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The man did a good job of not being seen - either that, or Alex simply wasn't expecting someone to sneak up on her, which was more likely the case. The warmth of the sun and the cat snoozing on her skin was making her sleepy. Before her eyes could do more than lid, there was a hick voice in her ear, and it was all she could do not to leap out of her chair. Luckily the woman was used to dealing with surprises, working in a field of unpredictability, and managed to simply jerk her head rather than her whole body; she was still mindful of the animal on her that had claws and teeth and who would probably not want to be jostled awake so rudely.

Confused eyes turned to meet the glowing green of the half-Satyr, and Alex couldn't help but grin widely in return. "Ye've got an' impresseve set yerself," she teased, scratching the back of the dragon-cat. The woman appreciated a good smile, and this guy had one. She shook her head at his question, a quiet groan escaping her at his politeness. "Just Alex, or Vi. I'll even suffer Alexandria, but for goodness sake," she laughed and shook her head again, "Miss makes me feel old." Her boss had tried to put the title on her business cards; imagine his surprise when there were three bags of shredded cards on his desk the next day. She believed in such things only for the sake of politeness, and since the man's cat was acting as a breast-warmer, she thought they were beyond such trivial names.

She turned her clear emerald gaze to the nestled Fangs, her smile soft. "Not at all. It's been a distinct pleasure to serve as his nesting spot." Alex chuckled at herself, shifting her attention back to Bard. "I assure you, it usually takes more than being covered in strange liquids to get this close. Fangs just knew how to make himself comfortable." Another quick grin adorned her face, sincerely amused by the situation, although not in the least bit bothered by it.

Namini lowered her fists, which she had punched through the air with in her excitement, as she looked down at Isi with another blank expression before grabbing him by the shoulders firmly and glaring him directly in the eye. In attempt to mimick Isi's inspirational speech, Namini stated harshly but still with her worried undertone,

"Believe Isi! You gotta believe that what I said is true!" Letting go of his shoulders she stood proudly with her hands on her barely noticeable hips. "You really are smart! And with your brains and maturity, you could totally own a business or something! Oh.." Something went off in her head as she pulled her festival flyer from her bag and scanned it. Passionately she turned the flyer to Isi and pointed to a name: Dr. Kyou.

"This festival is for his lab right? Why not work for him Isi?! I bet you'd be really great, especially since you have your own Raevan." Namini laughed airly at the end.

Namini pouted again before moving her hands from her hips to crossing in front of her chest. She narrowed her sapphire eyes at Isi, puffing out a cheek in frustration as she continued to try and spark something within him, before finally letting out a heavy sigh and nodding in approval, "One day your luck will change and you'll find so many opportunities you'll be drowning in them. I wish there was some way I could help too but I'm just another person. All I can do is donate.."

She pulled out her change purse and shook it playfully. Slipping it back in, her attention span faded from the current topic and found something new to interest it. "Do you happen to know anything about the dating booth? I heard an announcement earlier..but, I wasn't sure what it was."

EJ was in a good mood when he woke up one day. He wasn't quite sure why he felt this day was going to be different. He got up and dressed into his normal awkward clothing, even though it was summer, he still wore his beloved scarf. He walked out and low and behold, his mother was making breakfast for the two of them.

Elena looked over and said, "Why, you're up a bit early? Aren't you EJ." She smiled and then went back to working.

"Actually, I am mom. For some reason I woke this morning and was thinking to myself, 'This is going to be a great day.' And there you are making pancakes for us. Those are my favorite after all." he said smiling. He went and sat down at the kitchen table. He saw a flier on the table and was wondering what it was. "Hey mom, what's this here flier for? It says something about a Festival downtown."

His mother looked down at him, considering there were a couple of stairs from the kitchen, to the dining room. "Oh yes, that. Well, I was walking down there to get groceries and things for breakfast yesterday. And well, someone handed it to me and I said thank you. You can go if you want. But I have some major cleaning to do today."

EJ nodded and smiled. By the time the conversation was over, breakfast was ready. EJ scarfed down pancakes like there was no tomorrow. He smiled and told his mother that he'd be out for a while. She agreed and he left curiously.

A few minuets later, he arrived on the street where the festival was taking place. "Wow...this is amazing. So many things, so little time." he said to himself happily. And with that, he was off to see if he couldn't find something to do.

He walked by booth after booth and then found one he was interested in. The food booth. When the line was cleared he stepped up and looked at the menu's. He had some money with him that he made from helping his mother around the shop. He looked intently at the menu and was thinking about what he wanted. Did he want lemonade? No, how about water? No. He thought for a bit, but nothing really came to him. When he saw the two taking the orders, he nearly screamed. They were like, half-men. They had no lower body, but instead just a stream of something curled around and they floated. EJ's eyes widened. He was somewhat scared of these new beings he had just found. But he wouldn't just run away. He just stopped looking at them and looked at the menu's more, wondering about two things. The half-men and the type of drink he wanted.

Rivener leaned back and smiled. He could tell this man wasn't comfortable with all this, and yet he found himself forced to play along. How amusing. With a slight pout Rivener noticed Bard's leaving, but he supposed it was for the best. These two might be blocking [ugh] customers.

Riv decided that for the sake of the event, (and because he didn't want to appear weird in his booth neighbor's eyes) he wouldn't do what he thought would be the funniest: kiss Lucado right on the lips. That would surely have sent the guy into a flurry, and although it would be entertaining, it wouldn't help business.

"Well, I really love conversation. What do you think you need to converse with me about?" he said, keeping his smile honey-sweet, but at least getting rid of any innuendo. then again, with a smile like that, anything would be heard as innuendo.

Aphismet blinked up. He seemed to have dozed off! H-how embarassing! And now here was someone actually showing interest!

"Oh, erm... Y-yes, a cook-off! Later on today, that is. You bring by your best summer treat, and then Kyoupiruchi and I, th-the judges, we will taste them all and decide who had the best one! The winner gets, um... Actually I don't remember what the winner gets." He chuckled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck.

"B-but, it's all in good fun! Wouldn't you like to see your own creation winning first place? I'm Aphismet, by the way, Rivener's keeper." He extended his hand to the young lady.

"No, I think if you left now you'd be right in time! You should leave now, or you will miss the rest of it!" Isi said, giving her an urging smile. He gently shooed her with his hands in a playful manner, "Go, we can talk with each other later if you want, but you'll be late if you wait any longer!" Isi couldn't help but smile. At least she was keeping herself busy and had something to complete today. The dating booth was supposed to be a riot and one of the main events besides the cook-off, where his brother would be a judge. Speaking of which, Isi quietly reminded himself of his earnings today and he quickly day-dreamed the moment he'd tell him how much he had made at the booth today. His heart hoped that Aphi would praise him, just like the parental figures in books praised their offspring. Old Maasi hardly gave him any praise and he could hardly remember his parents praising him. He could remember their smiles, but...Isi shook his head slightly and resumed his train of thought. Perhaps, Aphi would reward him with another cooking session together, they'd get home and cook together or watch a movie. Isi couldn't wait to feel that feeling of family again.

"It's been nice talking with you, Namini," Isi said with a grin.

She hadn’t been aware that anyone was actually manning this booth until he’d spoken. Those dark glasses shone oddly blank as she looked to him before registering just what it was he’d rambled off to her. With a small smile, she took the hand offered to her and gently, yet firmly shook it. “Ebony. Pleasure to make your acquaintance Mister…Aphismet was it?” Canting her head from side to side, each word escaping her etched with the present of a British accent, “Not much of a contest yet. I’d enter, but…I’m afraid that my presence in town was more on the business aspect. Of course I could always go buy something and bring it back, but I believe you’d frown upon such an act.” Lightly pushing her lilac colored hair back with a laugh, “Don’t suppose you have a fully stocked kitchen back there, eh?”