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Aubrey had been sitting on the deck out back of Amnesty lodge for a good 40 minutes. She was staring out at the woodland, (which, being mainly pine, weren't much to look at on a good day), and playing with the ears of her sleeping rabbit. Mama watched this carry on for a couple more minutes before accepting that she was going to have to intercept this bad mood before it became something fire-stormy.
“Hey there kiddo,” she said, shutting the sliding door behind her.
“Lady Flame,” Aubrey corrected without turning around.
“Hey there, Lady Flame,” Mama corrected herself easily, “you were looking kinda quiet out here.”
Aubrey shrugged where she sat, running her hands over the silken ears of Doctor Harris Bonkers, “just thinkin’ about stuff.”
Mama lowered herself gingerly down beside her, “you've had a lot to think about of recent, I'd say.”
Aubrey let loose a dramatic sigh. The movement jostled Doctor Harris Bonkers and his nose twitched. Aubrey absently soothed him with a hand over his soft fur.
“Now what I was thinking,” said Mama after a pause, “is you looked like someone who might need a bit of mentoring this afternoon.”
“Oh I wasn't - I'm not thinking of - of Pine Guard stuff.”
“I never said you were, kid-i-mean - Lady Flame.” Mama hesitated, “you gonna tell me the problem? Or am I gonna have to get nosey?”
“It's -” Aubrey hesitated, “personal?”
Mama laughed, “ain't I a person? You can tell me about personal things if you want to, Aubrey-uh, Lady Flame. You don't got to of course.”
“Aubrey is… Fine. You can call me Aubrey.”
And she went quiet again.
“Here kid, I'll cut you a deal. How about Mama guesses what the problem is, and if I'm wrong you can tell me to fuck right off?” When Aubrey didn't respond, still staring out at the pines, she continued on, “I reckon you're out here moping 'cause you're sweet on one of our residents here. Dani, if I'm any judge. And you're feeling all self-sorry about that because you don't know if she likes girls, and you don't got a clue if there's rules about Silvains and non-silvains shacking up. Also, you don't know if she likes you back or if she's just a nice girl who likes rabbits.” At this point momma's sly grin grew face splitting, “and what's more, you're too shy to ask her about that.”
Aubrey's hands went still on Doctor Harris Bonkers, “I - how did you know, - I mean, I'm not - or, like - how - uh,” there was a pause while Aubrey gathered herself, the chains on her trousers jangling slightly, “do I look shy to you?”
Mama laughed softly, “ain't that just half the problem, kid? Correct me if I'm reading it wrong, but I'd say folks look at you, they see the piercings, they see your jacket 'n’ patches, your, whatchacallit, mohawk? Your fire hair,” she gestured to Aubrey's overall punk look, “folks get all caught up in the fact you wear heavy boots and they don't see that you're just a young lady who must have soft feelings sometimes the way any young lady might.”
The jiggling of Aubrey's leg sped up while Mama spoke. Finally, Doctor Harris Bonkers had enough and hopped off her lap. “I don't know that you know my life well enough to say things that, momma,” she said finally, folding her arms.
“oh I think you know I do, Aubrey,” said Mama easily, “I mean shoot. I'm a big lady. I carry big authority. I surely ain't the most feminine person you'd ever care to meet. That don't mean I don't occasionally meet a - a nice lady who makes me feel nervous like a little girl in pigtails again,” Mama shifted uncomfortably on the decking. She laughed a little, “you’re right that I'm really not one for personal conversations, Aubrey. But you should know, I've had the same experience.”
“I - do you, I" Aubrey grimaced a little, “to be honest Mama, I thought you and Barclay were. You know.”
The bubble of discomfort in Mama's chest popped. She laughed long and hard, tearing up more than a little. After a few seconds, Aubrey joined in, and the air between them got a lot more comfortable. “Well Jesus Aubrey you don't have much sense for these things do ya?”
Aubrey shrugged, her voice squeaky, “I guess not? I didn't know?”
“Well now then let me make it clear. Barclay and I have a lot in common. Namely, he would have a lot more interest in me if I had more in common with my brother,” she laughed, “and I'd have more interest in him if he had more in common with Moira.”
“Oh, you're into ghosts?”
They laughed again, and trailed off into silence. Doctor Harris Bonkers had not hopped far in his escape, and was sunning himself on the border of grass between the lodge and the trees. They watched him in comfortable quiet, absorbing the sounds of the songbirds who made their homes in the forbidding pines. Aubrey curled slowly up into a ball, hugging her knees to her chest and propping her chin on top of them.
“But to get back to my original point,” said Mama after a lull. “There ain't no real rule at all about silvains dating humans.” - and if there were, I'd be that much more confused about where your powers came from, she thought to herself - “y'all are free to love who you love, as they say.”
“Thanks, Mama,” said Aubrey softly.
“And with regards to that shyness of yours, well. I've known Dani a lot longer than you have, kid, and I'd say you're not running a real risk of her saying no to you.”
Aubrey jerked dramatically, kneeing herself in the face, “wait, really?! - ow - No. You're just saying that.”
“Oh, now. Do you really think she's lighting up that way every time anyone walks into the room? Nah, that's for you.”
Mama watched as a blush spread over Aubrey's face, reaching all the way to the tips of her ears, “oh,” she said.
“And I'll tell you one more thing I know about our Dani,” said Mama, settling back on the decking, propped up on her elbows, “but after that I'm shutting my mouth.”
“What is it, Mama?”
“Well only that she's in the lobby right now playing piano. She practices every evening, like clockwork. Of course she usually finishes her practicing twenty minutes back, but she's taken to lingering an extra half hour in case a certain someone wanders by, recently that is.”
Aubrey thought for a moment. She climbed carefully to her feet, tripped over thin air, caught herself, and scrambled upwards again. “I'm ok! Do I look ok?” she scrubbed her fingers against her scalp, trying to make her flame-dyed hair stand up. “I'm good I'm good. I'm cool it's cool. Could you -?”
“I'll watch your rabbit,” said Mama, “don't you even worry about that.”
Aubrey hesitated in the doorway, a pained expression on her face, “Doctor Harris Bonkers belongs to himself, Mama.”
“I will not impugn on the autonomy of this self directed rabbit in the time we both freely choose to spend together given you get yourself through that door and to the lobby right now.”
Aubrey flashed her a grin, all fire and dimples. “Thanks, Mama,” she said, and she was gone.
Mama watched the dusk gather beneath the trees for a quiet moment. She thought of her room back upstairs, the half packed bag under her bed. She thought of the city, she thought of the woods. She thought of Aubrey and Dani. She thought of herself at their age.
“- kid better not set any of our goddamn curtains on fire, swear to god,” she muttered to herself, and went to grab the rabbit before it hopped into the pines.