MHA #6 Saturday Morning

[arboreal_priestess]

Two years ago, Verity had been caught flat-footed by the sudden appearance of two tiny, adorable cherubs calling her 'Mom.' Last year, Verity had been prepared for that, but had been taken aback by the sudden appearance of a third child, a young boy who called her 'Ate,' which meant big sister, but she was basically a parent to him, too, in this weird and distant future.

This year, however...this year, Verity was prepared. There were already pancakes being prepared, with fruit to make silly faces on them. Multiple kid-friendly movies were queued up on various devices for when the kids got bored and needed entertainment. Brightly-colored plastic cups and bowls were stacked on the counter so that even the most rambunctious kid could get their own food, with chicken nuggets shaped like dinosaurs and sugary cereals ready for whenever a capricious appetite demanded.

Hell, they even had extras, in case a new kid or two showed up.

Take that, past!Verity. Nothing could throw this year's Verity.

Comments

[nextoftheirkind]

"Pretty much, yeah," Tyrus confirmed, echoing the narrative. "... But you probably shouldn't say anything to anyone about it. Time travel, preserving the timeline, all that."

[foundgeneration]

"Talk about stuff running in the family," William chuckled. "How many people have you just decided were yours and stolen for the family?"

[arboreal_priestess]

"Err..." Verity said, since, actually, the number was pretty high and it would take her a minute to come up with the correct number.

William just kept laughing.

[firstofitskind]

Liam was grinning too, although he couldn't actually laugh at Verity since beginning the search last year for William, specifically, had kind of been his idea. And although their still kind of vague plans involved legal paperwork, the nature of a) Liam's existence in general and b) the whole alternate realities thing meant a lot of it would be forged paperwork.

"It does seem to be a bit of a running theme," he noted.

[nextoftheirkind]

Was there maybe a betting pool amongst the older Prices as to which of the newest generation would be the first to bring home a stray of their own?

Of course there was.

"We Prices know what we're about, Dad," Hayley said primly.

[arboreal_priestess]

Older Verity had her money on Hayley, but Sarah kept looking at Tyrus and muttering stuff about 'still waters running deep.' The mice had their money on William.

"Yeah, Liam, we Prices know what we're about," Verity teased. "...So this Uncle James is getting married?"

[nextoftheirkind]

"Yeah, Grandma's actually pretty teary about it," Tyrus said. "Uncle James is the last of the kids to get married so she's all kinds of emotional right now."

[arboreal_priestess]

The last of the...

"WHAT?!?!"

[firstofitskind]

Yeah, now Liam was absolutely cracking up, because Verity's shocked expression was just priceless (pun not intended).

"So," he wheezed, "Antimony finally found someone who can keep up with her, huh?" Since he and Verity were married, and Alex and Shelby were engaged, if this James was the last of their generation to get married, that meant Antimony had beaten him to it. Somehow.

[foundgeneration]

"Yup," William confirmed, popping the 'p'. "Uncle Sam is pretty great, but we are Not Allowed," and he was shooting a Look at his younger siblings, here, "to tell you how they met. That's really important timeline stuff."

He'd been too little, and too new to the family to really understand why everyone had been so worried, that year and change that Antimony had been gone, but looking back... he hated not being able to warn them of what was coming, but at the same time- it was really, really important that things played out the way they did for his favorite extended family member.

(Of course, not saying anything at all might have been the more prudent option, but. Again, Antimony and Sam were his favorites, not saying anything was practically impossible.)

[nextoftheirkind]

Hayley frowned, stuffing her mouth full of pancakes. "S'a dumb rule," she muttered.

[nextoftheirkind]

"Doesn't mean it's not important," Tyrus reminded her, gravely.

[nextoftheirkind]

"But it's gonna start soon and they're not prepared!" Hayley protested.

[arboreal_priestess]

"What's going to start soon?" Verity asked, exchanging glances with Liam.

[foundgeneration]

"Nothing!" William said quickly. "Just--nothing."

[firstofitskind]

"Doesn't sound like nothing," Liam noted, frowning.

[nextoftheirkind]

"Nothing we're allowed to talk about," Tyrus reiterated. "Sorry." He sort of wished Hayley hadn't even kicked things off by bringing up James, but he couldn't blame her for being excited about the wedding next week; they all were. "So!" he said brightly. "What other stuff did you have planned, Mom?"

[arboreal_priestess]

"I'm not a huge fan of this rule," Verity said, frowning.

[nextoftheirkind]

"But it's your dumb rule," Hayley pointed out.

[arboreal_priestess]

"Okay then," Verity said. "I hereby rescind that rule."

There. That was fixed nicely.

[foundgeneration]

Except then, all the kids started laughing. "You really think you didn't think of that?" William asked. "Or that even if you had, Dad wouldn't? Yeah, sorry, Regular!mom rules trump tiny!mom rules."

[nextoftheirkind]

"It really is for the best," Tyrus said, still smiling a bit but his voice was quiet, serious. "It's probably not going to feel that way, exactly. But it really is."

[firstofitskind]

Liam reached over to clasp Verity's hand, squeezing gently. "We'll let it go," he said, tone matching Tyrus'.

That something serious was going to happen down the line wasn't exactly surprising; cryptozoology wasn't an easy line of work, after all. Still. Didn't mean they had to like it.

And just because he was promising to let it go for now didn't mean he wasn't going to try and fish for any bits and pieces the kids might be willing to let drop over the weekend.

[nextoftheirkind]

"Good," the boys chorused in unison while Hayley continued to frown. The rule was important and she knew it...

But it was still a stupid rule that she absolutely hated. Both of those things could be true at once.

[arboreal_priestess]

Verity dropped a kiss on Hayley's head, recognizing that furrow between her brows. "Okay, so Tyrus, you wanted to know what we had planned for the day?" she asked in a cheery voice that absolutely didn't match the mood of the room.

But Liam had promised they'd drop it and so drop it they would.

"Well, we had a bunch of movies lined up, some of Disney's Greatest Hits and stuff, but I think you might be a little too old for that."