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(These are gonna be all out of order, because I'm moody and feel like making things harder for you. lD )

Apparently River was in a bad mood today. When that happened several things were completely evident, and others spread to the ears of every noodle in the house in a matter of minutes. First of all, no one was safe from the whistling of the tea pot that was likely to go off every twenty minutes, and no one should expect food to be made. After today there would be no more cookies in the house, and not even the best of hiding spaces would solve that problem. Also, no one would be getting her out of the house, so the only logical solution would be to get out of there yourself. Rumor had it the majority of them would be gathering in the park for some outdoor activity now that the weather was nice, and hopefully River would be sleeping when they returned.

Tane was sitting on the curb in front of the shop. From here he could see more than half the house running about in the park, weaving between the legs of humans and playing all sorts of games he only knew from books. He had been over there earlier, to snatch an apple before they were gone, but left quickly when they seemed to be eying him as a potential teammate for a game of ultimate Frisbee. Also Caine was over there, and he brought out violent tendencies Tane didn't know he had.
In any case, Tane was now finishing off his apple and sitting on the curb with his tail wrapped around his feet, lifting one occasionally to brush the hair from his eyes. He had finished his book, and unfortunately the next in the series had been left at home in his rush to leave with the others. Tane had briefly considered going to the bookstore to get another copy, but that would mean crossing the park. Also he was pretty sure they knew him in there at this point, and would attempt conversation. So he was left watching the fun from across the street, wondering what Ariel could possibly be doing today.

Caine grinned, tossing an apple from paw to paw and wondering if Sophiette would chastise him for hitting a housemate. Probably, he thought, grinning wider and winding up his pitch to throw the fruit with inhuman force into the side of a tree, narrowly missing the nearest innocent fox. Today had been boring, he decided with a huff, not bothering to apologize or even acknowledge his recent throw. First River had used up all the hot water, and then she had used both the phone line and the only desktop computer in the house, killing the wifi for everyone else. Not to mention the round-the-clock whistle of the tea kettle, a noise he was beginning to despise so much it had crossed his mind a dozen times to grind the thing into dust and blame it on Tane just this morning.
That, he grumbled, rolling onto his back lazily by the food, was not even the extent of his problems. Recently he had discovered that everyone in the house knew that he was, what Jirou had termed, 'a flirtatious pinchcock'. So basically they did one of three things when he talked to them in a non-serious tone. Either they ignored him, laughed at him, or teased him about it. No one was any fun anymore, he mumbled, rolling to face the street and name the shops there. Corner store deli thing, skate shop Riku lives in (not really), Goodwill place, Music store, candy store, furniture place, Juliet, old movie theater... hold on. Caine blinked, standing with unnatural grace and speed. Slowly a grin spread across his face again, man had it been a long time. So he did the only thing he could do, wolf whistled.

Indio was still grumbling five minutes later about being nearly pelted with fruit when Ruby approached him and began to speak. Obviously this ruined the careful facade she'd been keeping up rather well, he had almost been impressed. He scowled at her grouchily, hoping she wouldn't take it personally, and stepped forward to nuzzle into the side of her neck like a giant cat. "But that's the worst part, isn't it? Being up in the first place." He closed his eyes and just shuffled a bit closer, somehow managing to be grouchy and touchy-feely at the same time.
No one had technically invited him along, but it was hard not to hear of the plans being whispered door to door, hallway to hallway, floor to floor with so many noodles living in the same house. His moods tended to echo River's these days, in fact the more ridiculous or immature members of the house had begun betting on which of them would snap first. While all Indio had wanted to do today was stay curled up in bed with his iPod and a closed, dark room; clearly the world was against him. Now he was outside in a loud and crowded sunny park, but at least Ruby was here to listen to his complaints and/or be impressed by his wit.

Sophie watched the whirring of Frisbees and fancied she could even hear the gears turning in Tane's mind all the way on the other side of the park. She wasn't interested in her housemates much though, for she already had them all figured out. They were hardly her housemates to tell the truth, for she often did not come home because she clearly had no need for sleep. What she did have a need for was socializing, but it was an unwritten rule that no one fell in love with their housemates generally, because living together like that made you a weird sort of family, not potential lovers.
With a breathy sigh, she took another sip of tea out of a porcelain tea cup. If it had been around else trying to have a tea party in this mess, the whole set would be in shards and they would be in tears. But no one would bother her because at this point the whole house was endeared to the princess, and unconsciously gave her twenty square feet of park space to herself. Well, her, her stuffed animals, and the empty space for the eventual prince.

Most often when noodles started their own families, fell in love with their life mates and had children as well, they would move away into their own house. Halo was one such noodle of River's who had moved off with his girlfriend, but he was one of the few to still stay in the loop. Sure, he had loved his time there, but no one should really raise their kid in such a ridiculous way. That morning he had been telephoned by Caspian, an old spartan buddy, and had managed to keep him on the line out of curiousity.
He could hear the familiar music coming from their game system - in fact Caspian could probably hear it to - but was still trying to figure out what was up with his friend. Last he'd heard, Caspian was living with his girl as well, and when he wasn't with her he was working at the shop being the shy AI that he was. So why, Halo wondered as he took another sip of his soda, was he calling just to tell him about the recent events in the house? Sure this ruined his plans to take Charlie and 'Dani on a picnic to the park, but he was pretty sure Caspian didn't know about that. Despite his best efforts, he hung up still uncertain and a bit confused. Padding out of the kitchen he slipped beside his mate and perked his ears forward, "watching" their game intently. "G'morning again dear~"

Scourage was used to being a wanderer, and so showing up at his house after so long made him feel... awkward. No, that wasn't right, he never felt awkward. Awkward was something that people felt when they knew they'd done something off or were acknowledging that they didn't belong. Well, he did belong, or if he didn't, he would be the very last one to feel awkward about it. Stepping up onto the curb he fought the urge to sneeze, someone must be thinking about him. Smiling to himself, Scourage threw his helmet into the bushes and turned his key in the lock, hoping to whatever deity that was on his side that it was Cami.

He let out a soft hum of satisfaction as he felt his tensed muscles begin to relax. "We aren't going to your house or mine today, I'm afraid." Stepping back a bit, Indio glanced around and correctly identified members of Ruby's household strewn about with his own housemates. Well, re-identified, mumbling their names as he went. "Apparently we're to make good use of a nice day." This was delivered with a perfect sneer, lip curling upward in distaste, but also with his rubbing up against her side. "And I'm not going to sleep when I'm alone with you, because I'm not crazy."

Sophie lifted her head slightly at the influx of activity, realizing suddenly that she hadn't gone hunting in a rather long time, and all of the noodles running about smelled positively delicious. She smiled wider, and lifted the empty tea cup to her mouth, attention jumping to a female who had recently entered her relatively non-populated park area. "Why aren't you joining me?"

Tane jumped a good foot in the air, stumbling into the street but catching his balance before any cars could come by. Now sufficiently bright red, he turned to see Ariel, and got a bit redder. "Good morning A-ariel." He managed to mumble, eyes dropping to the sidewalk and wishing he had a book to excuse himself with before he could embarrass himself further. After a moment he calmed himself down enough and willed his blush to fade as he awkwardly sat back on the curb, further away from her than he'd intended.

Smirking was the next logical step, and after that running a paw through his hair. Waiting a moment to mentally check when the last time he saw her was, and how she had responded to that wolf whistle then, he trotted across the street without looking. She wouldn't want to talk to him, that much was probably obvious to a blind, deaf, asylum escapee; but that didn't matter much. So maybe he didn't want to talk, so maybe he wanted music too? Riiightt.
Caine entered behind her, the false bell sound making him grit his teeth in annoyance for a moment as all his concentration fled. Great, now he wouldn't have any idea how things would go. Huffing, he headed to the opposite side of the place and gave her some space, finding himself in the middle of the Indie section and more than a little lost.

Halo smiled brightly at her, sitting back to watch them play for a moment and doing his best not to be a backseat driver. It was difficult when he knew the game inside and out. (Literally, he'd been inside it before. That was a cracky day.) "Ahh, sorry Charlie." He mumbled, one corner of his mouth falling down as he remembered how much fun they'd had in the snow before. Hopefully she wouldn't be too disappointed that it was gone, he probably would be if he had ever seen it. "Well, I had picnic plans, but I guess the whole park's overrun with noodles lately. I dunno if we'd want to do that today, wouldn't be as... uhm... quaint?"

Scourage pinned his ears back, eyes guarded and watching her carefully, like this was going to escalate to a fight and he wanted to be ready. "You like apples, Cam'?" He asked seriously, and placed the bowl carefully on the kitchen counter, itching to get out of his armor and into civilian clothing already. "I didn't remember that."

(>: Short responses are short.)