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


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The shaken and very flustered girl looked up side-eyed at the new strangers, specifically to the one who had pryed the seemingly vicious, but really enthuastic dog away from her. "Itai... I-I-I'm fime..." Fidgety and trembling, she tried hard to muster up her shell as she stood up and brushed snow off of her with quaky fingers. Hunching down slightly and looking to the ground she took a small glace towards Lemy and her poor furry friend, "Is-is-is Mousy okay? ...He's not hurt?" Though her face was calm and her eyes downcast, her voice was shaken, fearing the possibility of her best friend being hurt or traumatized.

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Lucia entwined her fingers with Sam's, dragging him back into the normal flow of society. This was a nice feeling... it had been so long since she had simply indulged in another person's company. The last time had probably been before the slaughter...

Something inside of her cringed, she needed to finish this bet soon. Time... lonliness... they were such human fears. And she wasn't human. She was superior. She turned to Sam with a perfectly innocent, ordinary smile as befitted a normal teenage girl. "Saaam, it's a really nice day today, isn't it?"

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"Yea, it's... a really nice day!" Sam managed to agree with due cheerfulness as he allowed Lucia to drag him back into society's flow. Of course, with the natural sounds and feelings of the world around him, it was almost too easy to believe that all that Lucia had just told him was only a daydream or somesuch. Still, even he knew that he couldn't escape it _that_ easily, just as he knew that whatever of Samael that was still within him wouldn't _let_ him escape it, easily or otherwise.

"Hey, you know, next time we play a concert, d'you want to come as my special guest?" He asked rather randomly as he gavee Lucia's slender fingers a gentle squeeze. Yes. Music. That was a normal topic that had nothing to do with reincarnated angels, devils, or anything else truly abnormal. "We're actually pretty good, you know, and Lukie's brought up some really good ideas..."

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"Eh... I think the mouse is alright," Arvel offered, "I _am_ sorry 'bout that. Stubby's pretty excitable..." Jeremy and Estelle echoed their agreement.

"Anyhoo, haven't I seen you around at school?" He directed this to Sasurai, "Do you go to Psyche High?"

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Sasurai shook her head silently to the question, wary of the three, "I-I-I go to the... University of New Eden..." there a nice straight arrow answer. Going to Lemy and inspecting Mousy in case, she calmed considerably seeing that he was indeed all right, just as the boy Avrel said.

"I-I sometimes... walk past Psyche High if-if-if that's what you... mean." Might as well try to be social with these three too... especially since they had helped get the dog away from her and Mousy.

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"Oh, I'd love to! Actually, I do hear a lot of chatter about you guys, and well, it's usually good--unless it's some jock bitching about how his girlfriend is obsessed with one of you guys." Lucia giggled. "Seems really up my alley. I can be a new groupie! It'll be so much fun!"

She bobbed her head back and forth, humming happily to herself. She was quite content with the way things were going, and well, if one had to pretend to be a perky teenager, one HAD to take full advantage of it in these situations.

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Cupping the poor wet mouse in his hands, he held this same out in offering to Sasurai in hopes that, maybe, the small creature'd help to calm the girl in the presence of the three strangers. Once Mousy had crawled onto Sasurai's shoulder, Lem wrapped his arms around himself and, shrinking a bit away from the newcomers, lifting one hand, he went back to his standard routine of twirling his curl.

'Maybe I should have gone with Master Barano...' He mused as he directed his attention to the ground directly in front of his feet. 'He seemed upset that I was with someone else, even if he himself had a date...'

Of course, there was a pang of jealousy at this thought, but he rather quickly squished this down. It wouldn't do, after all, for him to get jealous and possessive of the man, especially when he, Lem, was in the wrong. Still, on the other hand, he was only having fun, trying to make a friend; was that so bad?

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"Ooh! You'd be the best groupie ever!" Sam giggled as he tipped his head on side. Grinning, he gave Lucia's hand a light squeeze as he laughed further. "I can just imagine you screaming and dancing around. I'd bet you'd probably be a Lukie groupie, though... or maybe even sempai."

Yup. Normal. Everything was normal and he was just walking down the street with an old friend--an old friend who _wasn't_ the incarnation of Satan or anything else for that matter. All was right and normal in the world.

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"Oh really?" Kein sneered back, voice dripping with sarcastic good cheer. "One would think Lord Capulet would try and keep himself apart from the filth of the less exalted... or perhaps you've come out in hopes of being worshipped by some adoring groupie. Grown tired of your friends?"

Kein did have to cringe inwardly, if just slightly, at the way he was acting. This wasn't his _normal_ method of dealing with Kisoku-- usually, he found it very effective to be as cold as possible when brushing the man off-- but damn it, today had been such an incredibly trying day. For Kisoku to show up in the middle of it... christ, he was practically _asking_ for trouble.

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Sophia's lips pressed together tightly as she frowned, eyes darting back for a second to glare through the storefront window at the smoothly menacing man who'd befriended her teacher. "Barano Shittsui, no?" she asked, meeting Nevan's eyes again squarely. "Believe me, I know of this man. It's an established fact that he runs a brothel in Elysian Fields; not only is he licentious to the extreme, he is also extremely devious, resorting to every sort of trickery to stay beyond the reach of the law. It would be nothing at all for him to play the gentleman for you, in order to gain your complete trust to ends I wouldn't even dare imagine." Easy indeed; just a look at his face made it clear he simply couldn't believe her words. She sighed slightly, then demanded, "Mr. Alraune, if this were a lie, it would be both senseless and immensely malicious of me. Do you think I would lie to you, for any reason?" There was only one answer to that: Sophia would never lie, not to save her own life. But, though she was always this brutally honest even in class, it was possible that he didn't know her as well as she'd hoped he did. It would be terribly disappointing, to learn her most admired teacher couldn't even tell that much about her... but it was possible.

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This day just kept getting worse and worse by the second. Kisoku could feel the stinging tears that were pushing themselves out of his eyes and the burning sensation of anger in his face. His brother had picked the wrong day to mess with him.

"Oh yes, I'm the high and mighty one! That makes all the sense in the world... at least I have normal friends. But hey, you murderers and sadists have to stick together right?"

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"N-no..." Slowly, Nev shook his head as he glanced into Sophia's rather grave expression. No. He'd _never_ known the girl to lie, even on the trivial things about which children her age often lied, and he couldn't imagine why she'd suddenly start lying about a man who, to the best of Nev's knowledge, was a stranger to her.

'Still...' He sighed internally as he glanced through the glass front of the restaruant to the people inside. Of course, his eyes picked out Sui almost immediately and, his lips folding to a frown, he shook his head slightly.

"So, you're saying that Mr. Barano is a... liar who is trying to use me?" He managed to speak this slowly, uncertainly, as he turned his eyes back to the girl. Yes, he almost had to believe her just on the fact that she clearly had no reason to lie, but it was still hard to think that anyone would think to use him in such a manner. "Are you... _sure_, Sophia?"

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"Tsk, listen to the pot," Kein snorted, mouth thinning in a contemptuous line. "I suppose by that reasoning your friends must be real gems... are they shaking down underclassmen for extortion money? Or perhaps you boys just take compromising pictures of your conquests to be used when things go sour..."

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"Oh yeah, that'd be right... if my previous comment had been made by some sort of relative reasoning and not the pure honest truth!" Kisoku scowled, fixing his glare upon his brother's face.

"Like you have any real friends outside of the business! You love your friends like you love your lovers... pick them up and then throw them out on their ass a few minutes later!"

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"No, wait." Shaking his head, Muneca made a grab for Tesu's wrist and, grinning faintly, he tried to gently restrain the other. "Stay. Finish your pizza. I'm sorry for getting you involved in this, anyway..."

Standing from his seat, he crossed to Sui's table and, leaning his hips against this same, he eyed his pimp for a moment. Of course, it was a very dumbass thing to say, but at least the stupid old man was out of earshot; maybe the little girl--Sophia, was it--could talk some sense into him or, barring that, maybe she could at least get him far enough away from Shittsui.

"So, anyway, what were your plans for the day?" He asked easily as he perched on the edge of the table. "Wine and dine the guy then back to your apartment for a quick fuck?"

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Para nodded to Darran's suggestion and, taking Cordero back into her arms, she bounced the boy lightly as she surveyed the crowd. So many happy families and couples, it was easy to be lost in the spirit of the moment and she was so glad to have her little brother with her.

Smiling to this thought, she turned her eyes toward Cordy, only to see him staring rather raptly at a food stand a little distance away. Giggling to herself, she bowed her head so as to murmur against the side of her brother's hood.

"Okay, okay." She whispered as she kissed at his cheek. "I'll get you a funnel cake, but you can't tell Iago that I let you have junk food for dinner, deal?"

Instead of answering verbally, Cordy managed to nod solemnly before dissolving into a course of giggles. Adding her own to the chorus, Para turned her attention to Wolfgang.

"Do you want something to eat, Wolfgang?" She asked lightly as she gave her brother another soft bounce. "I'm going to get Cordy a funnel cake, so I'll treat!"

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Tesu glanced down at the hand restraining his wrist, blinking a bit. "I... I don't want to cause you any trouble..." he murmured quietly, but his protest apparently fell on deaf ears as Mune was already moving over to his pimp's table. After hovering undecidedly for a few moments, he slowly lowered himself back into his seat and stared down at his half-eaten pizza. As the Mexican's words drifted over to him, he considered the idea that *he* didn't have to cause trouble for Mune. The boy's mouth did that well enough on its own.

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Shittsui shrugged, "More or less, yes, that _is_ what I intended." He was evil, but at least he was honest about his evilness. Well, more or less.

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Alexei glared over at the pimp. "We want to kiiiiiiiill hiiiiim."

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"Oh... you don't? Aah, all the upperclassmen look the same," Arvel whined, "I can't tell them apart."

"They do _not_ all look the same! Just think of Wingless! They are sooooo hott!!" Estelle sighed dreamily.

"No... they're creepy," Jeremy contradicted.

"Naw, they're hot," Arvel had to agree with Estelle there, "Anyway," he turned back to the older students, "I'm _really_ sorry 'bout Stubby." He giggled nervously, "today's been such a strange day..."

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