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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?"

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?"

"Try not to tug on them so hard, sweetie." Eight winced, flapping her headwings playfully for Shauna. Her youngest daughter was more interested in these wings than herself! Oh well, at least she wasn't trying to pull them off. Eight's family adored Shauna, but it'd been rather interesting when she first brought the girl home...almost as interesting as how she recieved Shauna.

Oh well, at least Eight knew what the Benedict Center was, and Asra had been kind enough to give her the exact address so she didn't have to wander all around Gambino just to find the place! It hadn't taken too long to get there, and by the looks of it there were plenty of other people here as well! Shauna blinked and looked away from her mother's gently throbbing head to the people running around everywhere. Wow! It was almost like home! Only...with more people...and one of them she recognized as the nice, colorful boy who'd given her to mommy! Who was the girl he was hugging? It was time to find out! Shauna looked up at Eight and bounced in her arms, throwing the girl off balance for a moment or two out of surprise and staring at her daughter, who was pointing in Asra, Joce and Chuu's direction as she bounced. Obviously she wanted to see Asra again...

"Alright, alright. I'm going~!" Eight grinned, already heading across the room and dodging other children and people as she passed them...it was somewhat difficult with a toddler bouncing excitedly in your arms.

Inle looked at the returned Chikara, somewhat stunned as she saw the slurpee in the other woman's hand. Wtf, there really WAS a 7-11 down the street? Inle had just told Chikara that to get her to go away! With a growl, Inle snatched the fork from Chikara's hand, stabbing the ice with a single-minded purpose. That the ice was red helped soothe her a bit.

An uncharacteristic frown crossed Cal's face as it appeared the boy in Asra's lap didn't want to play with him. His pout stayed put until he was placed back in front of the toy to end all toys, the party ball. With a clap of his hands, he watched it, clumsily groping for the lights once more, still to no avail. He puffed his cheeks out at the ball, brows drawing downward. Well, that was no fun! If he couldn't have those lights, he'd just make his own! He stretched a hand in front of himself, tattoos beginning to glow. There was a bright flash of light from the corner, and little colored lights began swirling round and round in the palm of the toddler's hand. This new ball of light started to orbit around the party ball, and Calumet clapped for himself, not seeming to care that he was the only one around to see it.

Ioyla, having spent several sad, sad minutes at the dip table eating sour cream, looked up when she heard a familiar voice. Who was that...? But it didn''t take her long to find the source of the voice. Eight''s bright red hair and flapping wings made her stick out like the proverbial sore thumb.

Wait. What was Eight doing here? And from what Ioyla could see from the ravaged dip table, what was a baby doing in her arms? Ioyla knew Eight had plenty of kids, just none this young. Uh oh! Baby momma! Ioyla bounced Ilistala a little to wake her, who whined as first one, then the other, groggy orange eye popped open.

The demon siddled over to her old friend, a dorky grin on her face. "Alex yo baby daddy?" She giggled at her own wit and modesty. "Whoozat? Why didncha tell me? I thought what we had was special!"

Bird had retreated to the corner furthest away from the booming speakers, hoping to quell Papree's hurting ears. Or perhaps it was her mind-- headaches were dreadful things to endure, especially as a child.

In any case, Papree seemed to be feeling better, as she began looking around in interest. Observing had become her favorite thing to do. And there was so much to look at! The lights and colors-- colors she had never seen or dreamed of before -- and people, good heavens there were people, and the smells were so... foreign... and intoxicating. Papree scrambled out of Bird's arms, eager to see more. The pounding volume had become distant; she had adjusted well.

Bird was just making sure she didn't go near any of the booze.

Baniru watched her baby go and round a corner, dissapearing behind a few bodies.
"Well, he's on his own again."

Karma, on the other hand, had snuck up right next to Calumet. He was staring intensely at the orb of colour and light, and at what was swirling around it.

"Lite." he said with some difficulty, trying to touch it himself.

Papree continued weaving around the masses of people, catching snippets of conversation she payed no attention to. She kept inhaling the air, trying to smell and touch and see everything at once. Kneeling, she ran the pads of her fingers over the floor; she touched a passing pantleg; she craned her neck to the ceiling and gazed at the blazing lights until spots flashed in her vision.

And then a stream of light whizzed past her.

Papree watched it disappear behind another body in wonder. She had never seen moving lights before. The sudden urge to see what it felt like coaxed her to turn and see even more of them, originating from... two more people. Only, smaller people; people who didn't soar above her head.

She blinked, watching the moving lights weave crazily about them.