Maeve Roberts (maeveroberts) wrote in saveatlantisic, @ 2017-12-20 16:25:00 |
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Entry tags: | !log, #npc, *aurora, *hannah, sarissa |
WHO: Sarissa and Maeve Roberts
WHERE: Coffee shop
WHEN: Mid-December
WHAT: Sarissa meets her daughter
RATING: PG
STATUS: Closed; complete
Sarissa was late for one of the most important meetings of her very long life. After all, it wasn’t every day you got to meet a daughter who, by all rights, shouldn’t exist. But somehow, in a future Sarissa couldn't even fathom, Queen Titania was dead and Sarissa was the Summer Queen. The family that Sarissa thought had been forever lost to her was now back in the realm of possibility, in the form of her teammate and what appeared to be a clever, compassionate young woman. The Mantle didn’t like it. The existence of a daughter threatened the Lady’s very existence. As Sarissa went to leave her apartment, a thicket of thorny brambles had appeared between her and the door, and it had taken her almost 20 minutes to calm down the Mantle. As a result, rather than walking to the coffee shop, she’d teleported straight in, and looked around for Maeve. Seeing her, she smiled and approached. “I’m so sorry I’m late.” She started to hold out her arms for a hug, but then remembered what her daughter had said about the kind of mother she was: it was too close to Sarissa’s own mother for her liking. “May I?” Even though Atlantis in the past was still Atlantis, Maeve noticed that a lot of things were different too. Some of the shops and restaurants had changed, the scenery was different here and there, and some of the buildings that had popped up in her time hadn’t been built yet. There were also more places from all of their parents’ homes that hadn’t been brought in yet, but they seemed to have just started that project with Atlantis Village. Maeve made a note to stop by there sometime soon. One thing that was definitely different was her mother. She’d yet to become the Summer Queen, and Maeve had never known her as the Summer Lady. It was strange to have her want to be involved in her life in a more intimate way, but it wasn’t unwelcome. She simply wasn’t quite sure how she was supposed to act once she saw her. They were set to meet at the local coffee shop, so Maeve went ahead and ordered herself a drink when she arrived and found a seat near the window to watch some of the people pass by. She was a little concerned when the time started to tick by, but it wasn’t too long when she looked up to see her appear near the counter. “It’s okay,” she said. “I haven’t been here long.” She saw her mother open her arms and nodded. It might have been a little awkward, but it wasn’t at all unwelcome. She simply wasn’t used to it yet. They hugged for a moment, and Maeve found herself start to relax pretty quickly. Once they pulled away, she smiled a bit. “So, how strange is this for you? Having a grown daughter appear out of nowhere?” “It’s a bit, yes” Sarissa admitted. It was an understatement. She’d resigned herself to not having the chance to ever have children. She’d never thought that one day she’d take on the Queen’s Mantle and have a child - and with her teammate, no less. That didn’t matter, though. What did matter was that her daughter - her impossible, wonderful daughter - was standing in front of her looking healthy and happy and much more put together than Sarissa felt even after a few centuries. “But I’m glad you’re here,” she continued, standing back and drinking in the sight of her daughter. “I want to hear everything - your hobbies, your studies, your friends. What you wish you could be better at. What annoys you most about your family.” She smiled, as warm and bright as the sun. “I’m just going to get a tea so they don’t give me the side-eye, and I’ll be right back.” Seeing her mother like this was so strange. It was wonderful, of course, to see and almost even feel her warm presence, but Maeve simply wasn't used to seeing her this way. She wasn't unkind, but she was more distant especially from a growing child that only wanted the compassion and love of a mother as any child would. She could actually see a lot of herself in her mother, the Summer Lady. Maeve sipped at her own drink while waiting for Sarissa to rejoin her, and it didn't take very long. They sat across from each other, and even just looking into her eyes, she could tell a difference. There was hope and passion there that she didn't remember seeing nearly as strong. “I'm not really sure where to start,” she said with a smile. “Day to day life isn't much different as it is here, I suppose. People are still sent on missions as we're still battling COS, but it's not nearly as awful as some of the experiences I've heard about from the others from a different future than mine.” She didn't really want to think about what a future would be like where COS won the war, and they would all be forced to live in hiding or to comply to their rules. It was unfortunate her daughter still had to fight the same war as she did, but Sarissa was no stranger to long wars. The one between Winter and the Outsiders, for example, would probably stretch at least another millennium, if not two or five. “Are you on a team? What do you do there?” Sarissa wanted to hear all the details, to try to piece together what Maeve’s life looked like. It sounded like she didn’t care much in the future, when she wore the Mantle of the Summer Queen. It was like that with Sarissa’s own mother. Mab wasn’t unkind but the Winter Queen wasn’t exactly warm and cuddly. At the very least, Sarissa hoped her future self wouldn’t pimp out Maeve whatever particular servant she wanted to reward. She had to be a better mother than that. She hoped. “Not officially, no, but I’ve been on a few as a volunteer. Usually, I work at Atlantis Base as a magic researcher. That part mostly comes from Dad, I guess, but I do help out at the Botanical Gardens once or twice a week. Some of your fondness for plant life seems to have passed down to the next generation.” Maeve smiled at that. It had always been something she’d been proud of. Her powers weren’t strong, not by any means, but she did have a gift with plants and flowers that went a little beyond having a green thumb. “But most of my time is spent with the others gifted in magic looking through spell books and past mission logs to see what spells worked for which type of missions that the teams were sent on.” “A researcher.” Sarissa beamed with pride. “How wonderful!” Yes, of course a child of her and Mordecai would be involved with research. Mordecai was an academic to the core, and Sarissa was a perennial student. Sarissa smiled, thinking of how delightfully nerdy that household must be. “How is that working out for you? Do you enjoy it?” Maeve nodded. “Most of the time. Of course, there are moments when it starts to become a bit tedious or even boring, usually it’s has plenty of excitement. Part of my work is to research the different locations where the teams are being sent out on missions and the magic that comes with that world and how the magic user’s might be able to manipulate that for their gain.” She was actually very good at what she did, and she didn’t mind talking about her work. Often, she’d speak about it with her father anytime she might have a question from a technical aspect, and even occasionally she would as her mother for advice depending on what the sort of magic she was researching. Sarissa was a good sounding board - especially now, when she still retained so much of her humanity. She asked questions and mulled over issues and geeked out with her daughter until the sky grew dark and the coffee shop started to empty out. Reluctantly, she looked around. “They’re turning off the lights. You think they’re trying to give us a hint?” Surprised at how much time had passed, Maeve looked up at the front of the shop and realized that they were trying to close things down. They'd fallen into easy conversation, and she wasn't sure if she'd ever had a conversation with her mother that had lasted this long. It was so nice to talk with her just about any and everything. “I think that they might be,” she said, smiling. “We should probably head out before they kick us out. We can take a walk back?” She wasn't ready to end the moment they were having together. Once outside, Maeve pulled her coat a bit more tightly around her body to shield herself from the cool air. “Are you surprised that you've stayed here in Atlantis as long as you did? Or will do in the future? I'm sure you probably expected to return home at some point.” “Yes and no,” Sarissa replied as they walked down the street. She wasn’t in any rush to end this time with Maeve, either. As she’d told Mordecai, the possibility of her surviving long enough to have a child now was extremely slim. She wanted to make the most of the time she did have with Maeve. “I don’t know if my future self told you the situation back at home-“ although she had a feeling she hadn’t. Sarissa wasn’t the sort to confide in people easily, and the Queens were even less so. “-but the situation at home isn’t the most welcoming for me. I’m in no hurry to go back.” She knew she had a duty to the Summer Court as its Lady, But if time wasn’t passing at home while she was here, she was happy to stay as long as she could. Besides, it wasn’t as if she was slacking off. She was doing good work here, fighting against the COS. Seeing Maeve pull her coat closer to her, Sarissa reached out to wrap her arm around her daughter’s shoulders. The gentle warmth of summer enveloped them both, warding off winter’s chill. “I’m sorry the Queen isn’t a very good mother,” she said after a moment. “But I want you to know you are a smart, compassionate, funny, wonderful young woman, and I couldn’t be prouder of you. And I’m sure Future Me feels the same, even if she’s lost the capacity to understand what that means.” Maeve had heard a little about her mother’s home, but nothing in great detail. Most of it were things she’d heard from her father who had been told by her mother before she’d become the Summer Queen. She didn’t think that those details were the ones that she was referring to now, though. “I’m sorry that it would be like that for you if you were to return,” she said, now curious as to what exactly she might have had to go back to. She smiled at the sensation as soon as her mother wrapped her arm around her shoulders. It wasn’t just the warmth, but it was also a feeling of happiness that came with it. Maeve didn’t have her mother’s abilities, but it still felt familiar and comforting in some way. “You don’t have to apologize. It’s not that simple, and I understand. You need to know that I had a happy life. When I was very young, I didn’t fully understand the burden of the Mantle, but Father would tell me stories about you, the true you as you are now. I’m so very thankful that I was able to know you like this too. Clearly, he was never able to do you justice,” she said with a smile. What a remarkable woman her daughter was. Sarissa had come to this meeting wanting to meet Maeve and reassure her that her mother loved her even if it didn’t seem like it, but it was Sarissa who had ended up being reassured. She wondered if Maeve would ever stop impressing her with her wisdom and compassion. She hoped not. She stopped and hugged her daughter, touched by her words. She didn’t want to become maudlin, though, so she kept it light. “Did he tell you about my karaoke skills? Because they’re quite impressive, if I do say so myself. I was trained at Julliard, you know.” Maeve hardly could get over the way her mother was here. It nearly caused her to try to fight to stay in this time to be able to hold onto these moments, but she thought that now she may understand her a bit more amd and would be able to possibly have a better relationship with the mother she'd always known. Still, though, it gave her a glimpse of the warm person she was for so many years before the Mantle required so much more of her. She returned the hug and grinned. “You know, I think he may have left that part out. I've got to see this for myself. I'm in.” Imagining the Summer Queen performing karaoke was hard to believe, so she definitely needed to have a little fun with this. |