lance alvarez (powpowpow) wrote in valloic, @ 2023-02-22 10:31:00 |
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Entry tags: | !: action/thread/log, temp character: retha alvarez-mcclain, ₴ inactive: lance alvarez |
After the Garrison (badly) covered up her Leandro’s disappearance, after moving the family from Cuba to the town right outside the Garrison to harass them into giving her better answers, and then the whole alien invasion that happened, Retha Alvarez-McClain was hardly surprised by anything anymore. Even before Lance showed back up in a sentient mecha lion and proceeded to save the universe - and she had always knew he was going to do great things - life was getting pretty weird.
So waking up in an unfamiliar kitchen with pictures of her son kissing two different gorgeous strangers on the fridge and an overly friendly retriever who she was convinced was winking at her (Monty, said his tag) wasn’t that strange in the grand scheme of things.
With the digital clock of the stove blinking 5:23 AM at her, she decided against exploring the rest of the house beyond the little living room when she saw more pictures of her son and these people, with the occasional picture of Keith and Shiro peppering the walls as well as a great giant scowling man and a beautiful woman with envious curls. Unbeknownst to her, Vallo was peppering in a bit of that ‘everything is okay’ vibe into her current presence and made her feel comfortable enough to go back to the kitchen and start breakfast.
Because if there was one thing she could count on, it was that her cooking would bring her son to her soon enough. Soon, she had the beginnings of huevos rancheros started on the tiny stove, the smell wafting through the entire house.
While Lance was much better on the sleep front these days it wasn't uncommon still for him to wake up even earlier than he and Atreus generally did to check in on all the animals. But it was at least nice when it was an easy wake up, just his body deciding well that's enough. As opposed to waking up in cold sweats or his mind a damn mess from the nightmares that still plagued him. If anything it was a different sort of anxiousness that filled him upon waking. Reminded him a little of being a kid before Christmas, waking up and knowing something good was waiting for you.
Atreus was still dead to the world beside him and Lance very carefully detangled their legs and arms before sitting on the edge of the bed to pull on a pair of joggers and a soft t-shirt. Monty wasn't at his heels and he assumed the dog was just asleep somewhere.
At least until he exited the bedroom, closing the door behind him and headed toward the kitchen when the smell hit him. A smell that could put him smack dab back into his childhood in an instant and he should be worried that only other person who might be cooking at this time was in the bedroom but there was a calm feeling instead.
He crept into the kitchen and seeing his Mama there, at the stove, making breakfast like he'd seen her do countless times before - before the Garrison, before Blue shot them all up into space, before a war, before their little house with the chipped blue paint was lost - it was enough to bring the sharp sting of tears to his eyes. "Mama?" he called out, soft like too much noise might break the scene before him. And then before he could even think about it, before any mistrust of the situation could creep in - he bolted forward and pushed himself into a hug, arms wrapped tight around his mom's waist. "You're here."
Vallo magic had a way of soothing any strange and uncertain feelings that might crop up with family members and friends appearing out of nowhere. Or maybe it was the knowledge that it could happen for real at any moment, without it being a fucked up trick. Regardless of what it was, Retha only slightly startled when Lance called out to her and then rushed to embrace her. “¡Por Dios! Let go before my eggs get overcooked!” She laughed a little, before she turned the stove off and turned to embrace Lance.
In true mom fashion, she grabbed his face and pulled it down to her height, peppering it with way too many kisses before she was satisfied with her work and let him pull away. She didn’t let him go though, keeping her hands on his face. Taking a good look at her youngest son, she mused over how he seemed to…differ from the Lance she was used to.
One point for the alternate universe theory she was slowly working on.
“You let your hair grow out,” she said, moving curls out of his eyes and brushing her thumbs over his Altean marks. There were more lines on his face than there used to be and he seemed…older.
Lance just laughed as his mom pushed him away to attend to the eggs. The familiarity of it all such a comfort he knew he had missed but hadn't realized how much. "Oh no, not the eggs," he joked lightly.
But he let her go to tend to them and then hugged back just as fiercely when he got the chance again. He'd long since learned to never take the opportunity for granted. He held still as she let go and let her go through the inspection, hoping what she found there was better than those awful few weeks he'd had between the end of everything and Vallo. Even when the memory update had come he felt he hadn't been able to truly appreciate the memories of his reunion with his family because it had all been too short, and then coloured by his grief in the end.
Not like this.
"Yeah," he answered with a smile. "For a while now," a pause as his brow furrowed, trying to do the math in his head. "Past half a year or so maybe?"
Another point for an alternate timeline. The young man in front of her smiled in a way that was less heavy, less haunted, than what she had recently become used to.
"I like it," she declared, tugging on a curl before letting him go finally. Retha didn't veer far though, well within touching range as she continued to pick at lint on his clothes that only mom eyes could see. "Back home you're still growing it back after you buzzed it last summer, when you got annoyed with how long it had gotten."
Lance let his hands settle on his mom's forearms, as though letting go entirely might break the spell. He could vividly remember meeting Allura months ago in that dreamspace but this felt different. Real. And well, that they were standing in his kitchen was a bonus point in the real column.
There was a visible relief as his mom mentioned him back home, with the words last summer. Sure it was the theory they all subscribed to that they all existed here and back where they came from, that no one had simply vanished from their own world and timeline. But Lance had never truly been able to let go of the guilt of the what if. Could he really be blamed though, given everything he'd been through.
"Buzzed?" he said with a wrinkle of his nose. "I'm…" he paused and let out a slow breath. "I was worried I wasn't - there," he admitted, guilt seeping into his tone. "I'm glad I didn't just - you know, vanish. Like before."
The Garrison still had a lot of groveling left to do, as far as Retha was concerned. Trying to make her think her son was missing due to a pilot error. Her Lance had been top of his class! The nerve.
But she grew softer as he revealed his concerns to her. "I don't exactly understand what's going on here, mijo, but I saw you this morning back home when you left to meet with Katie and Hunk for breakfast. They were planetside and wanted to catch up, I think." She tried to remember what else Lance had said, as he had rushed out after feeding the chickens and getting a quick shower in, but it had been a quick babble of words that she had only been half paying attention to because she was getting breakfast ready for Luis and his kids who had been visiting.
But she did remember feeling good about it because it had been a departure from the somewhat melancholy cocoons Lance had wrapped himself up in. "So I don't understand what's going on, but there was no vanishing. You are there…and here? How is that possible? You look so different."
Honestly Lance was about two seconds away from crying in relief at that. He hadn't realized just how much he'd been holding onto anxiety over the idea of being missing again until he found out he wasn't.
He shrugged a little at the question. "None of us really know how it works? We've all just sort of figured it's magic or something and that we'll probably never really know. People just… show up?" A pause. "I showed up almost two years ago now." Of course he had been younger for some of it but that all seemed like too much complication to throw out at the moment.
"Hopefully a good different?" he asked with a playful grin. He knew there were some obvious - the hair already mentioned, he highly doubted his counterpart at home had a newly given runic tattoos on his bicep and forearm. But he wondered what his mama saw, the things only a mother could really pick up on. And oh god… was his neck clear of hickeys???, and his hand moved to the side of his neck as though he could feel them and tried to remember if Atreus had gotten a little carried away in the area - really it was about a 50/50.
He gave her arm a squeeze and moved to start pulling out some plates.
"It's…" she struggled to find the right word for it, making a little gesture in the air that meant to imply you know. "Different, mijo." Two years was a long time to be somewhere where she wasn't. Her eyes softened as she watched him move and shift around, doing his worst to hide that giant hickey she could see on his neck. "You at home, he is doing his best to remember, but move on. I think he may be considering taking up Keith's offer to join him, Shiro, and the Blades in their humanitarian efforts on New Daibazaal."
Then she reached over and pinched his side, once he put his plates down. "And the you here seems to be starting a harem." She reached up to poke the hickey that was glaring at her in the face. "What is this, huh? Which lover of yours gave you this? Have you given me grandbabies yet?"
Coffee was next as he put in a new filter and filled it with grounds, hitting the start button. It wasn't long before the sound of water heating and then percolating through the machine began, filling the kitchen with the smell of coffee in addition to the eggs. Monty followed him around and Lance grabbed the treat bag and tossed him a couple with a grin. "Good boy"
It wasn't a constant thought but he'd let his mind drift to what he'd be like at home from time to time. It was a weird sort of thing to think about. He was happy with his life in Vallo and aside from missing his family there wasn't much he'd trade. He also wasn't surprised to hear his mom speak of the differences though, and even without much confirmation Lance knew the him back home? Probably wasn't in the same place as he was here. Which was also weird to think of.
But his thoughts were replaced quickly with his mom pointing out that yes, there was a hickey there. Lance could feel his face flush and he was about to say something when his brain caught up with a few other words in there and confusion crossed his features. "Harem?" his brow lifted.
A pause. "Oh! Oh," he added as he realized his mom must have been poking around and they'd all but covered the fridge in random photos. "No harem," he started. "Just one person - Atreus. He uh - " Lance rubbed at his nose, mouth squished as he tried to think of the simplest way to put it. "Is part god, part Jötunn and can do a whole lot of stuff including shapeshift so mostly he looks like the guy in the photos and sometimes like the really pretty redhead and then sometimes he's animals." Lance shrugged. "So…. that's one of the things I've been up to since I've been here," with that he poured them coffee and handed his mom a mug. "Surprise?" A pause as he grinned a bit sheepishly. "But hey, I'm very intrigued that you thought I had a harem and your only concern was grandchildren."
…So her son had a thing for shapeshifters, it seemed. Which was a lane that Retha was absolutely not willing to go down. Nor was this talk of other gods. Retha might have come a long way from her conservative roots, but there were just some things that didn’t need to be talked about with your children.
But asking for grandbabies? That was always a topic for discussion.
“Well, Nadia and Sylvio are getting older and don’t spend nearly as much time with me anymore.” Which is to say all day every day. “And Lord knows when Marco will settle down. Veronica is still in crush stages and Rachel is focused on her education and I can’t say anything about that. So….” She smiled brightly at Lance. “You’re it. Tell me more about this Atreus while I plate our huevos rancheros.”
Monty, who had been exploring a corner of the kitchen with his given treats up until now, seemed to perk up at the mention of food and wandered over for what promised to be scraps for him.
Truthfully Lance hadn't been sure what his mom's reaction to any of it would be. It was something he'd thought of, both in best and worst case scenarios, as one tended to do. The worst always felt out of character though. And the sort of we're just going to gloss over and go back to grandkids thing was somewhere in the middle and for that Lance was grateful. He knew it was… A Lot. The kind of thing his own mind only really wrapped around so easily because he'd spent so many years exploring countless different worlds and planets, seeing things he'd never thought possible. That their little corner of Vallo had gods was easy to handle after all that.
Though there was a pang of sadness at the realization that this was most likely temporary. It felt temporary. That the grandkids his mama was so focused on were grandkids she'd never know. It was clear now the bear cub was not Yrsa, and it was a whole new little wave of sadness over that. It would have been nice to at least introduce one.
"She still hasn't made a move on Acxa?" he asked, almost offended. "Tell her I said to get on it," he added.
He moved their cups and cutlery to the table while he talked. "He's pretty great, Mama, you'll love him," even with all the culture shock bound to happen he was sure of that. "The worlds we come from are about as different as it gets but it never really felt like it mattered? Like we still just… get each other you know? He was friends with Shiro already when I showed up so I met him when I first got here and it was our one year anniversary just last week." Lance paused, smiled a little. "He's a big reason why I am where I am now,' he added. Happy, living his life as opposed to going through motions. "But the only grandbabies right now are of the animal variety," he said, a teasing smile on his lips. "They're all very adorable still though, we'll go for a walk after breakfast and I'll show you."
Despite knowing that she hadn’t been around for two years for this Lance, that she had no idea if she was ever going to see the rest of her family again, Retha was warmed by the look of pure happiness that was evident in everything Lance was saying and doing. He was happy. He was safe. And everything else could be figured out, even the grandchildren.
“Go wake up this Atreus of yours, if he’s here, so we can have breakfast together,” she said, taking a kitchen towel and whipping it at Lance. “I want to know everything about your lives here and there’s no better way to get to know someone than over food.” You could tell a lot about a person from the way they ate, as far as she was concerned. And given she had no idea what was really going on and where this was, how permanent or temporary the situation was, there was no time to waste now.
"He's here," Lance assured his mom. "It's about wake up time for us usually anyways," he added, the sun starting to peek through the curtains. Sleeping in was a rarity around these parts, but Lance didn't mind.
He pressed a quick kiss to his mom's cheek. "Be right back," he said before he headed back toward the bedroom. It was probably better this way anyways, intercepting Atreus before he could stumble into the kitchen naked like he was known to do.
And he was just a little excited to introduce Atreus. Sure it wasn't the whole family, but it was more than enough right then. A little piece of who he had been before space, before Vallo, a part of where he came from to share. The thought more than enough to keep a huge smile on his face as he moved back into their bedroom to wake up Atreus. It was going to be a good day.