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Ugh. Thylassa. Sabriel backed away from the door and into Chin at the sight of the girl - forget about seeing the room! She looked like she was having the time of her life being dragged across the floor. He wrinkled his nose at her.

Chinchillie quickly stepped away from him, wary of the tails now threatening Gullien's ankles instead.

"I don't know." she said helplessly. "We got this letter on New Year's from the staff. And we did what they said on it and he grew. Um. They wanted him to bond with a toy, since he likes to rip up everything else." That didn't make much sense, did it?

Sabriel cringed away from the scritch, not liking what had happened the last time. Purrpurrpurr = noooo. He didn't like that Thylassa wasn't impressed by the claws. He flexed them meaningfully, glaring at her, and...

Gah. GAH. His fur ruffled. It itched. Again. He gave up on trying to scare her and dove out of sight behind Chin, set on preserving his dignity, at least from her.

"Yeah." Okay. At least she kind of got it - Chin wasn't too sure herself. Remembering why she'd come, she held up the New Year's card Gullien and Thylassa had sent, beaming happily. "We got your card. Thanks, guys!" She tried to direct that at them both. "It was a really nice surprise."

She felt a bump, blinked and looked back over her shoulder at Sabriel squirming against the carpet. It looked incredibly silly, but it probably hurt to scratch so much with claws...maybe they ought to go before he inflicted poor Lassa with fleas or whatever it was. This was kind of embarassing as it was, though she felt bad for him.

"It was still really nice. Uh...yeah. Absolutely fine." She fiddled with the card, searching for a distraction. "New fur, maybe? I think we might wanna go soon. Not that I wouldn't love to stay, but, well..." Well, Gullien could see for herself. Sabriel was acting completely weird.

Satisfied by the roll, Sabriel pulled himself to his feet, and noticed the two adults were looking down at him. He stared back at them like, "what?". Didn't they have better things to do?

Spotting Polar, his fur leapt up in alarm - what was THAT? It had a beak-face, like evil birds, but it was furry!

"Um...thanks. Okay. Yeah." That grin was a little creepy. The card was about to give way under her hands - Chin stuck it in a pocket and backed away from the door (as subtly as she could), smiling back nervously. "See you later!"

Sabriel crept closer, oblivious to the fact they were about to leave. He wanted to see the creepy bird thing...

Gullien crouched naked sans hitake on the bathroom floor, idly waiting for the bathtub to fill. She simply draped her chest over the side, propped her head on one arm, let the other dangle into the water and zoned.
How the house had known she prefered japanese baths was... well, unknown. Granted, you couldn't stretch out in them like you could in American bathtubs, but you could really soak and relax, instead of lying on your back as your tummy gets cold.
She already washed herself with the small floor-level sink and had done the same with Thylassa. Who was currently and very happily dumping water all over her head and Polar's with the wash-bowl. No matter how unhappy Thylassa was, how angry, how tired, how scrunched up and spoiling for a temper-tantrum, once she was waist deep in water she couldn't be happier. There was something in the little Mishap that seemed to resonate deeply with water. Lassa shunned bubble baths and grumbled deeply over shampoo. She just wanted to be in pure, unalterated water. Kid could stay in there for hours.
Today would be a treat for her, hopefully. Usually Gullien gave her a bath with the little baby-bathtub she'd bought. It wasn't great. Thylassa usually splashed all the water out in about five minutes and if she didn't the water was ice-cold in five minute more. Not really a relaxing time, no matter how Thylassa enjoyed it. But the little Mishap was getting older and Gullien was getting bored. Time for a real bath. She was tired of taking shower-baths on the bathroom floor and staring longly at the bathtub but not daring to try to take one. If she couldn't trust Lassa not to get into trouble while she took a bath, she'd just take Lassa in the bath with her. Lassa was probably old enough.
And man, did Lassa need it. She'd been in fine form today. Fussing, crying, constantly rubbing at her arms and back and face and trying to pull her clothes off. Gullien just let her after the first attempt. Why force the kid to wear clothes? Nothing special about them. They just kept people from getting at your genetalia, which was good but not special. People's own faults for walking around on two legs and sticking it in everyone's faces, really.
Anyway.
She thought about it for a while and it seemed safe enough. She'd made sure the bath was only mildly warm and she'd be in there with Lassa in case anything went wrong or the kid tried to reach for the taps. She'd even filled it just to chest level.

BEEP!
Gullien shook her head, shaking off her zone as the bathtub control went off, showing the bathtub was filled. "The bath is ready!" chirped a happy female voice in Japanese. Okay. Let's get this show on the road.
"Heads up Lassa!"

The little Mishap smiled up at Gullien, letting the bucket fall to the ground. "Aaat?"
"Yep, bath. A different kind of bath. C'mere."
Gullien hoisted the little girl to her feet, letting her take shaking steps to the tub. Having mastered the crawl, Thylassa now seemed to be working on walking and could be found hoisting herself up along anything in the apartment that would take her weight. She still hadn't walked by herself, but she was getting better at falling.
"Okay kiddo. I'm gonna lift you up for a second. Heads up."
Thylassa clasped her hands against the side of the tub, whimpering a little as Gullien spread her hands in the "I'm going to pick you up" pose. She still hated being picked up, but she seemed a little more tolerant to it lately if she was given plenty of warning.
Gullien stepped into the tub and turned around, quickly grasping Thylassa under the arms and lifting up and in and down on Gullien's lap. In one smooth motion, they were both sitting down in the bathtub, warm water lapping at their chests.
Thylassa simply looked around, confused. This was not her bathtub. This was... an ocean! A huge huge body of water. She shrieked excitedly, bouncing against Gullien' stomach as she leaned forward against Gullien's bent legs to slap at the water. Gullien simply grunted, letting herself relax back against the tub wall and settle. Head back against the tub rim, arm hanging out to shove Polar away if he tried to get in too, eyes slitted open to watch Thylassa and fully relaxed since she first walked into the Mishap HQ.
Thylassa seemed happier too. She wasn't fidgeting as much and she'd stopped rubbing at her face. Instead she was playing contentedly with the rubber duck that Gullien had tossed in the tub. She was still a little hot, but that could be from the bath. Heck, her skin was already getting a little red from... the...

Wait. Gullien sit up abruptly, pulling Thylassa back for a moment, cradling the mishap against her chest as she peered at Lassa's face. Lassa's cheeks weren't getting red... that was normally the FIRST part to turn red. Letting Lassa lean forward against her knees again, Gullien investigated the baby's back. Little red spots were sprinkled all over the line of Lassa's spine and seemed to be spreading out. Most of them would have been covered by a diaper during the day and she had been too busy getting Thylassa to sit still to have noticed them during the showering. What... what were they? She skimmed a finger over them and Thylassa squirmed making an odd noise. Down low over one rib, her finger glided over something that gave and popped. Blisters? She was getting covered in blisters? Oh god.

"Polar." She spoke softly through gritted teeth, still staring at the red marks. "I think Lassa has a..." What WAS this? "An STD without the S. Go great some clothes for us and push her stroller in her. Get Mona in here if you can." The griffin wuffled, padding out into the room. He probably hadn't understood everything she said, but whatever he brought in here would only help.

She had to get Lassa to the First-Aid room. Pronto.

((will have links to finished Chickie Pox RP here))

The note had been hanging on the wall for a few days (well, stuck there with a throwing star) and Gullien still wasn't quite sure what to do about it. The webbing... yeah, she'd noticed Thylassa was getting those, but she'd assumed it was a human thing. Heck, she had webbing on her fingers, too. Tiny, useless decorative webbing, but it was there. Thylassa had more of it than she did though and it was starting to get in the way. Thankfully it was pretty flexible or Lassa would be launching crayons across the room in frustration. So webbing... weird, but not a big deal. The tail though...

Gullien glanced down at Lassa as she pulled the dirty diaper off.
"Mona, could you bin this?" The little Nim made a rude noise but flitted off with the diaper all the same. Such a stupid concept. Instead of teaching kids to bury their poop, humans made them wear it. Aiyee. When in Rome, though.
Lassa grinned up, happy about lossing the diaper and happy about having a clean bum. She rolled over in a mild attempt at escape, giving Gullien a good glimpse of the tail. It was pretty small still... just a nubbin. It looked, grossly enough, like a little thumb so far. But that was a good sign. It meant an agile tail in future. But what kind? Would it have fur? Or fins of some kind? Which seemed a little more likely, considering Lassa's fingers and ears. No matter what it looked like, Gullien couldn't approve more. A tail! She was delighted with the mere thought.

Lassa wasn't though. The sudden apparence of the tail had thrown off her balance... she had been close to standing on her own and now she was back to falling down. Occasionally she'd land badly on the tail too and that always hurt. It was big enough to stub and too small to bend out of the way. The perfect size to hurt no matter how you landed on it. As for the webbing, Gullien had already caught her fussing at it, chewing on it and muttering unhappily. Although it didn't restrict Lassa's hand movements all that much (such as they were. Clutching a crayon in a fist was not performing surgery) she clearly did not approve of their presence.

So what to do? She agreed with the spirit of the letter... it was important that Lassa learn to be confortable about herself. She was who she was. On the other hand, she was pretty leery about following the letter. Chinchillie did and look at Sabriel! He went from a cute little squirt to a werecat! Who knew what would happen to Lassa if she did do what the letter said. Would she become a monster too? But she couldn't just let Lassa be unhappy...

Maybe if she just didn't go to the infirmary... Yeah. She could solve this on her own and whatever happened to make Sabriel grow couldn't happen to Lassa if she didn't take her near the staff.

Right?

Polar ran ahead of both Gullien and Thylassa, making sharp "yarking" sounds as he happily ran around the grassy areas to the sides of the path. Although it was still early spring and there was some snow on the ground, the path itself was warm as a summer day. Gullien suspected some magic, but she couldn't complain. It was too her favor this day. If the weather were normal, she couldn't take Lassa out on a long jaunt like this. She had a destination in mind.

Lassa nestled happily into her stroller, piled high with soft blankets just in case it got cold somehow. It was nice and warm now though, although sometimes when Polar stopped running around and trotted next to the stroller she could feel that he was cold. He seemed happy though. Lassa watched the little bob of his tail wag about as he ran. Wag wag wag. Polar had a tail like hers and Gullien had a tail like hers... but they didn't have a tail like hers. Gullien's was big and puffy and she could use it like a pillow and catch Lassa with it if she wanted. Polar could wag his and... well, he couldn't do much. But it was little and cute and he didn't fall on it all the time! She shifted unhappily. Her tail was already starting to hurt because she was sitting on it.

And no one had hands like her! Gullien didn't and Polar didn't and Chin and Sabriel really didn't! They were becoming all stuck together. She sighed unhappily. She couldn't grab things now and sometimes she scratched herself with the weird skin stuff. She couldn't peel it off either. She'd tried... it hurt! It wasn't fair. She grumped, her good mood lost.

"Hey down there." Gullien spoke, hearing the soft harumphing noise from the stroller. "Hang on, we're almost there. I want to show you something. You'll like it, okay?" At least, she hoped Lassa would. She'd already scooped out the area to make sure it was heated too and no one else was there. She could have just done this in the pool at HQ but... she hadn't wanted anyone else to know what she was doing. Partially because she didn't want anyone to do what had happened to Sabriel and patially because she didn't want anyone to ask about her bandage-wrapped tail and partially because she suspected she was doing something very stupid. It was the only idea she had at the minute though.

"Here we go! What do you think?" Lassa shot up in the stroller, webbing and tail and weather forgotten as they crested the hill and Gullien's destination came into view. Water. More water than Lassa had ever seen in her life.

The lake.