Disclaimers: All characters belong to rightful owners.
Story concieved by Lee.


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"Hai hai... so am I..." If it hadn't, she could imagine herself wallowing in the cold, yet familiar pool of self-loathing and isolation, playing a would be requiem for herself on the piano. Things would be normal. But that would have been if things had ended differently. Leaning her head slight against him, she sighed happily.

Mousy gently moved from his perch on Lemy's shoulder, to the top of his head, looking down at his unusally happy owner, but not minding the unusual behavior.

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Lem giggled as Mousy crawled up into his hair and, in a rather futile gesture, he tried to roll his eyes so as to glance to the small creature. Still, all this playfullness died immediately as a familiar voice came to his ears and, the smile dying upon his lips, he hunched back in on himself.

"O-oh... Ma-master... Master Barano!" He exclaimed in a voice which was an odd mix of happiness to see his dear pimp as well as a bit of shame at being caught in such a situation, even if nothing much was happening. His hand immediately travelling so as to toy with a curl of his hair, he inclined his head and, not meeting Sui's glance, he scuffed his shoe into the ground. "I... I'm... that... that is... I..."

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Nevan, meanwhile, merely stood and watched this scene. Naturally, he didn't know what was going on, so he chose, instead, to merely observe for the moment.

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Sasurai stopped smiling. The presence of two new others immediately placed her guard, which had been so well loosened before, to come back up. Mousy, looking around at the newcomers and sensing his onwer's usual pattern of behavior come back, jumped onto Sasurai and into her pocket. Sasurai eyes were downcast and her own hunch returned, though she was surprised to hear the words "Master" and the name "Barano".

"Lemy-san... da-dare... who-who..." Her stuttering returned with a vengeance and the pessimist was back on schedule.

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Arvel nodded understanding, "His cactus wanted pizza, huh. Yeah. You're doggy is really cute! Does he have a name?" He laughed at the dog's enthusiasm, "You can smell cat on me, can't ya, boy?"

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Alexei narrowed his eyes, "Better a human than a divine reject!" He snarled, "and we know perfectly well that Sergey's death was not suicide! Everyone said it was, but we know better! It was Azazel who killed him. They will say your host committed suicide, too, but we will know better."

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"And are you going to introduce me to your friend?" Shittsui asked, eyebrow raised, "I did not mean to interrupt your... fun... but I was surprised to see you talking to anyone; you're normally so shy." He turned to the girl, "Anyone who can get Lemy to talk to them must be an incredible person. He barely even converses with _me_." Truth be told, he was annoyed at seeing his pet snuggling with a non-client, but he would be nice. For now.

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"Suicide? Tch. Both your Serge's body and this one are far too weak. They only impede us!" Sam laughed heartily at this as he shook his head. Pausing at the door, he turned again to Alexei. "Still, take a word, you insignificant little bug. Stop toying with us, stop hunting us, and stop thinking that you can do anything to stop us. Without effort, we'll crush you, as well as your dear old grandmother."

That said, Sam turned on his heel and, of his own violition, he exited to the cool of the wintry air. Drawing deeply of this, he only then became aware of Lukas' and Kisoku's hands against his arm, his shoulder and it was likely this touch that broke a small chink in the unbearably violent anger, the scorn he'd felt throughout. Shaking his head slightly, he lifted a hand, and, rubbing at his temples, he found scenes which were usually reserved for the night dancing behind his eyelids as well as a brief, strong flash of a stranger in a pink bubble coat, lying facedown on a sidewalk. Puzzling over these, he was too preoccupied to notice much of anything.

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"It-it's not like that, Master Barano!" Lem exclaimed quickly before again glancing down as a dark flush imprinted itself upon his flesh. No. It wasn't like that. He... he didn't mean to... he didn't want to hurt Master Barano but... but the girl had been so nice... and such a _friend_ to him... and that so rarely happened to him. Still, he couldn't put all that to words so, instead, he only offered Barano an aboslutely pathetic glance of abject apology. "I... I was only... it's... it's... she's... she's only...."

"O-of course, I'll introduce you." He managed quietly once he'd let his former thoughts trail off. "Master Barano, please meet Sasurai Nonezumi. Sasurai Nonezumi, please meet Master Barano."

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Sophia tightened her grip on the strange boy's wrist; she could well imagine that the first thing on his mind would be to charge after Sam and continue this outlandish argument. *He really _does_ know this boy-- they each know exactly what the other is talking about-- then _how_ could Sam have faked confusion and honest ignorance so well?* Usually, Sophia could see right through such shams, but she'd been taken in completely, until he'd chosen to shed his mask and fight back against the boy. *How?*

But the boy first. "Hey. Are you alright? Please, calm down."

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Sasurai fought the urge to gently place a hand on Lemy's shoulder. He seemed so nervous, so apologetic despite the moments before when they were having fun. Sasurai shifted towards the stranger, but did not look at him. Her lips twitched ever so slightly as she made a polite bow, "P-p-pleased to m-m-meet you, Barano-san." The honorific was of politeness as well. Her hands twtched as well as her lips as one went into her pocket to stroke the friend inside for comfort.

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"Sam..." Kisoku muttered, shaking the other's shoulder. "Sam are you alright? What happened back there, hun? Or... or do you not feel like talking about it..."

He bit his lip in frustration. He hated when he had no control of the situations around him... he felt so lost. After all, Sam was one of the pillars of strength in his life. If that ever were to crumble... he didn't know what he would do.

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Having no idea what to do about Alexei, Tesu turned almost gratefully to the younger red-head whom Stubby was shamelessly playing up to. "He's not mine, really..." Tesu replied, smiling softly as he watched the happy, wriggling pup, "He's... um... sort of a stray... But I call him Stubby... you know... on account of his tail..." Arvel's latter comment brought a soft laugh, "More like he smells the pizza you've been eating..." he remarked. The mention of pizza caused him to glance back over at Alexei - who was still trading barbs and veiled threats with the blonde boy he'd attacked - and who, for the record, seemed just as crazy as Alexei.

"...Um... Alexei..." Tesu said quietly, "...Didn't you say Erik wanted some pizza?"

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Lukas heaved a sigh of relief when their trio finally exited the pizza place and emerged out on the street. What the hell had just happened in there? Not only had Sam seemed like a totally different - and thoroughly unlikeable - person... but he'd actually talked like he knew the kid who'd attacked him. Maybe he did... Could the kid be just another spurned lover? Could it be as simple as that? No... Somehow that just didn't seem right... but what other explanation could there be?

Once outside, Lukas saw the anger and hatred that had gripped his friend almost visibly dwindle away, leaving what looked like confusion, disorientation in its stead. Casting a worried, almost frightened look at Kisoku, he released Sam's arm, placing a gentle hand on the boy's shoulder. "Sammy? You okay, budreau?"

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"Ne, do you think we find someplace to sit down for a bit?" Sam asked as he forced his tone back to its usual cheerful timbre. Straightening his glasses, he offered both of his friends what he hoped was a believable smile as he cocked his head on side. Right. Nothing odd had just happened. Everything was hunky-dory. Yussir. No strange fits in the middle of a pizza parlour for our favorite teen idol singer! "I think I could use some fresh air after eating all that grease... and I could definitely use the exercise..."

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"Okay, hun." Kisoku sighed just a little, pressing a kiss to Sam's temple before ruffling his hair a bit. "There's a bench right over there. And this street looks quiet enough."

He linked arms with his friend, leading him over to the nice wooden bench that was set under a couple of trees. The little bit of nature stuck out like a sore thumb next to all of the concrete and steel around it. "Here we go. Sit away!"

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(OOC: This is a joint post between Lee, Muneca's mun, and myself for what happened after Mune led Kein into the hotel room. Naturally, it gets pretty explicit, so the post put up here is just a summary. Those who don't mind EXPLICIT HOMOSEXUAL ORAL SEX or lanuage, and are _older than sixteen_, can click the link to the real post, provided at the bottom.)

Muneca ends up giving Kein the promised oral sex and, once that's finished, he naturally demands his payment. Kein, not realizing Mune's profession till just now, takes this to mean the point was simply to separate him from his money, and that takes all the fun out of it, really. He gets extremely pissy, so they fight, and have something of a power struggle over Mune's payment. Finally, he storms out without taking the money as Kein goes his own way, both in royally bad moods.

Original post-- PLEASE DO NOT CLICK IF UNDER SEVENTEEN.

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Lukas trailed along behind his two friends, frowning thoughtfully. Although he *really* wanted to question Sam about what had happened back in the pizza place - not to mention how and where he knew the Cactus Kid from - he figured this was probably not the best time to do so. Despite his efforts to convince both Kiso and himself that he was perfectly fine, Sam still looked pretty shaken up, so the best thing Lukas could do at the moment was to keep his mouth shut and let Kiso handle the TLC - which to be fair, he was much better at than the Cajun. Lukas, by nature, tended to cut right to the chase - a technique that only had a very minimal success rate when dealing with Sam... even on a good day.

Only half-listening as Kiso chirped at Sam, Lukas sat down next to them on the bench, still trying to piece together the very odd events of the past half-hour or so.

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"We knew it..." Alexei muttered, "We knew he was one of Them..." He turned to Sophia, "Oh, we are perfectly alright. We will not kill him yet. This one requires planning." He nodded to Tesu, "Oh, yes, Erik would love pizza. We forgot in the excitement of meeting one of Them again, not just Their servants."

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Arvel giggled; he didn't mind in the least petting Stubby, "Aww. I pick up stray kitties all the time. M'mom hates it, but she's almost never home, so she tolerates them if it'll keep me out of her hair."

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