Little Blind Mice [Bee]

[Bee]

Mnem said, quite unconcerned, "I don't care," and resumed reading her book. The flora of the upper reaches of the Mid-Range was a far more engaging endeavor to her than welcoming a child back to the house. Why on earth would she celebrate spawn coming home? And with company? If Helena had managed to make a friend of her, she couldn't be awfully bright.

She relaxed more firmly into the comforting embrace of her pillows, did a couple of deep breathing exercises, and began to block out all ambient noise. Then another child showed up, and opened the door for the first one, and suddenly her room was invaded. She assumed a death-grip on her book.

"Darlings, you're more than enough of a welcoming party for your sister. Seeing too many of us could overexcite her! Now run along before Mommy has to begin cracking skulls."

[Bee]

He wasn't certain what propelled him forward other than a masochistic amusement, but he somehow ended up at his mother's door as well, skulking behind his siblings. He knew this wasn't going to end well and he wasn't going to make it out unscathed if he decided to participate, but he was also reasonably confident that if all of them showed up--if all of them began pestering--and they were, he could even still hear Helena's voice--

Then they might have succeeded at suitably annoying their mother. If they could get her out of bed, then it would be a bruise worth having.

"Yeah, Mom, why don't you say hi to the--"

And suddenly he got a face full of angry hair. His mother stomped past him. He hit the wall and slid to the ground.

"Oh dear," said Iphis. "Oh dear! Are you okay, V? Mom wasn't watching where she was going."

"Oh I'm sure," Vishne muttered.

"Here you go, get up," Iphis said cheerfully, offering his brother a paw. Vishne refused it and stood. "Come on! Let's go say hi. Thalia's getting Auntie Minh. We have company!"

"I remain delighted," Vishne said, dryly, and followed him.

[Dark]

Minh was busy. Terribly busy. So busy, in fact, that she'd completely lost track of what she had been doing. It might have involved cleaning--she was beginning to suspect one or two of the larger piles to be gaining sentience--which would have explained why she had forgotten. Cleaning was overrated, and to be pushed off as long as possible. As in, always.

So when her youngest child--so bright so clumsy; Minh made use of her tentacles to move the more volatile experiments out of range of her child's flailing limbs--stumbled into the door with news of Helena and Guest, it was all the excuse she needed to abandon her very important work--but only for a minute, mind--and traverse downstairs to greet Helena and Guest. And from the racket, it would seem a great deal of the family had emerged for the occasion.

[Dark]

Too many people. Raniya twitched, ears flicking to and fro to follow the progress of approaching bodies, and unconsciously gravitated closer to Helena's side. On the way over, Raniya hadn't particularly considered the possibility of Helena living with others--foolish, really, but the thought simply hadn't crossed her mind--or so many others. After the strain of the crowded city streets, it was a bit much to take in--she just wanted quiet, and sleep--but she refused to appear timid or weak in front of anyone, however trying the day might have been thus far.

She couldn't quite tell how many people had come to greet them, but she would hazard a guess of roughly half a dozen from the amount of noise being generated. She could handle six people. No problem.

Raniya forced her head up, and waited for Helena to make the introductions.

[Bee]

She knew it was only a matter of time before someone responded to her yelling. Probably it had been Thalia. She was a weird little adhesive ball when she got on the move, rolling people up and bringing them along with her. Maybe one day she would put the talent to good use. But probably not. No one in this family seemed to put their talents to ethical uses. Oh well.

She grinned happily through her intense tiredness. Thalia had even managed to roll Mom, wonder of wonders. She didn't look particularly happy. But then, when did Mom ever?

She noticed Raniya scooting closer to her and her high spirits deflated just a little. She didn't want to overwhelm her. And she was probably tired, too. She extended a little tendril of hair and patted her on the shoulder discreetly.

"Well, um. Everyone, this is Raniya. Raniya, we have my mom, my aunt, my brother, my other brother, and my little sister."

[Bee]

Thalia bounded happily up to the new person and extended a tentacle in a handshake, grabbing one of the mouse's paws.

"Hi!" she said. "I'm Thalia. I'm the little sister. You should come up to my room later and let me run some tests on you! I can draw blood now and everything."

She didn't see Torquehelms very often. This one seemed a little off. Then she realized what it was. The blindfold was gold. The color meant something to Torquehelms but she couldn't remember what it was. She was vaguely confused. She remembered a little bit. If the blindfold was gold was it really a binding? Could she see through it? She tried to peer more closely at the girl, getting rather alarmingly close to her face, but she couldn't see any indicators.

"Yes. You definitely need to come up," she said, with a firm nod.

[Bee]

Iphis said, cheerfully, "Forgive my sister, she's a little bit excitable. You don't need to subject yourself to anything! Especially not...blood things. Just relax and enjoy yourself for...as long as you're here." He gave Helena a questioning glance but, receiving nothing he interpreted to be a definite answer, continued on. He actually rather liked being the hostess--though he wished he'd had time to make himself more presentable. Even if Raniya couldn't see it, he always felt better looking his best.

It gave him untold delight to make people feel welcome in his home. If only everyone else would cooperate.

Perhaps he could give this girl some tour of the house? She could meet all the other occupants, including his dolls. That sounded like an excellent idea. He would have to bring it up later. Maybe after everyone had gotten some sleep, though he didn't even feel vaguely tired anymore.

"I'm Iphis," he added, because he would be remiss to forget his pleasantries.

[Bee]

Mnem frowned at the scene before her. She had only gotten out of bed because the children had begun jumping on it, and short of flinging them all through the window, the best solution to making them all go away was to indulge a small bit of their madness so that they could be satisfied that she was interested in their lives.

"Mnem," she drawled. "Charmed."

She stole a glance toward the kitchen. While she was downstairs, she might as well get something to go well with her reading. Not that alcohol didn't go well with everything. But it put her in a better frame of mind to imagine herself reclining--not in a bed, now, but in a bubble bath--with her book a nice glass of wine.

"Stay out of everything," she said, smilingly, "or I'll have to take it upon myself to flay you alive. Enjoy your visit."

[Bee]

Vishne was pretty curious about where the girl had come from and what on earth Helena was doing with a friend of all things--she had just as much difficulty making them as he did, but in his case he was sure it had more to do with the depth of his emotion and his more philosophical interests than being...well, a little bit nuts.

"Vishne," he said, leaning against the couch. He wondered if the girl took Mom seriously or not. He wondered if she took any of them seriously or not. "Get out while you still can."

Though really, if she hadn't bolted after what was probably a lot of exposure to Helena, she probably didn't have the best survival instincts. He thought morbidly about where a Torquehelm pelt would look good hanging in their house. Then he thought about how he could possibly turn this into a metaphor for something in a poem. Belonging, maybe...Madness, definitely...

[Dark]

A Torquehelm! How delightful. Minh had always been curious about the supposedly cursed region--perhaps more specifically, the widespread regional compulsion to bind and cripple their children--but neither curses or behavioral studies were areas of her expertise. Interesting all the same, however. And it was so lovely to see Thalia taking such a scientific interest in the girl!

"And I'm the aunt," she supplied helpfully, "Minh."

It would be interesting to see, if and when Thalia coerced the girl up to her room, what her delightful daughter would discover. The thought of joining her youngest for the testing was tempting, if not for the fact she was currently running several experiments of her own. That, and it was well enough time for Thalia to have a project of her own; she was old enough not to need Minh hovering constantly, checking her notation.

Thalia would have to get the girl away from Helena first, besides. Minh was not sure she wanted to be embroiled in that battle. Helena was--odd.