Bienvenue en Grèce (pour les Aubépines-Couvantes) on At Home

Jean Wolfe

August 16, 2020 6:50 AM

Bienvenue en Grèce (pour les Aubépines-Couvantes) by Jean Wolfe

Mary and Tabitha would not be staying in the hotel, but the welcome party was still assembled in the reception there, as reception needed staffing and it hadn't seemed fair to leave anyone out. According to the sign on the desk, today's receptionist was Jean-Loup (English/Français) although he was currently sitting on one of the small sofas with the rest of them. He had assumed he'd been dealt this shift because everyone else wanted to greet the Brooding-Hawthornes, and that, as he knew them the least, it wouldn’t have been unfair to leave him out of this. However, he wasn't going to object to his boyfriend being able to hang out during work hours, even if Dorian's current duties were still occupying him. They were being relatively quiet and well-behaved, which was probably some sort of danger sign, though right now Jean-Loup was enjoying the relative peace and quiet. Louis was patiently flipping through a children's board book letting Dorian name each picture in Greek. They were sitting together on the floor, Dorian leaning against Jean-Loup’s legs. Canteloupe was not actively attacking but was probably concocting some kind of scheme, perhaps one which involved climbing on him.

Luckily, before any such notion could be executed, the Brooding-Hawthornes arrived and there were excited shouts and rounds of hugging and kissing (Jean-Loup gave them both la bise before remembering that wasn't entirely normal between them - but it was normal for here, so hopefully no one minded), and Dorian was cheerfully chiming out 'kalós ílthate sto xenodocheío Merlinos.'

"Bienvenue," Jean-Loup echoed the sentiment, once everyone else had finished hugging and helloing and checking that everyone was fine.

"Oh no, we took you away from Sonora for a week and you forgot how to speak English?" Dorian asked teasingly.

"Je n'ai pas oublié," Jean-Loup shook his head, "Mais.... Un, deux, trois pour le Français," he slowly and deliberately counted himself, Dorian and Evangeline, "Ena," he counted Darius, hoping he had just said he was one person, not nine because those were very similar in Greek. Dorian was, as he had already demonstrated, picking up vocabulary faster than the acceleration on a racing broom and spouting out sentences (though he would demure and point out how they were ‘only rote learnt phrases’). On a good day, Jean-Loup could count to ten without switching one and nine or forgetting ‘seven’ altogether. He had barely even mastered ‘Sorry, no Greek’ because the island was used to tourists and because… well, his face. No one assumed he did know any Greek. He was thinking at this point learning ‘I’m not Dutch/German’ was going to be more useful, as apparently that was the most common assumption regarding tall blond people on this side of the world. "For English... one, two. And half," he added, including Zeus (Dorian had scooped him up, but at Jean-Loup’s acknowledgement of the four-year-old angled him towards him in a frankly over optimistic manner - Jean-Loup slid his hands into his pockets, making sure his eyes were on back on Mary and Tabitha instead, making him unfortunately unavailable to have a small child thrust upon him), "Nous sommes la majorité. Alors, bienvenue en Grèce - ici nous parlons français," he grinned.

(OOC - god-modding approved by Mary. Dorian's Greek translates to 'Welcome to the Hotel Merlinos.')

13 Jean Wolfe Bienvenue en Grèce (pour les Aubépines-Couvantes) 1506 1 5

Mary Brooding-Hawthorne

August 16, 2020 10:20 AM

'Sup! by Mary Brooding-Hawthorne

Mary was very glad not to be in England a moment longer. Tabitha's father - officially "the vulture," since Zeus had so aptly described him as such - was being horrific and Mary didn't want to spend another moment around him. Cassandra had been sort of in a bind, and Mary understood that. She loved her daughter but the two weren't exactly close, and Cassandra needed to stand by her husband, at least in public view. Mary had given her hugs and kisses goodbye - inasmuch as she accepted such affection - and the woman had done everything she could to dote on Zeus one last time before the Brooding-Hawthorne-Smith brigade had left. It broke Mary's heart a little, but she had her own small family to think of more than she could worry about Cassandra's. Tabitha fell into both their circles but she suspected the older of the two Hawthorne women was well aware who would be the best carer for the younger.

They arrived to Greece with a pop and everything seemed a little easier almost right away. The last time they'd been here, of course, they'd found out about Michelle's death and Zeus' pending arrival and then he'd arrived and everything had been upside down. But now it wasn't so bad. There were a couple of new lost boys on the island though, and Mary greeted them with wild grins. It was so good to see everyone and greetings were exchanged which was one of Mary's favorite things because she loved hugs and kisses and smiles. She was impressed by Jean-Loup's willingness to get close to her and Tabitha, although she knew the gesture was a traditional one for him and not probably as friendly friendly as Mary thought of it when she didn't think too much about it. That thought itself made her head spin and she was glad again that she was going to be able to settle into things here.

"It's wonderful to see you!" she grinned at the welcoming committee. "I hope you've had a good time in Greece so far?" she asked, directing this question to Dorian and Jean-Loup especially.
She spoke as clearly and well-paced as she always did with English language learners; with a reputation of sorts at Sonora for her awareness of such things, she wasn't about to give that up when she went abroad. "I don't know what you said but you smiled, so thank you?" she added with an easy laugh. Everything was easy when you were in Greece, surrounded by real family. Dorian giving Jean-Loup a hard time about his language and Jean-Loup persisting in French made Mary think that maybe 'thank you' wasn't the right response, but that was okay.

She snaked an arm around Tabitha's waste, pulling her wife closer to her and giving herself room to breathe it all in. "It's nice to be here," she said.

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Dorian Montoir

August 17, 2020 6:13 PM

Language wars, apparently by Dorian Montoir

“Yes, very good so far,” Dorian confirmed with a smile. It had not all been, it was complicated adjusting to life here and accepting that he really had turned his back on his family for the holidays. It was a little odd in some ways having Jean-Loup in his personal space all the time, and whilst there were frequent small things that brought him happiness, they were the small glittering points of light against a background of uncertainty. Still, everyone was on holiday. They wanted smiles and good things. And nothing was really wrong so much as a lot of things being a long way from being right…

“He welcomes you, and he also teases you,” Dorian stated, half-disapproving but mostly smiling affectionately. He slid Zeus down, because wow, four year olds were heavy after a while. “Don’t be mean,” he warned Jean-Loup, poking him in the ribs. This was met with wide eyed innocence. It was a look Jean-Loup, with his pretty blue eyes and blond curls, was very good at. It might work well on someone who didn’t know better, although he suspected that two school teachers were used to mistrusting such things on principle. He primarily associated it with the phrase ‘Would I do anything to you?’ right before Jean-Loup pounced on him. He traced an affectionate hand down his arm.

“No tease. No mean,” Jean-Loup assured them with a shake of his head. “Just only counting. Un, deux, trois,” he pointedly counted himself, Dorian and Evangeline again, “One, two, and half,” he counted the professors and Zeus. “You lose. Parle français,” he grinned.

“That assumes you get to count me for the French team,” Dorian pointed out, “Maybe I identify more with English these days. Or one third for French, one third for English. Still, I tip the scales,” he added.

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Mary Brooding-Hawthorne

August 18, 2020 10:24 PM

For all my labels, I only know one language. by Mary Brooding-Hawthorne

Mary smiled, amused by the young couple. There had been a time when she and Tabitha had been remarkably playful together as well and she decided then that she should poke that bit of her wife sometime. That would be nice. It was surprising to hear Dorian say that he maybe identified more with English, though.

"A little goodhearted teasing is alright," Mary promised, suspecting Dorian was only mostly teasing.

"That's what Evangeline says when she tells me to get a haircut," Darius added with a laugh as Evangeline gave a guilty giggle.

Mary sighed, feeling better all the time. The recent week was fading from her mind. She could only hope the same was happening for Tabitha. And for Zeus, actually, although the little one seemed less stressed than the others. "It is good to be here," Mary smiled lightly. "To think, most of us were here three years ago for a very special occasion." She grinned at Tabitha and snuggled into the woman's side. "Zeus and Jean-Loup and the twins - I guess the twins were kind of here - are new arrivals on the scene." She wrinkled her nose mischievously. "Means we have to have a big sparkly holiday together now!"

22 Mary Brooding-Hawthorne For all my labels, I only know one language. 1424 0 5

Jean Wolfe

August 19, 2020 6:33 PM

We could teach you by Jean Wolfe

Dorian was threatening betrayal, defecting to the English side and this was all the encouragement it took for them to all abandon speaking a sensible language. Whilst they all joked and teased (in English), he tugged Dorian back to him. Jean-Loup slid his arms firmly around Dorian’s waist from behind, snuggling his cheek against his hair and murmuring, just to him.

“Tu es vraiment de mon côté, non? Tu es à moi.” You’re on my side really, right? You’re mine.

“Je suis un Teppenpaw, honey,” Dorian answered him, “And also multilingual. Je suis vraiment du côté de tout le monde.”

Jean-Loup sighed, as Dorian declared himself on everyone’s side, wondering whether that meant a return to the ‘fair’ policy of speaking English all the time, with everyone. He missed Tatiana. At least she gave him a break from it at Sonora. Dorian sometimes did too, but he could also give tough love and make him practise English. He also refused to get caught in the middle as translator, unless everyone really got stuck, even when it took Jean-Loup three broken sentences to convey what he could have with a few words in French. He liked being at Sonora, but that was not mutually exclusive with the whole place feeling like a headache sometimes. He’d rather been enjoying being a member of a mostly francophone household, or at least one where French was allowed a decent share. He tried to be mindful of not putting Darius in the position he himself so often occupied (that of struggling to keep up with the conversation) seeing as they were in his home, but Darius’ French was better than his own English, and there were just plenty of times and combinations of people who it was fine to speak French with. He knew this was still work, not really a holiday, but that at least had made it feel like a break.

He felt Dorian’s hair brushing against his cheek, nuzzling back, and Dorian’s hands stroking down his arms as he continued holding onto him.

“Mais je parlerai français avec toi, et je traduirai si tu en as besoin,” Dorian assured him. But I’ll speak French with you, and translate if you need me to.

Jean-Loup squeezed him gratefully, glad that Dorian hadn’t apparently forgotten altogether what it was like to feel out of your depth all the time. He tuned back in as Mary chatted happily about the holidays, and about celebrating them all being there, and she was so happy about the prospect that it was hard to feel upset about the disruption - and indeed, he was happy to have the professors there, he liked them, and his sadness at losing his little francophone bubble had never been in danger of tipping over to resentment at their presence. It had just… been nice whilst it lasted.

“Three years ago, I am a little in the scene,” he informed her, “Not the Greece scene though. But you don’t spend all your time here talking about some cool guy you did met at a party?” he questioned, mainly to Dorian, though he supposed Mary was capable of answering that too.

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Zeus Brooding-Hawthorne-Smith

August 24, 2020 10:01 AM

Can I learn too? by Zeus Brooding-Hawthorne-Smith

Zeus was very happy to see Dorian and Chaloo. He was very happy not to see Not Grandpa, although he thought he might miss grandma. She was nice. But daddy seemed more relaxed here and mommy definitely did. Everyone else was saying a lot of words he couldn't understand though and he watched them with wide eyes.

"What are you saying?" he finally asked, tugging on Dorian's pant leg, although his eyes were on Chaloo. "Can you teach me to say those words?"

Calliope looked at him with a funny smile when he asked and Zeus resisted the urge to stick his tongue out at her.

Some of what Chaloo said was understandable, though, and Zeus grinned. "I was here three years ago," he said, holding up I'm this many," he added, holding up four fingers. Then he narrowed his eyes at Chaloo. "But not at this place. You have first mommy and daddy too?" He looked up at Mary and Tabitha and smiled, content that he was doing alright with his new ones, even if he missed his first ones. "I will share my new mommy and daddy," he decided reaching for Mary's hand to drag her over to Chaloo who hadn't been on the scene except he was and Zeus didn't know what that meant anyway.

22 Zeus Brooding-Hawthorne-Smith Can I learn too? 1576 0 5

Jean Wolfe

August 30, 2020 8:17 AM

...yes? by Jean Wolfe

Jean-Loup supposed it was somewhat fair of the universe to counter his teasing by throwing a dialect he didn’t speak back in his face - namely ‘toddler.’ Between pronunciation (or lack thereof), grammar (or lack thereof) and logic (or very definite lack thereof), he had a hard enough time understanding Louis and Cantaloupe and they had learnt early on that their best bet was French if they wanted anything but a blank stare from him, and then it was still only a fifty-fifty chance. Zeus had… some age advantage on them (he did not really do guestimating the increments at which small humans grew. Dorian had said Zeus was.. Four? But that had been a while ago? And the twins were two-ish? And at this stage that was a substantial difference?). Anyway, whatever advantage Zeus had in age, it only appeared to mean that he said more things that Jean-Loup didn’t understand. And all in (approximately) English.

He left Dorian to nod and answer about teaching him words. The fact that he appeared to want to learn French was somewhat endearing, although Jean-Loup did not really trust his attention span or general skill level to get beyond screaming ‘POMME’ excitedly in his face and then running away giggling.

He was here and three and also four and first mommy and daddies? He was still processing these fragments when Mary was tugged over and pushed in his face, as much as someone could be when there was more than twenty five centimetres height difference between you. Zeus was… sharing her? Jean-Loup blinked. He didn’t want to upset Zeus by rejecting his attempts to share. He had seen Louis break down over not being able to hold both Dorian’s hands at once, and Canteloupe cry over the fact that Louis had chosen the book she wanted to choose (even though they both got to hear the story). So, he was not putting a lot of faith in the emotional logic of small children, and Zeus was, nominally, being nice. He was sharing. It was just that the subject of his attempt might actually have an opinion on that herself. He also really hoped he wasn’t expected to answer about where his actual parents were. He wondered whether he could avoid it by claiming to be a grown up. But if Zeus divided the world up into people who needed parents, and people who were parents, he knew which side of that divide he wanted to be on. If he had to pick at all - he would actually much rather establish the third category where he actually belonged.

So, all he had to do was politely side-step the offer whilst neither offending Zeus, nor implying Mary was on the same level as a toy car, all the while not implying that Zeus should try to put him into a parental role instead. In his second language. Right, there was no way that could go horribly wrong…

“I think she is quite busy,” he informed Zeus, “She has you,” he was, for once glad of the ambiguity of English, as his eyes roved over both the four year old and Dorian, “And her students. I am quite big. Maybe I must look after myself,” he suggested, doing his best to look apologetic whilst also not quite looking Mary in the eye.

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Mary Brooding-Hawthorne

August 30, 2020 12:52 PM

What have you signed yourself up for?! by Mary Brooding-Hawthorne

Mary let Zeus tug her along but did feel a bit bad when doing so meant she thoroughly invaded Jean-Loup's personal bubble. He didn't expressly seem to mind and he got out of the way of a potential collision, so she pushed those feelings aside. "Someday, when you're big, you'll get to look after yourself too," she told Zeus, smiling encouragingly. "You'll find friends to help look after you and that you'll get to look after though." She glanced at Tabitha, appreciating deeply the way the woman took care of her, but not wanting to lump her into the 'friend' category for this one. "Jean-Loup is my friend, he doesn't need me to be his mommy."

Zeus seemed to accept this answer because he shrugged and set about trying to get Tabitha's attention instead. The way he crossed his legs one in front of the other told her precisely why; she thought about stepping in to help, but Tabitha excused herself and took him instead. Mary watched them go with soft eyes, proud of how far her wife had come.

When they were gone, Mary glanced up at Jean-Loup. "You're good with kids," she stated plainly, smiling. "How's the take care of yourself part going? You both doing okay?" she asked, leaning forward a bit to include Dorian in the conversation.

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Jean Wolfe

August 30, 2020 6:19 PM

Giving French lessons? by Jean Wolfe

Happily, Mary stepped in and helped deal with the situation. She was clearly well practised at speaking Zeus and resolved things without getting tears or an extra, eighteen-year-old adopted child. She had made use of little white lies to get there, but he suspected that for Zeus ‘person I am friendly to’ and ‘friend’ really weren’t very distinct. Happily, the kid needed to go pee, which spared him from further conversation for a minute or so at least.

“That’s nice of you to say,” he deflected, having easily picked up the English for responding elegantly to compliments that were manifestly not true when mentioned how he was with children (though it applied well enough to her other comment too). He was good at literally throwing them, which - luckily - seemed to be a fairly solid part of amusing two year olds, or at least Cantaloupe seemed to like it. He was hideous at interacting with them though. Anything he found mindless and irritating, they wanted to do over and over again. Anything he felt he could have tolerated for longer, they abandoned in about two seconds. Dorian seemed to have an endless capacity to find everything they did adorable when to him it fell on a spectrum that ran from neutral to irritating, via confusing.

“Plenty of them here, if you want to practise,” Dorian offered, eyes shining at him way, way too optimistically. Jean-Loup’s usual grin turned into a tight-lipped smile. Dorian seemed determined to make him crack and admit that small children were wonderful. There had been several ‘When we’re older…’ type conversations already. He really hoped that getting his boyfriend a bunny after they graduated would shut him up about babies for a while…

“We’re fine,” Dorian chimed in cheerfully. “How are you? How was England?” Jean-Loup let him, ready to fade into the background - not literally, he was not going anywhere that wasn’t next to Dorian, preferably holding onto him, but he assumed that Mary would talk more to Dorian - he was the one she was actually friends with after all.

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Mary Brooding-Hawthorne

September 01, 2020 10:01 AM

I think you've made a tiny fan. by Mary Brooding-Hawthorne

Mary shook her head, smiling. "No, I mean it. I'm nice, but I'm not nice enough to lie to people about their skills with my son," she pointed out. "You talk to him like he's a person and like he can understand some level of meaning. Makes me crazy when people talk down to kids just because they're kids. They don't have adult brains, but they still have brains." She huffed a little, showing exactly what she thought about that, before resuming a more pleasant expression.

She raised an eyebrow at Dorian's comment. The last thing she wanted to do was chastise him, but she also knew from personal experience just how bad news it could be to push kids - or anything - on someone who wasn't sure. "Not everyone's thing," she acknowledged instead, glancing up at Jean-Loup with as much of an understanding gaze as she could. "Tabitha didn't want kids for a long time. We'd only just started talking about adopting someday when Zeus joined us." It was a euphemism she'd gotten good at.

They were good and that was probably not true, but Mary was glad Dorian seemed to think it was true. Jean-Loup was reminding her so much of Tabitha that it was almost laughable and she suspected that the older boy would have a very different answer, much as Tabitha would for what Mary had been asked. "It was alright," she said. "First time meeting their grandson and . . . Tabitha's mom fell in love with him. I think she understands that she needs to accept our family if she wants to see her daughter. But her dad didn't so much. He hasn't ever really liked me being who she chose," she added to Jean-Loup for context. "But then especially with Zeus along." She was always a generally open person and that was especially true when she thought it was important. Seeing a queer couple make their way through life happily, regardless of what one of their parents thought (and probably both sets of parents if that had been something they could find out; Mary didn't like to think about that because it tarnished the memory she had of them but she also couldn't pretend they would have been thrilled) was important. That didn't mean she was about to lay out the details of Zeus' revelation of inherited veela abilities. Tabitha was almost definitely going to be telling Darius, but that was a matter of professional interest as well as just friendship. Mary was not under any impression that she was really thriving in the friendship department. She was friends with Dorian, but she was also his professor and that put limitations on the relationship. She was friends with Evangeline, but mostly by virtue of their spouses. She might say she was friends with Selina, but there was a power dynamic there as well.
She and Killian got on well enough but they didn't hang out much. On the whole, Mary didn't really have friends, so who would she tell? "That being said, England as a place was beautiful. I love it there at Christmas," she smiled. "This is your first time in Greece, right?" she asked Jean-Loup. "How are you liking it?"

22 Mary Brooding-Hawthorne I think you've made a tiny fan. 1424 0 5

Jean Wolfe

September 05, 2020 10:17 PM

It will be good for tiny keeping cool by Jean Wolfe

Mary was smiling, but shaking her head, and also using a lot of negation and words like 'lying' and she ended with a huff. Jean-Loup turned with a slight 'help me' expression to Dorian, hoping he wouldn't forget his promise to translate. Dorian parsed it into French for him, and the combination of the negative words and positive tone of voice made sense.

"Ah," he managed, aware that some of the momentum of the conversation was getting lost in translation. He found the compliments themselves a little at odds with his perception of himself. He was quite sure he sounded somewhat like an idiot whenever he opened his mouth in English, and doubly so when he talked to Zeus. Still, he had tried to deflect the compliment and it was now being pressed on him with added sincerity, and he was pretty sure the only route left to him was to take it, no matter how odd and ill-deserved it felt, "Thank you," he acknowledged, dipping his head.

He also wondered, as Dorian prodded him, whether accepting this compliment was going to give Mary an in on trying to convince him what a good parent he would make. Naturally, she would be on Dorian's side. It was complicated. For him, it was something he had ruled out a long time ago, assuming he was someone who could not have that, much like he had done with real, loving relationships. And, of course, he had ruled those back in, but it somehow hadn't automatically brought with it every other element of a traditional marriage. Sometimes, he still felt like he was wrapping his head around getting to be in love. It had been a huge leap to rule that back in as an option, and whilst it was perfect and wonderful and he was absolutely glad that he had done that, being asked to think beyond that was too much.

He was therefore pretty surprised when Mary offered reassurance instead. Even beyond her being on Dorian's side, he wasn't much used to adults talking to him like... well, not talking the way she had accused them of talking to Zeus. She was treating him like someone who could think and dicuss instead of just being told what opinion to have. Back home, adults dictated expectations and did their best to make you stick to them.

"Oh," he stated, wondering quite how to elaborate on that remark. "That is...uh...interesting to know," he stated, not quite sure how to handle how personal the remarks had felt. He wasn't sure why she trusted him with information like that, but he felt glad she did, "And useful. Thank you."

Luckily before Dorian could weigh in with his thoughts on children, the conversation moved on. The topic they moved onto was also plenty distracting, though for all the wrong reasons.

"I am sorry that you have this also," he grimaced, as Mary reported that she was dealing with less than supportive family/in-laws. It was not a nice thing to have in common, and it lowered his aggregate view of how friendly the world was overall.

"They make bad choices if they don't think you're perfect," Dorian echoed, frowning at the thought. They did not dwell on the subject though, with Mary moving on to ask Jean-Loup about Greece.

"Yes, and I like very much," Jean-Loup confirmed, happy for the conversation to move onto more pleasant things, "It has people who speak French and cook French," he winked, "But also many good foods by its own. And all the little house," he made a fluttering motion with his fingers, indicating the way the houses in the distance were scattered down the cliffs. It was a nice sight to run towards in the mornings. "And the sea. There is suggestion of New Year Day swim," he grinned enthusiastically. Greece was not exactly warm, even in winter, and regular swimming was not really on the cards, though he had already been in once, just out of wild curiosity and because it was there and how could you not? No one else seemed keen right now, but jumping in the fresh, cold water on New Year's Day seemed an accepted idea.

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