[Closed] Homecoming

[lifeofendurance]

WHO: Bethany and Al
WHAT: Al's back, Beth's back. Smooching ensues.
WHEN: After the island hoopla.
WHERE: Kirkwall, Gallows, their quarters
NOTES: FLUFF AND SMUSH. Additionally, maybe they should get a house? idk

The best part about coming home after being out on a covert investigative trip is... not being able to get in the door for all the crates. Aleron's patience is sturdy and unshakeable, but there are times it's very much challenged and this is one of them. A cursory examination of the shipping labels has the majority of these items coming from Orlais with a decent amount also coming out of Kaiten. Mama and Ravonild.

Each of the crates seems to have come with its own missive, hand written, not just detailing the contents but the purpose of it:

'This is the latest fashion out of Kaiten, which you are ignorant of, but would be most pleasing on your pretty wife. I have taken the liberty of rectifying your lack of concern for appearances and...'

'Darling, you must permit me to spoil you children' Not that they've either of them been children for some decades now. 'I am most certain that you are not doing an adequate job of presenting gifts to my beloved daughter-in-law. Therefore, I have sent you an offering which you may present and take the credit for.'

If crate upon crate of dresses and accessories weren't enough to wade through, there's a pile of correspondence waiting also. His favorite. Some of it's not so bad. A letter from Layla about her family, how the new baby is flourishing. Ravonild leaving not-so-subtle hints that she would like to foster Bryce with his uncle. Word from an old friend of his adolescence who didn't succeed with the Seekers and moved on to a private life. Financial statements from his mother's and sister's stewards. Less pleasant, are his twin's inane blathering about fashion and scandals among people he neither knows or cares about. Angry rants about Cade from people with opinions but no facts: he didn't do enough, he went too far. The worst, there's a long series of missives from Mama which grow more and more scathing for his neglect of her and demands for a reply.

He's halfway through that abusive series when his stoicism breaks. "Well, shit."

Aleron and Bethany have a problem. Mama insists on visiting. Maker, why?