Welcome to Gaia! ::

Before long, Sunday came and Anita was pulling up to Sand Dollar's parking lot in her ten year old burgundy Oldsmo'. Her ensemble was scarcely different from the norm, similar in fact to what she wore to the boil with her hoodie tied around her waist just in case it got chilly later on. Jeans, sneakers, teal tanktop, double braids, she was easy to spot in a crowd.

Shepard sat at at table in Sand Dollar's patio in his usual summer gear: flip-flops, shorts and a t-shirt, this particular one of an ocean-blue shade that tried its best to pull similar notes out of the grey in his eyes. He had just sat, looking around the strip for Anita and her green Raevan as he did so. As hostess left to retrieve waters, he spotted Anita approaching from the parking lot, his eyes latching on to the double-braids easily from a distance. But -- hey, where was Cruz? Was he ahead of her, or behind? Had he already gone in?

The Aussie took off his sunglasses and raised his voice in an "Oi!" to get Anita's attention, waving at her.

Anita glanced in the direction of the voice just for a moment as she kept walking. Her immediate instinct was that it was for someone else, until she looked back and looked closer, recognizing the man's features beyond his unfamiliar clothes. Her face lit up and she turned to a jog, slowing up just beside the table.

"Hey," she smiled, seating herself across from him. She took a moment to scootch her chair in to her liking, then rested both arms against the table. "How ya been?"

Shepard smiled, half-rising as Anita came beside the table and clapping her on the shoulder in a hello. He sat back down as she did, and opened his mouth to speak just as the waters came and the waiter handed Anita her own menu. He nodded at the waiter and then looked back at Anita before turning in his chair to look where she had just come from.

"I'm great, thanks, you?" He looked back at her with an easy grin. "Cruz taking his time?"

His greeting was unexpected but not unwelcomed. Anita hung her head and grinned at the table at the quick contact, lifting back up when the waiter came by. Anita looked at the third glass curiously as she offered a quiet 'thanks' for her menu. Shep was quick to sweep her back into conversation and she smiled gratefully. Cruz, though? Anita turned to look where Shepard had.

"Mmmnope," she righted herself and flicked the side of the third glass with the back of her middle finger, "Just me. Sorry if things got confused, he's still learning the phone." Anita smiled and shrugged while pulling the errant water towards her, "I'll drink this, though--"

Shepard paused as she answered, his lips parting slightly as he blinked. "Oh, I gotcha..."

He threw his mind back to the conversation, frowning gently, then looked back up at Anita -- he didn't need to look disappointed to have her company, geezus. His expression melted into a faint grin and he waved it off. "I must've misunderstood when he called. I was under the impression he wanted us three to go to lunch t'gether. No worries."

"I'd wait before sayin' y'll drink that, though -- got some great shakes here. Gonna go for a straight chocolate one m'self. Burgers not too bad either, especially the specials. I'll probably do the hickory BBQ with the fries." He settled back in his chair. "Not on a diet or anything, right? Cause I'm pretty bad at curbing back with food I like."

Her own smile wavered at Shepard's reaction. His frown was caught, however brief, and that certainly confirmed there was some confusion. It wasn't until Shepard elaborated, though, that the confusion bled over to her. Had Cruz specified who called? He said Shepard did the inviting, at least, but she was having trouble remembering the exact details the frei had given her. Seems he still had some work to do in getting information across.

Oh well. They were here now, no use dwelling over confusion. Shep did say he thought Cruz wanted the three of them, not that he had asked for Cruz to attend. This would be fine, wouldn't it?

Anita was quick to perk back up as he turned her attention back to the water. She hummed at the thought of milkshakes, burgers, and fries. Diets? "Oh hell no," she laughed, "Let my metabolism do most of the work, bike off the rest. I'm eatin' whatever I want -- and that all sounds damn good."

"Great," said Shepard with a laugh. "Hate it when people get mad at me for ordering insensitive stuff while they're eating a salad. Like it's my fault."

The waiter swept back by their table to get their drink orders and Shepard made his full order as he'd described. It wasn't until Anita had done her own ordering and the waiter left that Shepard thought again, his mind going back to his earlier conversation with Cruz. Why had he gotten the impression that Anita had been there?

"Y'know, I hadn't really gotten a good chance to talk to Cruz before he called. He seems like a good kid. I think he and Rhede might get along."

"Tell me about it," she chuckled, adjusting in her seat as the waiter came back. Her own order matched Shepard's almost entirely, though she forewent the BBQ in place of a double cheese burger.

Anita couldn't help but smile at Shepard's opinion of Cruz, even as she sipped her water. "Yeah, he tries. Sweet as anything but confusion isn't unusual with him. Rhede is, um--" she lifted two fingers atop her head to signify antlers, "--the pink one from the boil? Didn't really get a chance to talk to him either but he's very nice, I think they'd like each other a lot too. So far, Cruz hasn't disliked any raevan he's met."

"Yeah..." said Shepard, scratching his stubble idly. "I don't know why, but I could've sworn I got the impression you were there when we were on the phone, or that you were helping him out or something. He sounded really eager but... I don't know. Halting, I guess?" He shrugged, leaning back in his chair. "It's alright, Rhede had to get used to taking deliveries on the phone and there were some issues at the beginning, too."

He smiled then, his eyes warming. "Yeah, he's the pink one. Actually I think he told me that he and Cruz met once, but it wasn't the best circumstances -- told me Cruz helped him a bit after he got out of the jungle, and he was a real wreck then." Shepard shook his head. "If he helped at all, I'm glad he was there."

Anita leaned her elbows on the table while listening. "Huh," she murmured, "Nah, I was at work all day. He told me about it when I got home."

That seemed strange, but then again Cruz's speech style was still sort of clunky. His vocabulary and understanding of the English language had grown by leaps and bounds since he was first released from the tank but his usage of it was short and clumsy. Maybe that was what Shep had picked up on. After all, he wasn't used to how Cruz spoke.

She rested forward, sinking down against her arms with a smile that wasn't sure whether it wanted to be warm or somber. "Cruz mentioned helping some people into the bus. He was pretty distraught about the whole thing, actually... Can't blame him. Even I got kinda messed up there," Anita twisted her right arm toward Shepard and dragged her index finger along the scar Anya had given her beneath her shoulder.

"Huh..." said Shepard in response. Something about the call was still bothering him, he just couldn't put his finger on exactly what it was. And anyhow, Anita's showing of her scar pushed the thoughts right out of his mind. He leaned forward to get a better look at it, drawing breath in between closed teeth, his eyes narrowing.

"Holy s**t," he murmured, leaning back again. "I can't ever think of that weekend without thinking how much I should've been there. Rhede came out looking like he went ten rounds with a grain thresher and acting like it, too. If I let myself think about it too much, I still get pretty pissed off. You guys never should've gone in like that."

His speech was interrupted by the arrival of milkshakes. The clatter of the porcelain cups on the metal table popped his sour expression like a bubble.

"Sorry to bring that up. I know it's not exactly everyone's favorite topic. That guy I met at the boil, Trox, he was still pretty steamed over it, too."

Anita grimaced as she pulled her arm back. The pain was long gone, the wound was more than healed, but that didn't make things easier on her mind -- or anyone else's.

"No, we shouldn't have. Thought we were just the back up, you know?" Anita scoffed and folded her arms, "I, uh, wrote an angry letter." It wasn't much in the grand scheme of things but maybe it was enough to issue a reassessment of Lab 305's internal policies.

The milkshakes did a good job of shaking her own thoughts. Anita shrugged and gave a lopsided smirk as she pulled her shake closer. "S'okay. Not ate up over it. Specially not this," she scoffed and shifted her scarred arm. "Oh yeah, you and Trox were talkin' a lot. He was in my group for the thing."

Shepard took a long drink, smiling around his straw as Anita mentioned her angry letter. He'd wanted to go in and yell at someone, but he was fairly certain the doctor was indisposed and the only other person he could yell at would be Alex, who was a victim herself and certainly was Not An Option as far as he was concerned.

"Was he?" Shepard perked slightly at the thought, his eyebrows lifting. "That's good. He seems like the kind who'd keep you guys pretty safe. Safer than that poor b*****d Zeke kept Rhede, not that it was his fault or anything." He laughed, a wry sound.

"Anyway -- that's it!" He snapped his fingers. "THAT'S what was bugging me. I couldn't figure out why Cruz would call and invite me to something he wasn't coming to. Took me ages to figure out what he wanted on the phone, but I thought he'd, I don't know, want to talk to me or something over lunch." Shepard laughed. "Guess not, but I'll take the company that came jus' fine."

Fingers clutched around her shake glass and straw tucked between her lips, Anita nodded. "Mhm. Yeah, he did good for what got thrown at us. We all got a little bumped around, which-- s**t, considering what everyone else looked like, I think we got off easy..." Anita grimaced again. She'd seen the condition Zeke was in on the chopper ride back. They definitely got off easy.

At the snap of Shep's fingers, her brows lifted. It only took a second more for them to knit. "He invited...?" She frowned. "I thought he-- hm." Her face went through several different expressions, from confusion, to annoyance, scrutiny, then a strange sort of acceptance. Anita propped one cheek up with her palm. "Maybe I misunderstood, too. Dunno why he called you out of the blue like that." She laughed quietly and dropped her hand. "Sorry about that. Nice to be out, though. Thanks for picking the place out-- ...you did do that, right?"

Shepard took another long drink as he watched her, uncertain of the chain of emotions that swept across her face. He focused so hard on it that he swallowed too much ice cream and gave himself brain freeze, making an impolite groan and pinching the bridge of his nose until the feeling passed. He hadn't meant to make things uncomfortable, he just hadn't understood Cruz's motives. Why would he want just him and Anita to have lunch?

... hm.

HM.

Coughing dryly, he waved a hand, then returned it to rub his throat gently. His voice, when it came out, was thin and watery, self-amused. There was a note of helpless laughter in his voice. “Don’t worry about it. It’s all probably fine, yeh?” He cleared his throat, returning to normal. “Not sure what he’s got to get out of this, exactly — it’s not your birthday and everyone else forgot or something, right?”

As he spoke, the waiter returned with their meals, setting each one down with minimal noise. Shepard quickly assured him that both meals were indeed correct, and then set about soothing his throat with a couple of nice warm french fries.

"Oh yeah, totally." Of course it was fine. Actually, Anita hadn't had a friendly outing without Cruz in, god, months, at least. It was a pleasant surprise. As she took another sip of her shake, Shepard's question caught her off guard and nearly sent some up her nose. She coughed and covered her mouth as it turned to laughter. "That would have been back in February."

Not the everyone forgetting part, at least.

Anita thanked their waiter and dug into her fries first, as well. Several were dipped into her chocolate shake before being eaten to mix the sweet and salty up.

"That's good, a'least. Maybe he thought y'needed a day out." Shepard took his burger in his hands, squashing down the tall, toasted bun and taking a big bite out of it. Barbecue sauce smeared across his face as he did so -- an unfortunate but unavoidable part of eating anything with it -- and he wiped himself off as he chewed thoughtfully and swallowed. "Say, he isn't the sort that'd be plannin' somethin' while yer out, ey?"

He took a few fries, pointing at her with one as she dipped one of hers into her shake. "An' what the ******** is that?"

Anita hummed and smiled at Shepard's suggestion. It was a nice thought, Cruz looking out for her like that. "Wouldn't have been wrong, if he did," she shrugged and sipped her water. A laugh crept out and Anita covered her mouth with the back of her hand until she swallowed. "Nah, I don't think it's anything like that. He stays home to watch the dog a lot, he's well behaved."

As she dunked another fry into her shake, Anita paused and raised her brows at Shep. "Ah?" she held it up, chocolate clinging to and dripping off the salty potato wedge, "What, too gross for ya?" Anita smirked as she popped the whole thing in her mouth.

Shepard took another bite as she spoke, used to scarfing down lunches from being somewhat understaffed at the bakery, and had to remind himself to slow down. He leaned back, putting one hand over his mouth to keep from laughing as she defiantly dunked another fry into her shake. He swallowed, taking one himself, and contemplated it, hovering it over his shake.

He dipped a fry sort of daintily into the half-melted upper part of his milkshake, grimacing. "Jus' looks wrong."

As Shep hesitated dunking his own fry, Anita's look of playful mischief turned into genuine amusement. She covered her mouth again and laughed quietly, eyes lightly crinkled from her wide hidden smile.

"Tastes good, though. And it's all goin' in the same place," she lowered her hand long enough to dip another, though this time she waited and held onto it just as Shep did. "I thought it was gonna be nasty as hell. Saw my mom do it. The flavors don't really change but the milkshake gets a little saltier to offset the sweet." With a quirk of her brows, Anita held the fry closer to her mouth to quietly urge Shepard to do the same with his.

"Vivi did that to me with salted watermelon one time. Told me it enhanced the flavor while we were trying for different ice cream flavors," said Shepard, his voice amused. He looked askance at his fry, as though it were trying to con him, and pulled it back out of the shake. "Christ, it took her so long to convince me to try it I swear I thought she'd pour ice water on me in m'sleep. Wasn't bad, though. Supposedly salt brings out the best in chocolate, too, so..."

With a shrug, he popped the fry into his mouth. His brows knitted -- there were many conflicting flavors: warm and cool, salty and sweet, savory and chocolatey -- but ultimately, they weren't bad. He pulled his eyebrows up in a modest sort of surprise, and said simply: "Not gross!"

"Oh, that sounds good," Anita mentioned idly while he explained. Here and there she gave another small chuckle. "Mhm! Yeah, salty chocolate's one of my favorites, actually. Y'know, chocolate covered pretzels and all, it's really good."

She watched expectantly as Shep finally resolved to give it a shot. His silent affirmation of 'bottoms up' as he ate it made her smile more. Not gross! "Heeyyy," Anita laughed and raised her arms to celebrate.

Now it was her turn to dig into her burger, which she did after taking a long gulp of the shake proper. Smiling appreciatively, Anita closed her eyes to savor it. Food was so important. "I gotta come here more often."

He grinned as she held her arms up and bowed and pandered to an invisible applauding audience, putting a hand over his heart in mock-humility. "Yeh, yeh, what a triumph."

He smiled at her a little more broadly as she ate, his shoulders relaxing as he took another bite of his own half-finished burger. The sun was warm but the sea air was nice, and there was a wide shadow over their table that made the outdoors cool and pleasant. "Yeh, f'sure," he said, nodding."I always like this place, but Rhede doesn't really eat a lot yet and Vivi turns her nose up a bit at burgers. Lemme know when you come back, always up for a lunch."

"Aw, she does? Shame." Anita couldn't say she was surprised, though; Vivi had quite the figure and that wasn't acquired through eating this kind of food on the regular. She paused for a moment, smiling wryly over her burger. The offer was strangely unexpected. "Yeah? Sure, if you wanna. That'd be cool."

Her mind traced back to Cruz setting this up, his motivations. She really hadn't been spending a lot of time with her own friends in a long time. It was always get togethers for Cruz's benefit, in some form or another. Not that she didn't enjoy his company, she always loved tagging along, but it could sometimes be exhausting, especially when that seemed to be the only thing going on. It was nice to just be by herself sometimes and, more over, be with a friend one on one. Maybe he was more aware than she gave him credit for.

"What's Rhede eat, anyway? Cruz doesn't do solids but he drinks plenty of water, and his uh, hah, his natural food source is-- well, you know." How could either of them forget Cruz and Vivi kissing?

"Yeah, Vivi's very French. She'll eat an odd croque monsieur" -- he said the word in a pitched French accent, as silly as it was inaccurate -- "but nahhhhh, burgers are way too unhealthy." Shepard shook his head with amusement, and, as though in punctuation, took another big bite of his own burger. This bite was big enough that the sauce got right into his stubble, and although he wiped it off, a bit remained left behind.

He was glad for the misunderstanding, really. He liked Anita and he liked making new friends -- he'd enjoyed her company since he'd met her, Christ! over two years prior. She'd seemed level-headed and good-humored. But things had never worked out where they could really talk or hang out a little. And it was nice to have a friend at Lab, a normal ******** friend, that wasn't primarily Vivi's.

He was pulled from the thoughts by her question, and he took a sip of his milkshake before replying. "Nothin' like Cruz, or he'd be pretty grossly overweight with Vivi at the helm. He feeds on dawn, goes out in the morning and does his thing by himself. Also, kind of interesting, he can eat good deeds. He told me about it a couple times. If someone does something nice for someone else near 'im, he can feed off it. He tastes a few things at the bakery, too, y'know, little strawberries, sugar, really light stuff. Seems to like the taste. He's pretty excited 'bout getting a stomach one day."

Anita snickered, nodding. To show her agreement, she took a big bite of her burger with him. Hers was considerably less messy but she took a quick wipe at her face all the same.

"Oh, wow," she breathed, eyes wide with wonder. Each time she learned how a raevan fed it seemed to get more and more interesting, but all of them fed in such unique ways they couldn't truly be compared. His secondary food source was of note, as well, which Anita tilted her head at. Cruz didn't seem to have an alternative way to eat, it was always kisses. "So far, Cruz seems pretty ambivalent about stomachs. Maybe it's 'cause he hasn't met many sigels, though."

How many was it now? Melisande was one, Zul another, and Cruz told her that LuLu had grown since their encounter in Aekea.

"Has he not?" Shepard tilted his head, rubbing his stubble thoughtfully. Seeing a dash of barbecue on his hand, he splashed a little water onto his napkin and scrubbed his chin with it. "Geezus this stuff gets everywhere... Ah -- yeh, Rhede likes that guy, Zul, a lot, and he hangs out with the uh... the blonde one, the miraculously pretty one. And he's good friends with the one that used to be mute. Jeeooh? Shoe? What's his name? And the really dramatic guy, the green one."

"Mm-mm," she shook her head, smiling lightly. Anita set her burger back down to return to her fries and the shake for the moment. Shep's messy burger adventures while he spoke kept an almost perpetual smirk on her face.

It perked into a real smile at the mention of Zul, she remembered Rhede with Zul and Ethiriel at the crawfish boil, as well as-- the miraculously pretty one. "Melisande," she mumbled, smile faded. Her brows furrowed at the other two. She certainly didn't know any raevans that used to be mute. The dramatic one took a moment to sink in but, once it clicked, Anita grimaced and scoffed.

"Yeah, Eiry. That's right, I forgot about him. Cruz knows him, too. Eiry, Zul, and we sort of met Meli back at the garden party with the hedge maze but she was in our group in the search, too." It was difficult for her to maintain a smile while discussing the song muse.

Shep took the proactive approach to his burger, finishing it off and then wiping his face when he was done, leaning back with an expression of wolflike satisfaction as he took his milkshake off the table to nurse it as he relaxed. He noted the shift in Anita's expression -- it seemed Zul was well-liked almost universally -- but her natural, unaffected smile disappeared at the mention of Melisande. He thought back to her, from the brief meeting they'd had.

Then it clicked to him: the search. Always the stupid search.

"Melisande, that's it. She always comes by when me and Vivi aren't around, when Rhede opens or closes. Vivi met her recently and had rave reviews, but there's not really anyone I know that doesn't get rave reviews from her." Shepard shrugged. "She's gorgeous, and she seemed nice at the potluck. This lady was asking her some stuff that made her uncomfortable -- what she was made out of and whatever, so I kind of took the bad-cop role and asked the lady to stop. Left a bit after so nobody'd feel awkward about it, but I didn't much get to talk to her. I hope she's nice, she seems to like Rhede pretty good."

He leaned forward for a fry and held it up in a 'eureka' moment as she pronounced Eiry's name. "THA'S RIGHT, Eiry. That guy! He actually was the first one to meet Rhede -- you know, he actually escaped the lab after he came outta the tank, Eiry found him for us. Haven't seen him in a tick, though."

Always the stupid search.

She didn't mean to bring it up again but there it was. Anita was grateful Shepard didn't pick that up so much as Melisande herself. Nodding, she remained attentive and did her best to pull back any discomfort on the topic of the sigel.

"I think she is. Just, mm--" Anita shrugged a little. Until certain events, she would have agreed whole heartedly; Melisande was definitely gorgeous and she was kind but there was something else there that Anita had trouble putting into a single word that was less than pleasant. Maybe it was all circumstantial but she knew Trox was in the same boat, and even Eiry at the time.

Her smile came back at Shepard's enthusiasm over Eirdirsceol and she managed a laugh. "s**t, really? What a little escape artist." Anita took another sip of her milkshake and scoffed. "We met him and-- uhh I forget his guardian's name-- over in Durem. Thought I ran the ******** over but he did his ghost thing." She lifted both arms and slid one hand through the other up to her elbow, to exemplify.

Shepard covered his mouth in a laugh, his eyes brightening, and shook his head, cutting it short. "s**t! Sorry! I'm not laughing you ran the kid over. That's awful." He laughed again despite himself, putting his milkshake down and letting his shoulders shake for a moment.

He said the last few words with more mirth than malice, shaking his head.

Hearing Shepard laugh full out made it easy for Anita to slip back out of her momentary funk. Her own eyes brightened and what was something of a half smile turned wide and giggly. "Nooo, you're fine," she laughed, patting the table near his arm rather than touching him.

"Oh my god, Eiry." His guardian certainly made it seem like the sigel's antics were common. It was nice to know someone else he'd messed with. "Damn near broke a tooth pick off in my a**, he came outta nowhere. Got an earful from his guardian and shook Cruz and I up pretty bad but it's funny now." She shook her head and scoffed. "Lots of characters in Lab, huh?"

Shepard nodded, his mirth dying down to a smile. "Yeh." He shrugged. "When I first got roped into this, I thought -- ********, these people are all plonkers and whackers. Met a few Raevans at first and thought, what the ******** am I getting into? But it's turned out alright. Rhede's a good one, and Cruz seems like he's a good sort, himself."

Anita gave another short laugh, this time into her milkshake.

"Plonkers and whackers. Guess it's good we first met without Lab intervention," she snickered, "But man, it's weird realizing how small a place Gaia really is to meet other raevans and affiliates by chance. I'm glad things are going alright on your end." The compliment to Cruz made her pause and smile as she put both hands around her milkshake. "Yeah, he's good. Not at all what I expected but I don't think I could be happier with a different one around."

Shepard smiled, taking a few fries and munching on them thoughtfully, nodding along to her comment.

"I thought..." he said musingly.
"... that Rhede would for sure be a small girl, big eyes, cute like a kitten. The exact sorta thing I couldn't say no to, just to make my life harder. Thought it right up until he walked -- floated, I guess -- through the door." He smiled over the table at Anita.
"What'd you think you were in for? Y'told me a while back you didn't expect the croc, right?"

What an image he painted with that description. Anita beamed. "The croc was a surprise," she parroted, nodding, "I guess I didn't expect someone so... affectionate." Anita pursed her lips and gently rocked in her seat, "Someone rougher, I think, with the croc. Then there was the mistletoe-- 'forceful's right in the name, so I was kind of preparing for someone intimidating and petulant. Kind of a brat. Ornery. Cruz has some difficulty understanding certain rules, so maybe that's what came over from it, but he's very sweet. I think I lucked out."

Shepard laughed. He didn't know Cruz well enough to say, but he was already fond of his one, misunderstanding-laced interaction with him. It'd given him a nice afternoon. "Guess we both did, really. It's not that easy, y'know. Rhede's like -- a blend between a foreign exchange student and a little brother, and it's easy to forget sometimes he's still making his way, learning stuff. You ever feel like that?"

"Oh, all the time. Every day." She leaned forward to rest a hand on her cheek and prop her elbow against the table while her other went for the fries. "It took a while for Cruz to get the hang of a lot of social conventions, language included, so communication was difficult early on. It's weird, though, because usually he's very direct he's just-- short about it and sometimes he doesn't know the right terms for things, so it still gets confusing, as you're aware." Anita laughed and rubbed her temple. "He tries, though. He really does. I noticed Rhede was very well spoken at the boil, so that must make things a little easier, huh?"

Shepard smiled wryly and nodded at the 'it gets confusing' part, having confused himself right into lunch with Anita just days prior. But he shrugged at the next part, thinking about Cesc -- the past few months had been much easier than the ones before, but the stag had his own limitations and challenges.

"Rhede's a good guy. Almost too good. He's pretty verbal, yah, although for a while he got a lot of words confused and he still tends to speak a little weird sometimes -- I think it's cause he speaks French with Vivi. But he tries real hard and takes a lot of responsibility on himself and feels kind of disheartened if he can't get things right." Shepard shook his head. "That's what happened with the jungle. Rhede's -- well, I know Raevans have a lot of powers, but Rhede's just got the one that I know of. He can find stuff that's lost. So when they asked him to go into the jungle, he figured he'd have it cinched. But he didn't, and people got hurt and so did he, and he took that real hard, even though he found the doctor in the end. Took it right out of him."

"Oh, yeah. That's cool, though. I wish I could teach Cruz multiple languages but, hah," Anita lightly tapped the side of her head with a finger. She was about to ask how they dealt with Rhede's learning, did they exclusively teach him themselves, did he have a tutor, or something else, when the jungle came back up. Anita frowned and nodded. "I can imagine... Cruz was feeling really sorry by the end of it, too. I don't think... no, Cruz doesn't have any powers. I wonder how strange that is. Hm." Even if he did, she couldn't imagine they would have been much help. What would any of them have done to make that situation less costly? Less dangerous.

Shepard shrugged and waved a hand. "Never mind about all that. If you wanna teach Cruz another language, jes' bring him over. We got plenty floatin' around our place. He can sit with Rhede during a lesson."

Anita took a short, grateful breath. "Really? God, I'd really appreciate that. I'm sure he'd have a lot of fun too, he misses Vivi and I bet it'll be nice to see Rhede again."

"For sure," Shepard said, nodding. "He goes to 'school' every day with our friend, Gran-- er, Trudy Maplethorpe. She's got a bit of the old-world governess in her, but she's great at it. He gets homework and everythin'. Sure he wouldn't mind someone else dipping in with him."

School. Homeschooling, but school all the same. Anita felt a bit of warmth in her cheeks. Embarrassment. Technically she had been homeschooling Cruz as well, but she was no teacher. Mostly she set him up with educational channels and books and helped him when she could. It was a slow process, and most definitely flawed.

"Thank you," she said quietly, self consciousness creeping in. "Are-- are you sure? Kinda feel like I'm mooching, here," Anita laughed weakly.

Shepard snickered, taking the last of his fries. "Don't worry about it. I'm sure Rhede wouldn't mind the company, even for an hour or two, and Gran lives on that stuff. Tickles her to be needed. Gotta say, though, this’ll teach Cruz to send y’off on a lunch alone."

"Aw, hah. Alright, thanks, let me know when might be a good time." She still looked a little worried but smiled despite it. Shepard managed to placate her enough and she nodded, returning both hands to her milkshake. It was about half gone, along with her fries and burger. How long had they been here so far, just chatting? Shep was already done his burger and was just picking at his fries by now.

Unease crept in quietly and Anita remembered why, besides lack of time, she often neglected to hang out with her friends on her own; somewhere along the way, she felt like she was boring them.

"Sure, I'll send you the particulars. Check yer phone tomorrow, I'm sure Vivi'll call you gushing about it all for half an hour. If you've got texts, you'll get a bunch of 'em in half-French 'n everything." He grinned, shaking his head. "Put yer foot in it this time, y'did, getting more involved with the us. Gonna be hard to shake us off now."

If there was unease, Shepard was oblivious to it. He sat relaxed, his shoulders down and his long legs out. The waiter came by to check on them, and the Aussie nodded and smiled at him, not asking for the check or for anything else.

Shepard's enthusiasm about the situation was certainly reassuring. It didn't completely set Anita at ease but it damn sure helped. She smiled and laughed, "Listen to you. Like that wasn't my plan all along." She enjoyed both of their company, Vivi and Shepard were both pleasant people, it was honestly a treat to talk to either of them.

She smiled at the waiter, as well. The fact the bill hadn't been asked about was noted, so Anita refrained from asking for boxes just yet. She was surprised at the size of the burger and resolved to finish it later but, if Shepard wasn't hurrying things along, she didn't want to either.

Shepard opened his mouth in faux-shock, lifting his eyebrows. "Dastardly! Clever thing!"

He took another sip of his milkshake, prodding the melting ice cream and stirring it into the melty goo. "Tell me this. Does Cruz have any good friends? Raevans he likes a lot?"

Anita smirked and blew a raspberry.

"Mm, let's see... He's very fond of one named Prajna but they don't get to see each other often. Ethiriel he gets along with very well. He likes Zul, he likes Meli... There really hasn't been anyone he's disliked." She hunched forward against the table and pressed the side of her hand to her mouth. "Eiry, Iorek, Zurine..." Anita furrowed her brows. "I'm pretty sure he considers them all his friends, but... now that you mention it, I can't say he has a best friend..." Neither did she, really.

Shepard snickered. "Zurine -- yeah, this is the point in time where we start seeing less of her. Rhede had kind of a romance going on with her for a while, but I don't really know what happened there." He paused, scratching the side of his face. "I see Reks every week, although lately he's been a bit taciturn. Growing pains, I think. The Eth girl, she's the blind one, right? Rhede took her to the opera a bit ago, she seems like a good girl."

His snicker turned into a laugh. "PRAJNA, I remember that name! Rhede accidentally hit her in the face with a baseball the first time they met, ages ago. Her guardian's cute as pie."

"Yeah, poor thing. I'm not so good in the heat, either, but man--" Anita gave a soft whistle and fanned herself. Her brows lifted curiously, then settled back down. Raevans and romance, she couldn't really figure, especially with someone like Cruz. He didn't seem interested at all in the relationship aspect of kissing. In fact, it perplexed him beyond measure. Other raevans probably had different ideas on the matter than any of the guardians, too. "Aw, tough luck, Reks," she mewled, only to close her lips tight and nod. "She is. That was nice of him." Poor sweetleaf needed the R & R of an opera, what a nice idea.

Anita's mouth opened and her eyes widened at Shepard, which rounded back into a grin and then a sympathetic gasp. Just as Shep couldn't help but laugh at her scare with Eiry, Anita covered her face with her hands and let loose. "Oh no, that's awful!" She settled after a moment and dragged her hands down to uncover her eyes. "Ahh-- yeah, Namini's a sweety. Is Praj a girl? I had no idea."

Shepard laughed as Anita did, her laughter infectious. The waiter came by again as they both laughed, setting a box down beside Anita's plate and clearing away Shepard's, but the Australian could do little but just nod at him through his breathy laughing. "It was pretty rich, he yelled 'fly ball' and everything, but it just made Prajna look up -- hit the poor thing in her ego more than anything, I think."

Her next question made him pause. He could recall Prajna in his mind, but he never really noticed until that moment how androgynous the frei really looked. "You -- you know, I didn't really ASK. I guess she -- he -- could be... I don't know." And he laughed again, this time a bit more helplessly.

Anita gave the waiter a quiet 'thank you' through her and Shep's laughter. "Aw man," she leaned against the table and hid her face in the cradle of her arms, shoulders and back shaking. After a moment she picked herself back up and dove back to her shake, leaning over to sip on it while gathering the remainder of her burger and fries in the box. "Mm, yeah. I was never sure... Felt kinda rude to ask so I just left it alone," her own laugh was as helpless. She always stuck with referring to Prajna as gender neutrally as possible and that seemed fine.

Shepard scrubbed both his hands through his hair, the look on his face bright and faintly embarrassed, like someone making an unfortunate discovery. "I never even really thought about it, if I'm honest. When Rhede was first born he looked a lot more delicate, y'know, very fair and bambi-like. He's grown into himself a lot more now, but that with the pink really threw some people off at first. But then he opens his mouth and there's no mistakin' the voice."

"Yeah? He's got a deep one, if I remember right," Anita smirked and gestured to her throat. "I don't think anyone's been mistaken with Cruz... He's pretty throaty. Sometimes he sounds a little hoarse. Only thing I can think of that might throw people off is how he ties his hair, but-- that seems awfully silly."

Shepard shook his head. "Nah -- the gender-thing weirded Rhede out a while; he couldn't really grasp the concept of a gendered color for a while. But Cruz seems pretty..." He waffled about the word choice for a moment. "Dudely, hair or no. Why, does he braid it or something?"

"Mm, I think most of the raevans have trouble with a lot of our conventions-- got to agree with him there, though, that's always been silly to me." Anita closed up the box and set it aside, then rested her arms across one another. "Oh, no. He, um-- he uses ribbons. Has a whole collection, actually. All kinds of colors for every occasion." She snickered and squinted playfully, "Dudely, huh?"

Shepard grinned and lifted one eyebrow. "Figured it was the most apt description. He seems dudely." He paused, started to say something, then pulled it back. "Ex-- you know what, screw it. Real men can wear ribbons all they like, sure."

The waiter returned with a faint, patient smile, a small black folder in his hands. "Hey guys, everything alright? Would you like to see a dessert menu?"

"Guess he is, hah," she shrugged. It was interesting hearing another take on Cruz, especially just from first impressions. "Yeaaahh, that's right they can. He really likes them, I dunno what it is."

Anita gave a soft 'oh' at the waiter's interjection, barely having noticed his approach. Maybe they were overstaying their welcome. "No, thank you, I think we're good," she patted her box and smiled, glanced at Shepard, "Unless you want anything else? This was really good, by the way," she noted to the waiter as if it were a trade secret, wanting to smooth things over a little in case the staff had grown impatient with them.

"Glad to hear it! I think we have some of the best burgers in town," said the waiter charmingly.

"Naw, I'm good -- just the check, then, if you've got it," said Shepard, fishing for his wallet in his back pocket as he spoke.

The waiter's hand hovered over the small black folder. "Split or no?"

"Naw, I'll get it -- here." Shepard held out his credit card, not leaving Anita any time to argue as the waiter took it and, promising to return soon, oiled away.

At the same time, Anita dug for her wallet and had it out before Shepard denied the split. Her questioning "no" came out quieter than intended and was easily overlooked. "Wait, I--" The waiter was already gone. She sighed and grinned at Shep chidingly, leaning against the table edge and tapping a corner of her wallet against it. "I'm gonna get you. You won't even see it comin'."

"Big words, little lady, big words," said Shepard, taking the moment to take his sunglasses off of the table and slide them onto his face. He grinned boyishly, becoming more earnest. "You can get me next time if you really want."

She grinned harder at being called 'little lady', narrowing her eyes with almost devious intent, but it soon melted away. Anita wasn't devious at all and she couldn't fool anyone to the contrary. "I'm gonna," she asserted, swiping her wallet back off the table and into her rear pocket in a swift motion, "And I wanna."

Having lived with deviousness for years now -- Vivi could sometimes lead Shepard to believe she was part demoness -- the look from Anita only pinged Shepard as endearing. It brought a grin to his face. It was nice to see Anita, miscommunication or not.

"Well, great. We'll figure things out with Cruz: I'll send you the lesson times and whatnot and we'll see how we can figure it out, yeh?"

The waiter returned, setting Shepard's card and receipt in front of him, and the man quickly tipped and signed accordingly, slipping his card back into his wallet. He shut the folder, waiting for Anita to rise before he did.

"Yeah, thank you! I'll be looking forward to that." Anita scooped up her box, careful to hold it closed just in case.

She half rose from her seat, eyed the remaining quarter of her milkshake, and leaned down to finish it off. No use wasting a damn good shake. "And I'll let you know when I'm free to pop by here again -- if you want." Anita hid her uncertainty well, but the fact Shepard had been the one to suggest it in the first place made her more at ease.

"Yeah, just call me or send a text." Shepard stood, making sure he didn't leave anything on the table, and then leaned in to give Anita a short hug. "Probably best to do the plannin' one-on-one the next time, though. Tell Cruz he doesn't have to take it on himself, yeh?"

Anita hesitated -- or, rather, paused -- at the hug before catching up with herself and giving Shep a one armed one in return. It ended with a light pat on his back and she was all smiles after it was done. "I'll talk to him about that. This was cool, though, thanks for coming out."

"My pleasure," said Shepard, taking a step back. "You take care."

Meanwhile, Anita went on with her morning completely oblivious. Her phone stayed on the couch side table while she ate her toaster pastry. It remained silent as she loaded up a quick side-scroller to play. Even after she put away her games and retrieved her headphones to start work on the pile of dishes in the sink, nothing gave even a hint that Mordekai was on his way. Except, perhaps, for Cruz's fidgeting. He tried to hide it by giving attention to Tango. The dog picked up his nervousness and whined, which just made Cruz more paranoid as he wracked his brain for some explanation, some excuse to make this work out right.

There was no going back now; Mordekai was nearly here, if he left shortly after they said their goodbyes. The frei drifted onto the balcony. Part of the parking lot was visible down below, cut off by the tourist side of the boardwalk then a full stretch of beach toward the ocean. The sky was clear, the air was salty, and seagulls called out as they flew by.

Normally he would be basking in the scenery but the croc was a nervous wreck. His only comfort was that Anita was in the kitchenette with her ears covered, singing into a soapy dish brush. Her fists against the counter top nearly made Cruz's heart stop until he registered it was to the beat of a song.


Did Mordekai remember how to get to Anita's apartment? He thought so. He left without checking MapQuest prior, though, so the worry only came to mind after the first half of the trip. He would've asked Duncan if he wasn't busy with his morning routine. He figured it would be fine.

For the most part, it was. His memory of Gambino managed to surprise him at how lucid it was by the time he exited the highway. He took the long way toward Lab 305 and took what he remembered from there to find the apartments, which wasn't bad at all. When he checked the car clock before he left, it was roughly 11AM.

He wasn't overly fond of car rides with only himself, much less for more than fifteen minutes at a time. He stretched out his arms and opened his palms up to collect some of the ocean breeze, yawned, and did a once-over of the complex by looking around the area.

This was the difficult part-- which building did she live in? He studied the apartments with his arms rested on the roof of Duncan's small car. It took a few minutes of staring, but he remembered the view from Anita's apartment, which loomed over the coast. From there, he played pick-and-choose by memory of floor levels and aisle numbers and how many doors they passed to get to Anita and Cruz's residence. If he couldn't find it, there was always the idea of calling out Tango's name loudly.

Or calling Anita for help-- but that only came to mind once he reached where he (probably) needed to be. He stared at the door and studied the number in front of it, shrugged, and knocked on the door a few times. He stood back and waited, hands in his pants pockets with one looming over his cellphone just in case.


Immediately, the knock at the door was met with a thunderous bark.

Cruz jolted. He had taken to perching on the sofabed, his presence quieting down Anita's singing to a low harmonious mumble. Claws dug into the arm of the couch, eyes wide and locked on the door. Tango barked until he sniffed at the bottom of the door, then took to pacing and yelping. The frei's eyes darted to Anita, whose back and attentions were turned entirely away from the scene.

Then Anita's song ended. She glanced over her shoulder to see Tango scuttling about in front of the door. Cruz's nails nearly pierced the fabric.

”S'up, bud? Mom can't be home yet,” she chuckled as she dried her hands on the small towel held by the fridge's handle.

She moved toward the door, completely unaware of the frei pushing himself up from the couch in a frenzy so he floated nearly a foot off the bed while clinging to the furniture. His jaw clenched, both eyes wide with horror, but he couldn't say anything. It was too late. This was going to crumble before it even went anywhere because he was too stupid to think of a reason, any reason Mordekai would be stopping by.

Anita paid more attention pushing Tango back from the door than to who might have been behind it. She peeked into the peephole, leaned back, peered closer, leaned back again, then stared at the dog. She bent down to wrap an arm around Tango's neck before opening the door, on one knee looking up at Mordekai with a confused smile.

”Hey,” Anita laughed. Cruz collapsed onto his chest.


Mordekai's smile widened immediately when hearing Tango through the door, and he was almost certain he was at the right place. He couldn't help but laugh when he heard the yelping-- "Oyeyi, pup, s'gonna be okay!"

The blond blinked down at Anita. "Hey, Anita! An' hi, Tango," he laughed in return, then bent down to one knee to greet Anita and Tango both. He idly scratched Tango behind his ears, then grinned at Anita, "How ya been? Enjoyin' the nice day out t'day?"

A thought came to him then-- Cruz! He craned his neck up a bit tilted his head to the side, curiously. "That jolly green giant wit' ya today?"


In her arms, Tango stammered all the more. His tongue went wild as soon as he caught Mordekai in his sights, paws fumbling against the wood floor and nails clattering as he struggled against Anita's hold, but as soon as the man got down on their level he was placated and the mutt set to work on slobbering up Mordekai's beard.

Anita let him go when Mordekai had Tango suitably distracted, as well as the entrance blocked. No run away puppy through the apartment halls today. ”Hi!” she scooted back, giving the two some space to get reacquainted. ”Uh-- been good! Haven't been out yet but, yeah, weather's nice. Got the windows open.”

Cruz crumpled so far down against the couch that only his eyes were visible over the arm, like a real croc. At least, that was what he hoped. That unmistakeable head of green stuck out like a sore thumb, especially with the high ponytail on top.

As soon as Mordekai made mention of him, Cruz shot out from his hiding spot. Again, he clung to the arm while floating over it, and again his eyes were wide and teeth bared. ”Yes!” Anita blinked at him with as much confusion as she'd shown Mordekai. Cruz forced a wide smile that nearly closed his eyes.


"Pff!" Mordekai laughed and scrunched his nose a bit as Tango began licking his beard. He tilted his face slightly away but scratched under his jaw and around his back, chest, belly-- he made sure to keep Tango perfectly occupied and loved on while looking toward Anita. "Oh! Windows're good, at least!"

Mordekai was a modicum concerned that Anita didn't seem to be anywhere near intent on leaving for coffee. Did she not want to? Did he not receive a text of her's about a change of plans? Either way, he was grateful that she was receiving of his arrival nonetheless, and he was happy to see that both Anita and Tango were happy and well. He raised his brows at Cruz's sudden response, though, but seemed more amused than confused by it. It was easy seeing past Anita and at the croc.

"Oh-- 'ey, guy! Sorry-- you tired?" his smile softened, and he glanced at Anita, "Hope I din't interrupt a nap or somethin' of his..."

Mordekai hesitated. His energetic scratches and pets for Tango turned into idle ones the more worried he grew. He offered Anita as apologetic a smile as he could, though, and quietly piped up: "Ah-- are you-- good t'go for coffee...?"


”Ha-hi--” Cruz managed to calm his smile down to a more natural state. He shook his head while attempting to settle down, lowering himself to rest his chin on the sofa arm while letting his own arms dangle off its side and just barely brush the floor.

Cruz opened his mouth to say more, offer Mordekai a proper greeting, speak out against his concern for the nappydile he was assumed to be, but the words all caught in his throat. His breath did the same as Mordekai brought up the topic he was fearing most.

Coffee.

Anita blinked down at him and Tango. Cruz's nails practically embedded themselves into the side of the couch. ”Uh...” His rune and heart were pounding a mile a minute. ”Sure! Let me just get my shoes.” Suddenly Cruz felt like his entire body was made of putty. Anita turned from Mordekai to get ready, but the frei caught the perplexed stare she was trying to hide. The look said it all: did he really come all the way out here, unannounced, for that?

The frei slid himself back out of view onto the bed as he watched Anita pace around the apartment, gathering up her shoes, a hoody, her wallet, keys – and the phone.

”There's a cheap one close by, if you wanna walk.”

How the hell did this work?


Mordekai gave Cruz a sympathetic quirk of his brows. It was clear that Cruz was... anxious? about something, but he figured it was due to being tired and woken up by a surprise guest. He kept his attentions on Cruz, his smile fading to a small frown as he grew more concerned. Did he need to say sometihng? He certainly didn't know Cruz to be a shy Frei.

And then Anita said yes. Mordekai blinked back at Anita, temporarily surprised, but nodded nonetheless. "O-oh-- okay!" When Anita turned around to grab her things, he looked down at the floor. It felt an awful lot like he was stringing her along with something she changed her mind on. He glanced back at Tango and offered him more scratches behind his ear in thought.

And then Anita came back. Mordekai looked back up, still kneeling to effectively pet and hug Tango. He wasn't quite sure he wanted to let go just yet, but he stood up from his knees and stood while leaning forward, one hand still idly greeting the puppy.

He looked over at Anita, now eye-level with her. "O-oh-- oke! Walkin' might be nice-- ah-- I have the car wit'me, too, if y'wanna drive, whatever y'wanna do..." he hesitated, "Sorry if I caught ya off-guard or somethin', dunno if you had other plans t'day or not."


Tango was nothing but receptive to Mordekai's continuous attention. Every few pets and scratches were rewarded with a thank you kiss, slobbery tongue trying to get at the man's face. His tail was all a twitter against the floor and Tango kept trying to stand up, only to sit back down a second later, closer, like he was inching for Mordekai's lap.

The hoody was wrapped around her waist for now. She wasn't really sure she would need it, given the weather, but it being April there were plenty of cold ocean winds to be had and the sky might cloud up in an instant.

”Walkin's fine with me, I've barely stretched my legs today.” To emphasis, Anita put all her weight on one leg and looked down at her sneakers, the other leg lifting lazily while her arms stuck out for balance.

His concern was noted by Anita and Cruz alike. While the frei curled up into a tight ball from it, Anita laughed and shrugged. ”Ain't got s**t goin' on today.” Cruz managed a weak chuckle from the couch. ”Oh-- hey, you mind finishing up the dishes for me while I'm out?”

Cruz's head poked up again to stare bewildered at his guardian. He adjusted his expression as soon as Anita's brow creased. ”Will do,” he assured her, ”Ah... Have fun!” Cruz lifted himself up a bit more to smile at both of them.

His behavior was definitely strange. Considering Gambino's weather patterns while getting into the full swing of Spring, maybe it was affecting him.

”You gonna be okay?”

”Yep!”

”You sure?”

”Yes.”

Anita lingered a few moments more. Mindlessly, she rolled her keyring between her fingers. ”Okay,” she smiled, but couldn't shake some of her uncertainty until she turned back to look at Mordekai. Tango was trying to force himself, bouncing just a little to nose at Mordekai's chin. Anita scoffed and wrapped her arms around Tango's middle, then slid the dog away easily on the wood floor. ”Divorce court!” From there, she practically leaped over the dog and shimmied past Mordekai into the hall. ”Go go go!”


Mordekai laughed at Tango's attempts to hop onto his lap-- he had to keep eye-level with Anita, now, but his doting led to the blond leaning gradually more forward. He was practically at his tipping point by the time Anita responded, which led him to chuckle.

"Walkin' it is, then." He raised his brows at Anita's demonstration and laughed before resorting to kneeling again. He wrapped his arms around Tango and tried to keep his thank you kisses mostly to his cheek and neck while looking over at Cruz. He upturned his brows a bit and smiled a little wider at the Frei-- Cruz was definitely spacing-- and slowly stood back up. A farewell from the croc was enough to get him grinning.

"Thanks, man! 'Ave fun at home, you two!" he watched bemusedly as Anita and Cruz confered between themselves. He would feel more than blessed if he could ever speak on that level with Duncan's Raevan-to-be.

Mordekai's eyes widened curiously when she looked toward him and Tango. The fact that Tango was licking all over his face didn't come quite a surprise, though the weight of it only hit full force when Tango reached his chin. He crooned his face to the side and chuckled. "Love you too!"

He managed to stand up when Anita helped separate him and Tango. He staggered a bit to the side and laughed while wiping his face on his sleeve-- by the time he looked back up, Anita was already behind him and in the hall. "Go?" he asked; he laughed while glancing at Tango and Cruz one last time, "Oh-- go! Gogogo! See you guys later!"

With that, he bolted off.


Cruz's eyes were as wide as saucers as Anita was suddenly so enthusiastic about the trip. She got a head start on Mordekai, who seemed to be almost as taken aback. Once Anita was out of sight and no longer holding Tango, he was quick to try and follow but Cruz acted fast and left his couch perch to wrap an arm around him, as well as shut the door.

”See you!” he managed to shout before it closed fully. Tango gave one last wail before turning his affection onto the frei. Cruz sputtered and tried to lean away, limiting the dog's licking to his chin and neck. ”I know, I know--” he managed an exasperated chuckle and settled onto the floor. Tango soon grew bored of this position and left him to get a drink of water. Cruz just laid face down on the floor and stared at the gap beneath the door for several minutes.

”I did it...” Cruz whispered flatly. Now all he could do was hope Anita or Mordekai wouldn't bring up the string of texts before. He had no more control.