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Cameo beamed, still sipping from her juice box happily, and Phantom pulled her to her chest, ruffling her hair.

At Wolfey's question, however, Phantom's face fell and her gaze drifted to her 'daughter' distantly. "I was wondering when someone would notice that." She murmered. Shaking herself out of her half-trance she looked up at the cat girl behind her. "Nevenn, could you?" But Nevenn had already caught her train of thought, and was standing, Jaque held safely in her arms. Phantom's face softened. "Thank you. It'll only take a little while."

Once Nevenn and Jaque were a good ways away, Phantom turned back to Wolfey. "I'm sorry about that, but I swore I wouldn't let Jaque ever find out where he came from, so..." She shook her head. There was no way she would break that promise. "I ain't taking any chances here, even if he's an infant." Anxiously, she fiddled with the trim of her t-shirt. Finally, she said, "Cameo and Asha are adopted, yes, I don't hide that from them at all. Alex and Nevenn, well..." Why was she telling him this? Perhaps her years of silence on the subject had built up to the point she couldn't handle it anymore, but...

Alex jumped in, noticing Phantom struggling with the explanation. "Perhaps you've noticed that neither 'Venn or I refer to Phantom as 'mom', well, you see--"

"--They aren't genetically my children, but--"

"--She nevertheless brought us into this world, and--"

"--Even I don't understand the mechanics of it, you see, so--" Phantom shook her head again, at a loss of words to explain this. Instincively, she pulled her knees up to her chest and placed her chin on Cameo's head, rubbing her back lovingly.

Unknowing of the conversation going on around him, Asha continued his interaction with Ani. He grinned childishly, laughed, and the gem on his forehead flashed. Garbling something nonesensical, he pointed at Ani's wagging tail and the ears ontop his head, his chains clanking with his movements. Sure, Nevenn had ears and a tail, but they weren't like these ones!

"Thank you." Phantom murmered, biting her lip. "I'm sorry for telling you all that, but..." She sighed, and repeated. "I'm sorry. This has been building up for a long time." And you seemed willing to hear remained unsaid, hanging in the air.

Cameo squirmed out from underneath her mother's arm. "I'm gonna go find Julii, Muma." She said carefully.

Smiling halfway, Phanotm nodded. "Go ahead, Cam." Tucking another strand of hair behind her ear, she added. "Don't hurt yourself. Be careful."

"'Kay." She stood clumsily, nodding to Wolfey. "Nice yo meet you, sir." And she hurried off after the brightly colored hair of her two brothers in the distance.

Phantom let out a sigh, watching Cameo a moment and then back at Wolfey. "Thank you for listening to me." She murmered, sighing, and then took a deep breath. "Your... tail, it's quite... nice." Obviously struggling to change the subject, Phantom shifted on the grass to watch the children and Wolfey at the same time. "Do you ... take care of it well?" Mentally, Phantom slapped herself. Real good subject change, there.

Still completely oblivious, Asha squeeled happilyas his hand touched Ani's wolf-like ears. Oh! This was so cool! When Ani touched his chains, he giggled and threw up his arms so the motion caused them to clank together again.

(( >< Sorry for the delay. I was a tad busy yesterday, but I've managed to post this before I go to school. Sorry for the shortness. D: ))

Unable to contain it, Phantom did, indeed, laugh. "Ah, I see. It makes sense it would take so much care to keep it clean." At the mention of Asha, Phantom looked down at the infant. "I... Actually, I don't have a clue. He had them when I adopted him, so... Well, I don't know, but he rather doesn't like someone trying to take them away, though he'll take them off -- or try anyways -- himself." She shrugged. "I'll have to ask next time I'm around there."

Asha squeeled (was that a squeel? Phantom couldn't tell) and clapped his hands, tentively reaching out his hand to touch the other boy's tail. However, he quickly decided otherwise and drew his hand back to clap again.

Phantom stiffled a laugh. "Aa, but I think Ani's wolf characteristics rather fit him." She paused, thinking about his question. "Oh, why, the adoption center, of course." It seemed like a rather open place, and Phantom saw no reason why she wouldn't be around there every once in a while. She brought Cameo to the mansion plenty, after all. "Where I adopted Asha. I'd think they'd know if anyone did."

Petting Ani's tail softly, Asha yawned as well, echoed even softer by his mother. Yawns were contagious, apparently. "Nyanana..." He babbled lightly, patting his friend's tail, with no apparent meaning. "Nn."

Phantom blinked. "Yes, actually." Coincidence indeed. "Nap? Nah, I stayed up late last night fixin' up the kids' room is all." However, it did seem that the children were tired. As if to support this, Asha yawned again and rubbed his eyes and leaned up against his mother's lap. Then...

"A'ex! Muma!" It was Cameo... piggy-back on Julii, who seemed quite disgruntled, and was giving the younger boy that trailed behind them a scornful look. The Sin's knees were all scratched up, and the legs of her overalls were grass-stained. The same type of stains were reflected on Julii's pants as well. Neon, however, seemed unscathed.

Alex, who had seemingly blended into to background during the majority of Phantom and Wolfey's conversation, gave Phantom a half-smile and stood. "What happened?"

And thus the two elder boys burst.

"Neon pushed her--"

"--Did not! She slipped!"

"--out of the tree! He did too!"

"But you caught her, didn't you?"

"What if I hadn't?!"

"A'ex!"

Phantom winced, swiftly drawing air in between her teeth. Ah, by the look on Cameo's face she was ready to go home, Asha was probably going to fall asleep soon, and if they wanted to get home before dark, they'd have to leave soon to find Nevenn and Jaque, they still hadn't come back... Turning back to Wolfey, Phantom sighed. "I'm sorry, but, ah..."

"Yeah, that's about the gist of it -- Thank you." Phantom accepted the note greatfuly, looked down at it briefly and then folded it. Putting it in her pocket she thanked him again. "Thank you, I do too hope we see each other soon. I'll be sure to bring Asha if I drop by."

Asha garbled back to Ani, returning the hug, and yawned again. As he rubbed his eyes, Alex bent down and picked him up, still trying to rectify the situation. "Hush, Cameo, what happened?"

The Sin sniffed and buried half her face in Julii's back. "I dunno, it happen' rweally fast."

Phantom cast a quick glance at her daughter, and then felt the tug on her shirt. She glanced down, and her lips cracked into a smile. "Ah," she bent over to lift Ani up and give him a gentle hug, "good bye Ani."

"Tank you, sir." Cameo said softly, slipping the straw into the box and sipping on it idly. With the other arm, she held onto Julii. As he pat her on the head she smiled partly, and then placed her cheek back on her brother's back. Julii smiled too, and shifted Cameo's weight slightly to make it easier on himself.

Phantom's face softened at Wolfey's explanation of Ani's actions, and smiled. "Huh. Is that so? Why, I believe I love you too, Ani." Phantom chuckled, and ran a hand through her hair. "Good bye you two, thank you so very much." With a smile and a wave, she turned slightly and headed back towards her children. "Buh-bye." As she reached Neon, she snagged his ear and pulled him in an odd position. "And you are going to be spending some time in your room, young man." She hissed, dipping her head closer to Neon's.

The boy winced and breathed in swiftly between his teeth, attempting to move out of his mother's grip. "Ouchouchouchouch."

"Bynananana Anani." Asha yawned cuddling close to his 'sister' and just barely looking over her arm at his wolf-like friend. "Bynanana."