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


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Kinda a strange day, huh?" Sam repeated with a grin he didn't quite feel. Yea. That would be putting it mildly, but what else would one call a day in which one got attacked then utterly freaked out in a pizza parlor, witnessed an atomic fall out between one's two best friends, then was told one was the reincarnation of the angel of death by one who claimed to be Lucifer incarnate?

Strange. Utterly fucked up. Maybe just a really, really bad dream.

Yet, he knew that it wasn't a dream or, at least, some part of him knew this and it wasn't about to allow the rest of him to rest on the comfortable delusion. So, instead of thinking on this, he attempted to sling a companionable arm around Lukas' shoulder.

"Well, if you're sure." He murmured a bit uncertainly as he leaned his head against Lukas' own. "Still, if you _are_ having troubles, you know that you can talk to me about them, right? Even if I don't have the brains to figure 'em out, I'll always have enough to at least listen... and that helps sometimes..."

"Oh, you don't have to sell your soul at all!" Sam attempted a cheerful laugh as he turned his head in the direction of Lucia's voice. "Just come with us to the Park and I'm sure that Gleda'll be more than happy to share; you might have to help hand out some cups of hot chocolate or something, but that's actually pretty fun with all the little kids and all. Try for the caramel-peanut, chocolate chips ones, though; they're mind-bending, seriously!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

::Caramel-peanut, chocolate chip?:: Lucia's stomach lurched in disgust. There was no way in hell she was going to put that much junk into her system. The sugar... the butter... fats and waste, all of it! How could humans pollute their body in such a way?

"Umm, does she make anything a bit... _lighter_ than that? It sounds... erm... tempting and all, but the calorie count would just kill my girlish figure!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sasurai made a soft smile and tried to remember the last time she saw a play like that. She frowned realizing that in truth, she'd never had many fond childhood memories of a child's play... especially after that one year...

Snapping away from potentially dangerous and dark thoughts, she twiddled her thumbs a bit. "I'm glad you thought it was great... I needed to see a play like that for once. This day will be a fond memory for me."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lukas glanced over at Kisoku, confused by the older blonde's sudden withdrawal. Well... shit... What the hell had he done *this* time? Before he could ask what was wrong, however, he was distracted by Sam's sudden closeness... the arm around his shoulders... and it was all he could do to fight off the urge to nuzzle into the soft mass of blonde hair so close to his own.

Fighting desperately to maintain his equilibrium, the Cajun opened his mouth to tell his friend that, yes... he had some concerns... some very definite reservations... that he'd like to discuss... but later, after they could do so in private-- when, wouldn't you know it, Lucia chose that moment to pipe up with some inane damn comment about cookies, and Sam's attention was once again drawn away from him.

Glancing over in annoyance at the girl, the auburn haired youth's eyes narrowed, his mouth thinning into a hard line as he observed just how close she and Kisoku seemed to have gotten while he was distracted. /Hn... so *that's* your game, is it? Divide and conquor? Not very original.../ Dammit... Kiso seemed to be eating up the girl's attention, though... The man wasn't stupid, by any means, but he was either much too soft-hearted or much too vain for his own good... and Lukas could never decide which.

/Come on and try your tricks with me, kitten.../ Lukas silently challenged, /You'll find that I'm a much tougher nut to crack.../

Feeling the need to present a united front against whatever threat this disturbingly ordinary seeming girl represented, Lukas reached out to sling an arm around Kisoku's shoulders in much the same way that Sam had done with him, drawing the older blonde firmly back into the fold-- whether he wanted to be or not.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kisoku was about to make some witty remark to the girl about calories and Gleda's cookies when he felt a strong tug at his shoulders. Suddenly, he found himself right back next to Lukas. He let out a sigh of minor frustration. He was having a nice conversation with a pleasant girl, and Lukas chose that particular moment to have Wingless togetherness? Ah well... after the day they had been having, Kisoku could hardly complain. He wrapped an arm around the cajun's waist and leaned his head on the other's shoulder.

"Well, would you look at that! Lukas gets to be the Wingless pimp-of- the-day. Lucky boy." He giggled, and even if the emotion was a bit forced, he meant well by it. Lukas was a good friend, and even if he sometimes rubbed the young Capulet the wrong way, he was still good to have around in times of need.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Well, not _all_ of Gleda's cookies're fat bombs like those." Sammy giggled a bit at Lucia's comment, rather unaware of the rising tension between the two other members of the felllowship. Really, he was just lost in pleasant cookie thoughts, the best sort of thoughts... well, the best sort of thoughts one can have when not in certain occasions, at least. Regardless, just the thought brought a smile to his lips as it brought up fond memories of his step mother in the kitchen, the warm, inviting smell of cookies, eating these same with his two best friends. All that good stuff. Still, he shook these thoughts aside long enough to finish his thought. "She made some plain sugar cookies and gingerbread, so those should be a bit less fattening, anyway."

"Ooh, Lukie's the Wingless pimp of the day?" He giggled further as he nuzzled into the Cajun's neck in congradulations. "Let's just hope that he decides to abuse the powers that office gives him!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

/Wingless Pimp of the Day? What the fuck...? Why do I hang around with you guys again? Somebody remind me.../ Such were Lukas' thoughts as he was good-naturedly razzed by his two friends. By all rights he should stomp off and leave them to the tender mercies of Little Miss Perky over there... but still... Kiso's comment had at least gotten his two friends' attention away from their unwelcome-- to him, at least-- fourth, and he supposed he could put up with a little loss of dignity for his friends' sake.

"Well..." he drawled, forcing a wide, lecherous grin, "That all depends on what you two bitches got for me, don't it?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Well, you know..." Sam purred in just about the most seductive, velvet tones ever imaged as he conformed his body to all the curves of the Cajun's side. Twining his arms about Lukas' neck, he moved his nuzzlings from the boy's neck to his cheek, even licking at this same a bit. "I'll offer you delights the kinds of which'd twist your body, curl your toes, and leave you panting for more..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sophia nodded. "In that case, I should definetely be going. If you're not leaving now, perhaps I'll see you there." So saying, she slid out of her seat.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

/Fuck... don't I wish, Sammy.../ Of course his friend was just joking. Lukas knew that perfectly well-- Sam did this sort of thing with... well... just about everybody. It was just his way, that's all... it didn't... mean anything. Still... the Cajun youth couldn't quite prevent the subtle responses made by his own traitorous body: the slight catch in his breath when slender arms twined around his neck, the barest inclination of his body leaning ever so slightly into the embrace, the faint tremors that rippled through him at the hot wet caress of tongue over his skin. /Dammit! He doesn't *mean* anything! Get a fucking grip!/

"Well... th-that sounds pretty d-damn good..." Lukas drawled, the faintest tremor underlying his gruff baritone, despite his best efforts to keep his tone light and playful-- and most of all, steady. Turning an almost desperate glance to Kisoku, his lips twitched into a faint grin as he again tried to steer the conversation back into calmer waters, "C-can you top that, Kiso?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Well, it's your choice." Dante shrugged as he returned Tesu's glance steadily. After holding this for a few seconds more, he blinked away, toward Sophia, as he, too, slid from his seat. "I'll walk you, then. God knows what Para's gotten herself into, by now."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tesu spent a few more moments trying to decide whether or not to join the other two. Finally, he shrugged and likewise slid out of his seat. Glancing back into the booth he asked Alexei-- and Eric, of course-- "Um... you guys coming?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Woot! Darran was all set to crow his triumph over coaxing Cordy into eating a little, when Para launched her sneak attack. His first reaction was to blink, the second to laugh. *Some fighter you are, huh? Should've known better than to take your attention away from the tricky one...*

"But," he tried to protest, his 'injured dignity' act pretty much spoiled by his amusement, "you only warned me about _him_! Two against one just isn't fair!" So saying, he began a devastating counterattack that consisted of using a twist of funnel cake to swipe a powdered stripe down Para's nose. "And now for the killing blow--" the fried dough hung in the air, ready to swoop down and attack again, "--gah, I can't go through with it." Darran replied to Para's wink in kind, and proceeded to solemnly munch on his weapon. "Isn't that always how it goes, kiddo?" he comiserated with Cordy. "The cute ones get away with murder..." punctuated by a theatrical sigh.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alexei shook his head. "We must be going. Our grandmother will be worried; she does not like us wandering about alone for too long," he explained. And with good reason. Who _would_ trust Alexei to go around alone?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sui sighed dramatically. "I suppose I should be leaving, as well. Not that it hasn't been pleasant, but I have... other... business." Other business like finding someone to play house with tonight. "I hope you enjoy yourselves at the tree lighting. And I'll see _you_ tomorrow, pet." He addressed this to Muneca, "Don't miss me too much tonight."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sophia nodded to Alexei's comment, and rather thought he had already been away long enough, considering the scenes before, to cause his grandmother worry. *Grandmother, though? He doesn't live with his parents?* It was an interesting little fact, and perhaps it would help later on. *He was vehement enough, but I couldn't say for certain I think him capable of murder... not even for revenge. Nevertheless, it would be better to be able to find him, or at least alert someone to the possibility, if I need to.*

And as for Barano, she couldn't be more content that he had decided to leave them be. She was very reluctant to make what would likely become a vulgar scene right in front of Mr. Alraune, but otherwise he would likely have recieved some of the harshest words she could think of.

"Thank you, Dante, Tesu," she said quietly, then turned back one more time. "Would you like to come as well, Mr. Alraune? Umed said he really enjoyed talking to you at the parent conference, I'm sure he'd be glad to see you."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hey the weapon of suprise, you kn--" Parajo stopped midsentance, though, as she suddenly found herself getting streaked with a bit of the fried dough. Still, as Dar raised the piece for the finishing attack, she only looked to him with a look of doe-eyed innocence that would have been heartbreaking if it weren't so ill-suiting, even if it were necessary. Fortunately, though, it proved not to be necessary as Darran surrendered of his own free will. Smiling at Dar's latter comment, she reached across to poke mock-solemnly nose as she dropped another wink. "Then, really, I can only imagine what an impossibly cute one like yourself manages to get away with..."

Still, as the two older ones played their little flirt games, Cordy seemed only content to munch away at the bits of fried dough that _weren't_ currently being used for bodypaint. Of course, though, he did giggle as his big sister got her streak and again when Darran surrended the battle. Anyway, as Darran comiserated with him, Cordy did seem to give a sympathic nod and glance... or at least as much of one as a five year-old with powdered sugar all around his mouth and a bit of soggy dough between his lips could manage.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Yea, I'll see you tomorrow." Dante nodded to Barano as he tried not to seem to be gloating too much over the fact that the man had been seen for just exactly what he was. Still, it's hard to say that he was overly successful at this as he smirked at the man's retreating back. This expression faded, though, as he turned to Sophia and shruged. "It's not a big deal. I'm going there, anyway."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Yes, I think I'd like to go along..." Nevan agreed readily as he both smiled and nodded to the girl. Though he was still a bit embarassed about what had happened--and what had nearly happened-- with Mister Barano, earlier, he was rather eager to go see the Tree Lighting and the amusement that would doubtlessly entail. "If you don't mind, of course."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*Ouch. I was... really asking for it that time, wasn't I? Dumb fuck.* Still, Darran did his best to cover his sudden freeze with an only slightly strained chuckle and a grin he hoped had enough charm to smooth things over. "Hmph... I'd never tell..." Fearing that his next laugh might really be forced enough to give the game away, he hurriedly seized on Cordy's nod. "Yeah, I thought you'd know all about that... boy, you must see _all_ your sister's worst moves, huh?" And with Para's inno blink so fresh in his mind, he had to mentally add, *Bet you have no idea how well they fucking _work_, though...

*Man, look at me. Just goofing off this whole damn time when I'm supposed to be doing real work, stuff that _is_ important to me and all. Hell, there's not much more important than protecting Kein.*

But... Kein had basically given him the day off, hadn't he? If he'd really wanted Darran with him, all he'd had to do was ask, and they both knew it. If Kein... didn't really care about having him around, and here was someone who at least sort of _did_, well, was it really so bad to choose someone who wanted you a little? As long as you didn't overdo it... it was only a single day off...

Having adequately distracted himself from the first issue, Darran's smiles came easy again. "So, how're going to defend yourself from _that_, huh? C'mon, come clean, or I'll have Cordy spill it all!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

<-----||----->