User blog comment:Doctor Ibrahim/Ask the Doc and his Family!/@comment-25808351-20180124030225/@comment-28358106-20180124194035

Adelhard can't help but notice that the photograph of the Ibrahim family bears the initials "L.I." in hand-written script on the bottom right corner.

"We have a lot of love to give, Sir Von Stark." Regina smiles as she pulls out a plush velvet chair that's a comfortable distance from the hearth. "It's a self-giving gift that multiplies.  The more you love your family, the more of a family you want to have.  Of course, when you love someone as much as Thomas and I did, and still do, having a large family is unavoidable." She gives a short chuckle.

"Please feel free to have a seat, or stand, as you like.  I'll prepare some tea for you and Marcus.  You two must be freezing to ride out in this weather!" Regina turns to Aurum. "Rummy, dear, please let Lucida know that she has a guest."

Aurum, who has been practically bouncing on her toes and crackling with energy, doesn't even notice that her mother uses her nickname in front of guests. "Yes, mother!" She trots away into the main living room, bounding up the stairs there and around a few turns of the upstairs hallways.

Upstairs, Aurum manages to keep her speed to a ladylike trot and not a full sprint as she bursts into Lucida's room without knocking. Lucida is hunched over a glass tank, dangling a mouse by its tail into the range of a sizable snake.

"LU!" Aurum bursts in.

"GAH!" Lucida starts and drops the mouse, pivoting on her sinuous torso to face her sister. "Aurum!  Good grief, knock first, girl!  Did it ever occur to y---"

"You have a guest." Aurum clasps her hands together, bouncing on the balls of her feet, biting her lip.

"...What?  Me?  I have a guest??" Lucida's obsidian eyes widen, her ruby pupils bright.

"Can't be right.  She's boring as pig shit.  Gotta be a mistake." Aegis's voice chimes in from just outside the window, where she sits on a slate tile slope, watching the sky.

It doesn't even faze Lucida. "Who...who is it?"

"It's Uncle Marcus." Aurum leans in. "And he's brought someone special."

"...Who?"

Aurum's voice becomes a barely audible whisper as she cups her mouth.

"Adelhard Von Stark."

"WHAAAAAAAAT?!" Lucida leaps backwards into her bookcase, her four arms flailing like an out-of-control windmill, books clattering to the floor.

Her shriek is so potent, it carries clear across the house and reaches the ears of the adults downstairs, though its word is lost.