[PRP] Spring renewal (Jetsam and Funayurei)

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Jetsam glanced sideways at his mother. She looked a little out of place in the garish colors of the blooming cherry trees. The contrast made her look washed out, faded. A stranger meeting her might think the same of her personality too.

Jetsam knew better. He knew that this was the best his mother had done in some time. Chasing off his father had really been a change for her. She seemed more focused now and more in control of herself. He was happy for her. He hadn't even realized he had been so worried for her for so long until suddenly that worry was lightened. Now he understood that, like the flowers, she was going about some sort of rebirth.

"Hey, they're pretty nice, huh?" He said this with a sarcastic, but good-natured, eye roll. Flowers weren't his thing, but he was enjoying spending the time with his reawakened mother nonetheless.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Just as her son surmised, Funayurei felt... different. She still didn't know what had come over her the last time she saw Vincent Nail. She'd always heard of a mother mouse facing a wolf to protect her children, but she always assumed she didn't even have a mouse's strength. Ever since she had met Vincent that first time, some part of her had always been given over to fear of him. It had occupied a place in her mind so long that she had forgotten things were ever different. She wouldn't have thought herself capable of facing such a fear, and yet she had. Here she stood, knowing that she could stand up to someone like him.

A wind blew, carrying beautiful pink petals away with it. Maybe she was more like a flower than a mouse, hiding within bare branches throughout a long winter. Like the flowers, she felt like even a gentle breeze might carry her newfound growth away.

"Oh yes, they are," she replied absently, realizing she hadn't yet responded to her son.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Jetsam snorted half a laugh. All right. Maybe her focus still needed work, but he could still tell that she was enjoying herself. There was something very close to a smile on her face. Maybe, just maybe, he could push it over into a real one.

"Hey, look at them." He gestured with his nose to a couple of soquili also walking in the blossoms. One was a flutter, purple with pink and orange wings. The other was a regular, an orange mane falling over bright blue fur marked with some sort of bird.

"Do you think we should tell them that they're clashing with the flowers?" he snickered.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Funayurei didn't like to make fun of soquili based on their appearances. But... her eyes slid over to the pair. Amidst the pale pink blossoms, they really did look out of place and garish. The corners of her lips turned upwards into the smallest of smiles. It wasn't their fault that they didn't match well, but it was funny to see.

"Let them enjoy themselves," she said, eyes still crinkled with gentle bemusement. With the state of her grooming, she especially didn't have the right to judge.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Jetsam smiled to himself... and then squinted skeptically. Now there were raised voices between the two soquili. "Ha. They're fighting." He was half amused, half irritated. He enjoyed spectating a conflict as much as anyone, but he was trying to have a nice day with his mother and the lovers' spat wasn't fitting in.

"How about we... er... look at something over here." He turned and they began walking away from the quarreling couple. He hoped there was something worth seeing in this direction and not just a bramble patch or something.

He almost cracked a joke about how that sort of thing was why he would never lifemate, then thought against it. Mothers usually wanted their sons to settle down. Usually. His own mother hadn't ever bothered him on the subject and he wasn't quite sure what her opinions on the matter were.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

"When were you planning on telling me?!"

Those were the last audible words that Funayurei caught from the argument before they slipped far enough away to be out of earshot. As they got further away, she could still hear them, but it became a distant muffled sound. It gave her a note of melancholy to hear the two of them continue. They clearly were passionate about each other, even if that passion was turning to anger now. She had never felt passion like that.

"Not with a mate, at least," she internally corrected herself. She had loved very strongly in her life, just not romantically. She loved Jetsam with just that much strength, she knew that. She loved little Treasure too, the filly from the basket that Jetsam had found, now a young mare.

"Oh, lilacs." She gave a slow blink of appreciation as they emerged into a new grove of flowers. The smell was intense and she almost sneezed when she was hit with its full force.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Jetsam felt proud of himself. Lilacs! That was a Savvy Son Move if he'd ever seen one. He'd started to worry when his mom got that serious expression with the fighting couple, but now she was looking relaxed and appreciative again. They were going to have a great day even if he had to kill someone!

... Though he doubted that killing one of the two other soquili would make them any quieter.

"What d'you think?" He asked, surveying the flowers around them. "Did someone plant this?" Farming and intentional cultivation of plants was something he found laughable. What sort of idiot would bother grubbing in the dirt for something so insignificant?  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

"Probably," replied Funayurei, though she didn't rightfully know herself. Some plants grew together naturally in groves like this. She hadn't ever learned much about the natural world.

She leaned in to a particularly full plume of flowers. The smell was somehow gentler when she was focused on just a few. Yes, this was good too. She felt at peace.

It was so quiet. She blinked when she realized it. "They've stopped," she said quietly. Whatever the fight had been about, it was over now.