"They're going to love you." Eight smiled down at Kea, bending down to hoist her up into her arms. She missed being able to lift up light children like this whenever she wanted! She could pick up the tiny Tahnee children but that was only because they never got any bigger! Plus they squirmed too much.
"If no one's around we'll pick your room first before we get any distractions. Alright? Then you can meet your new family! How that's sound?" Kea's wings fluttered as she nodded clapping her hands and smiling.
"Yup! My room?" What did her mother mean by her room? A room was a place you kept things right? …Was she going to keep her in that room?! Never allowed to leave? No! That would be bad! She didn't want a room!
"B-b-but why?" Eight blinked. Why was she so worried all of a sudden?
"So you have a place to sleep and a place to keep all your toys and clothes? Don't worry, you'll be fine!" The woman playfully tapped the tip of Kea's nose and hitched her up more comfortably on her hip, hurrying her walk a little so they could get to the house quicker.
A few minutes later they were walking through the front door; Kea was put back on her feet and allowed to roam around as long as she stayed within sight.
"Hello? Anyone home?" Eight called looking a bit perplexed.
"That's odd…someone's usually home. Liam? Pan? Shauna?" After calling Shauna's name she heard a sudden hushed gasp echo from the hall upstairs. Seconds later there was the sounds of a very small scuffle and more hushed sounds. What the hell?
"Come on, Kea. We're going upstairs now." The half demon waved a hand to get the Tale to follow her, holding the girl's hand as they walked up the stairs. Kea's mouth was in the shape of an 'o' when she looked around at the view from the stairs that got higher and higher. This place was pretty! And big! She didn't notice that Eight was taking the steps two at a time to get to the top of the stairs before whoever was upstairs vanished. Was it a burglar? No way…Delora would have stopped them. Perhaps it was just one of the children hiding from her for some reason or another.
"We can look for a room for you while we're up here." Eight commented to Kea when they reached the top. Well there was no one in the immediate area but now she could smell something. It smelled like…burning…burning metal?
Something was burning?!
Eight gasped and let go of Kea's hand, hurrying down the hall and stopping short around the corner. Where was the fire?! What was burning?! …Oh. It was just Shauna and Stala burning the lock on some door. That was all? The half demon chuckled and went to turn back to retrieve Kea when she suddenly realized what was wrong with that picture. It wasn't the fact that they were burning a lock, that
was bad but not as bad as
what lock they were burning.
"SHAUNA! STALA!" Eight put her hands on her hips and glared at the pair. Shauna's ears perked and the fur on her tail stood on end, staring at her mother like a deer in headlights. Ilistala uttered a surprised squeak.
"Huh!" she said, turning around to face her aunt. A tiny orange flame danced on the tip of her index finger; realizing it could be possibly incriminating evidence, she wagged her finger, and the flame died out.
"Shauna made me do it!" As if blaming her cousin wasn't enough, Stala jumped behind the foxgirl, placed two hands at the base of her spine, and pushed her forward.
"All Shauna's fault, Auntie Eight, I swear! She held me hostage and everything!" Under the bus!
Shauna gasped.
"That's not true!" The fox whined, stomping her foot and glaring at Stala.
"Stala is the one who wanted to know what was behind the door!" She stepped away and turned to face her cousin, pointing at the girl like she was about to accuse her of being a witch during the Salem witch trials.
"I tried to tell her it was off limits but she wouldn't hear of it! Then she started melting the lock to open it!" There goes the excuse of a note slipping under the door that she was going to use. Now here was the challenge: Who to believe?
Ilistala flailed her arms in the air, stamped her feet, and stuck her tongue out at Shauna.
"You are such a liar!" she cried, indignant.
"Shauna wanted to see what was in the attic, honest! She made me come cause...cause...cause she was scared!" Eight rolled her eyes and put her hand on her forehead to rub at her temples with her thumb and index finger. She wasn't going to believe either of them; Shauna was somehow learning to be quite the troublemaking actress lately…Eight wasn't sure how. Stala? Well Ioyla was her mother! Of course she'd also be a little bit of a troublemaker. She glanced over to her side when movement caught her eye, giving Keaira a bright smile as the little girl snuck along the wall and peeked around the corner at her new sister and cousin (She didn't know which was which) arguing. At first they just kept betraying each other by making new excuses, and then they started making faces at each other and waving their arms around. Keaira started laughing when the two girls started yelling mean names back and forth, skipping over to Eight and tugging at the hem of her shirt.
"Momma? Who're they?" The Tale asked, pointing at Shauna and Stala. The two were still calling each other names. Eight chuckled ruefully and ruffled Kea's hair. What a wonderful first impression.
"Shauna, the one with the tail, is your older sister. The other girl is your cousin Ilistala. She's the daughter of one of my friends from when I was small like you. Don't mind them; they're not usually li—hey! Stop that!" She knew they weren't intending to really hurt each other but now they had their hands around each others necks and shaking the other like they were choking each other. The two girls stopped choking each other and jumped away from one another, facing Eight and pointing at each other like a mirror.
"She started it!" They both cried. Shauna was going to attack Stala again until she noticed the little girl standing by Eight's side. Oh no! What were they
doing?! Shauna gasped in horror and hurried over to her mother and the girl, clasping her hands in front of her under her chin and frowning.
"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry! We haven't made you scared or anything, have we?" Shauna pleaded, bending down so she was level with Keaira. Keaira giggled and shook her head, waving a few fingers in greeting. Shauna blinked and suddenly looked a little confused. This girl didn't seem to be phased by their behavior! In fact she was
giggling! "Um...okay...so I'm--""Sister Shauna!" Kea finished for Shauna, throwing her arms around the bigger girl. Now Shauna looked surprised instead of confused. Sister Shauna? Usually only Elle called her 'Sister.' Nevertheless she giggled and hugged the little girl back, lifting her off her feet and turning with the girl resting on her hip.
"And that's Cousin Ilistala!" She smiled.
"You're both very pretty!"Ilistala let out her own giggles when Shauna started.
"Shaaaawneee," she coo'd, clasping her hands under her ear and batting her eyelashes,
"we should go downstairs. I feel a strong desire for cookies!" Stala marched up to Shauna, beeped Kea's nose, winked, and pulled Shauna down the stairs, giggling again. Yay, time for cookies! Shauna squeaked and quickly but carefully put Kea back down beside her mother, waving back at her mother and new sister as the pair rounded the corner. Moments later they could hear another tiny struggle; that would be Shauna smacking Stala upside the head for calling her Shawn. Eight stared up at the ceiling and shook her head, taking a few moments to inspect the damage done to the door before turning back to Keaira and taking her hand.
"Let's get to picking out your room. I actually know of one I think you'll like!" Eight smiled down at Kea and led her down the hall, passing a few doors that were already decorated by the children who slept in the rooms behind them. One of them was a French door with white curtains covering the glass from the inside – that was Eight and Alex's room, of course. Finally they got to a room two doors down and opened the door, stepping inside to check it out. The floors were hardwood like the rest of the rooms, and the walls were painted bright blue. It was spacious, so they could fit a play area for Kea to put all her toys! And the window looked over the beach! How pretty! Kea let go of Eight's hand and walked around the room, staring at the walls for a good, long minutes before turning to Eight with her hands clasped beneath her chin much like Shauna had done earlier.
"Can we put clouds on the walls~?" Kea's question caught Eight just a little off guard. Clouds? Kea looked like one of those Gothic Lolita girls all over the internet and in anime, but here she was asking for
clouds on her walls. Maybe she just liked dressing like this? She was a very happy little girl with an oddly familiar feeling...she reminded Eight of someone but she couldn't put her finger on who.
"Sure thing. I'll have to call one of your other sisters so she can come do it though. I promised she'd be the only one to ever paint the walls of this house." Eight smiled, patting Kea's head and looking around.
"Now all we need to do is go pick out a bed for you!" The half demon scooped up Kea and carried her out of the room, listening to the little girl chatter about what she wanted her room to look like the entire walk through the house to the car and then even on the way to the furniture store. This was sure to be fun.
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