queenoflogs | Poor, poor egg.

Entry tags:

Poor, poor egg.

Characters: Katina and Akiha
Date: April 6
Summary: Katina and her eggbaby look for the other mommy.
Warnings: Ill-tempered women.

Crying is not the thing Katina expected to be woken up by. If it's not an alarm clock, then it's usually a headache - occasionally another person, but half the time she has a headache when that happens anyways. But crying, oh no, this is not what she expected at this point in her life.

It takes her about ten minutes to wake herself up, find the eggbaby, and realize that holy shit she has to take care of a crying egg with a face. The next ten minutes were spent trying to comfort it, and failing miserably until she realized the obvious - it was crying for another 'mama'. If she was wrong, of course, she'd at least get outside, but childcare? Generally seen as a thing couples do.

Her mood was already dark from frustration when she realized what she was heading towards as the cries lessened. Of course. Grumbling as she stomped up to the door of Akiha's mansion, she slammed her fist against it a few times, already at the point where Akiha could jump out the window in full-on demon AKIHA rage and it wouldn't faze her.

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Of course Katina followed. She hadn't figured out just how far she could take the egg, after all, and if something happened she wasn't dealing with it on her own anyways. Better that they suffer together.

An eyebrow was raised at Akiha going for the liquor with that kind of gusto. "So is this gonna be what happens if you ever end up with a real kid somehow?" She sat down in a chair herself, watching Akiha closely. Obviously, she was still trying to ignore the situation.

Katina raised the glass to her lips, taking a slow sip. This thing was going to make alcoholics out of them.

"This isn't a real child," Akiha replied. "And when I do have an heir, things will be different. I will want the child, first of all." She paused, staring into her tea for a moment, and then gave the cup a sullen look. "Assuming I want to continue the Tohno line."

Akiha tended to entertain the idea of ending the line with herself. She hated her blood and what it made her be, so she didn't want to pass it on to any offspring. The odds were the child would also have weak blood, like hers had been until she'd suddenly and unnaturally inverted, but that wouldn't make life any easier.

Katina rested an elbow on the table, glaring down at the egg. It had calmed down, briefly, looking content. She didn't have much affection to spare for something that wasn't alive and probably didn't have an actual mind of its own. What a pain in the ass.

"Oh? If you put it that way..." That's not just 'I might not want kids' which is perfectly understandable, especially for someone Akiha's age. She would probably say as much instead of putting it that way if it was just that.

Yeah, downing the rest of that whiskey in one go.

"I'm not my father."

Akiha glanced over with an irritated sigh as Katina finished her drink. "Try to attempt some moderation. This decanter is almost empty and I only have the small other one in my room." She eyed that now empty glass. "I'm the only one here that drinks."

Not that it did her much good since she couldn't get drunk. "I'm not going to take care of both an egg and a drunken idiot."

"Nah, you're definitely just you." Definitely her own woman, unique in a way.

She looked down at the glass, then reached out to set it aside. "I can handle a few drinks, even this early, but if you need it that badly I'll go easy on you." Better than listening to yet another complaint, and she never actually drank in the morning, for the most part.

Leaning back, Katina set the egg in another chair.

"I don't need it; I can't even get drunk. I just don't want to have to go create more." Her gaze turns to the egg once it's deposited in a chair to take an actual look at the unnatural thing.

"The Garden just likes to make a fool out of me every time I have to get dirt. Like when I had to repair that window from Amamiya. Or when I decided to make the trees out back." She glowered. "I bet you didn't have to suffer after making your giant doll."

"Well that'd explain how a girl like you goes through whiskey like this." Shrug. The egg is certainly pretty unnatural. Way too big, for one, and a drawn-on face really shouldn't change. If Katina wasn't convinced they'd get in some kind of trouble for breaking it, she'd have tried making it into breakfast.

"It was the garden that jacked me up enough to make it, so I guess it makes sense that they didn't mess with me any more than that. I try not to use a whole lot of the dirt anyways." Living in other people's homes helps immensely.

"If I was content with living in dirt then I wouldn't have to either." Yes, that was a dig at Katina, but it was a half-hearted one, more like an obligation than actually feeling it. Or maybe the whiskey was at least having some affect.

"But there weren't any existing places that met my standards. And this mansion is almost exactly like mine back in Misaki. It's... familiar." She wouldn't say comfortable even though that would be the more expected word to use than familiar. "And as the head of a household, I am responsible for repairs, additions, and the safety of this place. So I have to deal with the dirt." She wasn't going to mention that the trees were technically a gift...

She closed her book and scooted forward to lean over and peer closer at the egg. The sudden happier expression on the painted face was disturbing.

Katina nodded. The insult went over her head enough that she didn't give it a second thought, instead listening quietly for a moment. Familiar. Yeah, Katina didn't have much of it here. Excellen was familiar, and Katina was glad to have a friend here, and her Gespenst looked impressive and was nice to have around, but it was totally useless.

Maybe she could make copies of the Hiryu Kai's living quarters... though she wouldn't be able to manage the low gravity, without technology that's beyond all but the brightest minds. "Other people live here too. Don't they help out? Gather up dirt, fix busted bits and pieces? Even the handiest homeowners can't do everything on their own."

"Kris is the laziest sloth ever, so if it can't be done with magic she doesn't do anything, and Lily is but a child," Akiha replied. "Lambda takes care of a lot of repairs that don't require the dirt; she is by far the most useful."

Akiha reached out as if she was going to touch the egg, but stopped short and took up her tea again. "It's been rough without Hisui and Kohaku." She missed her maids... for more reasons than just the work they did around the mansion.

Kris... yeah, that would be a problem. Akiha could probably use a few more residents for a home of this size, maids or otherwise. "Yeah... sometimes it's kind of shame that people can't stick around until we can all get home. Pain in the ass."

She looked down at the egg. Are you gonna touch it? Do you really want to make it like you more? Not that that's what would necessarily happen, but a very real risk! "Anyways, I'm no carpenter, but if you need an extra hand it's not like I've got anything better to do."

"I don't want your help," Akiha replied immediately, her pride flaring. "I'm already in debt to Subaru for her helping keep us fed and I like her." Unlike Katina. She didn't say it out loud, but she doubted it needed to be said.

"But if you're going to freeload off of me while here with this ridiculous egg, you will make yourself useful."

Smiling for the first time today, even if it was a tired sort of grin, Katina crossed her arms and fixed Akiha with a look. Of course, she had to tack that little bit awkwardly onto the end. Even with that implication though, Kris's advice regarding Akiha almost made it... funny? Endearing?

Well, whatever. "So, if I wanna help you out, I just have to make sure I'm indebted to you first. Got it."

If Akiha had known Kris had spilled her tsundere secret, she'd be upset. Though that tired grin and look made her frown in response before flipping her hair over her shoulder and opening her book again.

"Exactly. That is how these things work."

Katina's not giving it away. "But you're way too stuck up to want to be in someone else's debt, instead of the other way around. Don't you trust me to not mess with you?"

Not that Katina would trust herself in Akiha's shoes, at least not entirely.

"No."

That was the flat response to the idea of trusting Katina. Apparent black romance (as the Condesce called it) or not, Akiha wasn't planning on trusting Katina any time soon. Who knew when she'd decide to try to get Akiha back for her inverted attack.

"I'm already indebted to two people. That's two too many."

"Smart girl." Anything Katina did wouldn't be payback for that attack, though. If anything, it would just be messing with Akiha because she's fun to mess with, nothing nearly as vindictive as payback for that - at least as long as Akiha never speaks a word of how pathetic Katina was.

"You've got me in your debt as long as I'm staying here, though."

"Which is why you'll make yourself useful. How long are you going to stay--"

Akiha's words were cut off by the egg, suddenly not happy about being in the chair and pretty much ignored. Akiha shot it a glare.

"Hold the damn thing. Maybe that will shut it up."

Katina sighed, reaching out to the egg and rocking it absentmindedly. "Take it easy, we're not gonna scramble you or anything." Fortunately, the thing doesn't seem like it wants to be fed, if it could eat anything anyways.

Looking up, she shifted to try and get comfortable with the egg. "I'm staying until it stops making a racket when it's too far away from you. The Queen decided that we're its 'parents'."

"Then the Queen doesn't seem to understand that parents don't constantly spend time together around their children. That's what nannies are for," Akiha replied. It wasn't like Akiha was around her parents often as a child...

"I dunno, it's what's healthy for a newborn." Sorry Akiha, Katina came from a relatively poor family, at least when she was younger. "My mom made the most of her maternity leave, and she and my dad burned through their vacation days almost immediately after that. As far as I know they were pretty crazy."

"Do you even remember that?" Akiha assumed that was all stuff Katina had heard about. Though she was curious as to what childhood to poor people was like.

...and maybe the slightest bit jealous.

"My father didn't bother paying much attention to me until I was seven."

"My family isn't a bunch of liars. I can trust them on that." All of her memories of her family summed up to a pretty good childhood (at least until I get jossed in the next game or something :| ). Not an easy childhood, but a good one.

Of course, it only takes that one statement for Katina to cringe a little. "Er... sorry if I seem like I'm bragging or anything."

"It's alright," Akiha replied, and for once it mostly seemed she meant it. "There was little need for him to do so until he decided I was to be the next head and needed to start my lessons."

And that was the end of Akiha's childhood.

Just one more bit of information that explains why Akiha is the way she is, and another reason for Katina to at least try to not be a total bitch to her. "Parents who are gonna act like that shouldn't bother reproducing. I don't care how important their damned family lines are."

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