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((Ethiriel -> Seating | Zul))

Ethiriel’s eyes drifted at the feeling of Zul’s curling hand, first between his earrings and then down to her own bracelets – it was difficult for her to figure from there where exactly his hand was, but her free one rose to meet it. Once her hand was delicately placed over his, she looked back up to where she thought his eyes might be. Her smile had gone and her brows knit in sympathy. She heard all in his tone and she could understand.

”I am most sorry to hear about Miss Alex…” she said, curling the corners of her lips despite the still-present lift of her brows. With a slight pause, she continued, ”In my time with Leonard, I… There was a similar dilemma. He did not leave much, and in turn – neither did I.”

Already her skin had started tanning from her time outdoors with Henry.

”I am glad that you find such comfort here, Sir Zul,” Ethiriel said, her voice soothing. She wished she could see the others, to know what her friends saw and what beautiful sights this party held. Sadly, she had to make due with her limited vision, and for now she could deal with it. ”Tell me – what do you see?”

((Xiu : Crawfish | Tag to : Lazarus, Domo, mentions Melisande))

Xiu watched as Lazarus picked up a bright red crawfish, hesitated and went for the mushroom instead. Deciding to be the adventurous one today, the white sigel took up a large crawfish (which was really just a prawn, right?) and was in the act of peeling the critter open when Melisande floated by. With crawfish juice dripping down one hand and stained fingers on the other, Xiu offered the beautiful muse a sheepish wave. Well that certainly went well didn’t it?

Placing the half opened crawfish aside, Xiu scanned the dining area for paper napkins. Surely there would be some about with all of these messy foods around. It was then that Xiu felt a tap on his shoulder. Turning around, there was a moment of surprise on Xiu’s face before it broke out into a smile of recognition. “Domevlo,” said Xiu warmly with a polite nod of his head. The Sigel would have shook Domo by the hand but his hands were rather sticky with crawfish juice at the moment.

“I’m really glad to see you. How have you been?”

((Trox-> Shep [roll for food] || Tatiana-- waiting || Cam -> Justin and Xiu [Roll for eating))

"Apparently," Harrison said, brows lifting in emphasis of his agreement, he leaned down, placing the bottle on the inside of his chair leg, taking extra precautions to not knock it over. He licked his lips and reached out for a few more crawdads onto his platter.

"I should eat more than crustacean, perhaps," He said mostly to himself, glancing up at Shep, his face lit up just slightly at the prospect of the older league.

"It's a bit of a gentlemen club, you'll have to excuse that. And most of us are vets. So excuse that as well and you'll do fine, I'm sure," Troxel said with an easy chuckle, leaning back upright and picking at the shells on his platter.

"Some of these guys have been in league since they didn't make the NHL out of college. I get my a** handed to me regularly." He explained to Shepard's comment although he guarantee that the man has game in him. A slow smile spread across his face.

"It's a shame I didn't dabble in the lab community sooner. Yes I build a rink. It's a bit... under polished but... Good place to get the go around and slap shot pucks into towers of cans..." He snorted reaching down for his beer again, "Classy me- Oh yeah? Could use a good goalie. Anyone else yenno plays?"

--

Cam turned to Justin in surprise, brows raised and thumb in his own mouth. Finger lickin' good crawdads didn't even come close. He flushed and dropped his hand to wipe his thumb on his jeans before rolling his shoulders.

"Ah yeah. Y'gotta," He grinned reaching over for Justin's crayfish and then stopped himself. He'd just been licking them fingers. Cooties or something- he laughed at himself and scrunched his face before reaching over to the pile and plucking one out himself.

"Yeah y'gotta treat it all special like," He scrunched his face, moving through the steps with Justin, "Dig yer fingernail in an' peel th' head off-- yeah. Now y'gotta unwrap d'behind like-ah candy bar, yenno?"

Cam demonstrated, holding his own shrimp tail out to Justin. "Easy as pie. Dey's all boiled so it's nice an' easy. Tasty too. y'big on seafood?"

Cam's cheeks flushed. Crowds he could do. One on one was still a bit new and scary. He scanned the crowed for a second, locking eyes with Laz. He gave a sympathetic smile, looking back to Justin.

" 'Ey listen, h'll be'righ' back alrigh'? We gotta notha stranded warrior. Eat on." He gave a small wink before grabbing two new crawdads and approaching Lazarus.

" 'Ey man," Cam said quietly, holding a boiled crustacean out to the Raevan, "Y'do it like this."

Cam leaned in, features soft and a big grin on his face- gently peeling the shell away in slow movements so the Sigel could catch on.

"M'name's Cam by th'way. You is?"

((Melanie --> Bonfire | Thanatos))

The woman could tell that the man's father was a sore subject. She took a mental note and allowed her gaze followed his as he looked out to find Domevlo. As he began to speak, she listened intently. After a few moments of silence, she spoke up. "You know, I would really like that." she stated in response to the man's inquisition.

As he began to speak of his likes and dislikes, she smiled and nodded. She too, loved a good flick at home cuddled up on the couch with either a man or her lovely ice cream. Television documentaries never interested her per se, but she wouldn't be against them if she could learn something.

Then the subject of the boat arose, she knew she would definitely be asking questions about that later. She absolutely loved the water and going out on their family's boat was a favorite childhood memory. He was also a lover of music and children? This man seemed to gain points with her with every word he spoke.

She smiled as he spoke of her as constantly on the move. He was dead on with that assumption. All she could do was giggle and shake her head a bit at the fact that he was right. "Well, you're definitely right about that. I am a fairly busy woman." she began, "Have I ever participated in any extreme sports; I would say, most definitely. I've thrown myself out of a plane...twice. Used to go rock and ice climbing throughout my college years with friends. Went hang gliding with a boyfriend of mine right out of high school once. When I was a child, I used to go out with my parents to the lake house and we would spend weeks there during the summer. I learned how to wakeboard, surf, and we would ride the jet ski for hours upon hours, my siblings and I. I would say I'm a bit of a thrill-seeker and adventurous type. I love the adrenaline rush it gives me when I'm doing something dangerous. I even learned how to ride a motorcycle, granted I don't have the license, nor the motorcycle to ride; but still can nevertheless." she finally finished, laughing a bit to herself as she looked out over the crowd.

"Sorry for being so chatty. You're probably sick of me already; but I have to ask, you said you take the boat out to sea, huh? What do you do out there? Is it like your getaway?" she asked with a smirk, turning her full attention back to the man.

((Xiu : Food table -> Approaching arts and crafts where LuLu is | Tag to : Domo, mentions Lazarus))

There was a momentary pause as Xiu observed the frei’s feeding habits with the lead items in his hands. While aware that most raevans had very different diets from each other, it was still fascinating to know about the staples that each raevan consumed.

“Oh, yes. I would never have thought that it was possible,” said Xiu as he took in the size of the crowd. “Looks like the community is growing by the day;- which is good, of course,” added Xiu quickly in case Domo thought he’d be unhappy about it.

“I too would like to meet more raevans. I’m already seeing several that I have not had the opportunity to meet,” said Xiu with an embarrassed grin. “I guess the both of us should buck up and do our jobs as “seniors” huh?”

At Domo’s question, the white Sigel smiled and nodded. “Of course you can! Drop in at the bookstore anytime. Errr...you do know where I live don’t you? Or if you’d like, I could visit you?”

Noticing that the crowd was getting larger as more people moved in towards the crawfish, Xiu decided it was time to leave the table. Blue eyes scanned the area for Lazarus and Xiu was glad to find that the Fiery sigel was having a chat with someone. Turning his attention back to the frei, Xiu pointed to the arts and crafts table. “Shall we head there? It’s a little quieter and I think that is...LuLu over there too,”

(( Justin -> tables //Cam & Laz mention -> Seating // Aaron & Claire))

The man's accent was charming rather than grating, Justin eventually decided. He watched intently as Cam's fingers deftly peeled the crawdad. "Special, huh?" Justin wasn't used to really feeling tall, but he easily had 8 inches on the tiny Cajun. A gust of wind would probably knock him over. It was a wonder how that loud voice came out. He started as Cam held out a peeled tail to Justin. After a moment's hesitation, his large hand reached out as well, fingers meeting for one long instant as he awkwardly grabbed it. Popping it into his mouth, Justin chewed earnestly. "S'good, thanks." He smiled again and watched curiously as Cam flushed and turned away. s**t. He must've done something weird again.

He stayed, though, and watched Cam teach the raevan a bit. They really came in all variations.. Laz. Not a familiar name; it hadn't been on the pamphlet, but Justin would remember it. Realizing he was staring, he flushed a little. Ducking his head, he busied himself loading up a plate. Might as well get some for Aaron and Claire, too, he mused. Through a true feat of balancing, Justin managed to make his way back to the tables, snagging another beer and only brushing up against a few people.

"Sorry about that. I brought back some crawfish for you guys, though. It took longer to navigate the crowd than I thought." A quiet pop sounded after his sentence as he opened another beer. "What kind of jobs do you guys have, if you don't mind me asking? Oh, and did you see the pamphlet? It'd be nice to live only on good feelings. eh." He leaned back a little and his chair creaked in protest.

(( Laz : Crawfish | Cam ))

"Yeah, like the guy in the bible. He got resurrected right?" Although he had not personally read the bible himself, since he is not at all religious, he did read the story on Saint Lazarus. The Raevan felt it was appropriate really, and had always wondered if he was given that name because of the significance, even though he had never asked Kyou about it before.

Maybe he should have...

Mentally sweeping those depressing ideas aside, he watched Cam sucked the brain bits from inside the head. It seemed... kind of impolite since the small man made quite a loud noise, but he guessed this is the way to eat it. Putting the crawfish's head to his lips, he sucked the innards out in one breath, and was pleasantly surprised at the rich taste. "Mmm, this is tastier!" He nodded in acknowledgement as he swallowed it. He wasn't crazy about the texture, but the taste was good.

Taking one more from the pile, he peeled it open again like how he did just now and sucked the head first before peeling the shells from the tail off. He believed that practice makes perfect, and no better chance to fully grasp this technique than now.

"So where are you from? You have an interesting accent that I've never heard before." Lazarus dipped a little lower as he talked to Cam.

((LuLu : Arts and crafts table l Domo, Lala, and Wasa; ROLL ))

LuLu blinked owishly before she responded, "She is also mine." Honestly, you were either a friend of Meli or you did not know her. The sigel could not imagine anyone being capable of harboring any harsh feeling for the muse. It would be a blasphemy on par with kicking puppies!

The girl then caught the tale end of the human's statement. A new guardian? More importantly, that meant a new ravean. It was vaguely exciting that there may be torso floating around for her to meet soon. Perhaps, another elegant Meli or another straightforward Luka. "Congratulations."

From there, she simply watched as Wasa busied herself with her next pipe cleaner creation. Lu's head and ears bobbed softly as her focus changed from one task to the next. She mumbled a soft comment as she fed, "You are good at this."

LuLu's eyes snapped bck to Domo as he made his leave. She accepted his flower with a kind smile, "Thank you. I am also pleased. Until next time Domo." She soon added it to the other two in her braids. The sigel was beginning to look like a regular flower child but she could not be happier.