Ester's New Look
#12 of Ester Series
Ester's new Look
((Ester, Diana, Jamie, Lillian, June and Jonathon are all my original creations and copyrighted to me. Please do not use them or redistribute this story without consent. This is the Twelfth story in the Ester series and first of the second Ester Series arc. It is Preceded by Things change and followed by Diana's Day Out. Questions and comments adored.))
Ester's New Look
By TerraMGP
"Come on Jamie, why on earth are you defending Dickens? Have you honestly never read the mans work?" Ester let out another exasperated sigh as she tried to sort out this whole debate she and Jamie had been having for the past fifteen minutes. "I'm sorry, but the mans writing is just so poorly paced. He puts in all sorts of irrelevant details one moment and obsesses over them, then neglects to put in important facts the next. Not to mention his overall concepts. Some kind hearted murderer makes a kid his heir and doesn't tell him about it, so he assumes that this crazy lady who just happens to lure him and other little boys into her house to... why am I even explaining this?" For the past couple of weeks Diana seemed to be consistently late when meeting up with the other two for the walk home, leaving the two standing around at the edge of the school hallway just waiting to head out. This was something that Ester had apparently decided was a blessing in disguise since it afforded the two girls a chance to catch up on their discussions and debates, something Diana seemed to have little patience for. Oddly though this had not stopped Ester from speaking her mind at every turn, reveling in a mindset that seemed far more open and outgoing.
"Look I never said that the man was a great writer. Honestly I think the guy is a hack just as much as you do." Jamie grumbled with a hint of annoyance in her voice. "All I am saying that maybe his undeserved fame isn't reason enough to hope he is being repeatedly violated by red hot skewers though the rest of the afterlife. Come on hon its not like you need to get so worked up about it. Plenty of writers are famous and don‘t deserve it." Jamie was decidedly less enthusiastic when it came to these little debate sessions. This week alone the mouse girl had covered the topics of Hellenistic mythology as it related to the rest of Europe, the ethics behind the LHC, her theory on why Square and Enix should have avoided a merger, and even what constituted proper Star Wars canon criteria in her mind. Of course it was nice to have an intelligent friend who often had well reasoned and well thought out opinions on things, especially since Ester had been much more outgoing lately. Jamie had known Ester quite a long time, and over the past weeks Ester had become increasingly enthusiastic, outgoing and talkative about everything, not to mention happier. The only real downside was that Ester was still quite functionally fixed and she still had a tendency to passionately debated over even the smallest and most unimportant things, even when Jamie was for the most part agreeing with her friend. "Look hun I'm glad your feeling good, I really am. Considering how mopey you were last month its nice to see you cheering up. Maybe just this once though we could, well you know, change the topic up a bit?" Jamie cast another frustrated glance at the hallway clock in the hopes that she could somehow stall a bit more and perhaps avoid the one thousandth retelling of her best friends Tolkien rant or some other semi-related topic.
No sooner had Jamie braced herself for the new line of discussion than Diana rounded the corner and quickly grabbed up the mousette in both arms, spinning her around a few times. "God, why the hell are you two standing here after hours? The bell went off over half an hour ago, are you two that in love with this shithole of a school?" Of course that little comment drew some rather nasty looks from Jamie, who already seemed rather frustrated with the Chipette showing up late yet again. Naturally Diana's grin grew with that little realization and before long she had her giggling mousie in a headlock planting a couple of kisses on her forehead. "Seriously Jamie lighten up will ya? Its not that big of a deal." Diana let go of her mousette long enough to grab a very annoyed Jamie around the neck and attempted to give her a small noogie, hitting only air as Jamie deftly pulled her head away and gave the Chipette a wicked glare.
"You have absolutely no idea how much you owe me." Jamie grumbled as the three of them walked out into the school parking lot. "When we get to Ester's house I am getting the Playstation first... and I won't be getting up for snacks no matter how much you two insist your too comfortable or any of this lovey dovey stuff. I am sick and tired of doing the running around when we hang out." She shot the other two girls a small glare to emphasize her point, though it quickly melted as Diana gave her a rather odd attempt at puppy dog eyes. "Ok fine, I'll get the snacks, but I still get the Playstation first, and you both owe me."
"Look Jamie, I know it's a bit sudden we aren't exactly going to Esters house today, at least not right now. It was supposed to be a surprise." Diana's smirked. "Est and I are going to be heading out somewhere else for a while." A rougish smile crossed the chipettes face with that proclamation, one that both girls knew all too well. Diana was trying too hard to be innocent, which could only mean trouble of some sort.
"We are?" Ester gasped. "You should have told me we were going somewhere today, I wouldn't have brought my cards." Ester giggled a bit and looked around a bit half-expecting to see her mother, Ruth or June show up in the parking lot.
The feline eyed Diana for a few moments and then turned her attention to Ester, relieved at least that the smaller girl didn't seem to know what this was all about. "Somewhere... where exactly?" Diana had been behaving herself fairly well for a while now, enough that Jamie was starting to relax about letting her best friend go off with the girl. Still all of the progress in the world was not enough to make up for the massive red flag she was getting from this whole ‘sudden surprise‘ idea of Diana‘s. "You guys do realize that if she's not home when I am, her mom is going to freak right?"
"Don't worry about it Jamie. Its going to be fine. You just head home and relax ok?" Diana chuckled. "Let me worry about Est today. Lord knows you do it often enough. You don't have to keep your eyes on the twerp all the time..." Diana walked a bit closer to Jamie and started to shoo her away playfully "I know your used to it, but that's my job now. Enjoy the night off already"
Ester continued to look around a bit in frustration and then shook her head "Um... Diana, I don't see anyone coming for us... aren't we going someplace?"
Diana's only response was to reach over and grab the small mouse by her hand, dragging her along in the opposite direction from the apartments and waving to Jamie over her shoulder. As the two girls walked away Diana could distinctly hear the sound of Jamie's phone being turned on and dialed up, the chippette only chuckling to herself and hugging the mousie harder.
It didn't exactly seem right to Ester leaving Jamie high and dry after the two of them waited so patiently for Diana to show up. She got a strange knot in the pit of her stomach watching Jamie walk back towards the apartment complex knowing deep down that they would be exchanging words about this later. The fact that Diana herself didn't even seem as bothered only made things worse in a way, but at the same time Ester was sure that Diana had good reason for her little last minute surprise. "So... where are we going exactly? I don't need to call mommy or anything do I? I mean... I know she's been more willing to let us go out together the past couple of months but... I don't want to.." Ester reached down for her jacket pocket, fumbling around for the old Trackphone her mother had given her for emergency and semi emergency use only. With considerable effort she finally managed to get the phone out and hold the button almost long enough to spring the phone to life before the chipette unceremoniously yanked the small green cellphone from her lovers paws and shoved it away in one of those big jacket pockets, well out of Esters Reach.
Naturally the mouse girl struggled to move around and grab the phone for a few moments, much to Diana's amusement. She let Ester get her paws closer to the phone before pushing them away playfully with only the slightest hint of effort. "Come on now Est, you really think you can get this phone away from me? This time you just have to sit back and enjoy the ride." Naturally that drew a lovely whimper from the Mousette, not to mention that nervous look of utter dread. "Now come on if we don't hurry up your mom might start to worry where you are, don't want to get in trouble do you?" Diana just let out another chuckle and shook her head reveling in the girls discomfort.
The two girls continued to walk for what seemed another hour though several slowly worsening neighborhoods and past an abandoned papermill that rested on the end of a small river. By this time the small mouse girl with her large backpack was starting to get quite tired and felt a growing nervousness about the unfamiliar terrain. "Diana are you sure that we are going the right way? This is really out of the way..." Diana's response to her loves concerns was simply turning from the sidewalk and starting her way though the papermills parking lot and heading towards the small wooded area nearby. Naturally the mousette was reluctant to move away from the last lifeline open to her in case things went wrong. Even though it was Diana leading her Ester found the prospect of being unable to get herself home rather frightening, and she knew if Diana was heading into the woods then she would be totally unable to find her way back. It was not until Ester snapped out of her fears about getting lost and looked up that she noticed Diana already standing at the other end of the parking lot, looking both amused and a bit frustrated. "W-wait up Diana!" Ester finally yelled out, dashing across the vacant patch of asphalt with a comically awkward gate. By the time Ester managed to catch up with Diana, she was panning and gasping hard for air, struggling against the laughter that slowly began to build between the two of them.
"Silly mousie, is it really that hard to keep up?" Diana sighed before turning back to the woods and starting to pick her way though the trees and underbrush, stopping occasionally to grab hold of her love and pull the mousette over the wall of collapsed cement that had once been a pipeline feeding into the nearly-dry riverbed. "Come on now, We don't have that far you big baby. Just hurry up a bit." That said Diana pulled herself up to onto the opposite bank and quickly started off though the trees again before the poor mouse had a chance to catch her breath. For Diana this confusion was almost as intoxicating as the excitement of what she knew was to come. Once Ester had caught her breath and Diana was sure that they would not be dealing with an asthma attack from the small mouse she began to push her forward once more, leading Ester though another patch of woods and onto a small dirt road that seemed like a misplaced gash compared to the rest of the cities urban environment.
"D-diana where are we?" Ester stammered though her mostly controlled breathing, looking out at one lone house that rested across the dirt road. Nothing else was really apparent to either side, so she naturally focused her attention on the on run down old place she could see. The whole building could use quite a bit of work, shingles were falling off of the roof and the front porch had a few boards that were obviously rotting out where they rested. In all honesty she had to admit the building was a bit frightening, and more than a little disconcerting. "S-so are we almost to... wherever we are going yet?" Ester finally asked only to be pulled forwards and led across the dusty road right up to the steps of the lonely little house.
"We're going here Est..." Diana said with a strange mix of pride and frustration in her voice as she led the girl up the stairs and onto the warped and cracked porch boards, slowly pushing open the half-painted door. "We spend so much time at your house, I figured it was only fair that I take you to mine."
"S-so this is your house?" she asked soflty. Her first impulse was to ask Diana why the place looked so run down, but she quickly thought better of it. For all she knew it might be better inside, and besides it was a chance to see where her girlfriend lived. The small mouse allowed herself to be led along the porch and into the front door keeping her optimism high as she could. Upon entering the house, Ester looked around at the modest living room curiously for a few moments. It was surprisingly clean in spite of the obviously dilapidated appearance on the outside. The few stray loose floorboards and cigarette holes in the couch fabric were noticeable yet they did not seem to diminish the comfortable feeling she got in a place like this. Even the lingering scent of stale cigarette smoke didn‘t seem to bother her as much as it should, or might have if they had been anywhere else. "Its... nice, I suppose." She mumbled softly before setting her backpack down and taking a couple of steps back into the larger girl. She wanted to be nice but still it made her at least a bit nervous, and the living conditions did look admittedly run down and shabby. "A-are you sure its ok for me to be here? I mean its out of the way, and Mommy doesn't know... besides your parents might..."
Diana went quiet for a few moments at the mention of her parents. For a split second the young girl went a bit blank and felt her hands begin to shake soflty, just enough for her to be painfully aware of it. She was at a total loss for what she could say, simply looking at Ester longingly and trying hard to mask her own dread towards the topic. Suddenly the Chipette pushed her lips hard against Esters and wrapped her arms around the smaller girl sealing her into a passionate kiss. Naturally it did not take too much for that simple kiss to strike any further thoughts from the Mousettes mind. "Hope you don't mind cuddling to basic TV for a change." she laughed "I know you're used to those obscure little cooking and smashing things shows you always watch, but I'm hoping that I can make up for some bad Simpson's reruns." Diana switched on the TV, just as King of the Hill was coming on. She let out a sigh and reached for the remote once more before Ester stopped her with a gentle kiss." No no its ok, we can watch this. I got used to it over at aunt Ruths." The two girls simply sat and watched, cuddling to the point that they became oblivious to anything else in the world.
"Hay Dee, Work let me off early for once. I managed to scrounge up some... oh my god who is this?"
Ester jolted and quickly turned to the front door, seeing a slight but somewhat athletic young man standing there next to the old coat rack. his hair cut short and spiked, the tips dyed a darker brown that gave it a sense of style that the haircut would have otherwise lacked. The mousette took this man in for a second before looking back at Diana and fighting another whimper. "D-diana... who is.." She wasn't expecting to see anyone here at the moment, and it was clearly obvious this young man was not Diana's father. She was even more surprised when the young man quickly moved over to and wrapped his arms around the small mouse, giving her a sudden hug.
"So this is the Ester you keep telling me about? God why didn't you tell me she was going to be here today. I would have got you something better than some KFC." Jonathon smiled ear to ear and tussled the mouse girls hair a bit before turning to his little sister. "You weren't lying about how cute she was, that's for sure. I love the whole mini-Daria thing she has going on." without a hint of concern for the small girls lack of comfort, or his own sisters amusement, Jonathon sat down on the couch next to Ester and snatched up the bucket of chicken he had brought along with him, placing it on their rough-edged coffee old coffee table. "I'm Jonathon by the way, though I am sure Dee has already told you all about me. She keeps holding stuff back about you though. Like for example, why my kid sisters first girlfriend hasn't come over to visit before now." Jonathon patted the nervous mouse girl on the arm again and then leaned back, looking at Diana with a small wink that he knew would only heighten the two girls joint nervousness.
It was quite rare for her to show it in most situations, but right now Diana felt about as nervous as she imagined was possible. As quickly as she could the chipette pulled her love into a sudden kiss and just held it hard, stunning the poor mouse and drawing a long low whistle from her brother. "Ah... sorry about that Jonathon... hard for me to keep my hands off this cutie some times you know? Now then about that dinner." Diana reached over and grabbed a drumstick, confident in the little smoke screen she had thrown up. By now Ester would be too stunned to ask much or say anything and knowing her brother he would be more focused on the stunned little cutie she had now left sitting there between them. It wasn't the nicest thing she could have done for Ester, or the most graceful solution to her own problem, but at least Diana had managed to distract the other two from her own small bout of semi-nervousness.
Thankfully the distraction worked well, as Jonathon stood and grabbed the small mouse by both hands, quickly pulling her up and grinning warmly. "Ok squirt, let me get a look at you huh?" he asked watching Ester stand there and shaking his head as she cowered. Diana wasn't lying about how shy this girl was, that much was quite clear already. Now come on darling, take a quick spin. I want to take some notes." Jonathon watched as Ester nervously began to do a shuffling little turn around, one that the young man found absolutely adorable. As soon as she was facing him again Jonathon crouched down and took Esters face in hand, looking her over a bit. "Well right off the bat I will say again I love the whole assistant librarian thing you have going on, but it still doesn't seem to fit you just right... Is this how you normally dress Ester or did Diana make you dress up special before coming here?"
Ester shook her head to the question. Jonathon was at once so strange and so familiar that the mousette found herself utterly relaxed and at ease around him even when she had no idea what he might do next. "S-so your Diana's brother..." she asked rather dumbly while standing there with hands folded in front of her skirt. It was rather odd standing there with Diana's brother looking her over with such a critical eye, going over her tawny fur with split ends and the smattering of darker ‘freckled' fur spots running up from the black socks and out of place Doc Martins, looking up to her dark green brown skit with the frayed edges. From there she saw him grabbing the bottom of her top and rubbing the rather cheap fabric between thumb and forefinger, and then finally grabbing the long tight braid of hair that ran its way from her head down to the base of Esters knees.
"Hmmm, well first thing is first here. Your hair and fur both have a lot of split ends... and your hair is oddly dry... I don't know how considering you got it this long but I am going to chalk that up to really good genes in that department. I think I have a conditioner that will take care of that, I‘ll put a bottle of it in your backpack" Jonathon just smirked and looked over the simple chord Ester used to hold her hair together at the base, tugging at it a little bit and looking over to Diana. "You know I think your little sweetheart here needs something though Dee. Something is defiantly missing from this whole look she's got going... Don't you think?" he started to pace around the blushing girl a few times with an odd determination, scratching his chin and looking down at her blushing face, making sure she could not look away.
"I don't know big bro, I'm sure that there is something." Diana laughed "Then again when I look at her it gets kind of hard to think of specifics like that. Especially when she's all shy like this." Diana smirked a little at her brother and then looked at Ester once more licking her lips in amusement.
"Oh Darling" Jonathon laughed as he shot Ester a wink "don't be bashful, you know that I'm not going to hurt you right? I mean come on you think Dee would ever let me hear the end of it if I did?" Jonathon smirked at Ester one last time before letting her chin go and walking slowly into the kitchen much to the confusion of his sister and her little love. Several minutes and quite a bit of rummaging later the chipmunk came back into the living room holding an industrial looking white tube and colorful plastic smock. "Ok girls, everyone into the Kitchen. Looks like I have some work to do."
"Work? What kind of work exactly?" Ester asked as she looked at the smock and shook her head a bit. "Diana what exactly is he talking about? You didn‘t mention anything about work... or anything else." Then again She had not mentioned where they were going that day either, or for that matter the fact that she had a brother.
"You are silly you know that Est? I thought it might be fun for us to try something new together, well new to you at least. After all you are usually the one that ends up showing me all sorts of new things or making me try something out." Diana grinned mischievously and shook her head "I just kind of figured it would be nice to be the one doing the sharing for a change... and since I already have my own private stylist so to speak..." Diana looked up at her big brother and gave him an affectionate little shove before pulling her small girlfriend closer.
"You really didn't tell her about my little master plan Dee? For shame! You see Ester my dear little sister here has had this planned for a while. She even made me get some green dye because she thinks its your color. Seeing you like this I would be included to agree" Jonathon just smirked a bit and tussled the small girls hair. "Though if she had told me ahead of time that you were coming today, I could have picked up a few other colors to pick from... I really hate to pidgeonhole people. Its important for people to have control over how they look, one of the most basic forms of self expression."
This was all news to Ester. She looked at the tube and then past Jonathon into the kitchen where two chairs sat, a table covered in news paper resting right behind them with a couple of paper bowls on them. "So... so you think I should get my hair dyed? I... I donno Diana. Isn't that stuff dangerous? I thought that prolonged exposure could cause scalp damage, especially at the follicles. I really don't want to lose all my hair or anything." Moments after she said this Ester took another look between Diana and Jonathon, instantly regretting the neurotic analysis of the situation. "S-sorry I didn't mean... I mean on you guys its fine I'm sure... I.. Sorry."
Both siblings busted out laughing at this, taking quite a while to recover their breath. "Est.... seriously." Diana finally managed to cough out. "Do you really think I would do it if it was that big a deal? Trust me Mousie its totally safe. I have been doing this for years without any ill effects. I promise, you know I would never let you do anything to hurt you right? I could never see you hurt, not now and not ever." she smiled and moved a hand to the blushing mousette's face. Diana grinned a bit and leaned in a bit closer murring into her ear. "Well, unless it was a romantic evening, just the two of us." She murred again and leaned back looking into the blushing mosues face. "Look if it helps at all sweetheart I will go first, how about that? That way you will see how safe it is for yourself, and it will all be ok. That is, if you want to do it. Its up to you really."
Ester nodded a bit. "Well... I suppose it would be ok... I mean if you do it that often and your ok. Besides I do think it would be interesting, you know as a new experience." She cast a quick glance around the kitchen, catching sight of a clock. "Oh my gosh, its so late. Diana I need my phone. I really have to call Momma" She managed to get her paw into the pocket right before Diana grabbed it.
"Oh no you don't mousie, no snatching things out of my pocket without asking first. Now you'll just have to wait longer before you get to make a call won't you?" The Chipette chuckled to herself and then gave Ester a small kiss on the cheek. "Don't worry it doesn't take too long. You can watch Jonathon do my hair, and then you can make your decision after. That sound like a good deal?" Diana took her leather jacket off and then pulled the phone out of it, slipping it into her pocket. "This is to make sure you behave sweetie." Diana smirked "Ok big bro, go ahead and start this off. Don't get those colors confused though. You remember last time you grabbed the blonde by mistake..." She and Jonathon both shared a little laugh about this, and then the process began.
Ester sat and watched intently as Jonathon slowly ran the coloring tool though his sisters redbrown hair right though the old fading stripe. It was an admittedly fascinating to see how it went though lie a paintbrush, slowly filling in each little gap in the Dye and leaving the strands look about as natural as they could be considering the impossible coloration being run though it. Before too long Jonathon stepped back from his work and let a small grin pass his lips, obviously content with what he saw in front of him as much as Ester. "Wow... t-that's all there is to it? Really? That didn't seem too bad at all" Ester squeeked happily. "I.... I think I would like to try that actually. I mean if you still want to. It looks kind of interesting." Even she was shocked by what she was saying. Not too long ago she would have been obsessing over every potential danger, and perhaps even insisting that Diana stop using the dye herself in case it was dangerous. But seeing Diana sit through that so easily made it all so much simpler and safer. Worse come to worse, she knew that it would be easy enough to let the dye fade away.
Hearing that made Diana feel thrilled. No sooner had Jonathon finished combing the last bit of color into her own hair than she sprang up and thrust one hand out from under the smock, grabbing on to Ester's. "See how easy it is sweetheart? Come on, just give it a shot." She smiled as her little love and helped usher Ester into the chair, picking up the other smock and fastening it around Esters neck. "There you go sweetie, all set. Sure you are ready for this? I mean you don't have to if you don't want. Just make sure that you're sure about this ok?"
"You don't have to worry. If you went though it ok, then it must be fine. I mean what's the worst that could happen? Oh no... I just pulled a Han Solo didn't I?" she folded her ears down and then bit on her lip, giggling nervously. For Ester there was an odd level of confidence about this whole thing, one that she had not really exhibited before. The mouse girl sat up straight and let a small smile cross her lips, just looking at Diana affectionately. "Just... don't get too mad if mommy grounds me for a while because of this ok? I don't know how she would react to something like this and she might get mad."
Jonathon simply shook his head and gave Ester a pat on hers. "Don't worry about it, I promise if she's mad I'll take the blame. Dee already knows how persuasive I can be about things like this" he finished securing the smock around Esters neck and started to work at the strands which held the base of her braid in place. "Now then just relax and lean back ok? This will be easy enough. I'm going to undo the braid, and dye a simple stripe in that should go down one of the two strands once we braid it back up... that sound ok?" The small girl nodded in understanding just as he was about to begin, something he should have predicted in hind sight. "I said hold still. You have to concentrate a bit on that part Ester or it won't go in evenly. Its like painting a picture, if the canvas is moving around you can't make a straight line." Jonathon took a few more moments to make sure she was indeed sitting still before putting the comb back into her hair and running it slowly down the long thin strands. "You know you're lucky that you're Diana's girlfriend or else I would be charging you quite a bit for this little task. Seriously girl how do you function with this much hair? It must take you a whole day to bath."
Ester was about to nod, but thought better of it and simply giggled a bit. "Well yeah, that's why I don't get a chance to wash my fur really well. See when I was little Mommy said she thought I looked really cute with long hair, and I told her that I was going to have the longest hair I could and be as cute as I could. From there it just kind of stuck. Kind of like when I started dressing like Daria. I really liked the show, and even when Mommy said I was too young it was the one show she let me watch anyways. Then I said I wanted to look like Daria and that stuck too." She could feel the comb starting to run though her hair, and began to wonder if this would be one of those things that stuck too. After all it seemed that Jonathon was going to be a regular fixture in her life from now on, as would the rest of Diana‘s family most likely. Ester began to doubt that she would be able to avoid offers to get ‘touch ups' on her hair, and it would be rude to say no.
"Well I for one think it fits you, though honestly I need to get you some new product to wash with. Trust me your scalp will thank me for it." Jonathon ran his figners though some of the hair once again to get a feel for just how damaged it was before slipping his paw back under the long chestnut brown mane to add some support and keep things from clumping together. "Really cutie I think that its really refreshing though. Most girls who come into the salon want to look like whoever is famous that week. Leave it to my kid sis finding a girl who actually knows how to stand out. Then again Dee is one in a million herself huh, so I guess it only figures."
Diana quickly turned around before the others could see the blush that had overtaken her cheeks. It was true, she loved that Ester didn't follow anyone else's drum. For that matter Diana wasn't even sure that Ester followed a beat of any sort. She was just Ester, just like Jonathon was just Jonathon. The fact that both of the important people in her life were now getting along so well did make her smile though. It felt so good knowing that there was no tension, no apprehension, no jealousy. All of her fears about the two fighting or not getting along quickly going away. It was like they had known each other for years. "And here I thought you guys weren‘t going to get along. You better be careful not to get too chummy Jonathon, or I may end up dragging Est over here a lot more."
It took about an hour and a half for Jonathon to finish running the stripe of color though the front of Ester‘s hair and down half of the back so that once it was done, he could braid the forest-green strands in with her own chestnut ones. "You know I really am glad you finally brought this cutie over Dee. You keep holding stuff back from everyone, ever since you got into high school. Its nice to see you actually relaxing again for a change. Maybe now I won‘t have to badger you for details when you come back from a date?" The young man laughed again and made sure Ester‘s hair was separated before walking around and rubbing his chin. He looked over his work with all the criticsm and objectivity of a skilled painter, before yanking off the gloves and giving the small mouse a pat on the part of her hair that had no dye. "There ya go, just let that sit for a while and you can get it braided back up. Now why don‘t you two go ahead and watch a movie or some TV while I try to figure out what the hell we have without meat in it." he laughed glairing at Diana with that last little jab.
Diana shook her head and pulled the phone out of her pocket. "Here you go ,mousie, you should probably check in with your mom soon. I told her you would be checking in a while ago when we talked about this yesterday." She placed the phone in Esters hand and gave another roguish smile. "What, didn't I mention that I told her you were coming over to my house today? Granted the hair might be a surprise, but it won't be too bad now will it? After all your going to look so cute, I doubt she will be able to stay mad about anything." Before her girlfriend could say anything else Diana pulled the small mouse into a hard kiss, being careful not to mess up the dye as it set.
"You two really are too much, you know that Dee?" Jonathon laughed as he began to dispose of the materials and clean up a few stray spots of dye. "Just keep the cuddling PG you two. I‘ll have some food for Ester in a bit, and then I can drive her home. Oh Dee" Jonathon called out from the kitchen. "I forgot to tell you, mom's coming home this week. You should probably clean up your room a bit. You know how she can get."
The young Chipette froze in place, tightening her grip on Esters arm. The mouse looked at her feeling the concern welling up in her, and even began to tug hard on the distant and unresponsive cipette, but to no real avail. "Yeah... yeah I can clean up" Diana said softly, more to herself than anyone else. "Come on Est, lets go watch a movie."
"I understand Ester, but that still does not mean it is an acceptable excuse. Well from now on Diana is not allowed to touch your phone unless its an emergency then, I need to know where you are." Lillian let out another soft sigh and once again switched hands with the phone in an attempt to belated her own nervous anticipation. This was really turning into a major headache all around, especially considering how apprehensive she had been in the first place. It was the first time Ester had really, truly gone out on her own, and more than that Lillian had been unable to meet Diana's parents before hand. Of course Diana had promised adult supervision in order to seal the deal on taking Ester out someplace so Lillian knew rationally that her girl should be safe. That was, of course, assuming Diana was still being a team player on this one. It only made matters worse that Ester neglected to check in until she was just about to leave. Her daughter claimed it was because Diana took her Cell phone, but Lillian had a hard time believing that. She had a hard time believing several things about this situation. "All right I suppose I will see you soon then, but we are going to have a talk about this when you get home. When I say you need to check in if you go some place, that means you need to check in, even if you think I don't know." She held off on the continued lecture for the time being and reached over for her glass of wine, taking yet another long sip as the feline struggled to calm her nerves.
Once she was sufficiently settled Lillian tapped the flashed over and inadvertently released a moderately loud groan of exasperation right into the ear peace. "You know June I don't know what I am going to do with that girl. It was bad enough when I had to worry about other people doing things to her at school, but my god ever since Diana came into her life I don't know what my little baby is doing anymore. Is it really that much trouble to call in and let me know she's ok? It's only a few minutes every hour, not that much time. I'm telling you I am almost at the point of just grounding her until she can behave more responsibly." Coming from a woman who had never found reason to so much as swat her daughter on the rump, this was quite a big proclamation. Still Lillian knew that she could not lose control of this situation, especially at such a critical point in Ester's life. These were the years where children had a tendancy to rebel and try things that were dangerous and harmful just to spite their parents. Up until now the young mother had been fairly confident that her child was firmly rooted in what was right and wrong, and that she had all of the tools she would need in life. But now, with Diana in the picture, it seemed that all of her hard work was unraveling.
"Lil? Hay lil can you hear me?" June was starting to get frustrated with her friend spacing out so often. For the past two hours Lillian had kept her hostage on the phone so that she could voice all of her problems and concerns with this little date and the myraid negative scenarios it could spawn. Thankfully June had managed to get Lil past her worries that someone else might come along and rape or kidnap the two girls, or that they would get hit by a car. It almost made her worry just what Ruth was going to be like when they had a child of their own, especially since Lillian was by far the more rational than Ruth. "So I take it that the conversation with Ester didn't go well huh? Did she explain why she didn't call you and check in to the point where you aren't going to worry anymore?" June did her best to fight back a sigh of frustration, quickly realizing that all her hard work to calk Lillian down had just gone right out the window.
Lillian took another sip of wine and closed her eyes tightly. "Yes... I suppose... well yes and no. She knows better than to let Diana get her to misbehave like that though, she knows it. Diana took her phone, and didn't even tell Ester that I knew about all this, and she didn't even call me to say what was going on. As far as she knew I was at home worrying and she was sitting there.... What the hell did I do wrong June? Where did I screw everything up? She knows better than this. She knows I worry, she knows that I supersede Diana, and frankly if she didn't know that I knew and still went without a single call to ask permission I am starting to wonder if I can be as lax with her as I have been." Something deep down in Lillian's mind a small voice was telling her that it was probably best to lock the mouse up and throw away the key until she turned twenty one. Sure that might make her daughter upset, but at least Lillian could be sure then that Ester was safe and sound instead of worrying about the hundreds of hypothetical scenarios where her little girl would get hurt, or worse.
"You didn‘t do anything wrong Lil. If you really think she is taking this too casually, and from the sounds of it you do since we are right back to square one with you flipping out, then talk to her about the situation when she gets home. But first you are going to take a deep breath, calm down and get your objectivity back. This isn‘t healthy for you or her." June took her own advice and took half a second to let the frustration of dealing with a frantic Lillian once more bleed off before she continued. "Look Lil, honestly you can't expect to control every facet of her life. You should know that. Ester needs to learn how to cope with the world around her now, while she is still young. I'm not saying that it was right to avoid calling you, but that doesn't honestly is it going to make anything better if you crack down on her that hard for her first genuine transgression?" The wine and worry may have clouded Lillian's judgment a bit, but June knew the woman well enough to understand how much of that was really Lillian. "Lil you have to promise me that when she gets home you are not going to freak out or over react ok? Trust me if you do you are going to hate yourself for it. Ester is a good girl, and Diana has shown she really does care about her. Just don't make anything worse ok?."
Lillian was about to retort when she noticed the door knob turning, leaning back a bit and putting the glass down. "Look June, I have to call you back." Lillian dipped down the last of her wine and watched as the nervous little mouse slowly pushed the door open, peeking her head in slowly. Lil could see all to clearly just how guilty her little girl was, which unfortunately did little to offset her fears.
Ester really did not want to walk though that door. It was all she could do to push it open a crack and peek her head in carefully, sure not to let the stripe of green show just yet. She knew how bad it was going to be after being so neglectful, one look at her mother assured her of that. "Mommy... I... I'm home. I am so sorry I didn't check in. I promise it will never happen again, not ever."
"Come in all the way, and shut the door" Lillian said firmly. Lillians eyes narrowed as Ester edged into the apartment, sticking close to the wall as closed the door. It didn't take a genius to figure out the girl was hiding something, the question was, what? Lillian began to stroke her chin and looked harder, taking surprisingly long to put what she saw into words. "Ester, did you dye your hair?" She was up and craning her neck almost instantly. At first it seemed as if she might be seeing things, but once the initial effects of cognitive dissonance wore off it became clear that Ester had indeed gotten a stripe that went from one small point of her hair down an entire strand of her braid, permeating even to the tips. "Young lady, I want an explanation. Why did you get your hair dyed without asking my permission first? Who did this?" She picked up the braid and began turning it over a few times, noting that each strand caught the light with the same dark green sheen, setting off the chestnut hues like some slightly chromatic tree.
"It... well it was Diana's brother Mommy, he's a hair dresser. Diana gets hers done all of the time, and she thought I might look nice with this, so I kind of thought I should give it a try." The small mouse swallowed hard. She could feel the weight of her mothers eyes resting upon her like a huge slab of iron. Both Jonathon and Diana had offered many times that night to take the burden of blame should Lillian be angry, but Ester refused to deflect her mothers rage at anyone else. The fault rested squarely on her shoulders, and she would accept any consequences of her actions. Besides, she didn't like to think of either of them suffering though what she would have to anyways.
In spite of her best efforts Lillian found it difficult to reign in her anger at the situation. Not calling in for hours was one thing, but for some reason seeing her child standing there with her hair dyed made it feel as if Ester was attempting to hide it rather than simply falling victim to Diana's usual brand of mischief. "So Diana's brother decided that he would simply dye your hair, and that you had no real need to ask your mother? Ester even if you somehow thought that blowing off your check-ins was ok, which it was not, this is something big. You don't know if any of your AP teachers will have problems with this kind of thing, or if there is some issue in the school dress code. For all you know Diana simply ignores the rules and gets detention for it once in a while. Didn't anyone there at least think to call me before you started something like this? What did Diana's parents have to say?"
"Well..." Ester swallowed hard and looked down at her feet again, shuffling softly for a few moments. "Mommy I, well I didn't meet them. Diana's brother said that their mom was coming home this weekend I think, or some time soon, but neither of them talked about her otherwise. They didn't say anything about her dad."
"So let me see if I understand Ester. You went to Diana's house without calling me. As far as you knew I would have no idea where you were and would be sitting at home worrying for hours before you called. Diana dragged you off somewhere even you did not know about, and when you found out it was her house you did not call me. The only adult supervision was her big brother, whom I have yet to meet. Then to top it off you went ahead and got your hair dyed again without asking permission?" Every mother has fears, worries and concerns. Sooner or later they all have to face their child growing up even if it means rebellion or defiance. Its what they all work for, even if deep down they don't want it. That was what Lillian had to face now, the hard times when her daughter might lose her way in life and end up getting into trouble. "First, I want to make this absolutely clear to you. You will not be going out for at least a week. No going to the game shop, or the store, or anywhere else. You come home after school, you come into the house, and you ask before anyone comes over. You are grounded, and next time it will be worse." It killed her seeing how much shock and pain that put on Ester's face. She hated this part of being a mother, but sometimes a woman had to set limits for her children. "Second you check in. I don't care if Diana tells you its some surprise, or if Jamie wants to go out. I don't care if the spirits of Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson come back from the dead to give advice to aspiring writers. You call once an hour, every hour until further notice. You keep your cell charged up and if it somehow dies or gets broken you call me from a pay phone the second you find out. Am I clear young lady?" The immense Ire welled up in her for another moment, and then slowly started to die down, looking at her poor scared child sitting there trying so hard not to cry. It killed her deep inside to see that, even if it was for the best.
Ester stood still for a long moment, taking it all in. The small mouse could feel tears streaming down her cheeks, running along her muzzle as they fell slowly to the floor. She was utterly transfixed in fear, she could never remember seeing her mother so furious at her, so furious at something she had done. "Mommy I'm really sorry." Ester Choked though a stream of sobs. "I really called as soon as I could, and when Diana told me that you knew I was going there I figured you knew who was going to be there to watch us." She realized that she had done something wrong, after all her mother wouldn't yell if she didn't. Ester was racking her brain trying to find some way, some thing she could have done things differently to make it better. The mousette ran the days events in her head over and over again, each point where it seemed she could have done things differently punctuated, each one forcing a fresh sob from her.
A flash of realization hit Lillian at that moment, looking down at her little girl with tears forming in her eyes. The young mother was so upset. Upset at Diana for making her daugter misbehave, if only in spirit. Upset at Ester for not behaving responsibly. Most of all though Lillian was upset at herself, because she finally realized that her little girl was indeed growing up, finally learning to do things on her own, and needing help from her mommy less and less. That was what really killed her most, that her child was no longer a little girl. Lillian took a few unconscious steps backwards, barely realizing when her knees hit the edge of the couch sending her body down into the overstuffed cusions like a rag doll. "Ester... I...." The words wouldn't come. All that worry, all that fear. Every thought of her daughter getting maimed or killed or abused had all welled up and flooded out in one solid burst of parental anger. Lillian began to go over those events as well, and now that her initial terrors had subsided she realized just how hard she was being on the poor girl, how strict she was really being all because she could not stop her own worry. It took a few moments for her to regain any form of composure. When she did the young woman held out her arms and just looked at her child, motioning to the small mouse who walked slowly towards her mother and into Lillians waiting arms. "Sweetheart I am sorry. It wasn't right for mommy to get that mad at you. Its just hard for me to remember that you are a young adult now. I look at you and I still see that scared little bundle of nerves I brought home from the orphanage, and when I don't hear from you, even when I know where you are going, its just..." quickly Ester was brought from the floor to her mothers lap, Lillian slowly running a hand over her hair and pushing her face to Ester's. "Sweetheart I have always worried about you. When I home schooled you it was easy, You knew not to go into the kitchen, and if you had any problems Mrs. Lain is right upstairs. Then you started going to this school and I had to worry about you walking across busy streets and dealing with bullies. It took a while to get used to that, and then before I knew it you were going off with your new girlfriend afterwards and I just, I felt like it was getting harder to keep you safe, and it is."
Ester shook her head a bit and latched on even tighter to the woman's body. "I am sorry again Mommy. I can stop with school if it makes you that upset and worried. I would probably finish faster with home school anyways right?" She offered a big bright smile and a soft kiss on Lillian's cheek, trying to comfort the sobbing woman even as she worked though her own tears. "Its not fair for me to make you scared or upset just because I am out where you can't reach me. I know you have a lot of things to worry about."
The smile grew on Lillian's face as she adjusted the small girl in her lap, pulling her around so she could look at her hair and what had been done. "No, no I don't want that. Ester if you didn't have to grow up, I will admit part of me would be the happiest woman in the world. You're the little light that makes my life complete. If I didn't have you to hold I don't know what I would do. But you will grow up. You will grow up and leave the house. There is nothing I can do to stop it. But I can make sure you grow up to be a happy and well adjusted young woman, which means that you should still go to school, and go out with Diana and live your life." Lillian's fingers ran over the brad a few times as she burned this image, this feeling into her mind. "It was not right of me to yell at you Ester, and I should not have punished you like I did. You'll always be my baby, no matter how big you get, but if I keep treating you like one it's only going to cause you problems later in life. Mommy loves you Ester, so much more than she could possibly say." With that the feline woman pulled Ester closer and just started to lick along her face softly, grooming her as she did when Ester was little. "Now that does not mean you get off scott free. I expect a call any time you are going some place, or if any problems come up. And from now on the phone goes on as soon as you leave school allright? I need to know that I can reach you in case there is an emergency. If Diana tries pulling that again you make sure you tell her ok?"
Ester wiped away a few tears and giggled as her mother slowly groomed her fur. It was quite a bit to take in, the prospect of becoming a grown up, and having so much responsibility at once. It was even a bit frightening to think about losing her mother as a safety net. ‘Allright Mommy I can try. I know your just worried about me. I'm still sorry I made you so upset."
The mouse was silenced with a finger to her lips and a soft kiss to the forehead "No need to be sorry dear. Just remember the rules for next time, ok? I am very proud of you Ester, you know that? I've always been worried you wouldn't be able to get along well socially like this, sometimes people can be mean. You are handling yourself very very well." The two shared another loving embrace as Lillian slowly stroked the girls back, looking down and smiling a bit. "You know," she laughed soflty "that dye job looks rather nice on you sweetheart."