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It was, honestly, extremely difficult to negotiate with Delphine.

All he had suggested was to bring her out for ice-cream, and to meet Sam (whom he had been sneakily meeting after their encounter in the park) and Delphine had retorted with saying that he should buy it back for her. It defeated the whole purpose of sibling/cousin bonding he had intended, and he tried to come at it from a different angle; saying that it would be good for her to get some sun instead of lounging at home all day. His sister had objected to this, saying that she burned instead of getting tanned and Damon had to resist an urge to slap his palm against his forehead.

He tried to compromise by suggesting that he give her a ride there on his bike... but then she countered with wanting to drive. Of course, he had immediately rejected this offer; Damon had to always try his hardest to hide his keys so that she wouldn't find them, but he was a terrible hider. Delphine kept insisting on driving, or else she would stay at home, and he was starting to panic that he might have to keep Sam waiting because his sister wasn't cooperating, dammit. It had escalated into an argument where he, frustrated with all the times before she had sneaked his motorbike out for a ride, told her to get her own. And then it hit him.

"If you come along," he had said, slipping his hands into his jacket pocket just to make sure his keys were still there, "I'll try to support the idea of you getting a motorbike with Mom and Dad."

"...It better not just be a 'try', Damon."

"Alright, alright." He had relented, because Delphine was actually considering his offer, and he didn't have much time left. "I'll never stop until they agree, okay?"

They had made a deal then, and after another argument about wearing helmets on the motorcycle, they finally arrived at the park, and Damon scanned the vicinity for Sam, and the ice-cream cart.

This was why Delphine stood her ground, because eventually everyone around her would cave and give her exactly what she wanted. Sure, a motorbike of her own was high aspirations, but Damon had one of his own. Why the hell couldn't she? As a senshi she didn't quite need a motorbike, but the days were her's for the most part, and it would be ******** cool to have one. It also meant she didn't have to steal Damon's, and have him b***h and whine at her for the next five days about her nearly killing herself on his beautiful bike. Delphine was sure she only just came first before the bike. When Damon caved like this, it only enforced Delphine's determination to be stubborn.

"See, that wasn't so hard?" She had practically preened as she settled down on the back seat of his motorbike and they took off to the ice cream parlor. Ice cream really wasn't a bad idea, but the heat in the summer was suffocating. Delphine didn't tan - she burned to a fiery red crisp first. Since that was unpleasant, and embarrassing to boot, she usually went out in the evening, or if it was day time, just to go to the pool. It really was a miracle, or a damned decent bribe, that Delphine was out of the house.

It was only when they arrived at the ice cream shop that she remembered the key part about this trip. Bonding. With. Little. Cousin.

Her motorbike victory was diminishing quickly, but Sam was family, and she would try to play nice. "Kids are insufferable," she grumbled to Damon before making her way over to the boy waving at Damon. Delphine certainly didn't seem as pleasant as Damon, and it was true that she wasn't. Damon was far more kind, and far more considerate. Delphine was just a pain in the a**, and delighted in it from time to time.

After his cousins approached, Sam took off his little paper mustache, crumpling it up and shoving its remains into his pocket. It was irritating to have it tapped to his upper lip any longer.

Sam didn't pick up on any tension between his cousins. Though he was likely about to add to it. The boy smiled up at Damon. "Not too long. Don't think anyone saw me." His greeting to Damon was a simple smile, what he greeted Delphine with was a little different.

"Hi Del." The boy's greeting was followed by a face. Sam stuck his tongue out at her. It had been a fairly long time since he had seen her, even though Mrs. Colt's opinion of Damon did not extend to his sister. Delphine was properly schooled after-all. That didn't matter to Sam. All Sam saw when he looked at Delphine, was someone he must taunt. Having no sisters of his own to torture and annoy, Delphine was the closest he was even going to get. Opportunities to 'play' with her were rare, and Sam was ready to relish the 'bonding'.

Ohhhhh great.

Why had he thought this was a good idea again? Perhaps because Damon had imagined that the two of them would be a little more well behaved around each other; come on, he was the one who had attended Hillworth, not them! He knew Delphine would be a bit wary of Sam, but Sam? Really? Was it a gender thing? "Be nice, you two." Damon groaned, shaking his head at his sister in response to her demanding his keys. She wasn't going to leave so soon, oh no. Not that he didn't like bonding with Sam, but he was determined to make her stay or he would not say a word about her getting a motorcycle. That had been their deal, after all.

Besides, she had it easy! Mrs Colt had a good impression of her, at the very least, so it would be good for her to get along with Sam, right?

"Yeah, right." Damon was perhaps quite easy to wheedle something out of but he was unconvinced of her lie. For one, Delphine had lazed around and never bothered about getting a job, and two, she would have mentioned that excuse when they had been arguing later. "What flavor do you two want?" Turning their attention to ice-cream would be a good distraction, he hoped.

A better distraction would have been the roar they heard in the distance, and screams as a monster lumbered into view. It was about twice the size of a large man and looked like a Minotaur, except that it possessed lobster-like pincers for hands .

"You have got to be kidding me." Upon seeing this, Damon lunged for Delphine and Sam's hands, intending to drag them backwards and away from the intimidating creature. All he was concerned was the safety of the two, and if need be, he would fight it off, no matter how high the odds were stacked against him.

The people were running away from the area with the youma, so that meant it was her best chance of finding a safe place to power up. Maybe it looked like she was trying to get behind it so she wasn't in the path of destruction to her brother. When it looked like she was getting too close to the creature for comfort she ducked into an alleyway. Delphine hated powering up in the day time. It was too easy for someone to see her, and so her gaze scanned the area quickly, scrutinizing every inch of the alleyway to ensure that nobody was around.

"Nemesis Eternal, Make-Up!"

She was greeted with the comfort of power, the familiar hang of her clothes on her body, even the swish of the tails of her bow against the back of her calves. There, she was ready to take care of some stupid youma s**t today.

The second that Damon’s grip slackened and Delphine took off, Sam ran in the opposite direction. He made off for the first secure-looking location he could find. People were running off everywhere, and the first place Sam happened upon was a public restroom. Good Enough. Sam jumped in, checking to make sure it was empty. All looked well. Pulling his pen out, Sam called out “Ixion Power , Make-up!”.

The young senshi was surprised however, after powering up, to see that he was not quite the same. His fuku was slightly different and he felt oddly more powerful that before. Checking in a mirror, Ixion noticed that his bow was bigger and there was an additional stripe on his jacket. The chibi senshi had turned super. It had been a while since the boy had last transformed, at some point a cat must have done something.

The newly upgraded chibi darted back out, running back to the place where he had left Damon. Hopefully, his cousin would be smart enough to get out of there. But that was not the scene he was greeted with upon returning. Instead he found the ‘lobitor’ tangled up in the cart and the vague outline of his cousin behind a tree. Ixion had to stop himself from laughing a bit.

Seeing an opportunity to get in a hit. Ixion ran past the youma. As he ran by, the boy called out a set of words that just seemed to be the right ones, “Ixion Ember Blitz”. Two coals formed in his hands, but these coals were hot and faintly glowing like they had just been pulled from a fire pit. The boy quickly threw both coals at the target, wondering if they would hit.