Welcome to Gaia! ::

The soft murmurings of morning intertwined with the smell of fresh coffee and pancakes and mingled with the soft sips and clattering of silverware. The household was virtually silent, since it was much too early for the children to be awake and the pets always slept until late. But three were up, finishing up with their breakfast and speaking in low tones, for many of the residents within the home had hearing capabilities on par with God.

An obvious exaggeration.

Said three were inside the warmth of the kitchen, basking in the bronze morning sunlight that spilled through the arched window. Two adults and a child - who was speaking with her hands and mouth. They were all still dressed in their pyjamas, whether they were were loose fitting, button downs of lavendar and red - the latter of which was very loose, as the owner was much too small to fit into them - or a simple t-shirt and boxers.

"I wonder what he wanted in the middle of the night..."

"Well, he was looking for cookies..."

"O-oh my, Sukkubus-sa --"

"That b*****d!"

The she-devil slammed her fist against the table, causing the plates and cups to clink and her injured hand to throb. She hissed and drew it back, her lips tugging into a firm frown. She didn't have to be told what types of cookies Adghal had been looking for because she knew. Oh, how she knew! Always out to steal her fun - she should go up there right now and strangle him in his sleep --

"They were good..."

Ritsu placed a hand over his face, either stifling his embarrassment or amusement.

"So...you ate some too?"

"Yah."

A sigh followed by the distinct sound of forehead meeting wood. There went her comfort food. The only comfort that she knew the demon wouldn't steal was tucked away in the safety of a church. Ha. And he'd never go there.

The she-devil tucked her arms beneath her head and stared in Jocelyn's direction; she was lucky she didn't have to assume since she could both smell the child and hear where her voice drifted from.

"So..."

Jocelyn swallowed, an action that caught Ritsu's attention. Worry flit across his features momentarily as he grabbed for his mug of tea - not coffee - and took a sip, blatantly hiding his face from view. Would Sukkubus send this child away? She had been a devil capable of mercy for as long as he had known her, but also in that length of time, he had come to know her sadistic side. Though said side had begun to disappear when Diego had appeared. Compared to him, the woman was an angel.

The house was big enough, capable of fitting another child. After all, the room she had stayed in hadn't been the only empty room in the house. The monkey Sohma absently licked the rim of the cup before setting it down, dark eyes flicking towards Joce.

"This would be so much easier if I hadn't met you in the first place. That way I could send you off to an orphanage without a care in the world," she said, resting her chin on one folded arm. The little blonde curled her nose, one brow tweaking upwards.

"That doesn't make sense. If you had never met me, then you wouldn't know me?"

The she-devil smiled and would have winked were it not for her gauzed over eyes, "I know. And I wouldn't worry about you at all because I wouldn't know you. So that'd be less grey hair for me, yeah?"

A smile curled Ritsu's lips. Jocelyn, however, had become thoroughly confused. Her lips pursed, brows dropping to furrow, "How can you care when you don't know me?"

With a lengthy sigh, the she-devil sat back and spread her hands, toes curling beneath the table.

"Isn't that what makes life wonderful? We're always so damn impulsive and caring even when we don't know what the hell's going on. An example...if I saw you on the street, I'd feel pity, wouldn't I?"

"...Dunno, would you?"

"Well, yeah. A homeless kid would tear me up. So to keep that image out of my head, I might as well keep you in here, yeah?"

"I still don't get it," Jocelyn mumbled, moving a piece of pancake around her plate so that it was soaked with syrup.

The jyuunishi cocked his head with a smile. "You wouldn't want to understand Sukkubus-san's motives, Jo-chan."

The kitchen lapsed into an edgy silence, the little Shattered eyeing both of the adults with a look of wary mingled with relief. She was glad she wasn't being tossed out, but why were they so accepting of her? Did people come here a lot? Were they planning something? Though a child, she had done well on picking up people's intentions...hadn't she? Maybe her child's naivete was obscuring her judgement.

But Sukkubus looked more worthy of her suspicion than Ritsu - the young man just looked too...nice for a lack of better words. Even if he did dress up like a girl. She looked into her lap and frowned.

Home. He had called it her home. Was it really? Would he lie to her?

Royal indignation flared within her chest. No! He wouldn't!

But...I didn't even know him...

"I guess since you seem pretty new to the world...no, I don't find that strange, I guess we'll have to teach you the basics to getting on in this world."

A rustle came from the entrance of the kitchen. Sukkubus frowned, Ritsu sank deeper within his seat, and Jocelyn simply stared. A short, silver-haired, black skinned youth entered the vicinity, crushing the warm atmosphere with his very presence.

Diego grunted a greeting and stalked over to the 'fridge, swinging open the door.

He didn't even rummage through it, but stood there before swinging around and glaring at the other occupants of the kitchen.

"Who the hell drank all of the damned milk?!"

Ritsu made a soft squeaking noise and ducked down further; the she-devil released a sigh and climbed to her feet, pulling her t-shirt down. Leaning over the table, she smiled at Jocelyn. A smile which became a fast grin.

"I do believe we'll start with manners." She turned to Diego and fisted her hips, "Oi, shut up! Everyone's sleeping!"

"Who the hell cares? They need to wake the hell up, anyway! It's morning!" he snapped irritably, slamming the fridge door shut.

They proceeded to argue, not even silencing when the water could be heard running upstairs. Looking across the table with an apologetic smile, Ritsu cupped a hand against his lips and leaned towards Jocelyn.

"Welcome to the family."

A daycare center.

Staring up at the building was like staring up at heaven itself. Surely it was God who had created such a wonderous place - a place where you could drop off your kids and resume the life you lost when having them. Oh yes...to have your children taken care of by other people was like...like...

Sukkubus felt the weight of motherhood gradually slip off her shoulders.

Finally tearing her eyes away from the heavenly building known a Benedict Center, she looked down at the card that lay flat within her hand; she slid it into a pocket, eyelids falling half-mast. Yes...

Sometime after she had taken Jocelyn in, the girl had one day marched into the kitchen proclaiming that she had found something tucked within her boot - it happened to be a business card of the daycare she stood so weak before. Sukku had known that taking in another child would put a toll upon her physically and emotionally, so when the card was handed over, it was like some being, God or otherwise, was looking out for her.

And since she didn't exactly think God was in her favor, she thanked Elliot instead.

"Are we going in or not?" a voice beside her more or less drawled.

Jocelyn stood looking as dejected as she possibly could, her arms wrapped around the most hideously morbid teddy bear one could ever lay eyes upon. At one point of the poor, stuffed animal's life, it had looked clean and normal, but since the blonde girl had set her paws on it...

Well, the poor thing didn't stand a chance.

"Oh yes, we must!" Sukkubus said, feigning eagerness - or was she? She really did want to dump her kid off here, only because she had gotten about three hours sleep in the past four days. So grabbing the girl by the arm, she more or less dragged her through the doors...

And into a party.

"What the hell?"

"Ilistala." He repeated in a soft voice, to see if the girl replied. "Hello Ilistala. And Ioyla! It's nice to meet you both." He grinned, looking about. "I'm sure you're a bit confused about what's going on.. you see, our secretary's birthday is today. Oh!" He stopped as he realized Ioyla had mentioned Alania's name, and turned his eyes back to her. "You already mentioned her! Your friend Eight knows Alania then? Will Eight be- ... Eight? I know an Eight.. and I wouldn't suppose that is a very common name.." He giggled softly, grinning at the connection he suddenly made, and how small the world suddenly seemed.

"Well, that's beside the point. You're welcome to the party of course, it's open to everyone! But especially to very special people.. like Ilistala here!" He grinned and bent down to give Ilistala a wink, though he was sure the poor thing had no idea what he was talking about.

"I should get Calumet here back to his mother, so if you'll excuse me! If you have any questions though, you'll come ask me, all right? Anytime! It's lovely meeting you both."

He grinned broadly and waved to Ilistala, before hefting Calumet once more and turning around. Inle wasn't where she was a moment ago, and he searched the room looking for her. Instead, his eyes fell on someone else, someone new.

He cocked his head for a moment, and his smile faded. He took a few steps toward Joce and Sukku, looking from one to another. He was curiously silent.

But how rude of him! He looked down at Joce, who he recognized easily as one of his own, though the shock of seeing someone close to his age was what had held his tongue. He snapped himself out of it and waved politely.

"H-hello!"

"I don't think we're in Kansas anymore..."

"...What?"

"Oh, nothing. C'mon..."

Sukkubus manuvered Jocelyn farther into the room, grip firm upon the girl's upper arm. Once out of the way of the door she stopped, hand finally dropping - or rather, the little green eyed monster had yanked her arm away from the she-devil, shuffling out of arm's reach from the baffled looking woman. She had did nothing wrong; after all, they were at the center, weren't they?

H-hello!

Simultaneously, both blondes turned their heads in Asrafel's direction, the eldest of the two doing a double take on the more or less naked child. She really shouldn't have been surprised since it happened all the time in Hell - cripes, her own mother walked around half naked a lot of the time. But after her years on Gaia, she figured that doing such a thing was considered indecent. But he was a boy...granted, an older boy, but really.

He looked harmless enough.

"Are we in the right place?"

Jocelyn was still staring at the dark skinned boy, her eyes ever unblinking and held fast upon his face. She seemed undaunted by his lack of dress, even as she gave him an unsettling once over - what? Was she supposed to be embarrassed or something? Honestly! Her first night in the she-devil's home she had come face to face with someone older than he in nothing but his panties - wait. Her brow crinkled for a moment.

Boys wore boxers. Most did, anyway.

"Hi," she responded with a quirked brow, clutching the ravaged teddy ever closer. After a moment's pause she continued, "I like your ribbons."

"I don't know!" Asrafel responded to Sukkubus' question, though he was technically lying. With a child like Joce under her wing, this was most definitely the right place to be. Feigning innocence he asked, "What place were you looking for?"

His eyes couldn't stay on the guardian for long however, as he felt the gaze of the girl boring into him. He looked down and met Joce's eyes, smile faltering in lieu of nervousness. Was she going to mention his lack of clothes as well?

If she had, he was sure he would have burst into tears.

Thankfully he received a compliment instead, albeit still reminding him of his lack of exterior coverage. He looked down at the ribbons that hovered over his body, their movement slow and precise. "Well.. uhm.. thank you!" He murmured, as his blue eyes turned back up to look at her. The blue ribbon lifted from around his arm to do the same, it's path leading to her face where it wrapped around her hair and held it up playfully for a moment, though it was too weak to keep it up for long. He giggled childishly at his little trick, overly proud at the fact that at least someone appreciated the way he looked.

"My name's Asrafel! And this is Calumet." He bounced the boy in his arms softly, before finally setting him down nearby, facing the room with the toys. He straightened up, and his gaze quirked curiously at the blonde. "What's yours?"

Sukkubus blinked.

"Well, uh...the Benedict Center?" she mumbled dumbly, the beginnings of a headache lacing through the bridge of her nose and outwards. She lifted her hands to her face and rubbed, kneading the areas above her eyes in exhaustion. Party. She was at a party - wasn't this supposed to be a daycare?

Party or not, the she-devil didn't feel like staying. She wanted sleep and peace, both of which she couldn't do at her own home. Where was she to go, then, you ask? Well, she had been planning to steal away to a little church up on a hilltop...

She sighed wearily.

Jocelyn felt a twinge of something when the ribbon lifted and toyed with her hair.

...She couldn't do that; the barest hints of a frown worked their way onto her lips, though dissipated when she lifted a hand and curled her fingers around the blue ribbon. She tucked her bear under one arm and toyed with the boy's wrap, tugging on it gently with the most stoic look upon her face.

Her green eyes flicked upwards at the sound of his voice, but she didn't dare let go of the ribbon.

"I'm Jocelyn," she answered quietly, head tilting to the side. Her lips pulled taut and her small nose curled when her gaze returned to the ribbon once more; out of curiosity, she rounded the winged boy, pulling the cloth all the while. Would he unravel?

"How do you do that?" she queried, the low timbre of her voice showing interest for once.

"Oh yes, this is the Benedict Center all right!" Asrafel responded, only to glance down at Joce with a look of shock. Playing with the ribbons was all well and fine, but once you started pulling on them.. well, he didn't have such wonderful experiences with the rest of Orestae's family and his ribbons. He certainly didn't feel like being undressed and filtering through the sewer system again trying to fish out every last ribbon.

"Ah, Jocelyn, it's nice to meet you - please be careful.." He warned her in a nervous voice as she started to walk around him, holding the ribbon in her hand. It compensated for the movement, rippling around him like water and retaining it's coverage all the while.

"Well, they're a part of me.." He responded to her question, a little less nervous, though not completely comfortable. He really felt odd when people touched his ribbons, anyhow. He could feel it. "It's just like when you move your arm, I guess. Except I don't think it's the same, because the ribbon's just made out of cloth and, well, I'm not!" He rose his hands up as if to punctuate that declaration with a full exclamation of movement.

A soft, almost hopeful yet sad look crossed his face as he watched her, before he looked down at his own hands.

"You know, you're the only one I've ever met who's my age.." He whispered, more to himself than to her. It wasn't as if he expected her to understand, anyway.

A very cute and very purple little girl was making her way up to the Benedict Center, every once in a while looking at the address on a small card that she had found by what she assumed wasn't just chance. Upon first glance it appeared blank, but when one tilted it right one could see calligraphic letters made readable by the objects it reflected- kind of like a written mirror. This girl sensed some mysterious higher power at work, but wasn't as of now concerned with the how or why: if there was anything she had learned about mysterious higher powers over the years, it was that they went to great lengths to be as mysterious as at all possible. All she could gauge is that it felt like the place she was headed would be the setting for the first of a series of tests and trials.

And there it was, the Benedict Center for the Yet-To-Be-Morally-Corrupted. The young magician could just feel the tension in the air as she slowly approached the door. Time seemed to become sluggish as the door was slowly pushed open-- to reveal a rather lively party. It already had characters who made Chuu Willowchild, the purple mouse girl, feel very plain indeed.

"Hey you littlte rugrat, get back over here!"

A few more angry shouts and curses came from outside the doors of the Benedict Center, and behind a purple furred girl. There was a woman (as there always seems to be), chasing an unsteady toddler who was racing down the street.

Karma couldn't read yet, but he had a feeling. This feeling told him to go straight to the corner on the right, make a swivel turn, loop out of his guardian's arms and cross the street. He knew where he was going.

He was going to see Asrafel again.

He smiled just at the thought of that, nearly tripping over the curb and having to clambor onto the sidewalk. The mean lady couldn't keep him from getting where he wanted to go this time! His long black hair blew messily in the wind, sweeping over two bullseye tattoos that laced his shoulders as the toddler practically rolled to the Benedict door.

"Karma!" was all Baniru could call out in a mix of disgust and horror, running after the toddler who had just cross the street himself. He could walk, sure, but it only worked 50% of the time.

People, people EVERYWHERE! Awesome. He did his best to look charming as he was introduced around (not hard, really) and whee, bouncing! Being bounced was always fun! But aww, why did bright-and-shiny-ribbon-boy put him down? Calumet's pouting lasted exactly three seconds before he noticed the toys in the other room and he speed-crawled towards them, curiosity taking over. Moments later, a large crash could be heard from the room, and Calumet speed-crawled out, looking for a familiar face.

It was only because he was so close to the floor that he noticed his mother, who was sitting near the giant box of LOUD with something in her lap. She was trying to find the volume switch, but it was one among many and she wasn't having much luck, it being too dark in the room to read the labels clearly. Although Cal hated the loud, he loved his mommy, so he braved the noise and made his way towards her.

Inle looked up at Cal's approach, scooting the control box over to scoop the boy up and sit him in her lap while she worked. Almost immediately, curious hands dove for the controls, pushing levers and turning knobs at random. Inle scrabbled to divert Cal's hands, but not before he, unlike her, found the volume lever and pushed it up all the way, causing the noise in the room to become deafening. She sat stunned for a moment, paralyzed by the sound, before groping for the volume lever and pushing it down once more.

In her lap, Cal seemed to giggle, although he hadn't liked the sound at ALL. "That wasn't funny, little man. You...you're GROUNDED, mister. For a week!" Cal merely looked up at her, his rainbow-colored eyes bright, and reached up with a hand to pat her cheek before crawling off her lap and into the party.

Inle sighed. She could really use a beer.

Though Asrafel continued to watch Joce, he could see people entering the Center out of the corner of his eye. While normally he would go and greet them, Joce had an unfair advantage over him - he wouldn't move so long as she had one of his ribbons.

He turned his head for a moment to get a look at who had come in, and grinned briefly. Such a pretty little purple child, and Papree and Karma had come as well! Now this was a party.

That thought was punctuated by a violent surge of sound blasting from the speakers, and Asrafel bent slightly while covering his ears to try and escape from the throbbing pain it caused. He eyed the speakers warily, before shaking his head to try and stop the ringing all that noise had suddenly caused.

"Oww.."

"YAAAAAAAAAA"

Baniru ground her teeth together, dragging the unwilling Toddler farther inside. She had to find some place for him to be while she could take a break from the monster.

That's when she spied Asrafel. Aha.

"Heyyy..." she cooed in an overly sweet voice, "Look, Asrafel is over that way. Why don't you go say hi?"

Karma readily agreed with that statement, squirming out of her arms with a few punches and weedling his way through a few other people. He toddled his way as fast as he could towards the goal of the day, when-

He stopped cold in his tracks.

Who was that...thing...that dare cavort and tug around Asrafel? His Asrafel? Deep anger rose from the pit of his stomach, surfacing when the beat of the music had grown loud and died off again.

That had broke the straw. He would show it!

Toddling for Joce, Karma growled a menacing: "Buububububu!"

Meanwhile, Baniru had sidled up to the table for the raffle. She was grinning to herself in a creepy manner.
"I'd like to enter the raffle too, if you don't mind."

"Oh...well, okay," was all the she-devil said, face screwing up in utter confusion. She lingered by the doorway, orange eyes flicking back and forth like a cornered animal. Where she would have leapt at the chance at any party (with booze), ever since Ritsu entered her home she just felt...

Thin. Stretched. Used. She didn't want to drink, she didn't want to party. She wanted to sleep in most days, spend time on her porch, and take the occasional trip to Father James' church.

She supposed waking up next to Ritsu the day they formally met - he had been in his monkey form the entire time; she had taken him to bed with her - was a slap in the face. She had mistaken him for someone else. Someone...she wanted.

"Jocelyn...I'm going to go," she called to her newest child who seemed otherwise occupied. With a small noise, something like a sigh and a murmur, she slipped through the door whilst people continued to trickle in.

Jocelyn, on the other hand, was fascinated by the floating ribbons, more so than the party, in fact. With one hand she pushed her hair back and threw the teddy over her shoulder to get a better hold on the boy's ribbons. She walked before him again, leaning in to lace the blue one with another crossing his front; she seemed to be thoroughly enjoying herself despite his somewhat...obvious discomfort.

Looking up and tilting her head, she made to answer but let out a sharp cry instead, narrowed eyes shooting wide. Her head snapped in the direction of the sound system, gaze becoming as murderous as a child her age could look - she managed it surprisingly well, actually.

However, realizing her outburst, her round face colored a faint pink in utter embarrassment as she tried to regain her lost composure. She hated being startled like that.

"Stupid...noise...thing," she muttered through barely parted lips, her shoulders coming up sheepishly. Looking back to the pink-haired child she wiggled her nose and sniffed, fingers tightening around the blue ribbon. She really should have let go, but she liked making people uncomfortable...sometimes.

"Well my old lady's house is full of kids...just none are my age neither. The're all little or too big -- "

"Buububububu!"

Joce's head snapped towards Karma, sheet of white gold hair flung to the side at her movement. She stared at the smaller child and unconsciously shuffled closer to Asrafel, eyes narrowed. What did he want?

"What?"

Karma toddled right up and began hitting on Jocelyn's leg with his two little fists. His black hair was getting quite messy and tangled from the effort.

While his hitting wasn't anywhere near hard, the toddler was intent on making it go away. Whoever it was.
"Buuuu~" he yelled out angrily, focusing intently on his work.

Baniru, on the other hand, had just got a raffle ticket and was being drawn to the large keg of beer. She hadn't had a drink in months, and now was a good time more than ever...as she had no child to look after for the moment.

Asrafel noticed the guardian leaving, and he turned to Joce to try and mention it to her, but the capture of a second ribbon made his breath expel. He winced and tried to gently pull the ribbons out of her hands, every so often letting out a whimper of discomfort or a giggle of ticklishness.

Talk about having your man by the puppet strings.

When the music system had blared, it had not only hurt Asrafel's ears, but also the ribbons that Joce had involuntarily clenched. A little whimper left his lips as she tightened around the blue one, which compensated by drifting away from anything important so as not to hurt him. It wrapped around his middle instead, loosely hugging the boy's lithe waist.

He tried to listen to what she said, but-ow the ribbons really didn't like to be played with this much against-ow his will. If he had allowed or asked for it, sure, but..

Oh look, there's Karma! He turned his head and grinned down at the boy, though his grin faltered for a moment as his peripheral vision registered Joce's proximity.

Gee she was close.

---

It would seem that, as Chuu approached the ribbon-boy and the green-eyed girl, the toddler from just a few minutes ago had arrived at the same place and now seemed to be using the girl's leg as a drum for some reason. This was rather odd behavior, but then again, there was probably worse out there.

She observed the ribbon-boy's discomfort at the green-eyed girl's grip on a couple of the ribbons that seemed necessary for the boy's public decency. "Excuse me... miss? I don't think that this boy likes having his ribbons held. Maybe you could let go of them... please?"

Calumet spotted a flurry of movement just ahead of him, and curious as always, he went to go check it out. Oh, it was ribbon-boy again! And he had some friends, a white-haired girl and a long-haired toddler. What was the little boy doing? Was it some kind of game? Intrigued, he crawled over to the girl, open hands batting at her other leg. Cal wasn't quite sure what the point of this was...but it was fun!

Inle, beer finally in hand, had wandered over towards the raffle table. Managing to scribble Cal's name on a piece of paper, she dropped it into the hat, chuckling at Donny's antics.

"What the..." Joce grumbled, wiggling her leg out in hopes of detering the child's hammering on it. It didn't hurt, but it was rather irritating seeing as her footing was being constantly jostled. Her lips puckered and her slender brows beetled, the toe of her shoe nudging Karma back.

"Stop, you...midget-thing," she snapped crossly, jumping back a bit. What had she done to make the oompa-loompa mad? She had been a good girl this entire time! She swore the world was out to get her!

"W-what is this?!" she yelped, looking down to see as Calumet joined the new fad Karma had created. Yes, let's all beat on Joce's legs and take out her knees! Whoever can do it the fastest gets a cookie; she growled low in hopes to frighten them away from her, clearly not liking either at the moment.

Her gaze then settled on Chuu, eyes sweeping up the girl before boring into her face. Her grip on Asrafel's ribbons loosened, fingers drifting away before snatching at it again. Who was she to tell her what to do? The little blonde was becoming angrier by the minute and the way her face was flushing gave way to this fact.

"Maybe you should stop nosing in people's business," she answered quite coldy, drifting ever closer to the winged boy as if he were her possession. She tended to get like that - once she saw something she liked, she wanted it for herself and herself only. However, her hands dropped away from the writhing pieces of cloth, and she yanked her teddy from her shoulder, turning.

"I shoulda never given Sukku that stupid card," she mumbled angrily, feeling the need to make someone feel guilty for the way things were turning out. She wrapped her arms tightly around the weeping bear and shot a glare over her shoulder at the others before storming off, clearly in a fit.

"Baaaa~!" Karma shook his pudgy little fist at Joce before crawling closer to Asrafel. That would teach it! That would teach it good! No more messing with the nice man that, for some reason, he had grown quite fond of.

Instantly his frown had twisted into a very happy looking smile, as he began to play with Asra's feet. Hee, the world was peaceful and right again.

Baniru got a plastic cup full of beer and leaned against the back wall, blending in like a wall weed. She decided that now would be a good time to pay attention to the little swarm around the ribboned boy and the other...dangerous...looking girl, that had just walked off.

After all, this party slash daycare wasn't such a bad idea.

Jocelyn's reaction made Chuu realize that it was rather noisy and a bit stuffy inside the Benedict center. And then she heard a bit of thundering outside... it was raining. It would be soooo refreshing to go outside right now, if even for just a little bit~...

"I'm going to go outside and get some fresh air, but I promise I'll be back soon~!" the child said just in case anyone was listening. She then left the room- she would be back sooner or later. Maybe with treats.

Asrafel couldn't help but notice that things were slowly turning against Joce, and he bent down to pick up Karma in his arms, to try and help the situation. Sadly, when he stood back up, he just barely heard Joce's final words, and he turned to see the sheet of blonde hair pass him by as she stormed off. He choked out a small 'Wait~' but it was drowned out by the blaring music. His brow furrowed in creases, and the face that normally held such a bright and bubbly grin now housed a deep pout.

So much for making friends his age..

It hurt more than usual, for some unknown reason, to see her go. He wouldn't run after her, because she was clearly upset, and he had the distinct feeling that if he tried to console her he would only make things worse. What's more, if he did go after her, he had a feeling there would be a troupe of foot-fisting babies following his footsteps, and that was the last thing she needed.

So instead, Asrafel clung tightly to Karma, and shifted down to flop on the floor after his ribbons stretched enough to cover where he sat. He reached out and stroked Calumet's hair softly, but the painfully sad look on his face wouldn't go away. In fact, it was only getting worse.

Asrafel looked like he was going to cry.

Inle sighed at the hand that fell on her shoulder, at the question the woman asked. God, she wished Stae was here to deal with all this party cra--hey, was that margarita mix? "Oh, uh...it's some kind of party for someone, or something. I wouldn't mind a margarita, but you might want to keep that stuff away from the kids. I don't know about the rest of them, but I know mine's crazy enough without alcohol." She then turned to the man, boggling a bit. "Are you blind? There's practically an entire wall of kegs right over there. They're all open, so help yourself." She gestured to the wall o' alcohol with her beer-laden hand.

Cal, meanwhile, looked on bemused as the girl left. Was she not enjoying the game? Who would he and his new little friend play with now? His question was answered by the boy himself as he sat himself before Asra. A grand idea! Cal crawled over a few feet and resumed his patting, although this time it was Asra's leg that was the victim. He paused at the hair-patting, beaming up at the older boy, face falling as he noticed the other boy's expression. It was one his mommy often wore after a long, tiring day, and Cal did the one thing to Asra that always seemed to cheer mommy up: he gave him a big hug.

Karma eagerly looked up as Calumet did, grinning with some pride. He had scared away the it for Asrafel! He bet he was happy-

The grin Karma was currently wearing faded, drowned out in the sadness of which he was looking into. There was no luxurious smile, no 'Hey Karma!' said with bubbled enthusiasm. No tickle underneathe his chin or lift beneath his heart.
Only a broken-hearted expression.

This confused him. His eyes were currently wide with shock and sadness, as they turned to see the toddler beside him hug Asrafel with some affection.

Karma didn't know what to do. He didn't even react to Calumet.

He just sat there, letting the new realization of this new emotion settle into his skull. What was it called, again?

Baniru had accidentally snorted into her beer, which is why she escaped to the drinking fountain on the other side. Her shirt was now covered.
"Damn.."

Asrafel looked up when Calumet reached out to hug him, and smiled faintly.

"Aww.. such a sweetie." He rose his arm to wrap around the toddler, while keeping his other arm securely wrapped around Karma, and he pulled both of them into a tight hug.

"Karma, I want you to meet Calumet. Calumet, this is Karma."

If he could not be happy, the least he could do was make sure all the toddler knew one another. Perhaps they could find happiness in friendship, at least.

Karma tried wiggling away, out of Asrafel's arms. He didn't want to meet Calumet, he didn't want to see anymore sadness, he wanted his mom now, for the first time in his considerably short life. He wanted her more than anyone.

"NO!"

He was quite a selfish boy, to be sure.

Her ears perked up at a certain cry of 'No' that came from few feet away.
"Karma?" she asked softly, dropping the paper towel she had taken from her pocket as use to clean her shirt.

Jocelyn was blushing furiously - out of anger, of course - by the time she made her way towards the beer kegs, having no idea where her feet were headed. She clutched her bear tightly, glaring daggers at the ground and damning the world for being so unfair! Sukku was gone and Joce had just been getting used to the company the winged boy provided, no matter how weird he looked (being naked and all), and then the little oompa loompas had decided to do away with her! And that mousey girl too! The blonde bit back angry tears as she kicked the foot of the table, causing the keg to rattle.

It's not fair!

She sniffled loudly and dragged her arm over her nose, turning to lean against the table. She wanted to go home; she had even argued about coming with her so-called-mother to this stupid place. But nooo, Sukku had wanted her to make friends with the children she had assured her to be here. Well, how was she to make friends if everyone was so selfish?

Looking around she noticed everyone seemed to have someone. Well...she wanted a friend too!

"It's not FAIR!" she all but cried, fingers digging into her plushie. No one would hear her, anyway...the music was too loud.

A little while outside did Chuu lots of good, and she reentered the building to see the ribbon boy in a rather melancholy state. Was he sad because of something she did? Hopefully not; she couldn't stand the fact that she had hurt someone-

-The blond girl. Why did it take her this long to realize that she had made that one upset? She had better go apologize before the weight of guilt became too much to bear. Scanning the room over several times, the young magician found a rather dejected-looking Jocelyn clutching a ragged teddy bear. Slowly, she made her way to where the other girl was sitting.

"Hi.. I'm sorry I hurt you earlier. Uhh... do you like magic tricks?" Man, that sounded so flimsy, but oh well. Before waiting for a response, Chuu brought her right hand forward, palm facing down. She closed it into a fist, and rotated her wrist so her hand faced upward. Then she opened her hand to reveal a small chocolate bonbon. "Do you want to try it? It's really good!" Smile.

Asrafel didn't expect Karma to want to get away so easily, but he was used to handling children in general, and when a child wanted out of his arms, he was always inclined to let it. He unfurled his arm from around Karma, and gently stroked his hair, before noticing his attention toward his guardian. Asrafel smiled softly, comforted by the fact that Karma was quickly becoming attached. No, there would be no fear of separation for them anymore!

He hefted Calumet back up into both arms, and whispered in his ear. "Hey Cal, remember the shiny ball of light?" It was starting to get darker outside, which meant that the strobing ball of colorful lights was even more prominent and noticeable. Asrafel set Calumet down by his feet, and unfurled his arm from the boy, while keeping a close eye on him.

He still hadn't gotten over the girl that had come and gone. It was like a little, lingering tickle in the back of his mind, one that kept him from smiling as full as he was used to. At this point, he figured he just needed some time alone to think.

And Asrafel never wanted to be alone.

"Karma..." Baniru walked over to his toddling form, sweeping him up in her arms. "What's wrong? You've never come to me like this before."

Karma sighed sadly, clutching his mother's shirt. He realized that she smelled nice too, and that she was very warm. A comforting arm draped around and underneath his small body made him feel secure.
Listening to her heartbeat, the toddler gently drifted off into a world that was no longer as strong as it once was.

Baniru, on the other hand, was pretty frightened. This sudden change in a bratty kid his age made her wonder exactly what had happened. She scouted out a spot against the wall in a corner, and eagerly walked to it, planting herself firmly to the ground.

"What did you experience that drained you so, I wonder?"

She decided it would be better to let the toddler rest and observe the scene.

She rubbed at her eyes, trying her hardest not to cry. Why should she? It's not like they had stolen her friend! She didn't even know the boy; but it hurt. It really hurt when people pushed you away like you weren't good enough, even if they had been smaller children. Joce pressed her face firmly against the bear and squeezed her eyes shut, white specs dancing before her vision.

Chuu's presence took her off guard, and she jumped a bit, the small of her back grinding into the table. She lifted her head - not before dragging the plush across her face to rid herself of any tears she may have shed - and blinked, staring at her as if in disbelief. Wasn't she one of the ones who more or less...told her to leave the boy alone? She wanted to glare, to tell her to leave her alone, but...she had apologized.

And one of the first things Sukkubus had taught her was to consider apologies. So she stared at Chuu with a bland stare, tossing her words within her mind; did she mean it? Should she forgive her? Magic tricks...? What was that? She stared silently at the bonbon as it seemingly appeared within her hand, and her green eyes widened marginally.

"But...how...?" she asked quickly, her hold on the bear loosening. She had never seen anything like it, but by 'try it' she assumed eating it. Staring at it seemed to make her deflate, the most defeated of looks crossing her face. With a tenative hand she plucked the foodstuff from Chuu's hand and raised it to her mouth.

And paused.

Staring cross eyed at the bonbon raised before her, she felt and idea niggling at the base of her mind, tickling her into action. She dropped her arm a bit and held it delicately, eyes lowering.

"Hey...um, you can follow..." She was somewhat vague about her intentions, and turned to walk from the table and back into the room, expecting Chuu to wander after her.

She weaved by people and looked around, eyes searching. Honestly, he couldn't be hard to find...he had ribbons and pink hair for goodness sake! Just when she was about to lose hope at ever spotting him within the Center, she did just that - and the most unfamiliar emotion burst distantly within her chest.

She didn't know what hope was.

Jocelyn scurried forward, her lips upturned unconsciously and her green eyes brightened like emeralds.

"Hey, um, Asra...Asree!" she called, tucking her bear under one arm and using it to tap his shoulder; her voice was pitched with eager joy, something that would have sounded completely strange were Sukku to be there. Before the boy could turn around, she poked her nails into the bonbon and tore it in two, tongue sticking out in concentration. And then, in a state that would have floored her mother completely, she reached forward and offered one half to him.

"Um..." she began somewhat bashfully. "Hey, want some?"

Asrafel had picked himself up off the floor and dusted himself off, looking out the open doors toward the evening that still beckoned any stray partygoers. He bit his lip softly, before turning away to head toward the playroom and tidy up. What he found instead was Joce, prying a bonbon in two and holding out a piece for him. He froze in place, blinking up at her for a second before looking down at the chocolate.

Ooh, chocolate. Our hero's true weakness.

He reached out shyly and took the piece from her hands, popping it into his mouth without even looking at it again. Once the chocolately goodness hit his tongue, his smile returned with a force the likes of which could light a ship through a foggy night.

If his silence was jarring, which it might likely be for anyone used to him, he soon broke it's discomfort as he hopped forward and slung his arms around the girl, hugging her around the neck, hanging off her in a bear hug that made him almost lose his balance. His left leg bent upward as he flung himself on her, looking distinctly feminine in it's reaction.

"Thank you~!"

Oooh! The ribbon boy seemed to really like chocolate. He seemed sad earlier, but things looked a lot better now.

Chuu noticed that through the hug, she could make eye contact with Asra. So she decided to introduce herself. "Hi, my name's Chuu! You like chocolate, huh? I can conjure some more if you want me to..."

Then, something about him made her remember the strange invitation she came across... maybe he knew the person who made it? She decided to show it to him and see if he could recognize the handwriting. Holding up the card, she inquired, "I dunno why, but I have a feeling that you know who made this. In any case, aren't the mirror-letters pretty?"

Jocelyn didn't look at him when he took the piece of chocolate, but instead busied herself with sticking her piece upon her tongue, instantly relishing the taste. She chanced an upwards glance to find him smiling and couldn't help but dress her lips with one as well; and this was a girl who rarely smiled true. She was so very selfish sometimes, but giving him half the bonbon felt...satisfying. It felt good to do so, even if she did have second thoughts about it as she had torn in in half.

What she didn't expect was the hug, which sent her reeling back as he more or less through himself upon her. She gave a rapidly blink, never once having been hugged - she was new to her own household as it was...but even as awkward as the warmth and closeness felt, she found it comforting.

Did this mean they were friends?

"Oh...well, um...Mousey-girl gave it to me, so..." She returned the hug with the meekness of one who had never given one, much less received one, wondering whether she should pull back yet or not. It must've looked funny to one who was simply observing; an awkward hug between a little boy and girl, one of which looked somewhat confused.

They probably would have taken it as nervousness toward the boys lack of dress.

Asrafel looked behind Joce at the girl, and pulled away, grinning brightly. "Oooh! You can summon chocolate?" He squealed, hopping on one foot lightly though he never actually let go of Joce. He looked up at the blonde, giving her a sheepish and childish grin, before reaching around her to take the card Chuu had held up.

"Oh yah, that's our business card! It's weird though.. I never saw the letters do that. I guess Miss Orestae ordered a new stock! It's very nice. You should keep it, maybe it means you won a prize or something! My name's Asrafel, it's nice to meet you Chuu! Here you go!"

He handed the card back to the girl, once more bubbling with life. "Soo.. you were saaaying.. chocolate? You can summon chocolate? Can I seeeeee?" Yes, the boy was clearly once more quite content with life, especially now that he had new friends his age to cling to - and cling he did. Poor Joce was still being hung on..

Chuu smiled widely and nodded. "Yeah! I can make chocolate, and muffins, and cupcakes, and lots of other things!"

She looked again at the business card upon hearing Asrafel talking about it "It might be special? I'll hold onto it anyway. It's really pretty! I wonder if they used magic to make the letters like that..."

And then the conversation steered back to the chocolate. And who wouldn't mind that? Chocolate was one of the best things ever, unless you were allergic to it! The girl could indeed summon chocolate and other foods; it was sort of her trademark magic talent. "Do you want more chocolate? I can make lots more~!" Chuu offered, and cupped her hands together. And with the help of a few colorful magical sparklies, more chocolates appeared in the magician's palms- they seemed to be a bit melt-proof, too.

Asrafel reminded Jocelyn of her new younger brother, Ruka - bubbly and bursting with happiness. But whereas she found the little cherub somewhat annoying, she rather enjoyed this winged boy's company - even if he did invade her space; she didn't mind it as much as she thought she would.

Allowing him to, well, spawn to her, she watched in fascination as Chuu magicked up some chocolate. She could vaguely remember the yammerings of her many siblings at the dinner table - especially the conversations of the 'Three Caballeros' - and had remembered something about The Elf telling The Dog about summoning something himself.

"My brother summons," she said quite suddenly, small nose curling upwards. "But not food - I doubt he can do n'thing useful." She gave a small shrug and fell silent again, hands folding beneath the little bear's neck. She was a little jealous of the fact that Chuu knew magic, and apparently Asrafel had a bit in him as well; she couldn't do anything as far as she knew - she considered herself plain.

And that was depressing.

Asrafel thought the summoning of chocolate was delightful! He squealed happily, unfurling himself from Joce carefully before reaching out and taking one. "Oh, what a lovely trick! You must be the happiest person in the world, because you can always have chocolate! How lucky!"

Speaking of luck.. he looked over at the raffle table where his brother and cousin sat, and blinked at Joce. "You haven't entered the raffle yet, have you? Well, that's silly. Come on you two!" He took Chuu's hand with one arm and Joce's hand in the other, and dragged them over to the raffle table, where Jada was trying to pluck the hat from Donny's grasp.

"Donny, I've got to pick one.."

"Pick! No need to take hat, just pick!"

Jada sighed and stood up, preparing to pick a name out of the raffle, when she saw her cousin come closer. "Oh, more? All right then, I'll wait." She smiled softly, watching her cousin and his new friends. How cute~

"Raffle? What's a raffle?"

Her brows knitted, stumbling after Asrafel with the most confused look upon her face. Sukkubus may have explained many things to her the first day, but a 'raffle' wasn't one of them. Enter it...was it a special kind of room? She hugged her ragged teddy bear to her side, blinking rapidly.

The sight of the angel and the boy was quite surprising, and spying their wings she again felt a twinge of jealousy. It seemed everyone had wings these days! Ruka, Ritsu, Asrafel, this little kid and this woman...Joce's lips puckered, brow wrinkling - she wanted wings! Why was she so plain compared to them?

Donny eyed Maliska warily, before nodding. "Yah. Raffle. Put your name in to win stuff. But don't take the hat.. this Donny's hat!"

"Yes, a raffle! Come on, I'll put your name in, perhaps you'll win something~!" Asrafel took one of the pencils and wrote Joce's name on a piece of paper - or at least, he tried. To make up for what he was sure was a total misspelling of his name, he drew little hearts on the corner of the paper for good luck.



"There we go! Donny don't look at me like that, you look like you're going to eat my hand!"

Asrafel's brother gave him and his friend an equally wary glance as he did to Maliska, before looking in his hat to make sure everything was still there. Asrafel giggled and gestured to Donny softly, while introducing him to both girls. "My little brother Donny."

"Okay, I think we should see who wins! Something tells me that our mother is coming soon and we've got to be quiet to try and surprise her, remember?" Jada waited until Maliska and Asrafel were done slipping their papers in, before she stuck her hand in the hat and swirled it around. Her hand stopped after a moment, and a look of confusion passed over her face.

"..Donny?"

"Wha?"

"Why is there an egg in here?"

Jada pulled out a shiny golden egg, and Donny's eyes narrowed. "MINE MINE MINE JADA PUT IT BACK, EGGU ISH MINE!"

The angel quickly set the egg back in the hat, and Donny glared at her with as much of a threatening presence as a pudgie little golden toddler could.

"Ah.. okay then. Let's pick a winner!"

She picked out a piece of paper and unfolded it, reading the ragged handwriting. "Ioyla? Ioyla is our raffle winner everyone! Come and get your prize!" Jada put the piece of paper down and pulled out a gift certificate, good for one year's worth of free Daycare at the Benedict Center.

There was a fruit basket underneath the table as well, but that was only the consolation prize for someone if they won but didn't have children.

"Aww.." Asrafel coo'd softly, pouting as neither of his friends won. "Oh well!"

Chuu didn't win the raffle, but she wasn't distraught at all. "Hey, at least someone wins in a raffle, right?" she said with as much sageness as a child could muster. "And this party is already fun enough, so it doesn't matter if I win or lose at something!"

She was so happy that Asrafel enjoyed the chocolate, and had giggled audibly at his remark at how happy she must be that she could have chocolate all the time. It was very handy... but why did Jocelyn look like she was angry at something? The magician hoped that she didn't hurt the other girl again, and was prepared to apologize again if that was the case.

Asrafel was currently busy trying to fish out the piece of paper that had Joce's name on it, when he spied more people coming in. Aw, they had missed the raffle! Oh well, at least they were here before the birthday girl! He didn't recognize any of them, but they looked amicable enough. He let out a little squeak when he found it, and pulled it out, handing it to Joce with a flourish.

"Here, you should keep this!" Who knows why, really. "I'll be right back, please don't leave.. okay?" He gave her a hopeful smile, before waving to her and Chuu and heading for the door. Now that he felt better, he would make sure to keep up his duties as greeter! Then he would go back to his new found friends.

He stopped before the group, his eyes immediately falling on Ophi. A knowing grin passed over his face, before he waved politely to them all. "Hi there, my name's Asrafel! Welcome to the Benedict Center. May I ask your names?"

She had said it was going to be a trip to the park, a place Jocelyn had never had the chance to see and experience. She'd never heard of one, let alone set foot in one; somehow she figured it was some lame-brained, half-baked idea that Sukkubus had whipped up as an excuse to leave the house. Another argument with Diego had left the stair's banister on fire, and in order to calm herself - this is what the little blonde suspected - she had left the house.

Dragging her along. She had been the closest thing to the door when it all happened. Habit, probably. Joss had come to notice that she enjoyed grabbing things. Arms, hands, feet, priests...

Anyway, so she had been all throughout Gaia and Jocelyn couldn't protest about it, since if they were headed to this 'park' thing, she wouldn't know where it was. She didn't even know what it looked like. So she decided to follow her caretaker, inadvertantly making sure she kept out of trouble.

However, when they ended up in front of a daycare center, she became puzzled. Frustratingly so. Pulling the giant meatstick that Sukkubus had bought her from a road-side vendor, she shot the horned woman a glare - though the look just wasn't quite right with barbeque sauce smeared on the corner of her lip.

"Why're we here?"

"Uh, park."

"But...you said...this is a daycare."

"Yes, it is. Do you know what a daycare is."

"...No."

"Well then, it's a park!"

The little blonde gave a derisive snort, though inside she felt hints of excitement flutter in her stomach. Would Asrafel be in there? Would she be able to play with him? Why did she care? Her lips became puckered, and it was then that her faux mother tugged her through the door, with her protesting just to keep her reputation of bitchy selfishness up.

Alania stood just inside the door when it creaked open, and she backed up as well as she could so that it didn't slam her in the face. When it closed once more, it was by her own hand that it had done so, and the two would find the woman creepily behind them.

"Good afternoon. May I help you?"

Her gaze was on Joce for the moment as she spoke like some monotonous butler, but when her eyes lifted toward Sukkubus they sparked in recognition. She blinked, and nodded softly.

"Oh, Sukku. Didn't recognize you from behind. Would either of you like something to drink? ASRAFEL GET OUT HERE."

A crash was heard coming from the kitchens as Asra dropped a handful of plates in surprise. "Ah-ah-coming, Auntie Lani~!" It was enough to remind an imaginative mind of the story of Cinderella, were their thoughts to wander that far.

Sukkubus's tail gave a flick as her eyes scanned the room, searching for someone - anyone - that may have been working there. Even the naked kid would be welcomed! Her tail gave a rather sharp whip to the side, colliding with something...solid, which caused the devil woman to start, spade tapping against that something just before she heard the voice.

"Holy hell!" She tipped forward and spun around, giving Alania a doe-eyed look that would have put even Momo to shame. She righted herself almost instantly and placed a hand atop Jocelyn's head, mind not even registering who it was; how in hell could she forget cabbit ears? Hell, how could she forget someone as angry as herself, even more so, at Adghal and Tomoyo's union?

"Well, uh, I was just about to drop off -- wait. Ah hah!" Her dull orange eyes flashed with the light of a bonfire, her stalled words becoming excited. "Hey! How are you? How's the family? What's Jada been up to? Have you seen Damien? Will Adghal ever leave?" It all came out as a quick slur, her words running together. Once she took a breath, she lifted her hand and pressed the bridge of her nose, warding off any Ruka-like behavior she was currently experiencing.

"I meant...no. No, I'm --" she winced when the cabbit-woman yelled, fingers gripping as Jocelyn's hair. Joss winced as well, for a completely different reason, and swung the giant meatstick at Sukkubus.

"Leggo, woman! That hurts!" She beat on the devil with her free hand and lifted a booted foot to kick her in the ankle. It stopped short at the sound of Asrafel's voice, the sole of her shoe missing but managing to clobber the bare toes of Sukku's sandaled feet instead.

The woman didn't seem at all phased by the reaction - she was getting used to people freaking out at her presence. She left her half-lidded gaze upon Sukku as she rambled on, and flickers of emotion danced behind her eyes when she mentioned Adghal. The truth of the matter became painfully clear as she waited her turn to speak, and in an imperfect order answered what questions she could.

"I'm well, as is my family. Or what's left of it. Come inside." She gestured for the two to move further in and take one of the chairs nearby. "Jada's been on her own, for the most part. She's old enough, and smart enough to do what's right." She didn't know if she truly believed that, but she'd acted as if she did - letting the girl go off on her own and make her own decisions. "I haven't seen her for a week or so, since my birthday." She turned and leaned back against her desk, facing the two. Her eyes drifted onto Joce for a moment, studying her briefly before returning to Sukkubus. "So.. the boy is living with you now? You're kinder than I would have been. If he is a bother, you have full permission to remove him from your household."

And then the hardest reality struck. She cocked her head slightly, just as Asrafel hovered out to see who had come. His eyes fell on Joce immediately, and he grinned wider than his face seemed to allow. Before he could say a word, Alania spoke.

"..Who's Damien?"

Both devil and Shattered did as was shown, though Joce more or less threw herself into one of the chairs for the sake of looking dramatic. She held the giant, barbequed turkey drumstick in her hand, gnawing on it disinterestedly as she listened to Alania speak.

Or rather, pretended to listen.

Her green eyes drifted to look over the back of the chair, a move that wasn't as inconspicuous as she thought it may have been. Shifting, she pushed herself onto her knees and snuck a peek, barely spotting a floating ribbon before she ducked back down and pretended to not have seen the boy who she, if asked would refuse, deep down considered him a friend. For all it was worth...

"Eh? She's gone? Goodness, sounds like my Momo. He's been gone for some time too. Since ah, Enoh's wedding and stuff...he hasn't called lately..." She fell into a thoughtful silence before continuing. "Yeah, Adghal's under my roof. I mean, he's a real b*****d and everything, but he makes my little girl happy." She gave a lop-sided grin and folded her arms, head cocking to the side. "I s'pose it's okay for now, since I have room to spare at my house. But if Damien keeps...grow...ing...at..."

She stopped completely and swallowed, face paling. Mother ********! She didn't know about him? How could...but didn't Adghal...wouldn't Tomoyo have...Jada even!

"Damien is..." she began in a monotone voice. "Well, in a nutshell, he's Adghal and Tomoyo's little boy."

She gave a sudden laugh and waved her hand, "I...I have pictures?!" Her tone was desperate.

In truth, Alania hadn't seen her son since the day she'd caught a glimpse of him and his pregnant wife at the Orphanage - and she hadn't talked to her son since the day he abandoned her and left with Tomoyo in the first place. Their relationship had been virtually destroyed, and now nonexistant - and Jada knew better than to ever mention him again.

Hence, no one had told her that the child had been born, nor his name. Were it not for Sukku sitting there now, she may have never even known the boy's name until she read about him being arrested for murder in the newspaper.

"Damien. A fitting name if I've ever heard one." She murmured with a tone of amusement mixed in with scorn. Alania flopped down on a seat near Sukkubus, and let the news sit in.

She suddenly felt very, very old. Being a grandmother does that to you, she supposed.

"I'd like to see them," She answered in no more than a whisper, but a genuine one.

Asrafel fluttered past the two women and tumbled to rest on his knees in front of Joce, grinning wildly. "Joce! I didn't know you were coming! It's so nice to see you again! Can I get you anything? Are you hungry? Thirsty? Are you tired, do you want to nap?" His overly bubbly attitude washed over the sullenness of the quiet room in a heartbeat.

"Isn't it?" She gave a bark of a laugh. "And Yoyoii told me that Adghal chose it. As if that wasn't obvious..." Large orange eyes watched Alania with a hidden look of curiosity, brow crinkled. How would she react if Adghal had come with them? Not that he would have any reason to since she doubted that the demon would allow anyone to care for his son other than himself, Tomoyo, and Jada every so often. But really...what would have happened had the circumstance had been different? If she had walked in here with three extra people?

Maybe it was best not to think too much into it. It was giving her a headache.

Sukku's eyes never left the cabbit woman's form, and she never even answered her but simply reached back for her wallet, unzipping it and flipping it open. "Ya know, I never really thought that damned demon had enough sense to smile. I always thought it was a sneer or smirk, but these, if I'm not mistaken, are smiles..."

She handed over the little book, the first picture of Tomoyo clutching a laughing Damien. Who had just smacked her in the nose. Beautiful little boy, right? Right. One of those pictures in there, embarrassingly enough, was of Adghal and his son napping.

God, if Tomoyo hadn't persuaded her, she would have never kept it. Let alone carry it in her -pocket book-. These pictures, of course, were courtesy of Tomoyo - since if anyone other than her tried to take a picture...well, this family had gone through one too many cameras.

Jocelyn feigned a jump of surprise, expertly widening her eyes when Asrafel just...kinda appeared in before her vision...in that very...Asrafel kinda way...okay, so maybe her movements weren't exactly all practiced; she had been a little startled. Even now her eyes remained wide.

He was so...so...happy! But as much as she felt like she should have been annoyed, she felt just as happy as he did. But she didn't show it. Nope! Why would she? Even though deep down inside she wanted to slide off of her chair and sit with him and chatter and --

No. NO. If she -wanted- to, it was a very deep longing. Deep, deep, down in the blackest, darkest, evilest, tiniest, part of her heart.

"H-hello," was all she managed and in a dazed tone to boot.

Alania took the little picture book and brought it up closer to get a good look at the boy. She had never known Adghal when he was a baby, but she presumed that was close to what he looked like, sans the ears. A rare smile touched her lips, and she flipped the page, sifting through the pictures of her son and his new family.

"You must be proud of Tomoyo.." She murmured under her breath. "She's become quite a woman." She stopped at the picture of her son and his son napping, and pressed her finger against the plastic softly. He looked so peaceful and innocent - a look she'd never seen on him before. It was a look that mirrored in his eyes in many of the candid pictures that caught him looking at his son.

"He looks well." She mumbled, her only comment towards her son. She had slowly come to realize, upon looking at these pictures, that she owed a great deal to the girl who'd won his heart. Alania had been wrong about one thing - if her children had followed the path she had set out for them, Adghal would have never changed. Jada would have controlled him, tolerated him, kept him safe.. but he never would have changed.

She handed the picture book back once she was done with it, and smiled faintly at Sukkubus. "I have much to thank Tomoyo for. She's saved my son's soul when no one else could."

"Hello? Hello?! Silly Joce, you didn't answer any of my questions! Come on, we'll go to the kitchen and see what we can make~" He chirped, hopping to his feet and hovering in front of her. He held out his hand, and should she give it to him he would immediately pull her up off the chair and lead her away, giggling giddily. It was so good to see her!

It was like waiting for the verdict for Sukku, sitting there and watching Alania. She really should have been courteous and looked away until she had decided to return the little book, but like a child, she was fascinated just by staring. She wasn't one to really fidget much, but the ticklish feeling was spreading through her nerves, and she shifted every so often.

Until Alania brought up her daughter. She didn't even say a word, though she -was- proud. Very much so...even if she had initially defied her wishes and gotten married without a word to her mother. That was so long ago, it seemed...she could never be mad at that anymore. She had many more things to be happy about. Like Damien. A smile of her own crept onto her lips, softening her appearance, and she dropped her eyes to her lap; they lifted again, her hand following suit to retrieve the wallet from the other woman, closing it and folding her hands atop it.

"I don't...want to force you, but..." An apologetic look crossed her features, darkened by sadness. "I'm sure Damien would love to meet his other grandmother."

"But I! I have this, er, well...okay," she concented, yielding to the 'happy-bubbli-itis' that Asrafel had breathed on her. She slid off of the chair and hesitated, staring curiously at his hand before taking it and allowing herself to be whisked off by the be-ribboned boy.

Alania's smile faltered, and her newly beating heart fluttered at the emotions that idea brought about. "I.. don't know if that's such a good idea. I think Adghal would rather keep his son away from me, not to mention himself. Intruding on the happiness that you've all got now.. well, it's not right. I was wrong, after all.. it's only right I deal with the consequences. Besides," She smirked faintly, giving Sukku a cheeky wink. "One fabulous grandmother is probably more than enough for him."

The steel edginess that had characterized Alania for so long seemed gone. It was a hard transition, and despite how well she tried to keep the reins held of her newly re-acquired emotions, a trace of her old self always shone through. The old self that no one around her, and no one still living would have known.

She looked up briefly for a moment, and watched a streak of color pass them as Asrafel fluttered past, holding Joce's hand protectively and leading her away from their guardians. She rose an eyebrow, and pursed her lips in amusement.

"I wonder, Sukku, just how many times Fate will deem the two of us should intertwine as family."

Asrafel touched the ground once they reached the kitchen, and immediately scampered over to the floor where he'd just finished cleaning up broken glass. "I was going to make cookies, but then I had to do the dishes, and then you guys came, so I didn't think I could. We've got cookies though, do you want some cookies? We have milk too." He seemed so eager to please her, and for the time all he could think to do so was to feed her. "Ooh ooh, you didn't bring your bathing suit did you? We have a pool~" Of course she didn't bring her bathing suit Asra, she didn't know she was coming here.

She laughed, but the sound of it wasn't the happiest it could have been. Would Alania and Adghal never be able to stand before eachother without quarreling? Or worse...? The she-devil wondered if she could perhaps bring it up to him, or better yet, Tomoyo. But...what if they fought? They hadn't yet, and she didn't ever want them to, but...she thought it unfair for Alania to only be able to see pictures of the little boy.

What grandmother doesn't wish to hold their child's child? To touch their cheek and to spoil them rotten? Certainly Adghal wouldn't take that privelage away from the woman. It would be a chance to show her that his love was true...that he done something right.

Maybe Sukkubus was just too empathetic, too hopeful for her own good.

She too turned her head at the flash of ribbon and sheet of blonde hair that passed her, brows shooting upwards in disbelief.

"Oh...my. That sight was as disturbing as it was uplifting." She turned her eyes to Alania. "Jocelyn has never let anyone hold her hand without protest. There may be hope for her yet!"

"I...um, I've had a cookie once," she said quite suddenly, looking around the kitchen with a wondering gaze. "Adghal gave them to me. Well, threw them. They're yummy...um, Oros or something." Her little nose curled as she tried to place a finger upon the name.

"Ore..oros...oriols..." A listless shrug. "Whatever, they were good."

A flare of sudden frustration ignited within her chest, causing her green eyes to give an uncalled flash. Bathing suit? Pool? What were those? How she hated being confused! The little blonde looked away and crossed her arms, inadvertantly trying to ward off her sudden anger. Counting to ten, she turned back towards Asrafel, though didn't meet his gaze.

"...What...are those?" She hated how weak she sounded!

"Hope," Alania repeated with a small side smile, "A rare thing nowadays. Is she giving you trouble? You should have her come by more often. I know Asra would love to see her."


"Oreos!" Asrafel proclaimed, zipping around her and looking for the bag of Oreos he knew Orestae had stashed away somewhere within. "We have other kinds of cookies too. You should try the really soft little chocolate chip cookies in the white box, I could live on those my entire life and be happy~!" He dropped a white box into her hand marked 'Entemanns' in blue script across it, and continued searching for all kinds of sweets. He began picking out the oddest assortment of things, just because he thought that one of them might make Joce happy.

"Oh, a pool!" He exclaimed, closing the drawers shut quickly and turning to look at her. "It's wonderful! Come, I'll show you~" He hadn't noticed the anger, or the silence before she spoke, as he was too involved in trying to pick out what would please her best. He dropped all the things he'd picked out of the cabinet, leaving them in a haphazard pile in the kitchen as he took her free hand and tugged her out toward the back.

"Lillian doesn't let me swim in the pool without a bathing suit, even if I've kept my ribbons. She says I'll taint the pool. I don't know what that means, it's not like my ribbons bleed color~! She's so silly sometimes." He giggled and stopped when they reached the glass door that led outside, opening it to flutter towards the large blue body of water. "Pool!" He exclaimed with a flourish, and sidled down next to it, dunking his feet in.

"Indeed," she agreed, wondering why her own hope would never die. Was there even any hope for her left? Maybe she should just give up on him, but something told her not to...Sukku shook her head and in the process, shook her thoughts away as well.

"Sometimes. She's so...untrusting. It's hard to teach her much of anything without her being a skeptic. But she's sweet...rarely, but." She shrugged, "I'd like to bring her around more...she said that she had met someone at the party a little while ago. She didn't realize how much she was talking about it until I started teasing her. Hasn't talked about it since. Guess that someone was Asrafel." What an unlikely pair...

Her eyelids fluttered in a rapid blink as she caught the box and shook it, satisfied with the sound of food inside. Pushing the flaps open, Jocelyn dug inside and grabbed a few cookies, pulling them out only to overturn them in her palm and sniff them. Her anger was momentarily forgotten.

They didn't look like Oreos. What did they taste like? She pushed one into her mouth and smacked her lips; why was there suddenly a saliva overhaul within her mouth?

She again yielded to Asrafel's tugging, tucking the box under her arm for safe keeping. She was so focused on the taste of the cookie that she barely realized where the pool was until she was right in front of it. She watched the ribboned boy to see what he did when he was around it, and leaned down to set the box away from the edge before following suit.

...Well, she didn't know you're not supposed to stick your feet in a pool with your shoes still on. Asrafel never wore shoes...so he had nothing to take off. Monkey see, monkey do.

Asrafel looked down into the water from his own feet to hers, and stifled a giggle. "Uh oh, your mom's gonna be mad that you got your shoes all wet. You should take them off! I'm gonna go get a bathing suit. I think Lillian's got one, you wanna wear hers?" He inhaled a quick breath, and looked up at her in sudden embarrassment. "I mean.. that is.. if you wanna go swimming. We don't have to. I didn't mean to push-!" He bit his lip, nervously pulling out one of the cookies and shoving it in his mouth before he could say anything else stupid.

"A skeptic, even so young? She's probably very clever. But so far I don't know anyone who's met Asrafel and not liked him. He's good for keeping your spirits up, at the very least."

She cleared her throat and moved to stand. "I'm going to get something to drink, do you want anything?"

"I thought it felt funny," she said, curling her nose as she hauled her water laden boots out of the pool. With nimble fingers set slightly clumsy at the water, she began to undo the buckles and yank her shoes off. After she had finished with them both, she rolled off her socks and shoved them into the shoes, sniffing as she turned back to Asrafel. She wiggled her pale white toes, curling them upon the edge of the pool.

She tilted her head, sending her sheet of golden white hair flying. She could easily tease him, but Jocelyn wasn't feeling it; it was hard to be anything close to rude around Asrafel.

"It's okay," she reassured, giving a doe-eyed blink. "I wouldn't mind." She didn't mention that she didn't even know how to swim. How hard could it be?

"She is...unfortunately. I wouldn't be surprised if she became a pathological liar." Sukkubus palmed her forehead, already have three insane children at home to deal with without a crazed, lying maniac joining them. Raising her chin, she rubbed the tip of one fuzzy ear before giving a hesitant nod.

"Uh, sure."

"Grfmt!" Asrafel spurted out, forgetting that he still had the cookie in his mouth as he attempted to shout out 'great' with it still stuffed inside. He covered his mouth before the pieces could go flying, and whimpered in embarrassment, hopping to his feet and fluttering away to get them both bathing suits.

He took quite a few minutes, finally returning wearing a snug little bathing suit bottom, (What, did you expect him to wear boxers?) and a one piece black bathing suit with a lightning bolt rip down the stomach. Only Lillian would wear something like that - perhaps she had even made the rip herself.

"Here you go! You can change inside if you want." He plopped back down on the pools edge and waited while splashing his feet in it.

"What would you like? We've got water, soda, iced tea, juice, anything you'd prefer?" Alania offered, pausing for her answer.

A rare smile cracked the stoic visage of the blonde child, amused by Asrafel's embarrassment. Jocelyn decided sit by the pool as she waited for the ribboned boy's return, dunking her feet into the water, only to frown.

"This water makes my feet look really white..." she commented to herself, toes spreading out as she reached into the pool to grab her own feet. She struggled to stay in the position and look over her shoulder at Asrafel's return, but had to let go to really see him. Pulling herself from the water, she slapped her feet down on the cement and reached for the bathing suit.

"Just turn around, 'kay?" she said, working with her clothes so she could put on the suit. Jocelyn wasn't a very modest person, rather blunt, really, but she figured that it'd be rude just to strip down right in front of someone. Or at least, that's what Ritsu had told her when she had walked out of the bathroom one morning with nothing on but her birthday suit.

"Oh, tea, I guess," she nodded, getting up, feeling obliged to follow Alania.

It took a moment for Asrafel to register Joce's request. He looked up at her slowly, with a sense of wonder and confusion. She was going to change here? With him around?

"Ummm.. well... okay.." He stammered out slowly, and pulled his feet out of the water to turn away from her. He pressed his legs tight against his body, and looked down at his knees for a brief moment, before his eyes squeezed tightly shut and he held onto his legs as if his life depended on it. His face was turning red, though it was unclear as to whether that was because he was holding his breath, or blushing. Either way, he was fighting an instinctual urge to turn around and peek. His innocence could only go so far.

"OKAY NOT LOOKING." He cried out, before holding his breath again. He was going to be a good boy, just watch!

Alania opened the refridgerator and pulled out a soda for herself, before getting a glass for Sukku. "Hot, or iced?" She asked, concerning the tea. She had no idea of the debauchery just outside. >.>

"'Kay," she mumbled, fiddling with the skirt, which seemed more logical to pull off first than her shirt. After all, the bathing suit didn't have a zipper, so she figured she'd have to slip into it and pull it up. Like overalls or something.

Either Jocelyn was unaware of the boy's confusion, or she just didn't care; somehow, the latter half seemed more believable than the first bit. Picking up the piece of cloth that served as her swim suit, she gave a crucial once over before looking up. Was it supposed to be this flimsy? Hm.

"Hey, am I s'posed to just wear it over my underwear or somethin'? Is that allowed?" Her brows crinkled, one hand lifting to rub her head.

"Iced." She wondered where Joss had disappeared off to...well, no screaming yet, so she must have been safe.

Despite having his hands covering most of his face, he still heard her question, and almost innocently turned around in instinctual response. He had only moved an inch when he realized what he was doing and stiffened, straightening up and looking straight ahead again.

"Uh." He responded eloquently, hoping beyond hope that the heat he felt on his skin was only showing a blush on his cheeks, and not the rest of his body. "I. I uh. Don't know. I know I don't wear underwear. I don't think girls do. I mean, you'd get them all wet and couldn't wear them afterward, right? I don't think the bathing suit is waterproof.."

This only brought up thoughts about the fact that she wouldn't have underwear on, which seemed in and of itself wrong, but all he could do was say the first thing that he thought of - if he thought at all.

Alania concocted two glasses of iced tea, and cut up a lemon to add a little lemon slice on each, just for effect. "Here you go." She murmured, just a little proud of herself for the silliest little thing.

"That makes sense," she answered simply, toes scratching at an itch on her ankle. With a sniff she flung the bathing suit over her shoulder and snapped the elastic band on her underwear, a pair that had what looked like a Teddy Graham's face printed smack dab in the middle.

"Well, don't look, 'kay?" As she undressed, she thought it was terribly silly how she was lectured about walking around naked - was it really that bad? Asrafel practically walked around willy nilly as it was, so what did it matter? Who would it hurt? Didn't they all look the same...so it's not like anyone would see something they weren't used to. Jocelyn made a small grunt as she stuck her feet through the holes in the suit and pulled it up, shoving her arms through the designated areas.


"Well, it's a little loose, but I s'pose it'll work," she said finally, making a few small adjustments and twisting around to look at herself in different angles.

Sukku took her glass gratefully, grinning as she took a sip. Yes, she approved - it was clear the way her face brightened like a child's with candy. Curling her fingers around the glass, she leaned against the counter and cocked her head.

"So...is Asrafel yours?"

I went to the day-care 2day. It was fun. I saw AsarAsrafel there. He gave me sum cookeys an' then we whent 2 the pool. He taugt me how to swim. I still have 2 lern mor tho. So then I can get back at him because he scared me in the pool. But it was still fun. I hope that he will be my friend. I think hes my friend. Blond-e says we can go back there soon. That would b cool huh? I gess thats all. The end.

-Joce