Years ago, after the rats had moved to Thorn Valley, Jenner's daughter and grand-niece reflected on his death and their lives in general.

The small, dark-furred girl is curled up in a corner with a book that almost seems to large for her thin frame to manage. And yet, she's reading it. She's young, probably no more than nine in human terms. Little Jenevieve reaches out, turning to the next page, reading the words she memorized months ago. She could almost hear her father's voice, deep and rich, reading the words aloud to her. And yet, it comforts her...even after the trauma following his death, and their exodus to Thorn Valley with her mother, Victoria.

OOC> You ask, "How long after the move is this?"
OOC> Jenevieve says, "Probably four months, like around the time of Rats of Thorn Valley or something. Before Victoria's exile."

Clare was quickly getting adjusted to living in this new colony. It didn't feel as cozy as the Rosebush, not as close and personal, but once all the sections were properly heated it probably would compensate. Almost immediately she had re-established her social circle within the boundaries of the new school, and she had been excited to see that life was quickly returning to normal. Still, a few, nagging loose ends were to be found. She knew that her cousin wasn't feeling too well; her expression during the funeral almost gave Clare feelings of great dread. Lucky, then, that she ran into her in here, as it looks like she needs the company. "Hey Jen!" she greets. "Whatcha doing?"

Jenevieve looks up, her green eyes--the same shade as her late father's--lighting up at the sight of her favorite cousin. "Hi Clare," she replies, a wan smile lighting her face. She's genuinely glad to see her cousin, and of course happier still that at the moment, no one is glaring at her or muttering behind her back. "Just reading. What are you up to?"

Clare smiles as only she can, her bright "Irish-green' full of life. "Oh, nothing. I just wanted to see where are the books were this time. I mean, all the ones I like to read." With substantial pep she takes a seat at the same corner, right next to Jenevieve. "What are /you/ reading, then?"

Jenevieve looks down at the book in her lap. "Um, 'Paradise Lost'. It, um....it was Dad's favorite, and I used to bug him to read it to me even though I didn't really understand it..." She looks down at the ground, not wanting to see the inevitable look of disapproval when she brings up her father--to anyone but her mother, that is.

Clare knew more about Jenner than she would care to admit. Her father and mother had spoken of him often, and the basic story seems to be that Jenner was once a good rat who became increasingly despairing of their ability to be ethical, eventually concluding that ethicality was impractical for mere rats. Of course, she wouldn't have put it in those words. "Isn't that about...Satan or something?" she asks, the subject-matter being familiar to her, at least.

Jenevieve nods a bit. "Yeah. Only he's called Lucifer in the beginning, and he was an angel before he made with the fire and pitchforks and stuff." She shrugs. "It's over my head, but when I read it, I can hear Dad's voice. Almost. Kind of silly, right?"

Clare resists the urge to make a joke about Lucifer speaking with Jenner's voice. It would have been the sort of joke her brother Ben would've made, but she liked her cousin for too much to subject her to such things. "Yeah...it is kinda weird, but I guess he'd been reading you stories for a while, huh?"

Jenevieve slides a bookmark in, and closes the book. "Yeah...I mean, he read us kid stuff, too. So did Mom, but Racso and I loved to hear Dad read. If he didn't get home too late from the Council, he used to do it a lot." She rests her head against the chair.

Clare remembers the last time her own father had tried to read aloud from a storybook. It had proven to be a particularly awkward experience for them, as Joseph was rather unskilled at portraying all the different characters. He was, however, very skilled at talking about the ways of the world, for indeed he was a practical rat, being a crafter first before a politician. Yet, Clare has begun to understand just why her father admired Jenner so much in the early years of their life post-NIMH. "You really miss Uncle Jenner, don't you?" she says, his absence suddenly conspicuous in her mind.

Jenevieve bites her lip, and nods. "Yeah," she replies, her voice choked with the tears that she won't allow to fall. "I...I do. But I can't talk to anyone about it. Mom just gets sad, and Racso's ashamed, and anyone else...they don't want to hear about it, because he killed Nicodemus."

Clare looks at her cousin for a moment as she expresses her sadness. Few words, she feels, are needed. Slowly she slips her arm around Jenevieve's shoulders and helps her lean her head against hers, if need be. "It's okay to cry," she says.

Jenevieve hugs her cousin tight, silent tears slipping down her cheeks. "I know he did bad stuff...but I loved him. I still do. Is that bad, Clare?"

Clare almost feels like crying herself as she remembers some of the few, good things that she saw Jenner do. "Mom says that...whether we can love a bad person is what makes us really noble," she says, awkwardly but emotively paraphrasing. "But even Uncle Jenner...wasn't always bad. No one is." She slowly and gently wipes her cousins cheeks with her fingers. "I wish that he had survived...i think he would've loved it here, even after all those things he said."

Jenevieve nods, closing her eyes as Clare brushes her tears away. "Me too...I wish he'd been able to come with us...and...and Nicodemus...." she squeezes her eyes shut. "I just don't understand....why..."

"I don't know, either," answers Clare, softly letting go of her embrace. "I don't know if we really can." Punctuated silence governs their companionship for a while, their prolonged mourning finding the first elements of finality. "We...should go visit each other again," she says. "I...kinda miss seeing your brother and his stupid hat." Clare manages a weak chuckle at this.

Jenevieve laughs too, through her tears. "Yeah...I'd like that." She smiles a bit. "I still steal it from his head when he's not looking. It really is the weirdest looking thing."

Clare laughs out loud this time. "Who made that hat, anyway? Aunt Victoria? She likes silly hats, too." ;)

Jenevieve snorts. "It's a Council thing, I think. Racso inherited the gene for their fashion sense, I guess.

Clare was sure that not even her father had any desire to wear silly hats. "Yeah, but Aunt Victoria's hat is weirder than the rest of them. It's like...whenever I see her I wanna throw water on her to see if she'd melt." She giggles, sure that she was going to suffer for that.

Jenevieve fuzzles Clare's headfur. "She doesn't--at least MY mom knows when to quit with lace and ribbons!" she cracks.

Clare pokes Jenevieve hard in the shoulder. "Hey! That's normal for girly-girls, anyway. Besides, my Aunt Lucia liked ribbons a lot more than Mom; /her/ dresses had all sorts of ribbons on them." She wouldn't deny, though, that her mother had a thing for lace. "But you should've been there when Mom put Rebecca in a dress! Rebecca looked so scared XD"

Jenevieve nearly falls off her chair laughing, Lucifer and his rebel angels forgotten. "Rebecca? Cousin Becky? Are you /serious/? How...how did that go?"

Clare chortles. "She was totally zonked! I mean...it was like Mom had told her to get infected with the plague. I don't think I've seen that dress again; she probably burned it. But I got Matt to draw me a picture and I'm gonna bring it out when I get a chance ;)"

Jenevieve covers her mouth with her paws to muffle her guffaw. "Oooh, I want to see! Poor Becky, she hates that stuff. Did she look nice, at least?"

OOC> Clare reviews her logs. "Uh oh XD"
OOC> Jenevieve asks, "wha?"
I'd already mentioned the 'Rebecca dress' incident earlier and this last pose didn't exactly match up: I correct this below

Clare puts her finger on her mouth as she thinks. "I don't think she ever actually wore it. Becky made some kinda potion that made her a little sick so she wouldn't have to wear it, but then Mom freaked out and quarantined her. I still have that picture, though." She leans back onto the wall. "I don't think I can remember her wearing anything normal."

Jenevieve has to hide her face. "Who cares? Whatever she wears always smells like....I don't know what it's like, but it's always horrible. Like...rotten eggs or kitty litter or something."

Clare merely shrugs. "That's because she's always in the science lab working on some big project. It's just...something she does. What about Racso, though? Is he OK?"

Jenevieve shifts a little in her chair, looking away. "No, not really. He keeps to himself mostly. We both do, really. I kind of miss the way he was before, y'know? Always joking and laughing."

Clare nods, a little sadly. "Yeah...I kinda miss that too," she says, looking regretful. Slowly, she stands, looking around as she always does to make sure no one is peeping at them, for whatever reason. "Hey, Jen, do you want to come to my house later on? I think we should have some fun together."

Jenevieve nods as well, looking happy. "Yeah!" she replies, her eyes lighting up. "That would be soo much fun. "

Clare smiles, happy to see that her cousin is looking forward to it, too. "Great! I'll see you there, then! Just come any time :)" She takes her leave of Jenevieve, retreating into another part of the library to resume her search for a book to read. "Later, Jen!"