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Josh's glare slowly subsided into a bewildered stare. He had a hard time comprehending the situation. The way the scorpion listed off the events so nonchalantly made them sound like something you would find in a comic book or a kid's story. So his prank had gone horribly wrong? Josh could not help but wonder. Rivener was a sigel. Wasn't he supposed to be... mature? The boy was about to speak up when Isi took the words right out of his mouth.

Yes, Rivener was now labeled as an idiot.

LuLu returned her companion's smile meekly. Her lips curled with a hesitant twitch as if she was worried that her expression did not fit the mood of those around her. She could also tell that more trouble was in store for Rivener once they left. The rabbit frei could not help but feel a bit guilty. She was the one who had popped the bag after all.

All those thoughts were soon forgotten though as she noticed Rivener's hand drawing closer. LuLu decided that she would savor the sigel's returned attention while she could rather than fuss over who should be feeling guilty over what.

Just as thin fingers brushed against LuLu's fur she was pulled away. The frei emitted a faint whimper as Josh spun on his heels and carried her off. The boy made his way past Aphi and down the stairs. He nodded at Isi and took the first aid kit from the crippled boy's hands with one swift motion. He mumbled appreciatively, "Thank you." The tension in the group rose with each step Josh made. It was as though Isi and Aphi were expecting the teenager to snap into a ballistic rage over his raevan's injuries. Josh sighed. He was still unsure how he felt about this himself. There was definitely anger stirring in his chest. However, that emotion was quickly melding together with the other feelings bounding within him, such as guilt and relief. LuLu was mostly unharmed. That was the important thing.

Josh returned to the sitting room he had come barreling out of just moments before. He placed LuLu in the center of the couch and sat next to her. The boy flipped open the lid of the first aid kit and rummaged around for something he could use to remove the remaining glass. He turned his gaze back to the staircase once or twice as he did so. Did they think he was going to bite their heads off or something?

Rolling his eyes as his comment was obviously heard by the older raevan, Isi watched as the angry red and black scorpion rushed his way upstairs, dodging the rest of the play date. It was better that way, Isi thought. Let him calm down first and reflect on the day's unfortunate twist of happenings before he resumed interactions with the family. Eiry was doing the same thing.

...Except that Eiry was escaping a much needed talking to.

Isi, as young as he was, wasn't about to let Eiry off the hook. In fact, the younger Delaran often attacked Eiry for even the littlest of mistakes no matter what the excuse was. If anything, it was a rarity when Isi wasn't yelling at Eiry for something. So, following Aphismet and Josh into the living room, Isi found himself twitching to leave and discover where his own raevan had gotten off to so he could demand further explanation and talk Eiry's ears off.

First things, first, though. He had to make sure Josh as okay. He was their guest after all. Eiry would get what's going to him eventually.

Settling himself down on the arm of the couch, Isi looked on with a furrow of his brow, neither looking sympathetic, apologetic, or angry, but rather all at the same time. "Is she okay, Josh? Jeez, I'm really sorry about all this. Trouble seems to haunt this home, I swear."

Aphismet blinked. Distract her? H-how? The chef had no idea how to keep a rabbit's attention, or even how to keep a little girl's attention. He looked flustered but figured he'd do his best, walking around to the other side of the couch so that Lulu would need to look away from Josh (and his tweezer-wielding hand!) to watch him. "Hey Lulu," Aphi began, smiling very slightly and tentatively reaching out a hand to pet her soft ears. She seemed to have responded well to this from others. "How about I tell you a story, hm? Do you like stories?"

The white-haired man leaned a little closer, propping himself on the back of the couch so he could speak quietly, like they were sharing a secret that the other two humans in the room weren't meant to hear. "Once upon a time, there was a lovely princess who lived in a castle. She looooooved to sleep, and she also wanted to be comfortable, so she had twelve different beds to sleep on. She could pick whichever she preffered every single day, and she could decorate each bed a different way. One bed was purple with lots of teddy bears on it... One bed had a very big and fluffy yellow comforter. One bed had lots and lots of pretty white lace... Can you guess what some of the other beds looked like?" Including her in the story was probably more likely to keep the girl's attention, so Aphi hoped. He raised his eyebrows at her, holding his breath and wishing she'd take the bait and start talking.

Lavender eyes trailed slowly after Aphi as he approached. The rabbit raevan's interests seemed piqued for now. Nevertheless, she was ever cautious around the two strange humans, especially now that she was "wounded". Her velvety ears were perched on her head like twin guard dogs. They had started to swivel and bobble at the man, making sure to take account of his every action. As a hand reached out to pet her, the frei shifted in her seat slightly.

Eyes widened and the girl timidly adjusted herself until she was sure that Aphi meant no harm to her. Once positive that the human was not a threat, LuLu relaxed. She even returned his smile warmly to thank him for the attention. The frei chirped her answer at Aphi in a curious tenor, "Yes."

The prospect of a story was intriguing to her. She had only heard them from her grandmother so far. LuLu wondered if this white haired man could tell them any better. Sure enough, after a few moments of listening, the frei found it hard not to be led into the tale. Her inquiring mind started to conjure pictures of the beds that Aphi had described. Her favorite was the yellow bed. In some way it reminded LuLu of her own ears: yellow and fluffy.

The raevan was even more delighted as another question was posed for her. She quickly looked between the two humans. LuLu was barely able to contain the excited squeak forming in her chest. She could think up her own bed?! The rabbit pursed her lips in thought until the perfect structure came to mind. The frei sighed dreamily then began, "Red... with ribbons," she began to describe another silently cursing her limited vocabulary, "Blue and pink polka dots."

Finally, LuLu's attention was completely drawn away. Josh gave a silent nod of approval behind her. He began to remove another piece of glass. Unlike the previous occasions, not a peep was heard from his fidgety frei. Only a few more piece were left.

Isikoro had long since forgotten how it felt like to be a child. He might even venture to say that he didn't experience the innocence of a child at all, what with being raised in an orphanage during the years he could quite vaguely remember. He didn't recall ever being so quickly absorbed in something he couldn't see, couldn't smell, couldn't hear or touch. Silly stories like the one Aphismet was now spinning for Lulu were nothing more than that, silly stories. Isi had to admit that, for the first several turns of the story, he was still trying to digest the fact that the silly story was, in fact, being seriously considered and paid attention to by the young frei. In fact, the more he observed and studied the rapture on Lulu's face, the more he began to understand, at least on an outside level, just what the story was. It was a kind of...Well, for lack of better words, magic...That ensnared Lulu with the kind of web that not even the persistent plucking of Josh and the pair of tweezers could pull her out from.

Isi let the biggest grin seep onto his face as he observed his brother. He must've felt like such the dweeb. He would make sure to harass his brother about it afterward.

It was also at that point that Isi took a step back and realized something. Because he never had those silly stories read to him when he was younger, he never read those stories to Eiry. Thinking on how he just handed a copy of Edgar Allen Poe's Complete Tales and Collections to his newly born frei, Isi dimly wondered if he did something incredibly wrong in the raising of his raevan. The more he thought on it, the more he resolved to the conclusion that: yes, yes he did. He did something incredibly wrong in giving Eiry Edgar Allen Poe, because now, no matter how hard Eiry tried to speak "normal", his dialogue helplessly slipped back into advanced and undecipherable prose.

"That's a gorgeous bed," Isi crowed, adding in with a supportive comment. He waited to think of the kinds of dresses Lulu would think up.

Aphismet could tell his story was going over quite well now, with Lulu completely engrossed in the world of beds and dresses. The chef watched Josh out of the corner of his eye, saw that the bandages were being placed on... the final step of the first aid, right? So this story needed to wrap up quick. The chef wracked his brain for a proper ending, glancing at Isi for help but keeping a wide happy grin on his face for Lulu.

"That's a lovely dress, Lulu! So very pretty! So the princess had all these beds, and all these closets, and all these dresses, and every day she would wear a different dress. And today, she wore her pretty blonde hair up in a bun, and had on a cute little red sundress..." The chef wondered if Lulu would have the self-awareness to realize he was describing her now. Maybe associating Lulu with being a multi-bed, multi-closet, multi-dress princess wasn't all that good a plan and Josh would hate him for it later, but it's all the chef could think up on such short notice.

Josh's brow furrowed in concentration as he fought to make sure LuLu's wrappings would not slip or bother her. The last thing he wanted was a grumpy rabbit to deal with on the way home. He tightened the last bandage on his raevan's hand with a resounding sigh. Once done, the boy gave one last cursory glance over the gauze bindings before he was satisfied. Josh allowed a cozy feeling of relief wash over himself like an ethereal light from the heavens. It seemed as though today's drama was finally coming to a close.

Josh looked up at Isi and gave him a grin, "Yep! All done here." The boy turned his head to see if Aphi had also concluded his "work" with LuLu. He had not caught the tail end of the man’s charming yarn, but it must have been very good judging by the coy smile gracing LuLu’s face. The girl practically glowed as she shifted in her seat. With one quick beat of her small wings she was wrapped around Aphi’s neck like the latest accessory. She chirruped as she squeezed him with all her might, “You tell the best story!!!” She released the man only after the strength in her arms had finally given out, they flopped back to her sides like limp noodles.

Josh brought his hand to his lips to fight the onslaught of laughter that threatened to escape. He spoke between giggles, “You did a great job too Aphi. Thank you.” When the boy had grown more composed he sat up. His hand reached out to clasp onto LuLu’s shoulder. He looked at her and spoke in a more somber tone. “It is about time we were heading off though. I think we have had our fill of excitement for the day.” The boy ushered his frei off the couch then directed her towards the door. The rabbit seemed a bit dissatisfied with the sudden farewell; she probably wanted to hear another story from the astounding Aphi. The girl’s eyes shifted between the man and the door as the gears in her mind turned. Her smile faltered slightly when she realized the fact that she would actually have to part ways with her new found friends. Who knew when she would return!

LuLu was about to open her mouth to protest, but Josh already understood the frei’s request. He cooed to her reassuringly, “I am sure Aphi would love to tell you another story Lu. Just not today. We will come again soon, okay?” The boy gave her shoulder an encouraging shake as he smiled to Aphi and Isi. He half expected them to decline the request given all the trouble his frei had stirred in their home. Perhaps, it was best to leave before he got an answer from them? The boy made his way to the front door and motioned for LuLu to follow.

The raevan’s expression soured for a moment before it settled into a neutral mope. She was not completely happy with the agreement, but it was also not worth fighting the point. She could tell it would be a futile argument. The girl floated after her guardian and was halfway through the door before she spun around to give one last declaration to the two men, “No being mean to Mister Riv. He is nice.” The fumbled words were a request to spare the scorpion from further punishment. The frei was feeling just as guilty as the sigel even though she did not show it. LuLu gave a stern pout to reiterate her point, looking more like a grumpy puppy than a serious threat. Once content, she slipped outside.

The only traces of tonight’s guests were the opened first aid kit on the coffee table and the trashed bathroom upstairs.