03.11.10 - Empty Nest

Location: Salamandastron (Rahier's Dormitory)

Characters Involved: Rahier, Jacinthe

Jacinthe hasn't sent any word ahead to her son that she was coming to visit. Really it was more of a whim. She has a cloak wrapped around her from the long, long walk along the shore to reach Salamandastron from the little mining village where she's always lived, and this is unclasped and slipped off as she stands out in the hallway. Then, one of the doe's little hands lifts and curls, and she delivers a small knock to the door of Rahier's room with her knuckles.

Of course she was here, what, a dozen years ago? Back when Lin and Taye were just kids and he was married to Maria. So when Rahier answers the door, he isn't expecting his little old mother to be standing there.. there's almost a moment of unrecognition as he gives her a look over, before that breaks into a wide smile. "Mama!" Haa. "What're y'doin' here?"

In that time, it's possible that Jacinthe has gotten to be even itty-bittier. Not shrunken, but the white doe is almost ethereal now, isn't she? Her muzzle turns up to look at Rah's face as her own muzzle forms a loving smile. "I thought maybe it was about time I should come visit again, mm? Since you don't come visit /me/ anymore," she teases.

Ha, she's just his momma. She could shrink away to nothing and still be recognizable. After all, she's the first person he ever met! Rah meets the loving smile with one of his own, but his is probably all that much brighter. "You're th'one with functionin' legs," he jokes back, and wraps his arms around her for a tight hug.

Jacinthe steps in toward Rah, resting her hands on his chest and leaning up into the hug. She kisses him on the cheek, then curls her arms around her son's middle and nuzzles at his jaw with a faint chrr. "Darling boy," she murmurs, "I've missed you rather a lot.."

No one but mom would ever call him darling boy. Rah keeps the hug for awhile, squeezing her around her shoulders. It's an easier target than her middle, 'cause she's so darn short. "I missed y'too, mom. Y'get all m'letters? I know how sketchy th'post can be." Rah steps out of the hug, stepping into his room. "C'mon in, y'mus' be footworn."

"How'm I supposed to know if I've gotten them all, I don't know how many you've sent," Jac murmurs as she nuzzles into her son for a moment more, then steps back just a little. Her hands rest on Rah's arms, her eyes a little misty for a moment while she beams at him, and steps with the buck into his room. "I've received enough of them to know you have a baby girl I haven't met yet."

"Oh, yeh, new grandkid f'ya," Rah says, with a little grin. She pulls out his worn desk chair for her, turning it so she can have a seat. "Deidra. She's a lil' sweety. Y'know, she looks a bit like you." That thought strikes him a little late, but huh.

Jacinthe drapes her cloak over the back of the chair and then sits, slowly and with just a faint grimace, then releases a small sigh as she relaxes into the seat. "Does she, in fact? Your baby daughter looks like an old woman?" she asks, arching her delicate brows with mirth.

Rahier laughs. "She was a bit wrinkly when she was born, now that y'mention it." The buck puts his paws on his mama's shoulders and rubs them a little, sure she's weary after the long journey. "But, nah, I meant more like her coloration an' all.. y'know, y'do look pretty distinctive." Grin.

Jacinthe turns her muzzle up, almost straight up, and regards Rah from an upside-down vantage as he stands behind her. The rub at her shoulders makes her sink in the seat a little, and give him another chrr. "And when do I get to meet my little doppelganger? And her mother, too."

Rahier is good at the shoulder rubs. And the back rubs. He's had a lot of practice; Seph could attest. Those long fingers of his work on her shoulders while he thinks. "Well. Her mom's on duty at the mo'.. kiddo's at daycare. We could go meet 'em whenever y'want. Or wait till this evenin'. How y'been holdin' up, mama?"

"Mm, it can wait, I don't want to be so much of a bother," Jac murmurs, her hands resting lightly in her lap and ears dipped back. Her expression is soft, contented in a vaguely fatigued way. "As it is I.. think I may take a nap in not very long. I swear that trip was twice as long as the last time I made it..." She trails off, and quiets, then flicks her ears at his question. "I've been.. well. Just that. Holding up."

Rahier knows of course that his parents were married for.. well, oddly, as long as he's been alive. So to have dad die was more of a blow to her than to him, even if it saddened him considerably. "Y'can use m'bed," he offers, in a low tone. "'M glad t'hear you're okay."

"Thank you, sweetie," Jac murmurs, and turns her head a little while glancing at him over her shoulder, her smile warm. ".. I just wanted some company. I haven't seen you in, oh. So long. And the house is very.. quiet now." Empty, is the implication. Lonely.

Rahier will probably never have this thing. This 'empty nest'. Haw, his nest is perpetually full. "Well, y'can sure stay awhile 'round here. I gotcha a whole buncha grandkids t'dote upon." Taye maybe not so much. But Lin and Levi for sure.

"I'm not sure about.. 'a while', really, but." Jac pauses, nipping her lower lip for a moment, then smiling sunnily again. "Well if you wouldn't /mind/, dear. I guess I'll stay for at least.. a week. Or a few? I'd love to help you with the little ones."

"Guess th'mountain's no replacement f'th' ol' village," he says, with a grin. "But I would appreciate th'help. It'd be good f'th' kiddos t'have their grandmum around." Now it's Rah's turn to give kiss. He leans on down, putting a kiss on the top of her nose. "Love ya, mum."

"It'd do /me/ good," Jac adds on, with a low chuckle and then a tip of her muzzle to respond with a kiss to her son's chin. ".. and I love you, Rahi, darling. I.. can't begin to tell you, how much I appreciate all your letters, too..."

"Writin' letters keeps me happy," he says, rising up from his leaned-forward posture to walk across the room to his bed. "I write you an' ol' master an' a coupla friends back home," he says. "But your letters are always longest." The buck turns his grin to her, then back to the bed, where he pulls back the covers and plumps up one of the pillows.. Seph has amassed quite a collection.

"And I read every word," Jac assures her son fondly as she comes toward the bed, and settles herself for that nap.