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(( Ronan and Amity - Arriving --> Outdoor Picnic Area / Cruz, Justin, and Ian ))

Ronan usually wouldn't have had time to come to a gathering in the middle of the week, but once Amity had heard it involved trees in bloom (trees! with FLOWERS!) she hadn't been willing to budge an inch. As a result Ronan had taken the day off to accompany Amity, still not quite comfortable with her being in public on her own. He had to admit though - things were quite beautiful today.

The near constant beat of the frei's fingertips continued on his arm, and he knew it wouldn't be long until she took off like a rocket. Sure enough, once the cherry trees came into view Amity was up and away into the air, just barely avoiding a crash landing into the tree a second later. He waited below, watching the branches sway.

"Careful with your wings!" he shouted up to her, Amity replying with a quick, "I know I know!" as she nearly got herself tangled in the tree limbs. After a few precarious moments she finally descended, one small twig of flowers that had come loose now tucked into her hair - and thoroughly bare of bark.

The hair itself was done up in a messy updo, key word on messy, but it was enough to keep it out of her face and the flowers added a nice touch, while her shirt was a loose halter top with a crocheted neckline.

Now that Amity had safely descended back to earth Ronan looked for where they could go first, his eyes landing on someone he hadn't seen in quite awhile, and, from the looks of things, there was a lot more of him than before. The selkie broke out into a grin, walking over with Amity in tow.

"Cruz! Long time no see!" And long enough by the fact that croc had grown into a sigel! He gave a quick nod to the other two men present, not yet familiar with them, while Amity waved to everyone. "Hello hello!"

(( Yves & Yuri --> Outdoor Area || Vesna ))

Yuri noticed before Yves that they were being waved at, and his ears popped up when he saw who it was that was trying to call them over. A Raevan, just like him. He moved in place, restlessly, and looked down at Yves who had now heard Vesna's invite.

Yves' eyebrows shot up and he turned to Yuri, hands raised and balled into fists. "Oh!! A friend! Yuri, you should -- you should go say hi to her!" He was looking up at Yuri so expectantly, the Raevan squared his shoulders and nodded, face set in a stony, determined stare.

"Alright," he muttered, "But... Yves, too?"

Yves paused, his confidence waning just a bit. "Er... right. I should... I should socialize, too, huh. W-well, how about we go introduce ourselves together? How does that sound?" He offered Yuri his hand, and the large Frei took it in his own - it was easily swallowed in Yuri's own large hand, but somehow the wolf managed to look somewhat small next to his guardian all the same. He tried to muster confidence.

"Hello!" Yves called, waving his free hand as the two began to trot over. "My name is Yves, and this is Yuri. It is very nice to meet you!"

Yuri floated next to him, silent, and looked from Vesna to the ground, to Vesna, to Yves, back to the ground. He wanted to say something, but for some reason, he felt incredibly nervous. He gripped Yves' hand.

Yves gave Yuri's hand a squeeze. "Do you have anything you want to say, Yuri?" he asked, patiently. Understandably, the Frei was most likely incredibly overwhelmed by the crowd. From their short time together, Yves had noticed Yuri to be a quiet observer; still, Yuri had been excited to go to the picnic, and Yves could tell that he wanted to socialize.

Yuri cleared his throat and looked back up at Vesna. "Hello," he greeted quietly, his pale face turning a bit pink.

((LuLu --> Picnic area // Vesna, Eden, Yves, Yuri ))

One of LuLu's ears perked at Vesna's compliment and she could not help but giggle. She watched curiously as the frei then began to fuss with the latch of the rabbit keychain. The sigel chirruped softly, "Oh." Now both ears began to perk forward. She startled when the latch finally released and Vesna held up the keychain triumphantly to offer it to LuLu. "Oh!" The sigel released a soft peep and began to dig around fervently in her handbag.

"Oh! Oh! One moment!" The rabbit took a moment to produce a small, pink hair tie from her purse. It looked like it had been freshly pulled from an assorted packet and had a faint iridescent sheen to it. "For you. A trade." The sigel took the rabbit keychain from Vesna and promptly attached it to her own phone. She then placed the hair tie gently into the palm of Vesna's hand before folding the frei's fingers over it. "Thank you Vesna. I am LuLu."

A newcomer approached as LuLu finished her sentence. This frei was just as bright, bubbly pink as the hair tie she had bestowed on Vesna. The sigel gave a small curtsy. "LuLu. It is a pleasure Eden." She could not help but take notice as the floral arrangement in Eden's hair shifted right before her eyes. "Lovely," the sigel cooed marveling at the frei's powers.

Suddenly, a pair of new faces came upon the small group. It look to be yet another frei and their guardian, both males. LuLu waited patiently for their introductions. They both seemed timid in the large crowd. Though he had an imposing look, the poor wolf had as much bark as a puppy. It was a good thing LuLu's ears gave her exceptional hearing. "Hello Yuri and Mr. Yves."

The rabbit leaned towards the wolf and whispered, "Imagine people in their underwear when you are nervous. My guardian says it works." LuLu then seemed to rethink her statement, "It may be hard with other raevan though, hm?"

(( Cruz - Outdoor Picnic Area / Justin, Ian, Ronan, Amity ))

It was a bit subtle for Cruz's usual fair, but the croc grinned at Justin's half a response. He tucked both of his arms behind his back and clasped his hands, chin lifting curiously as Justin prepared to answer. In that moment, he heard Ian's approach and looked to the man with an amiable smile.

"Good to see you, t--" he started, when Justin exclaimed his name -- Cruz interrupted himself with a delighted laugh.

He held his arms out from his sides to give Justin and Ian both a better view, as the white hoodie opened and lifted some to expose more skin around his waist. Another familiar voice carried close, and Cruz locked a pair of smiling eyes with Ronan; his expression abruptly shifted to one of uncertainty and mild shock as he was scooped into Justin's hug. The croc's arms were held stiffly beneath Justin's, around his back but not touching. At that moment, he melted into contentment and returned the hug with a nervous breath but a genuine smile.

"Hi Justin," Cruz offered the man softly. He pulled back only slightly, enough to nod a proper set of hellos and acknowledgments to Ian and Ronan, but there was a new face here he didn't recognize, a pleasant face who offered her own eager greetings.

The wings tipped him off and Cruz's eyes went wide. A bat. Ronan's girl.

"Hello," he rumbled in his throat almost like a purr as Cruz pulled back more. He held Justin's upper arms and gave the man a reassuring pat on one, all smiles, before turning everyone's attention to each other. "Do you know each other, yet? Ronan, Ian, Justin?" for clarification, he pointed to each of the men, and then settled his attentions to the silver haired frei. "What's your name?"

((Iorek -- Arrival -- Outdoor Picnic Area ))

How long had it been this time since Reks had attended a group party at the Lab? Probably far too long since he really didn't recognize a majority of the people milling around. People moved away and new folks took their place but Iorek remembered a time when he knew more faces than not. He felt so...old.

Thankfully the gargoyle saw a few familiar faces popping in and out of the crowd the longer he looked around. Thank goodness. He certainly wanted to meet the new guardians and raevans but to see old friends again was what he had been looking forward to. All he had to do was wiggle in and start socializing...which was something he had been doing a pretty poor job at lately. Augh...he was gonna be so rusty at this. But he'd been working on himself more and more so hopefully there wouldn't be any sudden mood swings.

Iorek took a deep reassuring breath as he floated around and checked out the different tables. It was all so beautiful! Too bad Lillian and Tyson couldn't come. They were so busy nowadays.

The more he lingered the less nervous he felt. Reks really didn't have anything to worry about. It was a beautiful day, there were pretty cherry blossoms fluttering all about, and he was around a good group of people. Here he was under control. As solid as a rock! As calm as a boulder!

And right as he finished his mantra Iorek scanned a little too far into the crowd and saw a familiar green raevan. Cruz. Oh...okay. Well...even with his old love interest here Reks could still hold it all together. But wow, Cruz looked wonderful and was even sporting a torso! He had grown into such a handsome raevan. Growth..augh..now Reks felt ancient.

Before he burned a hole through Cruz with his stare Iorek quickly whirled around and sought out someone to talk with.

(( Ronan and Amity - Outdoor Picnic Area / Cruz, Justin, and Ian ))

Ronan smiled at the other enthusiastic greetings that Cruz received, part of him glad that the sigel had such a large group of people who thought well of him. For awhile now he'd been hoping to set up a meeting with Amity, but between circumstances with both him and Anita it hadn't worked out before now. As it was said though, better late than never.

"Not yet," Ronan said, offering a handshake to the other two men present, while Amity clasped her hands in front of her chest at her own question.

"I'm Amity! Very nice to meet you."

((Nell - Indoor food table / Kyou))

It was for the best that he didn't mention it, or she might have been a bit too embarrassed to have an actual conversation with him. "That's me! Just Nell is fine, though," she added as she picked up a plate, gingerly plucking up required desserts.

"How much longer do you have to be on crutches?" she asked as she surveyed the table to make sure she hadn't missed anything. "They're a pain, but it makes it all the better when you can ditch them, huh? Where would you like to sit?" The dessert-laden plate was held up for his inspection before she gestured with her free hand to the various tables available.

(( Claire -> Outdoor Picnic Area / Cesc, Iorek, Lorenzo -> Henry ))

Claire smiled at Cesc and Lorenzo's assessments in turn and beamed as Henry leaned over to get a look of his own. There would be time enough to introduce them both properly to her little Lorin, and she pocketed the phone at last with a satisfied hum. With another glance towards Vesna's ever-growing group, she chuckled at Cesc's statement. "It's true. She looks like a girl on a mission." She laughed as she watched the rusalka Frei pluck charms from her own phone and extend them out towards her newfound friends, such a bright collection of Raevans she has not seen before! Were they all recent? Claire was starting to feel as though she had been doing a poor job in keeping up with the times, if there were this many new faces already (and compared to some, she was still a new face). It was as though Cesc had tuned into her own thoughts and she glanced over at him with eyebrows raised; it stood to reason that he likely felt it more than her, after all he had been one of the earliest faces she had seen at a Lab event, and she placed a gentle hand on the stag's arm. "Well.. if it's any consolation, I'm sure you'll be an excellent mentor, and those are so very important." She beamed. "Especially for new faces." She had a good feeling already about introducing Cesc and Vesna to Lorin, a very good one indeed. The stag Sigel then seemed to spot someone approaching and he roped in another familiar face, one Claire had vaguely remembered. Bless him, he seemed so shy; her heart went out to him as he introduced himself to the group.

"You're not crashing at all. I'm Claire, it's a pleasure to meet you." She took Iorek's offered hand and shook (what a nice grip he had!) between both of her own. "I remember seeing you at a few past events. It's nice to finally meet you!" She remembered him mainly from the Anniversary Tea, although glancingly as she and Cesc had been preoccupied with Aina, but he seemed like a very kind sort. "Couldn't ask for a better day." And she meant it in every sense of the word as she took in the area around them and took a deep breath. Already filled with so many faces, laughter, and meetings. Still, though, one face had slid from the group and it did not go unnoticed by the blonde. She bowed her head to the party at large. "I'm gonna make the rounds though, I'll be back." With a smile, she stepped away and walked towards the retreating figure she had seen just moments before and placed a hand on the nurse's bicep to let him know of her presence.

"Hey there, stranger," she joked, looping a hand through the crux of his arm. "Care to make the rounds with me and catch up? Seems like there's a lot of that between both of us." Updates since the batting cage foray had been sparse and both she and Aaron had chalked that up to busy schedules, but she had to admit the news of Eth's exhaustion and sickness had her worried.