Sayuri wandered inside the building, taking a seat in the sitting area and uncovered the wriggling fur bundle that was making squeaking noises from inside her coat. Two large ears flicked and Aini blinked under the lights, looking around her.
'Ok we are here now, you can stop trying to excavate my ribs.'
Probably not to long after, Jade swiftly made her entrance, her face squinched in an expression of pain. In her arms was her little white tiger bundle of "joy" whom currently had his maw around her wrist, his sharp milk teeth embedded firmly in her flesh. Dribbles of blood traced down her arm before smearing thickly on her black leather jacket. Some of the blood looked relatively dry, so one might believe this issue had been an ongoing one...not something very recent.
"Blake...PLEASE..." she begged in a breathy tone, trying not to grow hysterical. "You're hurting mommy."
The feline gave a snarly hiss around the flesh and bone in his mouth and flattened his ears, hardly relaxing his bite.
Just at the door was opened you could hear babbling noises and a sigh. Andraste was trying to keep Jacosa within her arms as he wiggled like mad. He had been here before ! Perhaps he could get back to his furry parents ?
The big dark eyes blinked several times and he had started to suck his fish pendant because of excitement. Andraste held him tightly as she wandered towards the strangers and tried to make herself smile...at least a bit.
"Hello...so I see you got one of them too ?" Jacosa stared at the twitching ears and tried to reach for the girl. "Oh...and yours is as active as mine." Looking at Blake she grinned slightly and pointed at the otter baby whose tail was hitting her hardly as he tried to get towards the others.
Sayuri nodded;
'Yes, this is Aini, she is a fennec fox. I'm Sayuri..' she trailed off, her eyes widening at the sight of Jade being pretty much savaged by the babe in her arms.
'Tap him on the nose or something,' she advised. Young predators teeth were often sharp and needle-like and so very painful to be bitten with.
"I didn't want to hurt him," she mumbled between gritted teeth. "Besides, I did try that already and all it did was piss him off more." Jade attempted to shift Blake and tickle his belly, trying to see if that might help. She was running out of ideas at this point.
The white tiger baby growled again and lashed his tail hard, trying to get Jade to knock off her prodding. Fortunately his tail lacked enough strength to make her arm sting as it struck. Still, Jade got the point and stopped messing with him, resigning herself to having a baby-sized leech on her wrist until he decided he was going to let go.
"I see. This is Jacosa and he's...well, an otter. I'm glad he doesn't bite, but he's lacking a front tooth anyway." The young woman shrugged as she sat down. Jacosa instead couldn't have been happier. Interesting people ! And something that growled and made noises.
Quickly he answered with babbling, squealing and stretching out his hands towards the striped one. He made a fist and opened it again.
But quickly he got bored and turned to the white fluffy one. Repeating his noises he made the same movements and waited for a reaction.
"So...I'm pretty new to this. Let's say...I didn't even want a baby. Is there anything...special I have to know ?" Being a bit embarrassed Andraste scratched her head.
'What more then he is hurting you? A quick little bit of pain will teach him that its not nice to bite like that. Aini chews on me sometimes and I either flick her nose or blow a whistle near her.'
She shifted Aini, who was peering at the otter baby.
'Or distract him with food. That works as well. But you cant let him get away with that behaviour.'
edit:
'Well I did alot of research when I got Aini. That helped me, especially decoding her habits and stuff.' she smiled at Andraste.
Jade's expression soured some.
"I know he's not supposed to get away with it, but I already have one son that hates my guts...I'd prefer to not get on the wrong foot with this one already," she said somewhat hotly, her cheeks flushing in indignation. Mmmph...
Thankfully, she didn't have to resort to flicking his nose again. The baby finally let go, having heard finally some strange noises from nearby that sounded more like noises he would make. He licked his blood-stained fangs, then grimaced and yowled irritably. Seemed that blood wasn't quite his taste...at least, right now. He glared at Jascosa and flared his nostrils.
Jade winced as the teeth were extracted, then exhaled noisily once she realized she had been holding her breath. The little vampire-like fang marks on her wrist glimmered with more blood, but it didn't seem to be flowing quite like it had been upon the initial contact.
'Well I am sorry. I was just ...trying to help.'
Aini looked from the otter babe to the striped one, and sniffed the air. What was that smell? It was coppery and something inside kind of switched on. She whined, wriggling even more.
"Sounds like a pretty good idea...research...research..." Andraste mumbled as she wondered why Jacosa didn't feel offended by Blake's glare. He just looked as happy as usual and still extended his hands. The fish pendant was shaking slightly, but the otter didn't seem to care. Still there was something new, something that needed to be discovered.
The woman's eyes fell on the wound and she snorted. "Phew...looks bad." Getting up a little she pulled two or three plasters out of her trousers' pocket and handed one to Jade. With a sigh she pointed at her neck. "Look, I tried to give him a bath and my very dear otter by tried to eat the soap...but he didn't like it and threw it out of the bathtub and I slipped on it...well..." Another plaster was decorating a large bruise on her skin there.
"He's always excited about everything. I tell you that isn't so nice either."
"Bleh...I rather inflict the wounds on myself then having his charming little teeth do the work for me," she said, again shifting Blake so she could stick the bandages on her battlescars. "And at least yours is excited to go places. You'd think I was taking Blake to be shaved naked or something with the amount of trouble he puts up everytime I try to get him somewhere...."
The tiger baby continued to glare at Jacosa, but once in awhile his eyes flitted to the shiny on the dark one's chest. That was one thing he liked...shinies.
Andraste nodded and was for the first time happy to have Jacosa. At least he hadn't bitten her yet and she doubted that he would ever dare to do so. "Do you have many children ?" She asked curiously wondering if she had a baby veteran in front of her. "I so had problems to find the right diapers...I mean...I didn't even know that diapers with wholes for babies with a tail existed. It's truly amazing what you can find in Gaia's stores if you just look long enough."
As the stripey one didn't seem to react Jacosa started to sniff. What a strange smell ? Why did the white one cry ? Seeming startled for a moment he decided to suck on his fish pendant again, which calmed him down a bit.
"Many children?" Jade tried not to laugh. "Many and well varied would be the best way to put it..." Between Ava, Yanisin, Blake, and her other assortment of pets that were more like children then she cared to admit, she had a VERY full household. At the mention of diapers with tailholes, she snorted. "Probably because the population demanded it...I remember when I went into a store that didn't have them and my eldest son Yanisin was out of 'em....well, let's just say they have them now."
Blake sniffed the air, catching the other baby's strange scent. And what was it doing to the shiny?! Nooo...it was dirtying it! The tiger cub growled and swatted the air clumsily, trying to tell the stranger that shinies were not to be tainted in such a manner.
Andraste listened carefully and grinned as she heard about the store. "So you seem pretty experienced. I never thought about children. My...'colleague'.." The woman stressed the word in a very annoyed way. "...Well, he gave me the address and before I knew I ended up with Jacosa. I'm not a very maternal woman. I hope Jacosa doesn't get damaged or so...although I doubt it, because he already is very strange and happy about everything."
The otter tried to wiggle out of Andraste's arms as she shoved him back onto her lap. The other one wanted something, he knew it ! But what...what did he want ?
Following his looks he looked at the fish. Was he interested in the tasty thing ? It tasted a bit like salt and like home. Yes, Jacosa was sure home tasted like this.
His hands tried to show the fishie to blake, but it was quite heavy to hold it up for a long time.
"I've never had a kid quite like him...sure, my daughter Ava is a spitfire. At least she has moment where she can be sweet and loveable. Blake? Oooooh no. I have not ONCE seen him look angelic or sweet. Even when he sleeps, he snarls." Jade peered at the bundle in Andraste's arms finally and relaxed, realizing what Jacosa was exactly. She always did like otters.
It was at this time that Blake attempted to lunge from Jade's arms to get at the fish pendant in the other baby's hands. He wanted it...and he wanted it NOW. Luckily, Jade had grown some remarkably wonderful reaction skills due to raising what was now her third child and saved him from toppling to the floor.
"Perhaps he's ill or something ? There has to be a reason for his grumpiness...right ?" Andraste suggested as she petted the otter baby's head and kept him from showing around the fish pendant.
"Shh...don't make him nervous. Look, Blake doesn't like this." Jacosa listened to the words but no doubt he didn't understand the intention. Or perhaps he just didn't want to be distracted from his mission to touch the striped one. Instead of extending the pendant now he simply started to make noises again and poked his nose against Andraste's arms.
"I don't think they'd give them to me if he was sick...he came like this. I wonder if there's a return policy..."
Blake yowled and struggled against Jade's grasp. Dammit...he wanted that pendant! He glared at Andraste now since she was hiding the shiny from him too. Two against one was NOT fair.
"You mean...we could push them back through this rift ?" Andraste's eyes sparkled a bit as she thought about the option of being independent again, but there was also something very tiny in her heart which made her feel guilty.
"If not we could probably meet up more often. It looks like Jacosa is able to distract Blake from your arm..at least for a while." She offered and focused on the otter who was very confused about his new friend's behaviour. Was this a new game ? He had balls at home which were allowed to be chewed. Perhaps the other one thought he was a ball ?
Babbling he stared at the rebellious cat and wondered why the other one looked somehow...angry ? There needed something to be done about that. As Andraste didn't pay attention he moved to the end of her legs and was about to reach for the other baby.
Sayuri came back from the bathroom after cleaning up Aini from when she had hacked up bugs. She sat again, trying to fold the squirming fennec onto her lap again. Aini squeaked in protest and tried to get to Blake and Jacosa.
"Well, even not pushing them back through the rift...just...giving him to Karma and saying "Well that was fun!" and walking out..."
Though really, there was no way she'd do it. First off, he was a white tiger and did Jade say no EVER to a white tiger? Secondly...well...he wasn't that bad. Maybe.
She then mutely observed the two baby's interaction, growing leery when Jacosa got closer and closer. Blake too didn't appreciate this fully either. Sure, the shiny was getting closer, but so was that other bigger dark person that kept chewing on it. A soft rumble started in his chest, barly audible until it slowly increased in volume as the otter baby got closer and closer. The fur on the top of his head and shoulders started to bristle.
Andraste nodded and waved slightly at Sayuri who had arrived back. "Sounds like an idea, but I doubt she would take them again." She grinned and finally looked at the otter again. "JACOSA !"
Not impressed at all and awfully curious the otter glanced at the moving fur and wondered how Blake was able to do this. He wanted to do it too, but somehow he wasn't able to. Why did the other one make different noises now ? Scary noises...For a moment or two the otter seemed to hesitate but was quickly distracted by a squeak. Oh the white one was back !
Sayuri stood, finally fed up with Aini's wriggling and went over to the other women.
'Well sometimes when Aini wont stop whining I think the same thoughts...but when she is asleep she is very sweet,' she joked.
"rrrrRRRRRAWR!" snarled Blake suddenly as the otter turned his head. He took the opportunity to lunge forward again, claws extended on both paws, and tried to rake the little one's face and chest. Again, he was thwarted by Jade, who yanked him back and clucked disapprovingly until Blake retaliated, twisted, and attached his claws to Jade's arm like it was some sort of scratching post. He was exceedingly pleased with the loud yelp he produced from his "mother".
"I think it's time for home," Jade forced herself to say, trying not to focus on the fact she had a 10lb bag of fur, bones, and flesh hanging from her left arm.
Jacosa's eyes grew wide as he noticed the rage attack of the tiger and saw the sharp claws close to his face. Alright, this was the first time Andraste experienced him to be still. His tail twitched once in a while and fear slowly grew inside his eyes as he was pulled back gently by his foster mother's hands. "I'm sorry." She said as she looked at the bundle of fur wrapped around Jade's arm. It had to hurt...
"I hope you can find something which calms him down. If you need help, someone who donates some blood or so..I'm here." She tried to grin.
Jacosa instead tried to forget about his fear quickly and babbled like before looking at the white girl.
Jade nodded stiffly before heading out, forcing herself to not explode in a long string of offensive language. Certainly not a good thing to do in the presence of children...
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