Lost in the Crowd [Esfiel/Lucca]

[Lucca]

Eldy smiled at the Rat, a very slight blush luckily not visible through her dark fur. She'd never really been called 'sweet' before, and it made something in her melt, just a little. Dania couldn't see it because of her family background, but she was actually a very sweet person, and Eldy knew she'd make plenty of friends if she just opened up a bit...

Ach, why was she being so sentimental all of a sudden? It must have just been some strange side effect of socializing too much with those you counted as friends, she decided privately, but then she realized that Aima had asked a question.

She raised an eyebrow, thinking that she remembered already having mentioned that she -didn't- live in Torquehelm. Ah well, perhaps the talk of Tulgies and curses and blood being removed from the body put it out of the Corvie's no doubt crowded mind. "No, actually, home is...the Court of Hearts," she said casually. "I have family there. Including some that I haven't met yet." Surely her new half siblings had been born by now. What an odd thought indeed...

[Esfiel]

Aima was ecstatic. It didn't matter that she was no longer of service, she was just happy to have helped someone at all! She was grateful for her help! It was already considered "all right". The martin had no idea that the reason Dania was turning down further help was because of her blood experiment and that the rat no longer wanted service. She didn't know that her new friend wanted a more "normal" doctor. If she had known she may have been sad. Part of her was used to it, but another part would wish that people would trust her not to remove their blood without permission! She was still a doctor, just a doctor with interesting research!

"Well, if you're sure.." she said, glancing at the general direction of her paw. She couldn't see anything due to the bag full of ice, but she hopped the swelling had gone down. Dania was too nice in worrying about inconveniencing them, but then they'd been raised in completely different ways. She seemed to have a strict bringing up whereas Aima had a bizarre one. Aima hardly knew what shame was, let alone experienced it often.

Eldy's mention of the Court of Hearts made Aima wonder if she should pay a visit to the Court of Spades at some point. In just thinking about it, it didn't seem like a place for her. She didn't care for politics or being better than everyone else. She cared about medical things. She cared that she had blood. She cared about research. The only thing that would pull her there could be the promise of better information and equipment, but did that mean she'd have to participate in the politics? Better to stay in the Capital.

"Do you keep in touch with all your family?" she asked. Her family was small. She had a sister and parents. Certainly her parents must have had parents at some point, and so on, but they were probably all dead or forgotten. She had no aunts and uncles. Even with her small family, though, she didn't keep contact with them all, and what contact she kept with them was forced. Ah, family...

[Harpsdesire]

Dania nearly had to look away when she saw the smile on Eldy's face. It seemed oddly much softer than the cat's usual expression, almost tender in a way... or it could very well be Dania's quite considerable imagination.

"I think I am." Dania tried to sound convincing. "Maybe if you just check it tonight before you leave?" There was no way Amia would try anything funny right in a pub, with no instruments and a slightly-dirty wooden table as her operating room. "Just to be safe, you know." Concern for her foot fought a small battle in her mind against concern for the safety of her blood, and it seemed that foot was coming out on top in the current skirmish. "I'm sorry to be such a bother..." Concern for Being an Annoyance entered the fray and soundly thrashed the other two armies, leaving Dania with an embarrassed smile. "I.... I could pay you for your trouble."

The conversational ground that was being covered was nothing new to her, since she had heard quite a bit more about Eldy's family and upbringing than she thought her friend was likely to repeat in the increasingly-crowded pub. This left her mind free to wander to her own family.

It was a tiny family, with no grandparents still living and no aunts or uncles living in the area. Not even siblings in the house.... not live ones, at any rate. A part of her longed to be a member of a big, happy clan, surrounded by doting adults and noisy children. But if wishes were ranks... well, everyone would be a queen. There was no use moping about it, especially considering how many more important things the Torquehelm had to mope about!

In spite of herself, this thought brought a faint smile to her lips. There was a certain irony in how satisfying indulging in the spirit of the realm could be, on occasion. Dania knew she was far from free of the influence of the place, and quite often she didn't care. Still, although it was terrifying to admit, even just to herself, some tiny, long repressed part of Dania longed to be happy, maybe even to taste freedom.

Her skin crawled with the chill of such a forbidden thought. Best to pay attention to the conversation at hand and stop thinking such impossibly insanity.... If she didn't keep herself under control, she was going to end up as loony as her mother one of these days, she was sure of it.

[Lucca]

Eldy kept out of the discussion about Dania's foot, knowing she'd be very little help. She'd injured her own paws a time or two while she was still getting the hang of walking along a narrow beam of wood with a heavy weight unbalancing her, but that was years ago and her Mom (with the help of Court doctors that could be trusted to be discreet) had taken care of it. Also, despite thinking the Martin's head must not be screwed on quite right, she trusted her as much as she did any Corvie. They were all rather like that, each with their own particular eccentricities that lent a bit of manic energy to their areas of research. So she trusted Aima, as far as she did anyone. After all, The Hatter had been...quite a bit MORE eccentric, with his talk of Rabbits...heh. And she had trusted him, and would gladly do so again.

Then again she -could- just be a masochist...

Shaking her head at that, she turned to Aima as she asked that...seemingly innocuous question. Oh, how to answer...there were a good many things about her family history she would prefer not to discuss in public. "Those that it's possible to do so, yes," she said eventually. "I have...a somewhat large family." She made a face. Her extended family was huge, and getting bigger all the time from what she could tell.

[Esfiel]

A dumbstruck look flashed across the pine martin's features. What? Pay me? The idea seemed so bizarre. The only time she ever expected to be paid was when she.. was doing something she started so she'd get paid. She almost accepted it, too, but there was a small part of her that was asking if friends would accept payments for such things? Usually this positive social influence went ignored. Why did she need to practice good charisma? This was probably why she didn't have any close friends.. just a frightening mix of enemies and friends.

"No, no, I can't have you paying me," she insisted. For once she actually felt like she was doing something good and right. This wasn't to say that she usually felt like a horrible person. She just didn't normally think about things like this. "You're not a bother, and I'd be delighted to check it before I leave!"

When Eldy answered her question she listened attentively. Those that it's possible? Somewhat large family? Somehow she was getting the feeling that the second statement was an understatement. It wasn't just the hesitation, but the fact that she lived in the Court. Didn't they tend to have large families? Aima smiled somewhat. "I don't know what I'd do if I had a large family, or how I'd keep track of all of them." Actually, she thought with amusement. I'd probably become a recluse.

[Harpsdesire]

"Well, thank you, Amia. That's very generous of you." Dania was a little relieved that the pine marten refused payment, as she had no idea how much it was customary to pay for such a thing, anyhow. Fears of underpaying (and thus insulting the doctor) or overpaying (and incurring her father's displeasure by returning home with too little of the emergency travel money he had provided) were easily allayed with this solution. She tentitively smiled at Amia, genuinely grateful for the help... and that the doctor showed no signs of trying to use her as a research subject.

She giggled slightly at the mental image of Amia trying to keep track of dozens of wriggling baby pine martens. "I imagine most family members keep track of themselves..." She said, smiling. "Except babies, I suppose."

OOC: Dania x Amia custom baby favor crack-baby! Eeee!

[Lucca]

Eldryia felt it pertinent to mostly ignore the conversation between the two about Dania's hurt leg, as she had nothing to contribute. Though, part of her realized, if Aima -had- demanded payment, she would have offered to help pay the tab, as a friend...her ear twitched at the thought. At least, when someone asked her what she had gotten out of her adventures, she could offer up the friends she'd made...something solid. Proof that she'd really done the whole exploring bit. Not that she knew why anyone would question her...

Eldy couldn't help but laugh slightly at Aima's statement, and Dania's thoughtful follow up. She shook her head, grinning in amusement. "It's really not all that difficult! I'm sure that once I meet the newest members of my family, I shall have little trouble keeping track of them. I mean, it's not like my family is as large as some of the others at the Court." Like Seth and Heilyn's family. Geez. "Though if they're more than twice removed, I also don't bother with them," Eldy added. Her half siblings were of little interest to her, really.

[Esfiel]

Aima blinked at Eldy at the mention of those being more than twice removed. She'd heard the phrase multiple time and knew it had to do with the general positions in a family relative to someone else, but she didn't actually know what that position was. All these family things befuddled the mind. Half, removed, step, in laws. It was all so confusing when you didn't care to memorize what all of them met. Yes, Aima was quite grateful for her family of four.

"Well I'd think others need to keep track of them, too, if they're prone to trouble and you want to keep them out of it," she said with a half smile. If her sister wanted to go off and get into trouble Aima would let her, though, unless the trouble brought Aima into it. That wouldn't make her happy at all.

"I guess once you get down the initial members, it's just a matter of adding to them to your memory," she thought aloud before laughing. "Unless you're born in a big family, then I'd not bother with some of them like you."

((Sorry for the delay. Research paper and finals decided to kill me. And those would be some.. really messed up children. XDD))

[Harpsdesire]

"I suppose so." The talk of family, and the troublesome nature thereof, brought Dania more than a little discomfort. On her worse days, the young rat's mother could be all kinds of trouble. Usually awkward, somewhat depressing trouble that dragged those around her into the fantasy of her madness. Sometimes Dania herself was almost convinced that she had two living brothers who were merely "down for a nap" or "playing outside" or "late home from school", depending on the age they currently were in her mother's waking dreams.

"Ah, yes, I suppose so." Dania's laugh was a little strained: she had actually missed a little of the conversation while lost in thought about the twin Canines who existed so solidly in the life of her family but not at all in reality.

"I wonder why court families are so large?" She mused, after a moment. Suddenly realizing that Eldy might find it a rude question, she stammered a little and blushed, answering her own question tentatively. "Tradition, maybe?" Large families were not exactly rare in her town, but no one she had close ties to came from a clan even approaching the size that usually populated the courts.

[Lucca]

Eldy shrugged, all this talk of family making her miss her Mom. How was she doing, she wondered? How were the new little ones faring? Or well...not so very new anymore, with how long she'd been gone from her home...a lot had changed...ugh. Depressing, introspective thoughts again. She was easily happy for the slight change in subject, and she laughed, looking at Dania, a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"Oh, you know how it is...when you spend all day doing boring paper work, I guess it just makes you really horny or...something." She snorted, and then waved her paw in an absent gesture. "Or maybe it's just because of how many titled nobility are powerful and pretty and have higher forms and money and yadda yadda etc. So they want to have heirs or some such crap to carry on their legacy and show off their superior genes." She shrugged, flippantly. "Like I said, my family isn't really that big. I mean, I only have one full sister."

Unbeknownst to Eldy, this was actually incorrect...she had two. One was an Ace and Xiven's pet, and Mom had hidden that she was actually related to the family from both of her children, and though Xiven found out somewhere along the way, it was a well enough kept secret that Eldy never had.