Welcome to Gaia! ::

The best part about not being beholden to any one employer was that he could have as much time to himself as he wanted, within reason. Kauff still had to bring in money from somewhere, of course, but if he chose to spend the occasional afternoon strolling through the house in search of his kids, no one was going to demand his attention.

He was looking for Linnea in particular today, having picked something up from downtown that he wanted to give her, but for now he had paused in the yard and was staring out in the direction of the water.

"Looking for you!" Kauff said, taking a seat at the edge of the pond. He was grinning, not a rare sight these days, but when directed at his daughter his smile held only joy. He waved.

"Good afternoon, Princess Bubbles. I've got a present for you and Linnea."

He was always particularly careful with the spitorog, afraid that he might accidentally crush it or cause it to go into full spike mode... maybe both. Kauff gave Princess Bubbles a gentle pat, one hand remaining poised to keep the animal in place as he reached to grab a pouch from his tunic. It was dark blue with a gold interior and a xaraan charm attached to the drawstring.

Whatever was inside hardly weighed anything and was not immediately visible, but when Linnea dug a little she would find what looked at first like a small maroon cloth, the thick fabric sparkling in the sun.

"A noble needs her fancy cloak, right?" He hoped she wouldn't think it was too childish. "They told me that it shouldn't bother Princess Bubbles at all, and that if it gets caught on anything, the tie is meant to come apart."

A crown? Kauff hadn't thought of that. He wasn't sure how it would work without falling off, but maybe...

"You're right. No one knows princesses as good as you. We need some way to let everybody else know they're in the presence of royalty." He nudged her shoulder with his own and grinned. "A crown might be a little bit bulky, but I bet we can find a tiara that won't stop her from hopping around."

"Candy probably isn't okay, but leaves and twigs would be great!"

He followed Linnea on her search for decorative bits nearby, ready to pick them up or hold them if she didn't want to. It only took him a minute or so to come up with another suggestion.

"What about a few small rocks? There might be pretty shells by the water too."

Kauff trailed behind his arm at a shuffle. For a moment he debated picking Linnea up to save time, but being a follower won out today. He was content to let Linnea dictate this tangent.

"We're going!" He chuckled.

It didn't take that long to get to the shore, and as it was every time they came here, Kauff couldn't help thinking about how lucky he had turned out. He looked out over the water, then down at Linnea.

"So... I can help look? What colors do you think you want?"

"Sure thing." Kauff got to work, combing through the sand and dirt, and it wasn't long before he had a small pile of shells in his palm. Though Linnea had found a blue one first, Kauff hadn't had any luck with that color himself. Instead, he held out a handful of green shells.

"How are these?"

Kauff watched Linnea examine his shells, smiling to himself as she did. He wondered if his parents had been as proud of the mundane activities he had performed as a kid. Probably.

"Maybe she would." He chuckled. Shell Hunter might even be a more stable position than he had right now. "A few more would be good. Even if they don't all fit on the crown, at least we'll have a bunch to choose from."