I'd been that version of myself."

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

With an amused hum, Leila attempted to smooth out the creases she'd worked into Ezra's sleeve. Getting to see him smile and laugh and make jokes in the same manner she and Eve did here as newlyweds made her feel warm and peaceful, enough that the grief she was also contending with departed for the moment. "Yeah... that would take some getting used to," she answered. "But I think this would all still happen... inviting you over, showing you where we got married... you're already that important to us."

Her hand left Ezra's personal space, albeit reluctantly.

"Are you used to me being psychic the way I am this round?" Leila's expression turned a bit bashful. "I can't really touch people anymore without them catching my feelings or something. But..."

She really wanted to hug her ******** son. God damn.

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

Ezra nodded, but tucked his hands into his pockets again, keeping himself to himself as he must have for centuries beyond counting. He seemed to be conflicted about letting someone else touch him when there was the possibility of broadcasting: "Does it go both ways, or just one?"

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

"Just one way," Leila answered. "Still figured I'd let you know. I'm getting better at it, though." The confidence in her voice shrank a little as she continued on. As far as magic was concerned, she was a tiny baby compared to Ezra, and she felt silly for trying to reassure him about her abilities.

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"Alright," said Ezra. He opened his arms for a hug. "I'm sure it'll be fine."

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

No words could contain the joy that dawned on Leila's face at being welcomed into a hug with her son. She looked like a ******** anime character gazing hopefully out to the sunrise. She also didn't know how to bridge the distance between them without it being awkward, and ended up sort of wandering her way into Ezra's torso before gently slipping her arms around him and settling into the embrace with a little sigh.

The only concrete thought that made it to the surface was about how Ezra almost definitely knew of his mom's eagerness to be close to other people in her life, and Leila felt this was kind of funny. Besides that her mind was clear, and she felt peaceful and happy and grateful, and grounded by the sound of the nearby ocean.

shibrgane

 

[shibrogane]

It was fine.

Ezra patted Leila on the shoulder, and didn't disengage until she was ready to, and was cute. Also, he smelled nice. Like wax, kind of, and lavender laundry detergent. Also burnt coffee. That part wasn't so nice.

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

"Thanks," said Leila. Her tone was extremely understated, compared to her expression. "My son... wow."

After a few seconds of basking she reached into her bag to check the time on her phone. "Think you've seen enough of this place for now? There's still our house to get to." Then she sent a quick text out to Eve to reassure her she wasn't stalling. "She's looking forward to this, you know. Don't tell her I told you this, but she's made a tea blend based on what you've been buying at the store."

shibrgane

 

[shibrogane]

"My lips are sealed," said Ezra solemnly. "I'm glad you showed me this. It's nice, like... getting to reconnect to my family."

He gave her a final pat and started to head back to the car.

cibarium