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"Meme, stop." A high, childish boy-voice carried right through the restaurant, pitched exactly for his sister's ears. "It's not nice to bite."

Then, in a sudden swoop, Cressida was there - dropping a small avalanche of bags, setting Quixana beside the other children, shooing Courage to stand near Oblivion, and delivering a tender kiss to Leon's cheek. "He's right, little Naiad," the offender's mother said mildly. "Don't take advantage of Walter like that." She paused then and widened her eyes. "-Walter-," she laughed. "You've grown up so much. Are you a man yet?"

Quixana rolled his eyes but his smile never left, clearly no matter what inane thing his mother said meant nothing compared to his love for her. "Hey, Walter. Missed you."

"It's okay, it's not bleeding... much." Walter said, rubbing his neck with a sheepish grin. "Hey, Xana, I got bigger." He said, grinning. "You did too, huh?"

Kitsumai went shy again, smiling and waving at the newcomers, her notebook hugged to her chest.

"Okay, four kids meals, two with the boy's prizes, two with the girl's, one chicken salad, four sprites, a coffee for Cressida, and two dollars in change for Oblivion." Ice said as she doled them out with expertise. "Quixana! You look so grown up!" She said as she handed him his kids meal. "Very handsome." She added.

"Anemone does that with anyone," said Leon, which was a patent lie: but he was starting to feel the odd father's predicament of being critical of any little boy his daughter was affectionate of. (Except for Quixana, who didn't count.) "She likes other people."

"Fsss," said Annie, and curled up against Walter's back and the chair: she promptly started to suck her thumb and doze off, being uninterested with everything else that was going on. Her mother was there, so obviously it was a safe time to get in some sleep. (It was a fairly Kodak moment.)

The brunette held up a bright red car and smiled. "And it's my favorite color," he announced cheerfully. Then he craned his neck to better peer at his sister, placidly sucking her thumb and half-asleep behind his friend. "She's not bothering you, is she?"

"It's a full house!" Cressida declared with a laugh. She delicately selected a french fry and nibbled, head tilted to one side. "I don't know how you manage it. Quixana and Anemone and their attendants keep us going day and night and it's just two, well, four of them."

Kitsumai nodded, looking serious as she nibbled on her own chicken nuggets. She tried to be good!

"Oh, Kisa and Jade are adults." Ice said, shaking her head. "They're great babysitters. They're both going to college, and Jade's got a job as a receptionist at a doctor's office." She went on, smiling at Kitsu. "But yes, Kitsu's a very good girl."

A faint blush crossed Kitsu's cheek, happy with the praise.

"Adventures that involve being inside and not going anywhere off the property," his father said (more than hypocritically, considering his own childhood.) Then: "Anemone, take your tongue out his ear." (She didn't.)

"That's a good idea. I know some but it's been -so- long." Cressida absently rearranged her fries again. Her free hand pointed to the notebook. "Now that is gorgeous, sweetie," she complimented. "And I know art. Leon made these earrings that I'm wearing." Tilting her head, she shook away a curl of mahogany hair to display daringly dangly earrings. Especially daring considering Anemone's tendency to grab things that interested her.

"-Arrested-?" Quixana paused, nugget halfway to his mouth. "But that's -bad-. That's really bad. It's..." He searched for the appropriate word and, in doing so, his eyes settled on Leon and sparked memory. "It's dishonorable." But then the little monkey came back in time to have Xana lean closer and whisper, "Better not to ever, ever get caught."