Pursuit of Knowledge (Finished)

[Spiderfly]

Evaline was still young, but already the thirst for knowledge was growing strongly. The small kitten purred as she poured over some of her Father's less precious books. She was only four but she could read, somewhat. At least she was good at feigning she could read what she couldn't quite understand yet.

But mostly, she enjoyed looking at the diagrams. Circles of various cell types, with the . . what had Father called them? Organelles? Like little factories within the cell. She didn't quite know what they all did yet, but she would learn. She found it too fascinating to not make a point of it.

The kitten began to blink rapidly and tilted her head backwards, trying to resettle the ever-flowing blood so it wouldn't drip on the pages. Tilting her head to the side, Eva tried peeking towards the door to the basement. Hopefully Father would be done for the day soon.

[The Jenn]

Having a child in the house was proving to be more of a blessing and a curse than Temmin had expected. True, he'd dealt with many children in his line of work, often the spoiled or thoroughly screwed up children of the wealthy and powerful. Having "his own", however...

At least he had a nurse to handle the day-to-day necessities of rearing a child. The Kahmden fed, groomed, and otherwise tended to young Evaline. He still needed to spend time with her, however. Sometimes he wanted to. Sometimes he didn't.

The heron glanced over at the clock on his laboratory wall and sighed. This was a day where he didn't. He was advancing more in his research every week and it was heartening, much of the progress thanks to blood provided by the young girl under his care. She really was a medical marvel as far as his passions were concerned. Bleeding the child every other week "to check on her health and run tests", however, he felt guilty if he didn't spend at least an hour or two in her company a day. She was his daughter in rearing and, as far as anyone else knew, in fact. She was sweet, smart enough to live up to her realm, and utterly annoying at times.

Carefully finishing with his stitches, he left his current project in its sterile location and gave his arms a good soak before he started up the stairs.

[Spiderfly]

Carefully, Evaline pushed away the book that sat in front of her and flipped it delicately shut. The small feline held a great respect for books, for being so young. She winced at the thought of even making one mark, one crease in the paper. She never understood when the other children at her pre-school put creases and marks in pages they were reading. With a slight shudder at the thought she stood and stretched, pushing the book back towards the book shelf carefully with one of her claws.

Her sitter wasn't in sight, probably fixing food of some sort. Or cleaning something. Eva twitched her nose slightly before pacing quietly towards the door to the basement. Her curious eyes looked up the length of the wood before she paced off the other direction again, growing bored with the day. Her tail twitched in agitation as she paced again back to the door, back to the books, back to the door. With a small sigh she took off in the direction of the books again and sat, staring at the covers curiously.

[The Jenn]

The creaking of the stairs was her only warning as Temmin approached the top of the stairs, slipped out the door, and secured the various normal and magical locks that kept his basement laboratory safe from intruders and curious children. Then he turned to the main foyer and paused.

He could easily see into the sitting room, which doubled as a study and office, as well as storage for his less private medical records. The girl was there, on the floor, staring up curiously at the rows of books. That was actually rather precious. He tried to read something to her every night that he was in the house and not working at the palace or with a special case patient. She had a good vocabulary for a four-year-old. Her sentences were often short, but she used bigger words. Fitting for a Corvie child. He wouldn't have her starting public school next year a dullard.

Fluffing his feathers into place, he approached her. "Which one are you looking at, Evie?"

[Spiderfly]

Her ears swiveled backwards at the sound of her father coming up the stairs and her heart raced a little in excitement. She really did enjoy her time with the old crane, as little as she got of it. But she understood. Experiments, research, knowledge, all were just as important if not more so than familial ties. She knew this, but still sometimes she wished they got a bit more time. School in a year would fix that, taking up much of her time.

She perked her ears forward again once the door opened and she went back to attempting to sound out the book titles. She tilted her head back awkwardly over her shoulder towards her father without moving her body then looked back up at the shelf.

Lifting a paw she pointed towards one with a claw. She could make out the word 'cell' one of the easier words to read. Besides, the binding had the nicest teal colouring to it, and the letters were embossed with gold leaf.

"Does that one have pictures?"

She couldn't quite remember.

[The Jenn]

Temmin glanced at the book she pointed towards and his eyebrow raised. The Decomposition of the Cell and its Structure? Goodness, that was not a book for a child. And the pictures could be quite gory. The author was apparently enamored of images and, in addition to an attractive cover, made sure to include detailed depictions of varying states of decomposition. Of all sorts of things. It suited his research, but not his parenting.

"That one's not very interesting. Or fun," he hedged, glancing around the shelves for something more appropriate. Or at least less inappropriate. Maybe something with a colorful cover to hold her interest and keep her from whining.

The Mystery of the Periodic Table sounded a lot better, and would hopefully give her an early familiarity with its structure. If he remembered correctly, this one also contained pictures. It was meant for a younger audience than many of his books, students in high school, but it was written humorously enough that he'd picked it up on a whim and by recommendation of a colleague. Chances were that his little Evie would grow up more interested in chemistry than in mechanics or medicine, so this also seemed to make sense. She wouldn't be able to read the thing herself for probably four or five years, and even then a lot would go over her head, but if he read it to her then maybe one or two facts would absorb into her eager mind.

And it had a dark blue cover with silver letters. Perfect. "This one has a lot more pictures. I think you might like it." He slid it off the shelf and held it in front of her for approval.

[Spiderfly]

Evaline pouted for a moment as her father suggested against the book. She thought it would be neat, what with the colours. But then he pointed out one that seemed just as nice from the outside. Dark blue, and silver? It was definitely a pretty book. She smiled then and flicked her tail back and forth briefly before smiling up at him.

Besides, he had said there'd be a 'lot more pictures' that sounded promising. Sometimes she didn't quite understand what her father was telling her, so it was nice to have something to look at to help it along.

"Okay!" She beamed brightly, anxious to have him read her a bit of it. Evie moved towards her normal sitting area and looked up at Temmin expectantly. Though perhaps, he didn't have time quite yet? She chewed at her lip for a second, wondering if he was simply going to get the book down for her, or actually read it aloud.

[The Jenn]

The girl's hopefully expectant face was a hard one to deny. Temmin would have preferred a bath and maybe a hot meal before reading to her, but maybe he could get the first chapter in before he did that and another one before bed. "Stop chewing," he said absently as he walked over to the chair. She had enough blood coming out naturally. Neither of them needed her little feline teeth wearing a hole in the skin.

After he settled with the book under one wing, he patted his lap for her to climb up. "Watch your claws," he reminded her. The blood wouldn't be as much of a problem since he hadn't yet had his bath, and he would hold the book far enough away to avoid any sudden messy sneezes. He'd had to invest in a very good peroxide-based cleaner within a month of bringing his Evie home.

He waited for her to climb up and get comfy in his lap before flipping the book open and showing her the inside cover. It was, quite predictably, a picture of the periodic table. Where there should have been elemental information, however, there were question marks beneath all of the names. And then he started reading. They would get to the end of the prologue and halfway through chapter one before the girl's nanny knocked on the door frame and asked if they were ready for dinner.

[The Jenn]

((Shall we close this and maybe do something with them later, Spideyluffs?))

[Spiderfly]

((sure, that sounds good. Sorry that so much stuff came up lately! I'll poke you for a thread when I have a little more time ^_^)