1.18 Not-Mama

Sage gets in some guitar practice. Just because she's on vacation doesn't mean she'll neglect her duties. 

But after a while the thought of her defenseless toddler alone with her scatterbrained mother claws her away from her music. 

Sage barely registers Naomi safe and intact before zeroing in on the doll in her arms. 

"Bobo," Naomi coos, "My Bobo." 

"Mother, what is she doing with that thing?" 

"What, the doll? Sage, I didn't think you could be so unkind to one of your own-," 

"I am not an imaginary friend, and neither are you!" Sage spits with venom, "That thing is just a doll! I don't want my daughter growing up believing in nonsense." 

Sage's mother looks up at her meekly, "Sagey, please-," 

"No! No mother, I'm not Sagey or a doll or whatever you think I am! I'm just Sage and you're just Gaia! That's all!" 

Gaia frowns, looking deeply troubled. "But...he turned me real! He really did, Sage! Jeremy really gave me that potion..." 

At the mention of her father's name, Sage looks down guiltily. 

"We can agree to disagree, mother," she says, barely audible, "I'll just...get me and Naomi ready." 

Sage decides the best thing to do is get some air. She leaves her mother to tend to her garden while she and Naomi go out for a stroll. 

Naomi giggles excitedly, pointing at all the new sights. She's never seen so much green! 

"Naomi," Sage hisses, noticing the stare of a passerby, "That's no way to act in public." 

"Pwetty!" Naomi shrieks, deaf to Sage's propriety, "Pwetttty!" 

"Shhhh. Yes, the arboretum is pretty, Naomi." 

Sage came here often in high school after her shift in the mausoleum. The arboretum would be closed by then, but it was always so quiet and peaceful here. No piles of laundry to tidy up after her mother, or forgotten bills to check. She could just sit here and do her homework, undisturbed. Often, when she came home her mother would be asleep or would hardly have noticed her absence. 

It's nice to be here during the day, Sage decides. She can go inside the arboretum for a tour for once. 

Several hours later, mother and daughter emerge from the pretty glass house. The sun has descended during their tour. There's a small group of people in the corner, listening to an impromptu guitar playing session. 

Sage stops to listen. The woman is obviously unpracticed and her strings not tuned properly. Sage shakes her head; amateur. 

Soon enough it's time to go home. 

"Box!" Naomi points out. 

"Yes, it's a mailbox," Sage agrees tiredly. An indication that they're almost home. 

When Sage arrives home she finds her mother quietly absorbed in a book. 

Placing Naomi on the floor, Sage takes a seat next to Gaia on their rickety old "couch". 

"How was your day, mother?" Sage attempts polite small talk. 

Gaia doesn't answer. Sage allows for a pause. 

"Mother, you know I'm here and I know that you know. How was your day?" Sage prompts as patiently as possible. Gaia's only answer is sullen silence. 

Sage clenches her fist with frustration, but wills it to go away. 

There's someone she needs to call. 

***

Naomi glances up curiously. This time mama didn't get mad at her for playing with Bobo, but she's not too sure about this other lady. The not-mama. She scoots a little closer to Sage's legs, keeping her eyes averted from the stranger. 

"Thank you for meeting me on such short notice," Sage says, looking relieved. Sage wasn't sure if she would be able to make it here from...wherever she was working. 

"Naaah, it was a piece of cake, really! Just an hour on the train and bam, already back from Starlight Shores!" 

"That's... far," Sage remarks, "Did they make the trains faster while I was gone?" 

She scratches her head guiltily, "I might have possibly used a spell to teleport to the train station by Riverblossom hills instead-," 

"-Willow you know there are rules about that-," 

"-and maybe I teleported in the middle of my work shift to get here on time?" 

"And I gather you didn't tell anyone in Starlight Shores where you were going."

When Willow grins sheepishly, Sage just sighs. 

"You were always a troublemaker." 

Willow shrugs, "I don't think they'll miss me anyways." 

Willow then looks down and, seemingly for the first time, notices Naomi playing. 

She breaks into a grin, "Is she yours? She's way too cute." 

"Willow, you can't keep taking everything so lightly! I said to come over if you could. I don't want to get you fired over this..." 

Willow looks down at her shoes, "What if I told you I didn't like my job anyways?" 

"You, not liking working for Ayden Van Gould? Wow, I'm astonished." 

Willow looks up guiltily, "Oh you heard about that?" 

"Mother told me. I'm surprised- I thought you hated him because he was 'uppity' and 'bland'." 

Willow shudders, "He's definitely all those things. But he's not...the worst boss. That's as much as I'll ever praise the man." 

Willow suddenly but warmly hugs Sage. "But let's not talk about him. I'm so happy to see you! It's been forever." 

Sage returns the hug, "It really has been. But what is it that you always kept saying in high school? Cousins are cousins for life?" 

Willow laughs, "Even 'fake' cousins, yeah. I'm glad you remember." 

It would be rude to delve into her problems with her mother right away, so Sage happily engages in some small talk with Willow first. 

"So looks like we both achieved our dreams- you're a stuffy musician in some far off town and I'm bouncing all over the place and practicing my magic," Willow summarizes. "Wow. Do you like it? The job, I mean. Did it live up to your expectations?" 

Sage laughs, "Both yes and no. It's not much like here like I wanted, but working in a small town presents some...social constraints." 

"You mean you couldn't be as formal and bossy as you would've liked?" Willow replies teasingly. 

"There's a reason there are protocols and regulations, Willow!" Sage snaps. 

Willow rolls her eyes, "Yeah, to be disobeyed. Duh." 

They look at each other for a moment before laughing. 

"Oh, speaking of disobeying rules..." Willow rises to answer her phone. She's given her workplace a special ringtone which is shrilly playing now. 

"Yes, just carry on as if I'm not here," Sage says, mildly sarcastic. 

"Heeeeey Rob, how's it goin'?" 

Sage can tell from the stream of expletives from Rob's end that it's not going particularly well. 

"Look, a family emergency came up and I had to go, alright? Blood's thicker than water." 

"Ha, but is it thicker than your paycheck? Because you're fired." With that, Rob hangs up the phone. 

"That sounded serious." 

"Nah, don't worry about it. Rob was a hardass, anyways." 

"Willow-," 

"Look, whatever, I'll handle it! Now, you wanted to meet me here for a reason, right?" 

Sage sighs, "Yes, yes I did. Mother is simply too old to care for herself anymore. She sleeps on the floor, Willow. And she can't even remember to refrigerate her food. I'm worried, and you're the only person I could think of to call." 

Willow nods somberly, "I get what you mean. I came down here a few days ago to help her set up for your visit and everything was a mess. I tried to call Nozomi, but there's not much she can do. She had, like, a bajillion kids with Taras and has her own stuff to deal with. So it's just us." 

"Look, on my end, money isn't much of a problem. I can send some to mother every month, but who will take care of her? I don't even know if care for the elderly exists here- it's all taken care of by family, and I can't uproot my life to be here for her. And neither can you. What a mess." 

They both look sadly off into the distance for several minutes. 

When suddenly, Willow has an idea. 

She paces, thinking. Usually magic helps centre her thoughts, so she conjures a bottle of milk for Naomi. 

Still thinking, she plays with a summoning spell. Push and pull, push and pull. 

It takes most of her concentration to keep the item in this in between state. Neither here nor there. 

When she finally finishes the spell, she has the beginnings of a plan. The solution is neither here-with her- or there, in Riverview with Sage. 

It's somewhere else. Somewhere in between. 

Hours later after she and Sage have said their goodbyes and have finished catching up, she zooms across the town, ready to put her plan into action. 

She's ready. All she has to do is ask for a favor. 

Sage comes home to say goodbye. 

"I have work tomorrow afternoon, so me and Naomi have to head off in a few hours," Sage tells her mother. 

Gaia sighs unhappily, "Already? We didn't even get to go to the beach..." 

Sage smiles thinly, "The beach here isn't very nice anyways. We aren't missing much." 

Gaia sighs again, "You're such a workaholic, Sagey. Would it kill you to have some fun?" 

Sage bites her tongue, "We're not going to have this argument again. We both know I have to go, mother." 

It's on those words that Sage begins to gather up Naomi and their things. The two women regard each other silently. 

There's just nothing left to say. 

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AN: "But what was the point of this mini-arc?" you might be asking. "Aren't more questions raised than answered?" 

Probably. 

But I wanted to touch upon some of Sage's past and show a few reasons for why she might be the way she is. 

Plus I missed Willow! She was the founder of a legacy I used to play but not blog. I'm playing her re-booted legacy right now, it's a lot of fun!