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“MOM YOU CAN’T!” Kate’s daughter, Alicia, shouted with her hands on her hips and a furious look on her face.
Kate tried to keep composure and remain calm. She had figured this might be a problem when it got to obvious and considering the age gap. Adrian tried to stay stoic as well while Kate tried to manage her daughter’s not entirely unjustified outburst, “Sweetie I know it’s a little weird, and a little different but…”
“A little different?!” She half asked, half shouted, “He’s like a YEAR older than me, one damn year! and my MOM is talking about moving in with him?”
“I know I…” Kate paused trying to figure out how to phrase things. Adrian was the young man who had given her the flower crown at the festival, the young man she had met in the woods, and brought back to her room. Their relationship had blossomed form there and nether she nor he felt like it was wrong. The fact that Adrian was only 19 seemed like a passing issue. He had a decent carpenter’s apprenticeship and could support her, not that Kate needed to be supported, and she couldn’t deny how she felt.
She had set aside the surety she had that the spirits of the forest somehow led them to each other, that would just make her sound insane to her daughter. She had to admit her daughter had a point, she had recently turned 18 herself and was having a rather hard time finding a man. The fact that this whole village was all herbivores, mostly deer, didn’t make things easier. Sergals were apex of apex predators after all. These people had taken them in and Kate was eternally grateful for them, but there were those that were unnerved by their teeth and their claws. Alicia had gotten attention from the boys for being a bit wild and willing to trade flowers for a flash at the seasonal festivals, but was having a hard time finding a real boyfriend. Kate new her daughter’s only options were outside her own species, unless she wanted to date one of her brothers.
All in all Kate understood her frustration, and then to have her mother end up with a boy that was basically her own age was a lot to take. Kate wasn’t sure if it was just the weirdness of it, or if Alicia might be jealous that Kate found someone when she couldn’t. Telling her that probably wouldn’t help much though so she tried to be rational, “Sweetie, I.. I seem to remember you encouraging him to offer me the flowers at the spring festival back when we first moved here.”
Alicia sputtered, “I didn’t think you’d actually DATE him!” she was spiraling, “I just thought it was funny to tease you into flashing him.. i… I.. DAMMIT. You can’t!”
“Sweetie I understand your feelings, but you can’t dictate…” Kate tried but wasn’t making much headway.
“You can’t YOU can’t YOU CAN’T” Alicia shouted, red faced and bearing all her serrated teeth.
Kate could practically feel Adrian shift uncomfortably at that. As much as the dear boy tried not to, he did still have his instincts, and Kate couldn’t have her daughter acting like this, “ACLICIA. You are an ADULT, you are 18 now, and you HAVE to start acting like it!”
“If im an adult now you can’t tell me what to do!”
“And you can’t tell me what to do either!”
“AAAAAAHHGGG” Alicia roared then turned and stormed off leaving Kate and Adrian alone in the house.
Kate sighed and sat down rubbing her temples, “That went poorly”
“Ya..” Adrian agreed, “I mean I do sort of get it. She’s … well she was in my peer group at school before my apprenticeship… I do get the weird here”
Kate leaned on him and purred a bit at his warmth, “I know, the 19 year old and the 34 year old isn’t THAT out there normally, but given that I have an 18 year old daughter…”
the gears turned in Adrian’s head, “hey baby. I know you... don’t’ like talking about your past much, but… that you have made you…”
“I know. I was 15 when I gave birth to her, and only a year older when I had my sons. They… weren’t, well…”
“Planned?” Adrian offered.
“Consensual” Kate said flatly. She had tried not to talk about this. Her past was a secret from almost everyone, but she would have to let Adrian in, even for this, and she knew it.
Adrian looked horrified, “Ohh.. Oh my god Kate!” He was suddenly hugging her and running his fingers up her spine like she liked.
Despite her foul mood the argument and this particular topic had put her in she smiled and leaned on him, “Don’t. It’s been almost 20 years since then, you know. I’m fine now”
“I… I … Ya I get it, still” Adrian still held onto her which she appreciated, “It’s a bit nuts that I wish I could go back in time and stop … that”
“You were an infant” Kate reached up and scratched around the base of his antlers to compliment the back scratches he was giving her.
“ya… fair point”
“I just may have to think, and see if I can get some advice.”
“I’m not sure I know anymore than you would on how to approach this with her… I mean we can promise that she won’t have to see me like her stepdad or anything. I mean that would eb super weird for me too.”
“Heh ya… I wish my own parents were here, but there is… well”
“The spirit of the forest?” Adrian asked, “I have felt them too, but this… er… direct line you seem to have is different to say the least.”
Kate shrugged, “Maybe they like me. Want to come?”
“Should I?” Adrian asked, “You usually go alone, and I get the ‘call’ I guess you could call it, when I get random urges to follow you into the woods.”
“Alright. Well I guess we’ll call you if we need you, baby” Kate stook up and went for her coat prepping to head out into the woods was a little more involved now that snow had started to fall.
Adrian hugged her from behind as she got her cloak on, nuzzling her neck while being careful not to accidentally poke her with his antlers, “If you plan on you know. stripping. when you get out there, keep it to a minimum. Frostbit isn’t worth it.
“Will do my dear” She kissed him again and then walked off into the forest. Near instantly she started to feel better once she was out of sight of the village. Barely half a mile out and she was starting to feel warm, and protected, like she always did, but the warmth told her it was all fine to do what she normally did on her walks.
Without removing her cloak she slowly shed article after article until once again it was just her and the forest without anything between them, “I almost consider you my lover as well you know” She said addressing the woods itself in response to the usual warm tingles she felt coming from it when she went for walks like this, “But, now I’m not so much here for release as I’m here for some advice. Can we talk?”