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It wasn't very busy. Actually, at the moment, Santana and Lit were the only ones at the McGaian King. And Santana had planned it this way. After the rather brutal run in with the girl at the skating rink, he was trying to avoid other kids until Lit had dealt with his anger issues. But training was slow. They'd been focusing mostly on meditation, trying to get the rage under control before moving on to anything else...and Litural was fighting it all the way.

Today had been a particularly tough day, although fruitful; Litural had actually managed a small breakthrough. So they decided to take a break and get some burgers. Santana sat unwrapping his food while Lit was already digging into his french fries, glancing every so often towards the play area.

Santana followed his gaze on one such a glance, and sighed. It sported a 3 story tall maze of tubes, a spiral tube-slide from the top, a small rock climbing wall, and a fairly large ball pit. The boy didn't even have to ask, the guardian knew what he was thinking.

"Go ahead, Lit...just be careful, ok?" Santana said.

Litural perked and took off. Kicking off the sandals he wore into the shoe bin, he made a bee-line for the top of the slide and then laughed his whole way down. He went right back up again, his feet and hands thundering against the plastic as he made his way through the play park.

Santana smiled, watching his charge. It was such a rare sight to see him so happy...and actually acting like a child. It was like Lit's rough start to life had robbed him of his innocence, and it pained Santana whenever he acted like a small adult rather than the young boy he was.

Santana hadn't noticed the other pair who entered until the shouted instructions met his ears and by that time it was too late to call Litural back, the other child was off and running. He tensed noticeably, his ears perked forward...focused on the kids. Litural still suffered with dark bruising around two of his three eyes from the last encounter with a facility child and Santana didn't need him having another fit.

Especially when they hadn't gotten to the whole "defense" part of their training, yet.

"Hmm?" Santana said over his shoulder to the other guardian, completely distracted by the children for a moment. When he finally glanced back, he still seemed...wary. One ear was turned towards the play area at all times, listening.

"Oh, hi. Yeah...yeah. He's mine. Name's Litural, and I'm Santana," he introduced with a polite nod of his head. If the other 'dad' offered a hand, he'd shake it...but he would still seem a little preoccupied.

In the "playground", Litural watched the child come rushing up and fall, all three eyes wincing upon impact...though the third definitely seemed a happier about it than the main two.

"Of course it blinks," he responded, his voice a flat line. Duh, of course it blinked. They all did. "Why wouldn't it?"

Santana glanced over at the boys. It was a boy. Litural handled boys...fairly well. Maybe there wouldn't be so much to worry about. For a moment, he relaxed. Just a little.

Litural shifted forward a bit, edging away from the other boy as he reached the top of the slide. He watched Dion with a similar wariness to Santana's, though a little more hostile compared to his guardian's apprehension. His wings bristled and fluffed as the boy reached out to touch them, and he growled quietly; a warning like Santana had taught him. He tried to keep his breathing even despite the fact that he wanted to snap at the fingers that were well within his strike zone.

Amazingly, Lit found himself falling into the calming exercises from his meditation training rather naturally. He chalked it up to having been practicing just before come out for food.

"Don't," he warned sharply, his voice low. "Touch me."

He slid further away, sitting at the very edge of the tube's slope. His third eye was narrowed sharply, a thin line of blue and white in the center of his forehead. As long as the boy honored the instruction, there would be no further incident. Lit couldn't chance another physical encounter. Not now, not before he knew how to actually defend himself. The memory of his first fight was still very fresh in his mind, despite the fact that his bruises were fading.

Over where the adults sat, Santana's breath hitched a bit as he watched the younger child reach out for Litural...letting go of a relieved sigh when his charge didn't snap or lash out.

"Lit...doesn't like being touched," Santana said slowly to answer Zach's question.

But what else to say about it now? 'I'm sorry if he bites your kid. I promise I'll pay for the hospital visit.' Yeah, that wouldn't go over well. And Santana refused to chalk it up to Lit being half-Wrath. That shouldn't be an excuse for the young boy being so terribly violent. Even if it was a valid reason.

Meanwhile, back at the slide, "I'm part Chasity," Litural would eventually answer Dion's inquiry about his wings...as long as he didn't try touching him again. "And Shar didn't have them. I guess they're from my angel side."

Ha. Angel side. That thought made Litural laugh in his head. Evidently some day he was supposed to meet this 'angel of Chastity'. He didn't foresee that going well at all.

"What's with all the rings?" he posed his own question. He'd never seen such jewelry before. And these just seemed to...float there. It was rather curious.

"He's getting better," Santana finally said, hoping to calm any fears Zach might start having about letting the boys 'play'. "Much better. But I still watch him with other kids."

"I dunno," Lit answered Dion's question about Chastity honestly, shrugging his shoulders as he shifted into a more comfortable position on the slide. "Santana said he'd tell me before I met her...but evidently it has to do with being attracted to people."

Which also made the boy snort. Lit wasn't attracted to anyone; women made him Wrathful and everyone else put him on the edge of a fit. What did Chastity have to do with attraction? It was a question he was saving for when he finally met his "mother"...though according to Santana, that still wouldn't be for a while now.

"Litural is...very physical," Santana informed Zach, settling back to look at the partially wrapped burger that sat in front of him. He munched a french fry thoughtfully, glancing up at the kids. "But I'm trying to teach him that fighting isn't the answer and we've been working on controlling his anger."

Zach's tidbit about the authority figures did manage to make Santana smirk, but he didn't allow himself feel at ease. That was when accidents happened.

"Well, then they should be ok. Lit's biggest trigger seems to be women." Which was something Santana had his own theories about...though only time would tell if he was right or not.

"Hmm? Oh," Litural mused, following Dion's gaze down the slide. Taking one more moment to pause, he puzzled...going down, or causing trouble. He'd been having a lot of fun, and this place was so neat with the slide being really fast. And when you came out at the end, the rush was almost as good as when Lit was picking on someone.

"Yeeeeaaah!" It was a squeal as Litural pushed off down the slide, keeping his body slim and his wings close to allow him to go super fast. When he came out the end, he was laughing...his hair and wings all fuzzy from the static energy that was now charged up around him.

It had all been fun and games...until Santana heard the screeching of nails on plastic. He was up and out of his seat, nearly at the slide before the sound stopped. The silence after was deafening for him, and he could feel his heart pounding in his chest as he watched...waiting for Lit's reaction.

Litural winced deeply at the screech of Dion coming down, looking up the slide at the boy, curious. Just what had he done that for? His pushed his head a little farther down, glancing at the scratches that were now dug deeply into the hard plastic sides.

"Cool," he muttered, his head giving a nod of approval. He was in the middle of contemplating doing the same thing next time he went down the slide...but then Dion spoke to him, drawing his attention back to the oddly positioned boy.

"Oh, yeah," Lit said, standing up and dusting the imaginary dirt from his knees and behind. He crouched down away from the opening of the slide, looking happy and somewhat oblivious to the event that had almost gone on.

"You gonna go again?"

Santana finally exhaled, shaking his head in disbelief. "Yeah, that was quick thinking," he responded to Zach upon his return to their tables. "That could have been really bad," he muttered. He knew their food was getting cold. Maybe it was time to call the boys back to eat?

But then again, they were playing...well together? Fights hadn't been started and for the moment everyone was safe. Maybe in another couple of minutes or so.

"Hey, no fair!" Litural laughed as Dion took off, further commenting about the other boy having a head start. He'd charge back up the tubes to the top of the slide, trying to take what he felt was a short cut to beat the spawn to the top of the slide.

Santana continued to smile as the boys played. Lit was getting along with someone, having fun and for once acting like the child he really was. He glanced over at Zach, looking down at the now empty container of fries with a chuckle.

"We'll have to call them in soon before we eat all their dinner," was the comment, glancing over as he heard someone coming down the slide again.

"He's a really good kid, your Dion," Santana said, his voice conveying a quiet happiness. "I've never seen Litural actually enjoy another person's company like this, let alone another spawn."

Santana tilted his head at what Zach had said, contemplating the thought. Did he really make Lit out to be worse than he was? There was a part of him that protested that...after all, Zach didn't know the Litural from before, drugged and bound in a straight jacket.

But didn't Santana say that Lit shouldn't be treated differently just because of his lineage? He was an individual first, and Shar's spawn second. And now, while he was really thinking about it, Santana realized that Litural was a good kid, too. He'd always tried to tell himself that, but now - perhaps for the first time - he probably believed his own words.

"Yeah," he responded, agreeing with Zach, before glancing over at the boys and smiling as he watched Dion toss his ring away.

He was going to keep that in mind for the future.

Meanwhile, Lit stood at the top of the ladder to the slide, huffing a bit from all the running around the two boys had been doing.

"I'm hungry," he stated, licking his lips before glancing over to where their guardians talked. "And thirty. Let's go eat."

He wouldn't wait for an answer, instead pushing off down the slide, landing on his feet at the bottom and jumping into a run. He'd stumble over himself as he dashed to where Santana sat, plopping down and starting to devour his hamburger.

Santana waited until Lit came up for air before trying to talk to the boy. He sort of knew better than to try and have a conversation with his charge while he was eating...he almost always ended up with spit on his shirt.

"Looks like you made a friend," he started, sipping his drink.

Lit did the same from his soda, blinking a bit before looking over at Dion and his guardian. The man was waving at him then, and all Lit could think to do was stare blankly back at him before returning his attention to Santana.

"I did?"

Santana nodded slowly, a slight smile on his face. Lit blinked again, first the two then the one, and looked back over at Dion. Huh...a friend. Lit hadn't ever been sure he'd be capable to have one of those.

Once they were both finished eating, Santana had Lit help get everything cleaned up. On their way out the door, the guardian would make sure to stop by the other pair's table, offering a smile down at Dion.

"Thank you, Dion, for playing with Litural today. He had a really fun time...right, Lit?"

Lit nodded his head a time or two in agreement, a small smile actually curling across his mouth.

"We'll have to get them together again sometime soon," Santana directed to Zach, offering his hand out for the other man to shake.