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Lyrus blinked slowly down at the scrap of parchment, eyeing it almost suspiciously. Another quest. Just like Chaco had said. But if he was getting another quest, that meant his last had done something and... He really wasn't broken. But according to that logic, this quest would be...

The boy frowned down at the paper, absently flipping it over, then over again to eye the list of items he would have to gather. At least it included glass and a knew knife.

Cool.

A split second later, the boy was sprinting for the kitchen, scrap of paper shoved protectively in his pocket. "Mo--...Whoever you are, c'mon, we have to go shopping NOW!"

Naturally, the boy had had his way. Sure, it had taken a bit of yelling, a few threats, and forcibly dragging Saoni!Moo for the door, but even with Moo's mind where it was, the woman couldn't resist shopping for long. A day in town had gradually turned up all the items; The t-shirts were easy, and Lyrus was pleased to note that they had scared Moo into nearly refusing to purchase them.

The bag came shortly afterward. Moo had had her heart set on a fuzzy pink one, but eventually gave in when her 'son' threatened to pin the ball of fluff to her hand with the dagger he was once again carrying around, now that he and Kilah were getting along again. They had decided on a black bag, more of a casual briefcase than bookbag, but hopefully it would do.

And then came Lyrus' favorite part of the day: glass and knives. It was all Lyrus could do to keep from demanding every glass item at the booth they found. But, he readoned, all that glass would clutter his room, and even glass wasn't worth that. Still, he had managed to talk his way into a set of shot glasses, elegant enough that he could use them for whatever the hell he felt like, and a small glass globe, more of a paperweight than anything, but lovely nonetheless.

And the knife. That had been difficult. A search of four different stores brought no results--the closest they had come was a black blade, and Moo wasn't entirely sure that counted, so they had gone without. However, a thorough search of a pawn shop had turned up a relatively new dark green knife, blade, handle and all. Lyrus was in love.

And now they were home, new belongings scattered around Lyrus' room, and the boy himself wasting time by admiring his new blade. However, memory of the quest and the faint annoyance of having bags all over his floor soon pulled Lyrus' attention back to his work. Where to begin...?

Shirts in the closet, first off. Lyrus was rather tempted to wear the green one, but it was far too large for him at present. All of the shirts his size had had stupid baby phrases. Lyrus would not stand that. A short internal debate told him that the bookbag could go in the closet as well--up on the shelf over his clothes.

It took Lyrus a full fifteen minutes to drag his table to the closet, set a chair on top of it, and convince himself that the glass wouldn't break if he climbed on them both. In addition, it took another five minutes for Lyrus to settle the bag on the shelf to his satisfaction. It just hadn't looked right before.

After carefully climbing down and returning his chair and table to their proper positions near the window, Lyrus turned his attention to the remaining three items cast atop his bed: the green knife, the glass globe, and the shot glasses.

Scooping up three of the glasses--one in each hand, the third held between them--Lyrus walked over to his shelves and carefully placed the trio on the nearest one, organizing them in a neat little triangle.

...No.

Picking them up again, he tried a different shelf, then another, and so on and so forth until he finally went back to the chair-on-table strategy, organizing all six glasses on one of the higher shelves until such time as he might need them for..whatever they were four. They were pretty glasses to be sure, but Lyrus had prettier ones for everyday use.

The glass globe was much easier to place. Once the table and chair had been returned to their postion for the second time, Lyrus carefully set the globe in the middle of the table, where a ray of light from the window slanted across and illuminated it. Perfect.

But the knife... As lovely as it was, it would be too much trouble for Lyrus to carry around two blades just yet. He argued with himself for a while, but finally decided on the usualy spot: the 'secret box' under his bed. It would be safest there. Meaning, of course, Jax wouldn't find it.

Crawling out from under the bed after replacing the box, Lyrus plopped down to sit on the edge, beaming proudly around his room. There.

Perfect.

"Kilah, turn it down!" Twila snapped, and again got no response. She couldnt' help but feel Kilah could infact hear her, and was just choosing to ignore her siblings cries of anger.


Not that the two of them were on good terms as it was, but Sango had really thought they'd get along today! Twila hadn't liked the idea of coming here, but Noyama didn't trust her alone in the house, apparently. Upon their arrival Sango was pleased to find the more violent of the two girls immediatly requesting to play doctor. Things went well until she pulled her dagger out and annouced it was time to cut Twila open...


After a nice, loud shouting arguement, she'd set them both on opposite sides of the room. Kilah had headphones on, hooked up to some cheap CD player that's main job seemed to blast volume as loud as possible. The fact it was rock music didn't help any.


"Sango!" Twila whined for the countless time.


"Just ignore it," repeated the slayer as she continued her examination of the room. Looked like a library or something...

Life was good. Gods above, life was finally really, really good. But why, exactly? It may have had something to do with the fact that Lyrus had a knew knife to play with--one that could fold into its handle and easily hide in his pocket, without him worrying about cutting himself.

Or it may have been that Jaxom had 'conveniently' fallen out of a tree that morning and broken his wrist, returning home just in time for Lyrus to rub it in with a cheerful wave before he had set if off for the Sin'aeis mansion.

Or, you know, it could just be that Lyrus was taller, had hair, and his horn was freaking kick-a**.

That too.

Whatever the reason, Lyrus was in an acceptionally good mood when he reached the mansion and slipped inside, intent on finding Chaco and personally thanking him for convincing Lyrus that he wasn't broken at all. That alone, Lyrus decided, was the reason his quest had finally come. Thanks were most certainly in order.

But a search of the house turned up no Chaco. (Ha, he must have finally gotten out for a day or something.) However, familiar voices frmo a room Lyrus hasn't visited before quickly caught his attention, and a peek inside confirmed his suspicious. Grinning ear to ear, the boy slipped in and over to Kilah, eyeing her CD played for a moment before unplugging the headphones. "Guess what!"

"I'm going to murder you because that was my favorite song?" Alright, so that wasn't true, but unplugging her headphones when she was OBVIOUSLY trying to avoid listening to Twila complain was a dangerous feat. Before anything else, Kilah noticed that complaining she'd been trying to drown out just...wasn't there anymore. Odd. Maybe she and Sango had left or something.

Her ability was of little use to her now, as the music was still ringing in her ears. If they had or hadn't been present, she wouldn't be able to tell until her abused ears recovered from the sudden decrease in volume. Absently, she reached over and rubbed her upper-arm as if it was bothering her, raising an eyebrow.


"You sound different." Maybe it was that music echoing still. "Are you sick?"

"Nope. On both counts," he added with a grin. Almost automatically, he tugged away the headphones, turning them around in his hands, silently inspecting them. How much work had it taken to make something like this let Banda hear? Maybe, just maybe, if someone could remake them, word would get back to Banda and he would come home?

Not that Lyrus was nearly as worried anymore. Banda was smart, and an artist, and perfectly capable of finding a job and somewhere to stay. Finding out where exactly this was was still an issue, however. "I'll give you a hint: I have hair now."

Yet again, Kilah gave him one of those looks. Considering she couldn't see where he was, and now lacked eyes to aid her in expressions (even though they hadn't been MUCH help) it was hard, but she managed. "I don't believe you," she said flatly, holding her hand out. "Now give me my-"


With her hearing now keen as before, she suddenly hesitated, and her hand hovered there awkwardly as if she'd just discovered something. Which was, infact, the case. The table nearly fell over as Kilah suddenly knocked the chair back, as well as Lyrus, her hands somehow managing to wrap themselves around his neck.


"You're okay!" Well, this growing was certainly welcomed by her! Since she'd last seen him, she'd seriously considered the fact he'd been right. That something had been wrong. She'd only come today to beat the hell out of Chaco, since it was no doubt his fault. Grinning broadly, the awkward out-of-character moment ended and she stepped back. "Weeelll, how about that! How's your hair look, huh?"


Lyrus was just about to insist that she believe him when, well...she did, nearly knocking him over in the process. Rather stunned by the greeting, he awkwardly returned the 'hug', and snapped back to his senses only when she stepped back and returned to her normal self. As normal as she could be after that, anyway.

Grinning, he glanced up towards his hair and absently blew a lock from his face, shrugging. "It's alright, I guess. Weird seeing it after not having any at all. And it's annoying, 'cause it's long-ish and falls in my eyes. But I'll get used to it, I figure." Personally, he loved his hair, though he would never admit to it. That, and the way his eyes had changed color to almost match it. Good stuff.

"But yeah, I grew! It's great! I'm taller than Jax now," he added with a smirk, thoughts wandering back to that morning and the broken tree branch. "And it's not so much trouble to do, well...everything. You're the first person I've seen since I grew, excluding family and stuff."

This was great! Even if they'd been fighting, Kilah would've probably been pleased with this. Mind you, she most certainly wouldn't have glomped him like that, but it would've still provided some relief. As he spoke, she grinned. The expression flattered a bit when Jax's name was mentioned, but recovered quickly.


"I bet you're cuter than him, too!" Joked Kilah, laughing louder than nesscary. Her hand was once again on her arm. Apparently, she wasn't the only one effected by the mention of Lyrus's brother. Sango's eyes suddenly darted away from the boy, and Twila made a face.


"You should keep your stupid brother away from Kilah!" The blonde hissed through her teeth, looking and sounding disgusted. "She's a b***h and everything, but that's no excuse to stab her--"


"TWILA!" Sango interupted, laughing nervously and pratically dragging her sister from the chair. "Let's...go to the mall! I'll buy you something nice!" Before any protests could be made, she pulled the star child out of the room. That seemed to be happening a lot lately. If only she could learn to THINK before she spoke! Her problem with Kilah was probably they were so much alike sometimes...


Her sisters were gone, but Kilah didn't seem phased. Rather, she sounded a bit more annoyed about them being there to begin with than Twila blurting things out. "M'sorry, she really doesn't know when to shut up. Mignon's gonna be really excited you're alright."


"I am," Lyrus replied immediately, smugly folding his arms across his chest. And he was too, as far as he was concerned. Not that he actually knew what decided that, but that was far from the point. Jaxom was pink, Lyrus was blue and black. He was better.

However, any smile faded with Twila's outburst, eyes flickering towards the girl. Disregard the fact that he completely agreed with her; Jaxom had done what!? Lyrus glared aftr them until they had gone, then whirled on Kilah, arms falling back to his sides, one hand reaching for the arm she was 'defending'. "He stabbed you?" Apparently Lyrus had mastered the 'threatening hiss' Kilah so prided herself on.

Stepping back a bit, Kilah's eyebrows squinted together. Obviously, the topic wasn't one she wanted to dicuss. It was, however, one she had planned for incase it came up. "Twila's a liar. She's only saying that because she doesn't like Jax."


"I tried to fly, and I fell. When she saw my arm hurt she jumped to conclusions like always. She's too dumb to realize sticks can stab you just as much as daggers or knives can." Seeming content with that answer, she lowered her hand so as to avoid further suspicion and shrugged her shoulders.

"Mmhmm." Lyrus didn't believe a word of it. However, he also didn't believe Jaxom would have the nerve to stab Kilah--nor that he would even if he could work up the nerve, for that matter. However, he had just that morning shoved someone out of a tree and onto a conveniently placed, newly falled tree branch; That had resulted in a broken wrist and a few scratches. The branches had simply broken, which was lucky, because any stabs from them would have been really messy.

Therefore, there was a simply way to find the truth. "Someone cleaned and bandaged it and crud, right? Let me see."

That idea didn't seem to settle to well. "You're really nosey," she grunted, and it sounded like somewhat of a warning. It was great he wasn't 'broken' and everything, but because he was older he was smarter now. That might cause problems toddler Lyrus probably wouldn't have provided. "I cleaned it, it's fine. If I need help I'll go see Pansy."


It was nice Lyrus wasn't Mignon. She could lie to Lyrus. Saying she'd go to Yukito for help was definetly a lie. Even someone who bought the flying bit would've known that. Looking annoyed as before, she seemed to decide it was better not to argue with it after all and held her arm out. "See? Fine. Drop it." Not that one could see with her jacket covering her arms, but still...

Lyrus merely shrugged. He wasn't nosey. He was just suspicious. True, Kilah could lie to him, but she had chosen the wrong lie to make: The Kilah Lyrus knew would rather let her arm fall off than ask Yukito, of all people, for help. Therefore, when she held out her arm, Lyrus immediately caught her by the wrist and pushed up the sleeve with his free hand. Let's see her talk her way out of that.


Once, Lucky had said something like 'the truth hurts'. Lying seemed to hurt a lot more. Mainly, lying about taking care of the injury, which she clearly hadn't. Something had definetly cut her though, be it a stick or a dagger. It ran only an inch or two down her arm, the top being deeper than the rest of it, indicating she'd probably jerked away with the weapon still in her arm. Taking all that into account, at least it wasn't bleeding.


"So I didn't clean it that well," she offered flatly, snorting. "Not like I could see what I was doing. It's still fine, though." Yes, that's good. Use the blind defense. That always worked with Yama. True, she was an idiot, but usually if she brought it up people got uncomfortable and left subjects alone. "It's not like I got punched in the eye or anything like some people."

"It's cleaned alright," Lyrus offered, but he was clearly upset--frowning, even if she couldn't see. Busy with examining the cut, he chose to disregard her attack on his eye. It was better now anyway, and he had gotten more than even. Jax's wrist would take longer than a few days to heal, that was for sure.

"You're lying," he decided after a moment, idly tracing a finger near the cut. A stick wouldn't do that. Blades were sharp and slick, and made near cuts like this--even if it was deeper in one place than the other. Sticks, on the other hand, were random and jagged, and would have likely torn up and scratches the skin around the cut itself, aside from making the cut much messier. Lyrus could see that difference. It wasn't hard to miss when you thought about it.

Releasing her arm, he took a step back and shrugged, shaking his head to get his hair out of his eyes. "So he did stab you." Lyrus was taking this far too calmly, seeming almost bored with the situation. "It's not all that bad, though. I'll make sure he pays for it."

"I don't want you to do that..." It was hard to believe Kilah was saying that, but she sounded plenty serious about the matter. Pulling her sleeve back down, she 'hm'ed thoughtfully, otherwise quiet for a decent amount of time. Finally she muttered, "I...think something was really wrong with him."


Not that she cared. Stupid Jax and his...stupid cat...and stuff. "He said weird stuff. Really weird." Recalling the situation exactly was hard, especially since she hadn't been expecting it at all. "Like, he said something about going after Jax once the grey kid hurt him. But...I'm sure that was Jax's voice." Maybe there was another Jax? Frowning, she lowered her head. "Even as mad as he was, I don't think..."


Besides, he'd went on that 'no hurt girl' rant right before she left!

It was all Lyrus could do to keep from replying with a blunt 'So?'. Jaxom, whom Lyrus hated, had tried to stab his best friend, and had succeeded to a degree, and now Kilah was telling him not to get revenge? The suggestion was laughable. Actually, Lyrus probably would have laughed if he wasn't annoyed with the whole situation. And the knowledge that Kilah cared if there was something wrong with Jax.

However, her explanation quirked some interest, and the boy raised a brow, eyeing her curiously for a moment before staring thoughtfully past her for the wall. "The 'gray kid' was me. Jax couldn't go after himself. It doesn't make sense. 'Course.." And he shrugged, returning his gaze to Kilah. "Jax doesn't seem the type to stab someone without warning either. He tries to act all noble and crap."

"Oh." Something told her she shouldn't have, but she felt stupid for forgetting that. A voice in her head argued it was fair she wouldn't remember what color the other Sin'aeis were, but she couldn't help feeling guilty. So, she'd caused Lyrus to hurt Jax too? Or maybe it was just because he didn't like him... Hopefully.


"You're right," she agreed in a mutter. "But it was his voice..." Had she caused him to go insane or something? There was no way THAT had happened. "The weirdest thing was..." When she thought about it, it probably was best just to stop here. She didn't need Lyrus thinking she was more insane than she sounded now.


Jax stabbing her, though? It DID sound crazy...

Lyrus hadn't meant to make her feel foolish; it was perfectly understandable that she might not see the connection. Seeing as it was hard for her to really affiliate with colors, let alone bother with remembering what color everyone was. Things like that didn't really matter anyway. Unless, you know, it gave you a point to work from for making fun of certain pink males.

"People can sound really alike.." Sometimes. But not that alike, normally. And this was Kilah, who knew people by voices. Odds were she wouldn't mix people up unless they were extremely close, and who would want to impersonate Jaxom anyway? "The weirdest thing was..." he prompted, waiting. She had said that much. If she didn't finish, he'd just have to pry it out of her.

"Not to me!" It wasn't as if she was hoping to start ANOTHER arguement, especially since they had just become the same age! She couldn't help but be a tiny bit offended that he'd doubt her ability to seperate one voice from another, though. It was one of the very few things she had to remember people by...


It was like those people who claimed they could never forget a face...only with voices. "The weirdest thing," she continued hesitantly, seeming annoyed by more than just his doubts now. Particularly, by how crazy this sounded even to her. "When he went to leave, I grabbed his hand." Try as she might to control, she couldn't help but blush at that thought. "You know, just to hold him back and ask what the hell was wrong with him. He...he didn't say anything, and I..don't think it was him when he left..."


It made no sense, but there was no other way she could think to explain it. "I think it was me..."

Lyrus blinked. Kilah had completely lost it. So, Jaxom had stabbed her, and then planned to attack himself after Lyrus had attacked him, and then when Kilah had tried to question him, turned into her? That was just too much to comprehend. And so, to distract himself, Lyrus inwardly grumbled about Kilah's blush. Apparently she hadn't gotten over Jaxom yet.

Not that he cared. She could be friends with whoever she wanted! So there.

"You know that makes no sense whatsoever, right?" He asked, returning his attention to the topic at hand. Without waiting for a reponse, he sighed and looked away, automatically pulling his newest knife from his pocket, flipping it open and closed while he thought. It was soothing. "Well, it wasn't Jax, and it wasn't you. But I don't know what could do something like that, so we can't really track it or anything to find out. We should set a trap for it."

"Yeah, but I'm worried that it'll go after Jax like it said it would, whatever it is..." Well aware she was probably annoying her friend as it was, even if he wouldn't admit it, she made her tone of voice forcefully harsher. "I mean, he'd deserve it being such a jerk and everything, but you might get blamed for it." Yeah, that's it. All she cared about.


Tilting her head to the left a little, she raised an eyebrow at the mention of a trap. "And how would that work?" If anything sounded crazy it was that. Somebody with the nerve to actually stab HER probably wasn't any push over...

"Jax'll be fine. He has that stupid talking cat." Atear, in fact, was the reason Jaxom's injury hadn't been considerably worse that morning. The kitten had slowed his fall, if not stopped it, and Jax escaped with only a slight break in his wrist. Damned cat. Kilah did have a point, though. "No one would care. I can do whatever I want now. Moo still doesn't remember my name, Banda's not gonna come home, I think, and the only other adults are Pod, who doesn't care, Scion, who I haven't seen in weeks either, and Kama, who stays in his room whenever he's home."

Sure, let someone blame him. Jaxom wouldn't blame him. Jax was too noble. Coen wouldn't blame him; Coen was an idiot. And even if Adroi did blame him, the snake-boy didn't talk and was too nice to do anything, so Lyrus could have cared less. Punishment was not something Lyrus was concerned with right now.

"It's simple," he replied in regards to the trap. Grinning faintly, he snapped his knife shut and shrugged. "We go along as if we didn't have this discussion. I hurt Jax for hurting you, and we just follow him around and make sure whatever that other guy was doesn't attack him afterwards. I think the three of us" and that cat "could take him."

"Lyrus, that's insane." It should've been obvious, but Kilah was going to have to point that out to him. For SOME reason, she couldn't help but think he just wanted an excuse to hurt Jax again, and his interest wasn't anywhere near catching whoever this person (or whatever this thing) was. "He wouldn't just let us follow him around after you maul his sorry a**! Besides---ACK!"

Thump! This time, it was Kilah getting glomped, not Lyrus. Like Lyrus, she did stumble back as a result, and soon enough fell over completely. "WARK!" The griff screeched loudly, tail wagging rapidly and nearly catching several things on fire. His wing had repaired itself quickly, apparently, as the bandages were no longer there.

"Giz..." Kilah chocked, making a feeble attempt to haul the heavy creature off her (she really needed to put him on a diet). "Need...air..."

"He wouldn't have to know we were following him!" Lyrus protested, practicalyl pouting. Damn, he had been looking forward to that, too. And, sure, there was the bonus that he would get to hurt Jaxom, and that was always a good thing, but Lyrus really did want to catch this...whatever it was. How dare it try and manipulate him! And by hurting Kilah, no less! Piece of crap.

He didn't so much as bat an eye with Gizmo's arrival, well used to the griff randomly turning up, even if it wasn't usually in such a manner. He offered it a faint grin, then slipped the closed knife back into his pocket and helps to haul the griff off Kilah. "It'd work if we did it right. Think about it."

Only when Lyrus was trying to push him off did he seem to take the hint. Tail still wagging, he casually stepped aside, and the poor lamb Sin'aeis was nearly knocked over for a second time. The overly-peppy griff was stronger than he looked. Or maybe just fat. Either way.


"How's your wing?" Kilah questioned before she bothered responding to Lyrus.


"Wark!" Gizmo chirped, then whined loudly, his tounge clucking against the top of his beak in what seemed to be a sympathetic noise.

"Aw, don't worry about!" Kilah assured him affectionately, reaching over and scratching his head roughly. "My eyes don't mean nothing compared to you, boy. They didn't even work."


That seemed to satisfy him as an answer, so the Sin'aeis focused on the other present again. "I have thought about it," she said sourly, making a face. "I'm still thinking you just want to stab him or something. We could easily just go and ask him about it, you know."

Lyrus stumbled sideways when the giff finally shifted, but his grip on Gizmo kept him upright until he was able to catch his balance. He followed the brief conversation from the girl to the griff and back, wondering how it was that Kilah could understand him. She had always been able to, he knew, but he had never really thought about it. Maybe it was something like with him and Vin.

Sighing heavily, Lyrus dropped down to sit on the floor beside Kilah. "Any excuse to stab Jax," he muttered, frowning. Then, blinking, he laughed and shook his head, smirking bitterly. "Ask him? You actually think Jaxom would talk to me after this morning? Besides, if someone were out to get him, I'm sure he'd let someone know. Moo or Pod."

"It's not like he would know." Ugh. And all this time she'd thought the problem she had reasoning with him was because he was younger. She couldn't really blame him, if it was Twila she'd feel the same way, but she chose to ignore that for now. "What, Giz?"


Half way into her sentence he'd nudged her hand, once he was sure he knew what they were talking about. "Wark," he offered, nodding to the side as if to demonstrate something. A pointless act when speaking to a blind girl, though he either hadn't noticed or just didnt' care.


"Hmm. Good point." Nodding her head, to herself it seemed, she cleared her throat and carefully said, "I think we should go see Jax."

"What's the point of talking to him if he won't know?" Gah, this was getting more and more ridiculous. And now she was talking to that stupid griffon again! ...Lyrus wished he could speak Gizmo. It would have been nice to know what they were saying.

He quickly settled for pouting until either of them acknowledged him again, his frown only deepening with Kilah's 'suggestion'. Muttering under his breath (something about how he shouldn't have to help, because he wasn't the one who liked Jax), he climbed to his feet and, without waiting for Kilah, started for the door. "Fine. We'll go see Jaxom. Damned cat boy can't take care of himself.." Muttermutter.

"You're such a good boy, Lyrus," Kilah joked slyly, grinning. "It's a wonder girls fall at the feet of your brother." Alright, now she was ASKING to get stabbed, but it was just too funny not to say. The laugh afterwards indicated she was joking, and, with Gizmo at her left, she walked along the other Sin's right, nudging him playfully. "Really though, I just don't want you in trouble. Even if you don't think so, you might." Also, that Banda guy could always come back...


Not that she knew anything about the guy, but from what she did he didn't seem like the type to just pick up and leave forever. Maybe he was being held prisoner or something, who could tell? Just as quickly as she'd begun her taunting, she was serious again. "Maybe you won't need to talk to him. Maybe he'll talk to me." Probably not...

Rolling his eyes, Lyrus made a rude hand gesture at Kilah, allowing himself a faint smirk at the fact that she couldn't see it and, therefore, couldn't get mad. Girls were more trouble than they were worth, as far as Lyrus was concerned. Look what had happened to Jaxom! He was much rather have girls as friends than anything more. For now, anyway.

"I didn't get in trouble this morning," he protested, but cracked a smile. Really, some bit of trouble wouldn't be all that unwelcome. At least it meant some adult in the household still remembered him. And even if Banda happened to come back, well... Lyrus was taller now. Banda wouldn't be bossing him around anymore. Bwaha.

"He'll sic his cat on us," Lyrus drawled, completely serious. "As soon as we knock, the cat'll answer the door and rip our heads off with its magic or something." Except that, as far as Lyrus knew, Atear couldn't do anything of that. The cat was for defense, and would only act out to defend or protect his bond. If Kilah had her way, they wouldn't actually be hurting Jaxom, so the cat wouldn't do a thing.

Gizmo had been keenly observing the two of them, and when Lyrus provided a certain 'hand gesture', he felt it only fair to alert those who couldn't see it themselves. "Wark..."


"Lyrus!" Kilah snapped, but sounded more amused than angry. What a little b*****d, she thought to herself, and noted they were probably friends even after all the fighting if only for that reason. Lucky said they were just too much alike. Kilah wasn't so sure.


In a matter of seconds, the gesture was completely forgotten. "If he hadn't hit you, I'd hope you wouldn't have just went and attacked him like that." Really, she wasn't sure. It was pretty funny. Stupid a*****e getting knocked out of a tree. ...Snicker. Trying to make the laugh less noticeable, she cleared her throat and then sighed. "I hate that stupid cat." That was without a doubt true. Even liking Jax, she hated that damn cat. Gizmo should eat it or something...


"Besides, Jax wouldn't hurt me." She'd asked him to and he wouldn't, so why would he now? It wasn't like she'd broken his wrist.



"Psh. Nobody's untouchable." That was something she'd stand by no matter what. That guy at the island had said the same thing. It was amazing what ripping your own eyes out to summon something could do, BUT that was another story... "Anyway, let's just go. You won't be so afraid of Sassy now, will you? You good to fly, Giz?"


"Wark!" Obviously a 'yes', even if you couldn't understand his bark/chirp noises. As they reached the outdoors, he carefully nudged Kilah in the proper direction to avoid smacking into the doorway.


Luck was on there side for now, as Sassy was just outside the doors, contently gnawing on a mouthful of grass she'd ripped from the ground. The flowers here tasted better. Kilah had been bringing the remains of the ones she killed to her. Spotting the two children, she bobbed her head in greeting and eyed Gizmo warily. Not the best of friends, those two.

"He might as well be..." Even assuming they could somehow get rid of the cat, Jaxmo would absolutely murder them if they did. There was no question of that. or, actually, Lyrus thought that Jax and the cat were somehow linked, if he remembered correctly... If the cat went, so did Jaxom. Which really wasn't a bad thing, but...

"I wasn't scared of Sassy," he protested defensively. "I was just worried about Adroi." And himself. And being hundreds of feet up. But the ride had been nice once he had gotten used to it, and he was looking forward to another try--especially now that he was bigger and could hold on better. He nodded politely in greeting to the pegasus once they reached her and waited until Kilah had mounted to climb up behind her, much more easily than the last time, looping his arms aruond her waist. "Ready when you are."

"Go on, Sassy." The pegasus seemed annoyed to be carrying the two of them again. Sure, the third one was missing this time, but the other was heavier now! Jeesh. Kilah leaned over toward her ear and whispered something in her protectors native language. Her tone was innocent enough, but the fact she had that sly grin on her face, and also that Sassy's eyes focused on Lyrus for a few seconds were a bit unsettling.


Soon enough, the group of four was in the air, Gizmo carefully flying along side them. His wings seemed to be doing much better, and by tomorrow he'd be able to carry Kilah around again. Stupid pegasus...


----

Unfortunately, whoever (or whatever) it was they needed to speak with Jax about, they were one step ahead of them. It sure looked like Kilah, the girl knocking on Jax's door. Her arm was bleeding toward the top, but she seemed unphased by it. "Jax? Are you in there?"

As he watched Kilah and Sassy's 'exchange', there was a brief moment where Lyrus' paranoid side kicked in and told him they were planning to toss him to his death while they were in the air. And then common sense beat away the paranoia, and Lyrus relaxed once more to enjoy the ride as well as he could, eyes wandering the earth as it passed below them...arms just a bit tighter than perhaps appropriate around Kilah's waist.

----

Jaxom wasn't in the best of moods. Even with him half out of it from pain medications, his wrist continued to throb off and on; He would repeatedly swear that it was worse than that stupid doctor had made it out to be. Add to the fact that NO ONE seemed to care, and you had one very sulky Guardian. Thus, when there was a knock on the door, followed by Kilah's voice, rather than be upset, he jumped up and hurried over to greet her, though managed to affect a bored air before answering the door. "What're you doing here?"

"You know, that was kind of cute as a little kid. Cutting my air supply off and all." It seemed like a moment to roll her eyes, but since she couldn't she just settled for sounding sarcastic. "But we're the same age now." One hand still clutching Sassy's mane, she reached the other down and grasped one of his hands. "Either admit you're afraid or loosen your damn grip." Boys. So stubborn.

---

"I was meeting Lyrus," she explained slowly, blushing a bit. "But, uh, he said he hurt you..." Any attempts to sound as if she didn't care clearly weren't working. She managed to sound more curious than concerned in her questioning, though. "Does it hurt a lot?"

"I'm not scared," he muttered, and gradually eased his grip, holding on just enough to keep himself from losing his balance. Jeez. It wasn't his fault they were plotting to toss him off midway. Not that they were, he reminded himself. But there was always the possibility. "If you could see how high we are, your grip'd be tighter too."

----

Jaxom was silent for a moment, eyeing her somewhat suspiciously, but then he stepped back and murmured a 'Come in', gesturing her into his room. Once she had entered, he closed the door and returned to sitting on his giant beanbag, holding his hurt wrist with his good hand. "Not as bad as when it happened, but a bit. I have to take some nasty medicine. It's helping, though... What happened to your arm?"

"Sure..." His last words made her wince a bit. Maybe, but the fact was she couldn't. Suddenly, Kilah found herself pondering how easy Lyrus was to scare up here. He was far from the worrier, if you asked her opinion, but...

Might as well test the theory out. "Sassy-" The name was followed by unusual sounding words in the same language she'd spoken in earlier. The pegasus didn't respond, but had apparently understood.

Cranking her head back, Kilah stuck her tounge out at the boy before pulling his arms away and falling off their current ride. She didn't fall far, though, before Gizmo swooped down below her and caught her on his own back. Luckily, his wings were as repaired as she'd guessed. "Guess I wouldn't have done that either, huh?"

----

"That's good." It wasn't a Kilah-like thing to do, but she did smile a little. Unlike the first visit, she wasn't nearly as nervous, but still didn't move to sit down. "My arm...?" Her voice trailed off, recovering quickly with, "Oh! My arm! My sister was...in a mood..." Yeah, that'd work.

Ah ha, here they went with the plotting again. Lyrus' eyes narrowed as Kilah spoke in some language he didn't know, and he went on his guard when she craned her head back and stuck out her tongue at him. However, what followed was the absolute last thing he expected. As Kilah slid off, Lyrus slid forward, grabbing hold of Sassy's mane with one hand and nearly sliding off the pegasus himself as he reached after his friend. "Ki--"

And Gizmo had caught her. Lyrus should have seen that coming. Scowling, he pulled himself straight and took a firm hold on Sassy's mane, snapping over at Kilah. "You nearly gave me a heart attack! What if Gizmo had missed?!"

----

"Ahh.. I know what that's like." Jaxom scowled, thoughtfully rubbing his wrist, then sighed and slumped down in his seat, eyeing her curiously. "You're alright, I hope? I'm surprised to see you here at all, actually. You seemed pretty mad last time."

"You hear that, Gizmo?" The Sin'aeis whined fakely, her pout no more real than her tone of voice. "He doesn't trust you!" The griff whined, and it was certainly and more believeable act then Kilah was putting on.

Laughing loudly, the girl stretched her arms above her head and then tucked them behind her. "I guess you'd feel pretty bad then, huh?" Grinning again, she swayed back and forth a little as if challenge gravity. "Do you wanna try it?" They had time.

-----

"Oh, well..." Well damn, this wasn't as easy as it seemed when it was planned out. Of course, it wasn't nearly as challenging as one could hope for. "I guess I was just in a bad mood." She shrugged, and the fact it caused more blood to seep through her jacket went completely unnoticed. "I mean, I'm still pissed at you and everything, but that doesn't mean I want you to fall and break your neck or anything..."

Did he want to try it? Conspiracy theories were blaring through Lyrus' head. he would jump, and they would let him fall. It had been planned this way all along! But, no, this was Kilah, and they were getting along great again. She had no reason to want to off him. Yeah. "Can Gizmo carry us both? Who'd catch me?"

Free fall did look really cool.

----

Her bloody arm was a little unnerving to Jaxom, who had never liked the sight of blood to begin with, but it didn't seem to be bothering Kilah, so he let it slide. Instead, he sighed and fixed his eyes on her blindfold, shrugging. "I think that might have been Lyrus' intention, actually. But Atear slowed my fall, so I only broke my wrist instead... Guess that was enough, though, eh?"

"Of course he can!" Kilah insisted, motioning with one hand toward her friend. As long as his wing was alright he could catch them both, she was sure of it, and Gizmo himself was, too. "Just don't fall on me!" Warned the girl, snorting.

---

"Well, I'm not gonna say you didn't deserve something, you are an a** and all." Edging toward his voice slightly, she suddenly seemed nervous like the first time. Odd, she'd seemed so calm only a few seconds ago. "I thought you'd be angrier with me..."

To trust or not to trust? Lyrus had never been very trusting of anyone. And for the rare few he had trusted, something usually happened to betray that trust: Kilah and Jax, Banda leaving and forgetting about him, etc. And yet...Kilah was one of his best friends. Kilah, Lyrus, and Mignon. And if Lyrus was going to trust anyone, it would be Kilah. Especially now that they were friends again. After a moments hesittion, the boy released Sassy's mane and shoved himself sideways off the pegasus. Free fall.

---

"I don't hold grudges," Jaxom explained with a shrug, returning his eyes to her with a smile. "I don't see any point in it. Unless it's something really, really bad. But it just gets in the way other times, and, like you said, you were in a bad mood. Everyone has bad days. And now we're talking like normal and things are fine."

It hadn't even crossed Kilah's mind to let him fall. Really, if she'd been out to get him that wouldn't be the route to take. Face-to-face stabbing was much more her style. Just as swiftly as he'd caught Kilah, Gizmo maunevered in the air again, seeming pleased when Lyrus fell behind the other Sin'aeis, who burst into laughter again. "See? You were afraid for NOTHING!"

Mental note: Kid Lyrus = way better than Toddler Lyrus.

---

..Jeesh, what a b*****d. What did she even see in him? Those were the inner thoughts, but outwardly Kilah nodded slowly. "Yeah, I guess so." How easily she walked over and sat beside him made him seem impossible she'd be blind. Odd... "So, um...I wanted to ask you..."

And he was safe. Perched awkwardly on Gizmo's back behind Kilah, watching the world pass below them. Coolest thing ever. Lyrus was extremely tempted to jump off the griff, too, but thought better of it and grinned. "I wasn't scared. I was being sane. If I had been that scared, Iwouldn't have jumped." Unless, of course, she had dared him. Honor demanded that Lyrus never turn down a dare. Almost never, anyway.

---

Had Jaxom been thinking completely straight, he probably would have thought how easily she navigated his room strange. As it was, his brain was somewhat fuzzy from paid medications, and he couldn't have cared less. That probably allowed for his cheery mood as well, actually. Normal Jax would have been a bit more defensive, at least. But that didn't matter right now. "Ask me..? Hmm?"

"If we drag the other pegasus out of the barn, and get my other griffons we can make a game of this or something." Mafia leader or not, Kilah was still a kid, and games were very appealing. Games that involved life-or-death stunts, or violence, were the prefered type. "I don't know if Mignon would be willing to fall or not, we might just have to push her the first few times."

---

Kilah's face now matched the color of her hair almost, a bright shade of pink. "Um, is your cat here?" The way she asked made it clear she didn't want him here, and suggested that want for anyone aside from Jax and herself. The boy didn't seem to be thinking clearly, but that was fine by her...

"Sounds like a plan." Lyrus grinned. Skydiving was officially his new favorite sport. If it counted as a sport. Then again, Lyrus didn't care for any other sports. He could probably be decent in a few if he wanted to, but they were so dull. Skydiving, now... That was a rush. "I think Mignon'd do it. If we did it first, anyway, and the griffs caught us and all. She's nice, but she's no wuss."

---

"Atear?" Jaxom blinked, then quirked a brow, eyeing her almost suspiciously. Why did it matter if Atear was here? Jaxom would just tell him about whatever happened later. But Kilah was blushing, and apparently would rather if no one else knew... Which meant it would likely be excellent blackmail somethings later on. He shook his head. "He went hunting, I think. He likes to stalk the Fourth Floor shadows."


"Mm." It was all Kilah would say on the subject past the suggestion. She would b***h thoughtlessly about one's like Yukito, and always, always Aard, but when it came to speaking about Mignon with Lyrus and vice versa it just seemed...awkward. "Alright, I think we should hurry now." For some reason, she suddenly had a really bad feeling...

---

"Oh, that's good." With the news the stupid feline wasn't present, she seemed to lighten up to the point of being cheerful. A bit odd when it came to Kilah, but certainly not unheard of. "You still like me, don't you?" Well, so much for being shy about it...


Lyrus was inclined to argue, much more interested in finding a way to get back on Sassy mid-air so he could attempt another, longer jump. But oh well. The sooner they got home, the sooner they could kick this thing's butt, and the sooner they could go back to skydiving. "Might as well. We're almost there, anyway. I can see it up ahead..."

---

"Not really," he replied, completely honest. "Not like before anyway." Then, deciding this might be deemed offensive, continued. "I mean, as a friend or something, yeah, but I don't want to be your boyfriend or anything. Not after that day at the Sin'aeis place. And besides, you have a fiance. Unless he doesn't want you anymore either." Snerk.

Hearing that, Kilah sighed in relief. She'd been hoping Lyrus would tell her when they were closer. Not that she was worried about Jax or anything, the idiot. Before she knew it, Gizmo was landing, and the reassuring thud of hooves on ground informed her Sassy was as well. "Lead the way. Gizmo'll have to stay out here. He might catch something on fire."

He'd been bad about doing that lately.

---

While one would've expected her to be furious, the Sin'aeis giggled, brushing a few strands of hair from her face. "Wow, you are an a*****e, aren't you?" In the blink of an eye, she'd pulled the blind fold off, and yellow eyes then peered at Jax bitterly. "I guess that's why she didn't seem so surprised when I stabbed her as you."

Immediately after landing Lyrus slid to the ground, and started for the door with only a 'Follow me'. Again, the sooner the got there, the sooner they could be done with it. Still, the House was BIG, and from where they had landed (near the back door), it would be a bit of a walk to get to Jax's room. Assuming, of course, that Lyrus didn't just take the short way up the back stairs. Lyrus had always hated those stairs.

---

"Only some of the time," Jax replied with a smirk. However, it faltered somewhat she she removed the blindfold, eyes holding hers for a moment. Not only were they there, but...could she see? He didn't bother to ask; he following comment brushed the thought from his mind. "Stabbed her as me? What're you talking about? ...At that, who are you?"

"Slow down!" It was true she was bossy. She'd even admit it. She'd also claim it was for good reason, that she was right and anyone who said other wise was wrong. With Lyrus, and with Mignon, she tried not to demand things nearly as much. In situations like these it was hard. This little trip had gone from free falling off pegasus to something more serious. Lyrus didn't seem worried, and Kilah was positive she wasn't either, but she couldn't shake the feeling they'd end up with more problems than just getting Jax to talk to them...

---

"Akilah, of course," she said. The grin on her face didn't make it the least bit believeable. Tossing the blindfold carelessly off to the side, she stretched her arms above her head. At least she had some of her mannerisims, that was a habit Kilah seemed to have. "I stabbed the first one. She's a b***h. It's a wonder you two are bickering so much. Now then-" There was a pause in her words long enough for a yawn. "-they're coming here. What do you plan to do about that?"

"You were the one who said we could hurry," Lyrus countered, but slowed down nonetheless. He wasn't in any hurry. Let Jax die for all he cared. The only pain that would cause him was when Calt's passing would upset Vin. Firelizards, no matter how badly they got along, mourned the loss of one of their kind for days. And with Calt as the 'senior' flitt of the House...it was bound to be annoying. "It's not all that much farther anyway."

---

"I'm sure you are," he drawled sarcastically, rolling his eyes. Mannerisms or not, this was most certainly not Kilah, nor would she ever convince him that she was. Especially considering her following statement admitted she had stabbed the real one. Jaxom frowned only faintly, and after a moment shrugged and climbed to his feet, idly pacing towards the window. "Do I have to do something about that? Why should I care if they're coming here? I don't have to let them in, just like I don't have to let you stay in. Go stab someone or something. You seem to like doing that."

"We should, but I can't," Kilah informed him, annoyed. She'd like nothing more than to rush to Jax's door, somehow knock it down, run in the room and beat the life out of him. Guardian cat be damned. The fact she couldn't was probably a good thing.

---

"Hmm." The girl got to her feet, a thoughtful look across her face. Soon, that became a challenging grin, and as swift as Kilah herself would've been able to, she pulled the dagger seemingly from no where and headed towards the door. "You know," she muttered, chuckling. "I think I'll go and do that."

---

By now, the Sin'aeis was beginning to wonder if this had been the best idea. If only Twila hadn't said anything... More importantly, what if, somehow, it had been Jax? She'd have to kill, it was only a matter of justice! But then Lyrus would suffer somehow, which was something she was trying hard to avoid...

"Hey, you two!" A voice called. A familiar one. Just as they were about to reach Jax's room, she came to stand infront of them, blonde pigtails and all. "Wow, I didn't think you'd come!" The look-a-like Mignon giggled, clapping her hands approvingly. "This isn't going to bother you, is it?"

Jaxom really hadn't expected that, but anything to get her out of his room. Turning, he watched her go, then stepped over and locked the door behind her, returning to his closet and withdrawing a short spear-like weapon from it before simply relaxing on his beanbag to await Atear's return. Just in case, mind. He wasn't worried. Or scared.

----

"Mignon?" She was certainly one of the last people Lyrus expected to see here. Not that it was bad, mind, but... Wait up. She hadn't commented on his growth! Lyrus was instantly on his guard, but did his best not to show it, smiling in greeting to the imposter, and managing to look more curious than confused with her words. "Hi! Er... Bother us?"

Did he seriously buy that? Blind people were stupid, Kilah realized. On second thought, maybe he was playing along with it. That wouldn't get them anywhere but stabbed to death and probably dumped in a river. "You're not Mignon," she pointed out, trying to sound bored. "She doesn't giggle like that."

The other girl seemed dissapointed. "Wow, you're both smart, aren't you? Well, at least observant, I'd hardly considering either of you intelligent." Her eyes peered at Lyrus, than Kilah, as if wondering how easy they'd both be killed. Coming from someone who looked like Mignon, and had stabbed Kilah and gotten away with it, it was undeniablely at least slightly creepy...

"Which of you wants to die first, hm? We could go outside if you want. I'd hate to get blood all over this pretty house! Unless you want to give me what you stole."

"Way to waste the situation, Kilah," Lyrus muttered under his breath, knowing full well that she could hear him, and knowing just as well that 'Mignon' couldn't. Not that it mattered at this point. Completely ignoring half of what she said, Lyrus busied himself with trying to figure out what exactly this...something was. First it had been Jaxom, then Kilah, and now Mignon? Lyrus had heard of shapeshifters, true, but how would one know to turn into these people? At that, why did it care at all?

"Neither of us stole anything," Lyrus murmured, rolling his eyes. "The only places I ever go anymore are this House and the mansion, and Kilah.." He paused, considering. Kilah went all over the place. Um. "Kilah doesn't steal," he finished, nodding defiantly. She had never stolen to his knowledge, anyway. Lyrus himself had no qualms about stealing. It made shopping that much more interesting. But, as he had said, he hadn't stolen anything in a while, let alone been out of the house where he could do so.

"You do have it!" The stranger snapped. The angry look and the temper itself didn't suit Mignon. The voice didn't, either, though only Kilah was likely to notice the difference so keenly. "Don't play dumb with me, boy, give it back to me or I'll have your eyes gauged out to." It was quite clear she'd carry through with that, and held the dagger up as much more than a mere display.

Whatever she wanted, she was damn positive one of them had it.

Kilah growled slightly, another bad habit the currently nameless person had come to mimic when acting as her. Reaching her hand out, she caught Lyrus's arm and pulled him roughly behind her. In situations like these, Kilah was either going to pull someone behind her or push them infront. Normally the 'kill them!' would've been the solution.

It was a shame this thing decided to show when she was with Lyrus instead of Yukito or Aard.

"Look, b***h, whatever you want, we don't have it."

Lyrus was thinking up a retort of his own when he was rudely tugged behind Kilah. For only a moment, the boy seemed surprised, but almost immediately that changed to absolute fury. He knew Kilah just didn't want him to get hurt, but he wasn't some baby anymore. He was taller than she was! If only a tad. He should be the one protecting her!

Fingering his knife, Lyrus stepped back to Kilah's side, shotting her a quick glare, even if she couldn't see it, before returning his attention to the imposter Mignon. Still scowling, and hiding the closed knife in his palm, he lifted his hands and folded his arms across his chest. "No one's taken anything. Get out of my house."

It was Kilah's turn to be surprised when his voice was sudden beside her. Though...not that surprised. She assumed he'd be stubborn about it, but now wasn't the time for it! "Lyrus..." It sounded like more of a one-word warning than a name.

"You do have it!" The girl repeated, cletching her teeth together as well as her fists. "You have it, I know it's here!" Her threats and such were quickly beginning to seem like more of a temper tantrum. "You want me to leave? Fine! But then I'm taking something that belongs to you until you decide to give it back to me, boy! Someone in this house has it!"

Lifting an arm, she pointed toward Kilah and hissed. "I want that. One or the other. I'm not leaving with nothing. And if you still won't give it back, I'll hurt your brother. Trust me, it'll be more than a stab in the arm, too!"

Lyrus' only response to Kilah was to nudge her with one elbow. Now was not the time for them to get in a 'Who's the boss' battle. At least he had enough tact to not shove her behind him. Besides, they had almost gotten this whatever it was to leave. All they had to do was give it something! Something of his, sadly, but he could replace it eventually, he was sure. When 'Mignon' pointed to Kilah, however, he blinked, frowning faintly as he glanced sideways at his friend. She didn't have anything of his, did she?

...Nope. Not that he could see, anyway. Unless she had stolen something from him too!? ...Beating back the following conspiracy theory, Lyrus shook his head and returning his eyes to Mignon. However, even as he opened his mouth to reply, it clicked.

"No." He snapped immadiately. Absolutely not. it was one thing to give up a possession, quite another to give up a friend. Besides, that would be Kilah protecting him again. For once, Lyrus wanted to be the protector. Turning to Kilah, he set one hand on her shoulder, flashing a grin. "You find whatever the crap this thing wants, alright? Jax'll help, juts tell him what's going on." Without waiting for a reply, he glanced back to Mignon and quirked a brow. "I'll come with you. She'll find your whatever. No one gets to stab Jax but me."

"Lyrus!" Kilah was nearly screaming at him. The way her hands twitched made it seem like she'd reach out and slap him. What a stupid idea! Did he MISS the part where this thing had STABBED her?! "I won't let you! She'll kill you!"


"Hey now!" 'Mignon' piped up defensively. "It's not very nice to you just assume I'll kill someone! I'll give you a few hours to get what you stole from me before I even think of doing that." Grinning, she placed on hand on her hip, glancing Lyrus over. "You can come with me if you put that weapon down you're hiding, cutie." Laughing loudly, she added, "Guess you've gotten use to this, huh, Kilah? Guy's leaving you, that is."


"Why you little b***h!" Kilah hissed, reaching back for her own dagger.


"You better not," the other warned seriously. "You can't help him and the other one, can you? Unless you favor one quite a bit over the other, I'd suggest you stop."

Better me than you, Lyrus wanted to say, but he held his tongue. Poor Kilah had one through enough, one thing after another, and she had only just lost her eyes. Regardless of the fact that they didn't work, no one should have to endure that. Explaining it to Kilah that way would likely just make her protest even more, though. So he held his silence.

Scowling faintly, he made as if to drop the knife, but thought better of it and turned back to Kilah, grabbing her hand and setting the folded blade in it before she could protest further. "Do not lose my knife," he hissed, then released her hand and stepped back, muttering a 'Good luck' before turning back to 'Mignon'. He nodded. "Whenever you're ready."

"Yeah, alright..." What else was she suppose to say? Figures. The one time she'd doubted Lucky, who had said they were just too much alike, she ended up being right anyway. Since that seemed to be the case, Lyrus obviously wasn't going to listen. Because she wouldn't have. "Don't die. Mignon might cry. I don't want to deal with that." She was worried for him, but she really meant that last part.


"Such a good boy!" Mignon cooed affectionately, taking his hand and pulling him past Kilah, back outside. "Ahh! Fresh air! It's so nice, isn't it? Anyway! Let's get going! You're going to be sooo excited when we get there!" Winking playfully, her grasp on his hand tightened, and with a small 'pop' and a hardly noticeable flash of light, the pair suddenly found themselves somewhere completely different.


The room was simple, which meant the ones past the two doors to their left probably weren't. The floor and walls were stone, and obviously old with no funiture to speak of. "Now, you two play nice!" She chirped, motioning toward someone sitting along the wall. "She'll be your room-mate for the last few hours of your life!"

From across the room came a hiss, and the earlier mentioned figure stood, glaring. "You're KIDDING me?" Noharu snapped.

---

Back at the house, Kilah had yet to move. This was...a serious problem. But Jax...talking to Jax would be hard. Besides, what help could he provide with his wrist broken? Maybe his stupid cat could do something. Taking in a deep breath, she mentally slapped herself and called loudly, "JAXOM! Get your sorry a** out here!"

"I won't," Lyrus promised, grinning. "Just find the thing." And then Mignon-imposter was pulling him back the way they had come, outside onto the lawn. Before he had a chance to reply, they had vanished, and he was far too disoriented by the new location to care much about answering her. He looked around the barren room without much interest, failing to even notice Noharu until the woman spoke.

And there went whatever lasting bit of happiness there might have been. Scowling, Lyrus stepped away from imposter-Mignon and walked over to the wall opposite Noharu, sinking down to sit on the floor and shooting her a glare. Dammit, and he didn't even have his knife. "Don't think I'm happy with the situation."

---

Jaxom had been expecting some sort of shout for a while now. Of course, when he heard Kilah's voice, he wasn't terribly sure if he should trust it or not. After all, it might be that other Kilah. ...Somehow he doubted it. With his spear-thing still held in his left hand, he returned to the door and left his room, walking the short distance down the hall to Kilah. Nope, this was the real one--the other had forgotten its blindfold in his room. "What happened?"

One might've expected a threat. Infact, no one would put it past her to lash out without so much as that. The fact she did neither was a bit surprising, and what followed even more so. "Just watch your mouth, brat, I don't want her picking up any of the bad words I'm sure that little chicken brat has taught you." Substituing 'b***h' for 'brat? What was the occassion?

Nothing more than a girl, and a nervous one at that. She was younger than Lyrus, four at the most. Her bat wings and ears twitched nervously as she clutched her white dress. My, my, someone was nervous. Oddly enough, Noharu didn't seem the cause of it.

After a moment longer of leering unblinkingly at the Sin'aeis, the teenager sat back down, reaching over and patting the bat girl on the head. "It's alright. You'll be okay."

---

"None of your business." Only a few days ago, Jax had said she couldn't protect Lyrus forever. Her response had been 'watch me', a challenge that declared she could. If such was possible, she planned to try. No one she gave a damn about was going to get slaughtered if she had something to say about it. Not Gizmo. Not Mignon. And, for now, not Lyrus. "I need you to watch this for me." She waved the weapon Lyrus had left with her. "And don't let anyone take it."

Lyrus quirked a brow, but said nothing, and, after a minute of watching the bat girl, simply nodded and relaxed back against the wall. So, Noharu actually cared about something? Well, this day was just full or surprises. Nonetheless, Lyrus wasn't in the mood for a fight and, if those two had been here for as long as he imagined, he pitied the bat girl. Not Noharu, of course.

But, given the situation, he could at least try and get some answers. Closing his eyes and feigning boredom, he moved both hands to pillow his head against the wall, yawning before speaking. "So, where are we, anyway? And, er...who was that thing? Or what, even?"

---

Jaxom accepted the weapon, but frowned, eyeing it warily. This was Lyrus' knife. New, yes, but Jaxom recognized it--he had seen Lyrus threatening Coen earlier. Not that Lyrus had intended to actually hurt Coen, he thought, but still. "Lyrus wouldn't just give up this knife," he muttered, quirking a brow at Kilah. "And he'd throw a fit if he knew you gave it to me to take care of. What's going on?"

"I'm not sure where we are." The answer sounded honest enough. It was common knowledge for those who knew (and usually hated) her only one of her eyes was functioning, and that single one never edged away from the toddler beside her even the slightest. "Her name's Kajisha, I think. She's been ranting about something for a while. Something about a jewel or gem. A blue one, I think. Says it's been handed off to somebody."

As if suddenly realizing there had to be a reason she was now stuck here with someone high up on her shitlist, she raised an eyebrow and, "What are you doing here anyway?"

---

"Nothing that would concern you." She sounded it, but the words weren't just to be a b***h. Why would Jax care? He didn't like Lyrus, she knew that much. After that arguement a few days ago, no way he was concerned with her either. She decided he was just nosey. "Just keeping my word, Jaxom. Do I have yours you'll watch that?"

((Continued next post...))

Growth quest.

Bwaha.

I guess I wasnt broken after all. I got my quest a few days back and went and did what it told me to... Basically shopping which is normally really boring but this time was alright cause it was for me and my quest! I needed three shirts two glass things and a colored knife. Oh and a backpack. It was pretty easy to find everything except for the knife but we got that eventually.

And yeah so Im bigger! Im taller than Jax and I have hair now and my horns bigger and a bit more curved I think. Its hard to tell. I need a better mirror for my room. Remind me to get one. A big one! Everyone should have a big mirror. Hmm...

So what else. I went to the mansion earlier and saw Kilah. And I dont feel like writing everything that happened because it would take too long and I dont like writing that much. Basically this shape shifter thought we stole something from her and tried to take Kilah as ransom but I went instead cause Kilahs always getting hurt and I felt bad. Then I escaped from the prison place with the bat girl and Kilah and this old lady transported us home.

The thing that we 'stole' was really this gem that one of Kilahs island friends gave to me a while back. I dont know how she got it but yeah... Im keeping it. Ive hidden it and Im not going to write down where because someone might read. Not that anyone ever reads this. But still.

And thats really it. And now that Im bigger and reading this I realize I have horrible grammar and crud. Ill see if I can get someone to help. I dont really understand the ' and , s. Banda tried to explain when I was younger by yeah letters and spelling were hard enough then.

Anywho thats all. More when it happens.

Bye


--Lyrus

I ran into Lyrus yesterday... Or, rather, he hunted me down at the school. Apparently Kailee had never told everyone like I expected her to, and they were worried... And then she finally let it slip, and Lyrus came searching.

He 'cornered' me during the lunch period. I couldn't tell if he was overjoyed to see me or furious that I hadn't come to see him. it was a bit of both, to be honest. Back and forth, yelling and cheering--he almost cried. Lyrus never cries.

I'm not sure if I'm touched that he cares so more, or feel extremely guilty that I made him so upset.

I didn't mean to, you know. I didn't have much choice in the matter. I could have called or something, I suppose... It just slipped my mind.

Anywho, once he calmed down, we caught up on...er...everything. He wants to come stay over here. I told him I'd think about it, and then we'd have to ask Moo, and so on and so forth. I doubt Moo, how she is right now, would even notice if he left, but it's the principle of the matter.

And then there's the Ven factor.

I... Lyrus is a lot like Ven, just less...evil. Like, they're both prone to violence, and they both have horrible tempers, but Lyrus actually seems to care. He's got a few good friends, and, hell, he missed me. He's a sweet kid, he just has his bully moments.

But he and Venoch... They would clash. They'd both try to rule over the other, in a sense, and someone would get hurt, I'm sure. Lyrus wouldn't ever 'sink beneath' a monkey, and Ven doesn't take no for an answer. I see a fight.. And knowing Ven, and knowing what's happened to me living with him.... I really don't want risk Lyrus.

So I told him I would think about it. And maybe I'll have him and Ven meet before hand, and if that goes well, I'll say yes. But until I get -my- courage up enough to risk that, he's staying at Moo's. We're going to hang out ever so often, though. Oh, he's older now--not sure if I mentioned this. So he's much more agreeable than when he was a toddler and always wanted his way.

Like I said, nice kid. There's room in the apartment.. Gah, we'll see.

It all comes down to Venoch.


--Banda

"How can she kick ME out? ME?! Can you believe that?! I thought I could trust her!" While Kilah on rampage wasn't an uncommon sight, this time she seemed really, REALLY pissed. Stab-your-eyes-out-and-toss-your-remains-in-the-river type pissed. Just...ugh! There were no words for it! Of course, that didn't stop her from ranting, but the words didn't come near describing the rage.


The Sin'aeis paced angrily outside the mansion, stomp her feet harder than nesscary as she went back and forth, back and forth. From the sidelines, even watching was terrifying! Well, for Karoko, who's wide blue eyes watched the girl as if she was a snake ready to strike at any second. Gizmo, however, was well adjusting to these outbursts by now. Infact, he almost seemed bored.

Pan pipes were stupid. Lyrus frowned down at the instrument in his hand, idly flipping them around before lifting them to his lips and attempting another series of notes. Almost immediately he grimaced and pulled them away, scowling at the pipes for a moment before giving up and wedging them into his belt. Stupid things. They always sounded...off. Sharp was the word, Banda has said, even if he couldn't hear them.

And practice makes perfect.

Screw practice, Lyrus thought to himself, extremely tempted to just toss the pipes. however, a familiar voice ranting at the top of its lungs distracted him to the point where the pipes were no longer important. he would deal with them later. Right now, he had to make his friend shut up. "Oi Kilah! What're you yelling about this time?"

"Maelon! Where are you going?"

Mae looked up absently from the blue sneakers he was putting on, purple eyes on his protector. "To the mansion. I told Maru." The deer boy scowled at him, before stalking off to go interrogate the said merman. Heh. Poor Maru. He had to deal with a prissy deer boy. Pry had been pissed as heck lately, all of Havok's little 'gifts' to his 'beloved and supposedly innocent' Sin'aeis boy apparently having bothered him immensely. The dark chocolate Sin really hated to break it to the deer boy that none of the above described him in the slightest. I mean, honestly. He was dark chocolate. It wasn't like he was cream pudding or pecan pie. He was a dark element. He had every right to ride around on a skateboard, keep a pet snake and experiment with poisons on harmless animals. Jeeze.

Blue hat retrieved from its hook, Maelon slipped out the door, making sure to shut it audibly. That way they would know he was gone. It was something Havok had taught him. He didn't have to slam the darn thing like Chibi did when he was having a hissy fit, but he needed to at least make it noticed that the door was shut. Taking a moment to enjoy his freedom - the house was stuffy as hell now that Pryderi had decided to watch his every move - the Sin'aeis finally set off in the direction of the mansion. Maybe Yuki would be there. Miggy might be there too. She was pretty cool. Brought back to the present by the sounds of cursing, Mae coasted on his skateboard, regarding the pair before him quizzically. What was that brown-haired one ranting about? Jeeze. He'd gone from one rant-fest to another. How excellent. Dragging the toe of his sneaker to slow down, Mae let his skateboard slow to a stop near the pair. He stepped on the end, neatly flipping the board up under his arm. "Where's the fire?"

Where's the fire? Real funny, jackass, Kilah thought bitterly. Who was that, anyway? She recognized them, but...sort of didn't. Wait, why did she care enough to even think it over? Screw whoever it was. This was about her, after all!


In situations like these, she had always counted on Lyrus making it worse. For the moment her mind was telling her she'd been right to do so. But of course, Kilah was always right. "You want to know what I'm YELLING about?" She hissed, grinding her teeth together. "LUCKY threw me out of MY house! My house!"


Gizmo's eyes narrowed. "Wark!" He called over, sounding dissapointed.


"Alright, so I made Yama cry, but ANYONE could do that!" Jeesh, it wasn't like she'd comitted some unspeakable crime. "And THEN I got stuck babysitting! Why are we even watching her?! Let's just ignore the fact her "mother" almost DROWNED me, shall we?!" Kilah? Over-react? Nooo. Never.


Karoko cowered behind the griff about, her ears as low as they could possibly be. Her eyes, too, were downcast, looking quite guilty.

Lyrus' attention was briefly distracted by the arrival of the new boy, but he quickly returned it to Kilah. Okay, not really. Who was this guy? And what was that thing he'd been rolling on? He hadn't seen one of those before, and it looked pretty cool. Not as cool as free falling, but maybe almost. He graced the boy with a nod in greeting, then snapped his gaze back to Kilah and attempted to listen to her rant.

...Same old same. Kilah had made Noya cry so Lucky had thrown her out. Really, Lyrus wasn't that surprised. Yama did cry easily. But babysitting...? He glanced around, gaze soon falling on the bat girl, and flashed her a grin, waving slightly. "Ahh, stop whining. It's not like she's any trouble at all. She's not even loud! try babysitting Coen. Now that's annoying."]

Mae took a moment to size up the boy beside him, his head tilted in interest. He didn't really meet many boys his age. He liked boys better than girls, most definitely, but his protector seemed to think that he needed to only be exposed to the female population of Sin. Maybe it was some subliminal message. Be straight. Don't be gay like half the other people in your house. Whatever. He's too young to understand such subliminal messages. Nodding back to Lyrus, he focused back on the ranting girl in front of him. Che. That was all? She had made some kid cry and so she was sulking because she got thrown out of the house? Heck, Maelon was glad when he got to leave the house without being followed by his over-protective guardian.

The dark chocolate boy rolled his eyes, sighing inwardly. Yep. From one rant-fest into another. Now if only he could decide which one was stupider. Purple eyes moved to the bat girl curiously for a moment, before returning to the girl. "She don't look like a handful to me. She's just sittin' there." He said dully, spinning one of the wheels of his skateboard idly. "An' if you don't like babysittin', pawn her off to someone else. Easy peasley."

Whoever else was there, they were certainly annoying. Not like Yukito annoying, like Aard annoying. Only, they weren't Aard, because she would always recognize Aard. More like-

Realization. "Hey, aren't you that little brat Mae?" Kilah questioned sourly. "I remember you, you're the one who said I couldn't do anything because I'm blind, aren't you?" Idiot. It was him. No doubt about it now. "Sorry, Lyrus, I can't be around this guy without hurting him. Lucky said if I show Karoko any violence she'll kick my a**." She'd do it, too.

"Let's go, Giz." The griff was happy to comply, infact seeming relieved when Karoko was placed on his back and Kilah hauled herself up after. The griff took to the air and soon the three were gone.

"Well, bye then," Lyrus muttered, far too late. Gizmo was already too high for them to hear. Of course, Kilah could hear just about anything...but still. Scowling faintly now, he waited until they were lost to sight, then glanced back to Maelon and quirked a brow. "Way to go, dumbass. Now Kilah'll be pissy for the rest of the day and bug the crud out of everyone. The least you could've done was given me time to cheer her up before you chased her away."

Okay, not the best of greetings, but let's face it. Kilah was best friend, this guy...Lyrus had never met. And no, he didn't seem that bad, but oh well. Lyrus would see.

"I'm as tall as you." Mae shot back, baring his teeth at her regardless of the fact that she couldn't see. Stupid kid. And just when he was starting to think that girls could actually be okay for a change, he had to meet her again. It was enough to remind him why he detested girls. They were like her. Jeeze. "Ugly chicken..." He grumbled under his breath, glad that she was gone. Though, mind you, he might have enjoyed another fist-fight with her. The first one had been rather whimpish. He would have liked to do more than just bite her. Next time. He'd make sure they sorted things out.

He narrowed his eyes at Lyrus's comment, before snorting softly. "Che. She's not your responsibility, one horn. Let her be pissy. You don't have to listen to her anymore. " He shrugged his shoulders noncommittally. It didn't matter anymore. He didn't have to deal with her. Whoever had put her in a bad mood would have to deal with it. Tough luck for them.

"Listen to her?" Lyrus actually laughed. Since when did he listen to Kilah? Kilah might be the self proclaimed leader of her mafia, but that didn't mean Lyrus had to listen to her. Had he ever listened to her? then tended to get in huge arguements whenever one tried to make the other do anything. Lyrus took that for a no. "We're friends. Friends're supposed to make sure their friends don't piss the heck out of everyone." And that they're happy and crud like that, but that wasn't the point.

Deciding there were more interesting topics to discuss, Lyrus turned towards the new boy and quirked a brow, eyes briefly flickering back to the skateboard before settling on Maelon's face. "So, who're you, then? I thought I knew all the kid Sins."

Mae snickered quietly at Lyrus's definition of 'friend.' So that's what they were supposed to do. Hold the chain so that the more aggressive ones didn't attack people. Interesting concept. He liked the way this one-horned boy thought. "So it appears." He murmured, wondering how Akilah actually managed to have any friends. Then again, Pry said it was a wonder that people liked him on some days, so he supposed that it wasn't impossible to be bitchy and have friends. Besides, he wasn't bitchy to Yuki. Maybe Kilah was sort of nice to this one-horn. That was, of course, if she knew what being nice was.

His question caused the dark chocolate boy to tilt his head. Another one of those 'I like meeting people' Sin's? Here he had thought Mignon was the only one. There were actually more of her? "Yeah, well I dunno you either. I dunno all the kids here." Not that he actually wanted to, but whatever. "'s Maelon." He added, noticing Lyrus's repeated looks towards his skateboard. "Never seen a skateboard before?"

Well, really, that was what friends did for each other. Unless the victim of one's rage also happened to be an enemy of the other, in which case both friends pummeled the helpless sap. It was just how friendships worked. On another note, Lyrus couldn't stand most Sins--specifically those younger than him. But the lamb Sin had always prided himself on knowing all of those older than him, even if he didn't know all of the Sin'aeis like Mignon seemed to. Older in the sense that they had grown at least to child. But he didn't know this boy.

"Lyrus," he replied after a moment. "I know all of the kids, but not most of the toddlers and under. Not that I want to." Babies were just plain annoying, and most toddlers were nearly as bad. There were always a few acceptions, but for the most part... "No, I haven't," he countered, frowning. No point faking it. That thing looked cool. Lyrus shrugged, "I haven't heard of 'em. Where'd you get it?"

Maelon didn't like meeting people in general, unless of course that person was Yuki. On some occasions, he wouldn't mind seeing Mignon. Other than those two, he didn't want to see anyone. He liked his spiders, and seeing as they understood each other, they were friends enough. Besides, what other friend could you carry in your pocket? Sin'aeis friends thought too much. The toddlers were always violent and the babies cried too much. The kids were okay, but that still didn't make them worth going out of his way to visiting. So excuse him for not knowing Lyrus. He's antisocial.

So the one-horn's name was Lyrus? That was a pretty cool name. So he hadn't heard of a skateboard? He probably didn't read magazines. Not that Mae had actually been supposed to be reading Chibi's magazines, but the tanuki did have a habit of leaving them out. "Havok. He's the boyfriend of one of my protectors." Spinning the wheel once again, he set it down, setting his foot on it. "'s a bit weird to get a first, but it's a lot faster than walking." He slid it forward, and then back, enjoying the sound of wheels against the concrete. "You come here often, Lyrus?"

The skateboard intrigued Lyrus. He hadn't ever seen one before but, now that he thought about it, he shouldn't have been surprised by it. It was just a board on wheels, really. Anyone could put a board on wheels. Thought, this one did look pretty cool. "Seems like it would be." That was certainly a good point to it. He would have to ask Banda if he could get one. Walking back and forth got old quickly.

Pulling his gaze from the skateboard, he returned his eyes to Maelon and shrugged. "On occasion." Which meant yes, every few days or so. But he never seemed to meet anyone new. Mignon and Kilah, and rarely Yuki or Jani. It didn't really count, Lyrus decided. "Anything to get out of the house, you know?" True, it was big, but even big could be stuffy--especially when one had to live with Jaxom and crew.

True, anyone could make a board on wheels, but there was much more to a skateboard than just that. The wheels had to be just right to support the board, and then there were the trucks that had to be on properly so that the board could support the weight of the rider (as well as let them steer.) And if you were going to just ride on a board, you're slip off, which was why you needed risers and grip tape. Skateboarding was quite complicated, for the people who got involved in it. It was much more than just a board on wheels. Mae knew. Havok had given him the instruction manual, which he had poured over almost as much as the skateboard itself. But there was the dark chocolate boy for you.

"It's pretty awesome." He said, gazing fondly down at the board. It had made his life so much easier. Mind you, it wasn't much use in the forest, but when he actually got out for a change, it worked wonders. No more walking, and he got to look cool. Double bonus. He nodded at Lyrus's comment about 'getting out', glad at least some appreciated freedom like he did. "Of course. The protectors can't seem to make up their minds, though. They complain about us, but then get all clingy when we want to leave." He scoffed softly.

Undoubtably, the lamb boy would decide against skateboarding once her learned just how complicated it really was. He would just have to find some other way. Maybe a bike or something... It wasn't as cool looking, but it wasn't as complicated. Fun things shouldn't be so complicated. Except, perhaps, when it came to manipulting glass. With that, the more complex, the better.

"I doubt my protector would let me have one. He'd be scared I'd break my neck or something." Honestly, Banda was such a wuss sometimes. Moo, Lyrus knew, could care less in her current state, but Banda would undoubtably complain about it. A pity, seeing as Lyrus planned to go live with him.

"Mine could care less, I think." Laughing bitterly, Lyrus shrugged and dropped his defensive manner--at least, for the time. Slipping a hand into his pocket, he absently withdrew his flip knife and snapped it open, then closed, idly repeating the movements with one hand. It had become habit; his hands didn't like being taskless. "The guy who used to take care of me moved out, and since then no one's bothered. I leave whenever I feel like it. No one notices anymore."

"Che. That's dumb." Mae replied, raising an eyebrow. Even he had managed to keep his skateboard, despite having a protector like Pryderi. Did the Lyrus kid have an even stricter guardian? Jeeze. And he thought he had it tough. It sounded like the one-horned boy wouldn't be able to keep snakes and spiders either, if his protector didn't allow him to have a skateboard. Now that would really suck. The dark chocolate Sin felt a small amount of pity for the lamb Sin. No spiders, no snakes, and no skateboards. Damn he was unlucky in the protector field.

Sounded like one of Lyrus's protectors was like Chibi. Wanted to know where the kid was, but didn't stop him from leaving. "Onena my protectors is like that. He doesn't care where I go, s'long as I'm back home before my other one has a heart attack." He chuckled softly at the thought of a panicking Pryderi. Oh Chibi panicked too, but not about Maelon. That tanuki was pretty laid back. Purple eyes were drawn suddenly to the knife, causing Mae to tilt his head. "You got a knife?" Personally, the dark chocolate boy preferred poisions to knives, but they were still cool.

"It is," Lyrus muttered in reply, scowling faintly. Really, it was nice that Banda cared about him at least, but some things were a bit too far. Maybe he could get a skateboard and practice in secret for a while, and by the time Banda found out he'd be good enough that the SM wouldn't worry? It was a possibility. But then he would have to buy it for himself. ...Oh well, he could steal some money from Moo. She wouldn't notice.

"My good protector got kicked out of the House," he continued after a beat, again shrugging. "My real guardian completely lost it and just booted him. And she doesn't give a damn about me, so I'm pretty much on my own. I might be moving in with the good one soon, though." Or so he kept telling himself. Banda had said he could, but there was Banda's roommate to consider, and then Moo might suddenly take interest and insist he stay. Moo was greedy like that.

"Knife?" Lyrus blinked, then followed the boy's gaze to his own hand. "Oh, right." He hadn't even realized he was toying with it. Typical. "Yeah, isn't it great? I got it during my child quest. It's a lot easier to carry around than my old dagger." And he could actually attack with this one, if he so chose to. The last was cursed, and could be used for self defense only. How dull was that?

Mae tilted his head at Lyrus's story. Heck, he'd heard Chibi threaten to kick Havok out of the house, but the tanuki had never actually gone through with it. Did people actually really boot people out of their houses? It was a very strange concept. But whatever. Maybe being kicked out was a normal thing. The house he lived in could hardly be called normal. Shrug.

The Sin'aeis boy regarded the knife with mild interest, having never actually seen one up close. It certainly was pretty, and it was shiny too. But knives were too bulky. He preferred his own weapons. They were a bit more secretive. "For your kid quest? Nice. I got poison." The mention of poison sparked a strange glint in Maelon's eyes, fangs more pointed in his smile. True, he hadn't actually been meant to have the poison, but that was an entirely different story.

Had Moo been in her right mind, she would have never even thought to kick Banda out. After all, if she could tolerate Kama and Iago, Banda most certainly wasn't a problem. As it was, however, Banda had been the first person Moo had run in to after her mind reverted back to before. And the new Moo hadn't been pleased. Banda had been booted to the streets, and one recently had anyone heard from him again. But better late than never.

Daggers, in Lyrus' opinion, were bulky and ill suited for any stealth work, though he had heard that they could be thrown with amazing accuracy... Certain ones, at any rate. That was double underlined on his list of things to learn, second only to playing he pan pipes, and that was simply of a need to cheer up his 'big brother'. In the mena time, daggers themselves were too much trouble to carry around. His knew knife was much better. An bit longer than his hand when opened, it was thin and sleek enough that, folded, could easily be hidden almost anywhere. Lyrus loved it.

"Poison?" He raised a brow, genuinely surprised. This kid had gotten poison? ...How cool was that! Of course, poison really wasn't Lyrus' style, but it could only ever help. However, Lyrus quickly shoved any plot ideas aside, too pleased with finding someone of like mind to bother right now. Really, he and Maelon had a lot in common. Or, liked the same things by the sound of it, even if they hadn't both attempted them. Actually, Maelon was the first male Sin'aeis Lyrus had met who wasn't disturbingly nice or a complete wuss. This kid had potential. "Used it on anything yet?"

The dark chocolate boy almost thought for a moment that the one-horn wouldn't believe him. After all, getting his hands on poison wasn't something every kid could do. Ah, the joys of having a scientist as a father. You had so many resources. However, Lyrus didn't seem to question him about truth. His question was actually quite an interesting one. Had he used it on anything? The grin on Maelon's face got wider. Of course he had! "What would be the point of getting poison if you don't use it?" He said softly, still remembering the tests he had done on those foul creatures out in the forest. They had been dumb enough to come close and take the bait. They deserved the antidote testing that they got. "It was rattler poison. Nothing too strong, but enough." He added, wishing he had brought it along for proof. "Tarantula poison would be much better, but Kitten wouldn't give me any."

Lyrus had been stabbing people since he was a baby. He had a 'sister' who was nine inches tall and knew enough chemistry to blow up their house. Not for one second did he doubt someone his age could get their hands on poisons. Indeed, that the dark chocolate boy seemed so pleased about them only boosted Lyrus' approval of his new aquaintance. Nodding, he returned the grin. "Exactly what I was thinking. Tarantula... Those're those big spiders, right? The really hairy ones? Did Kitten give you the rattler poison?" Lyrus hadn't the faintest idea who Kitten was, but it certainly didn't sound like the kind of name one would associate with poisons. Jaxom had a kitten. Lyrus wanted to throw it out the window.

So he agreed? That just gave Lyrus some more brownie points. Besides, he needed a friend that liked doing strange things like he did. He didn't want to corrupt poor innocent Yuki. When it came to someone who was already corrupted, then he was game for just about anything.

"Mhmm. Furry. Not hairy." He corrects, having spent enough time around his own beloved tarantula to know how beautifully soft she is. Hairy is more like... his little brother. His spiders are furry. "Naw, Havok did. He's my protector's boyfriend." Boyfriend, lover, general causer of havoc. You know. A man of many descriptions. "Kitten wouldn't give me her venom. She's a tarantula."

Of course he agreed! Had Lyrus the luck to come across some new poison, his first reaction would be to test it on someone. Probably his brothers. With a double dose for Jaxom. That would be fun, actually...hmm...

"Furry, then." Lyrus had never really thought of a spider as furry. Task, his cera, was furry. Spiders were prickly and hairy looking. But Lyrus up to arguing about adjectives. Let them guy call them furry if he wanted. "Ahh, I see. ...You have a tarantula?!"

Ten points to Maelon. The lamb boy was grinning from ear to ear. Flicking his knife closed, he repocketed it, nodding absently to himself. "That's awesome! The most I have is a firelizard." But at least Vin was smart. Kitten the tarantula couldn't claim that, he would bet. "....You named a spider 'Kitten'?"

Maelon had actually pondered testing it out on one of his family members, but the only one dumb enough to drink poison would be Sachiya, and he wouldn't currently be standing here talking to Lyrus. There was no evidence that he had tried the rattler venom on those rat things. Besides, venom had rather negative effect on people, or so he'd heard.

"Of course I do." Mae said rather proudly, grinning from pointed ear to pointed ear. His spiders were his pride and joy. It was always awesome when someone else actually took interest in them. Not too many people liked spiders, though he still didn't know why. They were much better than dogs and cats. "I have a black Peruvian spider too." Yes, his newest bratty addition. Always complaining about the unfairness of life. Bagira was such a silly spider. However, Lyrus's next comment caused the dark chocolate boy to frown slightly. What was wrong with his spider's name? "'s for scaring people. People wanna see a kitten, but instead they see a spider. Then they leave me alone." Now that was a good lie if he ever told one.

A tarantula. That was pretty damn awesome. But at the same time, Lyrus wasn't exactly sure he'd want a pet tarantula. It didn't seem like they could do much, really, and while he did like spiders, letting one crawl all over you was a differetn story entirely. Oh, he had no doubt that he'd get used to it after a bit, but all the same. He was happy with what he had. He didn't have room for a tarantula, anyway.

"Ahh, I see." He nodded, grin returning. That made sense, anyway. Why else would anyone name a spider 'Kitten'? "I never thought of that," he mused aloud. "'Course, I don't really have anything most people'd consider scary. Tzil's slimy... but I guess that's not the same."


[cut short due to hiatus D: ]

I saw Mignon the other day for the first time since I grew. She was all happy for me and such. I expected it--this was Mignon, after all. But it was good to see her and it made my day good.

We met up at Aylee's mansion and then came back to Moo's where I was gonna take her skydiving like me and Kilah did a bit back, but Umeri's a dumbass and wouldn't come out of the sky and Chidez was taking a nap, and by the time we got them both down, Mignon had to go home. So maybe next time.

I also met this guy named Maelon. Kilah doesn't like him but I think he's pretty cool. He's not a complete wuss like Aard and Yukito (even if Yuki's really nice). He did have a butterfly earring and he named a spider 'Kitten'. But yeah he's cool. He skateboards. And likes snakes and spiders and stuff.

I think I'm gonna learn to skateboard. I'll have to ask Banda about it. Cept I don't really want to cause I know he'll say no.

Stupid Banda.


--Lyrus