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The smirk that twisted the woman's lips was anything but appropriate, though Stae did give a tiny shrug, spinning so that her legs dangled over the edge of the desk and slipping away. "Bring the kids in," she said, stretching out the automail appendage and working her shoulder slightly before moving for the door, "We're a.. governmentally funded center, you won't have to pay for food for them all here. And there'll be plenty of kids for them to meet soon enough."

Lillian slipped backwards with catlike speed as Stae moved for the door, grabbing a handful of brightly colored ribbon and yanking Asra with her just as the door slammed open with more force than was necessary. Orestae turned a cute smile on Lillian, "Careful how close you stand to the doors, kids," she said with a knowing little smirk, "Might get hit."

Stae snatched her cloak off of the rack by the door and swing it about her shoulders; the ocean winds could make even summer nights on the Isle chilly.

"Where are you going?" Lillian asked, arching a brow in suspicion.

Stae turned just briefly, throwing her daughter a wink, "To the bank, where else?"
Lillian facepalmed and opened her mouth to protest, but her words were cut off by the slamming of the screen door.

Later that day.

"Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaey!" Came the deep, smoky screech as Orestae skidded into the hallway, the wires of her headphones flailing wildly as she caught the doorframe and forced herself to a stop. In true morning fashion, the founder and manager of the Benedict Center was dressed only in an oversized shirt, some black underwear, knee-high rainbow socks, and her usual sunglasses.

"Janie's got a guuun," she half-wailed, half-sang, her voice just pretty enough to make dogs whine and paw at their ears and force most humans into flight, "What did your daddy doooo. A'what did he put you throoough," She moonwalked backwards, spinning around to come face to face with a very red-skinned Lillian.

"Out in the sun too long?" she questioned with a grin, earning a foul glare for her efforts.

"I was scrubbing myself. Naked boy touched me. I didn't know you were back already."

Stae shrugged, performing that perfect moonwalk smoothly down the corridor, "Been back for a while," she said, knocking over the coat rack on the process.

"You didn't.."

"Of course I did," Stae said with a grin. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a secretary to check on." Anything else that Lillian might have said was lost as Stae came crashing through the door of Alania's office, sliding to a halt. "Lunchtime, woman. Let's go."

As a side note, while organizing Alania would find no ban receipts, no government grants, nor anything else to support Orestae's claim that the Center was governmentally funded.

Now, back to the business at hand.

For a moment, Orestae appeared very, very confused. She blinked once, polling her headphones off of one ear and staring at Alania through a veil of blue-tinted glass. Several seconds passed in this fashion, before Orestae finally looked down, pursing her lips in momentary thought. "Huh," she mumbled lowly, "I'm not wearing pants, am I?"

Spinning on her heels, Stae marched out of the room, vanishing up the stairs. Upon her return, her outfit wasn't much more suitable for public display; a bright purple tube-top, layered skirts of blue and black, rainbow socks that came to her knees, and black combat boots. "Happy now?" she commented, staring out over the tips of her glasses. "Come on. I want funnel cake."

Damn.

Stae winced as that voice reached her ears, having all the effect of a particularly nasty shock. Half-tripping. The alchemist paused in the doorway, a metallic hand halfway to the broken doorknob. The other lifted to her hair, scratching at her head in silent contemplation. It was with a faint sight that Stae spun around, slumping lazily against the doorframe, "Tell you what, Azzy," she said with a lopsided smirk, "You put pants on and you can come, but I'll be damned if I'm takin' your naked butt into a restaurant with me."

"Please do," Lillian said lowly, her skin still an unflattering shade of reddish-pink. She emerged from the playroom with a faint scowl, a pile of foil-spined children's books clutched to her chest. "I swear to god, if you leave him here with me alone, I'm going to hang him by those ribbons."

Stae snorted, shifting her shoulder against the doorframe due to an unpleasant itch, "Tell you what, Lil. Take some money out of the account and take Asra to the carnival. Take Dee too, I'm sure they'll love you for it."

If at all possible, Lillian's face grew even redder, "There is no way I-"

"Sorry sweetie, we've gotta get going or we'll miss our reservations!" Kicking open the door, Stae gave a little wave and headed out.

Syd arrived at the address printed on the back of the card, and it looked nothing like a typical day care center. Now mind you, he had not seen but possibly four daycare centers in his lifetime, but this looked not in the least bit like anything that would be hospitable for a child to be raised in. He was beginning to feel grateful that he had decided to bring Cerean and that dagger hidden in his clothes...it made him feel a little more at ease about things. Cerean got out of the SUV, and the springs almost made the car jump in place. As it was now habit for that to happen, neither the gemgoyle nor his elven friend paid it heed. Indeed, Syd was more interested in getting his daughter out of the car than seeing their rendition of a lift kit.

He made his way to the door and knocked politely, all the while keeping his companion at the ready. He paused and wondered what awaited him on the other side of the door as he waited for a response.

Asrafel thought it was adorable to be called a monkey. He made monkey sounds as Lillian pushed herself away, but his attention was pulled by the door knock. Once Lillian opened the door and answered so abruptly, Asrafel zoomed forward and buzzed around the girl, trying to get a look at the people at the doorway by buzzing to the left of her, then to the right, then above, then under the arm that hold the door - always moving too fast for her to catch him.

But then he stopped. He looked as though he was almost perched on her head as he leaned over, and his eyes went wide as they fell on Shauna. A large grin split his face, and he giggled softly.

"New people, new people! Let them in, Lillian!" He proclaimed, in a sing-song voice.

Syd made his way in and sat down at one of the couches. Cerean moved with caution and eventually lay down near him. He was not sure of how sturdy the house was, but he knew that it would not be wise to make the floor fall out from underneath him, even if he could fly. He knew Syd reinforced some areas of his own home just so that Cere could move about without having to take such precautions. Shauna giggled and cooed at the prospect of watching Cere move so cautiously. It was like he was sneaking up on unsuspecting prey, if that prey were to his liking. Normally, it was burnt food that was to his liking, so it would not be hard to sneak up on.

Shauna then noted the floating boy in the air, and snatched up one of the small plushies from the daiper bag Syd brought. Giving it a tight hug, she offered it to the fairy looking thing with a giggle.

"I would be delighted to have a tour of the facilities you have. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Asrafel." Syd was about to ask the fairy why he did not wear clothes, but yet again, his social graces got the better of him, and he reasoned that he would later on find a way to worm the question into his conversation with the intriguing boy.

Syd did a brief scan of the room, noting the coat rack with only one coat on it, and the pair of children working at the daycare. He smirked a little at the thought, and wondered what kind of daycare would break child labor laws by letting a boy such as the being before him work, and then there were the decency laws to be involved with, and a half a dozen others...he best thought not to question those. Given the circumstances of how he had become a father to Shauna, and how he had found the place, better the less he knew of things.

Shauna, after noting that the colorful young lad did not take the stuffed toy from her, instead chose to hug it close again, and begin to teethe on it. It seemed her teeth were coming in already, and she had just been born a few days to a week prior. Syd wondered about how fast she grew, and her life cycle, and figured that her time would come to an end when it would end. He would, however, enjoy the time he had with her now, and that was good enough for him. He had not donned his ceremonial mask in a long time, and his face, normally so very fair and pale, had taken on a light tan in comparison to it's normal near whiteness.