//------------------------------//
// Chapter 16: Not Built for Naga 
// Story: Silver Spoon Adopts a Naga 
// by Halira 
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Sisstet collapsed down on the floor. His body ached from trying to drape his coils over the toilet in a way that he could finish using the potty without falling in this time. It hadn't been a natural position to be in, or comfortable at all. He put his hands down on the ground and tried to loop the back of his coils just the right way around the toilet's opening, since if his whole body was up there, he couldn't angle it right to not get it all over him instead of where it was supposed to go. He managed to do it, though. 

Lifting his head back up and looking back at the toilet made him pout as he saw he'd still made a mess around the edge with all his effort. It even got all over him. It hardly seemed fair that he tried that hard, and it still didn't work out. Regular potties just weren't built for naga. The potty back home was better designed for him.

Except that wasn't home anymore. His guardians didn't want him.

He shook his head and tried not to think about that. Miss Silver Spoon and Miss Twist had put some towels just inside the door sometime while he had been trying to get himself ready to poop, and he slithered over and grabbed one. After a minute or two of wiping down the floor and the toilet, he smiled as he saw they were all clean. His smile fell when he saw that he'd spread a mess through the bathroom as he slithered. Maybe taking a bath first would have been a better idea. 

The tub was easy enough to plug and turn on. He watched the water rise and turned it off when it was high enough. He placed a hand in the water to test it, and was happy to feel that it was just the right temperature. He'd take a bath and then go back and properly clean up his mess. 

He was just getting ready to pull himself up over into the tub when the bathroom door opened, and Miss Twist looked in, holding some wash clothes in one hoof.

"I'm not coming in. I just remembered we didn't leave you any regular-" she began and stopped as her eyes fell on the yellowish poopy slither trails he'd left as he moved around the bathroom. She traced them with her eyes from between the door to the toilet, and back to the tub and it's side. She took a sniff and dropped the cloths as she covered her nose. "How in Equestria-?"

He just couldn't seem to do anything right with Miss Twist. Every time he thought things might be getting better with her, something happened that would make her mad at him again. 

"I wass going to clean it up! Honesst!" He squeaked. 

She just looked around at the mess again, and after giving him one final look, closed the door. "Silver!" He heard her calling, as her hoofsteps retreated from the door.

There was nothing he could do other than what he already planned to do. He needed to clean up his mess, but first, he needed to clean himself up. He climbed into the tub, hoping he wasn't going to get into any more trouble than he was in already.

He wanted a long soak to make him feel better, but he was afraid if he took too long, they'd come back and see the mess was still there. It would also probably be harder to clean up if he gave it too much time to dry. He just needed to get himself clean and then hurry up and clean the rest of the mess. Maybe if he got it done fast enough, they wouldn't be mad at him. He'd already been kicked out of one home; he didn't want to be kicked out of another. 

The bath was short, just long enough for him to make sure he scrubbed all his scales clean. He pulled the plug and watched the water run down the drain, and as it got low, he made sure that all the nastiness went down the drain with it. With that finished, he climbed out of the tub, fetched a towel, and got to work on cleaning up his mess. 

The door cracked open briefly a few times as he was cleaning, but neither Miss Silver Spoon nor Miss Twist came in or said anything. They left him undisturbed as he scrubbed the floors. It took a while to do, but eventually, the bathroom was spotless. He didn't have a clue what to do with the dirty towels, and ended up leaving them in a pile in the corner. He hoped Miss Silver Spoon and Miss Twist wouldn't mind, since he cleaned everything else up. 

Getting everything clean again had calmed him down. Part of that might be because now he was tired, and part of it might be just being happy he'd fixed his mess. He was still dreading what the adults were going to say, but he was more ready to face them now. 

He slithered to the door and opened it up. Both the mares were out in the hallway, a short distance from the door. 

"I cleaned the bathroom, but I didn't know where to put the towels," he explained. 

Miss Silver Spoon and Twist looked at one another, then back at him. Miss Silver Spoon smiled at him. "We heard you cleaning. We are glad you care about cleaning after yourself, but you didn't need to do all that."

"I disagree," Miss Twist said quickly. "You did what you should have done. It was the responsible thing to do, and I'm glad you did it without being prompted. I'll show you where to put the towels in a few minutes, but first, we all need to go to your new bedroom and have a talk."

Miss Silver Spoon frowned at her wife. "Actually, I think we should talk in the living room, and show him his bedroom after that."

The other pony blinked. "Why? I figured we could take care of both things in one go."

"Because his bedroom should be a safe place that is his, and I don't feel comfortable having serious conversations there until he is settled into it," Miss Silver Spoon explained. "Everycreature needs a safe place that they can go that they feel is theirs. It's something that I had growing up. No matter what was going on between my parents and me, my room was mine, and they wouldn't trespass into it. They wouldn't even let the servants in to clean without my permission. It was my safe place, and I want Sisstet to feel he has a safe place too."

Miss Twist looked at him for a second before looking back at Miss Silver Spoon. "We'll talk about that later, but the living room will be fine for now."

Without any further discussion, the two mares walked back to the living room, only glancing back briefly to make sure he was following. He slithered along after them, hoping that they weren't planning on sending him away. 

Miss Twist gestured to a couch, and he understood he was supposed to take a seat there. The two of them took seats on a sofa directly across from him. Miss Silver Spoon looked sad, which worried him, and she was looking at Miss Twist expectantly. 

"So, we need to talk about you biting," Miss Twist began. 

"I didn't mean too. I-"

She clicked her tongue and raised a hoof. "Hush for right now. You'll get a chance to speak, but hear what we have to say about it first."

He closed his mouth and sat still, gripping his hands in front of him. 

Miss Twist adjusted her glasses before continuing. "We all heard what Flurry Heart said about naga biting. We know that naga are more inclined to bite than other creatures, based on your instincts. We also know that the nagas living up in the Crystal Clutch are learning methods to keep from biting other creatures when they are upset. Silver has told me how smart you are, and if they can learn how not to bite, then you can too."

He wasn't sure if he was allowed to talk yet, so he just nodded. He didn't want to bite anycreature. 

The candymaker took a deep breath and gave him a strained smile. "Both Silver and I understand that you were incredibly upset at the point you bit her, and that it is not normal behavior for you. I still need to stress to you how much you could have hurt her, not because I want to punish you, but because understanding how bad it could have been might help you stop yourself in the future if you are that upset again. Do you understand?"

He wanted to cry again, thinking about what might have happened, but he nodded. 

Miss Twist still had a strained smile. "You were with us as Flurry Heart was explaining the methods the naga use back at her home. I'm not so sure if I'm happy about the idea of giving you some pillow to bite, but we'll discuss that with the caretakers at the Crystal Clutch when we visit and ask how necessary that is to do. For now, if you think you need space, we are going to have a safe word, fibblefabble."

I blocked. "Fibblefabble?"

She nodded back at him. "Fibblebabble. I know it is a weird word, but it is something you wouldn't normally say, so we'll understand instantly what you mean without you having to give further explanation."

Miss Silver Spoon cleared her throat and spoke for the first time in the conversation. "You are only to use that word when you need space and are afraid you might bite. It isn't to be used to just get out of conversations you don't like or be abused in any other way. It is an agreement between you and us that we will respect you telling us you need space, and that you will only use it when you're sure it is needed. If you start using it all the time, it loses its meaning, and we'll feel we can't trust you."

"Do you understand and agree?" Miss Twist asked as she arched an eyebrow. 

"I undersstand and agree, " Sisstet answered back quickly. 

Miss Silver Spoon looked relieved and then looked back towards the bathroom down the hall, and her ears fell. "There's something else we need to ask you. Is using a normal toilet too hard for you? I want an honest answer."

He sunk into his coils and didn't reply. 

"You don't need to feel embarrassed," Miss Silver Spoon said in a hurry. "I only realized today I'd never seen you use the restroom at the school. After hearing that you fell in, and then finding out about your other mess, we need to know if that is something that we need to fix."

He shivered, and couldn't help but feel embarrassed. "It'ss hard. I tried. I tried really hard to do it right."

Miss Silver Spoon sighed. "I was afraid you'd say that."

Miss Twist looked at her. "We don't have the money for a proper remodeling of the bathroom, not with everything else that we need to get for him. We need money for an extra freezer as well, if we are going to be storing meat. I wouldn't be surprised if there's more we need to do."

His teacher closed her eyes and lowered her head. "I know."

He started trembling violently. "Are you going to ssend me away becausse I can't use the potty right?"

Miss Silver Spoon's eyes popped open, and she shook her head. "No! We aren't sending you away."

"Silver, you know what we'll have to do," Miss Twist said slowly. 

"I don't wanna be sent away!" Sisstet wailed. He wanted to hide in the bathroom again.

"We aren't sending you away," Miss Silver Spoon replied firmly. 

"But you are going to have to do the thing you don't want to do to make this work, Silver," Miss Twist said just as firmly. 

Miss Silver Spoon closed her eyes again and covered her face with a hoof. "I know."

He lifted his head just a little. "What do you have'ta do?"

Miss Silver Spoon lowered her hoof and then started up at the ceiling. "I need to go to my parents and ask them to help us."

"Maybe they'll be nicer this time," Miss Twist suggested with a forced smile. "I mean, we did convince them to give their blessing for our marriage eventually."

Miss Silver Spoon gave her wife a flat look. One of those looks she tried to hide when a student said something completely crazy.  "After you gave them an hour-long presentation showing that your candy store had franchise potential, and selling them on the idea of setting up franchises for it."

Miss Twist blushed and looked down. "Bonnie barely agreed to let them. She didn't want there to be multiple shops where we weren't present. It felt like selling out on our quality if there were shops in our name that were doing who knew what in terms of quality. She only agreed for our sake."

"And what do you expect them to demand this time around?" Miss Silver Spoon asked in an exasperated voice. "That's if they don't just reject us immediately because they're stuck-up noble want-to-be's who don't want to be associated with a naga."

"We don't know until we try," the other earth pony replied. "We could try getting a loan from a bank, but that's an extra debt we don't need."

"I'll try. I just am not going to enjoy it, and I'm not looking forward to whatever they demand," Miss Silver Spoon said as she got down from the couch. "Let's show you your new bedroom, and then you can make candy with Twist while I go deal with my parents."

Miss Twist went wide-eyed. "You're going right away?"

His teacher nodded. "I want to get it over with as soon as possible. At least I can find out how bad their reaction will be."

Sisstet had his own worries. Miss Silver Spoon was going to leave him alone with Miss Twist. He wasn't sure if Miss Twist wanted him around. She kept saying things that seemed like she might not like him. 

"First, one last thing," Miss Twist said before Miss Silver Spoon could go any further. "Sisstet, I realize you have a problem with your S's. We're going to help you with that, over time, but for right now, we need to cut out a prominent S word from needing to be said all the time. You don't have to address either of us as Miss while you are here. This isn't school, and although we understand you are respectful, it is easier to try to help you say words properly if we don't overburden you with words that already have long S's. You shouldn't have to be formal at home in any case."

His teacher blinked. "I suppose that's alright. However, I should still be addressed as Miss at school. I had always wanted to help you with your speech to help you fit in more, but never could address it properly while dealing with all the other students. Twist's right about you needing to be less formal at home. It doesn't feel like home if you are addressing us that way constantly. Home should feel more relaxed. I was always kinda annoyed that your guardians had you addressing them as guardian, instead of something more personal. We aren't going to treat you the way they did. Just say Silver Spoon and Twist, unless we are at school."

He wasn't sure if he was ready to do that yet, but he nodded along. Why did it annoy Miss- why did it annoy Silver Spoon that his guardians always had him call them guardian? Wasn't that what they were? Maybe they weren't much of guardians if they sent him away, but he didn't understand how that compared to the two mares. Teachers were supposed to be called Miss or Mister. He'd still do what he was told, though. 

"Let's go show you your room," Twist said as she got down from the couch. He followed them to the room, still trying to figure things out in his head, and still worrying about being left alone with Twist.