Camara PoV
"I won't apologize for my earlier behavior, Gertrude. Just know that going forwards."
I let out a soft sigh as I rubbed at my temples, wondering why the Nymph that was usually cracking jokes was now being so serious and unyielding; on the other hand, I couldn't really blame her since she was just vocalizing the concern, but still...
"I don't particularly care, Annie."
On yet another hand I was also slightly perplexed by the lack of care the Bearkin was displaying at being so harshly judged for little reason, which was somewhat concerning on its own since it raised questions about her character... kind of.
I knew that if Annie came at me in such a passive aggressive way about how I treated Aethisia and what sort of bond we had I would definitely be willing to slap her, or at the very least shout at her once or twice...
So why was Gertrude being so... calm and uncaring about it..?
"Ahem... anyways, I was finding myself curious if Aethisia embellished some things about you, but it seems she didn't; you really are a gorgeous woman, and the butchery definitely looks well maintained... but..."
Looking around at the nice shop and decently stocked kitchen, I couldn't help but notice that it was rather... spartan for a living area; there weren't many decorations or other personalizations anywhere to be found, and even for a group of people that didn't really have 'personal spaces' I was still used to seeing how our family 'marked' their 'territory'.
Sensing that Gertrude just nodded and said "It makes enough to keep us fed and clothed. Anything else is just... saved. What little comprises that 'else', anyways. People don't particularly go out of their way to be friendly with a butcher, let alone someone like me who doesn't want to converse."
"Ah."
That was all I could say as I nodded and looked around, though that was when my gaze fell upon the peeping Bearkin girl who had come home recently; noticing that I had seen her, Eleanor stepped out from behind the door and ignored the pointed stare of her Mother.
"Mama does try her best, and we definitely don't want for anything, but... people don't really speak kindly about us either. People here like meat, yes, but most of the city is on a predominant fruit and vegetable type of diet, so... things are weird..."
Wringing out her hands a little, Eleanor took another step closer and continued to ignore her Mother, who seemed to want her to retreat upstairs and ensure she wasn't a 'target' of the Nymph beside me, which definitely further increased my 'exhaustion' with this.
"That was why I was so happy that D- I mean, Miss Aethisia kept coming back to help us; we were getting some more money and things were less stressful. I know it sounds like we were maybe latching onto her for that reason, but please believe me that Mama really-!"
"Eleanor, enough!"
It wasn't a shout nor was it particularly sharp, but it still made the younger Bearkin flinch as she found the weight of her Mother's gaze to be a bit too heavy; before it could escalate any further I was about to say something to smooth things over, but Annie beat me to it.
"Well, that's nice to hear. Aethisia did say she was helping someone, and now I see it was two someone's. It's been rather tough, hasn't it, Eleanor? Not terrible, definitely better than most, but..."
Annie's voice was kinder now as she focused on the slimmer Bearkin, the Nymph's earlier edge and antagonism gone as she instead smiled warmly at her, making me raise a brow as I wondered what the hell was going on.
Eleanor nodded and continued to play with her hands, looking at the floor and refusing to look towards her Mother, who was now laying that heavy stare on Annie as she clearly disliked what she was implying.
"Well, everything should be far better now. Your Mother here will definitely need help going forwards though, because Aethisia is going to be hunting far~ more frequently than before~! She has a personal stake in this now too."
The jovial tone was back, and with it came the slight teasing as Annie winked at Gertrude, who just crossed her arms and remained silent as she too took in the complete turnaround from just moments ago.
For her part Eleanor seemed just as shocked as she looked towards Annie as well, blushing a little when she saw how the Nymph was smiling at her and seeming just as confused as I was when she started looking between all of us.
"So... yeah, we're all going to be a bit of an oddly shaped family going forwards. I do look forwards to learning more about you, Gertrude; you are a wonderfully interesting woman who seems to have many stories to tell. Aethisia said something about you liking honey mead..?"
Bringing us to a more relaxed conversation seemed to be best, and grounding us in a certain topic instead of letting the Nymph drift around as she pleased also seemed to be the best thing going forwards, so I instead decided to share a little more about ourselves as I told them about how we made wine before.
That fascinated Eleanor before she had to hide it when her Mother glared at her for even mentioning the idea of tasting wine - apparently our new sister was a bit more strict then any of us had been in our family - though the suggestion of helping around the farm did earn a nod from Gertrude.
Our discussion about the compound and what we usually did as a family to support ourselves was a lot lighter and relaxed than before, and making sure to keep the extreme amount of prostitution Mama used to acquire the things she had as well as the overabundance of sex that happened every hour was rather difficult.
After all, it was practically engrained into the very soil of our home at this point, but I definitely needed to ease her into that... mainly so she didn't get terrified and 'run away' from Aethisia, who seemed to be rather serious about her.