<"Nice!">

<What is?>

<Huh?  Uh...I'm not sure?  I just felt like I should say that.>

Legs stared at him for a moment as if evaluating his mental health before deciding to ignore it.  Ainselth was still lying on the ground nearby, breathing heavily and looking like she wanted to cry.  They both did their best to ignore her.

<Anyways, as I was saying, I think we should still find another kind of entertainment if you want us to get along with the children more.>

<I know.  I've tried thinking of a few things but it all loops back to me just giving answers I don't want to.  Those board games are already a borderline attempt.  I was hoping that story time at night would help a little with creativity.  Maybe one of you will get the chance to play those games with the kids?>

<They're going to be too active for that to work long.  Some of them might not even like having to sit still just to play a thinking game.>

<That is part of my worry, yes.  If their physical abilities were more similar then I wouldn't feel too bad about tag in it's simplicity but because of the huge physical difference...>

<It's a difficult problem.>

<It is.>

The conversation died down a bit as they stood there and thought while the background sounds of light sobbing and some sniffling reached their ears.

<Well, this is why I settled on chores with one of us around at a time.  It seemed to be going well with Conk, at least.  I can only hope that it will work out similarly with the rest.>

<Hm.  I just don't think it should be the only thing.  They'd only be with one of us at a time.>

<Maybe we could have a dance party or something?  Eventually, anyways.  I don't think it would work out too well at the moment.  They can't hear the link after all.>

<There is that, too.  Communication is a bit of a problem.>

<That's another reason I want to cycle them around.  Really, I just can't come up with a better way for now.  In the future things will likely be better and other ideas will work.  For now, this is just the best I can manage.>

<I guess you're right.>

The sobbing seemed to be over and the sniffling seemed to be lessened by quite a bit.  Jelin really hoped they could hold some proper conversations after this without feeling constantly attacked over the smallest things.

<Wait.  What about a dinner party or something like that?  We'd have to make it all about berries and stuff, but something like that might work.  Bonding over food seems like a good way to help push past the language barrier some.>

<Maybe.  Would we be able to make a party about eating food last long enough for any bonding to happen, though?>

<Good point.  Back to my original plans, again.>

Ainselth seemed to finally be trying to sit up.  The sniffling had mostly died down, finally, and she seemed to be in less of daze.

"So.  How was it living five seconds as one of us?"

"Horrible..."

"Living as one of us or the feeling afterwards?"

"..."

"I see.  Well, at the very least you understand now what I mean when I say "family" compared to your previously lacking thoughts about it.  That's a start."

"You're still monsters..."

"And you're still being petty, I see.  Maybe you should take a little more time to think and recover.  We can help you back to your place if you want.."

"No.  I can walk by myself."

"Right.  We'll see you tomorrow, then."

They stood there and watched as she walked back in the direction of the human area, stumbling on occasion.  Once she had passed the walls and gone out of sight, they turned and started walking back as well.  Jelin led the way for the most part.  He could feel Queenie flying around the open field so he figured that the main room would be a good private place for Legs.

Once they got there, Jelin sat down and waited.  Legs stood near him for a bit before deciding to try and sit in front of him.  Her fidgeting made it difficult to do so comfortably though so she stood back up and started walking around a little.  She finally stopped pacing and walked up in front of him and looked him in the eyes before blushing and looking away again.

<Sure you don't want to wait for this talk?>

<No!  It's...fine.>

<If you say so.>

<Okay.  So.  Remember when I said I wanted to be...your...mistress...?>

<Yes.  I thought I said that it was fine, though?>

<You did!  You did...>

<Okay...>

<So...um...I kind of have a feeling and know...the evolution...what it does...>

<The evolution, huh?  I didn't think there would be a 'Mistress' evolution.  Kind of weird, but->

<No, there's not.  Or.  Well, there might be but I haven't seen it.  Yet.  Anyways...the one I'm talking about is...um...is called...'Mother'...?>

<Ah.  That explains all this embarrassment.  Hmm.  To be clear, you mean with me and not by yourself, right?>

<Of course!  I was going to get that one afterwards for my own swarm.  It's different...>

<I was just checking.  Hmm.  Well, I have no problems with that...eventually.  I would need to be older or higher stage or both for my own side.  Are your parts even working yet or is it more of a preparatory thing?  Well, that's another problem.  We'd have to figure out how sex between us could even really work, I guess.  Also, I'm pretty sure that either way we should still wait a while longer.>

<That's fine!  It's more for the future anyways.  I just wanted to make sure it was okay first and I didn't want to go for it without talking to you first but I wasn't entirely sure if it was okay even if you said I could be your mistress and I also didn't know if it would show up later so I wanted to make sure now while I saw it there before->

<Alright.  Pause for a moment and clear your head a little.  I get that you're happy but you'll overload at that rate.>

<Mm.  Right.>

<Thinking about it though reminds me that I need to really think about the names a little more.>

<Wait!  Names?  Already?>

<Yes...?  Oh.  Hahaha.  Calm down a little.  I said at 'Lesser Young' for all of you, right?  Remember?  I already know most of them.  I had one for you, too, but if you're going to be my mistress and all then maybe I should think of something a little better.>

<I'm sure whatever you pick will be fine...>

<No.  You girls will be happy with whatever I pick, I'm sure.  That doesn't mean it'll be good, fine, or that I'll be happy with it.  I want something that fits each of you.  For you, I was going to go with something that felt more dancer-like to me.  Now, I think it should be a little more encompassing of all of you.  Unlike your nicknames, I'm actually putting thought and work into this.>

<Is there some way I can help?>

<I don't think so.  Anyways, was there anything else?  You were saying you would have to talk to everyone.>

<Oh.  I was just going to make sure that everyone knew about the evolution choice and make suggestions for anyone else who wanted it.>

<Ah.  That's fair, I suppose.  So why did you have to wait until you talked to me, first?>

<Um.  To make sure you were okay with it first?  Then I could make sure everyone else is okay with me taking it first...>

<To be honest, I'm pretty sure everyone expects that already.>

<Maybe.  It's still the right and fair thing to do, though.>

<I won't argue that.  Still.  I feel like you could have talked to them first without much issue.>

<Well, if you did say no, I didn't want to get everyone's hopes up or make some announcement about something that wouldn't happen.>

<...that's fair.  I can acknowledge that rare possibility and sequence of events.  Sorry, you were right.  Well, at least now you don't have to be as nervous or anything, at least.  For now, want to help me get the stretching for the day out of the way?  We have a little time until lunch still.  Then you can make your happy little announcement and all that and we'll have a clear afternoon schedule after all.>