Trouble Maker

[Maira]

As her father spoke, Aeven just listened. At his reference to a particularly entertaining dinner at Olympus she couldn't help but giggle. "I'm not quite sure stalking him like that would be highly looked upon in this House, most of the Family is too stuck up for that. Though maybe I can do it in the training room..." As she said that, the mental images Aeven had of herself stalking Jahaziel around the training room made her smirk. Now she just needed to be there when he was. And while the Family may not approve of her stalking their Seer, the other soldiers would probably get a good laugh out of it.

After a bit more walking, Aeven finally reached the guest wing of the House and despite the fact there was an empty room next to hers she walked a ways down the hallway. If she did somehow manage to woo Jahaziel and they went back to her room, there was no way she would want her father in the room next to hers. She may have become more sure of herself while she was away, but there were some things a father did not need to know in detail about his daughter.

*****

It didn't take Sasha long to gather up her things and in just a few minutes she had a sports bag full of her belongings. Her bag slung over her shoulder, Sasha made a quick check of all her windows and the door out onto her deck that overlooked the water. Once everything was locked she walked over to the man who was now perusing her movie collection. "When we get back you can borrow any of those you want."

((ooc: sorry its so short, haven't been feeling totally 100% lately and my Muse is hiding...))

[Demeter]

Salut giggled at Kiel and snuggled down next to him, head pressed against his shoulder. "If your head hurts, why don't you take a nap. I have a feeling that you won't be getting much sleep soon. Sleep will be a luxery and I won't get to see you."

Salut reached around to the back of the couch and pulled a light blanket down around the two of them. "And don't you worry about your brother. He's a big boy and can take care of himself. And, if I know Aeven, I highly doubt that a kiss in the hallway will be last of things. Besides, you have other things to worry about then your brother's love life."

***

Carma dropped onto the guest bed and bounced a little. He crossed his legs at the ankles and tucked his hands behind his head. Peace, quiet for now, and Rune was no where near him. In fact, he highly doubted that he could ever get the Custos up into the layers of heaven. Carma sighed. Rune was happily enjoying behind a married man with children. Twins, in fact, as multiples ran through the family.

Carma sighed. He'd fight before returning to hell where he would take over the role of training the new recruits. He'd still fuction as Darius' bodyguard during offical events and as Genesis' guard whenever her husband was out of the house but he'd stay away from the day-to-day running of the fifth layer.

***

Trust whislted as she swung a cloth bag around while walking towards the estate where her cousin worked as a healer. Uncle Juste, being the sort of father that he was, heard all the rumors surrounding the house and was sending her to protect her decidely wimpy cousin. Not that she didn't like Salut but Salut had little aptitude for the fighting arts. And, considering what happened the last time the last time the house was attacked, Trust belived that her uncle's worries were well founded.

Of course, Salut was currently canoodling with one of the top fighters within the house, not that Juste knew about the canoodling. Of course, considering that the canoodling top fighter was bound to be out of the fields, someone needed to watch Salut and make sure she was implaled or suchness.

She was stopped several times by guards and each time she presented her creditals. She was here at the request of Angel Juste, a justice angel, for the protection of his daughter, Healer Salut, due to the recent rumors surrounding this family and all those that worked for the family. After conferring, she was sent on towards the house, only to be stopped again.

Eventually Trust reached the front steps and waited in a grand hallway for someone to show up and direct her towards her healer cousin.

[Shinigami]

((ooc - skipping ahead a little later in the day))

Jahaziel had been kicked out of the kitchen as it grew later in the day. Of course, he had spoken to the mother-hen of a head cook about why he had been hiding in her kitchen that day, and the woman proceeded to kick him out. She had said he needed to stop hiding like a child and either give in or break it off altogether. The only problem with that was, he still wasn't sure with route he wanted to take. Ziel knew it would be the wise choice to break it off, especially if he wanted to avoid the wrath of his twin, but another part of him didn't see any conceivable problem with letting Aeven have want she wanted.

The seer proceeded to hide in the relative safety of his rooms and meditated on the issue. Ziel was going to be forced to eat dinner with the other occupants of the house, as the cook had told him not to come back until it was settled, so he would use it as a test. Jahaziel was going to give Aeven a taste of her own medicine, sort of. He wasn't going to seek her out, but if she pushed her flirting, he wasn't going to freeze or back down as he had before. Ziel was going to be just as forth-coming as he was with his other lovers, which had a tendency to overwhelm those who weren't used to such things.

He sat with the soldiers, as he always preferred to do when forced to eat with everyone else, settling himself among a group of younger soldiers he still remembered from when he used to show them his various tricks when they were children. At least he'd have people to amuse him while he waited.

***

Ezekiel had frowned at the mention of him being away from Salut sometime in the near future. He hated the idea of that and tried hard not to think of it. Kiel would have much rather been assigned as head of the house guard once again, that way he could check on her as he wished. He also didn't like to think that the little dalliance between Ziel and Aeven wasn't over with, but Salut was right - he had more important things to worry about.

He had been content in his nap on the couch with Salut, but he was woken not too long after he had fallen asleep by the grumbling in his stomach. Kiel had skipped lunch earlier that day, so as it rolled around to dinner time his body demanded it be fed. He rubbed Salut's shoulder calling her name softly, not wanting to startle her awake. "Salut, its about time for dinner. We should go get something to eat while we still can."

***

Aurelius had spent the rest of his afternoon familiarizing himself with the soldiers that came and went from the training room and getting in a bit of training himself. Most of the soldiers had left him alone for a while, but they slowly began to take notice of him and include him in some of their exercises. After he had his fill of sparring, Rel had gone to his rooms to shower and change before dinner. His rooms were still as they always had been, and that included being filled with clothing that bore his families mark or was styled more like what the soldier's wore.

He was a bit annoyed that he hadn't had the fore thought to bring more of his own clothing from his home on earth, but he had settled on a pair of black leather trousers and a loose fitting blue shirt that was longer and styled like a tunic. He was walking through the halls on his way to the dining hall when he spotted a woman standing around in the main hallway. Aurelius didn't recognize her as a regular resident of the house, and she looked as though she were waiting for someone, and had been for some time.

Rel scowled at the guards standing by the door, wondering if they even bothered to take her to the person or place she needed to be. As he walked up to the woman his expression turned to a more pleasant one. "Excuse me, Miss, are you waiting for someone?"

***

Nicias had been quite involved in perusing through Sasha's rather extensive movie collection when she walked up to him. His hand had been out-stretched to pull one of the movies off of the shelf for closer inspection when she startled him, almost looking as though he had been caught red handed for a second. He smiled, however, when he realized she was just offering to let him borrow movies when they got back from reeking havoc. He glanced around, noticing that everything seemed to be on order and that Sasha had her bag in hand.

He snorted as he walked towards the door. "I can't believe you managed to get ready quicker than Zane and Gunner. I swore those two were worse than women when it came to packing, and now I have proof." Nicias waiting in the stairwell until Sasha locked up her apartment leading the way to his car so he could pop open the trunk for her, offering to put her bag in.

[Maira]

After dropping her father off at one of the other guest rooms, Aeven made her way back to the one she had called home since she was a small girl. Once she'd become a rather permanant fixture among the household by becoming Jahaziel's apprentice, she'd been offered a bigger room but Aeven was comfortable in this little room. Plus, like many of the guest rooms it opened onto its own little garden. It wasn't big or fancy, but when a girl needed to clear her head and meditate on things it was a perfect place to do so.

She had been in the garden for a couple of hours, tending the flowers and her own state of mind, when she began to smell the telling scents that dinner was nearly ready. When she looked down at her clothes and realized that she was covered in dirt, she grimaced and hurried into her room to get cleaned up.

Once she was clean, Aeven hurried through the House to the dining hall. She wasn't exactly sure if she'd find Jahaziel there as he normally chose to eat in the kitchen or his own room, but when she saw him seated with the soldiers, she couldn't help but smile. Now she just had to decide how hard she wanted to press this. It was the dining hall and most of the Family would be present, though they likely wouldn't pay much attention to the soldiers' table.

Still, he was in public and couldn't avoid her if she wanted to sit down next to him for a meal. All the soldiers would look at him funny and start teasing him and prodding to find out why he suddenly didn't want his student to sit next to him when she always had in the past. Taking advantage of that knowledge, Aeven weaved her way through the various tables to reach the one that Jahaziel was sitting at. She walked up behind him and gently laid a hand on his left shoulder and leaned down to ask, "Room enough for me to sit with you?" She knew there was because already one of the soldiers had scooted into the next chair freeing up the one next to Jahaziel for her.

Before he could answer, Aeven turned to the soldier that had moved and thanked him before taking the seat he had occupied only moments before. As she seated herself, Aeven trailed her fingers down Jahaziel's arm before her hand settled in her lap with her other hand.

*****

Sasha laughed at Nicias's declaration that Zane and Gunner were worse than women when it came to packing and she had to reveal her secret. "I keep a back packed in my closet at all times. Never know when I might need to leave for a few days. If I need more than what I've got packed I toss it in the bagg too and it just takes less time that way. I'm a planner and like to be prepared for anything that may come up."

Then she followed Nicias back into the hallway, she locked up her apartment and then they went back downstairs and out to the car. When Nicias popped the trunk for her bag, and offered to put it in for her, Sasha handed it to him and smiled in thanks. Once they were both settled inside the car, Sasha commented, "Nice car," just as he turned the key and the engine came to life.

[Demeter]

Trust had been cooling her heels in the hallway for a while, weaving from one side of the hall to the other, persuring the artwork displayed. She'd tilt her head one way, then the other before heading towards the next display. She honestly didn't mind waiting, through she did send occasional glares at the hall guards. Really, weren't these men taught even the most basic of manners? Grandmere Cote would have probably read them the riot act by now for their behavior.

Trust jumped when a male voice sounded behind her. She'd been trying to figure out just what the piece of modern art scultpure in front of represented and zoned out. She shook her head and peered over her shoulder. She didn't recoginze Rel for who he was, a son of the house. Due to the designs on his clothing, she thought him to be a house guard or something of the like. "Ah, yes, I would like to speak to the head of this house. I have instructions from my uncle, Juste Danada, to guard my healer cousin, Salut Danada. He worries even though she's friends with powerful angels."

She tilted her head and smiled at Rel. "The guards over there have been ignoring me. Would you be kind enough to show me the way so I can go on with guard duty?"

***

Salut grumbled to herself as she followed Kiel down the hall to the dining hall. She'd been warm and content to stay snuggled up with Kiel. Granted, food was important, but she liked napping with Kiel. Once they were seated, Salut leaned to the side and rested against his shoulder. Most of the house knew they were together and ignored the action. Some shook their hands while others smiled indulgently. She was even sure that some of the women in the hall growled at her.

Grayson, seated on her other side, poked her side and plunked a plate full of food down in front of her. She scowled at him but picked at the food. She wasn't quite awake yet to be tucking into the meal with enthusiam.

[Shinigami]

Jahaziel knew it was Aeven's hand on his shoulder, even before she spoke to him. And by the tone of her voice when she asked if there was room enough for her, she still wasn't going to give up. He resisted the urge to glare at the soldier that had moved over for her, but he should have expected it. Aeven was his student, the only one he had ever taken, and when he did eat his meals in the dining hall she usually had sat with him. Ziel smirked as her hand ran down his arm. It seemed she wanted to play, but he wasn't so sure she'd be very forward about it with the heads of the family so close.

He smiled at her as her hand left his arm. "There's always room for my student. I take it Carmine is down for the count? I would have expected him to be here by now." Ziel felt his brother's presence when he walked in, with Salut, of course. Kiel usually never sat with the soldiers on purpose, never liking to "talk shop" at meals.

Ezekiel was trying to hide his smile as he listened to Salut grumble. He couldn't hear anything that she might be saying, but he knew she was annoyed that he had woken her up to go get dinner. Kiel had also been quite comfortable napping on the couch, but eating meals was important, and he never though Salut ate enough. He noted his brother's presence when they walked into the dining hall. Kiel frowned at that, his brother normally opting to eat in the kitchen. That, and Aeven was sitting next to him, though he seemed relaxed enough, and from he could tell they were keeping their hands to themselves.

Once he and Salut were seated he was passed a full plate, smiling and thanking the woman. She was the mother of one of his young students, and usually made sure he got his share of food at dinner. Ezekiel caught sight of Grayson sitting down on Salut's other side and smiled when he poked her before providing her with a full plate of her own. He nodded in greeting to the man before he began to eat his own food, putting it away a bit faster than Salut.

***

Aurelius hadn't meant to startle the woman, but she had apparently been ensconced in looking over the artwork in the main hall. He smiled lightly when he heard she was a relative of Salut's, sent to the house to be her guard. Maybe that would help Ezekiel feel better about leaving her behind in the house. "Well, everyone is at the dining hall at the moment, including Salut and the Lord of the house."

He leveled a glare towards the guards at the door, who shuffled nervously, before turning back to Truth with a more welcoming expression. "Of course. I can show you to the dining hall if you'd wish? Or I could take you to a guest room so we could drop of your things first?" While he knew the guards were leery of leaving their posts while a pending battle loomed over their heads, he was certain that at least one of them could have caught a servant on their way by to make sure the woman had been taken care of.

***

Nicias outright laughed when he heard how prepared Sasha was. Like a girl scout, only most definitely not. He smirked at that thought... and he would have loved to see Sasha as a girl scout, causing all sorts of trouble. Nici idly wondered if he could train the boys to be so prepared. He shook his head... it would never work.

Once they were settled in the car he turned it on, smiling when he heard Sasha's compliment. He patted the dashboard of his car. "Thanks, she's my baby. I restored her myself, though Gunner was hanging over my shoulder the whole time." They made it back to Gunner's in a relatively short amount of time, and now they would find out if those two actually managed to get their stuff together. When they walked in the door Zane was lounging on the couch with a duffel bag at his feet. There was another duffel on the couch next to him, but Gunner was no where to be found.

Before he could ask where the Vampire/Custos halfbreed was, Zane answered him. "He's being paranoid and checking the shop again before he locks it up."

[Maira]

The smile Jahaziel gave her was warm, but the words that followed his smile stopped her from smiling herself. He had to bring up the fact that she was his student, and even worse he brought up her father. That killed Aeven's mood almost completely but she answered evenly, "I showed him to a room and left him to his own devices, I'm sure he'll make it to dinner when he's hungry."

Just then, one of the household servants placed a plate full of food in front of her. She smiled and nodded gratefully to the young man and then began to pick at her food. It may have smelled good but now she was feeling irritable and that had put a damper on her appetite.

Still, she couldn't quite help herself and she found herself letting her right leg and foot moving a bit closer to Jahaziel's until it was lightly touching his. Just that little bit of contact helped right her mood and her determination a bit and she was able to eat a little bit instead of just picking at her meal.

*****

Sasha nodded in understanding when Nicias called his car his baby, she felt the same way about her motorcycle. The ride back across town went smoothly, though there was a bit more traffic than there had been before.

Back inside the apartment, Zane was looking comfortable on the couch and there were a couple duffle bags stuffed to bursting sitting near him, but there was no sign of Gunner. She'd only had time to raise an eyebrow questioningly when Zane volunteered his friend's whereabouts. When she heard, Sasha couldn't help but laugh. "You would think he's a mother leaving her child with a stranger for the first time the way he's fussing over that shop."

As it didn't appear that Gunner was going to be back up anytime terribly soon, Sasha flopped on the couch next to Zane and leaned against him casually, her head resting on his shoulder. Once she was comfortable she asked Nicias for more details on just why she was going along with them to Hell.

[Demeter]

Trust considered her options. "Take me to the head of the house, I don't care where he's at. The name is Trust Cote, by the way." She followed along behind Rel as he led the way. She craned her head around to take in all of the house. Later, when she didn't have to hang off Salut's shoulder, she'd probably be found with her nose pressed against the floor while she studied whatever had been used to tile the floors. She was like that. Architecture and Design interested her.

Salut poked at her dinner. Really, how people could eat right after waking up confused the hell out of her. Her stomach just wasn't awake after sleeping. She glanced sidelong at each of the men sitting around her. All were happily tucking into their meal, some even asking for seconds. Grayson, in a display on his mannerless eating habits, had a dinner roll in one hand while shoveling food into his mouth with the other. She shook her head.

Salut glanced around the dining room, blinking when a rather familar figure walked into the room before walking smack into a table. "Trust?!" she screeched while jumping up. She rarely saw her cousin outside of family events so what the hell was Trust doing here? She asked as much when she scurried over to the table and its victem.

The floo had a pretty inlaid tile design. Which was why she was currently on the ground with several faces staring down at her. Well, it wasn't the first time she'd done this. She'd walked into an open excavigation pit because she was rather intriqued with reading a report about the open pit. When Salut appeared standing over her, Trust waved. Salut sighed in disgust and asked one of the nearby soliders to help her cousin up. "What are you doing here?"

"Dear old Uncle Juste asked me to keep an eye on you." Trust turned back to Rel. "So, head of the house? Where?"

[Shinigami]

Jahaziel had nodded to Aeven's answer, noting that she didn't exactly seem pleased, and it was most likely because he hadn't reacted to her how she had wanted him to. He heard the sound of plates being placed down infront of himself and Aeven and smiled at the servant who had handled his plate. Ziel tucked into his food, finding that his appetite had come back with full force now that he wasn't confusing himself silly about this whole deal. It wasn't until he felt Aeven's leg brush up against his that he paused.

He cocked his head to the side, noting that it sounded like Aeven was only pushing her food around her plate the majority of the time. Ziel still wanted to play with the girl a bit, give her a taste of her own medicine, so he laid a hand on her thigh to get her attention. "Are you alright? You don't seem to be eating..." His expression and voice showed concern - genuine, even though he was playing with her - so the soldiers around them wouldn't really suspect where his hand was under the table.

***

Nicias sighed, rolling his eyes when he heard about Gunner's obsessive need to check on his shop. He sat on the coffee table, hissing and shooing at Zane's feet as the Vampire tried to put them in his lap. He gave a half-hearted glare as Zane snickered at him, but smirked a bit when Sasha settled next to him on the couch. Zane glanced sideways at the woman as she rested her head on his shoulder, a brow raised in question, but he just mentally shrugged and ignored it.

When Sasha asked exactly what they'd be doing in Hell, Nici suddenly realized he hadn't told her much at all. It surprised him that she had agreed to come along with so little information, but then again she liked to stir up trouble like the rest of them, and knew the three of them well enough. "Ah, yes. I guess that would be rather helpful information, wouldn't it? I was hired to basically start a war with an Angel and insure that the Custos family who hired me won. I'll mostly be using my ability to create illusions for all of that, but the army could always use more fighters." He frowned a bit before he continued. "Though, it does worry me that the Angel family has a Seer that's basically older than any records I have access to... and a general that seems just as old."

***

Aurelius smiled and nodded. His father would probably be a bit annoyed at being bothered at dinner, but he honestly didn't give a rat's ass, and would make sure the old man didn't snap at the woman he now knew as Trust. He offered his own name with another nod of greeting before they started on their way towards the dining hall. "I'm Aurelius Arrighi. The dining hall is this way."

Trust followed behind him, so he didn't notice her eyes wandering to study the halls they walked through. Rel had stopped outside the open doors to the dining hall, motioning for her to step through ahead of him. He was just about to point out a path through all of the tables in order to reach the one his father was sitting at when he noticed Trust on the floor. Aurelius raised a brow at the behavior, but his attention was brought back up when he heard Salut. He was smirking a bit by the whole interaction, but his expression shifted to a neutral one when he was asked a question.

He pointed to the table the majority of his family sat at and motioned for her to follow. "Come, I'll escort you through and introduce you." This woman was quite an interesting one.

***

Ezekiel's attention had been brought away from the food on his plate completely when he heard Salut's screech. He blinked when she abruptly stood up, and Kiel looked around to see what could have possibly warranted that reaction. He spotted the woman on the floor just as Salut was moving towards her, wondering who the hell she was. He stood as well, following not far behind, both confused and a bit worried.

He missed the majority of the interaction between the two women, but caught the tail end as he placed a hand on the small of Salut's back and nodded towards Aurelius. He knew Salut's father was Juste, so this must be a cousin to be calling him uncle. Kiel was sure he looked a bit surprised to find she had been sent to keep an eye on Salut.

[Demeter]

After explaining to Salut that she'd explain later, Trust followed Rel up the head table. Once there she quickly launched into introductions and handed over the letter to Rel's father. Once the man had finished reading the letter and said that she could stay in the house for the duration of the situation, however long that may be.

She bowed to the family, grinned at Rel and skittered over to her cousin. She shoved aside the man with the bad tablemanners and sat down. "Hello Salut, your father demands that you be protected." Trust leaned around Salut and glanced at the angel sitting next to her. "Though I think you have enough protection in the form of that. When are you doing to tell your father that you're canoodling with that one?" she said, pointing at Kiel.

Salut's face flamed bright cherry red. "Trust!" In many ways she wished she'd grown up with siblings and then there were the days when Trust was around. Girl couldn't keep her mouth shut. "I'll tell him when I'm ready to tell him. When I'm sure that he won't try to run Kiel through. You just keep your mouth shut."

Trust grinned, leaned around Salut once more and introduced herself to Kiel.

[Maira]

When his hand came to rest on her thigh, Aeven eyed Jahaziel out of the corner of her eye and had to fight hard not to smirk at her small triumph. To keep from letting her happiness show on her face, and alert the soldiers around them to anything less professional than the teacher-student relationship, Aeven forced herself to eat a few more bites of her meal before answering.

Once she was certain her voice wouldn't give away anything, Aeven replied smoothly, "I'm fine, I was just thinking is all." Then, under the table and out of view of those around them, Aeven slipped her leg up over Jahaziel's knee and let it rest there comfortably. This may not exactly have been stalking, but it was as close as Aeven dared during the middle of a public meal. And she likely wouldn't have done it now either except there was a long tablecloth that nicely hid anything she might be doing from view.

The longer she sat with her leg resting on Jazahiel's, the harder she found it to eat. Not because her appetite was waning, but mostly because she was just incredibly distracted. The main thought that kept coming to the forefront of her mined was, "Gods he's warm!" and of course that thought was acompanied by all sorts of other less innocent ones that involved both of them getting even warmer.

*****

As Nicias spoke, Sasha perked up and leaned away from Zane to listen better. Fighting on the Custos side in a battle between Angels and Custoss. To Sasha it sounded like too much fun to miss out on. Granted, her parents would probably be totally distraught if they knew their daugther was anything but a goody goody church goer, let alone fighting in a battle on the "wrong" side. Luckily for her, and them, they'd been dead for ages.

Once Nicias was done talking, Sasha got up from her comfy spot next to Zane and quickly made her way toward the door she knew led down to Gunner's shop from the apartment. "That boy is so incredibly slow, the longer he takes the less fun we get to have when we get there," she declared as she let the door shut behind her.

Only a couple minutes later, Sasha reappeard in the apartment with a slightly disgruntled Gunner being shoved in front of her. "Okay! We're all set! Lets get moving!" This was all said with a slightly wicked, slightly scary grin gracing her normally sweet face as Sasha walked back over to where Zane and Nicias were sitting.

[Shinigami]

Jahaziel was a bit smug with himself, thinking for sure that his little stunt would have startled Aeven enough. After all, it was during dinner in the presence of almost the entire house. He had allowed a little tilt to his lips as Aeven took a moment to answer him, believing it was to collect herself, and almost choked on his own dinner as he felt her leg slide up to lay over his own. He masked the noise by clearing his throat, taking a moment to get a drink of water from his nearby glass.

The move itself hadn't been particularly shocking. He'd had other lovers to similar, if not more suggestive, things in the same type of public setting, but he hadn't expected -Aeven- to go that far. Not in the dining hall. Not only a few yards from the Lord and Lady of the house. In his shock he had failed to remove his hand from her thigh, and now with her leg over his own it had slipped a little further up. Once he realized the shift he made the conscious effort not to let it go any further, or else he wouldn't be able to think long enough to finish eating.

As it was, Ziel was having a difficult time focusing on eating his dinner and finding the proper responses for a question or two asked of him by some of the soldiers around them. He refused to back down from their little game, however, so he left his hand where it was, trying desperately not to think about how warm her body was, or that with just a little shift she could be- NO! He would stop thinking about that. At the very least until he was out of the dining hall. If anyone noticed his left hand was remaining under the table, no one commented.

***

Aurelius had been caught by the arm as he tried to slip away from the family table behind Trust. He grumbled to himself for a moment before turning to give a forced smile to his father. The man wanted him to sit with the family, but mainly he wanted to know if Jahaziel had told him anything more than he'd shared with the lord. Rel refused to sit with his family because he always ended up getting set next to his older brother, and despite the number of years he had on Rel, he still acted like a child fighting for elbow room at the table.

He scowled at being bothered by his father, especially since Jahaziel hadn't told him anything more than he'd told the old man. "I can assure you, the Seer was just as vague and reluctant with me as he was with you earlier. And you know his motivations behind hesitating to reveal many of his visions, so if you want to bug someone about it, I dare you to bug him."

Rel knew his father wouldn't bother the Seer. He had once before, long ago when Aurelius was just a little boy, and he remembered quite vividly how angry not only Ziel had gotten, but how Ezekiel had risen to his defense as well. He moved through the crowd to find his own place to sit and eat, choosing to sit near some of the older, more experienced soldiers.

***

Ezekiel was more amused by the news of Trust coming to stay with Salut, and why, then anything else, and watched their little conversation with a barely concealed smirk. His eyebrow quirked up when he was referred to as "that," but he didn't take offense, only becoming more amused. He and Salut were indeed "canoodling" and he had know she hadn't told her father about him. Kiel had assured a few times before that he wouldn't get run through by the man, and that even if he did he was sure she could patch him up. She hadn't appreciated the humor at the time.

When Trust turned her attention to him instead of simply talking about him, he smiled and extended his hand. "I'm Ezekiel. It's nice to know there will be someone else to watch over this one when I can't be here. Are you already settled?"

***

Zane looked up when Sasha pulled away from him, but seeing how intently she was listening to Nici he decided not to take offense in it. After all, who in their little group didn't like starting loads of trouble? And in a war, especially one in which they fought on the Custoss' side, one could start a LOT of trouble.

Nicias was happy to see just how excited Sasha was. She would make a good ally for the Custoss, and she was already familiar with him and boys and how they worked together. He couldn't hold in his laugh as she went darting off after Gunner, who was not too pleased to be pulled away from his precious garage. The Vampire/Custos hybrid was currently fawning over his still unfinished 1968 Corvette convertible. It was still in the early stages of restoration and he wanted to make sure it wasn't in any danger of the tires dry rotting or what little fluids were left in it leaking and causing some type of havoc while they were away.

He had just finished removing the beauty's battery as a precaution against the battery leaking acid all over the engine. Now he was turning to his 1977 Mustang Cobra II, his only finished and ready-to-ride car when Sasha grabbed his arm. Gunn hissed as he was pulled away from his baby girl. "Hey! I haven't removed her battery yet! Sasha!" She didn't seem to care much, and only allowed him to pause long enough to lock up the door that led to the garage from the apartment.

Gunner was grumbling, in a huffy mood now that he hadn't finished seeing to his babies and the amused expressions on Nici and Zane's faces weren't helping any. Nicias stood as Sasha came back with Gunner. "Okay. Are we ready to to now?"

[Demeter]

Carma sat, mostly by himself, in a corner of the room and watched as his daughter attempted to seduce Ziel. It was at moments like this that he was so proud of his daughter. Granted, most fathers probably didn't think that while they watched their daughter seduce someone in a crowded hall. Then again, most fathers didn't plot to get their daughter drunk around some the horniest deities on any of the realms. Yeah...he was bad influence but he didn't know what else to do with the girl in order to get her loosened up a bit.

Carma tilted his head and grinned as Ziel grabbed for his water glass. Yeah, so proud of his little girl.

***

Trust blinked at Kiel. "No, not really. I just kinda showed up and was brought here and so on. Dear uncle Juste wants his babu girl safe and sound. So, where would I be bunking away?"

Salut stared at her cousin for a moment and shook her head. Trust was a creature unto herself at times. "You can sleep on my couch as far as I'm concerned."

"Couches are fine." Trust slanted a look at Salut. "You two haven't done anything on this couch, have you?"

"Trust! I can't believe you." Salut glanced around and caught a few of the other people sitting around them smirking. She buried her face in her hands, muttering about stringing Trust up.

"A girl's good a right to know. Besides, I won't be canoddling on the couch. I haven't done that for a while. I need to get my thrills from somewhere."

Salut raised her head and just stared at Trust, who calmy sipped from her glass of water while looking at Salut. "You...I...Kiel! Do something with her!"

***

(ooc: Don't ask)