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Free! And so suddenly, Nell dodged her foster mother and the simmering green fiend, ducking back towards her oldest friend, she nestled herself at Ruku's shoulder and was determined not to move.

Trivii's gaze quickly tracked Nell's movement, bowing her head in quiet apology to the other party-goers... She realized that their were truly quite a few of them. And her embarrassment heightened as she silently swore she was going to lock Nell in a canning jar for a week!

Glancing at Theirn and the new person at the grill. They obviously thought this was normal. The cat girl retreated to the table of food, and then beyond it, back to her bench.

The whole situation was mortifying..

It didn’t take long for Amon to get changed, organized as he was, and there certainly wasn’t a lack of clothes to change into. It was a running gag between him and Nephrite, how most of the boxes packed for their move had in fact contained clothes. For both of them.

Soon enough he was back in the kitchen, apart from Neph’s rooms the only room looking as if someone was actually living here, watching her again with arms crossed in front of his chest. If anyone were to explore the house a bit (as it occasionally happened during parties like this, people always ended up in all sorts of places looking for the bathroom) they’d find most rooms – except for the ones aforementioned – to look quite sterile, with little personality, as if the person living here had only just moved in, or was expecting to move out again at any given day. Which was indeed the fact.

Amon was still half-expecting for his crazy-a** sister to show up and break his day. He knew she knew about the BBQ, having spammed his inbox to no end. To the extend that Anais’ email had accidentally ended up with hers in the spam folder. He considered himself lucky enough that no one ever being a member of The Order seemed to bother to take on a fake personality, pretending to be someone else. He’d been worried for a little to admit people who were not guardians to the party, but all of the inquiries had seemed genuine. There was quite a number of people Nephrite seemed to have invited at random, because she “liked” them. Or they were “pretty”. So far, only two of them had shown up. He hoped, really REALLY hoped, none of them would turn out to be related to The Order. This place was growing on him, including the garden, and he’d loathe to have to move again anytime soon. He knew he would be forced to, eventually, but … not too soon, he hoped. The whole gardening thing, as much as he’d considered it to be a chore and a bother at first, was turning out to be pleasant exercise and distraction. It brought peace to his mind, not to mention delicious home-grown ingredients for his cookings.

‘Not messing …’ Nephrite reaffirmed, straining the tea.

“I wonder.” Amon moved from his spot, looking at the various jars Nephrite had pulled from the spice and herb racks during his absence.

‘Just been … spicing it up a little? You know the premade mixes are not as good as the freshly ground ones, so I added some extra here and there to make up for it.’

Amon looked over the jars, taking his time to read the labels. Most of it was what would be in the chai anyways, and safe. He noticed Neph had set up a pan for roasting as well as a mortar for grounding. The scent of cardamom, ginger and cinnamon was still strong in the air.

“Fine then.” Knowing the grill being tended to, he figured he’d have a little more time before heading back to the party, so he waited for Neph to finish up – eventually getting himself a nice cold beer from the fridge, popping the bottle open. He wasn’t sure if he’d have to do driving tonight or not, but one beer should be fine he figured.

‘Am done,’ Neph announced, once pouring her concoction into the jug Athan had brought. She hoped he’d like it, she’d gone extra lengths to make it as tasty as it could possibly be without her … being able to actually taste it. It did smell delicious, however.

Amon simply nodded, holding the door for her. It wouldn’t do for her to go all out and then get the jar smashed because she was fuzzy-brained and a klutz. Once outside, he froze on the spot, almost immediately becoming aware of Mystic’s presence. Him and the eldest of the fiends had never quite been at the best terms with each other, mildly put. Quite frankly, Mystic never failed to creep the Hell out of Amon. That there was somewhat of a jealousy issue concerning Reyna ongoing between the two of them certainly didn’t help matters.

His occupation being one that cared a lot about looks, Amon was quick to pick up the differences in appearance since they’d last met (which, fortunately, had been quite a long time ago), his concern growing in leaps and bounds. Ignoring Mystic’s presence and giving him a berth as wide as he possibly could, Amon made headed back to the grill. The red-head who’d caught his attention (her wink had not escaped him) was still there, offering pleasant distraction from the creepy fiend’s presence.

Neph, however, opposed to her guardian, was far from ignoring Mystic. ‘Hello Mystic,’ she chirped happily, somehow managing to make her gown slip from her shoulders with a simple shrug, carrying the jug with the hot chai as elegantly as if she was posing for a picture. Her guardian’s unease at her ‘big brother’s’ presence did not go unnoticed, and it amused her a great deal. ‘Someone’s still afraid of you, I think,’ she remarked slyly. She still didn’t get all of what was going on between Amon, and Reyna, and Mystic, but it was amusing nonetheless.

Carrying herself quite gracefully, she set down the jug on the food table, and poured a cup for Athan. ‘Here,’ she offered. ‘I hope this makes up for it … ?’

Coal pulled back after a moment from the charcoal, his little aura flaring up for a moment though those not watching closely likely wouldn't have noticed in the dark. It hadn't been even close to what he though, pulling back he moved back to his guardian.

Theirn stood up after a moment, the little wisp that Coal had been playing with had run off toward another fiend it seemed. Frowning a little he glanced around before spotting Trivii, she'd gone back into hiding. Reaching up he put Coal on his shoulder and headed over to the grill, "just grabbing up a bit of food," Theirn made up two plates, preparing himself two of the more rare burgers and putting another on a second plate. Nodding slightly he moved out of the way and headed back over toward the hiding catkin.

"Trying to blend into the scenery?" Theirn offered over one of the plates to Trivii arriving back to the little out of the way place. "I'd have to say it doesn't suit you...and I promise I'm not flirting." He offered up a lopsided grin with the last.

Rhys smiled a little shyly, his goal had been to talk to the two ladies by the table but they were both older then he was and pretty so he lost his steam quickly, "oh yeah well," Rhys glanced down to his plate, "everything looked so good and I tend to be really hungry a lot of the time." He shrugged a little taking a bite of one of the sauces with a chip, avoiding the red sauce for the moment, "so the red one is really hot I take it..." he eyed the warned of sauce curiously. Rhys continued to eat, everything on his plate giving the sambal a wide berth for the time being, keeping his wings tucked in and seemingly content to listen to the other two for the time being.

Tek spun and looked back toward Athan, the little fiend's tail tentacles flickered playfully and xe moved over toward the mage. You wound me, I wouldn't start any fires that weren't absolutely necessary. You seem cranky, you should definitely relax. Tek rested beside Athan giving Neph time to present her tea before patting the man on the hand, and wiggling xyrs leg tentacles over to rub Athan's leg under his pant leg in ... a soothing manner. At least Tek believed it was soothing.

Ana listened to Miranda, her mouth forming an 'o' shape in understanding as she mouthed the word 'b***h'. Not that she would judge someone one another's opinion but she's be cautious if she got into a conversation with her.

"Oh god, yes it's hot." she turned to Rhys and smiled. He was a cutie. "I think someone nearly choked on it earlier. "So, Rhys, what do you do. i know Miranda here is a jewelry designer and a maker of fabulous cupcakes. How about you?" he seemed a little nervous so she wanted to put him at ease.

'Indeed. I did check in on you, and on Red. Even if I cannot be found in the Waking Realm, I can always be found in Dreams,' Mystic replied with a quiet, low chuckle. He idly took note of Amon, but remained silent until he was addressed by Nephrite.

He gave Dio one last hug and walked, literally walked, with bare feet towards his 'little sister.' He moved with the same grace and agility that his bond possessed, and it very nearly gave the impression that he was floating or gliding along.

Reyna simply shrugged as she addressed Dio. "Sorry, kiddo. He keeps to his own schedule nowadays so I don't always keep up with him."

Athan silently listened in to the exchange of words and was sorely tempted to turn and stare at Mystic. His presence weighed heavy in the air. Each step he took towards the rest of the party goers felt like a strange, encroaching darkness. It reminded him of... someone else.

"Thank you very much for the tea, dear. You are a very gracious hostess," he replied politely to Nephrite. He took a sip and smiled. "I daresay this is a much finer tea than what I brought along. Perhaps the other was simply meant to be poured out."

Distracted, it took him a moment to realize that Tek had spoken and was trying to ... soothe him with his tentacles? It largely succeeded only in making his skin crawl in a rather unpleasant fashion. To make matters worse, Mystic was making his way over towards him directly.

The eldest paused and laid one dark hand upon Athan's shoulder in what would have been a reassuring gesture coming from anyone else. 'Good evening to you,' he replied cordially. His brow pulled together in what was know doubt a smirk. 'I don't believe we have met,' he said as he addressed Tektite. He paused briefly as his mismatched gaze settled upon Hugo. 'Athan is indeed the man to go to when our mischief gets out of hand.'

He chuckled quietly and shook his head as he withdrew his hand from Athan's shoulder and crossed his arms over his chest. He was amused both by Athan's unease but also the strangeness of Tektite's appearance. 'Really Athan, it seems my brethren end up more... unique ... than the last with each new awakening. Has Hawk given you no insight at all?'

Athan visibly bristled at the mention of the Seer. "No," he spat, "He has not."

'Come now. Still upset over last Halloween? Surely not. Everyone had a grand time.'

"Hey," Reyna interrupted as she strode forward and grabbed Mystic by the arm in an attempt to diffuse the mounting argument that was sure to ensue, "You just got here. No starting fights without me so early in the evening."

'Very well,' Mystic said in a mellow, calm tone before his brow furrowed into what seemed to be worried lines. 'I have the strangest craving for cookies,' he remarked absentmindedly.

Nephrite blushed and coyly cast down her glance at the compliment. So going extra lengths to spice up the tea a little had been worth it. She still knew only very little about taste but watching Amon cooking had taught her plenty, plus spices freshly roasted and ground smelled so much better~!

Catching a glimpse of movement from the corner of her eyes she looked down. There was that fun tentacly fiend again! But, what was he trying to do? She couldn’t quite figure it out, only that Athan seemed less than pleased. Maybe she should have added a little ‘extra’ to the tea after all. But, it was too late now.

‘Hello Mystic,’ she almost purred, floating up to idly toy with a strand of his long hair. Pulled back so sloppily, as if he didn’t care about what it looked like at all. He probably didn’t, so she let go if it with a sense of regret. ‘I could take a look if we have some cookies?’ she offered. Of course Mystic couldn’t eat them, but neither could she drink tea. Yet she still enjoyed preparing and smelling it. ‘Or, there’s cup cakes, I heard they’re tasty too?’

Miranda blinked, curiously tilting her head - a motion Rutie apparently tried to imitate, as he was tilting slightly sidewards as well. "'Ship'? What ship?"