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Ephron couldn't help but be a little on edge with what was planned for the evening. Sure, he was glad that Nina had grown attached enough to someone to dub them as her "best friend," without using so many words, but it wasn't as if either of them were really... easy to handle when they were together. The first time, they had run amok; the second time, there were more people in the area to keep the both of them in check, and a separate objective to boot. He glanced around the living room, which shared space with the small kitchen. It all looked so neat, but would it still look like this when morning came?

He sighed as he loitered in the kitchen, turning his attention back to a small notepad in his hands, displaying a small checklist for what to have ready for the sleepover. He could always lay down some ground rules, but it wasn't as if he was exactly used to this sort of thing. Ephron was still rather young, and Nina was the first person that he ever really took care of, aside from his mother when she had been bedridden. Ephron himself hadn't been a real rowdy kid when he was growing up, so there was no real experience there either.

"Ephy, I can't find the big pillow!" Nina called from the other room, voice touched with agitation. The child still felt much too awkward to call the man "Dad" at all, not that he really blamed her. He snorted in laughter; at least this snapped his attention back to what needed to be taken care of.

"Come out, Nina; I already grabbed it!" He cringed slightly as his voice echoed off of the kitchen appliances and wooden walls; at least he wouldn't have to do that anymore. Said pillow was lying on the floor, in front of the television and kitty-corner to the furniture and living room table. As soon as Ephron saw Nina enter the room, he added, "Oh, and no excess sugar tonight, alright?" That was the last thing he needed, as he remembered the comments he had overheard Damon make about the subject.

Nina scowled slightly, but brushed it off. Whatever; if she wanted, she could probably find any of that stuff later. Ephron was horrible at hiding anything, after all. Her eyes wandered to the clock on the far wall, stopping herself from hopping in place as she chirped, "She should be here soon!" She held a bit of anxiety, as she had never really invited anyone to... well, anything before. This was just a passing idea more than anything, however, as she was never given any reason to feel uncomfortable.

A pathetic sound echoed from the mechanics of the doorbell, which sent Nina hopping from her spot and rushing to the door. She didn't even really think about Ephron's rules about not answering the door as she reached to do just that; he was right there, after all, and it wasn't as if they were really expecting anyone else to come over tonight. Ephron, meanwhile, glanced up at the ceiling toward the direction the doorbell sound seemed to be originating from. "Huh... I should get that fixed," he mumbled under his breath before swiftly writing these thoughts down on another to-do list, a couple of pages back on the notepad he held, and made his way toward the door.

Nina held back her urge to hop in place once the door was open, saying a giddy, "Welcome! Oh, lemme help!" She held her large hands out to grab Ilyrosa's bag by the strap in an attempt to be helpful as she led them inside. Ephron nodded to the two of them, to indicate that Nina had the right idea before he waved in greeting. Already, Nina appeared to be getting a little too wound-up over the matter; Ephron was already trying to think of a way to get her to relax.

"Oooh, guess what!" Nina started, once a thought rolled into her mind. She had been trying to do something just in time for this occasion, as it was when Nina was sure that she'd see her friend again. Beaming, she stated a simple, "Ilyrosa!" She was so proud that she was finally able to say Rosa's full name without tripping over her own tongue -- once she had gotten the hang of the oddly-paired syllables, she found that it was actually quite easy!

Ephron could only hope that this whole event wouldn't end in disaster. He could only imagine what the two of them could get into if he wasn't careful, and if worse came to worse. He smirked despite himself as he watched the two kids before he turned his head to Damon once more. "So, going to be getting a little peace and quiet, aren't you?" he laughed.

Nina giggled, happy to know that she had gotten the pronunciation of Ilyrosa's name spot-on. She was startled when she received a hug for it as well -- rarely was anyone willing to do such a thing on the spur of the moment, after all -- but she managed to relax her tension and return the hug with a pat on the back of Rosa's shoulder. She blushed a little at the fact that she had forgotten to let the two of them enter as well, and nodded as she moved aside. "Hee, right right!" she nodded with a broad smile plastered over her face, "There's a couch over there and a biiig pillow in front of it. Make yourself comfy!" She motioned toward the living room, where she started heading toward as well. "We have snacks if you get hungry, too!"

Ephron fidgeted slightly, trying to add to Nina's instructions before either of them could get out of earshot, or just ignored him altogether. "Go ahead and set your bag down on the ground, if you want. Or... unless there's anything in there that you'll need anytime soon, you can go ahead and put the bag in Nina's room," he instructed, but anything else he was going to mention had likewise escaped him for the moment. Need to get his thoughts together, or he might forget something important...

Listening to Damon's explanation of his evening, Ephron clenched his jaw in irritation at the situation. "That's rough. Well, if you need anything like this again, I'm sure it wouldn't be too much trouble to take Ilyrosa off your hands again for a bit, in the future," he replied, pointing a thumb at the two spawn, "They get along great, so it wouldn't be a big deal." Even as he said this, he wasn't exactly a hundred percent sure about his statement, but it was at least something that he could do to help. Jobs didn't always make things easy on the employees, after all; this he knew.

Nina glanced over at the two men as they spoke, making sure that they were preoccupied with their own conversation. "Rosa, do you like horror movies?" she asked, just above a whisper. Despite being able to say Ilyrosa's full name now, she was still too used to calling her by her nickname. Oh well, at least that gave her more of an attachment to the other kid.

"Oooh, games?" Nina perked, curious considering the fact that many of the games that she had lying around the house were rather... well, boring. One could only play a one-person game so many times before they wanted to throw it across the room at the redundancy of it, after all. She didn't pry about the matter, however -- there would be plenty of time to look into that later that night.

She sat on the floor next to the giant pillow, leaning on it with her arms so that she didn't have to speak too loudly. Nodding excitedly, she elaborated, "I found a channel that was playing a movie marathon of that sort of stuff. I hope they play something good! If not, we could always find something better, but I thought it would be fun!" Who needed ghost stories when watching a horror movie unfold before your eyes was so much more engaging? However, she held back a snicker and went on, "Ephy doesn't really like me watching them either, but he'll probably be reading in his room for a while. If we're quiet about it, he probably won't even know!" Glancing briefly over to the two men talking, Nina added while she scooted Ilyrosa's bag under the table and further out of the way, "While we're waiting, we could see if there's something on in the meantime."

Ephron nodded as he listened to Damon explain Ilyrosa's behavior patterns, mentally taking note of everything. "If I need to, I wouldn't have any problem staying up all night to keep an eye out for that sort of thing. I'll probably end up doing so anyway," he explained. Good thing he had gotten a good night's sleep the day before. It wasn't that he didn't trust the two of them to stay out of any major trouble, but it was more of a case of parental instincts kicking in. He was the adult, so he was suppose to go to sleep last. It helped that he was used to running on little sleep anyway, what with all the traveling he used to do. "I'm sure I can handle it. Most kids don't get too out-of-hand when visiting, I've noticed, but I'm not going to rely on that. Try not to worry," he reassured both Damon and himself. Wouldn't do to second-guess anything at this point, just stay optimistic about the whole matter. "I don't want to hold you up," Ephron smiled, "Good luck with work! Hopefully it's nothing too bad."

Nina couldn't help but pout at the comment about Ilyrosa having some one-player games with her, but this was obviously a feigned hurt. "This is a sleepover -- I don't need to sleep, either!" she mock-huffed, crossing her arms. She'd probably try to stay up as long as she could, too, but she'd never actually stayed awake an entire night. Well, unless she was terrified, but those weren't memories that she needed right now. She couldn't hold the pout on her face, either, and the expression quickly evaporated into a smile.

"Oh, good idea!" she seemed to hop despite being firmly seated on the ground. That was good -- if the horror movies turned out to be a bust, or they were caught watching them, extra movies were always a good thing to have at hand!

Sliding the remote off of the coffee table to her side, Nina proceeded to turn the television on in response to Ilyrosa's query. "I don't know... might not be much on yet, 'cause it's still a little early," she replied as she started flipping through the channels, "Tell me to stop if you see anything good!" There were a couple of instances where Nina would pause briefly on a channel that she came across, curious if anything was any good, but for the most part, her thumb kept up a steady beat on the "channel up" button.

Ephron didn't seem to notice Damon's out-of-the-ordinary teeth, though he may have brushed it off as a play of the light. "Okay, I'll keep that in mind," Ephron nodded as he watched him leave. Honestly, he wouldn't like to bother Damon after work like that, even if things got out of hand, but he wasn't about to argue about it. At the very least, Ephron had a way out, which would probably end up making him all the more stubborn.

Once the door was closed, the man turned back to the two girls in front of the television. Probably would be a good idea to get out of their hair for a bit, let them catch up a little, he determined, wandering to the hallway. "I'll be in my room for a bit, though don't worry about asking me for anything if you need it. I'll be back out to ask about dinner in an hour or so, so you two better get deciding what you're going to want to eat!" he smiled, waving a hand as he left the room. He'd be leaving his door open, as the rooms weren't all that sound-proof, so that he could keep any situation under control.

Nina sighed, frustrated that there wasn't anything on the television despite expecting just that. "Oh well, we'll find something else that we can do," she stated, though she was currently drawing a blank on what could preoccupy said time. Darn television, sucking out her attention span... it should come back soon, though. Only a temporary occurrence, albeit an annoying one.

She rolled onto her back, sprawled on the floor as she thought about what they could eat for dinner. Funny, Ephron didn't like it when she was lying on the floor, but in his absence she almost felt obligated to break this unwritten law. "We've got a lot of snack food, but I dunno what we have for dinner-food," she stated, rolling up to her feet. "Wanna check it out?"

Before she could get a reply, Nina was already heading over to the kitchen none too far away. Opening up the freezer, located alongside the refrigerator, she began to dig. Calling rather loudly, her voice slightly muffled by the humming that the freezer made, she listed off a few items, "We've got some fish sticks, and some fries... potato patties, tater tots, I think that's chicken..." Ephy sure likes potato... Nina noted with some amusement. "Or... maybe we could make a sandwich, or a salad?" she shrugged, trying to come up with ideas. Not that she really liked salad very much, but not very many kids did. "Popcorn?" Alas, another snack-food. Maybe they could just throw something random together and hope that it tastes good...

Nina held back a laugh to Ilyrosa's comment, the reaction manifesting as merely a huge grin. Funny, she was just thinking the exact-same thing! She paused a bit before answering, to try to figure out the answer to the posed question. "Mmn... I think Ephy just... really likes potatoes, for some reason," she snickered. Honestly, she didn't really understand it all that much herself. Potatoes didn't really have a very distinct flavor, so why did her guardian like them so much? It was anyone's guess. As a side-thought, she added with a shrug, "They're not the best thing in the world. Not my favorite, at least."

"Heheh, well we could always order pizza if we burn whatever we cook," she mused, absently scratching at an ear. It was more to poke fun at herself than anyone else, considering she wasn't much of a whiz when it came to the kitchen. Not that Ephron would let her cook to begin with, but she did like to try her hand at it every once in a while.

Blinking, Nina shoved herself back into the freezer to pull out the bag of as-of-yet unidentifiable meat, slightly frostbitten, from the depths of the compartment. She turned it over in her hand, feeling the maneuverability of the plastic bag crinkle in her grasp as opposed to it's normally fluid movements. Obviously, it had been in there a while, but it was still safe to eat. Squinting, she brushed at some of the ice to get a better view, and she wrinkled her nose, "I'm... pretty sure that it is chicken. It's all light pink like chicken usually is..." Without too much extra time to think about it, she stuck her tongue out and shoved the bag back to where it originated from, "I think we should grab something else that we are actually sure about what it is." Pulling her hand back out, she grinned as her eyes fell on a familiar bag. "However!" she stated, with a little exaggerated flair, pulling another bag out and presenting it to Ily, "It seems we have some chicken nuggets, if you would prefer!"

Pondering a little on the subject of adding popcorn as an appetizer, she shook her head lightly. "Ephy would probably say that it would spoil our appetites if we did that, since he was going to fix dinner in a bit," she answered, "Unless you were really hungry right now or something." Obviously, Nina didn't understand Ilyrosa's metabolism quirks. "Maybe after dinner, as a snack?" she added, wondering if she should get Ephron to start on dinner right away or not.

(( Because I thought I should leave a note here: Nina's views on potatoes are not shared by the writer. The writer adores potatoes, in all their bland glory. BD *SHOT* ))

Now that she thought about it, Nina could whole-heartedly agree with Ilyrosa's observation on potatoes. Honestly, she tended to focus on how bland they tasted, how much she wanted to shove them aside, that she almost didn't notice smothering the potatoes in another flavor, or eating them in a bite with a stronger-tasting food. Ephron tried to give them more flavor on occasion, but it wasn't always successful. Guess his taste buds were just that different than theirs were.

Nina snorted in mild laughter at the explanation of when Damon ordered pizza, "Maybe we shouldn't get any, then." Sure, what kid didn't like pizza? However, too much of a good thing, and the want for it dies down. It would be better to have something that wasn't so 'every-day,' anyway, especially considering it was a special occasion.

"Oh!" the girl exclaimed, nodding her head as she set the bag of chicken nuggets and fries on the counter, "That's a good idea!" For some reason, popcorn could make a movie all that more enjoyable. Perhaps it was the fact that it was like being in a movie theater, or maybe it was the fact that one could throw some popcorn at the screen if the movie was stupid, but Nina took to the idea without hesitation.

Standing still for a bit, she tilted her head slightly, rolling a thought in her head. "Y'know... I could ask Ephy if he could get started on dinner right now, if you're hungry. I can't really think of much else we could do to pass the time. It won't take very long -- maybe we could look for a movie to watch for after dinner when he gets started?" she offered, eager to get to the fun part of the night. After all, dinner didn't tend to be a very good stand-in for the highlight of the evening, at least when it came to sleepovers.