| A Family Picnic | ||
|---|---|---|
| Summary: The children of Karrde all meet together for the first time.    |
Marque is there! The rather tall kind of built dark haired teenager has basically taken over the grill! He's helping to prep all the food, though he is grateful that it's for family this time and not for a bunch of hungry camp goers. Now that's one face he had almost forgotten about, since last time he was still a kid learning to talk. Blade appeared with Raven along the beach, and went to meet with the tall teen "Hey Marque, years been good on you." Rave smiles a little. Of all the kids Blade has to meet, Marque was not her concern, especially since he's the one kid he's actually met before. Emerys is not her concern. Those girls, though... She shakes her head a little, bracing herself for the inevitable tornado that is her daughters. Emerging up on the boardwalk, heading towards this general part of the beach, a short green-haired woman and what looks like a much smaller version of Jack in a seifuku begin making their way down. While Arika doesn't entirely share her daughter's enthusiasm, the little flaming redhead skipping alongside her, she remains cautiously optimistic. After all, this is the first time in a very long time, to her memory, that she'll cross paths with Raven again. Speaking of that tornado... Ari and three kids: Emrys, a twelve year old boy that looks like Jack with black hair, Lishra, a twelve year old girl that looks like Raven with flaming red hair, and a ten year old girl named Aerial that has flaming red hair with purple highlights come bounding down the beach. Okay, Ari and the girls are bounding, chatting away and well, taking selfies. Mostly Lishra is taking selfies. It's what she does! Ari and Aerial aren't exactly stopping her though, as the three of them talk a mile a minute to each other. Emrys, though, has his hands in the pockets of his swim trunks and is his usual quiet self as he walks at a bit more than arms length from his sisters. Prince_Blade wasn't really here to meet Marque either, but he couldn't really ignore the teen either. He squeezes Raven's side as he waits for the kids, who are now appearing. But he's not moving forward just yet, no use jumping them either, they should be comfortable with things too. Violet looks around with a slight amount of trepidation... and spots the other green-haired woman out of the corner of her eye. Turning from the salsa she had just poured into a bowl from the jar, she waves over to Arika and Michi. "Hey!" she calls out to them. In a more conversational tone, she says, "There they are," to those around. Then spotting Ari and the rest of her actual siblings showing up, she turns and waves to them as well. The smile on her face is genuine... but still somehow strained. She wants this to be a good time, damnit! Marque smiles at Blade. "Hey, long time no see." he chuckles, checking the heat on the grill. "How've you been?" Prince_Blade smirks at Marque "All is fine, I'm surprised you still remember me, you were pretty young. Unless it's your mother that reminded you." Two pairs of black cat eats perk up and the two coming down from the boardwalk turn their attention towards Violet. Oh, they'll recognize that hair anywhere! Brightening, the smaller girl takes off in a run over the sand toward the group gathered there. Arika, while she ups her pace, she doesn't quite try to keep up. Okay, yeah. Violet! Incoming glomp! "Oneechan!!" Better brace, this one packs a bit of a wallop. Arika, wincing a little at what she expects to come should her daughter's hug connect, looks at everyone else gathered, not really able to recognize anyone save for perhaps Raven, and only vaguely at that. Nonetheless, she does wave to Violet firstly, smiling albeit a little nervously. Ari and the so called 'terrible trio' make it to the set up area, and Emrys kind of just walks up to Raven with a quiet "Hi Mom." The girls? They swarm their mother, talking about their different summer camp experiences so far. Very fast. At high volume. Ari just kind of shrugs at Raven and grins. "Hey, don't look at me, I'm just the aunt." she laughs. Suddenly the girls stop, and creepily in unison turn their heads very slowly to look at Blade. Emrys, however, is more curious about the two people he doesn't recognize, and watches the girl nearly tackle Violet. Violet's eyes widen at the incoming glomp, but she does brace herself with a foot placed behind her for the impact. "ACK! Hey, Michi, how're you doing? I'm not your only sister here, you know." After a breif hug, she motions off towards Aer and Lishra. "And you've got a brother." Prince_Blade just listens to the girls as they gush out to their mother. They have so many stories to say after all. But when the gazes turn toward him, he simply smiles... and maybe surprisingly, he says "Oh keep going, don't mind me. I'm not going anywhere if you want to talk later." Michiru giggles a little too youngish-ly for how old she looks, "I'm okay!" grinning like a maniac, "Ooohh! Are we having a barbecue? Sweet!" She then stops, blinks, and her ears swivel this way and that, following the voices of the other kids, and her eyes go wide, "!" Letting go of Vi, she swings around and truly lays eyes on her other half-sisters for the first time, then turning to look at Emrys, who has apparently been watching her, and she quickly concludes that must be her brother. "Hi!" she grins fangly to all of them, "I'm Michelle." Sighing as she finally catches up, Arika smiles a little awkwardly to Violet, "Hey. Thanks for inviting us," before looking around at everyone else gathered. She takes in a slow, deep breath. Okay, so Michi now has three sisters and a brother. Oh boy. "Hello, everyone. I'm Arika and this is my daughter Michiru. Pleased to finally meet you all." This is followed by Michiru nodding quickly, "Yeah! Good to meet you all!" Rave pinches the bridge of her nose. "Girls..." she says in her best warning voice. "Don't.." but before she can finish, Lishra suddenly disappears, only to appear hovering next to Blade's head, PDA out at arms length and snapping a picture. "Future stepdad selfie!" she grins. Raven just groans, looking at Blade helplessly. "Sorry..." she says, actually blushing a little. The girls talk amongst themselves for a minute, then the other conversation hits, and they realize they have yet another sister here. Em, who usually only says a few words, was about to say something when his twin and younger sister blow by them. "Hi!" They say in unison to Michiru. Lishra starts. "I'm Lishra, this is Aerial, and that quiet guy is Emrys." Aerial nods, chiming in. "He doesn't talk much, kind of boring." Raven just kind of looks exasperated. Ari chuckles at the child chaos. "Hi!" she says to Arika. "I'm Ari, Raven's sister. Obviously the more awesome of the two of us." This gets a glare from Raven, which Ari ignores. "It's nice to meet you! I've heard a bunch about you." Prince_Blade squeezes Raven's side, if only to reassure her that all is fine. He then lets go of her side, so he can properly greet the kids "Yes, I'm Blade, future stepdad is a possibility, but I am dating your mother, so it's a start." He doesn't say the things about the royalty and stuff, that's stories for later. With the excitement around him, a pair of rabbit ears pop out of his pocket, followed by the head that sticks up curiously with a 'pop' noise as the head seemingly was a little too small for the pocket "Myaaa?" Blade chuckles "And this is Kuro-Ohki. And don't say that your brother is boring. Sometimes it's just a matter of talking about something he likes, or sometimes people just rather listen instead." He nods to Emrys "Tell me, what do you like? Games? Animals? Books?" He plucks Kuro out of his pocket and sets him atop his own head. Violet lets out a sigh of relief, her smile losing the strained look, and instead just turning more towards tired. While she doesn't really know Michi herself very well yet, the apparent age gap between her and the other siblings is closer than it is to her, so she lets the attention be in that direction. She glances around again before taking a step or five towards Marque. "How are the dogs coming along? And thanks for this, by the way." Marque smiles. "Hey, no problem. I'm enjoying it, and the dogs are just about done, but the burgers will be a few." He looks at the meeting of the kids, then lowers his voice as he talks to Violet. "Looks like it's going alright. You can breathe now." He grins. "So where's Alexa tonight?" Violet sighs and shakes her head. "I couldn't manage to get the duty rotations fixed so we could both have this evening off. Admittedly, I didn't try too hard... I originally didn't plan on this being a plus one kind of get-together. Buuut, when your mom and Blade immediately assumed it... well, I couldn't say no." She shrugs, then looks upward, presumably the direction Alexa currently is." Marque chuckles. "Well, from what Mom was telling me, they actually live together now, so.. I think he's a permanent plus one anyway." Arika can already see that Michi's siblings, with the apparent exception of the quiet one, must be a real handful. In a way, she feels fortunate, as she has her hands full with just one. While she doesn't recognize Blade or Marque, she can see the former must be Raven's partner. Ari, she is pretty sure she has seen before, pretty exclusively in the Usual, and with... Skeeve! That's right, her aunt Zuzu told her about how she met them the other night. Except that she had no idea she was also Raven's sister! "Nice to meet you, too, Ari," she smiles, albeit a tad little surprised at hearing that she has been a topic of discussion, "Really?" Her turn to look strained! "Hi, Lishra! Aerial!" Michiru holds both hands out for a simultaneous shake with her new sisters. Blinking then as Emrys is described in not the most flattering of ways, she flattens one ear while perking up the other, tilting her head, then waves quickly at him with a big, wide smile. So many new people! And what is that!? Her eyes grow laaaarge and curious, both ears fully perked now, as she catches sight of cabbit, "So cute!!" Em gives kind of a wave. "Hi. Not boring. Just quiet." He then looks to Blade. "I like flying." The girls each take one of Michiru's hands and shake, rather excited that the number of girls in the family has grown. In fact, in keeping with Tradition, Lishra runs over to her and takes a picture of them together. "New sister selfie!" she grins, and Violet may be getting traumatic flashbacks from when it was her turn for a dreaded Lishra selfie. When Kuro pops up, their gazes follow Michiru's, and they go wide eyed as well. "Awwwwww!!!" they say in unison. Prince_Blade chuckles, and nods to Emrys "Well you know Kuro can fly. I'll take you on him later if you want." He smiles, and watches the girls moving off. So much energy at that age too, what could ever stop them? Kuro-Ohki looks happy of the attention, and dances a bit on BLade's head _/^.^\_ Rave looks at Arika and sighs. "Sorry, they're kind of hyper. I really don't sleep much." she chuckles. "How have you been?" Violet glances between Arika, Ari, and Raven. "I... guess I should have realized you did already know each other..." She frowns slightly, then shrugs before walking over to where her sisters are all falling over themselves about Kuro-Ohki. Marque starts laying the freshly grilled food out. "Soup's on!" he grins, rather proud of himself. Michiru's grip is rather... strong, and firm at that, with particular emphasis on strong. Apparently one quite familiar with selfies, she gave a big fanged grin, ears perked up and one hand holding up a V-sign for the picture! Back to Kuro, though, she is utterly fascinated, and Blade is already cool in her book, seeing as how such cuteness is put on top of his head. "His name's Kuro?" she stands up on her tiptoes, staring fixedly up at the cabbit. It makes such cute noises, too! And it dances! Squeal!! Arika can't help but grin, looking a little bit more at ease as she watches Michiru and the girls for a moment. Okay, that's good, she thinks. "I.. can imagine. Wow. Kids have so much energy," she turns to Raven, taking in a quick breath, "I've been... adjusting. I never imagined we would be back here again, where it all started. So much has changed, yet so much has stayed the same, like it was frozen in time." Says she who doesn't look like she has aged a bit; she still looks like that 17 or so year-old girl from way back when. "It's a long story," she asides to Violet, smiling a little sheepishly, "and also a long time." One of her ears flicks, then perks in Marque's direction. Prince_Blade chuckles "Kuro-Ohki is a very smart creature, you'll see. He understands you in simple words, if you ask him for something he understands, even if he doesn't talk about. Isn't that right Kuro?" Kuro myaas and raises a paw like a salute _/^.^\_ "See what I mean?" Kuro looks around, and then hooooops on top of Michiru's head next. He's a good hat! Rave is older, but doesn't really look it. "The kids, Ari and I lived every day during the.. collapse, I guess? I mean, Ari was nineteen when we left, now she's thirty." Raven kind of smirks at that for some reason. "She hates when I remind her, though." Ari's turn to glare, but Raven ignores it. "I don't mind having the fresh start, though." Prince_Blade looks over to Arika, nodding "Time is an odd thing, especially in this place. I kept checking back here in case things reappeared, but only saw that it did this week. It's good to see everyone though." Lishra and Aerial "Ooooh" at Kuro, watching him. Raven leans into Blade a bit, sighing rather contently that everything is going well. Aerial sees this out of the corner of her eye, then walks up to Raven and Blade, looking up at the two, but speaks to Blade. "Are you going to marry my mom?" The blood drains from Raven's face. "Aerial.." she says. "You know better. Come on." Violet nods with a tired look at Arika. Ironically, she probably actually looks older than Arika now, despite only having been alive 8 and a half years from her perspective. "But I never knew about you..." She frowns, then shakes her head. "I feel like I... missed so much back then... Or do I just not remember any of it?" She glances betweem Rave and Arika, nodding. "I feel like it's... an entirely different life now." She glances to Blade, then nods. "And for me... I only had about two years between the fall and Neotokyo... Reforming." Prince_Blade chuckles, and gives a squeeze to Raven's side as she leans into, even more at the question "It's not impossible. Right now it's been less than a week, I knew Raven for a long time, but with the great void and all, we lost contact. Same with Ari and Marque. I didn't know about you all either before it all happened." He grins "Again, doesn't mean we will marry, maybe we're just content like this too. If we do marry though, you'll all be invited." Aerial thinks about it, then nods. "Lishra and I can start planning it then, so when you do decide, everything will be ready." she smiles. Raven sighs. "No. Knock it off." she looks at Arika. "The girls are obsessed with weddings or something for some reason. I'm really hoping it's a phase. They were pressuring Violet to get married a few weeks ago. It's exasperating." Violet sighs and hangs her head slightly before looking up at Lishra and Aerial again. "Yyyyeeeeah, I've been meaning to talk to you two about that... Don't get ahead of yourselves... when it happens, we're probably going to be making the plans ourselves." Best nip this in the bud now, she figures. Prince_Blade chuckles, and rather than try to stem it for him and Raven, he plays along "Don't start spending any money, but if you draw me a plan that is really good, then I might be interested in seeing it through." Arika places a hand to her chest, looking suddenly relieved at hearing that Raven and her family had also made it out alive when this dimension unraveled. She glances back and forth between her and Ari, seeing something all too familiar that she's watched for years among her aunts. "I'm glad you all made it out. Where did you go to all those years? My family and I lived over Metropolis until we heard this place had somehow come back." She then nods up to Blade, smiling in her agreement with him, there. She does still look like a teenager in comparison to Violet. So many age discrepancies! Hey, Michi still calls Vi her big sister, so there's that, at least. "It's weird how things went, I think," she nods to Violet, "Dad said that he knew your mom, though." She flicks an ear again, both of them perking at the two year revelation, "Really?" Yeah, major time discrepancies. Michiru, blinking as Kuro lands on her head, flattens down her ears, her eyes practically saucers, and her eyes are then hearts! "Ohwowohwowohwowohwow! Mom! Look!" She tries really really hard not to bounce, as she doesn't want to spook the cabbit off before she can reach up to try and pet him. She wants one!! "Lookie lookie!!" she beams at her sisters and brother. That includes Vi, yes. Quick! Somebody take a picture! Arika is a little too busy trying to not look perturbed at her daughter's sisters' fixations with marriage. Rave blinks at Blade. "We are not encouraging this!" she pouts. "They go up to random people and ask." Lishra takes a picture of the cabbit headed Michiru. "I'm so posting this on my blog!" she grins. Aerial kind of looks dejected at her mom. Emrys just stands and watches, before reaching over to skritch Kuro himself after Michiru. Raven looks back at Arika. "We went to MU for a while, then spent a decade in France. We bought a manor over there with a pear orchard. It was lovely, actually." Cabbits are strange creatures, even with all the bouncings, you'd think he's glued there _/^.^\_ Violet deadpans, "Oh, did he now? Well, he may have thought he did, but she was freaking playing a role when she was here." Well, it certainly seems there's something else going on there. She glances away, just in time to see Michi's huge smile. "Er... Yes, he's... very adorable." Suddenly, Violet winces slightly and turns away, looking out to sea for a moment before walking over to get a hot dog. Prince_Blade squeezes Raven's side with a chuckle "They will grow up from it, they can have a bit of fun with it, and we still get the last word." Arika looks at Raven's kids to see how old they are again. They're a little older than Michi, she sees then, even if she looks a little older than them. To think that they are such a terror at this age already, she wonders if her own daughter will... yeah, who is she kidding. Of course she will. She herself did! Well, in her own way, given that she was such a raging tomboy. Michiru looks quite pleased with her current situation, much more interested with the cabbit perched on her head than she is with marriage talk. Grinning triumphantly for Lishra's picture, she then tones it down into more of a smile as Emrys ventures a scritch to cabbit. "Really?" Arika tilts her head, one ear perked tall, "We were on the same world, then. Oh, that must have been nice. We spent the whole time in a small place in the city." She then looks a little taken aback by Violet's reaction, not having expected that at all. How does saying Maniko was an acquaintance to her dad qualify as triggering. She senses that there's something she doesn't know, and as Violet turns away, she glances to Raven and Ari uneasily, wondering if she said something wrong. Michiru also senses that something's not right, and her smile just melts away. Looking to Emrys for a moment, she starts after her big sister. It's up to Kuro whether he wants to go along for the ride or not. "Oneechan?" she looks up at Vi, "Are you okay?" Kuro stays right there, flattening on top of Michiru's head, looking at Violet too _/o.o\_ Violet sighs and nods. "Yeah... Yeah, I'm fine. Just... regretting I didn't get to be a kid." She looks back to the group with a weak smile. "Seeing you guys... It just kinda hit me." Aerial and Lishra look at each other, and run full speed at Violet, hugging her. "Pffft. You'll still be our sorta little sister, okay?" Lishra grins up at her. Aerial thinks a moment. "I might be able to find a spell to make you a kid for a little while, if you want." Raven just kind of looks at her youngest incredulously. Prince_Blade shakes his head "Violet, you are allowed to not act your age sometimes you know, we certainly don't always and we're the adults. Rave points at Ari behind her back. "For example." Ari turns around and glares before running over to Raven and putting her in a headlock, and the noogies commence. "GAH! Lemme go!" Raven shouts. "You're only proving the point!" Violet oofs slightly as the sisters suddenly hug her, then she looks at Blade. "Which age? Technically, I'm eight." She motions around the group. "I'm the youngest one here, from a temporal perspective. I don't even know what age I am, physically speaking. I'm pretty sure I started drinking before I was physically mature, though." She then looks down at Aerial with a bit of a boggled look. "Uuuuuuh, no thanks, I think that ship's sailed, kiddo." Prince_Blade chuckles as he watches Ari and Raven "What we mean Violet, you can just enjoy what you are, no more, no less. Noone will think of you as childish or immature if you simply have fun from the bottom of your heart. We'll be more than happy to see your smile." Michiru can't be counted out for that hug, because she's right there, too! Cabbit and all! Now she feels kind of bad for calling her big sister, but she can't help but see Vi that way! After all, Vi was also born before her, technically. Sure, she's technically a year older than her big sister, but still. She blinks in a mix of surprise and curiosity at Aerial then, "You can do magic?" Arika smiles a little, though she's still a bit taken aback by the way Violet responded. What was that about, she wonders. There's more to it, she's sure, but she won't pry, especially here. Her attention momentarily claimed by Raven's and Ari's antics, she covers her mouth to stifle a giggle. Yep, very much like her aunts. Suddenly, she finds herself missing her own sister an awful lot. Rave has absolutely no hand to hand combat skills, so in a moment, Ari's got her face down in the sand and is sitting on her back. "Do you give up?" the half-elf asks. Raven just kind of mutters. Aerial nods to Michiru. "Yeah! Hang on." she looks around, then reaches into Ari's bag, getting out an orange. She cuts it in half, then digs out one of the seeds. She places it in her hands, then concentrates, staring intently at the seed. In a few moments, the seed germinates, sprouting little roots, then a big green leaf, and after a couple of minutes, it's a small sapling. Aerial takes a deep breath after this, and sits. "It still takes a lot out of me. Meanwhile Lishra and Em's stuff is power based." Prince_Blade grins and slides over to remove Ari from Raven's putting her into an arm lock playfully from behind "Now now, be an example for the kids to not fight in front of everyone." He smirks. Ari eeps! "Hey! We were not fighting, were were doing the whole sister bonding thing!" she wrinkles her nose. Violet looks to Blade for a moment, then shrugs. "Thanks, but... I think I'll just keep being me. I'm not a kid, never was, never will be. I'm moving forward now." She smiles, much more genuinely this time. "Don't let that bit of melancholy give you the wrong idea. My life right now is the best it's ever been. I've got command of a starship, I own two mecha, I've got a wonderful girlfriend that we're seriously discussing marriage about, and heck, look, I've got all this family now!" She spreads her arms out to encompass everyone. She then blinks at the growing seedling. "Woah. That's pretty neat, Aer!" Prince_Blade grins "Raven sure seems to be enjoying your bonding, that's for sure." Rave stands up, brushes the sand off of her (as much as she can, anyway), and walks over to Lishra, whispering in her ear. Lishra nods, then gestures, and Ari pops out of existance, only to reappear about ten feet above the ocean, about two hundred feet out. With a splash, Ari hits the water, letting out a surprised yelp. Raven just grins at Lishra. "Okay, you get to pick the movie next movie night." Lishra just beams. Arika is particularly reminded, still watching Ari and Raven, of her aunts Natsuki and Akina, with Akina being the one face down more often than not. Michiru, meanwhile, watches Aerial intently, curious as to what she's going to do, which soon enough becomes obvious and she looks like she thinks it's the coolest thing in the world. Her sister can make things grow! "That's so cool.." her mouth is agape. That is, before she sees how tired Aerial looks to her now, and wonders if she's more like Em and Lish. "All I can really do is set things on fire," she scratches the back of her head under her ponytail, a little embarrassedly before reaching up to pet Kuro again. Arika thinks she will stay out of that sibling rivalry which now includes the partner of one of said siblings. "Excuse me," she smiles to them before making her way over to where Violet went to. A hot dog sounds like a good idea right about now, and her smile's returning as Vi seems to be okay. It's good to have a family, yeah. She would know, especially with how big hers is now, too. Thennnn! Both she and Michiru's ears swivel towards Raven, sensing conspiracy. They turn their heads in time to gape as Ari vanishes right before their eyes. Their ears simultaneously then turn towards the sound of a splash and a yelp, their heads following suit. Arika looks a little horrified while Michiru isn't sure what just happened. Oh, Arika knows, though, and claps a hand over her mouth as laughing out loud would be pretty inappropriate. Em, who has been quiet as usual all this time, steps next to Michiru. "Me, too." he says, raising his hand, which is immediately engulfed in flame, and then extiguishes again. Violet blinks looking between where Ari was and where Ari is a few times. "Huh," she says. She facepalms, but it's as much a sign of exasperation as it is a way of hiding her silent laughter, as well. She looks back up again and clears her throat with a fist covering her mouth. "So then... Um.... What are you up to, overall, Arika?" Prince_Blade chuckles at Ari and Raven again. "Those two just can't stop." Kuro seems perfectly fine where he is _/^.^\_ Blade smiles to Emrys "That's great. I can use a modicum of magic too, but my brother is the one most versed in it. I'm more about fighting with swords and ki." He doesn't know what kind of trick Raven used though, but even if Ari is the strongest, Raven still manages to one up her sister quite often. Michiru's attention is diverted from poor Ari back to Emrys and fire. Fire! "Cool!" she brightens instantly, snapping her fingers to form a fireball the size of a softball in her hand that is just as quickly extinguished with a clench of her fist. Arika... guesses Ari is okay. She can swim right? She must be able to! That would be silly, and dangerous, if she couldn't. She suddenly imagines her aunt Akina conspiring with her little cousins Yoko and Yuko to play mean pranks on her aunts Sayoko and Natsuki. She clears her throat a little loudly, more to dispel such thoughts. "Sorry," she smiles sheepishly at Violet, realizing she is being addressed, "I'd mostly been getting Michi ready for school. She is entirely home schooled on account of her accelerated growth and will be going to school with the other kids for the first time now, so that she can go with the twins and our cousins, since they're so close in age, now." She takes in a quick, deep breath, "I'm... very nervous. She grew up too fast." There's a tinge of regret, there, at having had so little time with her little girl as, well, a little girl, her childhood cut short by quirks in her DNA. "You fight a lot like my grandpa!" Michiru grins up at Blade. Violet can't help but laugh at Arika's comment about growing up too fast. "Hey, better than Pops got with me." She then frows slightly as everyone starts showing off their powers. "So then..." She steps forward towards those comparing fireballs. "Can either of you two do this, then?" She flexes her shoulders, and from her back sprouts two flaming wings. Yup, she's decided to try to one-up her little-big siblings. Prince_Blade grins. Kids will be kids. He looks over to where Ari disappeared to, making sure she's not drowning either, as he looks over to Raven's smug face too "You got her this time hm?" There's a loud boom, the sound of displaced air rushing outwards as a portal opens, and Skeeve hurtles out backwards, sword in hand and wreathed by fire. "-not interested!" He hurls a blast of ice at the portal, which frosts over, then nigh-instantly crunches, like something - or someone - heavy slammed into it at high speed. Skeeve hits the sand and slides backwards as the portal closes. For a few moments, he just lies there, still smoldering but not actively on fire, staring up into the sky, the surf lapping gently at his feet, looking much relieved. Aerial takes a plastic cup, and puts the orange tree sapling in it. Raven chuckles. "It helps to have a daughter that can teleport stuff." she gestures at Lishra, who bows. A few moments later, after Skeeve's rather flaming entrance, Ari surfaces, picking out a clump of seaweed from her hair. She blinks at the smoldering Skeeve and walks over to him from the waves. "You're having a day too, huh?" she chuckles. Em looks at Violet in awe. "No." he says simply, as that's something he can't do. Arika is suddenly biting her tongue. Oh, she should not have said that. Michi's got nothing on Violet in that department, after all. "Sorry," her ears droop, awkward. But then, power distraction! Michiru's eyes light up as her big sis forms what she knows to be phoenix wings. Just like mom's! A similar pair, proportional to her smaller size, burst out of her back with a proud grin, "Yep!" Nice try, sis! "Oh goddess..." Arika buries her face in one hand, shaking her head softly before turning her head to the side to smile resignedly to Blade, "I think you got your wish." Her and Michiru's ears are then raised high, a little more difficult for Michi because cabbit on head, in alarm at Skeeve's rather dramatic entrance. "I didn't do it!" Michiru is quick to declare. Prince_Blade chuckles. TOo quick to declare, even, but he won't say it, since he was there to see it. "You alright Skeeve? Looks like that singed your tailcoat over there. Trying to be the door salesman to Satan?" Violet blinks, actually surprised that Michi was able to do it. She then looks to Em with a smile. "You probably can, you just don't know how yet. After all, I didn't get this from my mom's side." She then looks over at the commotion with the portal by the water's edge, then tilts her head. "Rough day, Skeeve?" she asks as she dismisses the wings. Skeeve sits up, grounds the point of his sword, and uses it as a brace to pull himself up to his feet, with a smile for Ari. "Hi, princess. Yeah, been kind of a day." He blinks a little bit, mostly just covered in sand at this point, and glances across the beach. "Oh hey, the gang's all here. Evening everyone." Popping his sword back into his bracer with a flash of light, offers a casual wave to all the others. By way of explanation, all he says is, "Blue light special," as he starts to brush sand off of himself. Michiru's wings are no sooner gone, as well, and with a bit of a fwoosh of flame. Maybe nobody will think it was her fault, since she has been known to inadvertently set things on fire when starting other fires of her own. It's complicated. "Hey, Skeeve," Arika waves at him a little awkwardly, more out of concern than anything. He seems to be okay, though, if his demeanor is any indication, so she leaves it at that. Oh, right, she was going to get a hot dog. Rave walks back over to Blade and leans into him, chuckling. Ari dusts some of the sand off Skeeve, chuckling. "Fair enough." she says before kissing his cheek. The girls say awww, and Em blechs. Prince_Blade chuckles at the kid's reactions. Looks like Em isn't quite the gentleman yet, but who knows later. Kuro looks around, still stuck to MIchiru's head, and decides to go visit someone else, Em for instance, hopping cutely in front of him, and ear-waving _/^.^\_ Violet sits down on the sand with a light smile before munching on her hot dog. Between bites, she says, "Hey, guys, there's a lot of food over here, ya know. Eat up! Don't let Marque's work go to waste, now!" Skeeve, indeed, does seem to be just fine. Slipping his arm into Ari's,, kissing her in return (no doubt with another chorus of 'awwws') he makes his way over towards their little basecamp. "Alright if I join you?" He knows the answer's yes, but it's polite to ask anyway. "Hi, Arikami, long time no see." Ari leans on Skeeve, smiling and sighing happily. "Of course, love. There's plenty of food for you carnivore types." she grins. Violet says, "Hey, I made sure there were vegetarian options, Ari!" Ari laughs. "I know, I'm using the meat option to steer them away from my rabbit food." Arika moves to sit down next to Violet, as they seem to be the only ones without their other halves present. Alas. "You heard you sister, Michi!" she calls over to her before taking a bite out of her own hot dog. Mishi is too busy realizing that she is not being held responsible for whatever it was that had Skeeve smoldering. Phew! One ear catching an aww, she turns her head to see what that's about. Oh, it's just someone getting kissed. She sees that all the time! Idly wondering what the big deal is, she instead rubs at the top of her head now that Kuro has moved on, but before she can turn her attention to Em, she is reminded by her mother that there is indeed food to bed had. Food! "I want a cheeseburger!" She's about to sprint off to the grill, but has enough presence of mind to stop and ask, "You hungry, Emrys? How about you, kitty?" She looks to Kuro, as well. She wonders what he eats. "The more, the merrier!" Arika nods to Skeeve and Ari. Michi turns an ear towards Ari. She looks at Kuro again. That's right, rabbit food! Kuro kind of looks like a bunny. That, in a way, is pretty funny. Em kneels down and gently pets Kuro, then offers him a hand to climb up on. "I could eat." he says simply in his quiet way. Skeeve can't help but chuckle a little bit at that, looking somewhat longingly over at the grill, then, after a moment, realizes he doesn't have to disentangle Ari from his arm. He gestures vaguely in the direction of the food, a plate starting to assemble itself. Somewhat distractedly (he's still staring at the barbecue), he asks, "So, what's the occasion?" Violet looks like she's about to say something to Arika, but then she frowns as her phone goes off. "Errr." She picks it up and holds a quiet conversation on it, then hangs up with a sigh. "Damnit... I've got to go, everyone. Sorry..." She sighs again as she stands up. "Work calls..." Aer and Lishra pout at Violet. "Awwww... com visit soon?" Aerial asks. Michiru's ears droop in slow motion sadness, "Awww.." and hurries over to give Violet a hug, "We'll see you again soon, right?" Arika, looking a little disappointed, nonetheless understands. "It's okay," she nods softly, "Be careful out there, okay?" Violet is really reminding her of someone right now. She wonders how he's doing right now. Violet nods. "I'll see you all again soon, I promise!" She hugs Michiru back, then nods to Arika. "It's nothing that bad, but, you know, anything goes wrong, captain's gotta get involved. I'll see you guys soon, okay?" She then calls in that she's ready to be brought up, and vanishes in a vaguely cylindrical array of white streaks. | |
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