Humming, Chuunitrixx was brushing her hair; dirty-blonde locks replaced by a sea of violet, and pulled neatly into a ponytail. Behind her, the quartet of eggs were lying on the bed -- well within her sight via the mirror. Stacked in a pile, she saw the pilfered books that Kath's, largely ignored, scream of, frankly fathomable, rage was rattling her room over. She didn't care, honestly.
Mimic. Doppelganger. Greater Doppelganger. Automaton. Hivequeen. Chuunitrixx possessed an immunity to fear, disease, poison, and mind control. Traptrixx had desired to leave Rodias with an unshakable Guardian Angel, and did just that; it was her own existence that flawed her creation, and Chuunitrixx was, slowly, gaining control of that, as well.
She was evolving, learning, and refining...
Standing, as she drew on her smoke, Chuunitrixx took a seat on the bed, and summoned one of the books; possessed by a Proxy. "
It's storytime, little ones," she says, "
I read that playing classical music for infants in the womb is productive to their intelligence. I don't have such a facility installed, since I'm an insectoid-style Mimic, so, I guess, It'll make your eggs work the same, eh?" Chuunitrixx cracked the book open, and donned a pair of reading glasses, "
'Guild Leadership 101: Guiding Sable Stars' by Droledge, Founder of Bandersnatch; 'Chapter 1: So, You Wanna Run A Guild? ...As soon as the seething God's Flood on Noah that was Kath thunderstormed in, she would come across Chuunitrixx, as Eris, reading from their Guild Leader's rulebook to the eggs with a content expression.
Kath, still keeping up her facade of calmness, would enter the room Chuunitrixx was using to read to her eggs with a false smile. The sight confused her quite significantly, what with this mysterious woman she’d never seen before reading to eggs that she had never seen before either, though the sight of her books would keep her on her mission.
“Excuse me,” Kath said, sounding polite despite her rage. “I would like to inquire where it was that you acquired that book and the others you seem to have here. The reason being, while I’m willing to allow others in the Chateau borrow whichever texts they are interested in, at no point was I ever approached and asked if you could. After all, it is a library. One does not go and take whatever book they like from a librarian without letting them know who they are and where the books are supposed to be.” As she spoke, the dragonoid gripped the backrest of a chair, her nails digging into its wood.
The chair clicked and whirred, before opening and pointing a shotgun muzzle at Kath's midsection. "
You really shouldn't just go around like that," Chuunitrixx says, holding up a finger as if readied on a trigger, "
You don't know what you could hurt accidentally, and what can hurt you in kind..." Struggling, the Sentry was singing a sorrow, jittery tune; it was clearly in pain, and wanted to shoot Kath to return that pain. "
Please, be kind." Chuunitrixx says.
In her anger, Kath had forgotten that here in Chuunitrixx’s realm everything was alive, and that included the furniture as well. Certainly a strange place, though with her own moving bookshelves, she knew she shouldn’t judge. Releasing the chair from her grip, the dragonoid looked at it before bowing her head in apology. “Forgive me, I wasn’t thinking,” she said, before placing her hand back on the chair as if to pet it.
“However, you still haven’t answered my question, miss. Taking something without permission is also rather unkind, don’t you believe?”
"
Borrowing something is a grey morality crime, is it not," Chuunitrixx's asks, her face melting as she looked to Kath, reforming into her original -- that is to say, Lady Traptrixx's. "
Or, would you like to levy a pointless threat at my immortal existence, too?" Chuunitrixx blew a cloud of mottled green smoke at Kath, expressing her displeasure over the actions of Flan and Mamoru. "
I assure you, borrowing a few dozen books is the least of the atrocities you would incite upon yourself,"" she says.
With a snort, the smoke Chuunitrixx had blown out into Kath’s face would dissipate, revealing Eris’ true appearance. It was quite an unladylike action to take, but when she was so close to transforming, she tended to often forget her manners. “I would not call what you did borrowing, but stealing. However, I’m willing to overlook this if you would file a report, including all of the books you have taken, where in or outside the Chateau you plan to keep them until you return them to me, how long you plan to keep them, and I signature promising to compensate for any damages that they might incur while under your protection.”
"
And, if I don't intend to entertain you and your busywork," Chuunitrixx asks, as the books suddenly grew thin cases with tripodal legs, and shifted in their neat stacks -- exposing their nature as Mimics Bookcases. "
I'd be mindful of your tone, however. Proxies explode when agitated," she says, "
And, when I'm agitated..."
Clearly, Chuunitrixx was really annoyed about... well, something.
Kath seemed shocked at Chuunitrixx’s insinuation. Not the explosion, but the very idea that she might keep that which does not belong to her. “They belong to me. I’ve gone through the effort of writing them, cataloging them, and protecting them within my library. How would you feel if I were to take one of those eggs and bring it back to my Athenaeum of Historia? Never to be seen again as I lock it away within the Forbidden Section?”
Chuunitrixx paused for a moment, “
Such a curiosity...” Her eyes were looking into the “thoughtful” distance. “
I could not think of a safer place for them to survive the week, honestly. In fact, are you offering? I would not mind offering you the temporary honorary title of King, Kathtrixx,” Chuunitrixx smirked, “
My, my, that does feel nice rolling off the tongue, too. Kathtrixx I, King of Chapter XI, Apocalypse Now. Well, not so much anymore; what, with my remodeling.”
Chuunitrixx was very confusing to Kath. Here she had just threatened to steal something of hers in return and somehow that qualified her for a high position within the Doppelganger’s Chapter. However, this seemed to her like a good opportunity for both women to receive what they wanted. “Perhaps. Fill out the form as I had requested and I shall consider keeping the eggs within my Forbidden Section until they hatch. However, you should be made aware that no one is allowed inside besides myself. If they ever need anything while they are in there, you would need to tell me to do it for you,” she replied, eager to have her books returned.
“
That simply would not do. They need a specific environment setup to sate their growing needs,” Chuunitrixx says. “
Warmth, of course. Comfort, as a second. They cannot be exposed to harsh elements like your flooring or shelves, but a nest of either silk or cotton; preferably silk. Body heat is the best temperature, and they need to be warm for several hours. What else...” she hummed, clearly very serious about this, “
Oh, what am I saying? You’re a Dragonoid. You know all about egg-laying and egg-rearing, of course. You know they need vocal stimulation from their parent figures. Especially, the one that laid them.”
“I… I may be a dragonoid, but I’ve never laid any myself. I don’t have any experience in taking care of young. This is much different from taking care of inanimate books,” Kath stammered. “I am not sure I am best suited for this job.”
“
Ooooh...~???” Chuunitrixx smirked broadly; her jaw unfolding back into a Glasgow Smile of knife-like teeth. “
Something that the Know-it-all... doesn’t? How curious...” Chuunitrixx stood up, and motioned to the quartet of eggs, “
Try it. Lay with them.”
“Wha- Whaaaat?!” Kath asked. “But I- But you’re- But we- I- I- I- You don’t mean like
that do you?” she finally stuttered out.
Chuunitrixx snickered, “
C’mere.” The Hivequeen took the Dragon’s hands, and pulled her to the bed; laying her down with the nested eggs. “
Arms like this...” she positioned Kath’s arms around the eggs, in a small hug. “
Legs like this...” she positioned Kath’s legs to come towards her chest, and pull the eggs close to her belly, “
And, then I go like this...” Chuunitrixx mirrored the positions. “
This is Athena, the Lady of Bows. This is Ares, the Lord of Blades. This is Circe, the Mistress of Spells. This is Dionysus, the Master of Potions,” she says, pointing to them in turn, “
They are brand-new additions to this world, to the greatness of the Chateau, and Lord Rodias. Isn’t their future worth missing a few books? Isn’t this feeling worth a temporary loss? Touch them, and feel it for yourself...”
Chuunitrixx seemed significantly calmer, as she spoke -- not the on-edge guard dog that had greeted them in the Climax Hour, but... something else happier with a conviction yet spoken but being met.
Kath had to amit, this was quite nice. Maybe one day she wouldn’t mind having eggs of her own to protect and smother. However, she had something else to protect at the moment. “As… nice as this is… I think the best way to explain is that I see each and every one of my books as my children. Just like you, I wish to keep them safe and protected and I would also like for them to eventually return to my ‘nest’ at some point. I… would not mind helping you with raising these eggs, but I would also like to have my own metaphorical eggs returned to me eventually,” Kath explained, still hugging the Doppelganger’s yet unborn child against her body.
Chuunitrixx frowned, but made nothing of it -- shockingly. Confrontation was her existence. She existed to confront, and resolve, problems. And, yet, she allowed Kath the floor to argue, and didn’t bite back. Perhaps, Kath’s own resolve was enough to convince her, or... perhaps, Chuunitrixx had lost her purpose of intervention, of confrontation, once she chose her current route.
Perhaps, like reality, children served to mellow and mature us in small ways.
“
I see,” Chuunitrixx says, as the Proxies shook in their stacked, and suddenly jolted forwards -- each stack replicated -- before scattering out of the room. “
I’ve duplicated the books. If that is your business here, then, please, leave,” she requests, “
I’ll arrange for your books to be returned -- in full -- within the hour. If that is all, then goodbye.”
However, just because we can be changed... does not mean:
everything can be changed about us. Those prone to anger quickly can simply be made to anger quietly, so their children are unaffected by who they still are.
“Thank you. I… shall plan to return at my earliest convenience to check up on you, Athena, Ares, Circe, and Dionysus when I can,” Kath replied, beginning to take her leave. At the doorway, she stopped, turned around, and faced Chuunitrixx one last time. “You’re right. Kathtrixx I has quite the ring to it. Perhaps that can be discussed more as well,” she said, before finally returning to the Athenaeum of Historia.
Chuunitrixx mumbled in annoyance, but... something in her stirred, and her ponytail stood halfway on end, like a dog’s tail when they were happy or... something else more lewd. Either way, Chuunitrixx’s heart, which normally didn’t waste energy moving, beat a little.
“
What the hell... is this feeling...?”
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