Day twenty-nine! One more day, and I'll have written 30 one-shots! After that, it's off to editing the chapters for the main story, and trying to write one-shots every now and then. This has been fun, and it's given me a chance to look more into characters and ideas that I haven't recently.
Yesterday, I was thinking of children's books and I remember that there was one called something like "I love you this much" and I kind of wanted to reflect on that type of idea because, at the moment, there are three main sets of families in the series. Two you guys already know about – being Jinx/Dianite/Eris and Lara/Jay/Mara/Thanatos. The third family series, I want to keep hushed because there's a very important character we haven't mentioned, who I've been avoiding mentioning like I've been mostly avoiding giving away solid details about Jinx and Dianite's relationship. So, really, this is about Lara, Jay, Mara, and Thanatos, while giving away as little information about them as possible.
"Hey, Mom?"
"Yes?"
"How much do you love Dad?"
Lara tips her head, looking between her children. "I love your father more than I've ever loved anyone, and he loves me just the same," she answers. "I love him more than he loves to play pranks on Tom."
They nod, and Mara asks, "how much do you love us?"
"How much do I love you?" Lara repeats. She hums for a moment, contemplating her answer. When she comes up with one, she lowers to the twins' eye-level and smiles at the pair.
"I love you more than the moon and the stars love to light up the night sky," she answers. "Or the sun loves the day."
"How much is that?" Thanatos asks.
"So much more than anyone can ever imagine," she tells him. "I've met the sun and the moon, you know. They love their jobs very much, but I love you so much more than they love them. I love you enough to fill the Void."
"How much does Dad love us?" Mara asks.
"The two of you are his sky, his stars, his sun and moon, and everything else in his world," Lara replies. "Nothing could ever dare replace you to him."
The twins nod and Lara kisses their foreheads. "How much do you love me?" She asks.
"We love you more than Dianite's cookies," Mara answers. "And the way creeper explode when someone goes too close to them!"
Lara clicks her tongue, silently making a note to scold Jay for letting their children anywhere near creepers. Those horrible mobs could hurt the twins. She's confident they've had a discussion about the topic, too, but Jay always seems to do the opposite of what she asks.
"How much do you love your father?" Lara asks.
Thanatos shifts on his feet and offers a tiny smile. "We love Dad more than he hates the Void."
Lara laughs. "That's quite a lot that you love us both, then." She tussles their bangs. "And we love you just as much. You are loved, sweethearts. Never forget that. Never fear that you could do wrong by us. Nothing you do could ever be bad."
"Even if we plant cactus outside of Jordan's house?" Mara asks.
"That's punishable for being rude, but it's not bad," Lara informs.
Mara nods and Thanatos speaks up, "So you'll always love us?"
"Forever," she confirms. "Nothing will ever take away our love for you. No matter what happens, you're our children and we love you. You both and your father are the best things that have ever happened to me, and I know your father feels the same about the three of us."
The twins nod and run off to play. Lara smiles, returning to what she'd been doing, satisfied that her children understand just how important to her they are.