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

[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?"

[glitter_and_mayhem]

"Nah, came here first, since I figured you'd need coffee," Ella quipped. "Should I text her or call? How much do we want to make her guess?"

[smilestopscars]

Ezra was kind of cradling that coffee to his chest when he wasn't actively drinking it, so her quip wasn't entirely wrong, either.

"Enough to pique her interest, but not so much that she'll threaten to fashion me into a nice pair of mittens?"

That was his attempt at being a responsible parent.

[glitter_and_mayhem]

Ella loves you, Ezra! The coffee is how you can tell!

She made a silly face and snapped a selfie, before sending it to both her parents.

Guess who's the foxiest girl to ever set foot in Fandom? xoxo Ella

[boneyard_girl]

It took a few moments, then both of them got an answer:

what

WHAT??

Just to Ezra, Ada sent:

Aren't we too old for this we don't even live there anymore???? WHY DOES FANDOM DO THIS?

I'm kicking Hya awake and we'll get a portal. You won't have to be a single parent all weekend, promise.

[smilestopscars]

No rush, darling, we'll be fine, Ezra sent back to her. Back-up is appreciated, though. And give my best to Hyacinthe.

Just not his dirty best, because no one had the time for that right now.

Then he looked up from his phone and smirked at Ella. "It seems you've jolted her into action."

[glitter_and_mayhem]

"I tend to have that affect on people," Ella drawled, smirking in a way that was somehow a mirror image of both her parents at once. The quirk of Ada's mouth contrasting Ezra's cheekbones, perhaps. "Don't worry, you never had to spring me from Juvie because of it."

Like she'd get caught. PLEASE.

[smilestopscars]

Her face was distracting. But in the best way, and also they were going to be taking so many selfies together this weekend.

Also, he wasn't distracted enough not to scoff. "Obviously not. That would require getting caught."

[glitter_and_mayhem]

"Fox. Carnie. Mermaid," Ella pointed out. "Pretty sure I'm allergic at getting caught at anything, except being amazing."

This was totally your daughter, Ezra. Congratulations.

"Sooooo...not to be a downer, but what should I expect when Tiny Mom gets here? Is she still mobile, or are we at, cane or crutches? My phone still says it's my year, portal didn't change it, so I'm not sure where on the timeline I am." And she wanted to be prepared.

[smilestopscars]

Well, that thing tempered Ezra's grin down by a lot. Not unexpected, but...

His sigh stayed internal.

"It's 2019," he said, "and your mother is fully mobile and fabulous, darling."

[glitter_and_mayhem]

"Oh thank fuck maybe I can convince her to go dancing with me I love her dancing. She just moves, you know?"

Was it a little uncool that Ella was this excited about the idea of her mom being fully mobile? Yeah, probably. But this was her mama, okay? And Ella loved both her parents with a fierceness.

"WAIT. YOU'RE YOUNG ENOUGH YOU MIGHT BE ABLE TO KEEP UP WITH ME. We have to go chase the flamingos pleeeeeeeeeeeease."

Ego, thy name is Sagishi, no matter the universe.

[smilestopscars]

Ezra was squinting at her.

"... Did you just imply I might not be able to keep up with you?"

Again with the ego, yes.

[glitter_and_mayhem]

"You're old! And busy!" Ella laughed. "--and chasing flamingos requires you to be here, which, like, only happens on the parent weekends or during reunions, or if there's weirdness in which case we don't usually have tiiiiiiiiime to chase them."

Beat.

"Tho, once we got to chase gremlins to save the world, which was awesome, but also they taste bad if you do actually nip them by accident."

[smilestopscars]

"I am not surprised by that at all, because I've always thought they smell rank."

Everything else checked out, too, though. And led to a question that was more rhetorical than anything else:

"So you go to school here? I have to say, it makes sense."

[glitter_and_mayhem]

"I kinda think I want to go into fashion design, like Uncle Sparkle. I love helping mom with carnival costumes," Ella said simply. "If I decide on college, I need a high school diploma, and this is the only place weird enough to survive me."

"...also I kinda think you wanted me outta sight outta mind for Alistair."

[smilestopscars]

"Probably," Ezra replied, unfazed, and shrugged. "But no one like you, my little éclair, is ever truly out of Alistair's mind."

He was just much better about not treating people like property than Venus had ever been.

"But Fandom's a good choice. They let me graduate, after all." With a diploma he never planned to do anything with, but whatever.

[glitter_and_mayhem]

"I'm unforgettable," Ella deadpanned, giving him a little half-smirk. "Don't worry, dad, I won't let him talk me into anything you and mom aren't totally fine with."

[smilestopscars]

"Good. That's all I ask."

Seriously, he had few restrictions he could place on his kids, but not wanting them to go full Coterie seemed like it might stay a constant. They had a choice, the way he hadn't had one.

"Now, darling, what do you want to do until your mother gets here?"