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Picnic Time: Part Two

"Personal reasons?" Aludra questioned almost impulsively, looking up at his lover with a cute, confused expression on his olive-toned face. It was only a moment before he realized how pervasive a question that could be, face flushing slightly as he glanced in the other direction, looking awkward and sheepish. "Apologies. You're not obligated to answer that question if you do not feel that you need to," he said quickly to cover up his mistake, still the sheepish little preteen he had been under all his false bravado.

Aludra smiled faintly at the compliment and nodded. "I've only ever seen one other child clamor for food so... voraciously, and that was the boy who is now my niece's boyfriend - another gluttony spawn." He shook his head at the idea of it only being combined with diligence. "That seems a little extreme..." he grumbled, thinking of what would happen if Adelle and Fitzroy ever had a child. Ack. That would be scary. He looked back toward the little boy and frowned softly, tipping his head to the side. "But... the two gluttony children whom I can remember meeting were more of the green variety rather that the... aquatic sort. Why is that?"

"If you really are curious I could tell you, though I would need to swear you to secrecy. After all even Vampy doesn't know the real reason why I work in this place." He said as he trusted Aludra with such information. He turned to watch the boy as he wolfed the food that was handed to him, "He is a bit of a pig, I think its because everything that he eats he ends up running off fairly fast. His metabolism reminds me a bit like that of a humming bird."

"The old Gluttony demon, Kerylia, was killed in a manner that doesn't need describing." He said to his young lover, not wanting to share the details of that situation, "There were a few spawn that were kind enough to lure another demon of the same blood line here to the Labs. His name is Torekane and he is... quite an amazing creature really. Beryl gets a lot of his looks from the guy actually... not to terribly much from his angelic mother though aside from the way that he never slows down."

Aludra batted his eyes innocently at the offer, though he was unaware of the stereotypically 'who me?' expression on his face, honestly just that naive at times. Smiling faintly, unable to help the greedy portion of himself wanting to get his hands on something so interesting, he lifted his index finger, drawing an imaginary 'x' over his heart. "Cross my heart; I'm sworn to secrecy," he stated with a nod, looking up at Aden with intrigue, curious to know what this big secret was. It had to be something good for him to work here of all places especially to /keep/ him here after a child was forced onto him.

The young spawn's tail flicked as he watched the boy, frowning with a bit of interest as he looked the younger child over and nodded idly. "You're quite correct; knowing two other diligence spawn, he resembles neither of them in the least," he mumbled, frowning a bit. It always tended to upset him when a child almost didn't resemble one of his DNA donors, whether it be the angel or demon. The same happened with biological human families, though, such as Noah - he looked nothing like his dad, and was practically a mirror image of his mom. Aludra could only imagine what it would feel like to be the parent that the child /didn't/ look like. It was an upsetting thought.

He watched as Beryl seemed to be licking the container clean before he pushed up onto his little clawed feet and raced off once again, abandoning the container which relieved Aden since he'd seen him chew on containers before due to his anger at them for being suddenly empty. It must be the fact that they were outside that he was in a better mood at the moment, "I came here because of my older brother." He said, giving a little sighing sound, "I was approached for a job here and it seemed as though it would be the perfect way to attempt to help him... though it would involve finding him again after so long." He sounded as though he was hopeful but as though that hope was starting to wane.

Bright, tricolor eyes had abandoned the sight of the young amphibious boy to turn fully onto Aden, a certain sadness flickering across them. Not enough of the story was given for Aludra to confidently make any out-of-the-way assumptions, but it was easy to guess what little there was to go off of. He tried his best at giving Aden a positive, hopeful smile, as though he would actually be able to do that and pull it off well. The smile that ended up on his face was an awkward half-thing that he gave up and instead hugged Aden around the waist. "You'll help," he stated, the comment based on nothing less than wanting to make his love feel better. "You are one of the smartest people that I know, which means something even if it's not saying a lot. I believe that you'll be able to help your brother." A firm nod followed that statement. As though somehow his belief would change things. As though everything would be made right immediately.

"I hope so. He was always the good boy of the family, the opposite of me in all ways... I mean Hells, the guy was a damn Priest... well until that woman came alone." He shook his head, and then wrapped his arms loosely around Aludra, snuggling against him, nuzzling his hair, "It was my first run in with something... like that, seeing her with her claws in him. Literally." He muttered the last word, giving the slightly shiver as though he were suddenly cold all over.

Those big eyes stayed glued on Aden, Aludra hanging onto every word that fell from the man's mouth, trying to delve as deeply into his world as he could. Their moments of privacy, after all, were less than minimal. It was only the rare times like this he would actually be able to properly see Aden the Person, Aden his Lover, instead of Aden the Doctor, the flirtatious man who was little more than a pervy doctor when he was in the Facility. He nuzzled back against the brunette, inhaling his scent deeply and letting his eyes fall half-shut as he rested against him, letting his vision fall out of focus with nothing of importance to look at.

The tremor seemed contagious, running through Aludra's lithe frame as well at the way that the statement was phrased. Now he was almost sure that he didn't actually want to understand the whole of the story and curled tighter against his older lover, hiding his face against his shoulder. "I'm... sorry," he murmured, the only words he could find that were even semi-appropriate at the time, feeling as though it would be better if he hadn't spoke, yet he felt that he wouldn't have gotten away with something like that. Awkward silences tended to have a little too much influence on him.

Aden gave a smile, deciding that he should continue, didn't want to scare Aludra anymore. He wrapped his arms around him, cuddling him close, "Shh, its alright." He murmured, "My brother is strong, if anyone can deal with his decision it would be him. I just want to find him, to help him is all and I will one day." He nuzzled against Aludra's hair, hands stroking up and down his back in hopes of soothing him and making him feel better. The last thing he wanted was to make him afraid after all.

With the closer contact, Aludra let his eyes even fall shut, letting his saddlebag down gently so he could properly wrap his arms around the man's shoulders and be held tightly and comforted, a smile coming to his face now that the story was finished, though his fear over it made him feel like a child. He nodded, adjusting himself to more comfortably tuck against Aden's chest, feeling even younger with the large gap in their heights. Then again, that was probably the one time that he actually liked his height - when it was the reason that he could fit perfectly into his lover's arms, wrapped up and protected on all sides. "I'm sure you will," he murmured softly, smiling into Aden's jacket as he just stayed close for now, sure that the moment would be ruined by something in the near future, and glad to soak it up while it was still there.

"Do we want to set up our picnic? I left the food just inside else Beryl would already have been into it." He said with a little chuckle, the child was a handful but at least he'd thought ahead so he was able to protect the meal that he had prepared for his lover and himself. He kept one arm around Aludra as he led the way over to the door where the things were waiting for them, all of it wrapped up neatly in a cloth that they needed only to untie and lay out on the grass so that they could sit down on it.

Aludra's eyes opened only slightly when Aden spoke, and he looked up at the male with a dreamy smile followed by a matching sigh. He nodded simply, giggling a bit at the thought of the little boy getting into their food and the mess that he would likely make of it and himself, shaking his head. The spawn allowed himself to be led across the courtyard-of-sorts, tail flicking lethargically behind him in a contented weariness, remembering at the last moment to retrieve both his helmet and his saddlebag.

He reluctantly dislodged himself from Aden's side -stealing a quick kiss first, of course- when they reached the door, lifting his saddlebag as a means of gesturing to it. "I brought along food as well, in case you were expecting me to do so. If not, I could definitely live without eating another meal's worth of my father's ravioli and we could simply give the lot of it to Beryl," he said with a small smile, propping the bag with his helmet against the wall before setting to work helping his boyfriend set up the picnic.

"It was sweet of you to bring some food as well, Alulu. I would love to have some of what you brought." He said, spreading out the blanket before he motioned for the pink haired spawn to sit down with him as he settled down himself. The moment everything was set up they were instantly being circled by Beryl who had smelled the food and had come running. Aden looking at him before reaching over to pick up one of a large pile of apple before he gave it a throw. Just as a dog would do with a ball, Beryl gave chase.

Aludra blushed faintly at being called sweet, shaking his head in a stubborn fit of denial, something he figured that he was never going to truly get over. "I was simply doing what I could to be considerate," he said quietly, smiling at the man who pervaded his thoughts at least seventy percent of the time. And that was only when he was awake. It was while he was unpacking his saddlebag that Beryl returned, and he gave the toddler a bit of a smile before he suddenly ran off. The spawn looked around in confusion before seeing the apple bounce off in the distance, causing him to laugh aloud.

"You certainly seem to have him trained well," the male teased softly, sticking his tongue out at Aden before pulling out the foods that he'd brought from his home. "I didn't bring a whole lot, as I don't believe that my guardian was expecting to make food for more than his already large family. In combination with what's already here, however, I'm sure that shouldn't make much of a difference," he said with a smile, placing the Tupperware containers on the blanket - one left that was filled with ravioli, two with some fancy organic salad, and a single, slightly larger one filled with ambrosia salad that Aludra had made himself. After all, he couldn't expect Noah to make something so obviously unhealthy by how good it actually tasted.

Aden whistled as he looked over the fare that Aludra had brought with him, "Looks far better then what I brought." He said, motioning to the sandwiches that he'd made for them, a large bag of chips, and a bottle of soda to drink. It had been things he could snag from the break room that looked like it would make good picnic food, "Glad that you brought better stuff along with you, I got what I could steal from the techs." He told Aludra before chuckling in amusement. The freshest thing he had with him with the apple that were meant for distracting his son with.

Aludra couldn't help laughing again, the blush on his face only darkening at further compliments to his food and the fact that he brought it. To retaliate, he rearranged himself, moving to sit next to Aden and burying his face against the man's collarbone, shaking his head defiantly at the idea of having somehow brought better food. "This is a picnic," he said, peeking up at Aden with only his eyes showing. "You brought honest picnic food while what I chose to bring may as well have been derived in an organic restaurant, courtesy of Noah By'arre," he grumbled, peeking up more to n** gently at Aden's earlobe, turning his attention back to the picnic blanket.

"Besides, gourmet food gets old when it's all that you ever eat," he stated simply, taking the Tupperware of ravioli and thrusting it at Aden, taking one of the sandwiches for himself. He sniffed it gently, not trusting himself to pull it open without somehow breaking or ruining it. So he would only do that if he absolutely had to, which meant asking Aden: "What were the ingredients used in these sandwiches. Th-that is, not the /ingredients/, but what's between both slices of bread."

Aden made a happy sound when the special food was handed over to him while Aludra grabbed himself a sandwich, he took a couple bites with his fingers before looking over at him, "Ingredients?" He asked, looking it over then peeked between the bread, "Ham, turkey, and cheese I am pretty sure, looks like there is lettuce, tomato, and mayo on it too." He said before he returned to happily eating out of the bowl that was handing to him. It was really good!

Aludra wasn't hesitant to offer the sandwich over for inspection, though when Aden didn't seem to know what was on it, he laughed behind his hand, a sly grin on his face. "Aden, you didn't happen to steal this from a co-worker's lunch, did you?" he asked with a falsely parental tone of voice, unable to keep the giggles from his voice as he slipped the ham off of his sandwich. He thought a moment before leaving the turkey on it - there was a first time for everything after all, right? He offered the limp sandwich meat to Aden with a cute little smile on his face. "Want ham?"

Aden chuckled, "Maybe?" He said, looking as innocent as possible but seemed to be failing pretty badly before he leaned forward to take the offered food from Aludra's fingers, pulling it into his mouth before he set to chewing on it, "Thanks." He murmured once he'd swallowed what was in his mouth. He grinned before going back to the ravioli's that were in the container he held. They were so tasty that he couldn't seem to slow down in eating them, looking for a moment almost like Beryl but with a lot more chewing involved.

Aludra could only grin and shake his head at the doctor's antics, taking a bite of the pilfered sandwich and chewing it thoughtfully. It wasn't bad by any means, but he had to admit that he'd had better vegetarian sandwiches. Hell, what was he saying: With his dad's money, he'd had better /AIR/ than everyone else for his entire life. Honestly, the mediocrity of the food he was eating now was the whole charm of it, and was what spurred him to taking another few bites of it before deciding that he would allow the turkey to stay.

Looking over his boyfriend, he raised an eyebrow at the way that he was devouring the food. "So, considering that school will be out for the following twelve weeks, I take it that you wouldn't voice any kind of opposition if I started bringing you lunch each day, would you?" he offered. 'Course too much of it might have some kind of adverse effect but... wait, no, this was Noah food. There were no adverse effects beyond the possibility of becoming a yuppie.

Meeting Ella: Part Two

Beryl seemed delighted as he watched the girl run up to scare the life out of one of the techs. He clapped his hands together and then set to racing forward to try to do the same, he didn't so much sneak up on the tech he found as much as he reach up, slipped, crashing into her, then went scrambling away. He was giggling all the while thinking that he hadn't done to horrible at the game though the next time he would need to try to stop a little earlier then he had the first time.

Ella was so delighted to how Beryl was playing the game and it was so funny too, to see the reactions of the techs as he really wasn't doing anything to them but what a little kid would do. After watching for a little bit to get the lay down of who the tech were and the reactions to Beryl are. On her first go she walked up to a random tech to ask her where something was. As the tech turned around, Ella's wings snarled and hissed at the tech, that made the tech jump and run off from Ella. All she could do was smile as it was so good to belittle those stupid techs and it made her feel so good. After a little bit she went up to Beryl. "So are you having fun?"

Beryl trotted over to the girl, smiling up at her, and he nodded his head as he leaned against her, "This is fun!" He chirped, patting his hands against her for a moment before he pushed away and started to run circles around her quickly, "What next, what next?" He asked in an excited manner, his Diligence blood had him always running on high and as such he could barely stand still for even a moment, "Get more candy?" He asked hopefully, she had opened the vending machine up and he was hopeful that nobody had found their mess yet.

Ella had scared a few more techs that happened to just walk behind her has her wings hissed out at them as they were too near to them and the techs jumped and ran off as fast as they could faraway from the spawn. "I'm glad that you are having fun as I find scaring the techs," she replied. "Well I don't think that we should scare anymore of the techs as then it just gets boring as they tell each other that we are here and don't get scared a often." she said as it was true and it was no fun. "We could head back and get more candy and scare more techs on the way there and then anything else you want to do as I don't have anything to do right now," Ella said as it sounded like a good idea to get more candy as it was always better after a good scaring of techs.

The little happily clapped his hands as they walked along, grinning up a storm, "Ella-la is good at the scaring game." He said, as he moved forward alternating between walking, hopping, and dancing around due to his excitement over everything from the day. He looked over at the girl and grinned, "More, Candy-Candy! My Dad won't be happy cause he doesn't like me getting sweets but they are really good!" He chirped as he bounced along.

She just had to giggle at just how cute Beryl was and how he was worming his way into her heart and that she liked him as a friend. "Well you are you. I sorta cheated anyways with my wings," she replied as she thought of other things they could do at a later time as she was just as excited as he was as it had been a really long time since she had has this much fun with another. "Oh well as your right candy is very good, but you don't want to eat too much of it our it will give you a tummy ache. But I will race you back to the vending machine and I will give you a head start since your smaller. On your ready get set go," she said waiting for Beryl to run for a little before she started to run after him.

There was a squealing sound from the boy as she challenged him to the race back and instantly he was racing on ahead toward where they had left the broken into vending machine. He had no idea why they were racing or what the prize at the end might be, all he knew was that the race would be a lot of fun! Not to mention a good way to burn off his seemingly endless energy. He came to a sliding halt as he got to the hallway that had the machine in it and spotted a tech sweeping up the mess, "Ah! No, no... Candy thief!" He squeaked, seeming to forget that he'd been the first to try to steal, before he raced forward toward the man to try to chase him off.

As she somewhat counted in her head to when she was going to give chase and when it was time she started to run after Beryl but not to fast as she wanted him to win getting there as that was fun in her book. Running after Beryl she seamed to forget that she was even in the Labs as she was very happy but that all came to a halt when she saw that he had stopped and she saw that there was a tech cleaning up what was rightfully theirs until they were done with it and she knew that they weren't and deep down part of her sin started to awaken to the sight of there food being taken. Starting to run again and faster this time right for the tech and as she passed Beryl she picked him up as it didn't slow her down too much. "That is oursssss," she said aloud with a long hiss and her wings not to happy either gave a flap as that sent a blast of air right to the tech before they would get there and hopefully scare it off as no one was going to take there food.

Beryl clung to Ella as she scooped him up, watching with wide eyes filled with delight as she and her wings successfully chased off the Tech who seemed as though he would much rather be anywhere else then where the two spawn that suddenly appeared could get him. Beryl grinned, tail wagging, and he hugged on his friend, "You did good Ella-la!" He told her, delighted with how easily she had been able to chase the candy thief off.

Holding tightly on to Beryl as she started to slow down as she saw that the tech was going away and leaving what they wanted to eat or she might have kicked his butt if he hadn't left, but it was good for her ego that they were scare of her and that is what she wanted. A little surprised at the hug Beryl gave her as that did make her happy. "Aw thanks I will do anything for you, Beryl," she said as she gave a hug in return and put him down very near the pile of candy that had been set aside by the tech for Beryl to eat as she got back into the machine to bring more treats out that were higher up for the both of them to enjoy. "So is there any other sweet that you want from the top of the machine that you want to try?"

He gave a toothy grin as she thanked him and told him that she'd do anything for him, it really was nice of her! He turned his attention then to the stuff that was being held in the top of the vending machine which was far out of his reach but not far out of the reach of the girl since she was taller then him and had much longer arms, "Chips! Lots of chips!" He chirped, motioning with one hand toward the mass of various colored bags that were being kept up in the highest part of the machine and he starred at them in an excited manner, looking as though he might start drooling at any time just from looking at them.

Ella just had to giggle as it was so cute and she had so silently thank him for being a bright spot in her life now as it was nice to be happy in a place like this. "Ok I can do that," she replied as she started to take out all of the chips out of the top of the machine and handed most of them off to Beryl to eat as she did save some of them for her to eat at a later time as she wanted to eat some of the candy bars on the lower part of the machine. Piling the chips in front of him as she was taking the last of the bags out and putting them by him. As she took out some of the candy bars for her and if Beryl wanted one as she sat down next to him to eat there bounty of good things to eat.

The little spawn happily set to work opening up the bags, dumping their contents into his mouth, chewed, swallowed, and went on to the next bag. He was through somewhere around a half dozen of the little bags when he smelled something familiar and turned to look down the hall to see his Dad standing there. Beryl lifted one hand up to wave at the man who gave a little groan seeing the mess that Beryl and his interesting looking friend had made of the vending machine. At least they both appeared to be alright though, no injuries from the removing on the glass part of the machine.

"Afternoon you two." He greeted them as he got closer.

Happily munching away at the candy and some of the chips that were before them even one of her wings were starting to think for itself as it was eating the candy bar wrapper and all. She didn't see when Beryl had waved to his dad as she was eating and being content with eating and hanging out with Beryl. She heard that they were talking to and didn't think nothing of it as she was happy. "Hello," she said as she continued on eating until she thought on it for a second and stopped eating and got all stiff in her body as she looked up to see the man not knowing it was Beryl's dad. She glared at him as she reached over and pulled Beryl closer to her to protect him as he as a snarl was forming at the corner of her mouth and her wings were loudly hissing and biting in the air to show the they would bite. "What you you want, this is ours not yours," she said not to happily as she snuggled Beryl.

Aden couldn't help but to chuckle as he pointed at Beryl, "And that is mine." He said, giving Ella a smile, "Relax, girl. I am not here to start any fights with you. I've had tech after tech coming to complain about some girl and my son causing trouble. I just wanted to come and see what was going on is all." He told her in a manner he hoped was reassuring. He didn't want to get into a battle with her since her wings looked quite dangerous, last thing he wanted was to be chewed on.
Beryl stuffed some chips into his hand before he gave his friend a smile, waving at her, "Ella-la, Dad." He said, telling Aden who she was before he continued on in eating his chips.

Ella just glared at him. "Mine too," she growled back as she as she was tried to make up her mind in what she wanted to do. He was lucky that he was a man or there might have been a fight if he had been a women. After a little bit she did calm down as she was going to trust the man for at least now as Beryl trusted him and for the fact that he was being some what nice as she knew that all techs weren't and for the fact that he didn't want to battle her to prove that she was better than those techs. "They can complain all they want they deserve it and how it feels to hurt," she said as she let go of Beryl as her wings also stopped moving and acted more like wings. "Here, its only because your Beryl's dad," she said as he handed him one of the candy bars not really fully trusting him yet.

Aden gave a bit of a sigh as he looked at the girl before he reached over to give her a poke in the forehead, "Come on now, cheer up, Ella-la. No reason to get growly with me, I can't say I really like them anymore then you do." He said before he reached down to pick up Beryl, hugging him to his side, "Wow... you feel like ten pounds heavier, how much did you eat today?" He looked toward the open vending machine before sighing, likely he'd eaten his weight in food out of there... and likely he was going to be racing around hyper for days now that he'd gotten into so much sugar.

Beryl grinned before he set to climbing up his father like the man were some sort of jungle gym and settled on his shoulders before reaching over his head to steal his glasses, putting them on despite not needing them and despite them being quite big on him.

A little stunned that this man poked her in the forehead as he wasn't scared to touch her that and to what he had said about the techs got him higher in her good books. "Well you couldn't blame me when I was abandoned her and only my sister of far had gotten a new home," she said as she did settle down some more and wasn't growly at least until her anger rose again. Ella did have to giggle as they both had eaten quite a bit of what was in the vending machine now that she looked at how empty it was and to the fact that now Beryl was climbing all over his father and it was very cute. "Its Ella and its nice to meet you despite my reactions," she said as she giggled some more at Beryl and wearing his dad's glasses.

"Its nice to meet you then Ella, my name is Aden." He said, introducing himself to the young girl, "I want to thank you for looking after Beryl for me, hes pretty hyper so I seem to lose track of him from time to time." He found himself thinking about how he needed to look into finding the file on his spawn, curious about her, about her missing sister, and what had brought her to staying in the Labs with very little attention from the looks of it, no discipline either... not that he could say Beryl had either of those things either.

Somewhat happy as it showed in her wings as the mouths on them were smiling to show how she felt. "It was no problem and I did have lots of fun with him and he is just such a cutey too," she replied as she stood up from where she was and picked up some of the treats from the vending machine and stuck it into the small bag that she had been carrying on her back. "Well see you laters, Beryl and Aden. Next time I come by we will have to have lots of fun, Ok Beryl and here," Ella said as she handed him one of her feathers. "I have to be running," she said as she turned around walk off. "I do hope they having found my stuff," she mumbled as she turned around to wave go bye to Beryl and Aden and then ran off.

Beryl waved a hand, "Bye-bye Ella-la!" He called after her before he turned back to his father, tugging on his hair before he lifted some up so that he could chew on a lock of it as they started back toward the Hospital ward... though not before Aden stole a bit of what was left in the vending machine, leaving the mess for the techs to deal with. He was a Doctor after all, not a grunt worker, so he had no reason to help with the clean up.

Aden and Alulu

When no response seemed to come, Aludra sighed softly, glancing around once again. He was scared and nervous to face Aden again, but there was a deep, overwhelming part of him that wouldn't let him just leave the lunch on a table to be picked up by a scavenger who dare tread on Aden's land. Shaking his head at his own stupidity, the humility boy started poking around the small wing, looking for the man he was here to see. Finally, that brown hair caught the corner of his eye and an instant smile was on his face, his heart fluttering gently. Never mind his hesitation, he was right to show up. This was exactly what he wanted, just what he needed.

Sneaking quietly into the room, the greed spawn did what he could to be completely silent, using his fancy little magical ability. Smiling, he leaned to press his lips against Aden's firmly, letting himself reappear. He held the kiss until he was sure that that boyfriend of his was awake before pulling back. "Rise and shine, sleeping beauty," he teased quietly, holding up the embarrassingly cute lunchbox. "Surprise, surprise, I'm all better now. Thought that I would celebrate by bringing you lunch." Pausing for a moment, he glanced around the room with a perplexed sort-of expression, making sure to keep his chin tipped down, the shadow of the hood hiding the bruises on his face. "...where's the ankle-biter?"

Aden came to slowly, looking around the area before he turned to look over at Aludra and his lips turned up into a smile, "Ahhh, Alulu." He murmured, lifting up his hands to slid them around his cute little lover, drawing him down to him, lifting his head so that he could give the spawn another kiss, "I am glad to see that your feeling better, Alulu." He had been worried when the little Greed spawn was sick, kept looking for him each day at lunch only to be disappointed when he didn't arrive.

The smile on Aludra's hidden face only grew when he was pulled closer, pressing his lips against Aden's as well, wrapping his own arms around his lover's shoulders and deepening the kiss ever-further. His tail tapped a contented melody on the floor as he pulled his tongue back into his own mouth, smiling sweetly at the doctor. "You certainly seem tired," he murmured softly, stealing yet another gentle kiss from his boyfriend's lips and trembling at the wonderful sparks that it sent through him. How could he ever, ever, ever want anything other than this? How could he even contemplate such a thing?

"I'm glad as well. Noah believes it was a poor reaction to eating so much meat. However, I stand firm to the belief that I had a stomach bug," he said, hopping up onto Aden's lap to nuzzle up against his neck, still hidden in his hoodie. He unzipped the lunch box, pulling out the two Tupperware containers inside of it. He cracked one, the air filling with the scent of warm tomatoes among other vegetables, the other adding the smell of warm, homemade bread to mingle with it. He smiled sheepishly, a blush crossing his face as he balanced both containers on his lap. "I-I made bread. It was the first attempt I actually made, though I believe I did... at least an edible job. Noah and I made the minestrone last night." He glanced up, tricolor eyes practically glowing from beneath his grey hood. "I hope that you enjoy it, as well as the lunches that my guardian made in my stead."

Aden was, to begin with, completely distracted with what he was doing. He was getting affection and kisses from his lover before Aludra was breaking out the delicious food that he brought for lunch and he happily clapped his hands, "Ah! Wonderful." He murmured, looking down at what he'd brought with him looking as eager as a child at Christmas time as the various things were opened up and revealed to him, "It smells delicious." He all but purred reaching out for the form that he brought for him before he paused, looking over at Aludra and seemed to be starring at him for a long moment before asked, "Are you cold, Alulu?" Why was the teen seeming to be hiding inside of his hood he found himself wondering in a curious manner. He forgot his food for a moment, lifting a hand up, and he pressed it to the Greed spawn's forehead as though he were checking for a fever, worrying that maybe he was out of bed and assuming he was healthy a bit to early.

A soft chuckle fell forth from Aludra's lips at the typical enthusiasm from the doctor. He lifted one of the large, hand-torn chunks of bread up to Aden's nose, moving it back and forth beneath it in a teasing manner. "I added cheese to the recipe, as well as some added spices. Certainly nothing that you have had a chance to taste before," he said sweetly, smiling at the doctor as he tore a piece off the half-loaf and dipped it in the soup. That was when he noticed the the man's demeanor had changed, attention shifting from the food to him. He shirked back slightly from the touch. The red ring of his irises crept in only a fraction and he pushed Aden's hand away with an unintended insensitivity. "I'm fine, Aden," he snapped, gaze sharpening before he felt one of his heartstrings snap, eyes getting wide as a tremor ran through him.

"I- I- I'm sorry, Aden, I didn't... I didn't mean to do that..." he whispered, voice quiet as his eyes returned to the food sitting in his lap, trying to blink away the tears gathering stupidly in the edges of his eyes. He scooped up some noodles and beans and other veggies onto the bread and lifted it toward Aden's mouth, biting hard at his lower lip. "H-here. You'll like it."

Aden froze in surprise at the tone of voice that the spawn used and he jerked his hand back, there was a moment, ever small, that Drake's image flashed behind Aden's eyes. Drake was a demon with sharp claws, teeth, horns, was something dangerous due to the mere fact that he was... well a demon. He seemed to remember in an instant that Aludra was half demon himself. He lowered his hand slowly and he nodded when Aludra apologized to him, "I... see." He murmured, turning to look at the food that was sitting there in front of him before he picked up his fork and set to stirring it around a bit before he started to eat while quietly watching the boy who was next to him, looking a bit out of sorts, and still hiding in his hooded sweatshirt.

Aludra continued to hold the bread up toward his boyfriend for too long a period of time before his arm finally tired and he allowed it to droop back down. His shoulders shook slightly with the effort he was taking to keep his stupid sobs quiet, wishing that he could... just... not... not...

Not be him.

Exactly what he had always wanted to be, anything but who he was. Something deserving or something normal. He felt his hands move the food onto the nearest flat surface robotically before turning in his lover's lap and throwing himself against the man, sobbing quietly and trying to regain his composure, holding onto him tightly. "I'm sorry!! I'm so sorry, Aden, I messed everything up, I sh-shouldn't have... shouldn't have opened my mouth..." he choked out shakily, tightening his arms around Aden's shoulders. "I just... I don't... I... y-you worry about me... a-and it feels... we-weird... I'm not- I d--" he snapped his mouth shut, looking up from his shaded area with red rimmed, tear-filled eyes, feeling like an idiot and a child as he leaned forward to press his lips against Aden's, a little harder than intended, pulling back and panting softly. "I-" he paused, not knowing what he was going to say, how he was going to finish this sentence, until he opened his mouth and blurted out the first impulsive thing that popped into his greedy little mind. "I love you."

Aden gave a jolt of surprise as suddenly Aden was in his arms, sobbing, and he slid his arms around him to hug him close, "Alulu?" He murmured, sounding more then a little worried for him. He held him as he cried out, saying among other things that had the Doctor looking even more worried, "Maybe you should lay down, Aludra? You seem a bit on the erratic side, you fever might be back." He murmured, his voice taking on a soothing tone to it. While he was, for the most part, a hopeless flirt that didn't mean that he was never able to be serious. He was about to push up to his feet when suddenly, and somewhat aggressively, the Greed spawn was kissing him deeply. He smiled when the spawn drew back, "As nice as that was I would still like to..."

The words that he was able to say trailed off and he could only stare, eyes wide behind his glasses, as Aludra announced his love in such a excitable manner before he he gave him a smile, "Do you now? Wow, teenagers these days are so enthusiastic." He said with a chuckle, hugging the boy to him.

It was official: He. Was a spaz.

Laughing awkwardly, he dropped his head onto Aden's shoulder, sniffling and scrubbing the tears off of his bruised-and-battered face with a baggy sleeve. "That was... an inappropriate and overzealous communication of such feelings," he muttered, smiling a bit and kissing gently at the side of Aden's neck. "I apologize for that... minor... er, major freak-out just then. I've simply been... feeling rather confused as of late, and it certainly seems to be afflicting my behaviors in delicate social situations. Speaking of which, not to drop two bomb shells in the same short period of time..." he said, trailing off at the end of the sentence, pausing for a moment before pulling the hood off of his head, revealing the mess of cuts and bruises that Tykier had painted across his partially scaled face, cheeks stained pink, abashed by how few marks he'd left on Ty in return.

He sighed softly, leaning against Aden tiredly, that whole emotional roller coaster along with all of the tears causing him to be much sleepier than he had beforehand. He nuzzled against his boyfriend's neck. "Maybe you're right..." he said softly, poking his tongue out to lick at Aden's neck once again, this time trailing his tongue up to Aden's lips, kissing him once again. "Maybe my fever is back." A devilish smirk slipped across his face and he licked at his lips in what was nothing less than the most suggestive manner. "Maybe lying down is the best thing for me." Where Beryl was was certainly not his concern. What mattered about it was the fact that Beryl was not here, and he was. Yay for him.

Aden gave a jerk of surprise, dropped his fork, and could only stare at his lover for a long moment before sighing, "What happened, Alulu?" He murmured, lifting a hand slowly and brushed it over his cheek lightly before he seemed to be taking in the look of his face. It looked like the kid had gotten himself in a fight with a wild animal he thought to himself, "I should get you some ice."

He told him this but the boy was leaning into him which made it harder to move so that he could fetch things for him. The Doctor's eyes sank half closed as the other started to get quite friendly with him, the complete opposite of how he'd been just a moment ago, and he looked uncertain, "I really should see if you do have a fever." Though instead of it being him playing along with what Aludra was doing he was rather serious. The boy's emotions seemed to be caught up in a rather violent flux and he was quite worried because of it. Aden shifted Aludra in his arms so that he was cradling him so that he could pushed to his feet, walking over to one of the cots, laying Aludra down on it, "Stay here Alulu." He murmured, brushing a kiss over his forehead as he went off to fetch a few things.

Yeah, that didn't work either, though he didn't blame the other male for not trusting him. He didn't feel quite right, either. Taking a deep breath, he smiled faintly. "You certainly have a point there. My sincerest apologies for worrying you, Aden," he replied quietly, allowing himself to be laid down on the cot. One of his arms raised, the palm of his hand pressing against his forehead as he took a slow, deep breath, letting his eyes fall shut. What /was/ wrong with him? Hadn't he admitted to himself only a few nights ago that he was in love with Lira, that she was the one that he wanted more than anyone else...? He sighed sadly to himself, a wry smile crossing his face. Yes, and Lira infuriated him, made him jealous for fun. Aden made his stomach turn back flips, treated him like the prince that Lirona had called him those many months ago.

The greed spawn filled his lungs once again, holding as much air as he could before letting it out slowly, trying to calm his mind. He just made a mistake, that was all that happened. He was over-complicating things by trying to hide it or make it out to be something that it wasn't. When Aden returned, the teenager pushed himself up into a seated position and dug up the ability to smile faintly through the confused cloud of thoughts that were whirling around in his head. This time, however, he decided that randomly speaking on impulse was a bad idea. Instead, he took a deep breath yet again, soothing his nerves one more time. "About what happened, Aden. It's highly likely that said particular instance is what has had me so... overstimulated at the moment," he stated, introducing the concept and trying to keep himself from throwing up by nerves alone.

"There's... this... girl. Sort of. She was... a boy. Once. When she was a boy, I admittedly fancied her- him. Whatever. Regardless, I have Drake's blood coursing through my veins, and I do not believe that it would be simple to achieve control over such a basic impulse such as greed, particularly when such a demon makes up a fifty percent portion of your DNA. You see, if it hasn't been made clear to you yet, when I love someone, whether platonic or romantically, I tend to become particularly... almost aggressively greedy over that person's attention and affection. The reason I have been unable to avoid this boy-turned-girl is that our guardians were married this past Valentine's Day, if you remember correctly," he explained, pacing himself and keeping his emotions in check this time. His tail flicked gently over the side of the cot, the boy gently flapping his ankle wings. Briefly, he wondered if he would have ever been able to fly with them.

"You see..." This was where it got difficult. "I made... a mistake. She's been dating another spawn, Tykier, for a few weeks. This hadn't bothered me until a few days ago, when she and I had been working on recording a song cover. The both of us ended up in an argument that resulted in her calling him over. She... she was doing everything that she had been doing on purpose, I'm sure of it. Every single measure of her speech and body language displayed that she was only attempting to make me jealous and..." He scoffed softly, posture becoming introverted, defeated. "And I remain the easiest target for the big green monster." It was here that he finally decided to lift his eyes, to make sure they were gazing into Aden's, trying to prove that every word that came out of his mouth was true.

"I kissed her. Not... in a romantic or sweet way, in a possessive way. I was not unhappy because she was dating someone, not because she was trying to make me envious of such a situation... I was angry because she was showing off how she was in no way mine - not my friend, not my half-sister. Absolutely nothing, when we were once best friends. That kiss was not about romantic affection or cravings or longings or love. It was my own attempt at claiming what my simpler, dirtier half believed was 'mine'. And, lo and behold, I was acting once more on impulse and raw urges than I was on intelligence, remembering only afterward that her wrath-abstinence boyfriend had front-row seats to such an embarrassing scene. So, this is what happened as a result of my stupidity, but while I have the attention of a doctor, I should come completely clean," he added, taking a long, deep breath. This was more than he'd said at one time in his entire life.

"As I know for a fact you are aware of, I tend to be excruciatingly hard on myself on the topic of making any sort of mistake, particularly one that hurts another person. Intelligence still hiding in some far-off corner, likely eloping with my dignity, I relapsed. Horribly." Speech then over, he gingerly slid himself out of the medium-sized sweatshirt. He wasn't wearing another shirt beneath it, but considering his comfort level with the doctor accompanied by the heat, he figured that would be the best idea. He held his arms close to an equally-bruised chest for a moment, ashamed more of what he'd done to himself than what had been done to him. After a final, agonizingly deep breath, he closed his eyes and stretched his arms out, palms up. Across the expanse of his scale-patched skin were frighteningly deep gashes, many of them scabbed, even more of the scabs cracked, bleeding fresh blood despite being nearly an entire week old. The cuts had even broken through his scales this time, further proof that when he said he'd relapsed bad, he meant /bad/.

Aden remained quiet as he gathered what things he needed, various bandages, peroxide, antibiotic, and a few other things that might be needed. His silence wasn't him ignoring Aludra so much as it was him letting the boy speak his part. And that part seemed to be quite a long and sordid tale that involved a girl that used to be a boy, a kiss with someone else, a fight with a wrath spawn, and more. He was arranging everything on a tray and rolled the thing over to Aludra's side along with his chair and then settled into it as the teen started to undress to reveal more wounds given to him by the one that he'd fought with... not that it seemed as much to him as it were a fight as much as it were a rather one sided beat down. Aludra seemed a little on the small side and he'd seen wrath spawn before which seemed to be rather hulking brutes.

He turned to look toward Aludra's arms as they were held out to him and he gave a soft sound in his throat like a sigh as he reached out to take one, pulling him close so he could see the wounds. This wasn't the first time he'd seen this sort of thing, not even the first time among the spawn. It seemed that their DNA made their emotions rather volatile and it had him rather worried. Not that their Boss could care less given that they were just experiments to him, "I will take care of these ones first." He said after a moment, turning to fetch a large towel from another cabinet.

He held onto it tightly, to the point that his knuckles turned white then started over toward the pink haired spawn, "I think that if I see one more of you spawn with these sorts of self inflicted wounds its going to be to soon." He told Aludra as he sat down once more and set the towel on the boy's lap, "Rest your arms on this, palms up like you have them now. The towel will catch the excess peroxide. I will need you to promise that you won't move while I am taking care of these wounds in particular, I don't want to cause them to bleed again. Where they are located they are a risk to your well being."

A part of him wanted nothing more then to scold Aludra on many fronts but it was hard for him to do so and he somehow thought that it wouldn't be a good idea for him to yell at the kid when he was already in such a mood. The best he could do for him now was take care him. It seemed that what a lot of the spawn needed was a lot of care and attention to keep them from going off and doing something extremely stupid, "You should have come to me instead of doing something like this, Aludra. I could have figured out a far better way for you to spend your time."

Even without the ability to read minds, Aludra was extremely grateful that he wasn't lectured or snapped at for the wounds on his arms. By this point in his life, he was sure that he'd heard just about all of it, having had habits such as pulling out his hair or feathers since he was a mere toddler. He'd been lectured by his parents, doctors, therapists, and, worst of all, his friends, though they tended toward more fiery and unhappy outbursts. Listening to Aden's advice, he laid his arms down over the towel gently, trying to hold still. He nodded that he would try his hardest to keep still. Awkwardly, he shifted his tail to retrieve his sweatshirt, having a bit of trouble as he slowly picked it up until one of the sleeves on in his mouth. Biting on that, he did his best to smile at Aden behind it. The pain shouldn't make him squirm this way at least, yes?

The smile faded at Aden's suggestion, eyes dropping toward the ground. He knew that he should have... Aden was exactly right, but it had been late at night, late enough that he wasn't completely sure if he would have been allowed past the gates to the Facility. But now he could keep in mind that if he and Lira got into another fight, this could be the first and probably the best place that he could come. Leaning forward, he nuzzled his head against one of Aden's shoulders, trying to smile as he sat back, keeping his arms as still as he could and hoping that he wouldn't wince too dramatically at the peroxide.

Aden watched as the boy retrieved his sweater to hold in his mouth and he gave him a gentle sort of smile, "Its going to be alright." It would likely sting given the magnitude of the wounds but he didn't want to scare the boy. Picking up the bottle he unscrewed the cap and tilted it to pour it over the wounds on one arm, then left it to bubble up while he poured it over the other. He watched the way that it bubbled up and after a moment he would pour a fresh amount into the wounds, "Just try to stay still, once its stops bubbling up instantly like that we will move on to the next step." He explain in as soothing a tone as possible, hating that he would end up needing to hurt Aludra little to heal him but that was how these things went.

Aludra smiled back as best could around sweatshirt, a faint blush coming to his face for no reason other than being shirtless in a room with Aden, biting into /anything/ for the sake of keeping himself quiet. Just seemed all-too-reminiscent of... other things. At that, said blush started creeping steadily up the sides of his face, distracting him from what Aden was doing until the cool liquid was poured across his arms. His eyes widened at the surprise, but the stinging pain that followed had him hissing through the blanket and his clenched teeth. One of his eyes, both of which had slammed shut at the sudden pain, although it hadn't been too terrible, opened up to peek at the white foaming action of the hydrogen peroxide, looking up at Aden after that. The pain ebbed, and figuring that it wasn't going to get a whole lot worse, he spit the sweatshirt to the side for the time-being. He nodded and smiled faintly. That meant they were going to do this quite a few times with how much it was bubbling, huh?

Aden leaned over to brush a soft kiss against Aludra's mouth, "Your doing very good, Alulu. Just stay as patient as you can." He said in a gentle manner, giving him a smile before he continued on. Once the peroxide had done its job he reached over for some gauze to dab up what was left over before he looked the wounds over closely, "Alright we are going to add some antibiotic now, its going to hurt since that involves me touching the wounds but please bare with it, your almost done." He said as he changed out his gloves for a fresh pair then reached over to get the antibiotic, squeezing out a liberal amount onto one hand and used the other to set to spreading it on.

Aludra admittedly tried to keep the kiss for just a bit longer, but allowed Aden to get back to his work when he couldn't lean forward anymore, smiling placidly to himself. When told to stay patient, he snerked softly and gave Aden a sheepish little smile. "Because I seem to have proven myself good at being patient, haven't I?" he asked rhetorically, sticking the tip of his tongue out at his boyfriend teasingly. Of course, the fact that he also admitted his lack of patience had him blushing once again, wincing softly as his boyfriend got rid of the extra peroxide, though he'd gotten used to how much pressure hurt considering he hadn't done anything to clean or bandage the wounds since they were there.

Nodding once again, he waited for Aden to return with the antibiotic cream, staring at the now at least partially-cleaned wounds on his arms. Well, they weren't bleeding anymore, at least. On top of that, the peroxide had cleaned the dried blood from his skin as well. When Aden returned, he smiled sweetly, making sure to keep his arms as still as he could while the doctor spread the ointment onto his wounds, biting at his lip and wincing as his cuts were slowly covered by the clear, gel-like substance.

He gave a little smile, "Well one can hope that you can behave for a little bit for me." He said in a teasing tone before he smiled, "There we go, we are going to leave them uncovered for now, let them heal that way." He explained with a little smile on his face before he studied the markings once more and then shook his head as he removed his gloves and tossed them in the trash with the other set. He was glad that he was here honestly, it didn't seem as though Vampy cared one whit if the spawn he had created destroyed themselves. It seemed that he would need to care for the both of them...

Aludra smiled, winking at his boyfriend with a slight smile. "Oh, I'm sure that you know how well I can behave for you," he stated suggestively, tail flicking a bit behind him. He did manage to keep his patience through the ointment's application. He nodded at the fact of keeping them uncovered. He knew that would mean he would have to be more careful and all of that, but it didn't bother him too much. He figured that with what Aden had done for him, they would probably heal over and stay that way a lot better than they had so far. Moving his arms gingerly to the sides, he jumped off the cot and linked his hands behind his back, standing on tiptoe to press his lips to Aden's, flicking his tail gently.

"So, what are your thoughts, Aden?" he asked, allowing himself to sound vague for a moment before kissing his cheek gently. "Any chance that you would allow me to hide out here for the night?"

Aden chuckled, "Of course, you know that I enjoy when you stay with me." He told him, he would also be able to keep an eye on him as he felt more then a little worried for the young man. He nuzzled against Aludra's soft, cotton candy hair before he withdrew, smiled, and set to work quickly cleaning up the small mess he'd made while patching up his younger lover, "Now, are any of your other wounds in need of tending? Or would some ice feel good on any of them?"

Aludra smiled sweetly when Aden agreed to let him stay over, gingerly wrapping his arms around that boyfriend of him, nuzzling up against him happily. "Yay," he said quietly and cutely, the tip of his tail wrapping around Aden's ankle. The smile didn't leave his face the other moved to clean up the slight mess, swishing back and forth gently, realizing that he still wasn't wearing a shirt, but only by the fact that it wasn't so horribly warm anymore. Besides, if they happened to... go to bed early or anything of the like, something that was an underlying thought no matter how hard he tried to get his hormone-devoured mind away from it, it gave him one less article of clothing to remove. He raised a hand, scratching gently at a yellowing bruise circling the very edge of his black and chuckling a bit.

"No, it's alright. As far as the rest of the wounds are concerned, the only thing that is becoming a problem is the fact that they currently itch terribly. But it's a sign of healing, right?" he replied, smiling blissfully up at his partner and leaning against him. He gave a soft, half-chuckle of a sigh, letting his eyes fall shut in a contented way rather than a tired way. "Sorry that I was being such a spaz earlier. However... I wasn't lying, if it means anything. I do l-l-" he paused in his stammering, head almost immediately buried against Aden's shirt, the only sign of his blush being the flaming red tips of his pointed ears. The words that came from Aludra's mouth were quiet, of course, and half-muffled, but he was proud that he managed to say them at all. "I really do l-love you..."

He smiled as he sat down in his seat, gathering Aludra up in his lap, then rolled the chair over his desk so that he could rest his feet on his desk and enjoy Aludra curled up in his arms. One of his arms wrapped around the boy while the other reached up to pet Aludra's hair in a gentle manner, "Your such a sweet thing when you want to be." Sweet but he could be a little monster as well, likely why he liked him so much he thought to himself. Aludra was interesting and as such he was never bored when it came to the pink haired spawn.

His lips turned up into a smile, "So you were serious?" He murmured, looking quite happy to hear the words. He nuzzled against his head, kissing him here and there where he could reach, then returned to hugging and stroking him.

The young geed spawn squeaked when he was tugged into Aden's lap, a smile tugging up the corners of his lips. He laid himself down comfortably against his lover, holding on tight as the two of them rolled across the floor. He stretched himself out a slight bit more when the other raised his legs, blushing brightly at the compliment and shrugging his shoulders, pressing a kiss to his boyfriend's neck. "Yeah..." he murmured, gnawing a bit at his lip and chuckling softly. "When I want to be." Softly, at first, a gentle purr formed in Aludra's throat at the soft pets, growing steadily in volume as he let his eyes close once more, smiling happily.

This time, the laugh was much more of a giggle than anything, only causing his blush to grow as he buried himself in Aden's neck sheepishly. "Y-y-yes," he whispered, the tip of is tail flicking and twitching in a cute and nervous manner. "I can assure you, Aden, it's not in my nature to lie. Though... I may do so in a position where I was expected to protect someone, but there's no one to protect in admitting my love for you..." he explained, the smile and blush growing together as he clung to his Aden just a bit tighter, quite happy despite earlier circumstances. "And, um... sorry I interrupted your lunch. It's likely cold by now, or at least tepid, but would you still like to eat it?"

Truth be told the Doctor had forgotten all about the food until it was mentioned again and he glanced over toward it and he blinked a couple times, "Ohhh, yeah. I forgot about that." He said with a chuckle, his hand stroking over Aludra's back as he starred at his food looking as though he were torn between getting himself something to eat and just relaxing where he was with Aludra in his arms and putting off food for later.

As soon as Aden's hand ran down Aludra's back, a happy groan slipped from his lips and he went limp against that lover of his, eyes barely open as he purred loudly. Regardless of whether or not Aden chose to get his food at the moment, it was highly likely that he would be stuck calling an assistant to get it for him, because it would take a dozen men and hot pokers to get Aludra to move from his position now. Wiggling a bit, he did what little he could to get even closer to the man that was acting as his bed, tail flipping back and forth like a cat's, though slightly less in the air, ankle wings unfolded and spread open and limp from his ankles. He made a soft sound that was supposed to be an attempt at speaking before he managed to find his voice again, forcing his eyes slightly open. "Yer gonna... make 'im sleepy..." he mumbled childishly before simply closing his eyes and once again nuzzling himself up against Aden.

"Good, you should rest. I won't move you at all, will keep you right here in my arms. I will likely doze off with you." He said with a smile, nuzzling against his hair again, eyes closing, rather enjoying the closeness. His food didn't matter to much for him, it could wait until later as he would much rather keep the boy in his arms then worry about something as simple as food.

Miny Run In

Aden was sitting outside of the Labs with a cigarette in hand, enjoying his most favorite vice while his son ran about willy nilly through the grounds. He turned his head to watch the way that the boy was racing about before sighing, he was really excitable, wasn't he? He gave a smile before his lifted his smoke up to his lips, taking a long drag off of it before he glanced over at the gates. He was in charge of a parent meeting today, there were less of them these days because it was no longer something the Boss was excited about due to recent events. It didn't mean it was never allowed but not something that happened to terribly often. As such he didn't mind terribly much being called away from doing stitches and giving out ice packs to do this sort of thing instead.

Despite Damon having repeatedly saying there was no reason for having a parent meeting, Seth continued to insist that they go see his daddy at the facility. In all honesty, Damon really didn't want to go back in fear of having yet another child dumped into his arms or given the news that some had done something stupid and gotten hurt like what had happened before to Ily. But, the little naga had practically dragged him out the door before he could give an answer. There couldn't be too much harm in going... right? So, within ten minutes the two were at the facility with Seth sitting on the older man's shoulders practically buzzing with excitement. A good thing he wasn't, since the rest of the spawn was wrapped around Damon's torso and could easily cause massive bruising to his ribs, if not more.

After a moment Aden noticed the fact the ones he was waiting on had arrived, his interest was perked seeing the kid that was there on the man's back. Interesting... so it was one of Coatl's spawn who had come to visit he thought to himself as he walked over to the gate, opening it up to allow the pair in, "Welcome." He greeted them, giving a nod to the pair and for a moment he found himself looking the father over in a curious manner. He wasn't bad looking now, was he? He gave a smile, "My name is Aden Boggs and I am guessing the two of you are here for a parent meeting? Is it with Coatl or with... he tilted his head in a thoughtful manner before guessing, "Or perhaps Pagiel?"

Seth gave the man the biggest grin he could muster, happily clinging to Damon for a moment. "We'ss gonna ssee Coatl! Right?" he asked, directing the question at Damon who nodded, watching Aden with interest. He had seen the look Aden had given him and recognized it for one he gave a lot of people on a daily basis. "Yeah. The patience angel is his other parent but he's insisted on meeting his demon parent," he replied, tugging a bit at the scaly tail that was growing ever tighter around his middle. "Seth, either let go or get down," he grunted, sighing with relief as the boy snaked his way back to the ground to cling to his leg.

He gave a nod of his head, "Alright, we can go and see the snake demon. Its never hard to find him since he really doesn't move to terribly often unless he is given a good reason to do so." Aden with a bit of a chuckle, that particular demon amused him for the sheer fact that he seemed to have all of the techs that dealt with him waiting on him like they were his servants. He'd talked with him on a couple of occasions and understood his reasons for how he acted and what he did, another thing that amused him.

"Just let me wrangle my son." He said, waiting for the next time that Beryl came racing by and he reached an arm out to snag the boy and scooped the excitable creature up off the group and motioned to the door with his free hand, "Shall we?" He asked as he moved to lead the way inside and toward where the newly added green house was located.

"I'm going to guess he's of diligence blood? And that definitely sounds like Seth," Damon mused, following Aden into the facility with Seth clinging to his leg like a leech of sorts. Had the boy not weighed about a fourth of a normal child his age, walking would have definitely proven to be tedious. It was too bad Ily hadn't came along, since she could carry the boy without being... well, crushed in a sense.

Seth clung to Damon's leg, tail wrapped around his leg like some sort of large, scaly pipe cleaner. "Wha's he like?" Seth asked curiously, meaning Coatl. It suddenly occurred to the boy that the demon might not like him or be far too busy to meet with him. Then there was the idea that he would be grumpy like Ily when she was getting close to her sleep day or someone had made her angry the night before. And... What would he say? Do? Ask? Thousands of questions hounded at his young mind, ignorant to the fact that the demon probably wasn't busy at all being of slothful nature and probably would like him. Maybe the meeting wasn't such a good idea after all...

Aden gave a nod of his head as they stepped inside and he put Beryl down, letting him race off knowing that he wouldn't go to terribly far and if he lost them Aden knew the little boy would head back to the hospital ward to wait for him... likely after he raided one of the break rooms for all of the snacks present.

Beryl, Ella, and the Giant Fish Tank: Part Two

Thinking on that for a little as she didn't really want to tell him too much about her as she didn't want to be betrayed like her parents had done with her and her sister. "I have been good, making sure to keep some of the techs in there place," she replied and sorta telling about the tech that wanted her to give her Beryl to her to bring him back to Aden and she had thought that she might do more that just that and she just plain and simple didn't like women.

Turning to look at Aden as she knew it would be polite to look at someone when they talked to you, as every now and then she would look back at the light show. Ella did find it a little sad that Torekane spent a long time alone as she didn't know what she would do if that had happened to her. "Ah that is interesting. Well maybe once he is here for a little longer he might want to talk about himself." she suggested as she thought it was a good thought. "That is cool, tho I think that his children as cool looking even tho I have only met and seen Beryl," she said as she looked to Beryl and smiled as she really thought he was cute and wormed into her sorta hardened heart. "So I take it the other demons don't really care to see there own spawns, besides it being required for them to do so?"

"Time might be what is required to learn more about him on a personal level." Aden agreed though he had to wonder if anyone really cared about that sort of thing when it came to the demons as much as they cared about the innate skills that he might possess instead. It was hard to tell really what the other people who worked here really cared about, most certainly not the finished product from the looks of things... instead it appeared as though they preferred all of the experimenting that resulted in the spawn to the spawn themselves. A shame really.
"I can't say for certain, I know of one other demon that does enjoy meeting with his spawn but some of the others its harder to guess what they might think and then demons like Coatl haven't had the chance to meet any of his children since he is very new to the labs." He explained to Ella.

"That is true and he is an interesting demon," she said as she really did like how he looked but right now she wasn't so sure on how she would feel seeing him up close because of his size, maybe later on when she was bigger she would ask for a one on one with him or one even with Beryl with her. Ella did have to wonder on how the other spawns thought of there demon dna and maybe one day she would have to ask someone about there feelings on it. "I guess that it would, I just wondered as I never really did meet my own demon," she said with a sigh as it would have been neat to meet him but then fate always doesn’t work in your favor. "But those meetings could be interesting to see in the long run of things," she said as she turned back to Beryl. "So you having fun over there?"

Aden glanced over at the girl, "Yes, the one that you were born of was replaced before I came to working here." He said, "It was a shame that you never got to meet with him but you and a small handful of other spawn are his legacy, at least he was able to leave some children behind." He still doubted that the way the first Gluttony demon went was a planned thing on his part though, it still made him wonder what had happened since he had only the information in the files to read over and guess from.
Beryl turned his head to look over at his friend, giving her a wave and a toothy grin. He seemed as though he were having a whole lot of fun with waving at and playing with Torekane. It would appear as though the massive demon knew exactly what Beryl was and he was pleased to be playing with what was his son. In fact the demon seemed almost as happy as Beryl himself was over the meeting even if it were through glass.

"It is but its something that can’t be helped. That is true, I did meet another that is like me but has a different virtue than I do. But there are times that I wonder to how many others there are," she said as that was another thing that she did wonder when she wasn't worrying about the techs.
Ella just had to giggle as she did find joy in being friends with Beryl as he was just so cute and a fun ball on energy. She did get closer to the window to get a better look at Torekane as he was so very interesting. "So Beryl is this your first time meeting, Torekane or have you met him before?"

Beryl smiled, "Closest I have seen him." He said, he'd seen him before but from a largest distance and was unable to interact in such a manner. He gave a smile as his hands patted against the glass and in turned the demon did the same thing. Luckily though it was thick glass and he wasn't hitting it very hard or it was likely everyone in the room would end up rather soaked were he to accidentally break the wall they were all standing behind, "I want to swim with Torekane-ne sometime! So fun-fun!" He said, pressing his face against the glass as though wishing he could will himself onto the other side.

Smiling as she was listening to Beryl, as she didn't know how she would feel about swimming as she didn't know how to swim and then she thought that it might be a little more harder to swim with wings as she could see that her feathers getting wet and making them very heavy as she had experienced that once when she had been in a rain storm and had gotten soaked. "I think that would be a fun thing to watch as it has been fun watching your light shows and for the fact that you are being so cute too," Ella said. "Besides wanting to swim with him would there be things that you wanted to ask him anything that would come to mind?" she asked.

"Ask him... OH! I would ask what his favorite-ite foods are!" He told her in an excited manner, tail wagging as he turned grinned. It was a most important thing after all! If he knew what it was then maybe he would be able to bring some of that type of food to Torekane to eat! His tail set to wagging wildly behind him as he thought on it, "I wonder if he would Cheetos-tos." They were quite delicious after all.

"That is a very important question, tho I think that he even might have had food that you have never had and the both of you could recommend different things for the both of you to try,"she said as it was also her way of sorta curiosity of not being able to meet her own demon. There were many things that she wanted to know but knew they would never be answered but then she didn't know she wanted others to know how she felt about thing as that just might make her seam soft and easy to manipulate and that was something that she didn't want to be soft as she had enough of that when she was younger and it didn't get her much in life except a hard one and hardly nothing to show for it. "Beryl what is your favorite color?'

Beryl's eyes went wide at that thought, Ella-la was right, wasn't she? Torekane, being older, probably had gotten to taste all sorts of things he'd never tried before! How lucky! His tail set to wagging before he pressed his face against the glass again, making faces at the demon on the other side before the little spawn set to giggling. Torekane made a face then licked his tongue over the glass, luckily though the water seemed to disperse the saliva of the demon so he wasn't able to cause the glass to melt.

Beryl looked over his shoulder and up at his favorite friend as she asked him that question and without hesitation he answered, "Purple." He was likely a little biased since that was the color he gave off the most when doing his glowing but it was still his favorite.

This was so entertaining to watch the both of them making faces at each other and she did wonder to what her demon was like but she had gotten the impression from the techs that he wasn't someone that you wanted to mess with or take food from, but that was about it.
"Well that is a very beautiful color," she said as Ella logged that information in her head for later use. She was even so more curious now to see Torekane out of the water as he could look different but she didn't know but she did want to ask. "I was wondering Aden is this is as close as we are going to get to Torekane?"

Beryl nodded in agreement, it was a beautiful color! The bestest one even! His attention went back to Torekane and he set to mimicking the demon as he licked the glass in return, both of them looking quite amusing to each other.

Aden shook his head at his son's antics before turning to look over at Ella, "Likely not today, but maybe one day soon. Its best to visit him just after he's eaten as he is rather calm then and is easiest to deal with when his belly is full." He explained, giving the girl a smile, "If you would like to visit him with Beryl then we can see about setting something up." He offered.

"Yes I would like that as he is very interesting demon and I would like to see him up close," she said excitedly as her wings gave a little flutter and as she really didn't know why she wanted to see him closer up but maybe that was because she wanted to see how more alike him and Beryl were as Beryl was just so cute especially when he was playing with Torekane at them mimicking each other.

Aden nodded, "I will be sure to bring you along when we visit then." He said before he looked over at Beryl, "Hey, Beryl! Come on. We should get heading back to the hospital wing, I don't want to spend to much time away in case there is someone that needs me to stitch them up."

Beryl gave a pout as he looked over at Aden, "Whaaa...? Noooo!" He said, before trying to hug against the glass as though he didn't want to go!

"Thanks," Ella replied as she gave him a smile as he was now getting more and more in her good book as she couldn't find a reason to hate him like she could with the techs as he did treat her like an equal and a little part because he was Beryl's dad.
Ella giggled at Beryl trying to hug the glass and sorta knew how he felt about not wanting to leave. It was how she felt when her sister left as it was sad and she didn't want Nina to go but knew it would be good for the longer run of things. "Its ok, Beryl you will get to see Torekane again and then you will have lots more fun and maybe come up with more things that you could talk about," she said in trying to comfort him. "How about I come and play with you for a little too," she offered.

Brokenhearted Doctor

He didn't feel anything the entire way to the Facility, not looking back once even as he heard Lirona's voice carry out past him. He couldn't feel his legs when he reached the gates. He didn't know why he was there. He stared at the ground, waiting for someone to open the fence for him. No one came.

The short greed spawn heard a shudder and a gasp fall from his throat, a choked, hurting noise. With that, he fell to his tired, worn out, numb-to-the-bone knees and wrapped his strong arms around his own chest, curling into his own little ball of quiet, painful tears. He didn't know what he was doing here. He didn't want to see Aden. He... he didn't want to see Aden at all. Didn't. But he knew that he had to.

It had been proven that he had no other alternative...

'I don't want to wait around for you forever, Aludra...'

Aden was going over a chart that was given over to him earlier, reading it over, as well as the strange information that was on it. He wasn't sure how it was done but it was something he was going to study in detail long before the information was brought to the attention of the Boss of his place. As he read the information over he started to feel the familiar itch inside of him that said he had been without a cigarette for longer then he would like.

The man lifted his gaze from his reading material up to look at the clock then over to the door, Beryl was still gone... likely off chasing after Ella who was his most favorite person in this place, one he enjoyed following like a little glow-in-the-dark stalker. He gave a shake of his head before dropping his gaze again, determined to ignore his need for nicotine when a tech appeared, knocking on the door, "Doctor Boggs?"

Aden jerked his head up, "What?" He asked, hoping this one wasn't one of the annoying techs but instead among the few that he had working for him in the medical ward from time to time, much to his relief it was, "What do you need?" His voice was more welcoming this time around, less on edge now that he saw who was talking to him.

"Someone has collapsed in front of the gates, we aren't sure what we should do about it. It appears to be one of the spawn but we aren't supposed to step outside of the perimeter fence given the contracts we have with the Boss." He said, making a motion in the direction that the spawn was in.

The doctor starred for a long moment before sighing, pushing himself to his feet, closed the filed and tossed it into a drawer of his desk, "I will go then, I seem to be able to get away with a whole Hell of a lot more then the average Tech, luck of draw I suppose." More like he was more useful when it came to the things he had done thus far for the Boss and as such he was given a bit more leeway then anyone else in this place was minus Almas and Luthor since they were Vampy's family, or at least as close as that guy had to one. After telling the tech what he was would be doing and that he should prepare a cot just in case it was needed before he was heading out at the door at a quickened pace and to the front gate to see who was there.

Much to his surprise it was not only a spawn but one that he knew quite well, "Alulu?" He called out as he hurried forward to the gate, digging out his keys so he could unlock and open the gate for the fallen greed spawn.

Aludra noticed that his brain wasn't working at a full capacity, and if it was, that capacity had been lowered dramatically since he'd last thought about it. That, or he'd never noticed how truly stupid he could be and was just realizing it now. His tail scraped over the ground rather loudly, nails digging at the skin that they found themselves pressed against, tearing up scales in the most slow and painful way possible. What the Hell was he doing here?

He didn't want to be here. He didn't want to see Aden, because he knew the only thing that he would be able to tell the man. He knew why he was there, and that's why he wanted to be somewhere else, anywhere else. He clung tighter to himself when that nickname fluttered through the air, the voice one that had talked him through the first night -well, afternoon- that he'd given up everything, made himself completely vulnerable to the first person who'd ever seen him as such. This was such a dumb idea, he was such an idiot, he was... he...

The sobs only grew harder, making his muscular body tremble only further, arms gripping him even tighter than they had been previously, thick tears pouring from his eyes. He didn't want Aden to come closer. He wanted the man to read his mind and turn around, walk away and manage to keep this terrible, horrible situation from happening. He didn't want to break Aden's heart. He didn't want to hurt the one person who had fixed him.

That only made Aludra realize how much this was hurting him, as well. How much what Lira had said was killing this entire situation, tearing Aludra's heart to pieces at the same time that it forced him to inflict the same pain on Aden. How on Earth did someone actually manage to do that?! It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair... So, gently, he shook his head. He wanted to open his mouth, but he couldn't and he quietly, silently, just shook his head.

Aden's eyes went wide behind his glasses before he was kneeling down next to Aludra, reaching his hands out to him to rest them in a gentle manner against his arms, "Shhh, its alright." He said, rubbing his warm hands up and down against his arms in a soothing manner before he took hold of his wrists, "Let go, your hurting yourself again, Alulu." He murmured, trying to get the spawn to release the rather painful looking hold that he had on himself. If he were in so much pain that he'd collapsed, that he was sobbing, and clutching at himself in a manner it must be bad.

"I will get you inside and treat your wounds but I need you to tell me where your hurting." He said, he didn't see any blood aside from where he had hurt himself with his nails which brought a look of concern to his face, "Is it your stomach again?" He asked of him, eyes dropping down as though he could see through to Aludra stomach which had caused him so much pain when they had first met. He wondered if the boy had started to stress himself out again to the point where his stomach was once more acting out against him, threatening more ulcers. It was something he didn't want to risk.

As such he gave his lover a little smile, "Would you like me to carry you inside?" He asked, sliding his arms around him and seemed to be preparing to lift the teen off the hard cement where he fallen.

Of course Aludra's non-existent telepathy didn't work. Why would it? To make things easier for him? Hah! That was certainly a laugh!! His tail curled, winding itself into a tight coil behind him. The feeling of Aden's warm hands even through the thickness of his sweater had every muscle in his body tensing like the body of a snake, making him tremble even worse. When his wrists were taken hold of, he only dug his nails harder into his flesh, now drawing blood from where he tore of both skin and scales.

Aludra shook his head jerkily at the question, hands moving upward shakily as he proceeded to claw with one of them at his chest, the area that it hurt, digging into the clothe of his shirt just above his heart. At least, that's where he thought it was. He wasn't sure. All he knew was that was where the hurt was coming from, and that was where the body-shaking pulsations were coming from. It hurt. It hurt a lot...

It was when Aden suggested carrying the other that he finally managed to actually act of his own volition. As the man's arms settled around him, a comforting, amazing feeling that made his heart feel as though it was being torn in half, he finally shoved him away. He was on his feet again within a second, still shaking, trying to stand strong, a lecture on his lips, but only a few, tremulous, pathetic words falling from his lips. "I- I- I can't!!"

"Your chest hurts?" He asked, watching the way that Aludra seemed to claw at it and Aden's eyes went rather wide with worry, his chest... that could be all number of things and none of them good he thought to himself, "We really need to get you to the hospital ward then if its your chest. I want to make sure that nothing bad has happened alright? How about we..." Much to his surprise Aludra was suddenly on his feet, moving away from him, shaking like a leaf.

The Doctor paused to his feet and took a step forward, "Can't? Can't what?" He asked, lifting a hand to rest his fingers against Aludra's throat, to feel for his pulse which seemed to be racing. He gave a little shake of his head, "Come on, Alulu. I don't want you collapsing again, how about you tell me what you can't do on the way?" He figured whatever the teen was trying to tell him was a symptom of whatever was currently ailing him. His mind was racing through all the possibilities ranging from the ones that weren't so bad, minor things, to worry about the spawn's heart. Stress could do more to a person then just cause their stomach pain and he worried that that stress might be affecting boy's heart.

"I promise I will do everything I can to make you feel better, just like I did last time." He said in a reassuring voice, "Now, please. I need you to try to calm down." As he said this he reached out to run his fingers through Aludra's pretty cotton candy colored hair.

Aludra couldn't stop the sobs from constantly hitching his voice, and every time he tried to speak, everything that he had to say completely vanished. He didn't know what to say. He couldn't go with the man, he knew that. He knew that Aden was a doctor, and believed that there was something honestly wrong with him. Which, of course, there was, but it wasn't something that Aden was going to be able to fix.

He shook his head slowly. He wasn't going with Aden, wasn't going into the Facility. "Nothing's wr-wrong..." he hiccuped, voice raspy and off-sounding, wrapping his arms around himself once again. "At l-least nothing tha-at he -that A-A-Aden- c-can fix..." he rasped, knowing that what he was going to say would ruin any chance he ever had at so much as talking to the man again. He didn't want it to end, he didn't want to stop...

...but he wouldn't survive losing Lira.

"We. We can't, Aden. I- I-" he stammered out, before his voice was once again washed away by tears, overtaking his speech once again. Why, why did this have to happen?! He didn't want to leave!! He didn't want to!! "I w-w-on't g-go with y-y-you. I c-c-can't. Anymore. E-e-ever. I c-c-ca-an't, A-A-Ad-den..." he explained shakily, wishing that he could get his point across.

He didn't push the other man's hand away when it was brushed through his pale pink hair, only letting his head drop. Tears dripped from his face one-by-one to the ground, leaving a faint pattern across the concrete. The affection only made it hurt more, only made him realize that he wouldn't know something like this again. At least, nothing quite like this... never... again?

Needless to say the Doctor was more then a little confused if the look on his face was to be believed. He starred at his lover for a long moment before stepped in closer, his hands both moving to cup Aludra's cheeks in a gentle manner before he lifted the teen's face to look up at him, "Alulu...? I don't understand." He murmured, "What's wrong? Did I do something to hurt you?" He asked, wondering if perhaps he'd to friendly? Held him to tightly? He wasn't sure but he found himself worried about something entirely new now, "Just tell me what it was I did wrong and I will change it, Alulu." He said in an ever gentle manner before he lowered his head to press a kiss to Aludra's forehead. He wasn't sure what he'd done but he was determined to fix it. The idea of losing his cute little lover wasn't one that he liked in any way, shape, or form...

"Please, don't say that you won't or can't... Just talk to me, we can figure this out." He told him, running his thumbs along Aludra's cheeks to wipe away the tears that were falling from the teen's eyes. He felt his heart clench at that expression, seeing him so sad and in pain... it made Aden want to make it better, to help him smile again that cute smile of his again.

Aludra's lower lip quivered at the feel of those loving hands pressed against his cheeks, and he bit gently at it. He couldn't break down completely. But at least Aden knew what he meant now. Just... how could he possibly explain himself? How could he tell Aden, the only one he'd ever expressed his love for, the only one he'd ever been with, the first person to help him get better instead of just hating him for his flaws... how could he tell that man that there was someone else, someone Aludra was afraid that he would honestly fall apart without?

At this time, it seemed as though Aden was that person...

The sob that broke from his lips at the idea of Aden having done something wrong sounded vaguely like a bemused laugh, a painful feeling that only further added to the tightness in his chest. He shook his head. It was all he knew how to do, and at least it told the man that, no, he hadn't done anything wrong. He could never do anything wrong, at least not that Aludra could imagine...

The kiss only made him shake more, sob just that much harder. It made him want to fall against his chest, wrap his arms tightly around the man's waist, never let go again. He wanted so much to just give in to such a wonderful image, such a perfect idea. But thinking of it only reminded him that if he gave in, Lirona would fade from his life forever. It was like thinking of a picture of himself, his life, with the color drained out of it forever, the passion gone. No matter how much he was loathe to admit it, Lira had been... she'd always been a driving force to him. She'd always been the passion that backed his every action. He couldn't believe he hadn't done this sooner, long before being wrapped tightly around Aden's ring finger.

He felt a sob choke his words again when the doctor rubbed his tears away, and shook his head, raising his own hand to scrape the sleeve of his sweater across his patchy face. "I'm s-sorry... I'm so-o so-orry..." he whimpered, placing both of his tremulous hands atop Aden's, lifting them slowly and lifting them from his cheeks, handing both back to Aden as though he was returning a gift from God himself.

"I-it's my-y own st-st-stupid f-fault..." he stammered weakly, keeping his voice quiet in the hopes of not allowing it to be consumed by his tears once again. "I sh-sh-shouldn't h-have st-started any of thi-is in the fi-i-irst place. No-ot when I kne-ew that there existed so-omeone who c-could unr-ravel it at the s-eams without even t-trying... I sh-shou-ouldn't ha-ave let you b-believe th-th-that this w-w-w... w-would ha... that th-this," he tried to continue, but his voice was bogged down with too much emotion and he hugged himself more tightly, trying to keep from doubling over at the pain inside of himself, trying to keep from collapsing again.

"I sh-shouldn't ha-ave let y-y-you think tha-a-at you wo-would... th-that this c-cou-could have la-last f-f-f-fore-ev-ever..." Yet the tone in his voice betrayed one simple fact. Not only had he led Aden to believe that they would last, that they could be happy; but that he had convinced himself that it would be possible, as well.

Aden's eyes went a bit wide behind his glasses as Aludra pushed his hand back to him and for a moment he was standing there frozen, then slowly seemed to start to understand what was being said to him. Someone else? There was something else in Aludra's life? Then to be told that Aludra shouldn't have let Aden think that this would last forever. He starred for a long moment as though he were trying to figure out what it was that he should say before he took a step back to put distance between himself and Aludra.

Slowly the Doctor crossed his arms over his chest and he put a smile on his lips that didn't quite reach his eyes, "I see... I suppose that I couldn't expect someone like you to stay with a boring old man like me." He said, seeming to be trying to keep his voice steady. It wasn't as though he were the the sort that had planned to settle down anyway, had rather enjoyed his freedom and flirting with anyone interesting that came along. When Aludra came into his life he had ended up doing exactly the opposite of what he'd been used to doing so long, had spent his time either with the pink haired spawn or waiting for him to arrived, had gotten to used to the meals shared with him, to used to being affectionate with him.

"I am sorry for pushing you into something you weren't interested in Aludra." He said, using the spawn's given name for the first time in a long time, "Perhaps its time for you to go home."

Aludra could practically feel the emotions radiating off of the doctor in waves. The exact feelings that Aludra had been expecting, had told himself to anticipate. The exact feelings that he couldn't stand. The feelings that, no matter how prepared he was to experience, he wanted to fix immediately. But he was no longer a player in this game of give-and-take. He was no longer the solution to the problem that he'd now presented. Now, he was the problem. He was the pain that someone else would have to ease from his loving doctor's- from the loving doctor's heart.

He only sobbed louder once he realized that, as well. Aden was no longer his. Willingly, he had pushed away someone who actually wanted him. Not someone who wanted him so much that they would threaten to leave, threaten to break him if he didn't forfeit everything else. Someone who wanted him just to have him close, just to love and be loved by that stupid, selfish, obnoxious, ridiculous greed child who could never figure out what it was that he truly wanted, at least not above anything else.

Right now, he just wanted Aden to be happy.

But he couldn't do anything to fix that.

"A-A-Aden, pl-please, I di-idn't me-ean... I d... I ne-ever li-ied to you. Ho-owever y-you want t-t-to take tha-at, fi-ine, but ju-ust re-e-emember th-th-that wha-atever I've s-s-said to y-you... I ne-never lied t-to y-y-you..." Aludra whimpered, trying to tell the man that he loved him, he had, he did, he had wanted this, wanted him so much more than he could ever put into words. And that was as well as he could say it without only making everything worse.

The last place his tricolor eyes drifted to was the man's pinky finger, where a small, silver-banded ring clung to him. A purity ring. A ring that was supposed to be worn my someone who abstained, by someone who still carried with them any kind of purity. Yet, for Aludra, it was his purity. It was that which had kept him innocent, that which he had handed off to the first person he had ever truly loved, both emotionally and physically.

He didn't make it an entire block away before his weakened legs gave out beneath him. Falling to his knees, Aludra curled into himself once again, crying quietly to himself as he clawed at his skin, desperate to bleed the emotions out which were killing him from the inside, allow them to ease out from irritated pores on his olive skin. But no matter how much he bled, the pain didn't leave. It didn't subside. It didn't changed.

Nothing was going to change.

Ella-la Wakes At Last

Slowly coming too as Ella didn't know how long she had been out or what happened to that woman and she hoped that she was dead as she deserved that fate. Opening her eyes to see that she wasn't familiar with these surroundings but she did feel safe staying right here for a second as she got her bearings as she felt so very stiff. Once she felt that the world stopped spinning did she get up from were she was laying thinking that a good stretch would be good to get unstiff. Ella still felt a little strange when she got up and closed her eyes as she stood there to see if it was her eyes. Opening them up again to see that it wasn't her eyes did she start to stretch everything out as she discovered when standing that she had grown as she was sleeping. Ella when in order of starting from her head and was going to stretch to her legs. Stretching out her wings and then petted each of them as they in turn nuzzled her as she continued to stretch out her tail...she stopped confused at that thought. 'I didn't have a tail the last time I checked,' she thought to herself as she turned her head to check if her thinking was right as she herself thought she was going mad. Ella didn't see anything as she was trying to look back there and didn't know that she was getting closer and close to the cot and tripped over it as she was sorta spinning around to see her tail and fell with a loud splat sound over the cot and onto the ground.

"Ah! Ella-la? Are you okay?" Came a voice from where Beryl was crawling around on the floor, having been following along after a random spider for a while now, bored out of his mind, unable to sit still while waiting for his bestest friend to wake up. Now that she seemed to be awake though he scooped up the spider that he'd been stalking, tossing it into his mouth. While chewing he walked over to where the larger girl had fallen over, "Huh... you seem... taller Ella-la." Taller and other stuff as well, did she always have those things on her chest? He didn't think so... huh...

Ella smiled when she saw her best friend walking towards her. "I be ok, Beryl," she said as she got up from how she had fallen and sat on the ground and then she did spot that she did in deed have a tail now, a little one that sorta matched her tail and clashed with her wings as she was a little shocked over them now being all green, but then she like them that way as green was her favorite color. "I do as it looks that I grew when I was sleeping along with my wings changing colors and getting a tail," she answered as she pointed to her tail and then had to wonder on what other changes had happened not really realizing that he chest had gotten bigger as the tail was a very new and weird sensation to have. She did have to wonder to how long that she had been out as it seamed to be only a little amount of time had passed. "So how long was I out, Beryl," Ella asked as she didn't want to bring up that female tech had injected her and now was thinking that it might have been the cause of her change.

Beryl shuffled closer to her, the little toddler gave her legs a hug, eyes closing for a moment in a happy manner, "Glad your awake, Ella-la... you were sleeping forever." He murmured, at least forever in child time that was! He felt as though he were waiting forever for her to wake up and given that the boy rarely waited for anything only made time seem to crawl that much more slowly for him. He lifted his head to look up at her, tail wagging in a manner that made him look like a happy puppy that finally had its owner back.

"I'm glad too," she answered as she picked up Beryl and gave him fierce hugs as she had missed him and for the fact that she also had strange dreams as she slept and not all of them of what she could remember weren't nice. "Well don't worry about me sleeping that long again as it wont happen again," Ella said as she knew it wouldn't happen again but then her hate of techs had grown to what had happened even tho she didn't remember much of what happen. "So since I'm awake now is there anything that you want to do?"

Beryl peeked up at her with his wide, glowing eyes for a long moment before nodding. If she said that it wouldn't happen again he believed her. He knew that Ella-la would never lie to him after all. Giving a smile and hugging her that much more tightly for a moment the little spawn finally withdrew, "We should tell Daddy your up! Hes been worried and hovering." He explained, tail swishing behind him, his many lures on his mow-hawk glowing a bit before he turned to looked at the door.

Ella thought to herself that it was a little strange for Beryl's dad to be worried about her and for him to care. But she wasn't going to be rude to let others worry about her any long now that she was up as there was lots of things to do and hanging out with Beryl was top on her list and one thought that maybe she might have to find another place to live sometime soon even tho she hated the idea to being away from Beryl and then thought that she would just have to visit a lot. "Well then lets not keep him waiting," she replied as Ella put Beryl down and got up herself as she smiled at Beryl and ruffled his glowy mow-hawk. "Why don't you lead the way," she added as she thought to where she might be but wasn't too sure right this minute.

TBC...