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It wasn't that Addie was naughty, exactly, or that she misbehaved on purpose. She was just an opportunist of the worst sort. So, seeing Sati otherwise occupied talking to Nyoka and then to Kia, she just sort of slipped away. She blended so well with the legs of those around her, you couldn't really blame Nyoka and Sati for not seeing her go. And she was the youngest one here, so you couldn't really blame her for being bored.

And, to her credit, she did stay away from the pool. Though, if you really wanted to be technical, there was plenty of adult supervision around. She just didn't really care about the water. What Adelaide cared about was the presents. She really really liked presents. Any kind, really, as long as they were for her. And it was such a shame that there was a whole table full of presents with no one enjoying them.

It had occurred to Adelaide, sometime between being made to hand over her doughnut and kitty toy and seeing Caoimhe for the first time, that the grey-skinned girl probably wouldn't like the presents Addie had brought for her. So really, it wouldn't be bad if she just took them back. Because someone should enjoy them, right? And then she thought that if Ark-Ark was there, he would definitely agree with her. And would probably help her get them back. But he wasn't there, so she was going to have to be brave and get them back herself.

She lingered in the doorway, eying Vlad and the present table in turns. He wasn't looking at her, or at much of anything, accept the door to the mansion. He definitely wasn't looking for small girls sneaking up from behind. And there was a grass skirt around the edges of the table, perfect for thieving little children to hide behind. And there were her presents, staring at her, begging her to save them from a sad life with a boring old grey girl.

Adelaide squinted her eyes in concentration, mustered her courage, and with balled fists, scampered across the floor. Her feet were wet from being by the pool and so she slid and skittered across the floor, making quite a bit more noise than she had intended, before flopping onto her belly and sliding her way to a stop under the table, her feet just sticking out from beneath the grass edging. She held her breath for a count of three, which was all the higher she could count, before squirming fully under the table.

It was actually kind of nice under there. The bright lights of the party were filtered by the grass, and Addie sat catching her breath, surrounded by a magical green glow. She wondered if anyone had noticed she was gone yet.

At Dustin's words, Caoimhe looked over her shoulder. The pool was massive, and the only warm body in it was the gold-haired Fa'e named Kia. It wasn't even close to being broth, let alone soup! "Uh. Dusty," she began, ready to call him out on his bluff -- but something took her mind away.

One -- Airi had sent a messenger to her birthday, which was both cool and annoying.
Two -- She sensed a disturbance in the force... by her... presents?

The girl quickly got her priorities in check, abruptly stomping away from the gathered group and the blond newcomer. She didn't have time to meet the non-Fa'e or to entertain her potential Fa'e friends. No, she could feel her presents... calling to her! Planting one wet fist on each hip, she assumed a Xena stance in front of the table, eying the crowd for guilty faces. Who dared set off her present-Spidey-sense? There was a pretty good stack assembled behind her. The flowers were pretty, even if they were useless. In the future, she'd make sure to tell Airi specifically what she wanted. A wafflemaker, for example. And one of those Slap-Chop things that you can dice all kinds of food in!

Caoimhe scanned the party, but she didn't sense anything was amiss. She didn't even notice that one particular toddler was MIA. And though her cheetah prowl had properly surveyed the crowd, the impulsive teen had neglected to check under the table. Crossing her arms, she fixed a skeptical scowl across her face, stamping back to the buffet table. Scooping up a lobster tail in each hand, she sloppily gnawed the white, meaty flesh out of the shell. It was kind of impressive, actually. Like she'd done it before. Maybe in a past life.

OHWELL.

Still stuffing her face, she crossed next to the blond stranger. "Airi couldn't come herself?" she said, spewing bits of shell between bites of sea food. Damn, Airi had been the only Fa'e to get a personal invitation. And she didn't even bother to show! She flickered her gaze back to Dustin, half-busy eating. Her mind fought to stay focus on the threat to her presents, but it slipped quietly from her mind, replaced by more food, annoyance over the non-swimmers, and general disappointment in the lack of attendance at her party. Sure, she had no friends, but sheesh, what was this world coming to when people passed up a free party?

Turning to Dustin first, the Dude replied: "I do know her. Briefly. Through Anya. And since Anya's a bit on the rocks with Airi I tried to step in and reconcile the situation. But instead got asked to deliver flowers to this a party." The man shrugged.

Then, looking at Caoimhe as he continued talking he added: "Err ... I don't think she knows how to drive. Or read directions, even. That kiddo is a bit people shy, too." The Dude watched with admiration Caoimhe's disassemble the lobster leg and now tried his hand at it, too. As he wrestled with the shell and then dislodged the juicy white meat into his mouth, he suddenly remembered another thing Airi asked him to do at the party.

"Oh yeah, almost forgot. I'm supposed to see at this party if anyone of you is interested in some adventure. I think Airi has acquired one more Fa'e, a pale girl who is recovering at the HQ. And she wants to try and find more, now. Except, you know, she is shy and has no idea how to do it on her own. At least this is what I gather about the situation."

The beach bum looked curiously at the tall angel fella, more fascinated about the wings then anything else. The youth looked like a strong, but not burly guy, though while Airi probably wanted fighters for her adventure, she didn't really specify as to precisely what type. Not that Airi's messenger knew much about fighting, aside from drunken slugging that he did in bars once in a while.

"You? Cool. And what are you, by the by? Name and all ... I'm Sean." He stretched out his hand in a greeting, the first on for him at the party, while looking around if anyone else was getting curious about the offer.

Picking the last few crumbs of doughnut off of her dress and handing them to Gloo, Addie marveled at how easy that had been. She was still sort of amazed that she had gotten away with it. Sati had not come to look for her, that stupid grey girl hadn't spotted her, and she'd gotten to have a whole doughnut -- a big one, not one of those holes that Quinn let her have -- all to herself! She muffled a diabolical chuckle behind a hand and kicked her feet a little in happiness.

A sparkle in her eyes, she was just reaching her fingers back between the fringe to retrieve the cat toy she had brought, when the weirdest thing happened. A tiny voice that sounded remarkably like Sati, piped up from beside her right ear, "Adelaide! What are you doing? I don't think that stealing is proper behavior for a little girl!"

This admonishment was followed immediately by the following, this time from the left, and sounding like Arkanti, "Leave the kid alone, you old biddy. She's just having a bit of fun! Not like you'd know what that is..."

It might have been the sugar from the doughnut, or maybe Addie was just drunk on power, but she was pretty sure that there were miniature figures of her mother and her father sitting on her shoulders. She looked first at Sati, frowning, and then at Arkie, and smiled. Looking back to Sati, she replied, "Yeah! Have fun!" Her face vacillated between confidence and chagrin.

"Well, I don't think this is a very smart kind of fun. Young lady, march yourself right back over to me... the big me, and apologize for sneaking off!" The tiny Sati made use of all three inches of height she'd been granted, managing to look down at Addie, even whiled perched on her shoulder.

Tiny Arkie, meanwhile, had slid down Addie's arm and was busy hauling over a paper cup that he had found discarded on the floor close to the table. He pushed his find towards Adelaide, until it bumped into her foot and then proceeded to climb back up. Addie looked from him to tiny Sati and back again, trying to figure out what to do. When tiny Arkanti had reclaimed his position on her left, he tweaked her ear, so like the ones he used to have and smirked. "Use that, kid." He pointed to the cup and then gazed at Addie, pretty sure she could figure out what to do.

Forehead wrinkled in confusion, Addie stared at tiny Arkie for a moment, her head slowly turning to look at the cup. Tiny Sati began tapping on the side of Addie's face, trying to regain her attention, but the toddler was busy with realization. She picked up the cup, looking at tiny Arkie one last time to make sure she had the right idea, then swooped the cup over tiny Sati's head, covering the open end with her fat little hand. "Sorry, tiny Sati-momma," she whispered through her fingers, and set the cup upside down on the floor.

Tiny Arkie jumped down from her shoulder and skittered over to the cup, hopping on top, to make sure tiny Sati couldn't escape. "Get yourself something nice, kid," he challenged, pointing at the table top. She looked to where his finger led, and then back, but the tiny image of her father had disappeared. She lifted the cup, but tiny Sati was gone too. "Weird," she breathed, but tossed the cup down and got to business.

"Get yourself something nice," her father had told her. That kitty toy had been nice, but what if something else up there was nicer? She moved the grass around the table enough that she could spot Caoihme. The selkie was busy stuffing her face and was facing away from the table. Snaking her whole arm out from her hiding place, Addie grasped the first wrapped gift her fingers touched, pulling it to the edge of the table.

Her other arm soon followed and slowly, she lowered her find to the floor and then dragged it into her hidey-hole. She smiled at her catch, placed Gloo back in her hair, and began to tear into the brightly colored paper.

Oh yeah. Best party ever.

The beach bum folded his hands on his chest, surveying the three volunteers. A winged fellow with some muscle on him seemed like someone able to protect Airi in a pinch, or at least make Airi feel a bit more secure. To give the pale girl a sense of security while venturing out of her misty glade cocoon was really the main idea here, as far as he was concerned. The two kids, a boy and a girl who had also volunteered inspired less confidence in him, but neither of them seemed like a weakling either. Maybe as a Fa'e they had some hidden skills of asswooping that the Dude could never comprehend, being a mere human. As a response to the three, he nodded in affirmation, grinning:

"Three able bodies, huh? Not too bad for a casual mention of adventure! Well, gimme your names and digits and I will write em down and get a hold of you three once the pale lady asks me about it, m'key?"

In preparation for the names and numbers, the Dude grabbed one of the napkins from the buffet table and fished out a short stub of a pencil from his pocket.

Sei had slid into the sidelines then, letting the others mingle and flipping open his cellphone to text Raven quickly - only to tell her how long it would look that the party would go on for.

Though, by the time he had done just that... Wait, wasn't it day when he did ? And now...

And now, suddenly everything was dark.

...

Clouds, perhaps ? Night just did not fall so quickly.

The boy shrugged, and headed back inside, going toward Mik and Dusty while looking over the table for something to eat.