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Katherine blinked hard and rubbed her eyes. She usually didn't wake up in the
middle of the night because two norns had just kisspoped. Finally, she dragged
herself out of bed. "Blip, Kass, follow me. We're going to have to do a
Lab-test to see if it took or not."
"No!" Blip begged, "I HATE those! Don't make me ... please..."
"What does this involve?" asked Kass. Katherine bent over and whispered
something in her ear. "Uh huh...OK... WHAT?! You can't do that!" She nearly
shouted.
"Look," Katherine half-sneered, because she was too sleepy to have to
fight this out, "We can do this test, which could also determine any fatal
mutations, or you can wait so many hours, and just do it El Natural or
however
you say it. I'm going to suggest you go ahead and let me test you, but it's
up
to you." Then she stuck a finger in Kass' belly. "This little bulge could be
belly fat, it could be an egg. I can't tell until I get you into my lab."
Kass turned around quickly. "Be careful what you say about my stomach...
that little bulge has always been there..."
Katherine sighed, then smiled a bit. "What's your decision?"
"Oh ... all right." Kass answered. Katherine then unplugged Blip, grabbed
him, and dragged him along, Kass at their heels, out of the room, Blip
whimpering all the way.
Karr stood at the doorway, then turned to his mom. "Wow.. I feel so..
odd..."
"How so?" Asked Jenna.
"I just feel like I'm not ready for kids.. but then I think I am, then I
don't..." replied Karr. "I'm just mixed up."
Jenna laughed a bit. "You're never totally ready. My gosh, I was 7 hours
old when I had you. I could never be prepared for everything you've brought
me."
"I also feel so dirty ... like I shouldn't have fallen in love with her,
shouldn't have kissed her, shouldn't have kisspoped..." Karr rambled.
"Karr!" Jenna giggled again. "Honey, I think everything's going just
fine
for you! You may have lost your innocence, so to speak, but Kass is a good
girl,
and you get to start a family early. I would have loved to do that. Your
grankids
won't know you as a pensioner, but as an adult!"
Karr gave a sigh, and then replied. "Yeah, I guess you're right. I get
to
finally be a dad, and it feels good!" He threw his arms out, and he spun like
an
airplane for a few seconds. Then it hit him. "And you!" He pointed to his
mom.
"YOU get to be a grandma!"
Jenna choked. It hit her, she WAS going to be a Grandma. This was sort
of
exciting, but it also brought her down like a ton of bricks. Now she couldn't
deny it, she was getting old.
Just then, a sleepy Katherine, a traumatized Blip, and a groggy Kass
trudged into the room.
"What was it?" Karr jumped.
Kass grinned shyly. "Positive." They both gave each other a biiig hug.
Katherine crawled into bed, but before turning over, she advised:
"During
the test, we found some sort of mutation. I can't tell what it is quite yet,
except that there might be a disability, and it affects some organ. But I'm
sure we can somehow fix it. Now, is anyone going to wake me up?"
All three norns nodded no.
"Good. I have not gotten a full nights sleep in two days, so please
don't
bother me again." Katherine sighed, then flipped on her side and fell asleep.
* * *
It was now morning. Birds chirped through the window, and sun filled
Katherine's room. Katherine lay asleep, because frankly, she was trying to
make
up for what she lost, but Kass was up. She felt kind of sick to her stomach,
and maybe a bit dizzy, She couldn't tell. However, the events of last night
were clear to her, as she groggily arose from the sleeping position. As she
started to bend over to stretch, something stopped her. Straightening up, she
found that her stomach had actually grown since last night, and was now
rounder,
and larger, preventing her from bending down.
"You've fallen prey to earth's physical laws, so I see."
Kass whizzed around to find Jenna standing behind her.
"Earth's physics pretty much state that things can grow, and don't have
a
defined sprite set to conform to. Therefore, in Albia, you'd never notice
anything except for when you change sprites, but on earth, since you gain
mass,
you get bigger, so to speak. This is why earth people have an unusual fear of
fat." Jenna prattled.
Kass looked down at her growing egg. "All this'll go away once I lay my
egg, right?"
Jenna muffled a smile, then replied, "Most of it." Then she walked over
to
the dresser. "Get on my shoulders. I want to show you something."
Kass hesitated, then crawled up on Jenna's shoulders. Jenna helped her
climb upon the dresser (Which was a hard task, since Kass was substantially
heaver than most norns at the moment), and then climbed up herself. Jenna
pointed to the object hung over the dresser. "This is a mirror. You can see
yourself in it. I sometimes use it to check and see if I'm any older or
grayer,
but you could use it to see your stomach from different angles."
Kass sort of turned toward the side. "It's not that bad... In fact, it
might just look nice."
Jenna smiled. "That's the spirit." She then pulled an ear out in front of
her eyes, and checked it for gray lines.
Katherine then woke up, and silently flipped over. There, she saw Kass
and
Jenna peering in the mirror, Kass rubbing her stomach and turning from side
to
side, and Jenna pulling at her ears. It was hard not to laugh, but she ducked
under her covers and muffled herself well. Until, at least, she started
feeling
guilty, and rose up from the covers. "Anyone up for breakfast?" She asked.
Blip woke himself up and started up again, and Karr sat up. Everyone
sort
of shifted their gaze on Jenna and Kass. Boy, did they feel stupid. Jenna
jumped down from the dresser, Karr helped Jenna down, and they all filed into
the kitchen.
Katherine sort of dug around in the fridge after pouring herself a bowl
of
Rice Krispies, hoping to find three carrots. Karr looked at Kass' new build,
and commented, "This is normal, right?"
Kass sort of giggled. "Yeah, Jenna explained it to me, something about
mass."
Katherine finally pulled out three carrots from the kitchen, and passed
them out. "Kass, you do know everything that'll happen, right?"
Kass munched down her carrot. "Of course! I squat down, lay an egg.."
"There's more too it." Katherine explained. "You'll experience
discomfort
during and after laying..."
"That's Katherine's fancy word for 'It'll hurt bad.'" Karr translated.
"And your life force will be lower than normal, because Gonatrophin
reacts
negatively with Glucose, and reduces it..." continued Katherine, ignoring
Karr's
comment.
Jenna shook her head. "Polinesia once put it: 'Eat a lot, drink a lot,
move
a lot, sleep a lot, and be careful, remember, you are carrying a helpless life
within you, treat it with care.' I think that's the best advice ever."
* * *
It was a little later in the day. Katherine had changed out of her
pajamas, and was sitting with Blip looking through an issue of "Scientific
America" that had come in the mail. Kass was walking up and down the hall
with
a jar of honey, licking it as she went.
Jenna came into the room, and watched Kass for a few minutes before
suggesting, "Kass, Polinesia did tell me that moving reduced the pain to an
extent, but my gosh, I believe you're also entitled to some rest..."
Kass flopped down. "I suppose you're right." She licked the honey, and
then lay down on her back, putting her hands on her now-very large stomach.
"It's grown." She commented.
"At least it's still alive." Jenna reminded.
The doorbell rang. Katherine opened the door, only to find Susan on the
other side. "Hello!" Susan chirped.
"Come in!" Katherine said, trying her hardest not to sound like she'd
lost
a lot of sleep lately.
Susan stepped through the door, and stopped cold. She had not met Kass
yet, and it was a big shock for her to see a pregnant norn lying on the floor
that she had never seen before. "Uhm," she dryly wheezed, "hello..."
Kass got up best she could, and walked over to Susan. "My name's Kass,
I'm
new.. and your name?"
"Susan.." Susan was able to spit out. "Why-how-who got you pregnant?"
Just then, Karr came into the room. "Kass!" He shouted, and hugged her
best he could. "How are you doing?"
Susan was stunned. "Karr? You and Kass kisspoped?" Susan had always
thought
of Karr as still