A Matter of Conformity [End]

[Nako]

Zuberi blinked. Honestly, if the girl's "mother" was Xiven, she'd know of bindings? "Well.. it be his binding.. as far as I know. Not as extreme as most bindings... I guess. I don't know. I guess it was bad enough to be born an ace?" She reached out and gave the chicken a scratch behind the neck, but the creature seemed to be staring off into the distance at first. He gave a bit of a jump, clucking with some level of uncertainty before leaning into the affectionate gesture.

"He's a silly thing, really. When he was younger it came in handy; he had quite da habit of running off and getting lost by the coast. I had to attach his chain to the post of the dining table to keep him in da house if I wasn't watching him. Was terrified he'd wander off and drown in the sea. Well now.. go on Charlie. She won't hurt you!" She urged the chicken toward the girl with a light push.

Charlie fluffed out his feathers, startled by the shove towards the girl, but carefully extended his head outward, tilting it to the side to invite an affectionate pat.. if begrudgingly.

[Kari Muffin]

Linnea's tail swished at the statement. Well that made sense. Somewhat. Is that why Mommy Xiven had had such a harsh binding supposedly? "Oh. I never thought of that. It's really pretty sad he has to wear a binding at all. I can't imagine they're nice."

She couldn't make sense of them, that was for sure. Her ears swiveled as the woman told the story of how useful the chain was. Maybe that's why it was there in the first place, and not exactly a binding like all the other Torques that wandered the palace wore.

When the Ace was pushed forward the little girl almost took a step back. Well, at least the woman said it was okay to bet him. And he looked pretty nice... though he didn't seem to like the idea of being touched by a stranger. For a moment she hesitated before reaching out and giving the roster a light pat on the head. "Nice to meet you Charlie," she said cheerily.

[Nako]

Well! That made all the difference! Charlie made soft, happy clucking noises when she spoke to him directly. He liked it when people talked to him, with sweet high voices that spoke louder to him than words ever could. He scooted a little closer to her instead of merely stretching to reach the tiny squirrel. She was much gentler than some of the children in the village he now lived in.

"There! He tends to warm up to people after a little while." Ugh.. her knees were killing her.. She sunk down onto the ground, sitting so that she could let her legs stretch out. "Tell me, have you any idea where I need to be heading for registering him? Or at least who I might need to talk to? You see.. I'm actually a bit lost." She wasn't sure if the girl would be of much help at all... but it was worth a try right? At the very least, she could lead her to an adult that -did- know.

[Kari Muffin]

The girl giggled a bit as the roster edged closer. He was really nice and sweet like Fluffy was. She couldn't help but wonder if he talked like she did. It didn't seem like it, but supposedly Aces weren't supposed to speak in front of people that weren't family.

It didn't matter one bit though. He was really nice and she gave him another affection pat before turning her attention to the woman who had now slipped to the ground. Was she all right?

Oh! A place to register the Ace. Someone was taking care of that... it was one of the staff members whose name she couldn't remember. It wasn't like she met them on a regular basis, but she had heard Mommy Xiven talk about registering Aces a lot recently.

"I don't remember his name, but I'm sure Mommy Xiven would want to help! She talks about registering Aces a lot!" Linnea gave the Zuberi.

[Nako]

"Oh! Well, I don't want to bother her directly... I'd imagine she's a very busy woman." Zuberi said quickly, smiling to ease the tense look that suddenly struck her face. She certainly didn't want to bother the Queen herself with these matters. Certainly she had an underling or something to take care of these issues. Besides... Zuberi didn't do well with talking to figures of authority. In a way, she was still a number rank in her head; she'd only jumped up in rank two months or so ago, and it was hard to shake the mentality of inferiority.

She noticed the look that the girl gave her as she sat down and she smiled, giving her belly a pat. "Whew... Growing babies is a lot like growing plants. A lot of work, and a lot of energy." She gave a good-natured wink. "Makes me mighty tired."

[Kari Muffin]

Linnea was slightly disappointed. She honestly wanted an excuse to bother her Mommy, and the lovely lady wasn't giving her one. Oh well. "You're right... Mommy is a very busy person. She's really nice to strangers though so I thought you might want to meet her. I guess we can go and ask Grandma Peaches about it. She knows everything!"

Grandma Peaches. She wasn't supposed to call her that, but she did anyway. The little squirrel edged a tiny bit closer to the woman. Babies were like growing plants? Were there seeds involved she tilted her head curiously as she inspected the woman's stomach.

"Do you want me to get you water or something?" Her eyes were wide and eager at the idea of helping the woman out. She was a guest at the palace after all, and wasn't she supposed to be treated well?

[Nako]

"Well, how about we see which one is less busy.. and we'll bother that one. Deal?" Getting herself into a better position to get up, she considered the girl's offer. It was tempting.. but she really needed to get this done and over with.

"Oh no, that's fine. After we get Charlie taken care of though, we could hit the kitchens for something refreshing. Perhaps one of your family members needs a break too so they can get a bite of lunch, eh? Want ta help me up?" She offered her hand out for the girl to give a bit of a tug if she so desired, but her opposite hand would to the brunt of the work to get herself to her feet. Her left hand wasn't too nimble for manipulating things any more, but it functioned well enough to act as a prop to get her ass off the ground.

Right now, it was only hard to get up because of aches, pains and fatigue. What would she do when she was too round to get up on her own? That thought.. frightened her a bit. It reminded her of how lonely she truly was. Perhaps... she'd call someone to stay with her during those last two months or so to help her get around.

[Kari Muffin]

"Okay! Deal!" Linnea said as she watched the woman shift. Was she going to take the offer concerning the water. Her tail twitched in anticipation. What the woman said next was a wonderful idea. Maybe they could have a break all together? That would be really awesome! She hadn't spent time with Mommy in what seemed like forever because of all that work she did. She chittered happily for a moment at the thoughts that wandered through her head.

The little squirrel grabbed the woman's hand when it as offered. She tugged as hard as she possibly could... which wasn't all that hard. Either way she thought that she was being the greatest help she could possibly be. When the woman was on her feet Linnea laughed cheerfully before bouncing on her hide legs. Zuberi was really high up, just like all the adults, and standing on her hind legs sometimes made things a little easier when she spoke to them.

"Shall I lead the way to Gradma's office?"

[Nako]

Her desire to help was absolutely endearing! Very fitting to the suit that graced the child's chest. Would her own child be a club too, like her? Or perhaps it would be a spade.. like that monster. Then again, there were many spades that Zuberi adored. Seth was a spade, as were several of his children.

Upon standing, she gave her back a long -craaack-, spreading her wings to let them stretch as well, looking down with a smile at the girl at her feet. Adorable was an understatement with how she hopped so cutely on her hind legs. It made Zuberi wanna hug her and squeeze her and -keep- her! Eheheehehe! Oh.. but never mind Zuberi's inner baby-snatcher. If she got in good with the other side of the family, perhaps she'd get them to let Linnea come visit. That would just be grand!

"Sounds like a plan!" She pat the side of her leg, bringing Charlie to alert. "Stay close, Charlie. I don't want you getting lost." Hm... Peaches. Now that name was sounding familiar. Wasn't that Eldy's mother? She could have swore the girl mentioned that she'd been carrying another batch of Seth's litter. Would it be acceptable to bring such a thing up? Ah well; it was best to play it by ear.

[Kari Muffin]

"Yay!" She said joyfully as she hopped onto all fours. The trek to Peaches' office wasn't too far away. It seemed far to the little girl, and maybe a little bit of pain for the pregnant woman. Linnea took the path slow enough that it would at least be a comfortable pace.

When they came to the door Linnea tapped lightly with a paw. "Grandma! Grandma Peaches! Are you busy?" The girl wiggled a bit as she awaited a response. Grandma was a fun sort of person who did all sorts of strange things. Like stick to the ceiling and disappear into mirrors. Of course Linnea wasn't allowed to tell anyone about that, since it was a children only sort of secret.



The woman looked up from her paperwork at the sound of the knock on the door. Linnea? How many times had she told that girl not to call her grandmother? She gave a frustrated sigh as she set her pen in the inkwell and wandered over to the door. "Linnea--" she began until she saw the other woman standing there. What...?

"Grandma! I brought Zuberi to see you! She want's to register her Ace Charlie!" Linnea bounced on her hide legs look up at the woman in the straight jacket.

"Oh. Well uh... good work Linnea. I suppose we can just do that here. I have some of the forms somewhere. Uh... come in Miss Zuberi." She stood to the side allowing for the little girl to scurry by and the woman to enter.