Drift shot Rip an angry glare from across the room. The Tsabhua had been annoying her for ages now, shooting questioning glances at her whenever the two crossed paths. Drift wasn't sure *what* she had done to make the Tsabhua look at her like she was a puzzle to solve- but frankly she did not appreciate being stared at.

Even then, Rip did not seem to take the hint, instead taking out a notepad and scribbling something own. Drift groaned, frustrated, really having hoped that Rip would eventually take the hint and just- leave Drift alone. It hadn't seemed like it, though. She sighed, standing up and angrily walking up to where Rip was.

"What's your problem?" She asked the other, a fair amount of hostility in her voice.

Rip looked at her, mouth agape in surprise. "Err- I'm sorry but I'm a little bit confused?"

Drift huffed. "You've been following me around, giving me these strange looks! It's so weird. I don't know what your problem is but-"

Rip had been too stunned too speak at first, but quickly cut drift off "Oh my stars! That's not how I meant that at all." she groaned, pulling out her notepad. "I have ah- been looking into genealogy-"

"And you were doing what taking notes while staring at me? You shouldn't just be turning people into your test subjects for no reason." Drift huffed, clearly still upset.

Rip froze. She hadn't thought about it like that. "Erm well- I was just thinking-"

"I don't think you were thinking." Drift huffed with a roll of her eyes. "Why me anyways."

"Ah, well- So, Kestrel volunteered to let me take a DNA sample the other day- and you know how she has those little curved markings on her? Like you do?"

Drift raised an eyebrow as Rip rambled on. "I don't see what that has to do with you sneaking around staring at me."

Rip awkardly stuttered. "Ah- that's- that's just the thing. According to Kestrel's gene she has a marking called barring- but that usually looks different. Do you know Trust, or Carus?"

Drift nodded- wondering where this was going.

"Well they have barring too, but it looks entirely different on them." Rip turned her notepad around on the right page. "I've been thinking you can Kestrel might share a common ancestor- which would explain why the barring looks so similar on you both."

She fumbled, putting the notepad away again.

"I ah- had meant to ask you to go over your heritage at some point, try to find that common ancestor but-" Rip awkwardly wrung her hands. "I got nervous, I guess. I'm pretty new to this, so most Xunari don't trust me yet."

"Not a good start, acting like a creep." Drift mumbled- although she was already feeling far less offended than she did at first.

Rip flinched. "I am really sorry about that. Truly. I didn't mean it like that I just didn't know how to approach you, really."

Drift rolled her eyes. "I don't know a lot about my family, since they passed when I was pretty young, but I have some time to go trough it right now, I suppose."

Rip seemed shocked at this. "Oh- I mean, I'd love to if you don't mind. It's okay if you don't want to though- I understand if I weirded you out."

Drift shrugged. "I've been trough weirder things." she offered Rip a small smile. "You seem genuine when you said you didn't mean to weird me out- I believe you."

The two made their way over to Rip's office. A small room that had once been a supply closet, that had barely fit a desk and some overflowing file cabinets. The air was stale, which made sense as the room didn't seem to have any vents or windows to open. At least it was clean- Drift couldn't find a single speck of dust in the entire room.

"I think my mom had the same little markings." she said, thinking deeply as she tried to fish up the memories. "My dad didn't- but I think he did have markings like Carus did."

Drift was scribbling down notes as Drift spoke.

"She had a brown coat, just like me, and both of them had white patterns like me, too."

Drift nodded along.

"I can't really remember much about them, or my grandparents... Hmmm... I'm pretty sure neither of them had that barring marking you're talking about."

Rip nodded. "It might've skipped a generation."

Drift sighed. "Well, if you have any more questions feel free to ask- but that's as much as I know. It's been quite a while, to be honest."

Drift didn't seem sad about it, but Rip still felt bad. She awkwardly penned more notes down. "Well, thank you for your time either way. It's been really helpfull."