Family [Finished]

[Kari Muffin]

Kazifel hummed to himself as he opened a large box in his workshop. He had finally found the perfect gift and it had been delivered this morning. Because of house work he hadn't had time to wrap it properly, but now that dinner was finished he could do everything properly.

He he sang to himself as he found the small white box decorated with black trees among all the various packing supplies. With a grin he walked back over to his work bench. Picking up the watch he slipped it in the box. A perfect fit!

Shifting out of his human form he made his way upstairs, still singing quietly to himself. Parsley had long moved out, Sage was getting ready to study in Villa and Rosemary was in and out. Thyme was in the Highlands, and when she wasn't she was doing her own thing. Alphonse was still the only one stuck at home.

He knocked on the door, and cleared his throat. "Alphonse, we need to have a talk."

[The Jenn]

Alphonse sat on his bed in the room that had once belonged to all of his siblings, brooding. He was hungry, which always left him peevish, but he wouldn't be able to do anything about it for another hour or so. The stock of 'on-hand' small mammals had been depleted over the last few days, so he didn't have a rat-snack to take the edge off his appetite.

In addition, he had recently managed to acquire his biped form. It was a big accomplishment and the added convenience of hands wasn't lost on him, but he wasn't sure how to broach the subject to his parents. His mother would be sweet and annoying in her excitement, and his father would probably just go along with whatever she did in a more toned-down fashion. It would be easier to catch his father alone, have him tell Femi the news, and let her get out the initial rush of excitement away from him before finding him in a calmer state of mind later to see it. Unfortunately, she was between painting projects, which meant that she usually hung around Kazifel like the plague. It made getting the man alone needlessly difficult.

Until he conveniently knocked on his door for a 'talk'. The squirrel-bat's keen hearing heard only one set of footsteps and his mood brightened a notch. That was ridiculously good timing. He would just stay in his biped form and let his father find out that way, no awkward lead-ins needed. "'cheh? Yes, come in."

[Kari Muffin]

Kazifel's tail was wagging slightly as he opened the door. A smile was painted on his face as he looked inside to see his son.

He paused in mid-motion when he saw the boy sitting there. He had his biped form! The wolf's tail wagged a bit as he slipped through the entryway, getting over his initial surprise as quickly as possible.

"Congratulations," he said as he walked over to his son. He wasn't going to invade his personal space like Femi would, even if he wanted to on this special occasion. "Well this is quite the surprise. From the lack of happy squeals throughout the house, I imagine you haven't told your mother yet."

Which was understandable. She was going to be excited about this.

"I think this is much more appropriate then," He said holding out the small package for Alphonse. "I meant to get it for your birthday, but I couldn't find anything good enough at the time."

[The Jenn]

A nice, quite congratulations. That was all Alphonse had wanted! He offered his father a pleased smile, his peevishly hungry mood pushed to the background at the convenience of the situation. Now Kazifel could tell Femi, and it would be up to him to handle the hyper! Perfect. "No, Mommy doesn't know yet. Now you do, though, so you can tell her." His long-fanged smirk said it all.

The pleased expression perked up even more as a small box was presented to him. A present? On top of everything? He shot his father a wide-eyed, curious glance before snatching the box. It wasn't deliberately rude - it was just how Alphonse tended to take things... quickly and abruptly. Without saying anything in his interest, he opened up the box and stared in surprise at the pocket watch gleaming inside, resting on the padding.

He looked back up, confused. "Echeh. But isn't this yours? I remember you yelling at Parsley for taking it apart... or is this a different one?"

[Kari Muffin]

Kazifel smiled slightly. Of course Alphonse would pawn the news off of him to avoid his mother's cling. That was just the way the boy was, and would always be.

The wolf wasn't particularly shocked by Alphonse movements, even if he jumped slightly. His son had always had the bad habit of doing things suddenly. Maybe it was just because of the way he grew up, or maybe he got it from somewhere in the family.

But that didn't matter at the moment. Kazi's tail wagged slightly when Alphonse's expression changed to surprise. Briefly Kazifel's ears drooped at the mention of the watch that Parsley had not only destroyed with magic by had taken apart. "I tried to get that watch fixed, but they had to completely refurbish it. It's practically a brand new watch."

He smiled, "And it's all yours. Do you like it?"

[The Jenn]

One white thumb ran across the decorative cogs and Tulgey trees that ran across the silver surface of the pocket watch. It really was a lovely thing, and Alphonse's sense of greed twinged sharply as he watched it gleam dully in the light of his room. How nice! This was what his siblings got for leaving the Wood. Dad didn't give them cool presents like this watch, and he was pretty sure he'd never give Parsley any sort of watch. It made the squirrel smirk, fangs prominent.

"All mine? Echeh. Oh yes. I like it very much. Thank you." His voice was a pleased one and he held the watch up to his ear, comforted by the light ticking noise. It was certainly working. With a touch of eagerness, he flipped open the watch.

There was... light coming out of it. He stared, fascinated. "Is it supposed to do that? Make dusty light? 's pretty."

[Kari Muffin]

Kazifel was thrilled that he liked it. His tail wagged a bit stronger as he watched his son look over the watch. He did raise an eyebrow at what the watch did when Alphonse opened it.

The watch had been partly broken for years before Kazifel had gotten his hands on it. But he honestly didn't remember it having the ability to do something like that. His tail stopped in mid-wag as he looked at it and tried to remember what his mother had said about the watch when he was younger.

"Yes, yes it does. It's supposed to have a special property on cards lower than ten... It doesn't work on Diamonds. I don't exactly remember what it was supposed to do either. It was a long time ago when my mother told me the story of the watch." He shrugged. "I'm sure you'll be able to figure it out."

[The Jenn]

So it had been a magical watch to begin with? No wonder Parsley had gotten his butt handed to him when he took it apart! He grinned at the memory. Thyme had been telling him he shouldn't, but he'd insisted that he wasn't going to damage anything and that he'd be able to put it all back together when he was done with it. He'd been a little too ambitious as a kid. Sometimes it had made their father proud, but other times it had made him groan or yell or just go somewhere else for a while.

"So it has a story? What can you remember?" He looked up at the wolf in interest. Even in biped form, the man towered over him, but that was nothing unusual. He'd inherited his mommy's short.

Normally he wouldn't care about stories like this, but the watch was his now. "Echeh. And wasn't your mother from the same place you were? These are Tulgey trees. Why are they on her watch? It had them before Parsley broke it, too."

[Kari Muffin]

"Yes, my mother came from Corvistowne," Kazifel said with a small smile. He did miss where he had grown up sometimes. He knew, however, that Femi didn't like to travel. Forcing her out of the Wood would be a nightmare. Their last trip had ended badly, he couldn't imagine what another one would end like.

"From what I remember the story starts with one of my great great grandfather's. I'm not sure how far back it went, but the Corvies in my family have always been mechanical. One of them was a watch maker in their spare time. He traveled to various places and wanted to keep a record of the most interesting place he had seen. Supposedly he sat outside the Wood for days trying to get the image perfect, and that was what he ultimately came up with. I'm not sure if the story is true or not, but that watched has been passed down from family member to family member. It's a very precious thing, that I hope you keep to pass on to your children." Kazifel said with a small smile. He mentally cringed at the idea of his children having children. He hoped it would be a while before that would happen.

[The Jenn]

The thought of leaving the Wood was one that Alphonse didn't like to imagine. He would probably be as bad as his mother, if not worse, though for slightly different reasons. This was his home. Why would he need to leave? He certainly understood her when she talked about things like that. All they needed was here in the Tulgey. They never needed to go anywhere else. Besides, he couldn't go out in the sunlight anyway, and that was when a lot of people were out. It was the same way in the Wood. What would be the benefit of going somewhere else where he would be even more conspicuous?

Nor did he really want to think about the prospect of children. Bleh. Another living thing that would depend on him for its survival? He would rather eat it."I will keep it and treat it like a precious thing. I promise nothing else. Echeh." He rotated the object in his hands, feeling oddly comfortable while gazing into the dusty-looking light that emanated from the watch. It made him feel good to stare at it. The feeling wore off after a short while, but still. He liked it. With a click, he snapped it shut and placed it next to him on the bed. "I'm going to need some way to wear it."