Easter and Easter week was generally a period of joy and celebration, obviously in relation the Christian celebration of the resurrection that was a focal point of their faith. And for the most part things in Lyre and Animalia did reflect on that. There were kids that enjoyed hunting Easter eggs or painting them. There was the celebration of chocolate for Lyre's Human residents and other treats for Animalians that suited those who's digestive tracks couldn't handle some of the artificial ingredients in most candies or the specific nature of things like chocolate. It was beautiful, and Anne Cumbertin was happy to see people about and enjoying the warmer spring air as it brought back some warmth.
It was something that was a bit healing, especially after what had held Anne's attention at the start of the week. While she may not wanted to be held "prisoner" as a maid all her life, and she would forever be grateful to whoever had managed to get her a new start in Lyre/Animalia, letting her reunite with Janice and meet Janice's mate Walter, that didn't necessarily mean she was completely and emotionally detached from the country in which she had spent much of her life. The sight of one of France's most beautiful cathedrals engulfed in flames was horrible and sent chills down Anne's spine, all the way down to the tip of her black and white furred tail. And Anne still felt that.
"It'll be okay," Oscar said from beside her and gently wrapping an arm around Anne as they walked along, "they said the main structure was saved and that which was damaged will be rebuilt."
Anne looked to her side and smiled to the male Skunk Animalian that was with her. She'd first run into Oscar as part of her own training for the previous IAC. He'd been kind, calm, and enjoyed the exercise, and it didn't take long before she and Oscar became bond-mates as well, and Anne was happy to have him, just as she had come to be proud that Janice had Walter. Anne took Oscar's comment with a smile and nodded. She then calmly took his hand as they walked along. The sight of Notre Dame in flames had been horrifying, and that had delayed some things that Oscar and Anne had planned for, but Easter couldn't and wouldn't be stopped. That was what brought them to one of Lyre's parks where they soon found Janice seated with Walter at a picnic bench with Fleur seated on the other side of the table.
"Hello, all," Oscar said as he and Anne approached and held up a picnic basket, "we brought lunch!"
"And Happy Easter," Anne spoke as she hugged Janice who happily returned it and then moved around the table to give Fleur a polite hug as well. Fleur also returned it and didn't try anything with Anne. For the moment as Anne then moved to scoot onto the bench next to Fleur and leaving room for Oscar to sit down on the other side of Anne, she didn't note that Janice was eyeing the picnic basket quite intently.
"Happy Easter," Janice returned the greeting and sniffed at the basket, "what did you bring?"
"Some baked fish," Anne answered, "and you, Walter, Oscar, and me, some fresh blueberries as well. It should all be very good."
Janice watched as Oscar lifted out a series of plastic plates that were covered with tinfoil. She could smell the fish underneath the tinfoil. In the meantime, Anne also stood up to collect knives and forks from the basket and passed them out, along with bottles of water. She took them happily as Oscar then passed out the plates. It wasn't super fancy, but it did make for a good picnic meal that interested all. Fleur was especially curious at the plate as Oscar set hers down. Though Fleur did notice that Janice eagerly sniffed at her plate as Oscar set it down as well.
"So... I trust you've had a good week?" Walter asked to Anne and Oscar.
"Us personally?" Anne asked, "yes we had a good week..."
"Anne has been a bit... shocked by what happened with Notre Dame," Oscar said slowly.
"We saw a lot of the coverage on that too," Walter nodded and rested a hand on Janice's shoulder, "scary..."
"But we did send a donation to help pay for the rebuild," Janice nodded.
"And many have done that as well..."Anne nodded, "which warms my heart. How about you? How was your week?"
"Pretty tame... the Meat Market has a party later, but it's supposedly different from the day to day activities," Fleur commented.
"Makes sense," Walter commented, "after all, Easter is supposed to be a fairly religious holiday. Celebrating it with strip-tease wouldn't come off as "religious." So, they try to pause on some of that stuff."
Janice nodded in agreement to that and then looked to her mother with a small smile forming, "Our week was wonderful... mostly because we got some confirmation that we were looking for..."
"Confirmation?" Anne wondered, "with church?"
"No, of new arrivals," Janice answered and then leaned against Walter, "Mom... I'm pregnant."
"We thought you should be the first to know," Walter answered as Anne practically squealed with joy.
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In a different part of the park, Bunni and Rockwall were busy with some of the specialized work that related to the Easter Egg hunt. It was something that wasn't done the year before, mostly due to longer winter the previous year, but this year with warmer temperatures, people's lawns beginning to turn green and flowers beginning to push up out of the ground, the celebratory Easter Egg hunt was able to be held. That then let Bunni and Rockwall play the role of the "Easter Bunny." The costumes were a bit different from the ones Animalia used in its first Easter celebration, but then as a mature Rabbit Animalian, Bunni was a bit more curvy than Jessica was back then, and Rockwall as a Flemish Giant Rabbit was far bigger than Roger would even be when he grew up.
"Everyone seems to be having fun," Rockwall commented as he watched some of the children move through the parks grounds and finding some of the brightly painted eggs.
"Which is good," Bunni nodded, "Though... I'm most pleased that Owen is having fun."
With that, Bunni's eyes looked to the young boy carrying a whicker basket and had already found a few colored eggs. Some were hard boiled eggs that were specially hidden for the event. This had been done earlier in the morning with the intention of making sure that the eggs wouldn't go rotten when it came time for the egg hunt, though Bunni also had her private concerns to make sure that any that Owen found weren't bad before he ate them. For seeing Owen smile made her smile, and that bond that had been there even before her uplifting kept her going.
Rockwall nodded and looked to the young boy as well. He noted that the boy was quick at moving about the lawn in looking for the candy eggs and that his focus was often more focused on looking back to them. When he found an egg, he often paused to look to them and waved to them, often calling to them and often calling to them when he found one as well. It was something that often made him smile as well, because it showed not just how much Bunni loved Owen and how much she had loved him, but how much Owen loved Bunni in return. It was something that was quite touching in many ways. He wanted to see Bunni smile more than anything else. It was something that had grown over time, and sometimes, it actually made Rockwall wonder if Bunni sought to raise and care for Owen or if Owen sought to raise and care for Bunni as well.
For it was actually Owen who had told Rockwall the most about Bunni. The two Rabbit Animalians had grown close after their first meeting, and it had reached a point where the two had become bond mates and even husband and wife, as far as humans were concerned. Rockwall had also found himself wishing to care for Owen just as much Bunni did, but had often found that Owen seemed to care for Bunni almost as much as she cared for him. Owen was a kind, thoughtful, and caring young boy, which seemed to remind Rockwall of his own brother in a way. It was that that had made Rockwall willing to help Bunni look after Owen as much as he could.
"Yes," Rockwall agreed, "it IS good to see him smile... It was fun to see him open presents at Christmas, and its fun to see him enjoy hunting Easter eggs... Though sometimes I wonder who is raising who."
"So long as he smiles, it does not matter," Bunni answered as they watched Owen meet with another young human child, hug, and then come toward the spot where Bunni and Rockwall were seated to check the baskets that they had.