~ Shards of Opal ~

"Be gentle with the bunnies. They're babies and can get hurt very easily."

Junior lightly, carefully ran her hand over the back of the baby rabbit that her father was holding out for her to pet. Even though she was gentle with the animal, it didn't take long for the bunny to get scared and start to struggle.

"Alright, that's enough, it's time for the little guy to go home now," Hector said, as he put the bunny back in its cage.

"Bunnies," Junior said sadly, staring at them as them hopped around inside he enclosure.

"We have to be nice to the bunnies," Hector explained. "We don't want them to be scared, so they need to stay in there."

Junior continue to gaze at the rabbit cage with a forlorn expression, and Hector scooped her up into a hug.

The child made a small unhappy sound, but (much to her father's relief) did not start crying. Junior wrapped her little arms around Hector's neck and he cuddled the child.

After several minutes passed, the child spoke up unprompted.

"Mama's mean."

"Oh, why do you say that?" Hector asked. True, Carmilla was not very nice to most people, but she was much softer with Hector and positively doted on their child.

While Junior loved her father, she was also old enough to realize that he was something of a pushover when it came to following his wife's orders, so it followed that the child did not want to admit to him that her mother had forbidden her from touching the bunnies.

"Mama's mean, so I bited her."

"Bit, not bited," Hector automatically corrected her, before his brain caught up with what the child was actually telling him.

~oOo~