#bergen_county

A knock on the door of the King household. A spritely rat-tat-a-tat-tat.

Mrow

Two dogs, one high and bright and the other lower-pitched and more amiable.

Good lord it's a zoo in there

"Coming!"

Piper waits outside, where the dogs are not

"Nuh-uh, both of you, sit."

Now she opens the door. TwoBit and Brown Dog are both sitting very nicely.

An impression look. "How do you get them to do what you say? And can you teach me a way that will work on a cat?"

Odin doesn't sit, he glares from across the room with hsi creepy one eye

She spies him, then drops eye contact - he's kinda creepy.

"Cats can be trickier..."

"Usually better to draw them off with something more interesting." She rubs the back of her neck. "You looking for Tove?"

"Actually, I was looking for you?" She fidgets a little. "It's nothing important, I just was hoping to talk to you, girl to girl, if you had some time."

She blinks.

"I mean, sure? I mean, what kind of... girl talk? I'm not really... isn't that more Sylvi or Siv's bag?"

"Well, not GIRL talk, I just mean, like, person to person. When both persons happen to be.. girls..." She laughs at her own awkwardness.

Brow furrow, but a nod.

"Come on in. You want something to drink? We got pop, lemonade, iced tea..."

"Iced tea would be swell, thanks!"

She clips in, taking care not to step on the paws of the lurking pups.

TwoBit trots along, Supervising.

Dag leads to the kitchen, and deftly prepares two drinks. "It's unsweet. We have sugar on the table, though."

"Ooh, thanks." She adds enough spoonfuls of sugar that it might as well be soda. Somewhere, a sluagh throws up a little.

As she stirs her glass, "It's okay if you aren't interested in talking about it. Honest, I don't want to press you. I just thought maybe you might help me with a little insight."

"Sure?"

"I'm not exactly known for my sage advice, but I won't bullshit you about anything." Dagmar, of course, has a Dr. Pepper.

"Well, you see. I'm adopted, right? Like you, except I never knew my parents. That is, my bio mom and dad. I've been with Mommas Vera and Viola since I was too little to know anything else."

She nods. "Everything I've heard, your moms rock."

"We've butted heads a few times, but who doesn't argue with their parents? I mean, even 'perfect' sitcom families still have episodes where they fight. But yeah, my moms are pretty awesome. ..which is part of why I felt kinda bad, asking them about my dad."

"Mm."

Brows lower, and a slow nod.

Playing with her spoon a little. "Do you know your bio-dad? Or do you ever wonder about him?"

"Worried you might hurt their feelings? Or that..." She searches. "That they might think aren't enough."

"I've wondered about him, yeah. There's no name, no records. And Jenny..." Sigh.

"Both, to be honest. It's like, I don't want them to think they aren't good enough, or just... enough, that's a good way to put it. I just... I felt like, I had to know?"

"I get it. Wanting to know."

"Because that's part of you, too. Part of your story."

"I want to know who he was. Who made half of me. What he's like... if I inherited anything from him? Was he a performer? A singer? ...why he left my bio-mom? ...or, did he even know about me?"

Another worried crease in her eyebrows as she listens and nods.

"I get that, too. But..."

"...but?"

"But yeah, he might not know about you. Or he knew but didn't want you. Or couldn't take care of you. It could be a lot of things, but... but some of those things can hurt, to find out."

"And how he reacts to meeting you, that can go a lot of ways, too."

Tink, tink, the spoon rattles against the glass. "If you were to suddenly get the name of your birthfather, what would you do? Would you seek him out? Because... I did. I mean, I didn't GO, but I got the name..."

"That... shit, I'd want to know what he's like. Absolutely."

A small smile, a touch relieved. "THat's good to hear. Because I do, too, but I kinda worried... you know, all the things you said."

"But I don't know if I could roll up and be 'surprise, I'm your kid.' - y'know? I... maybe I'm not that brave."