“I hate you! I wish you'd never given birth to me!”

Katrina glared out the window as the buildings and streets rolled past. The taxi driver was the same one who had given her and Fausto a ride to meet his band members one afternoon after school. Fausto was now in another country, working to make a change in the world, hopefully to make it a better place. Katrina was still stuck in New York, and fuming at her mother for keeping her there. As he had done in the past, the driver had appeared at the gate when she needed him and had known exactly where she needed to go. He always seemed to know. Just like the buildings that kept flying by outside the taxi windows, the events that had just transpired in the mansion kitchen kept replaying in her head.

Things had started badly from the very beginning, with a blond thirteen year stomping into the kitchen, slamming a dinner plate down on the table, then slumped into a chair, too crabby to even bother with any semblance of an upright posture. After a moment of awkward silence filled only by angry crunching and the light tinkle of clean silverware being put away, a frustrated mother had thrown her last handful of spoons into the drawer with a clatter and slammed the drawer closed again dramatically.

“That is quite enough of that attitude Katrina Dumonde. Sulking is not going to change anything, so just cut the drama right now.”

It was clearly the silverware thrown into the drawer that had started this whole mess.

“It's not fair. Everyone else is at the convention right now.”

“We've been through this before. Columbia is the least safe place in the world right now for young girls, and I'm not sending you there for any reason.”

“Oh sure, like I'm any less likely to get attacked or something living right here at the mansion with half the residents out of town leaving the place practically unguarded. Even when everyone is here, that doesn't stop people from attacking it. Like during the resistance- oh wait, you wouldn't remember that, because you weren't here.”

She had stomped up to her room afterwards, leaving her mother in the kitchen. She would prove that she could make it on her own. She didn't need to be coddled any longer. She didn't need to ask permission or have a chaperone every time she left the mansion grounds. She dumped all her books out on the bed and had started packing.

“You are still a child, I'm still your mother and legal guardian, and you still have to do as I say. I know what's best for you.”

“You've never thought of what was best for me! You only think of what is best for you. You lied to me my whole life. You lied to dad! If you had told him from the very beginning that you were a mutant none of this ever would have happened! Maybe I wouldn't have been born, but maybe it would have been better that way!”

As she shoved spare clothes into her backpack, she uncovered a set of earrings. There were seven pairs. One earring from each pair was a ball with multicolored swirls on them that looked like tiny little planets. The matches to each of the planet earrings shone like solid silver metal in one part of Katrina's vision. Underneath, the individualized color swirls still showed through. One gold hair was wrapped around each of the balls and held in place with clear glue. The silver had faded, just a little bit since Katrina had made it, but when she ran her finger over each one and thought about how they were supposed to look, the silvery image brightened again. She had always intended these to be a gift, but hadn't managed to have the gift and the intended recipient in the same place at the same time before now.

“I bet you wish I'd never been born, too. At least if I hadn't been born dad never would have found out that you were a mutant. You'd still be living in a big fancy house with someone else to cook and clean for you and all you'd have to do is go to parties every night. You tried to get me out of the way, didn't you. You tried to make sure I went to a boarding school far, far away so dad would never find out your secret, but he found out anyway.”

She had never made her mother cry before. She had felt neither triumphant nor ashamed at the time. She had still been too angry at the woman who was failing so miserably at understanding her, that she couldn't think straight anymore. She had just known that she had to leave for a little while. She had to get away.

“I need to see Abyss.”

And the taxi cab driver had known right where to take her. A mere thirty minutes after Katrina had started packing, she stepped out of the yellow cab in front of the city's most famous pair of doors. The rapidly disappearing evening sunlight reflected off of the gold, throwing sparkles across Katrina's face and finding matching sparkles in the corners of her eyes, where tears were just now threatening to spill over.

Thank goodness for Lisa, It was days like this that he was particularly glad he talked to her and told her things, she was level headed and was sometimes the most sane person around this sanctuary or sanitarium…whatever he lived in, Two fights had happened today between residents, the, first was while he was in the shower, the second was during breakfast and now, now he had to head up front because someone thought it was funny to harass our “pet” human. When she paged him she left a few numbers he knew what they meant. 1 1 7-911 (number of clones needed, lobby, seven was a L upside down the dash was to signify that l was the one having trouble, id they had trouble with the police it was 911-911.)

Abyss made it a point to only have this problem once with who ever needed a talking to, He got up ther and bared his teeth immediately at the pair of thuggish looking mean. “ Hi boys, I suppose you like staying here with out having to pay.”

They didn’t respond, their eyes just widened, everybody knew that there were some around here you didn’t mess with, the bow girl, the black and red haired girl, and any of the big red guys. They ran the place and you didn’t want to get their attention for anything but a good reason. The pair simultaneously swallowed, and Abyss almost grinned.

Abyss continued “ I also suppose you both like having arms. You will show Lisa respect here or you will not live here and when you leave it will be with out your arms. Are we clear?”

They nodded and looked like they were going to run out the door and not come back.

“Fella’s go help somebody do something positive inside. Thanks.” Abyss commanded them, he wanted them to not mess with Lisa but he certainly wasn’t kicking them out to fend for them selves.

Neither of the men wanted to pass him but did so after he told them to do something. An related pair of mutants were making there way out of the sanctuary and were trying not to laugh at the reprimanded men.

Abyss watched the pair go and was happy to help all these people. “Need anything else Lisa?”

“No thank you Abyss, I appreciate the help as always.”

He watched the door swing close but as he did he almost swore that he saw Katrina out side. Was she crying!?!

A few quick strides and he was at and out the door. “Katrina?” He made his way to her side rapidly and then enclosed her in a solid hug. “You ok Kitten? Did someone hurt you?”

As she made her way to the door from the taxi, a couple of people were coming out of the Sanctuary. To Katrina's eyes, they looked like a rougher type of crowd than lived at the school. The strange men seemed to jeer at her on their way out, but they went on their way without bothering her. Maybe she had made a mistake in coming here. Maybe she should have just stayed home where she knew she was perfectly safe.

Just as she was contemplating just going home again, the golden doors opened again and Abyss rushing out to hug her. Katrina clung to her big red friend, returning the hug.

>>>“You ok Kitten? Did someone hurt you?”

She shook her head to answer his question. No one had hurt her except for herself. She had been angry with her mother, certainly, but it didn't give her the excuse to say all of the things she had said to her own mother. She now realized how terrible the things she had said were. She now wished she hadn't said them. All of the emotions that had been threatening to spill over the entire cab ride over did so now. Tears streamed down her cheeks and her breaths came in gasping sobs. For a moment it was impossible for her to talk at all, but she had to ask him one thing first.

“C-c-can I... borrow... s-s-some... money?” The crying girl pointed at the taxi that was still waiting at the curb. She hadn't paid him yet. He'd tried to tell her that a friend of Fausto's didn't need to pay at all, but she had insisted that she would pay. If she could just borrow some from Abyss, she could pay him back later.

“I-I-I...” She tried to explain what had happened, but she couldn't. Not just yet. She needed to get her crying done first before she could explain what had happened to make her want to run away and what made her not want to go back yet.

The little sobbing girl, made the strongest physical force in the world feel absolutely weak, How could he make it all better? He didn’t know but he was sure going to try. “Good. That saves me the time of finding someone and making their day worse. Now how can I make your day better?”

~~“C-c-can I... borrow... s-s-some... money?”

“You don’t need to borrow anything from me Katrina, If I have it, you can have it too.” He reached into his pocket and pulled a hundred dollar bill with out letting Katrina loose for the moment, he crumpled it up and flicked it into the cab drivers lap.

“Thanks for getting her here safe. That should cover it,” He winked at the cabdriver hopping that he wouldn’t blurt out anything too excitedly at the hefty tip, Abyss then nodded as the man understood and mouthed a thank you. “Have a good night.” Abyss Replied easily.

~~“I-I-I...”

“Have no troubles too big for the pair of us, and if you did manage to find a mess big enough for the pair of us I know six more guys willing to go up to bat for you, not counting getting any more help.” He laughed and stood up still not releasing the little tearful woman. He picked up the cute back pack with his free hand and walked into the sanctuary. After he entered the Lobby he remembered that she might like to be sat down and walk on her own, occasionally he forgot these sorts of things.

“sorry Kat I Suppose you have legs of your own don’t you.” He looked at Lisa who was almost giving him an endeared look, From threatening hero to Child toting bear, Abyss had certainly taught her not to judge a book by its cover. Of course she wiped the look off her face to a demure professionalism by the time anyone could have noticed. “Lisa, I have a guest.”

“You want to grab something to eat and talk?”

She was trying to get a hold of herself. Deep breaths was the key. Enough deep breaths and she'd be done with her sobs in no time. Or she'd give herself hiccups.

“Th-thanks,” she managed between a gasping breath and a hiccup as the big red man paid her cab fare. If Abyss ever needed anything from her, she'd give him whatever she had, too. Already, she was feeling a little better. She had made it here safely and just being in Abyss' arms made her feel better. It was almost like being a little girl again and running to her dad to be comforted after she fell of her horse, or being held by her mom after waking up from a bad dream. Except that in this case, being held by her mother wouldn't have helped.

>>>“sorry Kat I Suppose you have legs of your own don’t you.”

She supposed that she did, “It's-hic alright.” She didn't really mind either way. Even though she was growing up, at this particular moment in time she didn't particularly want to admit it. At least, not yet.

She missed the endearing look that the secretary was giving them, but did wave hello and when Abyss introduced her as his guest.

“Talking w-would be goo-hic-d,” she almost could talk normally again. Maybe some hot chocolate or ice cream would help.

~~“It's-hic alright.”

The corners of Abyss’s mouth refused to lift, if it showed in his eyes well he could only do so much. She was adorable, but she did not need him laughing at her.

~~“Talking w-would be goo-hic-d,”


“Well lets go to the cafeteria while we chit chat and go from there, I don’t suppose you’ll be staying?” the last sounded hopeful how great would it be to have Katrina in the house, he’d have to keep a close eye on her, but it’d be more then worth it. Aside from having the little illusionist around she also came with knowledge abou the Kabal and the xmen, not that he would ask for it, but if she came around to their thinking and wanted to give it….came around to their thinking…how terrible that would be. Sweet innocent Katrina shouldn’t have to deal with anything that would make her want to. Again something like that shouldn’t have to happen. Abyss signaled for Katrina to follow him into the hallway and to the elevator down, and too the Sanctuary eatery, It ran pretty much like any buffet, some of the residents ran the kitchen and some washed dishes and some kept the place clean. It worked well most of the time, since a pair of in control women came in and were ousted as mutants and out of their food industry management positions had come in it went much more smoothly.

Today there was a good spectrum of what ever you could want. There was of course the soft serve machine, the freezer full of Ice-Cream man worthy treats and the coffee maker and hot water, next to that there was an assortment of tea and hot cocoa packets. Next to that was a soda fountain with about twenty different options.

“Whenever you are ready, I am all ears.” He chuckled for am moment. “Well, I will try to be anyhow. Sometimes I have trouble not putting my two cents in.”

The thirteen year old wiped her eyes on her sleeve. She'd be needing a tissue for her nose as well, though a napkin from the cafeteria would work just as well. She was certain her face was about as red as Abyss' face from crying and she probably was the exact opposite of adorable at the moment.

>>>“Well lets go to the cafeteria while we chit chat and go from there, I don’t suppose you’ll be staying?”

“Maybe until t-tomorrow morning,” she sniffled. She hadn't thought about how long she was going to stay, but sleeping over for a night seemed like a good amount of time to wait before going back to face her mother again.

Katrina refrained from wiping her nose on her sleeve. She'd wait for the napkins, no matter how much her nose tickled and threatened to leak down over her lips. She didn't have to wait long, for the cafeteria was not a long walk from the entry. Though, there probably weren't many long walks in the Sanctuary when Abyss was the one doing the walking. He wasn't perhaps as fast as Kaz, but he had a long stride that carried them swiftly toward eatables, drinkables, and napkins.

>>>“Whenever you are ready, I am all ears.” He chuckled for am moment. “Well, I will try to be anyhow. Sometimes I have trouble not putting my two cents in.”

He wasn't chuckling at the idea of someone actually being all ears, was he? If so, he and Katrina's minds were on the same track. She was trying to decide if it would be a useful mutation or not, to be made of all ears. It might have been her first fraction of a smile since her arrival.

“Two cents are okay. I'll be right back.”

Katrina scampered straight to the napkins and took care of wiping her face. She also put some extra napkins in her pockets, just in case she needed them later. There was a distinct possibility that when she tried explaining what happened, all of the Abyss' and all the ice cream in the world wouldn't keep her from crying more. Her next stops included the hand washing sink, the soft serve machine, and the soda fountain. Soon she was sitting at one of the tables with an ice cream float. The ice cream swirl mountain was big enough to have sunk the Titanic and the root beer was sufficient in quantity to drown a whale, but Katrina was not daunted. She figured she could always call in reinforcements and had, in fact, brought an extra spoon and straw just in case.

The fledgling illusionist took a spoonful of ice cream. The root beer float hardly noticed. “So, I had a fight with my mom. That's why I'm here today. I kind of ran away. And I think it was my fault.” She stuck the ice cream in her mouth. Cold ice cream makes the hurt go away.

~~“Maybe until t-tomorrow morning,”

“Cool, Sounds like a plan, we can get you settled into your own room, or we can find somebody you could bunk with for the night if you like….or we could have a sleep over?” the last was aid cautiously, Teenage girls liked those didn’t they? “Maybe in the training room? We could get out the soft mats and it wouldn’t be bad at all.”

~~“Two cents are okay. I'll be right back.”

“Good, because you probably would of got em anyway.” He nodded to the second part as she started to flea for the ice cream and went right for what he was going to suggest any way, she was a smart girl and it proved a bit that she had an old soul too. Vanilla and sarsaparilla were classics. Though it didn’t take Ice cream and soda to prove that.”


~~“So, I had a fight….fault.”

Based on Abyss’s experience with parents he almost immediately leapt to her defend and denounced her mother, however, he needed more time to do that properly and he wanted to give her good advice, not just advice.

“Ah, I see. From my experience most bad arguments are two sided and no one is really to blame completely. First what was the argument about? And second you are free to hang out here as long as ya like. If you don’t want to go back you don’t have to, I do think that at some point it would be best to at least let her know you are ok. Whenever you are ready to and on your terms of course.” His fingers walked toward the extra spoon and then headed toward the Ice cream burg to help with the global warming. His spoon managed to put a slightly bigger dent in it; he then pushed it under the root beer to get a little bit more on the vanilla.

“What was the fight about?” It was a dangerous question but she said talking would be good, so he would give her the chance to get it off of her chest.

“A sleep over would be fun. I might have forgotten to bring pajamas, though. I don't remember which clothes I packed when I was so...” she was going to say angry, then was going to change it to upset, but in the end didn't finish the thought at all. She stuck another spoonful of root beer soaked ice cream in her mouth instead.

Katrina let the walking red fingers take the spoon that had been destined for them, anyway. They proceeded to dunk the mass of ice cream underneath the soda ocean momentarily. She was certain that moving the mountain in such a way would splash the root beer onto the table, but miraculously the liquid levels raised only high enough to threaten flooding. The liquid crystallized on the cold ice after it popped out of the pop once more. The crystally parts were the best parts, in her opinion.

“It was about the Youth for Change Conference. At least, that's how it started.” Katrina's brow furrowed. Despite feeling so terrible for the argument that had followed in the wake of her original anger, she was still disappointed and a little angry about it. “It's going on in Columbia right now, and I really wanted to go. A lot of the other students from the mansion, including some of my friends, are going down there for the conference. She wouldn't let me go, though. I guess I understand why, she says it isn't safe there. But it didn't seem any less safe than New York City.”

Katrina twirled the ice cream in a circle inside the glass, but didn't remove any spoonfuls. She was frowning to herself, remembering the part of the argument that came next. “Then, we got mad. Or I got mad. I can't remember who was mad first. I slammed my plate and she threw the silverware,” the teen paused, realizing how that might be interpreted incorrectly, “...in the drawer, that is. And then, then... I...” This was the hardest part to admit to her friend. What if he hated her because she was such a mean person? She sucked the root beer residue off of her spoon, then stared at her upside down reflection with saddened eyes.

The next part came out in a rush, “I said a bunch of really mean things. I knew they would hurt her feelings, but I said them anyway.” She had twisted up the truth into small hateful knives sharper than a stone could whet steel. “She was just trying to protect me, and I said...” A sniffle snuck into the middle of her guilty admission. It had been wise to bring the extra napkins.

“I-I told her I hated her and wished I'd never been born.” Another sniff punctuated her sentence and her reflection in the spoon blurred.

He nodded at the pause and then nudged her aware from the sore spot. “We have extra everything if you need some pajamas we can get you some, not an issue at all.”

~~“It was about the Youth for Change Conference. …less safe than New York City.”

“ I bet she would have sent you to Columbia if she knew where you went instead.” He smiled half heartedly at that, but it was probably true. “ I don’t know a lot about Columbia only the bad stuff you get in the news, sounds like a rough place, but you can handle your self, and I am sure that it not a whole lot more can be going on there then here. I guess it is more the evil you know thing.” He shrugged “ better the one you know then the one you don’t.”

~~“Then, we got mad. Or I got mad. I can't remember who was mad first. I slammed my plate and she threw the silverware,”

He opened his mouth with a vicious reply before she recovered with the rest of the thought and he was glad his tongue didn’t move faster then it had.

~~“...in the drawer, that is. And then, then... I...”

He held his tongue some more this was the important part.

~~“I said a bunch of really mean things. I knew they would hurt her feelings, but I said them anyway.” “She was just trying to protect me, and I said...” “I-I told her I hated her and wished I'd never been born.”

“Oh, Kat, I don’t mean to shock you or pull the carpet out from under your anger, but your mother has told that to your grand mother and her mother to your great grandmother and so on. Every parent has heard their child say that to them, I certainly told my parents a version of it.” Never mind that his siblings had murdered their parents and his version of it was more a kin to I wish you were dead and that was the first thing he went to do when he escaped his prison….and he meant it and still did, some how, none of that seemed like it would help or make Katrina any more fond of him.

“Look, your mom cares about you; she’s already forgiven you just the same as you’ve already forgiven her. The plate and the silverware will survive and everything will be ok. I guarantee it. To be perfectly honest sometimes this stuff can show you how much to appreciate what you have. You two will be fine if not even better.” He nodded to her as he scooped another overloaded spoonful of root beer covered ice cream and hurried it into his mouth as it dripped.

“later, when we recover from this massive float, I will have to show you the Abyss-cicles, they are actually cherry devil pops, but they have a striking resemblance to you know who, red gumball eyes, black goatee and all.. Pluto has a disturbing fascination with chomping on them at the rest of us. And then he moved on to micro waving them…and throwing them at walls” He shook his head to himself as much to her.

She didn't quite understand what he meant by "the evil you know over the evil you don't know" stuff.  He wasn't evil. He just had a different opinion on some things.  It wasn't important at the time to correct him.  Later, though, if he called himself evil she might have to pursue that topic of discussion.

Well, she had done it. She had admitted what she said to Abyss. She watched her upside down reflection through tears. Would he be upset with her? Would he think she was less of a person and more of a monster? What kind of person would say something cruel enough to make their own mother cry?

...

Apparently lots of kids did, according to her sage red brother. Everything would turn out okay in the end, he promised. Somehow, he made it seem so obvious. Of course her mother would forgive her. Of course she would still love her wayward daughter. Katrina sniffled and let the corners of her mouth tug upwards into the beginnings of a smile, casting off her downward glance to look him in the eye again just in time to see a big drip of creamy root beer splash from his overloaded spoon onto his chin. The smile that had been threatening to appear now split her face into a teary eyed grin.

“Thanks Abyss,” she sniffled one more time, then wiped her nose on a napkin. It seemed he had successfully scarred away the second round of tears before they had really had a chance to get started. ”You have ice cream in your beard, by the way.”

She reached for her another spoonful of her own. It was modest in comparison to Abyss' average spoon size, but was much larger than her first bite.

“Yeah, Pluto is kind of silly sometimes. He seems to be the most like a kid, out of all of you guys. Ohh-!” Katrina sat up straight, not that she had been slouching, not really anyway. She reached into her pocket for the object she had found in her bed room. She'd made it months ago, but hadn't had had the chance to give it to him.

“I made this for you. And for your brothers, too. They're earrings, but they are special.” The teen looked around the cafeteria, but there was no one nearby that she could see. Even so she dropped her voice so there would be less of a chance of someone overhearing. She didn't mind that Abyss knew, but she didn't want anyone else to overhear about her powers.

“See, there are two for each of you. One is colorful so if you want people to be able to tell you apart easily they will have an easier time. The other ones are colorful, too, actually, but I put an illusion on them that makes them all look the same. If you wear those ones, only I'll be able to tell the colors.” The young teen held out the card that held the fourteen little gifts in two little rows so he could take it.

~~“Thanks Abyss,””You have ice cream in your beard, by the way.”
He stuck out his purple tongue and tried to get it.

“That is what beards are actually for, gives you a second shot at any food that almost got away.” he grinned. “” you have some in yours too.” He said smirking at his silliness.


~~“Yeah, Pluto is kind of silly sometimes. He seems to be the most like a kid, out of all of you guys. Ohh-!”

“nah, he is just the kid that gets caught being a kid the most.” He smiled and paused on the account of an Oh!

~~“I made this for you. And for your brothers, too. They're earrings, but they are special.”

“oh?” He peered appreciatively into the box, curiosity flooding him. “ those are awesome!” he said as he was already taking out his earing and reaching for the Neptune colored planet and its match putting them in a pair of holes in his lobe.

~~“See, there are two for each of you. One is colorful so if you want people to be able to tell you apart easily they will have an easier time. The other ones are colorful, too, actually, but I put an illusion on them that makes them all look the same. If you wear those ones, only I'll be able to tell the colors.”

“Well, that would nix the need for turning Jupiter purple,” He smiled and looked over theme pretty sure he knew which one was his pair. “ that is awesome Kat! And that is a little something that we have been arguing about lately, if and what we should do to distinguish our selves, I think you have ended this argument” he winked. “In my favor no less, with a much better solution then what we had in mind. We were going to get haircuts.” He raised his eyebrows towards his well styled spikes. “Though I am pretty sure that they would all have my hair cut again after they entered and left the void. So it’d be temporary.”

She could trade silliness for silliness, too. “Oh thanks,” she licked her chin as well. Her tongue was also purple, if anyone was looking closely. “It's funny, you know? I've been growing my beard for, like, a dozen years but it never seems to fill in.”

It seemed the sniffles had retreated to wherever sniffles go when they are asleep. Katrina was a happy person by nature and it was difficult for her to stay upset for very long, especially with someone as awesome as Abyss to cheer her up. The teen illusionist was all smiles as Abyss reached for the Neptune colored earrings and immediately made room for them in his red ear lobes. She was glad he liked them.

“They look nice. I didn't know that all your brothers' haircuts would switch back once they went into the void. That's pretty cool. If they always get reset to look just like you, if you get a tattoo do they automatically get it too? What if one of them gets a tattoo, would it be erased?”

Katrina ate a few more spoonfuls of ice cream, but she was slowing down. It seemed she was reaching the capacity of her ice cream storage facilities. With Abyss' help the ice cream mountain was almost fully demolished anyway. Soon, all that would remain was a little bit of the ice cream flavored root beer.

~~“Oh thanks,” she “It's funny, you know? I've been growing my beard for, like, a dozen years but it never seems to fill in.”

“If nothing else you could try shaving anyway and then they might spring up.” He laughed at the thought of the lithe little blonde having a goatee.

~~“They look nice. I didn't know that all your brothers' haircuts would switch back once they went into the void. That's pretty cool. If they always get reset to look just like you, if you get a tattoo do they automatically get it too? What if one of them gets a tattoo, would it be erased?”

“Well, we think they come out as copied like me each time, for instance, he rolled up his sleeve baring a fading burn scar that was actually from a tazor. They all have this scar but they didn’t get burnt there. However, ink is not of my flesh, it is foreign I guess so they don’t have it. I have a tattoo on my chest. That they don’t have and they could get tattoos and mark themselves, none of them have yet though. So I am not absolutely sure, but I think it would work the same way that clothes do. It would follow them back and forth, they wouldn’t and aren’t dressed like me automatically. If that makes sense.”

he gave her a sheepish look and nodded toward the large cup. “I didn’t mean to eat it all, do you want me to refill it for you? Or maybe we should go ahead and find the other guys to give them the earrings? They are probably in their rooms.”

Tattoos were not part of the flesh? That concept took the young blonde a few moments to wrap her brain around. They seemed pretty fleshy to her, until Abyss added that clothing also did not carry over from one brother to the next either. Perhaps the needle going into the skin could leave a mark on the skin of all the brothers, but the actual ink of the tattoo was like clothing that wasn't really part of the body, just trapped under the skin without really being a part of it. Not like hair and scars which actually had Abyss' DNA in them.

As for clothes, it dawned on her that it must get expensive to buy seven of everything, especially considering their size. They probably needed to have things taylored as well, so clothing would fit properly over their bulk without ripping every time they flexed a muscle. They would need tail holes added to their pants as well. That probably made trying things on in the store a bit difficult.

"Do you guys like to match clothing, or do you all have your own style? Do you borrow each other's stuff since you are all the same size? Do you each have your own rooms, or do the others sleep in the abyss? Do you all go shopping together?"

Questions were like bunnies. Once you had one or two, it wasn't long before a whole bunch of them were hopping around. Katrina closed her mouth before any more cute fuzzy questions could escape their hutch. She had learned in about sixth grade that most people couldn't keep up with quite that many questions in a row, with the exception of Calley whose brain could easily keep track of questions and could even answer them in reverse order if he wanted.

Katrina eyed the cup warily. If she ate one more bite she was likely to explode. "It's okay, I'm full," she answered Abyss' guilty apology for helping her with so much of the ice cream. "Let's go find the others. I want to see if they like them, too!" She bounced in her seat at least once from excitement. If hanging out with Abybss was awesome, hanging out with the whole gang was awesome to the seventh power, which the math impaired girl was still fairly certain was even greater than awesome times seven.