They had been home for three days and Lowks was still trying to figure out how to broach this subject with his parents. Not Vixen, he was pretty sure his mother had noticed even though she had not said anything.
It was a related topic though. And he already gone ahead and taken the first steps towards doing this. He really needed to do this now…
He finally just decided to tell them while they were sitting down to a meal. He kept his tone matter-of-fact, so that he would sound confident and resolved.
"You're moving out?" His mother looked at him with a raised eyebrow. Then she shrugged, "Okay then."
"You're not going to try to talk me out of this?" He was a bit surprised. His mother had always dissuaded him whenever he tried to bring it up before. This time though she seemed almost to be expecting it.
"Well, you seem to be courting in order to get a wife. Can't expect you to bring her to your parent's house to live. You are courting Vixen, aren't you?"
"He is." Tira chipped in before Lowks could answer.
"About time that girl came around." His mother looked pleased, "How soon till you two actually tie the knot?"
"…" He gave his mother a deadpan, "Well, I haven't even asked her to marry me yet, so… how would I be able to answer that?"
"You haven't? What are you waiting for?"
"…" Lowks looked down at his plate, "I wanted to talk to you about moving out first, and talk to her mom as well."
"Have you yet?"
"I tried to." Lowks was not really sure how much Vixen's mom had actually been paying attention though. In the end he had left unsure, but at least he had made the attempt.
"Well, anyway. Once you move out, my son, do visit often. And bring Vixen along as well."
"Of course." Lowks looked over at his father wondering if he would have anything to add.
But instead of saying anything about his son's development of a relationship, Lowks's father turned to Tira with the smallest hint of a smile, "What about you, chickapee? You got any romantic ventures we need to know about?"
Something about his father's smile seemed a little dangerous. Their father had always been overprotective, which was probably why his daughter had never really had any men chasing her…
Tira just shrugged, and said enigmatically, "Not as of yet…"
"Who's the boy? Do I need to – "
"Father…." Tira looked just slightly annoyed now, "I'm old enough to think about getting married. So let me look, I won't choose someone you wouldn't approve of."
Lowks nodded, his sister had a good head on her shoulders. "Yeah. I don't think you need to worry about her tastes. Um, can I go? I told Vixen I would hang out with her some."
All three of his family looked at him and then shooed him away. He smiled a bit helplessly as he left the house. He was glad though. That had gone well. Much better than the last time he had mentioned moving out.
He loved his family and all, but he was already thirty-five. Even as a half-elf that was old enough that he should probably not keep living with his parents. But when they really enjoyed him being around there was not much he could say.
Planning on getting married though gave him a reasonable reason to give for moving out.
As he headed to meet with his sweetheart he tried to stamp down his nerves. It was rather hard though. And though he did fairly well of keeping an outward appearance of calm, he actually had some difficulty with his actual feelings.
And when he saw Vixen he became even more a mess internally. He forced himself to keep smiling and not to let any indication of his inner turmoil became clear.
The girl he loved ran over to him as soon as she saw him and slipped her arm into his. She looked so happy that it made Lowks very hopeful for the future and he felt himself calming down. He was sure she really did like him and that made this much easier on his heart.