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


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Oh lord... Sam actually had a candidate in mind, and it wouldn't be easy to dissuade his friend from hooking the two of them up - no matter how good Lukas' arguments to the contrary might be - sometimes Sammy and logic were barely on speaking terms. This could be a long seige.

"That's as may be," Lukas replied, wearily running a hand over his hair, "but let me ask *you* somethin'... in my unfortunate absence, did she manage to... ah... console herself in your company?"

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"Yea, but the _only_ reason she even talked to me in the first plce was that she was hoping I could introduce the two of you." Sammy shrugged easily as he shook his head. Not that it was the first time that he had people approach him in hopes that he could set them up with one or the other of his bandmates; really, it'd almost become common procedure for him to be a go between. Sometimes he knew that beforehand, othertimes not. Mary had been a not. "'course, I didn't know that till one of her friends told me so, but there you go..."

"Anyway..." Shaking all this aside, he turned a broad grin on the Cajun. "You're not interested at all, huh?"

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Sasurai blushed and looked down slightly, out of habit, "My... my smile... it's-it's not that pretty." She couldn't help but touch the corners of her lips, as if a compliment on her smile was foreign... which in a sense it was. But in response to his compliment her smile widened; she may not have believed it, like all compliments she heard, but it was a nice thought and as long as he meant it, that's what mattered.

"Hai.. .more people like you... you're a good person Lemy-san, innocent and gentle. Kind especially... if there were more people like you, more people would be happy..." She lowered her voice and pulled her hand back from his curl, "Because you... you make me happy... and if you can make me happy... then-then-then think of all the others who can-can be happy too." Childish theory of course, but Sasurai felt it was true, she truly believed the world would be a happier place... if more people were just as kind as her new friend.

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"Th-that's true..." Lem nodded his agreement to her childish theory and, a faint smile at his lips, he tilted his head on side. Of course, he could recognize the theory as almost outlandishly childish, but it would be nice to believe in something like that, regardless. Still, he couldn't believe that _he_, a lowly whore, could be the cause of much happiness really, except, maybe, to a few lonely businessmen.

"Still, I... I'm really glad that I can make you happy." Lifting his head, he again offered Sasurai a bright, sweet, and overall enthusiastic smile. "It's only fair."

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"I'm not the only one with dates, it seems," Sui shot back, "First Lemy with some quiet girl, then you with a harem that includes, if I'm not mistaken, one of Ausar's pets..."

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Alexei, wanted very badly to attack this intruder. He was obviously one of Their servants. But he remembered Willy's threat to call the police and contented himself with scowling so hard it was a wonder everyone within fifty feet didn't die anyway.

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"Only fair..." Sasurai repeated those words softly, and looked up to his smile. The offering of his smile must truly have been a gift, for Sasurai recognized that smile as one of the most genuine, beautiful smiles she had ever seen... the most beautiful smile she had ever seen in _recent_ years. Smiling back, she sook her head a little, not to disagree of course, "Same here... if I-I-I made you happy... of course." Baka baka baka, "I-I-I mean... oh... nevermind..."

Mousy alsmost seem to sigh in relief that the moment had become cheerful again, and climbing once more to rest upon Lemy's comfortable curls, he squeaked lightly, as if for attention, or just to squeak.

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"I s'ppose you're right," Arvel agreed, wrinkling his freckled face into a sort of mournful grimace, "I'm just destined to be single all of my life..." He trailed off and glanced over at Lukas and Sam, "Are they always like that?" He wanted to know,"They act like they're married."

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The hotly contested tic-tac-toe tournament largely forgotten, Tesu listened quietly as the others discussed the various pros and cons of demon hunting. Like such things actually existed. Yes... life in Wonderland was certainly... interesting.

He glanced up from his half-eaten pizza as two newcomers approached the booth - one of which addressed Mune, while the other spoke to Sophia. What was this place anyway? Grand Central Station? Was there some kind of cosmic law that everyone who came in here knew everyone else in some manner? And what was it that the blonde guy said to Sophia? Something about being with 'a group of friends'... But none of the four - five, counting Erik - were really friends; they were simply strangers who had been drawn together by... odd circumstances...

As the others talked to the two older men, Tesu kicked that thought around a little. That wasn't *entirely* accurate... True, they weren't friends - at least not yet - and they were still strangers to one another... but there *were* already... connections... He and Mune had met earlier, then later at that stupid party, and now here... He'd met Alexei - and Erik, of course - later at the park... Sophia had come in with the tall redhead who had left with the blind kid that Alexei had attacked... And now, these two older men had arrived... one clearly had some sort of tie to Sophia - a relative or friend of the family, perhaps? Suddenly, a very clear image of sides being chosen, of lines being drawn, appeared to him, and he could almost *see* the tenuous connections flowing between all of them. But for what purpose? It was clear that *something* was going on... but not what that something was.

He glanced over at the man speaking to Mune, wondering how he fit into all this. Immediately, Tesu's sudden clarity of perception vanished, as self preservation took over. No mistaking the relationship between *those* two; not for Tesu - he was all to familiar with it from the inside. A pimp and his whore - which meant that the man speaking to Mune had to be Shittsui Barano, Ausar's chief rival. Which meant that this was *not* a good place for him to be right now. Keeping his face carefully averted, he gazed out the window and finished eating his pizza as if he hadn't a care in the world.

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"No, I'm not," Lukas answered, shaking his head, "I'm not interested in *anyone* who'd use my best friend like that - an' prob'ly do the same thing to me somewhere down the line. I don't care how pretty 'n ... talented... she is; I got no use for someone like that." That was the trouble with groupies; all they were interested in was bagging someone in a band, and if they couldn't get to their favorite, well then, the best friend would do just as well. The whole thing would've pissed him off if it wasn't so... sad. They all deserved better - even the groupies themselves, when it came right down to it.

"Doesn't it bother you at all?" he asked finally, a slight frown creasing his brow as he gazed searchingly at his friend.

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"A harem? Are you even _listening_ to yourself?" Mune snorted as he slipped from the booth. Standing to his feet, he leaned casually against the table, but it was also something of a rather futile blocking proeceedure, as if he could keep either of the three--four, counting Erik--strangers from his pimp's eye. Rolling his eyes, he shook his head at Shittsui. "Right. I'm planning on having a hot and sweaty orgy with a little girl, two kids, and a cactus. D'you wanna tape it? Maybe you can make some money off of that, too."

Yea. Mune obviously wasn't the brightest blub on the proch, but he never had much talent at holding his tongue. Besides, he wanted to draw attention away from the others, especially Tesu, since the boy had already been recognized as one of Ausar's dancers. So, what better tactic than making an ass of himself...

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"Well...." Sam frowned as he considered Lukas' last question and, crossing his arms, he tilted his head on side. If he were to be entirely honest, then, yea, it had hurt a little when he found out that the girl was only screwing him in hopes of getting closer to Lukas, but, well, that went with the territory. Besides, it wasn't like many of his relationships were much deeper than that; pretty much, if they showed even the slightest interest in him, then, well, that was enough. Really, he hadn't based a relationship--sexual or otherwise--on anything more since...

"Maybe it bothered me a little..." He answered grudgingly as he shook the former thoughts aside. "Still, not that it matters, but I didn't even know that she was playing it that way until Mary's friend told me..."

"Hm?" Just catching Arvel's comment on he and Lukas acting like a married couple, he grinned brightly as he turned his head toward the boy. "Oh, we _are_ an old married couple; we just have a very, very, _very_ open relationship, ne?"

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"Oh, no," Sui shook his head, "It's your day off. Far be it from me to interrupt your fun. But it is interesting, seeing two of my favorites out with friends," He shrugged and wrapped an arm around Nev, "However, I'm not interested in the antics of Lemy, or even you, at the moment. I have someone more interesting in mind..."

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"I think Mousy wants someone to make him happy, as well." Lem giggled as the mouse spoke up from the comfortable nest of his curls. Reaching up, he again petted at the mouse and, for the moment, he was glad that the tenseness of the past few minutes had slipped quietly away. "Or maybe he's just agreeing with us..."

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"Well, I'd admit that it's suprising, but you know what they say about the Holiday season..." Mune offered the elder a slightly sardonic grin as he tipped his head on side. Still, he had to admit that it was a bit odd that Lem would want to be any further away from Sui as possible; maybe the kid was finally growing a damn backbone, after all.

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Nev, in the meanwhile, flushed a bit as Sui wrapped an arm around him, but, unwilling to draw away, he only offered the arguing two a soft, albeit slightly befuddled, smile.

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"No..." Mune shook his head at this and, rather forcefully, he moved to remove Sui's arm from around Nev. "You're _not_ going to play with him, okay? At least pick someone who'd know what the fuck you're up to."

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Kisoku couldn't help but laugh at his friend's joke. "Yeah, Sammy and Lukas are pretty attached aren't they? It's enough to make me feel jealous!"

He sniffled over-dramatically, turning away from the other two. "But I won't get in the way of their love! It's TRUE LOVE!"

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"Mr Alraune!" Sophia turned to greet one of her favorite teachers with a slight smile and wave. "Not exactly friends... we only just met... but yes, it's been nice." However, her smile faded as she saw her teacher's companion. Something about the way he moved, the way he oriented his body around and looked at Mr. Alraune, gave her a very bad feeling.

As if to confirm this, she saw that Alexei too had taken an instant dislike of the man. *Strange-- he seems so irrational, and yet... his instincts are very sharp.* Perhaps-- just perhaps-- there was something of the truth in what he said, twisted around in his mind but essentially correct...

But it was Dante's reaction that brought a sharp frown to her face and his words were what finally tipped her off. The reference to Asuar-- who, she knew, was one of the most infamous pimps in the city and one the D.A. would just love to get strong evidence on-- and the man's treatment of Dante gave strong hints to his identity. Abandonning her milkshake to stand on the other side of Mr. Alraune, she looked up at him and asked quietly, "Mr. Alraune... would you mind if I spoke to you privately?" It didn't matter about what; the important thing, as Dante seemed to know, was getting him _away_ from the man.

But, if the man was who she thought he was, that made Dante his whore, didn't it? And yet, there he was, trying to defend Mr. Alraune without even knowing him... it didn't quite make sense. But it was certainly very telling of his character.

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"It *should* bother you, Sammy," Lukas said softly, "An' no, I didn't ask 'cause it bothered me that you got to her first - it's *you* I care about. You're my best friend an' I hate to see you used like that..." He rather hoped that the oh-so-talented Mary had the good sense to find another idol to chase after, because he had a feeling that if he ever met her, he'd send her on her way with her tail on fire... and *not* in a good way!

Likewise hearing Arvel's remark, Lukas grinned at Sam's response, "That be true, budreau... 'bout as open as you can get."

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