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Of course on New Years Eve Isi and Eiry weren’t the only ones out and about the town of Durem. “Lillian!” The name was muffled behind a colorfully knitted scarf which was wrapped and placed securely around the child’s neck to ward away the nipping cold. Since winter had returned in full force that meant that every child’s nightmare was back again too. The dreaded layers upon layers of clothing which gave you little to none mobility whatsoever!

Luckily for Tyson, the orange snowsuit he’d worn throughout these cold months had “mysteriously” disappeared right before the first heavy snowfall. Yet with the suit being MIA it meant double the necessary amount of clothing. For instance, now he had to wear two heavy sweaters, two pairs of sweatpants and socks, and even two scarves. To Tyson this motive was ridiculous, but to his sister Lillian it was a flawless replacement especially because many snowsuits were sold out because of the season.

“Lillian!” The youth tried again after he relieved himself of the scarves coils and managed to catch the teenager’s attention this time.

Lillian looked away from the holiday themed shop windows to meet her young brother’s eyes. “What, Tyson? What’s up now?” Did the kid need a drink? Was he hungry? Did his feet hurt? Was his nose too cold? The possibilities of what was ailing the child were endless and Lillian expected to hear every one of them tonight except…

“Look ahead of us! There's Isi and Eiry!”

Isi…That name! As if she had been hit in the head from behind and was just now acting upon her reflexes Lil looked up. Infront of them just a stones throw away was the pair they had met in the late summer. Lillian scowled at her reminiscent of the past encounter with the younger boy. The New Years Eve hustle and bustle had already taken it's toll on the young girl's aching head. What came next would only make the tension heighten.

“Eiry! Isi! Hey!” Unlike his sister who dreaded the idea of young boy even noticing them, Tyson was happy to invite him and his raevan over to where they now stood on the corner.

There was no time whatsoever for Lillian to pull the child away and relocate themselves on the otherside of the steet. Tyson’s arms had already begun to flap about like a bird as he attempted to get noticed by the two who were heading their way. “Hey! You guys!”

“Eiry!” Tyson returned with even greater joy to see the raevan. The youth extended his arms, expecting a hug of some sort when he rushed forwards; only to be surprised by the amount of strength Eiry had and the action that his elemental pal decided on. Suddenly hoisted into the air and spun about in a circle gave the youth barely any time to ready himself for the onslaught of tickles that would dapple his skin to make him squirm.

Sure, Alex did it to him plenty of times when she was able to come see them. But the butterflies that fluttered and tickled his stomach felt different this time. Perhaps it was the fact that his holder possessed no legs that would’ve held him in place with the ground and without them that meant the sensation of floating was felt by Tyson in Eiry’s arms.

“E-Eiry!” Finally the tyke was able to start overcoming his bout with the giggles just enough to say something. “How have you been? Wow, I didn’t know you were this strong!”

Lillian meanwhile fought against the strong urge to scowl at the other youth that they’d run into. Isi was smiling now, and whether or not it was fake or real, Lillian had to smile too in response. She didn’t want to…but if she just glared at Isi then she’d look like the jerk, and that title was made for the other, not her.

Bah, as soon as Isi’s smile was gone and he decided to start something she’d be right on him! Perhaps her signature glare with narrowed eyes and a stiff lip would be good for this situation. Now all she had to do was grin and bear it and hope she wouldn’t crack before Isi did.

“Hello,” p***k…Jerk…Twerp… ”What are you guys doing out here tonight?” Kid…Pain in the a**…No manners runt… Lil could have gone on and on with the silent onslaught of mean names towards the boy but decided against it. The perfect strategy to go along with now was that of starting a conversation. If her mouth was moving so she could speak, then she wouldn’t have to pain her lips with a forced smile. A perfect plan! Then, as soon as the boys were done, they could be on their way in the opposite direction.

“Me? Small?” The boy sputtered with disbelief. As soon as his feet were back on the ground Tyson marched closer to Eiry so he was right in front of the Raevan. Suddenly, his right arm sprung up from his side and placed his hand into a positioned salute. With a deep, concentrated look, Tyson moved his hand back and fourth two times before he lowered his arm back to its resting position. That simple motion gave him all the statistics he needed for a measurement. “I’ll catch up.” The words of defeat were just whispered from the disgruntled child.

“Oh!” Excitement returned to his voice as if the sullenness that possessed him moments ago had only been a mirage. “You must mean New Year! Well….Day of New could work too, but a lot of people call it New Years Eve.” Tyson clapped his hands together and laughed as he continued to speak. “Lil and I are out celebrating it too! We were just going to go grab a bite to eat and see the fireworks they were going to set off in the square. I heard they are going to be huge this year!” Once again he made a gesture with his hands this time to show exactly what he meant by ‘huge’. “Are you guys going to go see it too?”

Lillian could feel her left eye start to twitch with annoyance. Of all people though, she had to run into him. What was she expecting, though? Everyone out on the street tonight was celebrating New Year’s. Like he was going to say something different?

“Same.” Yet if Isi and Eiry were out celebrating, shouldn’t the rest of their team be out with them? Lillian’s nose scrunched up as she thought over absence of the other two family members before she asked, “Where are Aphi and Rivener?” By then the teenager had begun to look over the faces in the crowd. They had to be around here somewhere, Aphi wouldn’t just let the kid wander around Durem with just his raevan, would he?

“Did they go over to a vendor and order you guys some food?” Well, if Aphi was around then this run in with his brother would be much more bearable. Too bad Aphi’s manners hadn’t rubbed off on Isi by now. At least by the time his snappy attitude decided to butt its ugly head out of hiding, she’d be long gone with Tyson and off to see the fireworks show.

Tyson cast a wary glance over to Isi as the trickster mentioned his guardian’s sudden decision to venture out into the night. The boy was familiar with rash decisions such as these because of living with his sister. From what he had seen thus far, they were normally created when the person was in some kind of mental distress. Instead of voicing his opinion over what he thought was wrong with Isi, like he normally would do, Tyson kept his mouth shut. He was just a kid afterall so he probably wasn’t even right when it came to the observation. Rather than dwell on the problem, Tyson got right into answering Eiry’s question on fireworks.

“You see….” He clasped his hands together and then unclasped them as he thought over what he was about to say. For a few days now he had begun this “think before you say something” trick for Lillian and Garg’s benefit. So far it had shown great results.

“A firework is a bunch of explosives things mixed together and then lit on fire. The fire reacts with the chemicals so the firework is pushed off the launcher and into the air. Then it just explodes into pretty balls of fire! The colors can be different too, and they all look different. It’s pretty neat.” He explained with a big grin on his face. “I bet you would like them. I gotta warn you though, they get really loud.”

“Too bad…” Lillian looked rather disappointed with this news. Afterall, she hadn’t seen Aphismet in so long and there was so much to tell him!

What was there to say now? Lillian didn’t feel too comfortable with the other after their dispute a few months ago. The kid was too temperamental; even now she could tell he was bubbling underneath.

Perhaps Tyson was done talking with Eiry and they could leave? With a hopeful look in the direction of the boys it was easy to see that they had not ended their conversation. That meant she could not end hers with Isi. It simply was not polite and in bad manners. The situation was awkward, but Lillian would not walk away from it. She was the adult here, not him. She could handle this.

“So….” Lillian shifted her weight back and forth as she thought up something to ask him. Anything that could support small talk would have to step in now. “What have you been up to since the last time we bumped into you guys?”

Tyson was just another example of the shocked faces within the sea of people over the loud noise produced from the boisterous raevan. The lad was so surprised by the terrible noise that he had fallen straight to the ground, without even realizing it until Isi’s angry shout spilt the silence of the crowd in half. Tyson rubbed his shaky hands over his ears as they beat heavily against his hands. Even though their was no blood upon his hands when he placed them in his lap, Tyson was sure that his ear drums were bleeding. Still, a small laugh escaped his lips that joined in with Eiry’s cheer without any further interruptions. Yes the raevan had scared him, yes he could barely hear himself, but the boy couldn’t stop his jolly shaking.

“Y-You a-are pretty loud! I think you win…” Tyson shouted as his ears began to ring.

“Tyson!” The boy in question was given no time to scramble before Lillian’s strong arms wrapped around him and tugged till he was close to her warm clothes. She certainly had gotten over to them quickly. Perhaps that could go down in the books as a new record for sprinting?

Eiry was going to get it now! Tyson just knew it! The poor raevan would not only have his guardian yelling at him, but the blow-horn that was his sister too. “Lillian!” Tyson yelled as he fought to gain some ground between them. Every twist and turn only brought him closer to his sister, her arms as strong as iron. Tyson still had to try to save Eiry from her wrath though. So he found the right moment between his body‘s wriggling to say, “It wasn’t his---”

The tyke wasn’t even able to finish his sentence before Lillian pulled his face to her’s. She was glaring daggers at him…wait…why him!?

“What the heck did you do!?” She hollered over Eiry's laughter. “What did you say to that guy to make him do that?”

Lillian could not believe her brother! A part of her was glad for this interruption since it had broken the awkward conversation with Isi but the rest was writhing with rage. It was always Tyson! He was always doing this! Hadn’t she taught him how to act better? Or were her efforts not worth it in the end?

A deep breath was drawn and Lillian eased her grip on the boy, her shouts decreasing to a hiss. “You need to think about what you say. He isn't a usual playmate, he's not even human.” Her eyes looked to the minty raevan before falling back to the boy in her grasp. “Are you alright?” At last concern for her brother trickled into Lillian. A soft hand rested itself on Tyson's right cheek to draw his face near. To get a better look, Lillian made the lad tilt his head to one side, then the other, so she could get a good look at his ears. He had been in close proximity to Eiry when he had screamed, so the potential for some kind of hearing loss was a on a higher scale than if he had been in the crowd. "Can you hear me?"

The quick nod she received reassured her worry enough to release Tyson and let her eyes move back to Isi and his charge without another word. How would Isi handle him? Would be he scolded like Tyson? Or let off the hook?

Oh that was it! Lillian felt her anger reach boiling point as Isi spat his clouded thoughts and threat in her face. What a thickheaded fool! She didn’t even feel Tyson’s hand on her wrist as he tried to pull her away to a safer distance. All she could focus on was this little punk’s face as took her words and twisted them to make him appear as the protector of the greatest good. In just under ten seconds Lil had reached the point of grabbing the lad and either thrusting him against the nearest brick wall or giving him his first kiss with none other then her fist.

“You really need to listen better, Isi. That mouth of yours will get you into trouble in the future.” Lil hissed under her breath. So far she was able to restrict herself from grabbing Isi, but by the looks of her hands that flexed and balled up like a Rottweiler’s mouth as it bit an attacker, it was hard to say how long they would remain secure. Inhaling deeply, it took all of Lil’s strength not to throttle the lad right there and then. “I wasn’t implying that Eiry was some monster, Isi. But he isn’t human in terms of strength and abilities.” She began with a voice as cool as the December wind. “Humans do not possess powers that would cause an immediate heart attack and death just by opening up their mouth and screaming!”

Lillian glared down at Isi as she continued, the way she spoke becoming more and more powerful. “How dare you preach to me when you do not understand the danger you can put people in if you do not teach him to control himself! Do you really think Aphi could stand up against angry lawyers of those people he harms? Do you think you two could live with yourself after those lawyer's ruin Aphi's reputation? Do you actually think your family could thrive and remain alive once these people take everything you have?! No! You couldn’t! So stop acting like a noble hero and grow up to see that if you don’t correct Eiry, he could hurt someone, and then hurt your lives! Eiry’s a sweet kid, but if you let him do this countless times he’ll be taken away no matter how nice of a guy he is! You'll be sending him, an innocent, to the slaughterhouse!”

Lillian was simply blown away by Isi’s ignorance. How could he…did he just...? The youth’s response proved that her words had gone in one ear and out the other: like a summer breeze. The idiot didn’t even think about what she was saying and here she was trying to help him! The surprised expression did not last long, that’s for sure. Rage boiled and blew away any remnants of shock that may have stayed to swim around in Lillian’s emotions. Before Isi could call her any other disrespectful names, Lillian was off right after him with clenched fists, balled up for battle. She was ready to blow him away. If her words didn’t make sense, maybe her fists would.

“Isikoro! You are one ignorant little--“ Lillian was suddenly caught off from saying anything else to defend herself against the brat. She had been so close to knocking the youth to the ground; so close to returning the lost honor he had stolen from her.

What had stopped her?

In her fit of rage, Lillian had completely forgotten about her brother. Tyson had stood close to her the moment Isi began to spit out his harsh set of words. He knew his sister would try to complete her desire to throttle the senseless youth, but now certainly was not the time. There was a time and place for everything. Yet on New Years in a crowded festival with dozens among dozens of people milling about was not a place to start a fight. He would defend the other for now but that didn’t mean that Tyson agreed with what Isikoro had to say to Lillian. First of all it was very rude, and second she was trying to help him.

Tyson caught Eiry’s goodbye wave, and returned it before he gave Lillian’s strong arm a tug in the right direction that was far away from Isi.

“Listen Lillian, why don’t we go watch the fireworks?” He told her just before glancing back over to stare at Isi’s departing form. “He’ll understand some day.” With that, the young boy led Lillian off in the opposite direction to enjoy a fun New Year's night.