A Room at the Arms Hotel, Saturday Morning

[smilestopscars]

Ezra had had a pleasant NPC encounter or two, yesterday. But in the end, he'd gone to bed alone. Which meant that now he was also waking up alone. And, he was actually pretty okay with that. Especially now that the tug of the pollen had abated. He had a comfortable bed all to himself, and nowhere he really needed to be anytime soon.

So he wasn't in a rush to get up.

Yet.

[ooc: Oooopen for everything that these weekends usually entail!]

Comments

[foxmeetsrebel]

Thump thump thump.

Thump thump.

THUMP.

[smilestopscars]

Ezra considered ignoring the thumping. For at least the first three times.

After that it was insistent enough that he peeled himself off the bed and grabbed a bathrobe to wear over his boxers before he came to the door.

And you know what, he wasn't even that surprised to find a child behind it. He knew Fandom, after all. So. "Lost," he asked slowly, looking the kid over, "or one of mine?"

[foxmeetsrebel]

Tiger set his jaw and tried to look stoic about the situation, even if it was weirding him out, just a little bit.

"Yours," he said. "Sort of."

[smilestopscars]

Yeah, Ezra immediately regretted not softening his words up more. He wanted to blame having only just woken up.

"But of course," he said merrily, now, already stepping back and opening the door further. "I should've known. Come on in, and refresh my memory on what 'sort of' means in this context."

[foxmeetsrebel]

"I'm adopted," Tiger muttered, ambling across the treshold like the sullen kid that he was. "By you. And dad."

That was nicely specific.

[smilestopscars]

"Adopted means we chose you," Ezra told him immediately, as he closed the door. "So you're definitely mine. Family doesn't have to do with blood."

... Wellll, maybe theirs did, but not like that.

His head tilted again, trying to catch up with processing all this new information. "Wait, I'm not 'dad'?"

[foxmeetsrebel]

"You're both dad," Tiger said, waving his hand in the air in a see-saw motion. "It's easier calling the guy who's not there dad, I guess."

[smilestopscars]

"Fair," Ezra allowed easily. "You hungry? I can get room service."

Look, he felt like it'd be best to just work his way up to questions like 'so who's the other guy?' and 'what's your name?'

He already had a vague hunch about the firt thing, though.

[foxmeetsrebel]

Something in the boy's eyes finally lit up. "I am hungry," Tiger said vehemently. "I could eat a cow!"

[glitter_and_mayhem]

First, Ella had hit up the Perk, because a girl needed her caffeine and to be as extra at these baristas as possible, because these poor bastards had never met her.

Then it was following her nose to the family member she could scent on the island -- well, one of them, she could smell a kid that smelled like mom -- and let it lead her straight to the hotel.

Knocking, however, was for amateurs, and Ella let herself in after half a second of sweet-talking the lock.

"You got pants on, or should I pretend to be traumatized?"

[smilestopscars]

There was at least one other kid that smelled like dad, too. And in this very building, no less. But that was probably going to become apparent to her at some point.

"No child of mine should bother to be even pretend to be traumatized by nudity," Ezra announced. Because, foxes. "But the lock-picking sort of balances that out. Also, yes, I'm clothed, come in."

He was wearing actual clothes by now, not a robe.

[glitter_and_mayhem]

Yeah, but that kid didn't count, because it clearly wasn't part of her family. So it was dismissed for the same reason the other one had been.

"I coulda been raised by Puritans. Or joined a convent. Or something," Ella said, sauntering in and offering him a moddable Perk beverage, just the way he liked it. "You never know."

She'd been raised by her parents. Modesty wasn't a concept that Ella understood at all, but she was quite good at sarcasm.

[smilestopscars]

"But you clearly weren't, crumpet," Ezra replied, accepting the coffee far too gratefully because this already felt like a long day, and was it even noon yet?

He gestured at her with his free hand. "Nuns or Puritans or whoever drab people you could come up with wouldn't let you get away with a good fashion sense."

[glitter_and_mayhem]

"You wouldn't let me get away with a bad one," she quipped. "I was doomed from the start."

[smilestopscars]

"Fair, but a what a fantastic doom it is," Ezra replied, raising his eyebrows. His head tilted to the side, and while other people might not have noticed the way he breathed in, she probably did.

He wouldn't expect anything else.

"So do you go by Sagishi, or Miller?"

[glitter_and_mayhem]

"Yes."

That was an answer to everything he just said/asked, really.

"Mostly I go by 'Ella.'"

[smilestopscars]

"Ella."

He sounded pleased.

He looked it, too, but not in a smug way (for once). There was something a little more fond about it.

He nodded. "And did you alert your mom yet?"

[spin_kick_snap]

He looks so much like you, Kathy sent via text, including a pic she snapped when Zeke wasn't looking. Sorry he hasn't stopped by yet, but there's a breakfast buffet over here and this is your son we're talking about.

[smilestopscars]

She actually thought pics she'd taken of a werefox with 'Sagishi' in their name were pics she'd taken in secret? Oh, Kathy.

It took a while for the reply to come in.

Is that Zeke?

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy couldn't even take pictures of her sister in secret. She was just generally bad at sneaking, never mind that Sagishi werefoxes had ridiculous bonuses to their Notice checks.

Yeah. Taller than me now. Still as committed to breakfast though.

[smilestopscars]

That's my boy.

No really, it seemed to be something of a theme. Although at least Ella had more brought him breakfast, because decent coffee definitely counted for that.

Are you at the hotel?

[spin_kick_snap]

Yup, she sent, typing in her room number. Still have breakfast out, too.

She figured he knew her well enough to read that as the invitation it was. And she knew him well enough to know he'd show up even without one if he really felt it was important - and that, for all his shallow playboy facades, kids would rate on the scale of importance.

...She was also willing to head to his room, but she wasn't sure if he'd have company and didn't want to impose.

[smilestopscars]

Is there a crowd?

Between her and Dante and Anders, he was kind of assuming a brood of kids.

[spin_kick_snap]

Three for now, + the guys, Kathy sent. Might be good for us to get some alone time if possible. But it might be easier if you come over to get us. He's being squirrely about something.

There was a pause and then,

NOT A WERE PUN I PROMISE OH MY GOD.

[smilestopscars]

Weresquirrels don't exist, darling.

He thought.

Anyway. He glanced at Tiger, stuffing his face.

I also have one of Dante's, I should probably bring him over. Do a switch.