The Ol' Ball 'n Chain (closed)

[Spiderfly]

Subterfuge. . . . Eldryia giggled, odd word to pop into her head. She slunk down the hallways of the palace, determined to find mom. It made it hard to sneak however with a ball and chain wrapped around your ankle. But she loved and cherished her binding, it showed where she came from, and she was strangely proud of that.

Ahhah, she thought this was it. The small cat looked around sneakily before raising a paw to half scratch, half knock on the door. She sure hoped mommy was in, she was bored. Plus Eldryia wanted to show mommy how good she had gotten at sneaking. Something about if papa saw her she wouldn't be around to sneak anymore.

She shrugged slightly and waited keeping an eye out down the hallway. Someday she'd be as good as mom was, she knew it. She just had to keep practicing. Ninja! She giggled again, her brain really did come up with funny words.

[Kari Muffin]

Peaches opened the door with a small smirk on her face. "I heard you coming from a mile away, Eldryia. Try harder next time." She said as she ushered the child into the room. She was the daughter of Pravus and her, but Pravus would never find that out. Ever. She was far too low in rank for him to know about her.

Not like Peaches really cared about rank. She cared about the potential that her daughter had. Xiven took after Pravus far more than Eldryia did in so many ways. If Eldryia could focus she could easily become just as skilled at spying magic as Peaches was, even if she didn't have the rank. It just meant she had to work a bit harder.

"Now, Eldy, where were you yesterday when I said to be here at around six, herm?" Peaches asked as she shut the door and wandered over to the teapot. She hardly expected a straight answer from the girl, but she wanted to at least hear an excuse.

[Spiderfly]

"Aww come on mom! I practically scared the Gloves right off of you! You had no idea I was there admit it!" She pouted, crossing the threshold and sitting moodily on the floor. She tempermentally began to clean a paw, licking roughly at the mud matted fur between her toes.

"It's only because of my stupid binding. I don't see whey it couldn't be easier to move ar. . " She stopped suddenly, looking up at her mother's straight jacket with a frown. "Okay, so I need more practice." She said with a pout. It was true, if her mother was so good without half her limbs, she could hardly blame it on her binding.

She began to groom again, rather intent on her paw as Peaches questioned her whereabouts. It took a good few minutes before she 'noticed' the question and slowly answered. "Well . . about that you see. . . I was walking around minding my own business when this OAF ran into me! Well we had it out and by the time I was done giving him a piece of my mind it was too late, so I went fishing." . . You could practically hear the cough in her throat at the massive lie she just told. In reality she had hidden in the dungeons beside a dying woman who thought she was her Uncle Patty. It was a rather. . odd experience, plus she got to see Papa. Without him seeing her.

[Kari Muffin]

Cute. Complaining about her bindings and then realizing how wrong she was. At least she had some common sense.

Though she couldn't lie worth beans. Oh for Heaven's sake.

"Am I going to have to teach you how to lie with a straight face?" Peaches smirked as she poured herself another cup of tea. She gave the girl another look over. She was horribly dirty. When was the last time she took a proper bath. How many times did Peaches have to play mother and rant about how important hygiene was? If there was a problem child it was Eldryia. Peaches rolled her eyes. Enough of that.

"You need a bath young lady. A proper one. So when we get back to my room I'm going to make you a bath. No complaining either." Peaches took a sip of her tea before continuing. "Because you're late, failed to sneak up on me, and missed yesterday your lesson is going to be painfully long. And I want the truth out of you, young Lady."

Let's see how she worked with that.

[Spiderfly]

Eldryia blinked rapidly, she had known the lie was a bad one but was it really /that/ stupid. Yes, because she never went near water for fear of sinking. Stupid, stupid, she'd have to try harder next time. She loved her Mommy and idolized her, even though Papa was interesting in a very different way. The little kitten would much rather be like Peaches though, all sneaky and ninja. Yes, that's what she wanted.

When she was told the story of how her Mommy got into the palace of hearts the first time Eldryia laughed so hard she fell over. Yes, just like Peaches, that's what she wanted to be.

She sobered quickly as soon as a bath was mentioned, and just as she was opening her mouth to argue Peaches told her not to. Well that was just fine and dandy then wasn't it? She sulked with every bone in her body as she sat back on her haunches. A different reaction for every sentence crossed over her face.

"Fine I forgot you happy?" She sulked even more. She hated admitting she had forgotten something. . perhaps this lie would work. Eldryia stared at the floor with a sullen expression. Must. Not. Look. Up. And give the lie away.

[Kari Muffin]

"Where were you?" Peaches said forcefully. She wanted the question answered now. Eldy was up to something, and it was probably dangerous. She didn't want her to end up like Basil.... She visibly shuddered at the thought. "I'm serious. If you play around for much longer I'm going to properly punish you."

Peaches never really thought she was going to be a mother. Ever. And this whole being an authority figure was rather tiring. She knew perfectly well that children didn't listen half the time, and that even when they were adults they probably wouldn't listen. Now she had to explain things. Fantastic.

"Eldy, this is for your own good. I don't want you to get hurt and all that motherly stuff I'm supposed to say. To be blunt. I don't want you dropping dead before your time. Understand? Now be a dear and tell me the truth," Peaches said as she put her tea cup down and crouched to look the girl in the eye. She wasn't going to get away from this one.

[Spiderfly]

Eldryia jumped a little at her mother's tone. She was used to her being somewhat strict, in her sense of the word. But to be this concerned. . . Fine

"I was spying on Papa. He didn't even know I was there!" She said gleefully, glad of her own apparent talent at not being caught. She was so proud of herself but she had figured that lying properly was another of mommy's tests. But by Peaches' tone, it wasn't, and so she told the truth with a beaming glow on her face.

"I waited all day in this filthy cell with a crazy old bat, literally! She kept calling me Uncle Patty it was hilarious! I was down there for like 6 hours and he didn't even know. I didn't even see him sniff! I chose the stinkiest cell after all!" Each exclamation rose in pitch as Eldy got more and more excited at her accomplishment.

[Kari Muffin]

Peaches wanted to punt the girl out of the window. That was putting it lightly.

"How many times do I have to tell you NOT to do that?" Peaches hissed, "If you're Papa catches you and finds out that you're his child, he'll kill you. I've told you that, numerous times. You can't spy on him until you're older. Do you understand me Eldryia? This isn't a game! This is your life!" Peaches wasn't yelling. It was a low hiss bordering on a growl as she spoke. She didn't want anyone to hear her. That was all. Otherwise she would have been screaming at the top of her lungs.

"I can tell you plenty of horror stories about my friends or family who messed up while spying and faced horrible deaths. And I'll tell all of them to you if you don't straighten up!" She pointed to the door. "March in there and run the bathwater. You're going to get cleaned up now. No arguments."

[Spiderfly]

Eldryia sank to the floor, ears pinned flat against her head. Oh she HATED when mother used that tone. It felt like something was scratching up the inside of her head when her mother spoke like that. She knew better of course, she had been taught her entire life to be careful. Especially where Papa was concerned. But like anything else, whatever you couldn't do, you wanted to do that much more.

The little cat couldn't help it but her fur began to stand on end as Mommy continued. She had heard a story or two already, and they were horrible all. It wasn't her fault that she had inherited her mother's thirst for knowledge, on top of her childish curiousity. Sometimes she just seemed to get the better of herself.

Eldryia mewled a little and nodded. "Fine. . ."

Obediently she went into the bathroom and used her teeth to turn the taps. She began to groom at a paw with her tongue as she watched the tub fill silently. She really had screwed up hadn't she? It wasn't fair. . that she didn't get to see Papa but Xiven did. Not fair at all.

[Kari Muffin]

Peaches rolled her eyes as she watched the girl walk out of the room. She was never that bad when she was younger. The concept of no self control was something her brother was notorious for in her youth. That had got him killed. Of course one of her daughters had to inherit something like that.

Setting down her teacup she walked into the bathroom to see if Eldy was doing what she was supposed to do. Peaches was a horrible mother sometimes but she knew that she didn't like water, hence the whole fishing story failing.

"I'll expect you to use soap," Peaches said as she sat on the edge of the tub, testing the water with a gloved finger. She had gotten used to checking temperatures though her gloves just so she didn't have to take them off. "And please just remember to behave yourself."