rough draft

"It's out of the question! I'm not going to thin our defenses even more by sending a whole platoon of soldiers to aid the wolf tribes!" Elias barked defiantly in the council chamber. "Besides" he continued with a sigh as he sat back down on his throne, "by your own admission Lupe the tribes would be able to protect themselves if they stopped fighting with each other."

The wolf flattened her ears and furrowed her brow at the king and his council, all of which seemed to be decidedly content with Elias speaking for the room, a rare occasion. "My...liege, you must understand that the tribes are not all one country, while there are sects of us who are willing to put aside our differences for a common enemy there are just as much of us who cannot see past generations upon generations of clan and family feuds. I have tried my hardest to get them to see through their hate but have failed, repeatedly. I come to you not because I think your forces are the easiest solution but because I do not see another solution for me and my people." Lupe pleaded to them in a none-too-pleased tone and face. "Furthermore we are the only sovereign territory between Eggman's eastern forces and your kingdom's farm lands. Are you really sure that you want to continue to ignore that side of our boarder when the only country standing in Eggman's way from destroying your food supply is mine and here I am begging you for help. I will not judge against you or the kingdom for the decision to not help my people but in turn you cannot expect me to thoroughly defend our territory especially when we already have trouble guarding most of boarder as is." Lupe reinforced and reminded the politicians.

Elias sighed and began rubbing his temple, looking around the room he could see that at the very least Lupe's word had struck hard with Hamlin and Chuck which almost made him grin. Lupe's act was working and he was certain the rest of the Acorn Council was equally as worried. Of course he knew that the wolf tribes would need reinforcements from them and that it was hardly an option considering Eggman only needed a few extra kilometers to start launching another bombardment on the capital and with the added devastation that he'd have direct access to their main farmlands which would be catastrophic for them all. Him and Lupe met eyes for a moment and he saw just for an instant a glint in her eyes and her ears unflattened before she went straight back to the face she made before, the council none the wiser. The Mid-day sunlight poured through the translucent windows washing the room in a faintly blue and red glow with the center of the room casting a deep shadow of the Acorn Republic's emblem. Elias briefly mused in the back of his mind at how lovely the chamber always looked and how many minds and talents had to come together to make such a wonderful spectacle a daily occurrence however there were more pressing matters at hand and after a moment of silence Elias had decided to steer the debate towards negotiations before Rosemary yipped "I believe my husband and his platoon are currently serving the frontlines as supply runners due to the southern front having less skirmishes correct, Elias?" she turned towards him as she spoke. Elias cocked an eye wondering what kind of power game she was about to try and pull on him. "Yes, the southern front has been somewhat calm and stable now for a few months, I suppose we can take him and his men over to them but I must tell you that we don't need to send your husba-" Elias attempted to answer but was cut off by Rosemary again "I would actually prefer if he was the one we sent over. Lupe has already promised us that they would be housed and taken care of." Rosemary began as she turned towards Lupe, her eyes slitting "That is still being promised, right?"

"Of course, your mate and his men would be treated with the best care and housing we can give them." Lupe answered swiftly, her face softening to try and erase any form of hostility or distaste from the conversation. "I would even offer you to come if that is what we arrive to and you do not trust your mate's fidelity." she continued half joking and half serious. Rosemary did not take too kindly to the quip, her ears flattened with her eyes began hurling hundreds of insults without words to the wolf. "Are you suggesting you plan to try my husband's fidelity because if so we can both take care of that right now in the courtyar-." "Woman this is not the time and place for you to lose your composure." Elias interrupted, stopping Rosemary from doing something both canids were going probably going to regret. Rosemary shot her glance towards Elias, he held her gaze for a moment letting her know he was not scared of her, even if he was pretty sure she'd slice his throat in his sleep right now judging by the daggers her eyes were throwing at him. Elias resumed "Well I suppose we can bring Amadeus and his men over to your boarder to reinforce your men but only by the graces of the council and specifically Rosemary. I don't want this to turn into an even more bitter rivalry between Acorns and the Prowers."

Elias picked up the treaty parchment that him and Lupe had already written and worked on and began to pass it to each council member for a signature and a simple yes or nay.
Hamlin: "Yes"
Chuck: "Yes"
Dylan: "Yes?"
Penelope: "Yes"
Isabella: "Nay"
When the paper came to Rosemary she locked eyes on Elias for a moment, she let out a deep sigh to expel the rising anger in her chest. "The reason I offered my husband for the role is because I would feel far safer knowing he's in ally territory being taken care of by civilians rather than on the frontlines where almost anything can go wrong. If the canine can promise my husband's safety then I will say yes." She explained and addressed Lupe with a tilt of her head. "I cannot promise complete since him and his men will be needed on the frontlines there too occasionally but when we are not using your men, I guarantee you we will give them the best care, supplies and housing we can." she answered. The vixen nodded in acceptance "I understand the situation, very well. You have my graces. Yes." Rosemary granted to the king and the wolf as she signed her name with the crimson ink that all officials of the Republic are required to do, deliberately making her signature have more flair than the rest, a slight way of her undermining the king in her own head. She passed it over to Elias who read over the document one more time before giving his declaration. "Very well, with a near unanimous vote the Republic of Acorn shall heed the pleas of the Matriarch of the Wolf Tribes, Lupe Wolfe and grant her and her nations supplies and manpower to support their boarders. In return the Republic and all of it's citizens and entities can move freely between the countries and the Wolf Tribes who have signed onto this document shall be considered direct and honorable allies to the Kin-Republic of Acorn and will be treated with the respect such an ally is due." Elias declared as he stamped the treaty with the seal of approval. "Now then, unless there are any other pressing matters that the council wishes to discuss I believe the sooner me and Lupe can come up with a concrete plan to move our men and supplies over, the better." Elias stated as he looked quizzically at the rest of the council. None raised their hand or voice other than Chuck "Baaaah, we've all been sitting here for hours doing nothing but trying not to kill each other, I'm sure we'd all like to call it a day and go home already my lord." The rest either nodded or simply looked back as Elias to wait for his dismissal.

"Very well, I hereby dismiss the Council of Acorn for today. We will reconvene tomorrow to discuss any other policies that might come up." Elias dismissed as he neatly placed the treaty into a folder with it's related materials. The rest of the council members either started gathering their belongings or in Rosemary and Chuck's case they simply began to walk out the chamber. Rosemary rubbed her eyes as she began to walk down the hall towards the exit of the council letting the nagging headache of her having to listen to Elias and Hamlin talk for the last 6 hours finally begin to subside, she needed some fresh air and sunlight.

As the guards parted the doors to the front courtyard and the brisk, cool air of Winter carressed her face and fur Rosemary squinted her eyes as they briefly stung from the brighter, unfiltered sunlight beaming down on her. As her vision became clearer the colors of Castle's garden it's overview of the rest of the city became more vivid and defined, the walk-way to the rest to exit the courtyard glowing in the light of the sunlight parting the grounds with both ends met by tall and tamed brushes sprinkled with bright red and blue roses in full bloom. Rosemary continued down the path, unbuttoning and loosening her uniform's jacket to give her body more room to breath. She hated having to wear thick clothing just for the sake of professionalism when her natural coat alone gave her almost 10 extra pounds of fur, even with just a blouse she'd sometimes be too warm. As her mind emptied itself of all work related manners the space almost immediately filled with the intrusive thoughts she's been trying to keep buried. The vixen rubbed her temples and closed her eyes as she exited the courtyard and entered the bustling and ever-used streets that lead to and from the castle. The city's entire road system was based around meeting between one of the three exits through the walls and the nation's capital. She, much like most other foxes, hated being around such noise and commotion it made it harder for her to keep her mind in check.

Sitting down on the bench and pulling the sign to signal the next bus to stop Rosemary tried to quiet down the outside noises and calm her inner thoughts, despite the efforts though, the questions that her and Amadeus asked themselves the first week they suddenly got teleported back home came back to haunt her.
"Amadeus, I told you back when we broke up I didn't hate you but..."
"I understand and I've moved on too, but now what do we do? Neither of us expected things to happen like this and it's not fair to him for either of us just to leave so I think our best option right now is just to play pretend?"
"Pretend at what Amadeus? I still love our child, I always will and I don't want to hurt him. Are you sure you don't want to at least genuinely try to get together again? For his sake?"
"Both of us know that won't work...Listen, I'm being offered my old military status back. I'm probably going to be going on the frontlines as soon as I think I'm ready for it and Tails and his friends are already out there daily. I love Tails too and at least like this I can be as close to him as possible and keep an eye on him. It also gives us the excuse to not be around each other and hope we don't kill the other. It's nothing against you Rosemary. But like you said, it's been years and that fire has long died. As for what you can do, that'll be up to you but let's try and do what's best for both of us and our child, okay?"
"I understand but that's just putting off the proble-"

The ring-powered trolley pulled up to Rosemary's stop with wailing breaks and the release of hydraulic pressure, thankfully interrupting her daydream. It's been months already and yet she doesn't feel comfortable with the whole situation her, Amadeus and Tails have found themselves in. Truth be told her and Amadeus were already on shaky ground before they got abducted and while the share of strife and tragedy deepened their understanding of each other it only made both of them that much more sure they weren't to be lovers after all. At this point though that had been almost 5 years ago back on that alien planet when they made things official, neither of them at that point were convinced they'd ever get their old life back and they tried to move on. Now here they both were with their son again, bright and tear-eyed just to see them again and now they have to completely re-establish their bond with him while also trying to let him understand that they aren't together and haven't been for a long time. Rosemary gave the passcard that Nicole had issued to her along with most other high level government workers to the yellow feathered trolley conductor he handed it back to her with so much as a hat tip and a nod and began down the road towards the foxes' residential district. She found her seat near the back and tried to gaze out the window in order to try and dwell less on the problem itself and more on solutions.

The deeper Rosemary thought of the situation the more she grew convinced that maybe she just wasn't cut out for being a mother. She had no idea how to treat Tails now since he's effectively an entirely different boy than he was before and on top of that within the first month of being there her and Amadeus started a fight between him and his Best friend, Sonic. Then there was the fact that she just generally didn't even know what she should be doing as a mother at his age. What did she have to do to make sure he's raised well? Should she try to make him stay home more so that he can be safe? Should she just let him continue helping the Freedom Fighter's because of how valuable he is to the effort against Eggman and the fact that they're his family as well? Hell she didn't even know what he was exactly into these days beyond electrical stuff. "I spent so much time away from here that I completely forgot about him...It's like I'm starting motherhood all over again..." Rosemary whispered to herself as she rubbed her eyes to prevent tears from falling and her ears flattened against her will. She hated this, every time her mind drifted to this all she felt guilt and shame, neither of which actually helped her and is why she has tried to avoid the topic with Tails altogether. Which only compiled on top of the guilt she felt. She needed someone to talk to, to vent to but there wasn't much options out there...As the thought crossed her mind she opened her eyes and on the side of the road she noted a young vulpine couple holding hands down the street. The couple couldn't have been more than a few ages older than her own son and she smirked. "At the very least mating season is here so maybe I could find myself a man to help me through it." she giggled to herself.

Inevitably the trolley came to a stop at the end of the entrance to the neighborhood the Prower household was and as Rosemary stepped off the cart she was greeted with a glomp from her own flesh and blood, Tails. "Mom! I got home a few hours ago, I didn't know when you would get home so I decided to just finish cleaning the house for you!" Tails exclaimed as he buried his snout into her fur. "Tails, sweetheart! You didn't need to do that. Why didn't you get Nicole to call me? I would have came home if I knew you were going to be here." Rosemary answered back with her own embrace and began rubbing the back of his head. "No worries, I wanted to treat you because I know you said your work stresses you." Tails cooed as he parted the hug and looked up at his mother he wore a somewhat troubled look for just a moment before continuing "and besides...I wanted to just spend some time with you an-" Rosemary hushed him with another hug and buried him into her chest. "Oh sweetheart don't ever think you're not important enough to me to drop what I'm doing for you." Rosemary assured Tails. "It-it's not like I blame you. It's just how things have been.." Tails tried to reassure her but found it difficult to breath while being smothered by her, he didn't stop or resist though. He curled one of his tails up with his mother's, a very intimate thing for vulpines. It's what he wanted from her anyway.

After a few seconds Rosemary loosened her grip on Tails and allowed him to distance himself, they held each others gaze for a moment before Tails broke out a small laugh. "I love you, mom!" Tails exclaimed. "I love you too, Tails" Rosemary responded maternally with her own smile and laugh. Tails turned and started towards the house an almost instinctual urge shot through her arm, she wanted to grab him out of the road without looking but when she looked herself there was nothing in sight. She sighed to herself, both relieved and flustered that she still had such reflexes and followed suit with her son. "So how was your day anyway sweetheart? I don't get to hear too much about your adventures." Rosemary quarried, catching up to her son's pace. "Oh, I just did some basic repairs to the Tornado today, nothing too big really I just had to replace some engine engine hooks, a propeller, a plate on the back win-"

Rosemary's face grew more and more scared until she had to interrupt with a bark "Exactly what the hell are you doing? I knew you were on the frontlines but you told me you were mostly doing communications and scouting! Why is your plane getting hit so hard?" she bombarded the kit with concerned intensity. Tails flattened his ears and waved his hands in a submissive posture "Ahhhh hahah okay I might be flubbing a bit on how much 'scouting' I'm doing heheh." the kit surrendered. They had made it to the porch and already Tails could tell this was going to be a difficult day between them. She had already shot straight through his avoidance and he didn't know exactly how long he could keep the play up before she became more prying.

As Rosemary opened the door and let in Tails should couldn't help but notice the slight but barley noticeable flick in the tip of one of his tails, she pondered what could be irking him so much. She already knew he was lying about how much danger he was in but she didn't guess that he was what sounded like heavy combat and dog-fights. She felt the need to yell at him but she knew that it wouldn't be fair for either of them and it'll only make him shut in more. Whatever it was she was going to have to pull it out of him but she had to do so gently and with care. She smiled as her nose began to fill with the scent of Winter Mint and she took a deep breath. She examined the room around and the place was practically immaculate. Not as though she lived messily, she just didn't find the time or will to really deep clean much. Placed on the bar counter near the kitchen was a burning incense that Tails had lit to spice up the house. "Oh sweety, how did you know Winter Mint was my favorite?" Rosemary asked graciously.

"Oh? You like mints too? My favorite is Peppermint actually but I like all the flavors and smell!" Tails replied eagerly. "Well I guess that makes sense, I was practically addicted to those breath mints when I was pregnant with you." Rosemary continued with a chuckle. She hung her jacket on the coat rack and instinctively towards their umber sofa, swishing and fanning her velvet hair to let the scent and warm air run through and renew it. She stretched briefly to let her muscles relax, extending and stretching her body in full view for Tails who was ashamedly captivated by his mother's curved figure, before falling down on the couch. Tails sat staring at his mother for a moment, lost in the fresh memory of watching his mother's hair sparkle in the fading sunlight glistening through the half-shut blinds. The way her body flexed and straightened emphasized her bosom and bearing hips tugged and pulled something out of Tails mind that he had to shove back down. "Tails? What are you thinking about? You've been staring off since we walked in..." Rosemary queried with a cocked eyebrow. She pulled her head onto the pillow next to the armrest and wriggled her body into a comfortable position and laid across the couch her tail slightly hanging off and swishing at the tip.

"I just..." Tails shook his head, ears flopping in the wind and snapped back to the present. "I was just thinking if there was anything we could do today but I don't really know what there is to do around here, ahaha." Tails answered his mother as steadily as he could while suppressing his blush. He laid eyes on her again and it was all he could to not let his eyes trace her body again, he hated puberty. "What do you usually do when me or dad isn't around?" Tails asked. Rosemary let out of huff "Now that I think about it, all I really do these days is read and write." 'And feel sorry for myself' she finished in her head as she answer. "Oh, I like reading too! What do you read about? I know some of those books on the shelf are political but I also saw some botany stuff." Tails pushed, he straddled over to his mother and sat on the love chair perpendicular to the sofa. He pulled from the bottom, the shelf he decided to organize his books on while cleaning, revealing a behemoth sized book. The title read "Quantum Theory, Chaos Theory and Why 8 Rocks Continue To Make Scientists Depressed". The sheer girth and weight of which assured her there must at least be 700 pages her eyes shot wide as she could only wonder how to even pronounce the Echidnian name that authored the book. "I'm going through this right now, it's really interesting how they discuss moles and photons that are produced by the Chaos Emeralds!"

Rosemary giggled and beamed at the kit, clearly giddy over the prospect of his ideas.