Heroes of Silvatica City

[FADE lol.] Honey waited for everyone to clear the room, all the nearby soldiers, medics, and everyone really swarming their former boss. She didn't mind that everyone kind of ignored her at this point. When they were gone, she unashamedly reached over to Amadeus and pulled him to her chest for a hug. "Thank you," she whispered. It sounded like she was holding back tears, even though she'd already been crying earlier. "Thank you so much, Amadeus. How can I ever repay you?"

Being down on one knee made it easier for Amber to flick her leg up and kick the guy square in the chest, trying to push him back on the ground. This guy was definitely enhanced - who was he?! They would worry about that after they had subdued him.

Cha washed her hands and looked at Mia in the mirror. "For real?!" she hissed. Man, she used to like Omak and Rollen but it turned out they were terrible parents for neglecting their younger daughter to the rough hands of Rose. Man, this was pissing Cha off, she had lost all semblance of sleepiness now. "Alright, listen here," she said, spinning around and jabbing a finger at Mia. "We are going back to bed. I'll stay with you and make sure she doesn't come do anything. Then tomorrow morning, we'll get up early, drink hella orange juice and eat hella waffles, and then go on that hike. Got it?!" She was snapping aggressively at Mia but she was trying to comfort her though she was too angry to speak more softly.

Jin's face went as pink as one of the dango on the skewer. "S-sure!" she said in too high pitched a voice. Why was this getting to her so much? They were just friends after all, and her friend had a curious sibling. "Um, here, take this," she said, thrusting the other dango stick at Drago. Lloyd remembered Lily telling her not to pry about Chloe's gloves, so didn't go around the corner. She picked up the glove and stuck her hand out, so that Chloe could see someone holding her glove out. "I came to see if you are alright," she said bluntly.

"Of course," Honey said, going back to holding Amadeus at arm's length. Woo, she was feeling something there. She'd never thought of herself as maternal and had never wanted kids, but this boy was special. He also had no family here. He also... Was going home eventually, so Honey shouldn't be having these ideas about him. "What's up?"

Amber obviously didn't recognise the white suit, so she didn't react other than to groan and gingerly put her foot back on the ground. She probably hadn't broken anything but it damn hurt to kick essentially a concrete block.

Cha's angry face softened, and she reached out to take Mia's big hand in her own. "Let's go then," she murmured, encouraging her to her feet and leading her down the corridor. Man... Mia was the cutest. Cha refused to let herself have thoughts like this but Mia really was just... Everything. And here she was, leading a big, beautiful sweetheart to bed after she'd said she loved her company. Love... Cha bit her lip to distract herself from the thoughts and walked on ahead of Mia, still holding her hand.

"Me too," was all Jin thought to say. Man, she used to be a social butterfly and capable of carrying any situation and conversation. But since 'then' she wasn't so sure of herself anymore. Especially around Drago. Something about him made it difficult to be comfortable. Jin chewed on her dango so that she had an excuse not to talk. Lloyd was briefly confused, but remembered what she'd been told about doing what other people asked her to do if they were polite. Chloe was polite so of course she'd do anything for her. She picked up the finger and reached her arm around the corner with it, holding it out to Chloe without looking.

Honey wasn't entirely surprised by this - Amadeus was so obvious in his affection for Olivia. Smiling, she slung her arm around his shoulder and began to walk him out. "When Ire's done, get someone to driver her home," she said to a nearby guard. It was very likely that Ire wouldn't be done answering her questions until the next morning, so Honey and Amadeus could have some time together. "Come on, let me teach you about girls," she said to him, as they went to the car and drove to Honey and Ire's home. Amadeus had never been there before, but Honey felt like it was time to invite him over.

Amber had seen beatdowns before, maybe not any this intense but plenty that were as bloody or more so, so this was nothing shocking for her. She was too focused on the pain in her shoulder to really watch or to notice what was going on with DJ. When the guy growled at them and flew off, Amber scowled and turned to DJ with a dead eyed stare. She was incredibly pissed at him.

They got back into the bedroom and Cha shut the door behind them. Sighing, she went and sat on the edge of Mia's bed, folding her arms around her knees and yawning. "A'ight, go to sleep," she said drowsily to Mia. "I'll stay here and keep an eye out."

Jin was so taken aback by Drago's sister. She was obviously stunning, but also so... Bright?
Chipper? Friendly? She was just like how Jin knew she used to be... And the complete opposite of Drago, too. "H-hi there," she said, forcing herself to buck up and grin, sticking her hand out to shake. "Nice to meet ya! I looove your yukata." She didn't know the difference between yukatas and kimonos anyway, but also why would Rena be wearing a kimono to a yukata event? Lloyd made a displeased grunt noise - she didn't like the word freak in any context. But she had to answer Chloe's question so she picked the bad emotions off like dead flower heads and moved on. "No," she said simply.

[Aww what about Honey Amadeus mother-son bonding?]

Ugh. DJ was just too damn nice. Amber's spiky anger softened and her scowl turned into a pout. Even though he was definitely as hurt as she was, his first concern was her. That was the kind of guy DJ was. "C'mon," she said, putting her good hand on his back. "Let's take you home." She figured, since the guy had been after DJ and not her, that he might be a bit freaked out so it should be Amber's duty to escort him home safely. Her tone of voice told DJ she wasn't going to argue this.

Maybe it was because Cha was super tired, or maybe it was because she secretly wanted to do it anyway, but she agreed within a couple of seconds to Mia's idea. "Mhm, sounds good," she mumbled with a nod. Mia still wasn't in bed so Cha couldn't lie down until she got in.

Jin just laughed in response and watched the pair of them interact. Man, Rena was adorable. "Hmm," Lloyd hummed, leaning forward to get a closer look at Chloe's hands. She wanted to grab and touch them, but the Lily in her head said not to do that. She wanted to ask why her hands were like this - Lily said no, she shouldn't do that. She wanted to say that they were cool - again, a no. She wanted to say... "Okay," she said, nodding and leaning back.

They got to Ire and Honey's place, and Honey was curious to see how Amadeus would react. They had a low-key apartment with a balcony in a moderately nice neighbourhood. Obviously, Ire and Honey were different in terms of their style preferences so they had struggled to design a house to live in, but had ended up with an all white interior with a simple, open plan style. There were touches of Honey everywhere though, such as all the plants on the balcony and the fluffy throws on the sofa. "Take a seat," Honey offered, gesturing both to the sofa but also to the bar stools around the kitchen island. "I'll make dinner and then we can talk girls."

Amber didn't respond, she would tell Aaliyah when they got there that she couldn't stay. The pair walked in painfully silent slowness until they got to DJ's house. Aaliyah must have felt something was wrong because she opened the door before they had come to the porch, and ran to her son. "What happened?!" she demanded, grabbing his shoulders and checking him over. Her baby was hurt!

Cha had already started to doze off by the time Mia began walking over to the bed, so when Mia got into bed and pushed the mattress down, Cha rolled over and fell asleep. She was curled up in a tiny ball with her hands tucked up under her cheek. Funny how someone so tough could sleep like a cute little baby.

Jin's heart pounded and she braced herself for whatever Rena wanted to talk to her about. It had a serious air about it, whatever it was. "Um, okay?" she mumbled, tilting her head to the side. Lloyd looked like she was really thinking hard and struggling to come to some kind of conclusion from this. She was troubled by all these rivalling thoughts battling in her head. She couldn't process all these subtle, complex emotions, being a black-and-white creature as she was. "Is it alright... Um, if I ask you questions later?" she finally asked. Chloe seemed to want to be asked about it, at least in Lloyd's simple perception, but Lloyd didn't feel the need to ask anything right now.

Honey snorted with laughter as she got out a pot and a ceramic dish, and began to work together Ire's favourite comfort food - mac 'n cheese with bacon bits. Honey always made enough for a few days of leftovers, so there would be plenty for Amadeus to eat too. "So, what is it about Olivia you like so much?" she asked, hoping the boy didn't just like her for cosmetic reasons.

Aaliyah froze and slowly locked eyes with DJ. Her hands on his shoulders were starting to grip painfully tight. "What didja say?" she whispered. Amber felt like now was the time for her to leave. "S-see ya later," she grunted, and turned around to walk away.

Cha slept soundly that night, and she wouldn't know fully why until she woke up and found herself face to face, in the warm embrace of Mia. Oh... My... God... Ohmygodohmygodohmygod! Ooohhhh God! Cha started having a mini panic attack, unable to move a muscle but also trembling. What were they doing?! Why were they c-c-cuddling?! N-not that Cha minded, in fact she always tried to sneak as much body contact in with Mia as was possible between platonic friends. What should she do?! Oh, she had set an alarm clock that was about to go off in a couple of minutes. Maybe... Cha closed her eyes and pretended she was still asleep as the alarm started beeping. Mia could be the one to deal with this situation, Cha was too cowardly.

"Oh my god," Jin murmured, taking a small step closer to Rena. "I-I had no idea. Rena, I'm so sorry." Drago had never really talked about himself, this was her first time hearing about him having a sister after all. And so to know now that he had lost his parents... Jin felt so bad for him, but her mind these days was not right, so she also felt bad for herself. Drago knew basically everything about her but she knew nothing about him. Private and shy or not, he must not have thought much of her as a friend after all. Lloyd pursed her lips together and frowned slightly. "I have one question for you now," she said, slightly sharply. "Why would I not like you upon discovering this?"

"Mhm?" Honey hummed, inviting Amadeus to maybe say more. "There are plenty of people like that though. What is it about Olivia that makes her special?" It was a nice thing of him to say though, especially being as he was so young.

Aaliyah was... Beside herself with fury. She wanted to rush out and leap onto rooftops, find her husband, and beat him to within an inch of his life. He lied to her. He promised never to do this again for the sake of himself and their children, but he had gone behind her back and lied to her. It was very unlikely that this was a copycat or someone had stolen his costume, at least in Aaliyah's perspective. But instead of going out into the night, Aaliyah took a deep breath and turned to DJ. "You were so brave," she murmured, stroking his dreaded hair. "Let's getcha patched up."

That was probably for the best. Cha pretended to wake up too and stretched. "Mornin'," she mumbled, sitting up and getting out of bed as quickly as looked natural. "D'you guys get coffee on this planet?" she asked drowsily, going to her bag and getting out her outfit for the day.

This was all a lot to handle so honestly, Jin stopped listening partway through Rena's verbal vomit. Surely this was for Drago to tell her, not Rena. Jin looked to the side and noticed Drago was coming back with their takoyaki. Lloyd kept frowning, the unempathetic side of her in full force now and not understanding Chloe's emotions. Surely, logically, Chloe should have known that Lloyd of all people wouldn't judge her. "I'm not mean or scary," she said flatly. "I'm your friend. You have not changed since we met and I like you." This was a huge revelation for her.

Honey smiled warmly at him, as the pasta was done and she strained it into the ceramic dish. "That's wonderful," she said. "Attraction can't always be explained away, though of course there are solid reasons for liking someone. It's the often unknown reasons that make an attraction stronger... Alright, let me tell you about girls." She rolled up her sleeves and began to grate hella cheese into the food. "I don't know about the attitude towards female autonomy in your time -I hear the past wasn't great for that - but women aren't objects. So the first thing you need to bear in mind is that, if she has no interest in you romantically, the worst thing you can do is pursue her further. Alright?"

"Don't worry about it," Aaliyah said quietly, getting out the first aid kit and swabbing up DJ's wounds that were healing a bit more slowly. "So, how was ya date- oh sorry, your hangout with Amber?" she asked, with a teasing smile.

"Yucky feeling?" Cha asked incredulously. "Coffee is life, babe." Oops, she called her babe without thinking. Cha blushed a violent pink and quickly left the room. "G-gonna get dressed!" She went and locked herself in the bathroom.

Jin just let all Rena's words wash over her again, smiling vaguely and wiggling her fingers in a goodbye gesture. Huh. Jin wished her first meeting with Rena hadn't gone like this, but she was so overwhelmed that she couldn't really hold a proper conversation. She turned her smile to Drago and took whichever dango he handed her. Lloyd's pout dissolved and she was back to normal. She like Chloe's smile, it was like Lily's. "I like your smile," she told her, not embarrassed to do so. "Now, let us go back."

"Well, I didn't say give up," Honey said. "Until she tells you explicitly to stop then you won't know if she likes you like that or not. So for now, smile at her. Say hi to her. Occasionally compliment her, but not too much or you'll freak her out. Be there for her if she needs you, and if she likes you too then she'll reciprocate. I'm not saying trick her or anything, just... Show her what you got?" Man, Honey was getting confused with her own advice now. All this motherly advice was difficult.

"Probably," Aaliyah said. "But she'll forgive ya." She saw a lot of herself in Amber's troubled eyes and furrowed brow. It wasn't known but Aaliyah figured Amber was troubled, like Aaliyah had been, so she felt a kindred spirit to her. "How 'boutcha invite her over for dinner tomorrow night, as a way to make it up? I'm makin' gumbo." Aaliyah wasn't from New Orleans but she had fallen in love with their food types - she definitely preferred it over the food of the deep south, where she was raised.

Cha didn't think anything of it at first, perhaps Mia had just gone downstairs to make some of that coffee-like stuff. God, she was super tired and really needed a boost. Packing supplies for the day into a small backpack, Cha made her way downstairs.

[Where's he sitting exactly?] Jin shrugged and chewed on her takoyaki. "She's really nice," she said, and then she decided to be candid. "She reminds me a bit of me... Before." [Want anymore with these two or we done with them for now?]

Honey made the mac 'n cheese a bit more, and then popped it and the bacon into the oven. "That'll be done soon," she said to herself, washing her hands in the sink. "Oh, one think I know about Olivia is that she loves reading and learning new things. Her mother... Uh, well she didn't get to know much when she was younger, so she's always insisted that her children know as much as possible." Amadeus didn't need to know Aaliyah's story, that was for her and Olivia to tell him. "I think you have a lot you can teach her, and if not you can just hang out with her at the library."

Aaliyah stayed up watching an old space movie with Olivia that night - DJ had gone to bed early to rest his wounds. After she led her sleepy daughter upstairs and jokingly tucked her in, Aaliyah returned to the kitchen and waited. And waited. And waited for her husband to come home.

Cha was instantly wide awake when her parents told her that. "Right," she said, grabbing a hot mug of not-coffee and storming outside. She couldn't believe Mia had let her bully big sis do what she wanted to her again. If Rose had hurt Mia, Cha was going to give her a piece of her mind. She was confused, though, why everyone else was awake when it was so early...

Jin looked up at Drago as he spoke, clearly deep in thought. But what she was thinking of was unclear... "I'm sorry," she murmured, pinching the bridge of her nose and looking frustrated. "We're supposed to be having a fun day and I'm bringing you down... Thanks for inviting me, really. And buying me food and letting me meet your sister. She was great. Let's go have fun, okay?" Jin looked tired but also like she was trying her best.

Honey gave Amadeus an unimpressed look. "My mana pool is plenty, thank you very much," she said curtly. "And no, thank you. I have all the skills I need. You're right about Olivia, though, I think she'd love to learn some magic. Drink?" she asked, going to the fridge.

Aaliyah had her arms folded and one leg crossed when Daniel came in. "Same to you," she said monotonously. Now was Daniel's chance to come clean on his own.

"Mia," Cha murmured, running towards the shack through the giant garden ornaments and plants. Man, how did females on this world get around when everything was man-sized? The window on the shack was just out of Cha's reach, so she climbed up and looked inside through there. "Mia!" she called out, banging on the glass.

[Again, they're still not sitting.] Jin felt like... She could be a bit honest with him here, even if it wasn't pleasant to hear. "I do have to try, though," she mumbled. "Every single day, even after all this time, I... Have to try. Being me doesn't come naturally anymore. When I'm with Cha and... A-and you, I feel more like myself but then I feel like a burden too... Ugh, sorry!" She forced a laugh and lightly knocked on her head. "I'm working on it!"

Something sweet? Heh, Honey didn't drink anything but sweet drinks, so she would have to pick something at random. "Apple," she said to herself, pouring them both some cloudy apple juice. "Anything else you're not sure about?" she asked, handing him the drink and sitting next to him.

Aaliyah's ears pulled back, in an expression of barely contained anger, as her eyes followed him around the room. She didn't want to shout or she'd wake the kids. She didn't want to argue or anything could be said. She just wanted Daniel to stop lying to her.

"Hey!" Cha shouted, slamming on the glass with her first. "Cut it out, Rose!" This was horrible, she'd never seen Mia be so beat up before. She jumped down from the window and went to the door, but it was locked.

Jin studied Drago for a moment, then smiled. It was a real smile. That last thing he said, about not being her old self but herself - yeah, that didn't sound entirely nice, but she sort of got where he was coming from. "Thank you," she said, reaching out and patting his arm. "Just promise me you'll be honest with me. Alright? Don't force yourself to do anything you don't want, or be anything you're not." He was always forcing himself to hang out with her and talk more than was natural for him, and Jin would understand if that tired him out.