Rosy squeezes his hand. "See? Everything is fine. You are not any kind of small amphibian. Oh no I'm imagining you with little frog toes. Help. Too cute."

Why is he suddenly laughing. Help, he's laughing and can't stop. He tilts over sideways a little and laughs, and laughs, and feels a little bit better. Everything is fine. He is not a small amphibian! His toes are human toes, and not frog ones! For some reason thinking these things just makes him laugh more. 

Well now Rosy is hugging him.

He hugs her back and giggles. "I'm sorry," he says between laughs. "I don't know why I'm finding frog toes funny, but," he sputters, and is caught up in another fit of laughter. 

She hugs him and also points at him and makes 'see? see? he's cute!!!' motions in her mother's general direction.

Ishtar smiles acknowledgingly.

John has a few more spasms of chuckles, and then looks up. "Sorry about that, I think, I think I'm ok. Sorry. Okay. Hi. Um. Nice to meet you," crap, did Rosy every say what to call her mother? Well he can just "I'm John." There. That works, more or less. 

"I'm Ishtar. It's lovely to meet you," she says, with a genuine smile. "Rosy can be pretty overwhelming; I'm glad you seem to be keeping your head above water so far."

He giggles a teeny bit (okay seriously, that's enough John). "I'm doing my best. It's been... a bit of a shock so far. I still don't know how I feel about everything." (Was that way too honest? It felt way too honest. It feels like honesty is the best policy with her but he should be trying to look good in front of his (girlfriend's?) mother.)

"Understandable!" she says sympathetically. "Have you two already eaten?"

"Mhm! I committed an ice cream atrocity."

"It was pretty incredible, what she ended up with! Mine was much more tame by comparison." Just, making normal human conversation, without collapsing in a fit of laughter. Just like this. Good so far, probably. 

"I'm not at all surprised."

Her expression turns a little more serious, though still friendly.

"Before I leave you two alone, I should say—I trust Rosy, and I think you're in good hands with her. But if you do end up wanting my help or my protection, while you're adjusting to the existence of magic and the general absurdity of my daughter—if you need something explained that you don't understand, or if someone's giving you shit and they have magic to back them up—you can always call me, all right? Same as anyone else in the family. I assume you'll be more comfortable calling Rosy, and that's fine, she can handle herself. But if you can't reach her, or if you have a problem that for whatever reason feels more mom-shaped, I'm here."

What? 

She's offering him her help? 

He really hadn't seen that coming. And she's clearly serious about it! This is not how he expected this to go. 

"Thank you," manages, after (several) moments. "I... appreciate that. Thank you." 

Maybe everything is going to be fine? 

She smiles. "Well, if you're going to be dating my daughter, that makes you part of the family, right?"

"Something like that, I think," he says, and smiles. He feels like it's a bit too early to be saying things like that (though Rosy is rather certain) but he's not about to contradict her at the moment. 

Rosy squeezes his hand and does not say she told him so even though she did and she was right.

"Anyway, I'll be upstairs in my office if you need anything. Kallisto and Tia are with your father at the studio and probably won't be back for a while."

With another smile, she departs.

Okay, that wasn't nearly as bad as he thought it was going to be. He takes several deep breaths in relief. 

"Okay, that wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be," he tells her. And then realizes she is squeezing his hand and squeezes back. 

"Yeah. Well, that was my mom. Sans koala costume. I wonder if she still has that thing somewhere..."

John giggles despite himself. "You'd have to ask. I certainly won't." He pauses for a moment. "Um. She said your dad and sisters aren't here at the moment but didn't say anything about your grandmother. But the way she said it... is she not here? Do I not have to meet her also? Was that it?" (Is it just the two of them, and they can snuggle on the cozy couch?) 

"Oh, Grandma Vicky doesn't live with us, she has a place in town." She pats his knee. "You can meet her later."

"Do I have to?" he says, still worried about that interaction. (Less so than he was before. Much less! But still.) 

And then, in a normal voice. "So, it's just the two of us down here for the foreseeable future?" He might be trying to sound suave. (Is that too much? Is it too forward? Maybe he should take it back.) 

"Yep!" she says, cheerfully.

Okay, John is almost certain she has Things in mind, it's clear on her face, and he wouldn't mind trying out Things himself (makeouts, it's makeouts, there's no need for the euphemism here) he's still not completely sure that this is what she wants to do (she's literally offered herself to you, John, what's to be uncertain about), and regardless the right thing to do is go slow and careful. (Even if parts of him want to do otherwise.) "This couch is pretty comfy," he tells her. "We could, um, do um, math together here?"