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Ophi flapped his wings once as Stala hurried around him, golden eyes widening a bit as he half-turned to watch what exactly she was planning on doing. The feathers fluffed themselves as she softly toyed with them, but he didn't complain or tell her to stop, he just regarded her silently.

Apparently, she finally realized what he had told her in the first place, and as she grabbed onto his hand once again, he had no choice but to follow after her. He cringed slightly at the high-pitched gibberish she was emanating, wondering why exactly she was doing it. Following her gaze back and forth along the beach, it seemed like she was looking for something, but whatever it was must not have been that important.

As they neared the deck, the boy led Stala around it to the side where the staircase resided, tail curling as he looked back at her and pointed up at the deck. Starting up the stairs, which were much harder to go up than down, he frowned slightly and grasped the railing with his free hand as they slowly climbed. "I not 'upposed to be outtide, Mama intide an' 'upposed to come out wit' me."

Ophi climbed up to the last step and paused in front of the gate, breathing a bit more heavily and feeling slightly hotter (which made it worse), but otherwise unaffected by the climb. He climbed staircases numerous times on a daily basis, after all, he was used to such exercises. Turning, his smooth brow furrowed a bit as Stala asked her question; having no clue what she had just asked of him.

"Come on." He said, opting to ignore her question. Turning back around, he put both hands on the gate and pushed it open, not even waiting for it to stop moving before he slid passed and hurried back to the open glass door. Assuming that Stala was following him, he slipped through the crack and huffed loudly; pleased to find the house exceptionally cool compared to outside.

Looking back out through the glass, he stuck his head through the opened and narrowed his golden eyes; wings fidgeting. "Come on, it not hot intide."

Ophi's wings started as Stala grabbed his hand again, his arm instinctively lifting and pulling away from her a little, but he knew she wouldn't let go unless he actually yanked his hand from her, which he didn't feel like doing. He silently followed her, finding her leading him in his own house not at all strange, and he looked around the large living room the sliding door opened into.

"Mama? Ah you here?" He called, not nearly as loud as Stala, though the girl wouldn't know about his mother’s sensitive hearing, thus they didn't need to yell. His tail coiled in the air behind him as he heard bare feet padding softly against the wooden flooring of the hall, a small smile curving his mossy-hued lips.

"Who the hell..." Rhia trailed off as she stepped from the hall into the living room, pale eyes landing on Ophi and the child at his side. A slender brow arched above her sunglasses and she cocked one of her hips to the side, placing a hand against it. "Aren't you a little young to be bringing home girls?"

"Mama." Ophi said, golden eyes sparkling happily. He turned to the girl at his side and paused for a moment, "Dis... uhh... dis Tala."

"That's very nice." Rhia glanced behind the toddlers, noting the open glass door and shaking her head a little, brushing aside a curl of two-tone hair. "You know you're not supposed to go outside by yourself, and now you're off kidnapping other children?"

"We hab... hells." He said softly, as if bringing the seashells along explained and dismissed everything else. His happy expression falling slightly, he glanced over to Stala for a moment before looking back up at Rhia.

"Come on," She sighed, gently scratching her scalp just below one of her curved horns. Not bothering to put on a pair of shoes - or anything else besides the hot pants-like jean shorts and tight, black tank top - she walked passed them and over to the sliding door; pulling it open farther and stepping out onto the deck. She turned and motioned for the two to follow her, the gesture a bit impatient, "We need to find whoever she came here with so we can give her back. I sure as ******** hell am not gonna keep another one."

Rhia stretched one wing out a little as the toddlers ambled onto the deck; the large shadow it cast falling over both Ophi and his new friend to keep them sheltered from the harsh sun. At Stala's comment, Rhia glanced down at the child and arched a slender brow, her expression causing Ophi to giggle softly, a scaled hand placed over his mouth.

"I'm bigger than most people, ma'pe l'et ." Rhia smirked and idly tugged on one of her top's straps, having no shame whatsoever when it came to her exceptionally large chest.

Ophi reached up and gently ran his fingers over a smooth, black feather in his mother's wing, causing her tail to twitch in the air a little. As her long ears perked a little at the voice calling, the boy left the moderate comfort of shade and went over to the deck's wooden railing; peeking out between two boards at the beach.

"Looks like we won't be needing to wander around aimlessly, after all." Rhia leaned her backside against the railing of the deck, pulling a cigarette from the back pocket of her shorts (which looked like the only thing that would ever fit besides a credit card) and stuck it between her dark lips. Touching her index finger to the end, there was a brief spark before she inhaled deeply, having lit it with a simple touch. "You guys just wait here until she comes, okay? It's too hot to go traipsing through the sand."

Ophi turned away from the beach and looked over to his mother just as she stretched her enormous wings out behind her and flapped them once; fluffing the feathers a little before she loosely folded them in against her back. Looking to Stala, he made a small motion with his hand for her to come over here, his own wings imitating his mother's. "Yo mama out dere, yah?"

Ophi looked over to Stala and smiled as she tried to copy Rhia; the other child doing just as good a job as when Ophi himself tried to copy his mother's tongue. He looked over to see Ioyla trudging through the sand, looking extremely out of breath and miserable, and pointed a chubby finger at her, "Yo mama coming."

Rhia grinned at the shape Ioyla was in by the time she made it halfway up the stairs, taking the cigarette from her mouth and touching the tip of one fang with her tongue. She exhaled smoke out through her nose and mouth, giving Ioyla a rather distasteful once-over, "I have a kid; she seems to have followed mine home."

Rhia leaned against the wooden railing, silent for a moment, blowing smoke out her mouth in a swift burst as she eyed Ioyla behind black lenses. She almost didn't understand a word the other woman had said - what the hell kind of ******** up accent was that anyhow? - and a small sneer of distaste twisted her full lips, tail flicking in the air and gently slapping against her tan, muscled thigh.

She didn't have to answer, however, as Stala quite literally dragged Ophi towards the other woman. The boy looked slightly flabbergasted as she proceeded to whirl him around and poke at his wings. They stretched out as she did so and flapped a few times, a red-streaked feather loosing itself and see-sawing to the wooden deck.

His hood spread outwards as he whirled back around, not liking to be treated that way, and not liking the fact that he was forced to show his back to someone he didn't know. Tail coiling in the air and wings fanned out, his mouth yawned open for a moment and he hissed loudly; slitted eyes glinting as his fangs flexed themselves.

Rhia let out a soft, cruel laugh, large fangs flashing in the sunlight as she grinned. One arm crossing underneath her breasts, she flicked her head to the side to get a single, red-and-gold curl out from in front of her eyes, "That's my boy."

Ophi blinked, hood relaxing itself and wings dropping a little as he looked at Stala and her mother. It hadn't been nice of him to do that, he knew it, even if his mother seemed to be proud of him for it, and though he had just met her, he didn't really want Stala's mother to take her and leave just yet.

"Don'... do dat." He said quietly, a hand coming up to his mouth as he gently touched one of his fangs, now retracted, with his forefinger.

Rhia felt no awkwardness in the silence between the two, and if Ioyla did feel any, the redhead didn't give a damn. She was used to people feeling uneasy around her, and they should, she wasn't going to take any bullshit they might try on her, and she wasn't afraid to teach that in a painful lesson if they tried anyhow. She watched the other woman through disinterested, pale eyes as she shuffled about, seemingly unable to stand still for a moment, like an impatient child.

Upon Ioyla's reaction to Ophi's small outburst, her lurching for Stala, Rhia cast her cigarette into the sand just off the deck, movements swift and precise as she stepped over to the boy and stopped just behind him; eyes flashing down at the other two from behind her sunglasses. Her enormous, bi-colored wings spread out to either side; dwarfing the four that stood on deck and casting nearly the entire structure into shadows. Dark lips set into a grim line, her long ears flicked lightly as she stood ready, feet apart and hands formed into fists at her sides; black, curved nails biting into the skin of her palms, though not enough to draw blood.

"I'm Rhiannon, and this is my son, Ophiuchus." She said, the normally velvety tones of her voice a bit harsh and clipped. Being six feet tall in height, the demoness had no trouble lording over the other woman in a warning manner, shoulders squared and back rigid. "The child did nothing destructive that I'm aware of, at least not to my home or to my family."

Ophi stood in front of his mother, looking back at her with a slightly fearful expression. He could feel her power prickling along his skin, the darkening of her aura casting an uneasy feeling in his stomach. He knew she was just looking out for him, but he had seen her this way once before, and he knew it was a very, very bad thing.

His wings tucked themselves in as close to his body as they could, tail falling still behind him and hood pulling itself in as far as it would go, head tilting forward a little as he gazed at her; a purely instinctual gesture that meant he bowed to his mother's superior strength and would not go against anything she did or said.

Rhia watched them through glowing, narrowed eyes as Ioyla gripped Stala's shoulders; a small smirk playing across her face. If the young demon was foolish enough to start something, the redhead would be more than happy to sat Ophi aside and oblige the other with more than a standoff.

"Yes, I'm sure it was." She murmured flatly, watching the child be picked up and carried away. Her wings moved in the air for a moment, curly hair being pushed forward over her ample chest in the soft wind they created, before they finally folded in and settled back against her body.

"Bye, 'Tala!" Ophi called after the pair, raising a small hand and giving the girl a quick wave. Turning, he looked back up at his mother and frowned a little, knowing she had scared them away.

"Don't give me that look. You ******** drag home someone else's kid and expect me and the b***h that spawned her to get along?" Rhia bent over a little and held out her hand for Ophi to grasp. As he took hold of one of her fingers, he glanced over as the gate swung closed after his new friend and 'the b***h that spawned her', before he and Rhia walked back into the house and out of the heat.