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"Was the night before Christmas and... um..."
"All thr-"
"All through the house! Not a creature was stirring, not even a... a... Louce?"
As it would turn out, a snow-covered boardwalk was the perfect place to recite poetry. Roni, covered to the hilt in winter garb, adjusted her scarf for no less then the thirteenth time. "Mouse, sweety. Though kudos for using a new word today."
The little half-mermaid glowed with pride, doing her best not to grumble at having been wrong yet again. It had been about a week since the adoption. Roni had been spending as much time with the child as was humanly possible, knowing that she'd soon have to find work to support her. However, today such thoughts were far from her mind. In the distance, the yipping of dogs playing in the mounds of snow could be heard. Only two, it would seem, as the third was trying her best to worm his way into Tilde's coat to hide from the cold. Not that it was a hard endeavor, of coarse... Roni found it quite remarkable, really, that the child could romp around in these freezing temperatures without so much as single pantleg. Tilde had passed it off as a "Wattermeat Thing" and offered not one word more on the subject. Not that it was of any consequence. For now, both were content to sit beneath the 'NO SKATING' sign and puzzle their way through the book.

Devil eyes was the only way to explain the look upon Tilde's face when she had realized other people were about. The sudden change in mood shocked her mother, who in turned surveyed the area to see what had caused it. "Oh... It's only people, Til-" she began, outstretching a hand to stroke the child's hair; which was quickly shunned with the drawing up of a hood. Tilde turned away and pulled tight the drawstrings. Maybe if she couldn't see them, they wouldn't see her? Let's just hope Brinksy doesn't do anything stu-- Oh, damn, too late.
Roni had already turned back to face the other people. She wasn't too pleased to see them heading straight in their direction, but... She offered a polite nod and a spot on the bench-- prewarmed, to boot. Too bad anti-social behavior never won out to common courtesy.

Tilde scowled angrily under her hood. "... That's Brinksy." she motioned, arm fully extending and a webbed finger pointing at her mother.
"Roni, dear. My name is Roni."
"Roni Brinksy." Tilde muttered, hugging at her chest stubbornly.
Roni only rolled her eyes and put a hand on her forehead. Perhaps it was her own stubbornness rubbing off on the child? ... No. It was far too soon for that sort of thing. "Well go on. Tell her your name."
Tilde was silent for a moment before barking out any sort of response. "If she knows my name, she won't go away!"
"That's a very rude thing to say aloud!" the purple haired woman barked in return. Her words seemed as venom, as any displeased mother's tone would be. "Now apologize and offer your name!"
Ahh, the inner quarrels. Argue with your mother or submit and get the encounter over with? The child's mouth scrunched up into all sorts of odd shapes, most of which resembled her squiggly namesake. However, after a few moments she succumbed and spat out half od the desired statement. "My... My name is Tilde."

Extending a hand to meet his, Roni begged pardon much like a child would. "Sorry about that... I... I'm new at this." The sheepishness in her tone was unmistakable.
"I'm no western anything!" Tilde hissed, offended to be mistaken as one of those godawful flying monstrosities. "I'm a Mermaid Nightma-!"
Her statement was cut short as her coat began to squirm. The heated voices had caused alarm in the canine who had nestled in the cozy space. Careful not to hurt the girl, the mutt clawed his way to the mouth of said cave and exited through the neck hole, swatting Tilde's face on accident with this tail. Strydor landed almost gracefully on the other child's lap before looking up at her and barking happily.

She only gave a half-hearted nod. "One could assume so..." She glanced back at the children, half expecting to see the newcomer being strangled by her daughter's hand but was pleasantly surprised to see them getting along, more or less.

"Er... I guess..." She had never payed much attention to what the weird humans at the lab has said. Little facts like that, she figured, she could learn anytime. What was important was here and now... And now, she faced a child as strange as she was, only with nasty little teeth. "Siren... That's like a mermaid but with a much busier mouth." She didn't really care if that was an insult, compliment, or generic statement.

"You would know, wouldn't you?" Roni stated in monotone, phasing in and out of her parental stupor. It wasn't so much the potential damage that could be done, of that she knew the Siren could take care of herself... But more so of Tilde's inexplicable ability to pick a fight. Roni knew from far too many personal experiences that one's mouth could wage a war before any physical interactions could have the chance.

Tilde's eyes lit up... The fear of potential danger, while lingering, wasn't at the forefront of the child's attention. She reached over and took whichever of the hands wasn't stroking the purring dog and examined it. "Wow... I could probably swim faster," she held up her own hand, flashing the shiny teal webbing between her fingers, "But you'd be good at climbing a tree!"

"The sirens of mythology, or, At least the ones I've read of, were notorious for seducing sailors and leading them to their deaths... A Succubus of the sea, as it were. To combine that cunning with the vicious blood lust of a dragon...." Roni chuckled, extending a hand to pat him on the shoulder. "You seem capable enough to handle the challenge."

"YES!" Tilled squealed, reeling in the idea of a challenge of her own. She quickly hopped from the bench, tugging at her zipper as she made her way to the lake. However, this glee was cut short. A sharp tug on the hood of her coat was the express of her mother's displeasure.
"You're not stripping. You're not diving into the water. You're not going home tonight to feast on chicken noodle soup and cough syrup."
"Not yet, I'm not! But if you'll let go of me, we can get to geti--"
Roni's scowl was enough of an answer. Folded ears lowered, intimidated by the potential wrath and she simply backed into her seat beside the wild-haired lass.

(Happy new year!)
"Pah!" Tilde grunted. "The fun's in watching someone loose a tooth." It only took a moments glimpse at her mother's scowl to realize that this wasn't the socially acceptable answer.
Strydor, however, was becoming bored of the affection and promptly hopped off the siren's lap. He scampered off into the snow, high-footing to have as little contact with the cold damp mess that littered the ground.
Roni turned her head, looking back at her pack of mutts in the distance when from the side she noticed a little teal blob darting towards the white dusted palms. Low and behold, the split second she had turned away, Tilde had taken off despite having protested the conditions. "Ti-!.... Ugh..." There was little she could do but burry her face in the book they had been reading. "She'll be the death of me..."