Now, the inspiration for today’s scene is the fact that the words “moth” and “mother” look similar.
And that’s really all there is to it.
“Mom!” Leo exclaims. “Are you eating one of my sweaters?”
Leo watches as his mother blushes and her antennae droop in embarrassment. She’s holding one of his old sweaters, which has several rather conspicuous chunks bitten out of it.
“Mom,” Leo groans. “You can’t just go rummaging around my closest without asking. Especially if you’re just looking for a snack!”
“S-Sorry, dear,” Luna mutters contritely to her son. “It’s just that I haven’t seen you wear this one for years. And red isn’t really your colour, dear — you really do look better in blue. And it’s genuine Makelandic wool. And, well, I am a moth.”
Leo loves his adoptive mother, and is eternally grateful that the moth-woman took him in, raised him as her own, and has been the only family he’s ever know. Although it’s a bit awkward being the only non-Wilderling living in a Wilderling village, Leo has no regrets about the life he’s had up to this point.
Even so, he can’t help but wish his mother would be a little better at reining in her mothly instincts.
Especially where his wardrobe is concerned.
“We have plenty of people food in the kitchen, Mom,” Leo says.
“Sorry, dear,” Luna mutters again.
“Come on, Mom,” Leo says. “Let’s go to the kitchen.”
It’s just the two of them, so their house isn’t very big, but the walls are covered in row upon row of shelves housing Luna’s many, man decorative lamps. She collects them, and can spend hours just staring at them, enjoying their gentle glow. Of all his mother’s moth-like tendencies, he prefers that one to her propensity for snacking on his old clothes.
Her favourite lamp is the one wrought in the likeness of King Lambert, the legendary first ruler of a united Gallicantu.
She calls it ‘King Lamp-bert.’
“Oooh,” Luna says as they pass by a lit lamp. “Shiny.”
She stops mid-stride, her now attention utterly on the lamp.
Leo sighs, gives his mother’s arm a gentle tug and guides her the rest of the way to the kitchen, though she continues to gaze over her shoulder at the lamp.
Leo instructs his mother to sit down at the kitchen table as he begins to search the cupboards for something other than his old clothes for his mother to eat.
Soon, he returns and sets down the bowl on the table.
“Here,” Leo says. “There’s still some salad left over. We don’t we eat that?”
Luna nods and reaches for the bowl.
Leo breathes a sigh of relief.
“Thank you, dear,” Luna says. “You’re so thoughtful and generous. Now, come give your mother a hug.”
Leo groans but obliges, letting his mother pull him in close for a tight hug.
“I love you, dear,” she says.
“I love you too, Mom,” Leo answers.
A brief silence fills the kitchen as Leo embraces his mother.
“Mom,” Leo asks, breaking the silence. “Are you still eating my sweater?”
Luna answers with her mouth full.
“…No.”
If you haven’t caught on by now, I give most of my characters names that are either puns or references to things. So, naturally, Luna seemed like a good name for a moth-woman.
“Leo” (which means Lion) was just the first male name I happened upon that I liked, though there is a family of moths called sphinx moths, which is lion-adjacent — sphinxes being lions with people faces. Incidentally, there are also tiger moths, which is the same general ballpark as lions.
However, in this case, “Leo” is just a name I liked, not a reference to anything.
And with that, Week 3 is done. I’ll be posting a recap later today.
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