The Bloodworth Vivarium

[Deblod100]

((OOC: Written with ideas and credit from handler Lilith))

Her car pulled up in the driveway of the townhouse. Her house. Where her family was.

It was an expensive two-story property near The Links. A good walk away from where most of the kids from Aurora Bay were staying at. Their families were being reasonable with the better options of the apartments and condominiums. Since the Bloodworth's wealth came from her mother's position at her "business" in the Twin Cities and even some niche properties around the state, Pippi's family was given something that can be of worth to them. It would work out with the necessary changes to the townhouse, since Pippi's father was confined to his wheelchair, though she must wonder if there was any other house that had an elevator installed.

Pippi, of course, had a key to her house. Upon entry, there were some obvious signs.

Pippi looked down to see that Kafele was tracking mud once again. Onto the carpet. She can excuse that her younger brother was 6, but he needed to know to kick off his shoes at the entryway. Her little brother was an athlete in the standard way. Not of Mathematical Olympiads, like Pippi. He was in a soccer team. With the city clearing out the snow and the folks near Kafele's elementary school getting the soccer field thawed out for use, the sports season for her little brother was happening again. Tracie, Maurice, and Chisulo did complain, but nothing major has been done yet.

One of the things that stood out in the foyer, though for obvious reasons was the elevator in the middle that went up to the second floor. What was good was that the staircase spiraled around the elevator, looking aesthetically pleasing and convenient. Maurice needed it to get upstairs, since he uses a wheelchair. Her father always mentioned the story to her on how he lost the ability to walk. Her parents never took them to a water park, only a public pool.

In terms of art, there were family pictures and "modern" art. Modern art was quoted, because some of it was made by Tracie during her performance artist days and the other pieces of art were stuff that Tracie thought would be good for interior design. Nothing inappropriate for kids to see, but it didn't give the instance of Feng Shui that her mother probably wanted. Her lifestyle made her see certain things as having more artistic merit than they were supposed to. Some of the shelves had random objects that seemed to have little to no interest, to which Tracie seemed to know.

Her mom thought by watching multiple episodes of Trading Spaces, she could easily be the interior designer that she desired, even though when it came to renovating strip clubs, she got middle men for that. She did once suggested they have a "beach" room in the house, but Maurice and Chisulo strongly objected. Even Neveah and Pippi caved in, when they saw how much of a bad idea it is.

Her parents even brought a full set of knight's armor for decoration. They had it in the hallway bolted to the wall, so that it didn't fall onto someone. Pippi never understood why her parents brought it, even though no one was going to wear it. She believed that her parents treated their home as a castle. Without the traditional cobblestones that were a part of it.

One of the first things that she does when she comes home was head upstairs to her room to take care of her cat Zelda. Zelda was currently elderly, she was still good for a few years. She might pass away when Pippi got to college, but for a kitty cat, she was going strong. "Zelda." Pippi called the cat over to her bed, letting it hop onto it and onto Pippi to cuddle with. Pippi made sure to add some more cat food and changed the litterbox when she had to.

Pippi's bedroom was actually less colorful looking than the clothes she wore. Her room was modest than one would expect. However, there was a diffuser there that freshened up her room with the scene of foreign spices. Pippi did mention to some friends who came over once that it was supposed to help her focus more. The exact blend of oils used for the diffuser was something she forgot.

---

Maurice and Chisulo were already home, but they never disturbed Pippi when she was in her bedroom, usually because she had academics to focus on after school. It's usually when the family came home for dinner was when they got together. Neveah hung out with friends after school and didn't arrive until a little later. Tracie also picked up Kafele from soccer practice after she got back from work, usually from one of the strip clubs she owned.

Kafele never really knew what his stepmother did as a job. He didn't even wonder into her office, where the evidence was visible.

A while later, the family sat at the circular dinner table to eat the chicken dinner that both Tracie and Chisulo made. Maurice can cook food, but him being in a wheelchair have him needed help. Tracie, being the self-proclaimed wannabe interior designer and once performance artist, had this table decoration that she made from random scraps of driftwood and junk from the road. Going from clockwise at the 12 o'clock was Maurice -> Chisulo -> Kafele -> Pippi -> Neveah -> Tracie -> then back to Maurice.

A guy needs to sit next to his husband and his wife.

Her parents' relationship was the healthiest polycule that Pippi knew, though there were others that she didn't know about.

"It still took me almost half a hour to get to work today. City is struggling to get rid of the snow further in town." Maurice mentioned with a start of a conversation. It was still part of winter. The groundhog might have seen his shadow.

"Not for soccer practice. The organizers been getting the salt truck to make the field nice and dry for Kafele. He scored a lot of goals, his coach told me." Tracie gave a smile to her stepson. Chisulo made sure to headpat his son next to him. Also a smile from his two other dads.

That feeling of showing accomplishment. Pippi already knew what her sister Neveah will say. Mentioning how she is currently in the lead in terms of Instagram likes, because she was getting that hype in with her gothic clothing. When the next math tournament happens, Pippi will make sure to stylize to get them back at a tie.

"People liked my-"

"Making sure to get those assignments in time!" Pippi immediately interrupted Neveah. Her sister already gave her a dirty look. "I did have this student spill some water on my worksheet a while back, but Mrs. Tess gave me a copy."

"Ok... Pineapple, you aren't drinking coffee this late, right?" Maurice asked. "No no no no no. I wanted to mention how things at school are." Pippi replied.

Pippi had a can of Red Bull before dinner.

"Speaking of which.." Neveah jumped into the conversation, before Pippi tried to interrupt again. "The girls in school liked the outfit I wore today. At this rate, everyone might be having black as a new trend, since winter is still up." Neveah was off to mention her freshman popularity.

"You kids need to ease up. Or better yet work hard." Maurice was addressing his two daughters, but Kafele seemed to perk up, thinking he was involved, despite being 6. "You have only a few months until spring break to rest up. You need to not get into any shenanigans that might concern us.'"

But I like shenanigans...

"Especially you, Pineapple. You have 5 to 6 more months until your graduation. You may be accepted for the U of Minnesota, but you need to keep that GPA above 3.5."

Pippi's GPA was above 4.0.

"Some of my workers have been mentioning this one school at the upperwest. Not saying that Pippi should head there, but a fellow employee of mine mentioned that they got their kid up to the University of Cascadia. I wouldn't mind that Pippi also was taking some liberal arts courses. I think it should get some other passion into her." Tracie mentioned, knowing that even though her eldest daughter was going to go for an engineering degree, she needed some additional classes to be good for her first semester.

"Is there a class on cats?" Pippi asked.

She was going to avenge Zelda's cat, should her cat die while she was attending college. Make a pyre if she had to.

Chisulo let out a laugh, when he heard Pippi's suggestion. "I wish. Back at Johannesburg, we had one of the American presidents visit our school once. They have classes on gods. They might as well have classes on any animal."

Pippi felt the Mami Wata pendant that she wore.

"Dad. Can we get a cat?" Kafele asked Chisulo, though Pippi could have gave his stepbrother Zelda. "Why not Zelda?" Chisulo asked. "I want my own cat! I want to name him Renmotor! I want to make him play soccer with me!"

"That begging isn't going to get you one, Kafele." Pippi said.

The family couldn't help it, but let out a laugh.

After dinner, Zelda would help Pippi sleep by going what some might say....

Mega Eep Mode.

((Oh, a night of eeps instead.))