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"Zara, get that imagination under control and pick out a cereal."

The man didn't say the words with thinly veiled patience or annoyance, just a simple dismissal that the girl was sorely getting used to. Jahzara pouted up at her father, small round ears flattening against her spotted hair. "But I saw them dad! A floating fish and an elf!"

Brad turned his indigo gaze to his daughter with a quirk of his lips. "You did not."

"I did soooo!"

The older man sighed, shaking his shaggy head. After a moment of silence, he inquired, "And what, exactly, do you want me to do about this floating fish and elf?"

Jahzara pursed her lips, candy tangerine eyes narrowing in the slightest. Not only did her father routinely disbelieve her, but he always had a way of pinning any arguement down with his insufferable logic. "I just wanted you to see them," she sulked indignantly.

A sound between a grunt and a sigh escaped him. "Is that so." After a moment of staring intently at a cereal box, he gave a small shrug of his bare shoulders and motioned to the cereal aisle. "Pick a cereal and go find them, but don't be rude. I'll come after I pick up some meat."

Despite his way of grinding her fun into the ground, he was usually prone to giving into the girl, and she knew it; Jahzara gave a squeal of delight and wrapped her arms around Brad's tank-top clad torso, snagging some random cereal off the shelf and pushing it into his hands before taking off down the aisle and out of sight.

He watched his daughter disappear in a flurry of tri-colored swirls on her dress, giving his head a little shake once more. He really had to learn to be more stern with her...but for now, he'd enjoy the fact that she hadn't paid attention to the food she'd picked and that she would have to eat it. Two could play at childish games!

Jahzara, not at all thinking of her breakfast fate, browsed the long aisles quickly with her keen eyes, making sure not to run and draw attention to herself...at least, anymore than a half girl, half cheetah mix could not manage to draw. Her tail curled behind her in contentment, humming softly to herself until she found the objects of her attentions, browsing canned goods.

With all the tact of her age, the girl did a little skip down the aisle and stared up at We`rika quite blatantly. Her mouth parted in a small 'o,' she quickly grinned and showed off her canine-esque teeth. "Hi! Your ears are cool!" she informed the shaman, leaning to the side to give his charge a little wave of acknowledgement.

Jahzara giggled, the aforementioned tail swooping back and forth in lazy arcs. Her slitted gaze flitted towards the flying fish that introduced himself as Sevilin, extending her mostly-human hand in greeting. "Hi Sevilin!" the girl tried out the name, really taking in the appearance of the floating boy. We`rika was momentarily forgotten in favor of the blue being in front of her. "Wow, you're really cool!" Obviously the girl was still working on her vocabulary. 'Cool' was her word of the week. "Are you flying? Your hair is so pretty!"

She was all smiles and admiration, looking over Sevilin's wings and dainty features with intruige. Sure, he was different, but he wasn't like her...and that made him even cooler! "Oh, I--" she started to introduce herself, but was distracted as the metal cans clanged loudly in the basket. Her tail bristled momentarily, ears twitching before she cocked her head to the side.

"Mom?" she inquired quizically. Tsk, this man obviously didn't know very much! She was born without a mother...or a father, if one wanted to be technical, but the girl wasn't exactly up to par with such thoughts just yet. "Don't have one, but dad is near by." As if to prove her point, she glanced up and down the aisle, wondering what was taking him so long to grab the meat. No doubt he was being finicky about it, but she wouldn't admit that his delay was likely on her even more finicky behalf.

The girl was feeling fairly benevolent herself, seeing as neither of the two were regarding her as strange. Not that such things bothered the head-strong child, but admiration was always a plus. Her tail ceased its lazy eight figures, extending it with a slight curl to the Sevilin. "Sure!"

To the rest of the Raevan's statement, she beamed brightly, "I'm fine. Dad knows I went to find you guys. He thinks I have a 'wild imagination!'" The cheetah spotted girl raised her hands and waggled her fingers, rolling her eyes as if the term was some big deal. She was too young to take it as a compliment, and too old to let it roll of her shoulders. "He didn't believe me, but he will now! I'm--"

"If you told me you saw We`rika, I would have believed anything you said, Jahzara," Brad's bemused voice lofted over the three. He approached from behind the shaman, only seeing the back of the Raevan but the full shine of his daughter's gleeful and proud smile. "An elf and a fish, huh?" He paused by the construction worker, shifting the cuts of wrapped meat into his right hand, which was still curled around the handles of a small red basket filled with goods.

The triumph Jahzara felt was quickly diminishing, but swiftly replaced with awe. "You know them?"

Deciding against shaking hands and slinging his free arm over We`rika's shoulders instead, the Brad lowered his voice, emphasizing the words as though they were a secret, "I work with this one."

Jahzara gaped for a moment. Her father WORKED with the elf? How cool was her dad really?? The cat girl giggled and wrapped her arms around the part of Sevilin's midsection that did exist, exclaiming joyously, "Our dads WORK together, we're practically family!"

Brad smiled knowingly, casting a briefly apologetic glance to the man in his grasp. It was for the benefit of their children, so surely he'd understand. ...right? His eyes shifted to the floating boy for a moment; so this was the charge his sister and the shaman had such a row over. It was no wonder she was sour that she couldn't see him anymore.

Brad lifted a dark brow at We`rika, smiling, saying nothing.

"My real name is Jahzara," the cheetah-spotted girl announced importantly. "But I like being called Zara, so that's good too!" She grinned toothily at the Raevan as he hugged her back, a low rumble starting in her throat, the tell-tale sign of an impending purr.

Her father chuckled. "It's your full name, Zara, not your real name," he corrected her kindly. Brad carefully removed his arm, still smiling good naturedly. "Maybe we can do that one day when you're not so busy? That'd be nice. You guys can always come over and visit us too, if you don't mind being kinda high up."

"Ss my namerrrr, dad," Jahzara protested, but it was easily lost as her purrs started. It'd been a while since the cat-girl had lost her battle to control her loud and sometimes embarrassing purrs, but it was just too cool to meet these two and find out her dad knew them! AND Sevilin liked her! She was too happy to contain herself.

A quiet sigh escaped the taller man. "Someone's excited," he commented dryly, offering a half-cocked smile at his daughter. To Sevilin, he gave a little wave, introducing himself, "I'm her father, Brad. Nice to meet my son-in-law." To say he was amused by the whole 'related' conversation was an understatement.

Under his breath, he murmured quietly enough that only We`rika could hear, "I guess this means I owe you a few more lunch dates, huh?"

The man snorted at We`rika, "I was referring to your son--" He was cut off by the smack to the chest, which made him utter a few seconds of startled laughter. Whether it was from the smack of the dinner suggestion, it was hard to tell.

"It'sa purrrr," Jahzara tried to explain through her rumbling throat. She started to giggle as her cheeks were pooched between Sevilin's cool hands, which sounded utterly silly with her purring. The cat-girl didn't help matters in the least, and was quite content to be held again as her captor protested leaving. Zara would have been happy to lend her voice to the protest, were it not for the fact that very little would be intelligible between her contented purr and giggles.

"I don't mind," Brad chuckled quietly, approaching the two that were locked so tightly. He would have been worried if Jahzara was a teenager, but now, thankfully, most boys just had cooties. Apparently Sevilin was an exception. "Zara," he said quietly.

The girl rumbled at him, candy tangerine eyes turning to her father although she remained as tightly wound against the Raevan as he was to her.

"Come on. We have hamburgers to grill, the meat will go bad if we wait."

Her round ears drooped. She loved her father's cooking, and it wasn't often he offered to do it. Dangit! Cornered by his insufferable logic again! "But..." her purrs started to subside, "...I want 'rrrika and Sevirrlin to come!"

Another sigh escaped Brad, but he was still smiling. "That's up to them, darling." Turning his indigo gaze to the shaman, he gave a nonchalant shrug. "I guess you're getting your dinner invitation a little sooner than expected, hmm?"

Jahzara immediately picked up her purring again at We`rika's pat, eyes closing in contentment. If the elf agreed, then they could all go home, right? Sevilin wasn't so lucky, however, and the girl gave a half-hearted mewl of protest before releasing the floating boy. It didn't occur to her once that such a quick attachment was odd. She was odd and therefore it was all fair game!

At We`rika's request, she turned her best doe-like eyes onto her father, but it wasn't necessary. Brad draped his free hand on his daughter's head, smoothing some of her hair back into place. "It's fine by me," he shrugged and smiled faintly. "It'll give me time to prepare the food. And for Zara to clean the place."

The girl almost groaned, but, knowing that her father was giving in to her for a second time that day, stayed quiet. She wrapped her arms around his waist again, looking at Sevilin over her shoulder as though he were a million miles away. Jahzara was the perfect picture of pathetic, really.

Lifting his hand, the man yanked his wallet out of his back pocket, flipping it open and having to use his teeth to pull out a card. Holding it in his mouth, he flipped the leather fold shut and stuffed it in the basket, removing the card from his mouth and handing it to We`rika. "That's my address and cell. Don't hesitate to call if you can't find us, we're closer to the water than you'd think."

Brad's deep laughter at Sevilin's antics were partially surprised and a large part amused as We`rika quickly tried to make a getaway. He just shook his shaggy head, lifting his hand in parting, "We'll see you two later."

The cat girl lifted a hand from her father to wave back to Sevilin with exuberance, grinning like a fiend. "Byeee Sev'lin! Bye We`rika! Come by soooon!" Jahzara quickly returned to clinging status with her father, giggling with pleasure at all that had transpired. At a grocery store, no less!

"Suppose we better buy this stuff and head out, huh? We have some work to do." He stroked his daughter's spotted hair before walking towards the front of the store, Zara in tow.