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Lester smiled and glanced over at Serebro, "I knew I should have gotten a lid to that tank! I think we'd better not come close to that fish while its in a bad mood" he said, and shivered himself as the wind blew, "I suspect the wind will get worse and worse now, since its getting colder and a bit late" he said.

(( Egads, sorry for disappearing! Very busy week. @_@ Luckily, I'm in an RPing mood this weekend, so I should be here. ^^ ))

Hajari looked at Lester with a fretful glance on his face. "Colder? You really think so?" he asked, although he already knew that Lester would know what he was talking about. He looked back down at Sybil on the ground and smiled in regard to her own smile, but he was worried about her health. If the wind continued to pick up like it was, she'd freeze while she was drenched like that! "I don't want it to get colder, either. Maybe... we could go somewhere warmer? At least until you dry," he offered in reply to Sybil.

He turned to look at Serebro in the fish tank; the fish seemed to be standing still, almost hovering in the water as his gills flapped open and shut. He sighed, telling Lester, "It's okay. The tank is already heavy, with the lid it would've been even harder to carry. And it's not like you would've known he'd do that, right?"

Turning back to Sybil after listening to her observation, Hajari nodded. "Probably. Some people are just like that, right? He just wanted attention. But... can I ask something? Who's Avery?" he asked, feeling like he should know the angel seeing as she said he'd beat up anyone who tried to hurt him.

Gingitsune's ears perked up before laying back on her head, worried about Ritsu's condition. Putting oneself down like that was never a good thing, mentally or physically, and the stress could wear one's health down more quickly than most people knew. Her head lowered, she understood when Alida stopped to soothe her brother and she wished she knew of some way she could help as well.

Mikadzuki, however, snorted in agitation at Ritsu's comment. "Oh, stop it now. Nobody's ever useless. There is something in this world you were born for, your own destiny, and nobody should ever sway you from it. Fate is on your side. No matter what other people may think, there was something, some road just for you to trek. So your parents may hate you for some reason, big deal. They're assholes. Put it in their face that you are good for something by fulfilling your destiny, whatever it may be. Plenty of people have had it worse than you, so stop pitying yourself. You're no different than the other kinder here. They've all been abandoned, betrayed, and whatever else have you. You're not alone in this world, so I suggest you shape up and listen to your friends!" he growled, huffing angrily.

"Mika!" MoogerMint hissed. Mikadzuki's attitude had always been a problem, and she worried he may scar the poor child even further. "Why don't you go over to the kids and keep them company. Stop harrassing Ritsu!" she said sharply, angry that he would speak that way to a child.

Lester shrugged, "I could have guess that Serebro would flip his tail, after all, he was a bit hard to catch" Lester remembered meeting Avery, only once, when inviting Sybil over to his house, and told Avery to tell his mother that Sybil will be at his house. "I remember him" Lester simply said, because he had nothing else to add to that.

(( No problem. ^_^

@were: I think I found that PM RP in my archives. I'll did it out and send the last few and a reply, so we can finish that playdate and get it up in our journals. sweatdrop Sorry about that. ))

Ritsu flinched at the harsh words, but something about them rang true for the boy. Sometimes a bit of harshness was needed. "But..." he protested again, very softly, then sighed, giving in. What the wolf said made sense. People insisted on being nice to him, even loving him, even though he was a miserable excuse for... anything. What was wrong with him then, that he could never quite believe them? What were they seeing that he couldn't?

Alida ducked her head down, tilting it so she was awkwardly looking up into his face, and gave him a smile that said better than words to cheer up. A very small, shaky smile wavered across his lips breifly. Then he was being accosted with warm fur and dog breath, and he jumped slightly.

"Oh!" he exlaimed, surprised, but it was nice, and almost involuntarily, he leaned into Gingitsune.

Alida smiled at Gingitsune, waving away her apology. Alida knew what he was saying. It was what they all tried to tell Ritsu; Mikadzuki had simply been more direct and forceful about it. Maybe that's what it would take. In any case, having someone to take care of made Alida forget any of her own insecurities, as it had a tendency to do.

She brought her notebook over and wrote out, It's alright. Maybe it will get through Ri's stubborn thick skull better that way. He's not always dense, just about this. She teased her adoptive brother nonverbally, rolling her eyes, as any sister should.


Sybil grabbed a hand of each of them, harpy and satyr alike, pulling them along, yelling, "Avery! Avery! C'mon, Avery, come out!"

Avery had gotten seperated from Aqua somehow, and was currently looking for her in whatever hiding place she'd gone into. He wasn't having any luck, and had acquired several new scrapes. This included one right above his left eye, where a twig had snapped back and whipped him on the forehead. He also had what looked to be the beginnings of a bird's nest in his hair, to judge by the number of twigs sticking from it.

He heared his sister yelling, and swung down from the branch he was in, hanging by his knees upside down. They were right below him. "Quit yelling, Syb! I'm looking for Aqua, you seen her?"

Sybil shook her head, somehow not surprised at all, her eyes looking almost where he'd appeared from. "Huh-uh. But this is Hajari, and this is Lester! I wanted you to meet them!"

Avery looked at them both. He'd heard of Lester, but this Hajari kid was new. He pulled himself back up into the branches, and after a bit of a rustle, his bare feet came down, and he dangled by his hands for a moment before dropping to the ground. "So these're your friends, Syb?" he grinned, and stuck his hand out at them, one at a time, to shake their hands. It was tanned brown and had a few dirt smudges across it.

As Avery jumped down infornt of them Lester didn't even blink, he was used to such things, after all, he did live in a house full off vicious plants and hyper rabbits (although there was only one rabbit). "Pleased to meet-ya!" he said, Shaking Avery's hand and then glanced over at Hajari, his hoof pawing the ground as the harpy started blushing again.

(( XDDD I'd like to see where this is going! He's been doing better than usual, so Avery should be able to do it. Though... it may take some time. If we started up in the Elementary School thread, they'd probably be able to become closer friends. X3 And I love that first paragraph you wrote! rofl ))

As Hajari's head was lowered, his eyes caught sight of Lester's foot pawing at the dirt. He turned up to him and smiled, hoping he didn't make the satyr worry.

His head turned back up to Avery, wondering if he had noticed him stutter. He didn't seem like he did, which lightened the load off of Hajari's shoulders. He watched as he spoke about this Aqua again, tempted to ask who she was but too shy to take it into action.

He jumped as Sybil mentioned that she had told him that Avery protected her, and he caught his breath in his throat. What if the angel didn't want to have anything to do with him? He wasn't very interesting to be around, after all, so why would Avery want to protect him? He began to breathe again, but in slow, shakey breaths.

He caught his breath again as Avery fell to the ground and stared at him. He was growing hot as his heart pumped, reddening his cheeks and his nose despite the cooling weather. He realized that the angel was asking him what Sybil had said, but Hajari couldn't find the words. It would sound too stupid if it came from him, asking a stranger to help him with protection. His eyes wide, he turned his gaze away, unable to look at Avery eye-to-eye, submissiveness showing like a scared wolf. But he had to tell him, didn't he? He couldn't just keep Avery waiting on his answer. A shaking hand rose to his mouth as he chewed nervously on his fingernails, taking a deep breath before answering, "...I-I... Sybil said you might... I'm afraid of... what if people don't like me? I'm afraid they won't. Mom said they can be mean sometimes, and... I don't want them to..." He closed his eyes, trying to fight back tears. This was going nowhere! Why couldn't he just get to the point!?


Gingitsune barked happily as Ritsu laughed, finding it music to her ears. This was what she was looking for! "That's a good plan! You don't want me to start pouting; now that's pitiful!" she snickered, poking him in the ribs with her nose. "And I would've, too, if you didn't cheer up!" she playfully threatened with another laugh.

MoogerMint looked up surprisedly at Ritsu's laugh, not expecting that to happen. Even so, their goofing around spread a smile on her own face at something she didn't think they'd accomplish.

She turned her attention back to Alida once she handed the kitsune her notebook with freshly-written words across the page. She tapped the side of her cheek as she looked up, answering, "Good idea. We could incorporate both; taking a walk while seeing how many different bugs we can spot, maybe. I've seen some really gorgeous ones around here! But..." She trailed off, looking to where Hajari had wandered off to. He seemed to be in pretty good company, and even if something went wrong Mikadzuki was there to keep things in order. She just hoped he didn't upset anyone else...

Turning back, she gave a swift nod and answered, "Yeah, let's do it. You two, do you want to go on a little walk?"

Gingitsune looked up at MoogerMint, but her eyes strayed back to Ritsu with a wolfish grin. "Only if Ritsu wants to! I don't want to do anything he doesn't want to do!" she answered, pawing at him again.

Avery's little half smile vanished as Hajari seemed to have trouble even voicing his question. He was nearly as bad as Ri! But he didn't scream and shout and throw a fit about how horrible he was. That was something.

"People can be mean. But.. what's Mom say? 'You gotta have a duck's back', or somethin' like that," Avery said. he started to continue, but was interrupted by Sybil, who's voice had taken on a reciting tone.

"She also says, 'they can't get your goat if they don't know where you keep it.' I don't get that one. We don't have a goat. And I don't think Lester counts," she said, grinning impishly up at the Satyr.

"Uh... yeah, right, Syb. Anyway, don't worry about it, Hajari. If people are mean, you tell me. I'll go find them, and tell them why they shouldn't be mean anymore." He smiled, full of confidence. If words didn't stop them, he had two very hard little fists. But only if necessary.

"'Sides," he added, nonchalantly. "You seem nice. Why wouldn't people like you?"


Ritsu gave her a wide-eyed look, taking Gingitsune quite literally. If he was sad, she would be sad, too. "I don't want you to be unhappy, Gingitsune-san." he said, and put another hesitant smile on his face so she wouldn't be unhappy.

At Mooger's question, he thought a moment. A walk would be good. He didn't know how many bugs he would find, but that was secondary.

"I like walks. Maybe... maybe we could... keep a list? In Alida-san's notebook?" he asked, staring at the ground again. He couldn't possibly have just said that out loud, could he have? How mortifying. "I"m sorry! That's a silly idea..." he said, apologizing.

Alida, meanwhile, had nodded enthusiastically. She liked bughunting, even if she didn't keep a collection. It seemed wrong to kill them just to pin them on a board to look at. They were prettier when they were flying about, alive. And when they could fly away and hide, it made seeing them much more precious.

No, Ri, that's a good suggestion. We can all look for them, and I'll write them down, she wrote, and put it under Ri's nose, so he had to read it.

"Really? Oh... okay, Alida-san, if you want to," he said, giving in, even though it had been his suggestion.

Lester grinned at Sybil's comment, he found it very amusing, along with Avery's and continued listening to the conversation between Avery and Hajari. Lester had only one fight in his life, and it was when he was younger and a newbie in the adoption center, it was with some blind kitten, who attacked him first.