[FIN] Stranger than Fiction [Jenn]

[Lucca]

Jak? Eldy had...heard that name before. She was sure of it. She'd heard it whispered in conversations when no one was supposed to be listening. She'd heard children (her half-niece and nephew, neither of whom now remained in the Palace) say it when they were younger. Which meant...which meant...oh Suits, really? Her stomach twisted in horror before Tabby even muddled through her explanation.

"Yes, it does mean that." It was a bit hard to get her voice to work, and her smile was very forced. But she did attempt it. After all, it wasn't Tabby's fault she was born of...of incest. The only explanation was that her sister hadn't known Jak was related to her. Xiven had limits, and that was most certainly one of them. Besides, she'd hated Lior, been the one to..."kill" him. There was no way she'd have ever willingly done the nasty with anyone related to him.

"Actually, yes. I'm very much my mother's daughter," Eldy said, latching onto the distracting subject with some relief. She didn't really want to think about the horrible wrongness of that poor cute child's existence anymore. "She taught me...well, if not everything she knows, than at least a good chunk of it."

Thaddeus was a little confused. As a combination between a glorified magical artifact and a garden-variety worm, his sense of morality was shaky at best. So he wasn't quite sure what the problem was. But there still hadn't been any sort of threatening movements, so it wasn't worrying. He moved to curl around his familiar place on Eldy's shoulder, hoping his presence would help ground her.

[The Jenn]

The news of their relation didn't seem to please her overmuch, Jak noted, but he was sure that was just a brief, surprised moment of realization. Some people didn't take well to surprises, after all, so he preferred to get a good number of them out of the way as soon as he could. Then they could focus on bonding.

"Ceiling cat," he muttered, and then grinned, having heard others in his family refer to Peaches by that nickname on more than one occasion. An inside joke that he could be a part of, even if nobody else knew he was a part of it. He liked those. It made him feel like he belonged.

Tabby wiggled happily, trying not to squirm too hard out of Mommy's grasp and fall but still so very excited. Her little wings flapped happily against the Joker's chest as she braced both arms on the edge of the building and giggled. A very happy child, if decidedly strange.

"I'm tryyying to start introducing Tabby to her faaaamily," he wheezed to Eldy by way of explanation. "By the tiiime we get where I saw them, though, it's uuusually too late. But you looked hunkered down. And we live close. I knew we could make it."

[Lucca]

Eldy noticed the light but comforting weight of Thad on her shoulder, but she didn't turn to acknowledge him, feeling herself slightly unable to look away from the new relatives she'd never known she had. She grinned at the joke too, having heard her mother referred to by it many times. Whether it was said in a teasing, affectionate tone or a rather nasty one depended on who one heard it from. Of course, she herself didn't have the ability to magically stick to walls and ceilings, but given the proper environment had still found herself peeking in on a room from upside down. And now, one of Thad's abilities allowed her to climb walls more easily, albeit not without leaving a trail.

He was trying to let Tabby meet her family. Why this would be so hard for him, she wasn't sure, though she did remember that Jak was a sort of...odd child. His parents hadn't wanted him. Why, she didn't know. But that might have something to do with his problems. Still..."Wouldn't it be easier to write them a letter and invite them to tea?" She was only haf joking.

Noticing Tabby's squirminess, Eldy felt a jolt of worry run through her (a habit that came from babysitting all her little nieces and nephews) and finally remembered where they were. "Uh, this might not be the best place to talk, though. Maybe I should..." She looked around, and that was when she saw it...a flash of white and gold leaving the building across the street. "Hey! Hey, that's him!" she meowed in surprise, clawing at the tree to get closer. Sure enough...there was her quarry, leaving before his official time. Eldy narrowed her eyes, but hesitated. Normally, she'd follow, but she didn't really want to get Jak and Tabby involved, and she had a feeling they weren't quite done with her... "Thad?" she asked, and the Wurm nodded.

"I shall return when I am able to precisely this spot, Master Eldryia. Please await my return," he said, bowing to her. "Jak, Miss Tabby, it has doubtless been a pleasure." Thad climbed further up the tree and then dropped down to cling to the back of the delinquent employee's back.

Eldy watched for a minute before turned back to Jak. "Sorry about that...That guy was the one I was supposed to be spying on, you know." She shrugged and carefully inched back toward the window. "Maybe we should, uh, go somewhere so Tabby can run around a bit." She offered them a smile. Sure, this was...pretty darn weird, but she'd experienced a lot of strange things in her life. Besides, she'd rather know a bit more about the guy who could apparently spy on her and the rest of her family.

[The Jenn]

A letter. Aaah. If only it were that easy. "I caaaan't really write," Jak admitted with a small shrug. "And besides. There are too many. You wouldn't belieeeve how many houses I'd have to borrow to fit everybody. And I don't know where most of them are, anyway. I can heear them and seee them, but I don't always knooow. Y'know? Hehehe."

"Only Uncle Kieran and Uncle Awley ever visit the house," Tabby chimed in, not especially happy to be tugged back by her Mommy when she squirmed too far.

Both of their eyes immediately followed Eldy's as her head turned. Jak wondered who exactly 'he' was, but it was a passing thing. If this was a job then he didn't quite want to interfere. Money was important to keep living. But... if she sent her little familiar... then great! He grinned and tugged his daughter a little further in, ignoring her squeak of displeasure. "Mommy doesn't want you trying to flyyy right now, Princess," he cooed, nuzzling the top of her mane. She sighed, as a put-upon child might, and let herself be tugged back onto solid ground. "There's a whooole store in here. We can just sit. Or not. Or whatever. Less falling space, though."

Because oh yes, they would keep talking for as long as she let them. He was so deeply, truly, sincerely delighted to meet a new member of his family.

[Lucca]

Eldy looked a little abashed. She hadn't meant to offend him! She knew that not all kids were fortunate enough to get a good education, especially if Jak had been abandoned for some reason (like his parents' conversations she'd overheard implied. Actually, they'd also implied he was dead, but he obviously wasn't.) Of course, Jak then went on to assume she'd mean the should invite the entire family at once for tea. Now that would be...quite impossible. Even if they only included all of Xiven's kids. In fact, some of her kids couldn't even -be- in the same place at the same time, because Kamina was a freak of nature. She didn't bother to correct him because that was the moment when she got distracted.

After seeing Thaddeus off, Eldy breathed a sigh of relief when they agreed to go somewhere a bit more appropriate. Than dangling out a third story window. Yeah. Why was she always meeting the crazies? Of course, if she'd had any idea of Jak's true level of crazy...she might have just bolted. As it was, she had a certain...fondness for family herself, even crazy family. (Such as her half brother Vaska.) She opened the window easily and moved back into the store, closing it behind her and locking it as if no one had even bothered it today.

Then she went to go find Jak and his daughter.

[The Jenn]

There had been a wall separating their two windows, but it wasn't terribly difficult to find them. Tabby took advantage of her suddenly firm footing to do a little impromptu happy-dance at finally being taken out to meet some of her family! Then she ran down an aisle and Jak chuckled, walking after her in an oddly rolling gait. Normal bipedal bodies were so versatile in their movement that sometimes he liked to take advantage of it for his own subconscious entertainment.

After about three minutes of being 'chased' and one clerk giving them a Look from where they were sorting items to be restocked, Jak managed to corral and calm his hyper daughter down a little bit. She panted, little wings fluttering uselessly, and clung to his thigh while jumping up and down a little. Just... so... happy!

They found Eldy, or she found them, and both father and daughter had to physically restrain themselves from just giving her a hug right then and there. It was a similar tension, but a good one. Jak grinned first, and waved one hand around. "You wanna talk in heeeere, or you wanna find someplace to siiiit? Either way..."

[Lucca]

It took a few minutes for them to meet up, but Eldy found them easily enough. They made quite the odd pair...well, Jak himself looked normal, but his daughter was fairly unique, with the small wings on her back and...and, she realized with a startled blink, her lack of bindings despite looking at least half Torque. Huh. Maybe she was born free? It was possible considering her mother. Or, er, father.

Her father who was related to...okay, no, ew, not thinking about that. The two were eying her oddly, and Eldy gave them a cautious smile. "Hi, again." Eloquent, she thought, inwardly rolling her eyes at herself. "Um." She glanced around the store. A few people were giving them odd looks and...she felt a little too exposed. "Let's go...somewhere else." With a flick of her tail, Eldy led them deeper into the store, past a door that claimed it was for employees only and into a back room.

Eldy smirked. She'd lucked out. It was some sort of break room and there were a few well-worn couches and some tables with a few (empty?) pizza boxes and cups on them.

[The Jenn]

Jak trotted along behind Eldy, following her a bit like a puppy. He kept hold of Tabby's hand and tugged her along whenever something suddenly caught her eye and she wanted to stop. Right now wasn't the time.

When they entered the back room without a care in the world, the Joker had to almost physically restrain himself from going and digging through the boxes as his first priority. No... no. He wasn't starving and neither was Tabby. Between him and Kieran, they made enough to pay for food without a problem now. But still. Old habits. He went and flopped down on a couch instead, letting his daughter do as she would. "Heh. 's a good spot."

She made straight for the pizza. Or, rather, the remnants. There weren't even any crusts left. Aww. Or cheese stuck to the box in gobs. Nothing good. She debated licking it for all of two seconds before deciding that family was more important right now and going to sit on the floor in front of the couch. She grinned eagerly up at her aunt and tucked her feet beneath her. "So do you live with lots of our family? Do you know them, even if you don't live with them? Mommy says there's soooo many but he's never met most of them. Are there lots of kids? He says he sees lots of kids. D'you know them? What are their names? Do I have brothers and sisters, or even really close cousins? D'you have any kids?"

[Lucca]

Eldy stretched herself out on the couch across from Jak, sighing. As much as she was used to and somewhat enjoyed hiding out on rafters and roofs and railings...none of that was very comfortable. This was nice. She nodded absently to Jak, suddenly realizing how very...tired she was. Funny how you never noticed those things until you actually got up and started moving around. She'd been awake for over twenty four hours and it showed.

But now wasn't the time to sleep, so she forced herself to stay alert as Tabby suddenly showered her with questions. "I...I live with Mom, and Xiven, and all of Xiven's kids. Yes, there are a ridiculous number of kids and no, none of them are mine. You have a large number of half brothers and sisters and if you really want I can tell you their names but it would take a while. And there are parts of the family I've never even met." She shrugged casually, though an old ache started up in her chest at the thought of her late Father. Who she'd never met.

Eldy frowned, and then looked thoughtfully at Tabby. "....I think you should meet Xiven," she said, and then blinked, a bit surprised at her own words. Tabby meeting her father could be downright dangerous, especially if Pale got wind of little Tabby's existence...that was a sickening thought. But she just...didn't want another kid to have to go through what she had gone through. Was going through. Especially not family.

((OOC note: Eldy doesn't know it, but she may actually have kids. They're not anywhere close to board official yet, but in order for the timelines to work they might already exist.))

[The Jenn]

Hanging on her aunt's words, Tabby greated each new revelation with a happy squeak, wiggling against the base of the couch. She really hadn't gotten to run around much today and she was fairly bursting with energy. Mommy had interrupted her play time, which would have wound her up and back down again, but it was totally worth it to meet her aunt.

"Oh wow. That's so great! That's probably one of the reasons Mommy says he sees soooo many kids when he has seizures, if I have lots of brothers and sisters. And yeah! I really do want to know their names. Please? That way if I ever meet any, I'll know! Since there are a lot of Torquehelms around." She smiled eagerly, and her expression seemed to become even brighter when she mentioned actually possibly maybe someday meeting her father. She opened her mouth to respond, but then suddenly snapped it closed. Her face slid into a somewhat vacant expression and her body pressed back against the edge of the couch base.

She looked somewhat bewildered. "Oh. I guess I can't see you anymore," she murmured, looking around herself with a hazy curiosity.

Jak took one look at her and grunted. Then he laid a hand on her shoulder and held on, in case she tried to get up, which she almost certainly would. He glanced around the room for a second before shrugging and looking back at Eldy. "Sheeeee goes someplace else sometimes," he muttered with a shrug. "She can talk to ghosts. It's neeeat. But, uh. I'd looove to take Tabby to meet Xiven! My brother just said no, though, when I aaaasked."