Finding Father [End]

[Greenie]

Zether gave him a look that was a mix of "screw you" and "screw this," with a tiny bit of total disbelief added in. He didn't have a particular love for math, but he didn't hate it any more than he hated the rest of his subjects; he was just thoroughly sick of learning, and the idea of fifty math problems was enough to make him want to shoot himself.

"No, and no." He grumbled finally, his eyes glaring down at the paper and the book. This had turned into a Very Bad Idea somehow, and he wasn't sure when - he'd been so in control five minutes ago! Stupid parents. Next time he'd just sneak out and go find Mother..

"I don't care." The mix replied defiantly, determined to annoy his father as much as possible at this point - he wasn't going to do those math problems unless Christopher sat and watched him do each and every one of them.

[Kari Muffin]

Christopher laughed. It wasn't the good sort of laugh. It was the sadistic sort of laugh that made many students in their early years want to wet their pants. It was the laugh that clearly meant that there was going to be trouble.

"You don't care?" he said after he had managed to find a break in his own laughter. "You don't care about your future and possibly being humiliated by any Esterberry that you would meet on the street! You don't care about anything! That's because you don't understand how important it is to know things beyond ignorance."

He snorted. "Your Mother would be disappointed in you, and that's quite a feat. But anyway as punishment for not caring you owe me a three page essay on how lucky you are to be the son of a noble. And if you don't write it... well we can forget about dinner."

[Greenie]

Zether steeled himself for a fight. He wasn't going to win - he never did - but once in a while he managed to royally piss his father off, which was always a good secondary goal when losing was a surefire thing.

"What's there to care about? I'm already smarter than all the kids I know - which aren't few, because I'm locked up in here all day - and I have no intention of voluntarily going to Esterberry, meeting any Esterberries or speaking to any Esterberries, so why should I care what they think?" He paused to roll his eyes. The obsession with being "Esterberry-smart" had never sat well with him, though he did enjoy making other children look stupid when they were obnoxious. "What else is there for me to know? I'm already into abstract concepts that I'll never need unless I become a mathematician!" He growled, shoving the paper away from him.

Mother tended to forget he existed on weekdays, so the thought of being a "disappointing child" didn't hold much merit for him. He actually snickered at the thought of a paper. He knew how lucky he was to be living in the Court of Spades, his mother a Queen, but he didn't appreciate having it shoved in his face. "We? Are you going to go with dinner as well if I choose not to write?" He snickered again. "It's perfectly okay, I'll just be anorexic for a while like Mum. I'm sure I could stand to lose a few pounds." He patted his ribs, and hoped his stomach didn't give him away and growl.

[Kari Muffin]

Christoper could feel his blood pressure rising as he listened to his son. The one child he had was going to grow up to be a complete and utter moron, and he would be the mockery of all his peers. That thought alone was enough to make the veins in the canine's forehead visible to the world.

"If you think about life with that attitude you're going to end up in a hole somewhere begging people for money so you can raise your twenty children. So I suggest you shape up and do your homework," Christopher said with a growl. "But either way you won't be having dinner tonight. And if you continue to talk back I'm going to ship you off to an Esterberry boarding school if you like it or not. I am sick and tired of you whining over simple work. If you don't do hard work you'll be nothing but a pathetic leech for the rest of your life."

With an agitated huff the man walked out of the room without another word.

[Greenie]

Zether watched his father's forehead in fascination. What pretty little bumping veins. If he annoyed him even further, would they fall out completely? It was a worthy goal, to be sure!

"Twenty? I don't want twenty. A nicely sized litter or two will do just fine." Zether contradicted, well aware that there had been more substance in what his father was saying than the 'twenty children' comment. Something about begging for money... eh, well. He could always ask Grandmother to support him if he got cut off. She might laugh and then get mad, but she'd do it.

The pup rolled his eyes. The Esterberry boarding school threat again? So much for originality. He had a feeling that the Esterberries wouldn't take him if his dad tried anyways, Esterberry lineage or not, but he would run away if that remote possibility ever came to fruition. "Whining? I wasn't whining. How is asking for help whining?" Sure, he was whining now, but that was hardly the point. Zether made faces at his father's retreating back.. then clawed a few nice lines through the sheet of paper, just for fun.

[Kari Muffin]

Christopher was long gone and in his room as his son tried to taunt him. He wasn't going to put up with any bullshit today. And honestly if this trouble making went on he was going to send that boy to boarding school. Convincing Mia wouldn't be too difficult if he came up with some sort of legitimate reason to ship the boy off.

He stared down at his half finished lesson plans. Where had he left off before he was interrupted? He picked up one of the books and paged through it with his thumb. Right, they had to go over basic math yet again to try and teacher the brat how to do advanced problems to their parent's liking.

This was all just annoying. It wasn't too much to ask his son. They were just simple math problems. Why couldn't he have had a normal Esterberry son who was actually diligent when it came to learning? Even Mia wasn't this bad when it came to expanding horizons.