Bonfire on the Beach

who: all going to the bonfire!
where: wetmore's landing
when: evening-?

It was now nearly six, and he had spent the better part of eternity putting up hell tents. Hell tents of uber complication, which had, at several points during the day, attempted to devour him whole, to consume his very soul and all of the tender juicy body parts containing it.

...okay, so maybe that was a little overdramatic. Lets just say tents didn't get along very well with Journey Winters.

He plopped down on the ground with a groan, covering his eyes with his forearm. "I already wanna go to sleep. Why isn't Josh here toiling? He's the boyfriend, right? Aren't boyfriends supposed to toil right alongside the best friend?"

"He can't come until later." Lullaby answered him. Which she'd answered about six times today. At least once every hour on the hour. But then she was used to that sort of thing for Journey. He did have a flare for the dramatic. It had her smirking at him as she dropped another pile of firewood by the bonfire pit, where she'd carefully arranged smooth huge rocks around it. It looked damn good as far as she was concerned. "You're loved dearly, and I appreciate it all." she informed him, giving him a very sweet, very genuine smile. Look, see how cute she was? Didn't he just want to sign up for toiling for her every day?

That sweet smile had worked five times already, but no more! Journey scowled at her (thought it was really more of a sullen pout). "It isn't fair. As the boyfriend, he gets paid in kisses and hugs and all that gross cootie stuff I don't want from you. You won't even let me eat some marshmallows!" he complained, eyes drifting over to the food pile. And the marshmallows. The marshmallows he had been eyeing all day. The forbidden marshmallows that his best friend/slave driver wouldn't let him eat. Grr.

"I give you hugs." Lullaby said. "And it's not as if this relationship is reward-free you know. I provide many reliable, necessary services that make your life way way better than it otherwise would be." she said firmly. "You're such a girl." she teased, sitting down and she tore open the bag of marshmallows, handing him one. "Baby." she accused.

He popped the offered treat into his mouth and took a long moment to savor it. Ahh, sugar. He already felt better! "Total baby," Journey agreed with a grin. "But a total baby who just suckered you out of two" his hand shot out to snatch another one out of the bag as he spoke, gaze staying locked on her face and grin never faltering "marshmallows."

She made a face at him. "Those are for the party, thank you, and you can't eat them all!" she said, swatting his hand. "Even if you're a baby. You're just going to have to suck it up." she informed him. Then she took a look around. "I think we're actually set though." she commented, setting the marshmallows aside(out of his reach!) and she smiled up at the sky that was darkening. Ahh fall. When it seemed like one day you woke up and all of a sudden it was full dark by like, seven. Since it was getting dimmer, she knelt down to light up the kindling beneath the firewood she'd put into the pit. She'd get that going, then it would catch the lighter fluid, and they would have a fire. Of course there would need to be a lot more on there to make it qualify as a bon fire, but she had faith in teenage boys wanting to burn things. It'd get done.

Journey ate his pilfered marshmallow, then leaned back, propping all of his weight on his hands. He watched with mild, sleepy interest as the fire began to crackle. He really was exhausted, but that didn't mean much except that he was out of shape. He'd have to start working out or something. Meh, he'd do it next week.

"I should probably go pick up the girlfriend when somebody else gets here to keep you company," he said after awhile. And he didn't say out loud that when he said somebody else? He meant somebody he knew, and trusted, and who could potentially protect her if something nasty came along. So not leaving Lulu by herself, or worse; with somebody who wouldn't be able to protect her or themselves, either.

"How is she?" Lullaby asked. Truthfully, she hadn't brought up Journey's girlfriend a whole lot. She knew she probably should? But she'd been kinda sorta avoiding that. She hadn't gotten to meet her very well at the movies gathering, but she'd been markedly...strange. Strange in ways that kinda sorta maybe had Lulu worried about some things. She kept trying to chalk it up to not knowing her very well, and she needed to give her way better of a chance than that. Thus--repression! It was better all the way around if she didn't actually mention anything like that. Besides. Lullaby was well aware of the fact that she was probably gonna be harsh on any girlfriend he had. He wasn't the only one who could be overprotective, damnit.

He tipped his head back to gaze up at the sky, and the faint first stars starting to appear there. How was Belle? She was... alone, and finding out about a bunch of stuff at once she didn't understand, and somebody had to teach her hows and whys and it worried him insanely, the stuff Jezebelle didn't know about and...

There was no way in hell he was telling any of this to Lulu. "She's good. We hung out yesterday. Had pizza, watched movies," he offered casually. Except, it was after a thoughtful sort of pause. Hopefully she wouldn't press him.

Lullaby did as a matter of fact notice the pause. It had her looking at him, and after he answered her, she continued to look at him. "...uh huh." she said. "And that way long pause before you deemed it necessary to answer me?" she asked. "You know I've got an active imagination, do you really want me filling in my own blank there?"

Journey tilted his head and grinned at her. "Please, fill in the blank. I want to hear what your overactive imagination comes up with. Extra points if you involve ninjas."

Lullaby huffed and sighed heavily. "Let's not get into it right now." she muttered. "But don't you think I'm going to forget about it! Tomorrow or something we're sitting down and you're talking to me and that's final!" She was putting it off because he'd already done a crap load for her today, so she would have felt really guilty trying to push him more. But tomorrow, there wouldn't be any convenient excuses! So there!

"Lu, there's nothing wrong," Journey insisted, a little confusion creeping into his voice. She was talking like she expected there to be something wrong. Which... well, it made him paranoid. Lulu was always right about this stuff, wasn't she? "We just had pizza and watched a movie and I stayed the night. And no, before you ask, nothing happened. And that's not upsetting to me at all! I'm fine!" He was just a little worried about the safety of his girlfriend, that was all.

She eyed him. "We'll talk about it tomorrow. If everything was like, peachy keen amazing cool fine, then you'd be gushing. You definitely wouldn't have waited long enough to answer me for like, pirates to hit the beach, kidnap me and leave you a ransom message in a bottle."

Arghhh. "I'm tired! That's all!" Journey stated, a little defensive. "'scuse me for forgetting how to use words! Tents tried to eat me today! Things are peachy keen amazing cool fine, thanks much!" he huffed, a little annoyed. With himself. With her. With his sudden screaming paranoia. Was she expecting something to be wrong? It sounded like she was. What the fuck?

Lullaby threw a marshmallow at him. "Well excuse me for being interested and wondering about my best friend!" She gave him a slightly miffed look herself but it wasn't full on Angry Lullaby lookage. Nooo far from it.

He snatched the marshmallow out of the air (because hey, free sugar!) and toyed with it a little. Yeah, now he felt guilty, and it showed clearly on his face, kicked puppy look and all. "'msorry, Lu. It's just... yeah. I'm paranoid and stuff. Your approval is pretty much required for all me plus girlfriend related issues and... yeah, shutting up now." Journey popped the marshmallow into his mouth and chewed it slowly, resuming his star gazing. 'cause, yeah. So not saying 'and you haven't really said you approve of her yet.' They were throwing a party, weren't they?

Now she felt spectacularly guilty. "Oh, don't look like that." Lullaby said, and she walked over to sit next to him. "I just--" she stopped, and looked up then because she heard voices approaching. "...we'll talk tomorrow, promise." she told him, then gave him a little half hug, and got up to greet guests.

Miriam was a big fan of bonfires; her friends had them all the time back home, and Journey had been right - this was a good way to meet more kids her age outside the whole party thing that wasn't her scene. She knew she'd probably be the odd girl out though - kids in small towns had probably grown up together, had their own circles and she'd have to slowly let herself be worked into that system.

Unless she could bribe them with food.

On that slightly devious note, Miriam had spent the day baking pumpkin cake bars with cream cheese frosting and brewing up a large batch of her old neighbor's secret-recipe apple cider (though not so much a secret since Miri had been able to charm it out of the dear old lady.) She'd packed everything in a large basket, including cinnamon sticks for the cider - which only needed to be heated over or near the fire for a bit - and cups, just in case they ran out.

She could make out two figures as she approached, but couldn't quite make them out until she was nearer. Thankfully, one of them was Journey, so at least she wasn't stuck with people she didn't know explaining that one of their friends had invited her. Not quite daring to juggle the basket around until she'd made it up to them and carefully set it down, Miriam offered a friendly though still somewhat shy smile.

"Hi guys," she said simply. Then, for the benefit of the girl she didn't know, "I'm Miriam."

Journey jumped to his feet and headed over to stand by Lullaby immediately because... well, he'd invited Miri. So he should introduce them, right? It only made sense. "Hey, Miri," he greeted with a grin. "This is Lullaby Draven. The best friend/slavedriver who made me put up all these tents today. Lu, this is Miri. She's new. I gave her a crappy outside tour of the school the other day."

Lullaby smiled and waved. "Hi, nice to meet you, Miri." she said in her strange, quiet voice, signing as well as she could while having a bag of marshmallows under one arm and one bum hand. "I'm a very rewarding slavedriver, is what he isn't telling you. Welcome to town and the party! I'm sure you'll meet a lot of cool people here."

"Nice to meet you, too," Miriam said, noting the signing and making sure she faced Lullaby as much as possible while speaking. "And thanks. Everyone I've met so far has been really nice." She smiled and waved. "Hi, Journey." She hefted her basket, indicating the goods inside. "I brought some cider and pumpkin bars," she said. "Where would you like them?"

"Oh, wherever's good!" Lullaby said. "You didn't have to bring anything, that was really sweet of you, thank you. The rest of the food's over here if you wanna set everything down. Sit down, have something to drink, relax and have some fun."

"We used to have bonfires a lot back home," Miri said, grinning. "Everyone brought something. I guess it's just habit." She moved to set the food down with the rest, setting the cider on a rock near the fire where it could stay warm but wouldn't really be in danger of being knocked over.

"It's appreciated!" Lullaby said, smiling and she was pleased this girl was there. She seemed really nice.

Joshua slowly made his way down the steps to the beach, trying to avoid putting too much weight on his left ankle. So perhaps using the fire-escape to sneak out of the apartment hadn't been the best idea he'd ever had. Still he didn't know that he would have to jump ten feet from the bottom of the ladder to the ground before landing awkwardly and twisting his ankle did he? Anyway, personal injury aside, it was still safer than attempting to get past September to use the front door.

Shifting his backpack slightly as he came onto the beach, he spotted the familiar shape of his girlfriend and waved as he began to make his way over.

Lullaby saw him and immediately beamed, hopping up and running over to him. "You made it!" she said, pleased as she gave him a hug and a kiss, just beyond the line of the firelight. "And you--hey you're limping, what happened?!" she asked, immediately looking him over for injury like, bones sticking out of skin or something. She wouldn't put it past his luck...

Hugging and kissing were all good as far as Joshua was concerned. Questions about injuries however were less fun and blushing slightly, he rubbed the back of his neck. "I landed badly when I jumped off the fire escape." he explained, signing where he could. "September's being really overprotective since she got out of the hospital and she wouldn't have let me come, so I snuck out." Seeing the concern on Lulu's face, he gave her a small kiss. "It's just a twisted ankle. I'll be fine, I promise."

Journey had been casually socializing, keeping an eye on everybody to make sure there were no people who seemed to feel exceptionally awkward--except for maybe Kaysen, she could feel awkward all she wanted since she always got snippy if he tried to talk to her--when he'd spotted Josh approaching out of the corner of his eye. First thought? 'Woo, now I can go get Belle.' Second thought? 'What the fuck, he's limping.' He quickly excused himself from the conversation he was sort of kind of pretending to listen to and skirted past the other guests, heading for Josh and Lullaby. Manners be damned. "What happened?" he more demanded than asked, feeling crazy-insane-protector worry. Fuck.

Lullaby sighed and gave him a bit of a Look, but it was really really difficult to keep up any ire at him considering he was all sweet and there. At total risk of the wrath of September which she had absolutely no doubt was a really really terrible thing. She opened her mouth, then blinked at Journey's response, and she quirked a little smile. "He's injured himself for me." she said. "Which by the way isn't okay, but I'll forgive you this time." she said, taking Joshua's hand and squeezing it.

"I'll try not to make a habit of it." Joshua replied with a smile pulling at his lips as he squeezed her hand back. Turning to Journey, he gave him a slightly quizzical look. He understood Lulu's reaction but couldn't fathom Journey's. "Good to see you too mate. May I recommend avoiding fire escapes as a mean of sneaking out to see the girlfriend. It's not nearly as easy as the movies make out."

Journey stared at him with a rather blank expression for a moment before grinning, looking slightly sheepish. "Fire escape, right." Sorry I'm fucking insane? What am I supposed to say in this situation? "Well, glad to see you made it here in one piece, even if you are limping. Have some marshmallows. They fix everything."

"They do!" Lullaby said. She was actually so far thinking that the bonfire was going very well, and she was pleased with it. People were showing up, they'd invited friends, and not too many, so it wasn't a huge deal like she'd wanted to avoid the first place. It was smallish, just a nice gathering. She started to tug Joshua's hand to bring him towards the beach, though she didn't tug too hard. She didn't want to make him stumble and hurt his ankle more. That was getting iced asap if she had anything to say about it. They had coolers with ice, it was a plan.

Call him fickle but Joshua's confusion about Journey went from his mind at the mention of food. "Ooh, marshmallows." he said with a grin and happily let himself be tugged towards the fire. Right now he was content to forget about all the crap that had happened recently and concentrate on having a good time with the awesomeness that was his girlfriend.

Journey watched them go and sighed quietly to himself. Fuck. He was insane, right? That had to be it. I have not chosen Josh. I have not chosen Josh. It was just natural paranoia I get when all my friends are hurt. Not my chosen, not my chosen. With those thoughts firmly in mind, he jogged after them, giving Lullaby a little nudge with his elbow. "Hey, I'm gonna go pick up the girlfriend now. I'll be back in a little while, okay?"

Lullaby looked over to catch what he was saying to her, and she smiled and nodded. "Go. I don't know why you didn't go already. Shoo!" she said, waving him off. "You're officially dismissed from duty! Be free, my friend, be free!" Giving him a big grin, she then started looking towards the rest of the bonfire. "I'll have to introduce you to everyone." she said, pretty excited in a stupidly girly little way to introduce The Boyfriend around. Two worlds collide, hopefully it would mesh well. She was pretty damn sure it would. "By the way, we're icing your ankle." she informed Joshua with a grin in his direction too. Why no, there wasn't an option given in that.

"Ice is good, in fact ice is great." Joshua said as he gave Journey a wave before turning his attention back to Lulu. As it happened, his ankle was throbbing like crazy but he hadn't wanted to say anything. Which proved just how amazing his girlfriend was with the providing of first-aid without asking if he needed it. "I don't deserve you, you know."

Journey watched the pair in amusement. "Don't miss me or anything," he joked. "I'll be back quick as I can." Not that he was worried anymore. There was quite a crowd at the party now, and Josh was with her, so she was perfectly safe and properly meat-shielded. He took off in a jog, knowing he was already very late to pick up Belle. Hopefully she wouldn't think he'd stood her up or anything.

Lullaby blushed at that. Thankfully it was kind of darkish so she didn't have to worry that he saw it. Or mention it, perhaps. "Sure you do. You're the sweetest boy in the whole world." she informed him, pushing up on her tiptoes, she gave him another little kiss. And it was possible she drew it out just a little. But she was good! Then she took him over by the fire, and sat him down on one of the blankets that were laid out around it. "I'll get the ice." she said, then looked around. "Hey everyone, this is Joshua." she said, in a blanket 'here you go, now you can all know what to call him' sort of way. She bent at the cooler and dug around in it, putting ice in a towel and wrapping it up to bring over to him. She snagged two sodas while she was at it as well. Then it was to setting the ice on his ankle, and she settled down next to him on the blanket.

Isaac's mood had improved tenfold in the past twelve hours. Nothing like some voluntary shameless flirting by a completely random girl with an adorable accent to put a guy in a better mood. He saw that Kaysen had settled into talking with Charlotte, so that was a good thing, and so far? No Jamie. Not that he expected her, but you never knew. It was a small town, all kinds of people showed up to stuff like this. Including a specific redhead that he recognized off to one side. Plastic cup in hand, he ambled his way over to Miri. "Hey," he greeted.

Miri looked up with a bright smile, pleased that someone else she recognized was here. "Isaac," she said warmly. "Hi. How are you?" If she was honest, she was more than a little relieved that he was here; Journey and Lullaby were very nice, but she had a feeling they'd be kept busy playing hosts and whatnot.

"Doin' pretty damn good, you?" he asked with a bright smile. She was nice, it was good to see that she'd already branched out socially enough to snag an invite to this. It wasn't an open party, and would stay small, but it was cool to have newer faces. He'd have to go talk to Lullaby at some point, but she looked kinda busy at the moment. "Good to see you here, who else do you know?"

"I'm doing well, thanks," Miri said. "I met Journey the other day. He's the one who invited me. And I've met Lullaby just now. Other than that, everyone else here are strangers. Journey was really great, though, and Lullaby seems really nice." She liked them already, was feeling much more confident about starting school here if all the kids were like the ones she'd already met.

Isaac only knew Journey in a vague way, and had really only recently had his attention drawn to Lullaby -- who was sitting with the same dude he'd seen her with at the Orphanage, assumably a boyfriend -- so he only really knew the people he'd brought. He came up beside Miri and started pointing them out. "That's Thom way over there," he said. "He's my best friend, lives in our neighborhood, and that's his new girlfriend Leija -- she just moved here too. And thaaaaat's ... my sister Kaysen and Charlotte, who is also a new arrival to our neighborhood. Other than that ... y'got me." He flashed her a grin.

That was the majority of the group, from what Miri could see, as she tried to keep up with the fingerpointing and introductions. "That's more than I know," she said, turning to look at him with a matching grin. "So, Thom, Leija, Kaysen, and Charlotte," she said, trying to fix the names and descriptions in her memory. "I didn't realize that there were that many people our age that lived so close to me." It was kind of neat; Miri had expected people to be more spread out in a town of Marquette's size (which was still overly large to her.)

"Oh yeah, they're all over the place. But me and Thom and Kaysen -- obviously -- sort of all grew up together. ... not that Kaysen's in any way, shape, or form grown up, but you know what I mean." He chuckled some and took a swallow of cider. He gave himself a second to wonder briefly where Mac lived in relation to them, but didn't dwell. He'd have plenty of time for that later. "You'll learn them."

"I'm sure," Miri said. "I've got all school year, after all. I might go over and say hello later on, when they're not busy saying hi to their friends." She didn't want to intrude. "They all look nice, though." Likely were, if they were any way compatible enough to hang out with Isaac.

*~*~*
Chance rolled up to Jordan's house in his mother's jeep, throwing it into park and getting out to head up to her door, briefly considering making up an excuse as to why he couldn't go. He didn't know who would be at this bonfire, and really, besides Jordan, everyone their age in school either loathed him, or was afraid of him and hanging out with other people made him internally twitch. Still, he had promised her he would go, and he wasn't about to break that promise to Jordan. Sighing, he knocked on her front door and waited.

She just had to make an appearance. Then she could drag Chance back home and have a horror movie marathon. She hurried downstairs, waving to her mom who called out some bit of motherly worry after her. Jordan opened the door, pulling Devon's coat up her arms. With a small smile she waved a small greeting and stepped out of the house, closing the door on her mother's "Don't be out late!"

He had heard Jordan's mother yell after her and he shot her a look as they walked to his car. "I think this is one night I can actually follow through on your mom wanting you home at a decent hour." Chance opened the passenger side to his jeep for her. "We don't have to stay there late, do we?" He hoped he didn't sound too hopeful.

Jordan shook her head and got into the jeep. In the time she had for him to get around the car and into the car she jotted a note. 'Just to make an appearance. We can have a Vamp movie marathon afterward?' She passed him the paper once he got in the car.

He glanced at the note as he shifted the jeep into drive. With a grin, he nodded. A night watching campy horror movies sounded ten times better than sitting around a bonfire with kids he didn't even know, or care about. "You got it. Who is it that invited you again?" Chance asked, heading now toward their destination.

Waiting for him to look her way she signed 'l-u-l-u' to him. Which was the only reason she was going. Lulu was also one of the only people she talked to, at all. And that was only recently. Otherwise she'd never in a million years get an invite, well at least not with Devon... He knew enough people that he'd get invites, sometimes he'd go and drag her along. Funny, they always ducked out of those to watch cheesy movies too.

"Lulu," Chance said, reading her signs. He tried to recall if he knew the girl, but nothing was coming to mind. "All right...well, if she's cool with you, she's cool with me."

Jordan leaned against the window and watched the road as they went to the bonfire. Eventually they arrived and found a place to park. Jordan looked to Chance and gave him a 'ready?' look as she hopped out of the car. She'd dressed in a black shirt with long fishnet sleeves and a pair of black flared slacks. Of course Devon's trench topped the outfit.
~*~*~
Jordan moved around the car and once Chance was out of the jeep she linked her arm in his- she wasn't going to let him get too far, easier to make their escape that way. Taking a deep breath she gestured her other arm, she was ready to go once he was.

Chance took her arm and pulled her close. Maybe she was his security blanket. At least for tonight. He let her lead the way, taking a deep breath as they came upon the small group and fire. God, he wasn't looking forward to this at all. Maybe he could just go unnoticed, let Jordan visit with Lulu for awhile, and then drag her away.

"Okay," Chance said, leaning into to talk in her ear. "When you're ready to go, tug at your ear twice. And I'll do the same."

Kaysen looked over, and did a double take and seeing Chance. She had a massive internal panicking going on. Not necessarily bad, just...she didn't expect to see him (possibly ever again) and so all of a sudden when he was there, her natural reaction was flailing. Flailing was her reaction to a lot of things.

Walking with Jordan, Chance did a quick sweep of the faces. Well, fuck, he thought, spotting Isaac with some girl, and Thom, and...Kaysen. Forgetting the other two, he suddenly smiled, not minding at all how long they stayed now - if she was here. He tried to catch her eye, wondering if she would at least acknowledge him, or if she planned to ignore him with her brother and his sidekick around.

She didn't, as soon as she realized that Chance was actually looking at her, she kind of looked like a rabbit in the headlights for a minute. Then she attempted to look less like she'd panicked, and she gave him a little half wave.

A wave was something. A wave was acknowledgment, at least. Chance smiled at her and tugged gently on Jordan's arm. "Kaysen's over there," he informed her, with a small nod in Kaysen's direction. "Do you mind if I go over and say hi?"

Jordan smiled and shook her head. 'Go' She signed, willing to part Chance's company if he wanted to go to Kaysen by himself. Though part of her wanted to meet this mysterious new friend of Chance's, especially after the chaos it had caused for him earlier today.

Chance left Jordan and walked toward Kaysen, perfectly aware of the people around him, but not really caring at all. If they had a problem with him, that was too damn bad. The only person, other than Jordan, he had any desire to speak to tonight was Kaysen. And so far, she didn't seem to have any issues with him. Though, given Chance's record, it was still a possibility. "So," he said to her with a small smile. "Didn't really expect to see you here, though I can't say I'm disappointed at all."

She tried not to panic. Really she did. She'd totally talked to him before, like, alone, even. So she really shouldn't be flailing internally really badly when he was coming up to talk to her when there were other people around. But that was kind of the thing that was making her panicky. She kept glancing around as if to see if anyone was watching her, or watching them. She didn't even know what she was looking for. If it was for people being mean, or if it was...yep. Look at that blankness. "I um...didn't expect to be here. I was kinda invited. By my brother. I um...don't really know the girl who's throwing the party." Cuz he really needed that information.

Chance glanced over his shoulder at the others. Some he did recognize from school. Others, he had no clue who they were - or where they came from. "That's all right, I didn't expect to be here either. Jordan knows the girl throwing this, Lulu something. So she asked me to come along for awhile." Chance refocused on Kaysen, resisting the urge to smile like an idiot at her again. He didn't want to be a complete tool, after all. "Are you staying all night?" he asked, sliding his hands into his pockets.

"I guess so." Kaysen said, reaching up to tuck her hair behind her ears. It didn't really stay there, falling back around her face almost as soon as she'd let her arms drop back down to her sides. "I mean, I didn't drive, Isaac did, so I'll be going whenever he does. I think he was planning on staying." At least he hadn't told her otherwise, so she was thinking it would happen. And now, after she'd said it, she was wondering if Chance was. Which was cuing up more panicking. "Are you?" she asked. She gave herself points for sounding kinda sorta normalish.

He gave a small laugh and shook his head, his eyes seeking out Jordan to make sure she was all right. "No, I'm not staying. Jordan's mom wants her home tonight, and I'm her ride." Even if Jordan wanted to stay all night, Chance would simply drive back in the morning to pick her up. There wasn't a chance in hell he'd be sleeping outside, with a bunch of kids he didn't know, or care for. Especially when they included Isaac and Thom. "To be honest, the sooner I leave, the more comfortable everyone else will be." He gave her a knowing grin and bit back the urge to push her hair out of her face again. He found he was resisting doing a lot of things around Kaysen lately. "Including you, I think. You're not still creeped out by me, are you?"

"Right now I'm kinda feeling alienish." she said. "I mean, Charlie's cool. She just doesn't...she's new. So she hasn't heard everything, and I'm not good at this stuff and I don't really know anyone. Well. Cept you now." Kaysen continued, fidgeting. She had trouble sitting still sometimes anyways and now she was even worse about it. "I um. I'm still deciding." she said. Which was better than a 'yes'. It wasn't a 'no', but...still.

"Charlie's the one you gave you the cat. So far, I'd say she's a pretty good judge of character, I think. So I don't think a bunch of false rumors will change her mind about you. And you know, still deciding is better than a yes, I think. Though, I wonder if I should be creeped out by you with your inane knowledge of zombies and shit," he said jokingly, wanting to loosen her up. She seemed way too tense and he much preferred her when she didn't look or sound as if she was going to flip her 'freak out' switch.

Weirdly, Kaysen felt panicked, freaked out, but some deep down part of her almost felt kinda better that he was there. Kinda. Him and Charlie there were okay. They would talk to her and they didn't have to. Isaac was her brother, so whatever. And Thom? She was avoiding Thom like the plague. She still wasn't really comfortable, but...it could have been worse. So far she hadn't heard anyone whispering about her, which was weird. But good, she guessed. She was back to tucking her hair behind her ears, even if as usual, it didn't stay. "Well, that shouldn't creep you out, it should just make you secure in the knowledge that if anything that fucked up happens, you'll know someone who has a plan."

"Right. Until that moment comes though, I think I'll just be wary of you, especially since you prefer machetes." He shifted from one foot to the other, wishing all these people weren't here. For some reason he felt more comfortable talking to her when he didn't feel like he had an audience. Chance wanted to be able to talk to her about more than just zombies, but he knew with Kaysen, it was going to be awhile before he could say anything deeper than that without her panicking and telling him to fuck off for the hundredth time. Which reminded him... "It's okay that I'm talking to you, right? I mean, you don't mind, do you?"

Kaysen looked a little weirded out by the question, and this time when she tucked her hair behind her ears, she kind of kept hold of it and played with the ends. "Yeah, I guess so." she said. What was she going to say 'no, you can't talk to me' when he was one of the only people who she could say she'd actually had a conversation with? At current that was earning him way more points than he probably realized. She had to try to get herself to stop fidgeting, but it was difficult. She didn't have her board, and she wasn't sure what to say. It had been easier when they'd been talking shit about zombies. It was a topic she could just...kinda go off on and not have to worry about how it sounded because it was a damn zombie conversation.

He felt relief, and probably showed it as well, because his shoulders relaxed a bit and he smiled. "Okay, good. I just don't want your brother freaking out on me again. Might make for an awkward bonfire for all." Now that he knew she didn't mind him talking to her, he felt more comfortable. "So when are we going skateboarding again? Weathers cleared up, you know, and I've been practicing that trick. You got to give me another chance to prove I can do it."

"What, so you can ditch and I'll have to patch you up again and you can whine cuz you're a big baby?" Kaysen asked, looking up at him, a bit through her eyelashes with the faintest bit of a smile on her face. It wasn't necessarily intentional, and she was still messing around with the ends of her hair, though that rapidly graduated to messing with the ends of the pull strings for her hood. She also continually shifted her weight from one foot to the other.

"I won't ditch this time," Chance argued, though silently he had to admit it wouldn't be so bad if he did. He didn't mind getting patched up. "And I'm not a baby. It fucking hurts when you're getting rocks wiped out of a gaping wound!" Okay, so maybe he was exaggerating, but he had to make his point. "It wasn't like you were Miss Gentle Nurse, anyway. I think you were finding my pain entertaining."

"Only because you were being like, the biggest baby ever." Kaysen insisted. "And c'mon, gaping wound? That was not a gaping wound. Gaping wounds are like, knife slices or gushing gashes n shit. Some sidewalk burn totally doesn't count. You've totally gotta do better than that. Baaaayybeeeee." she said, pointing at him. "I'm way tougher than you."

"How do I know that?" Chance asked, pulling his hands out of his pockets to fold his arms across his chest defensively. "I landed on my back! Could have broken my spine, or something. Or cracked open my head. You ever get sand and rocks in a burn? And then get it yanked out by some chick with disinfectant, which stings by the way! Hell, for all I know, when you ditch, you cry like a girl, so until I see you ditch the way I did, I can't agree with you being tougher than me until you prove it."

"Are you blind?" she asked incredulously. "You've seen my chin, and my arm, and my knees! Those are gravel burns, man, you can tell!" She rubbed absently at the red patch beneath her jaw. "And you don't see me whining about them still, but here you are, crying about a little disinfectant." Kaysen said with a little impish sort of grin at him. "So therefore you're a total wuss." She finished matter o factly.

"I see them, sure. I have scrapes too, big deal," Chance replied smugly, though he returned her grin. "I didn't see you ditch when you got them. Like I said, for all I know, you could have cried like a little girl. They stop hurting after awhile anyway so of course I don't see you whining still! And I am so not a wuss. I've ditched worse than that, and I have battle wounds that would make your scrapes look like nothing more than rug burn."

Kaysen was starting to wonder if Chance and she were having the same conversation. Stopped hurting? Psh! Only the big stuff that had huge scabs really stopped. It was the light burn you had to worry about. She rolled her eyes. "Whatever. One little scrape and you were bitching up a storm. Don't even tell me about glorious battle wounds when you were whining about something dumb." she insisted. "If you're gonna lie to look like a badass, at least do it convincingly."

Chance gaped at her for a moment before laughing. "I was bitching more to the fact that you were practically digging sand out of my back than the actual ditch. If I remember it correctly, I wanted to get up and try it again and you were the one concerned for my well being." For some reason he didn't mind that she thought he was a wuss, and called him out on it. Okay, so he minded a little. How many girls ever showed true interest in a wuss? Still, he liked that she said whatever she wanted to him. It seemed conversation came easier to her when she was putting him down. Being the sick masochist he was, Chance welcomed it if it meant talking to her for awhile longer. "And hello, I never claimed to be a badass. I only pretend to be one when it benefits me."

"So you're just a liar then." Kaysen said, smirking at him. "You realize you're digging yourself deeper like, every time you open your mouth, right?" she asked rhetorically.

He gave a soft half-smile and shrugged, not bothering to tell her he thought lying and pretending were two different things. She was right, though. Somehow he was digging a hole deep enough to China just by talking to Kaysen. But he knew it had to do more with her twisting his words around, or maybe he was just fumbling around and didn't know it. Or maybe it was because he couldn't stop thinking about how pretty she was, and all that stupid shit that got him into trouble every time he was around her. At some point he had given up all control of this conversation, despite his attempts to reign it in. Still, he didn't mind so much. She was talking to him still, wasn't she? "You already think I'm a wuss, so why would I try to lie at this point to convince you otherwise? Just don't tell anyone, okay?" he asked jokingly. "I've built an entire reputation around being a badass and it would really suck to have the truth exposed at this point."

No one would talk to me to tell them anything. No one would believe me if I did. Kaysen thought, that bit bringing her back to reality. "I should grab something to eat or something..." she said, fidgeting again, and she glanced around for Isaac and Thom. Again she wasn't' entirely sure why. If it was to make sure they were nearby just in case, or to check that they weren't looking over at them with death-glares in their eyes.

He ignored the disappointment. Really, he should be used to it by this point. Chance silently wondered what he would have to do to get Kaysen to actually trust him - at least a little bit. Or at least enough that she wasn't always so fidgety, unsure, and worst of all, scared of him. Maybe any other night he would have persisted with her, but he had come with Jordan, and he wasn't going to abandon his friend when Kaysen was looking to escape his presence anyway. Chance, instead, gave her a self-deprecating smile and stepped back. "Okay, I can take a hint. I'll talk to you later, Kaysen." With that, he turned on his heel to make his way back toward Jordan.

"Um...bye." Kaysen said to his retreating form, then she sighed, and went to look for Charlie again. She was cool to talk to. And less confusing.

~*~*~
Jezebelle was glad to have finally made it to the bonfire, even if they arrived long after everyone else. She wouldn't whine about the lost time, but rather hoped to make it up with the time she was there. Her eyes brightened as she took in the tents, all the people gathered around the bonfire. She loved nights light this, when the warm fire light made everything glow. It made her want to play with glamour, and the tips of her hair took on a dark purple that hadn't been there moments before. It could just be a trick of the light, after all. Her cloak swirled around her, the only jacket sort of thing she had to keep her warm, and the blue ribbons from Journey twisted in her hair. She always stood out, a little bit odd, a little bit goth, but she didn't exactly know better. She didn't exactly care. After all, Journey was still holding her hand.

Joshua was currently sitting by himself as Lulu was in hostess mode, going round and talking to people. Not that he minded of course, well maybe he minded a little bit but it was his stupid fault for twisting his ankle and he was adamant she shouldn't be stuck sitting with him all evening. Casting his eyes around, he saw Journey heading back towards the fire, girlfriend in tow and waved. "Hey guys!" he called out, an easy going smile on his face. "I've got blackened but otherwise deliciously gooey marshmallows going here."

"Hey!" Jezebelle called back, even though her voice wouldn't carry past a whisper, though when her eyes landed on Joshua, she lowered her hand uncertainly. "Who's that?" she asked Journey, trying to remember if she'd met the boy at the movie party. Had he been there? And if he had been, had he bothered her there? Jezebelle's footsteps slowed and she bit her lip, uncertain. She couldn't say what bothered her about him, but suddenly Jezebelle was less eager to move.

Journey's hand shot up in automatic greeting and he shot Joshua a grin. Poor bastard looked bored out of his mind... And then at her question, he turned to gaze at Belle, looking somewhat quizzical. "That's, uh, Josh?" he said uncertainly. "Lu's boyfriend. He was at the party Friday. Why?" He slowed to match her pace and raised his eyebrows. It didn't really seem like her to be shy.

Noticing the way that Journey and Jezebelle had slowed down, Joshua frowned slightly in confusion. Clearly marshmallows were not quite the incentive he thought they were. Still, he had to admit that girlfriends by far won out over sugary goodness any day so he wasn't gonna begrudge Journey one-on-one time with his girl. and turned his attention back to the fire and opened another can of soda. They could come talk to him when they were ready, after all he wasn't going anywhere soon.

"Is he safe?" Jezebelle asked, moving back behind Journey to peer over his shoulder. Josh wasn't scary, per say, but just looking at him made her stomach sink. It was hard feeling to ignore, like she should turn and run, but if he was Lulu's boyfriend, she didn't want to be rude. Wasn't Lulu one of Journey's friends? Jezebelle remembered her from the party. Lullaby. Thia. Jezebelle remembered her as Thia... but she hadn't been introduced to her boyfriend at the time.

Safe? What? His eyebrows rose higher, and he glanced from her, to Josh, and back. "Uh, as far as I know, yeah. He's a Good Guy," Journey said with emphasis. Otherwise? Josh wouldn't be near Lullaby. He would have taken care of that already. "What's up, Belle? Something wrong?" 'cause this? Was weird. All kinds of it, actually.

"Okay," she said, but she stayed behind Journey, eying him wearily. "No fangs... or anything?" Her eyes scanned Joshua's body, looking for horns or a tail. He had neither, yet she couldn't shake the feeling. She remembered Michael asking her questions, so convinced she was a demon of some sort. She wondered if she should be asking those as well, yet Lulu didn't seem the type to have taken up dating a demon. Course, Journey might not date her, if he knew what she was.

Fangs. What!? Journey gaped at her. "Fangs," he repeated carefully, trying and failing miserably to keep suspicion out of his voice. Okay, Lulu's bonfire? Really not the place to press his girlfriend on her knowledge of things with fangs. You didn't just randomly ask if someone had fangs, unless you suspected other people really might have fangs! That was weird, even for Jezebelle! "Nooo... why?"

"I don't know, just... don't leave me," she said, and squeezed his hand, still unsure about Joshua, but unwilling to make herself look like some kind of a freak in front of Journey. The way he was looking at her didn't exactly bode well for following that line of conversation. She peeked around him at Joshua and took a deep breath. Really, he wasn't going to bite her. She just couldn't figure out why she thought he might.

Okay, so Journey and Jezebelle had arrived at the fire and she was hiding behind him - Joshua was feeling a little confused. "Is everything okay guys?" he asked, leaning forward to hold a skewer of marshmallows over the fire. Confusion could be eased by sugar, he was sure of it. It might not be much of a theory but he was sticking to it.

Journey kept his hand firmly twined with Belle's, absolutely positively confused and trying to keep it out of his expression. He failed miserably, of course. Hiding things wasn't exactly his strong suit. He plopped down beside Josh, keeping hold of Belle's hand and giving it a little reassuring squeeze. "Yeah, she was just wondering if we'd shut the door to her place or not," he lied. Because, really, what else could he say? 'She was asking if you bite.' Pfffft.

Joshua gave a small nod, his confusion quickly going. "Oh right. Totally been there myself." Of course, in his case he usually hadn't shut the door so it was probably a good thing he didn't live alone. Lifting the skewer out of the fire, he offered it towards them. "Marshmallow? I think I'm at risk of exploding if I eat all of these."

Jezebelle leaned back, eyes wide as he thrust the flaming ball of gooey sugar towards them. Backwards she scooted, tripping over her cloak, convinced he was about to set them on fire. "Be careful!" she screamed-- well, not screamed, but whispered in a panicked fashion. She looked to Journey with slightly frightened eyes. Was he trying to get her killed?!

Lullaby looked over from where she'd been sort of making her rounds talking to people and she had to blink at the sudden scene. She rushed over, looking hella confused, and it looked to her like Journey and Joshua were right there with her. "What's...going on?" she asked.

Okay, he was just going to assume flaming sugary thingys freaked her out . And knowing her? She probably had no idea how to roast marshmallows, or even what they were. Journey plucked the stick out of Josh's hand, looking relatively unphased, even though... yeah. Total screaming confusion. Lullaby would be able to pick it out easy. Josh and Belle? Maybe not so much. He blew on the marshmallow and offered it to Belle, along with a little smile. "'sjust sugar. Try it. Careful though, it's hot," he said mildly.

Jezebelle looked between Journey and Joshua, then at the thing melting on the end of the stick. At least it wasn't on fire anymore, though it didn't look like sugar. "What do you do with it?" she asked, poking at it tentatively with her finger. So long as the objective wasn't to stick the flaming ball of sugar in her face, she was immediately better off, but even with no fire, she was skeptical. Joshua had made it. And he... well, he'd mention he might explode if he ate any more. "Will it make me explode?" she asked.

Lullaby stared at Jezebelle for a long moment. A long, calculating moment where she wasn't at all sure what to say. Her brown eyes ticked to Journey, then back to the girl. "You eat it." she said to her, before she bit her lip and looked to Joshua. She'd kind of gotten...weird vibes from Jezebelle before. At the movies party, she'd seemed strange and sort of...well, she seemed to need everything explained to her. She'd been telling herself that maybe it had been an off night or something, but this sort of clinched it for her. It hadn't been an off night, it was just how she was. Oh dear.

Joshua, unlike Journey, was making no attempt to hide his confusion. Instead he was looking at Jezebelle with a baffled expression on his face. "No, it won't make you explode." he said, blinking in confusion as he turned to Lulu for support, slipping his hand into hers. He had already got a distinct impression of weirdness from Journey's girlfriend at the movie night and tonight wasn't providing any reason to change it.

And now they were looking at her like she was the odd one, not Joshua, who'd been speaking of exploding and flinging flaming sugar at her. If the expression had just come from Joshua, Jezebelle would have shrugged it off, but it was mirrored on Lullaby and that was probably a bad thing. "I eat it?" she asked Journey softly, then slowly reached out and pulled the marshmellow off the end of the stick. It was squishy and sticky between her fingers and she slowly took a bite, nibbling on the edge. It was sugary. "It's good," she said nervously, fearing the amount of attention she'd drawn. Maybe she should have kept her mouth shut, but Joshua was still making her nervous for absolutely no good reason.

Journey was a protector. Protecting? What he did. Kind of second nature, and it wasn't only bodily harm that caused his instincts to rile up. Social awkwardness did it, too. He just never imagined he'd end up in a situation where he wanted to protect his girlfriend from his best friend and her boyfriend. Damnit. He flashed Belle a reassuring grin and gave her hand a quick squeeze, trying to communicate that everything would be fine. Then he turned back to the fire, not looking at any of them. What the hell had just happened? No. Really. Someone needed to whip out the graphs and the neon signs because what the fuck.

Lullaby noticed the closed off thing that happened with Journey. She felt bad about it, but really couldn't do anything about it. She was thoroughly weirded out and officially worried. She'd ask Joshua to go for a walk with her if his ankle wasn't fucked up. At least then it would get them away from Journey and Jezebelle, and the uncomfortable would stop for now. "Anyone want anything?" she asked instead. Maybe someone would say something, and she could have the excuse of getting it, and just maybe Joshua could come with her. Or something. She didn't know.

Joshua looked from Lulu to Journey, then to Jezebelle before dropping his gaze to his lap. He wasn't sure what had happened but he was pretty sure it was his fault. He wasn't sure how exactly but it was a statistical probability as most things were his fault. At Lulu's question, he looked up at her gratefully - he hated awkward silences - and gave a hand a small squeeze. "I could do with walking around a bit, my legs starting to cramp. Care to oblige your newly crippled boyfriend?" he asked, trying to keep his tone light. After all, it wasn't like he wanted to get away from Jezebelle who for some reason was giving him weird looks. Nope, not in the slightest.

Lullaby was grateful for that, and she squeezed his hand back. "Yeah, I can do that. Gimpy." she said affectionately, and she gave him a smooch on the cheek, standing up. She tugged at his hand, to help him up (cuz she was so big and strong, and he wasn't at all a ton taller than her or anything). Looking over at Journey again, she kind of gave him a little half smile, but there was something missing to it. "Talk to you guys later." she said, giving them both a wave.

His head shot up and Journey stared at her. Him. Them. And he did notice the missing part of her smile. Oh. Ouch. Fuck. He felt his insides twist, because this wasn't supposed to happen. Girlfriend-boyfriend stuff wasn't supposed to come between them, ever! Especially not weird girlfriend-boyfriend stuff, like Belle suddenly thinking Josh had sprouted fangs or whatever. And he wasn't feeling any sort of resentment rise up towards Belle for coming between him and best girl shaped friend or anything, oh no. Nope. Never. Not him. Certainly not. He flashed Lullaby and Josh both an apologetic little half smile. "Okay. Be careful," he said automatically. It was dark, and Josh did have that curse thing... "Yell if you need me."

Lullaby nodded. "I will." she promised, then she started off with Joshua, going slow enough that he didn't mess up his ankle again, but not dawdling around either.
~*~*~
Once they had got enough distance between them and the fire to be out of earshot, Joshua turned to Lullaby with a questioning look on his face. "So that was incredibly weird right? I mean I haven't spent much time around girls except you but that definitely qualifies as bizarre behaviour surely?" Of course some people might argue that Joshua was the last person who should be making judgments about strange behaviour but they weren't around so pfft to them.

Lullaby was watching his lips as he spoke, and she looked damned troubled herself. "That was weird. that was really, really weird, and I don't really know what to do about it, because I'm starting to wonder if..." she looked back over, then leaned in closer to Joshua. "What if she's...if she's slow?" she asked as delicately as possible. She really hated to say it out loud, but...how many times did they have to tell her to eat it? And why on earth would they have to in the first place? That and it looked like she was suddenly, inexplicably afraid of Joshua, which...why? They'd all been there at the movies, and she'd seemed fine then, what the hell was with the sudden 180?

"I suppose she could be." Joshua said, the puzzled expression back in full force. "But the way she acts with people seems pretty...I don't want to say normal, but you know what I mean, not overly weird." Casting his gaze back towards the fire, he frowned slightly in thought. "Maybe she just had a sheltered upbringing." he offered turning back to Lulu, still baffled by the fact Jezebelle had never had a marshmallow. "I mean a really sheltered upbringing."

"I think the only thing that would cover her is like, if she was brought up under a rock." Lullaby said. She looked distressed, and she fidgeted, looking up at Joshua and hoping he had some kind of answer for her. Hell. She'd take anything at this point. 'It'll be okay' would have been awesome. "She was acting like she never met you. She has. And um...I just..." she shook her head and ran her fingers through her short hair. "Joshua, she's...she doesn't know anything! Simple things! Like...she's...like a little kid with a big vocabulary..."

To be honest, Joshua really didn't know what to make of Jezebelle, the girl gave off a vibe that he just couldn't place and it made him feel slightly uncomfortable. Unsure of what to say, he resorted to wrapping his arms around Lulu and giving her a small squeeze. "I know she's a little strange, maybe even a lot strange but she's not dangerous and Journey likes her so she can't be all bad. Unless Journey happens to be a really bad judge of character." he added after a moment's thought.

Lullaby put her arms up around his neck and gave him a pout. "I don't know. I mean, what if she hurts herself or something? I mean...okay this is going to sound really really mean, but I don't mean it to be, so keep that in mind, kay?" she asked. "But I mean...if she's really this...uneducated that she had to ask if eating a damn marshmallow would make her explode? Would you trust her to do...well...anything? And not hurt herself or others?"

"Lu, that doesn't sound mean, you're just concerned because you have that whole being an amazing person thing going for you." Joshua pointed out, brushing her hair back from her face as he spoke and trying to not pay attention to how cute Lulu looked when she pouted because it was talking time not kissing time. "And no I probably wouldn't but I'm the guy who probably shouldn't go within ten feet of a stove in case I manage to blow it up so maybe I shouldn't judge."

"Yeah but that's a curse. And totally not your fault. You're not..." she looked pained. "Stupid. You're a smart guy, things just happen to you. This is different. She seems really...dim. And...god, what if he's stuck taking care of her? It's the first girl who's ever even caught his attention, I feel really awful that it's turning out to be someone that I think he'd more have to babysit than date." She made a cute little frustrated sound. "It's not fair."

Joshua let out a frustrated sound of his own, albeit in his head. There needed to be a law stopping Lulu reaching that level of cuteness when they were talking about serious things because now his brain was moving in whole other direction definitely not related to discussing the weirdness of Journey's girlfriend. "No, it's not fair but if Journey really likes her then nothing is gonna convince him otherwise." Raising his hands, he gently cupped the sides of her face, stroking her cheek with his thumb. "Weird doesn't have to mean bad, if it did I would have chased you off ages ago."

She gave him a little smile at that. "No. I'm weird too, you know." she said. "And you're not, you're sweet." she corrected him, with a little poke in the side for good measure. "Sweet and adorable, and awesome and all sorts of other things that all point to my very favorite Joshua in the whole world. And there's a lot of them out there you know. So you're beating out like, a million other guys." Her mind was still unsettled about Jezebelle. Because weird she could deal with. The cape, the gothy thing, weird she was a-okay with. It was the mental capacity she was worried about.

"A million other guys?" Joshua replied,a wide grin on his face, as any more thoughts of serious discussion got pushed to the back of his mind. "And I beat all of them? Wow. I never knew I had it it me. Could I maybe get that in writing?" he said, gently tickling her sides because she was far too cute to resist and more importantly she started it. Therefore it was completely fair, even if he did have a significant height advantage.

Lullaby squirmed a little, laughing. "Heeey!" she said, "No fair, I just told you how awesome you were, now you tickle me?" She looked up at him and gave him a full force, un held back pout. "You're so mean, how could you ever be mean to me?" she asked, laying it on damn thick. Really, she wanted the distraction from her misgivings about Jezebelle and he was providing a perfect one.

Oh man, there is no way of resisting that look. Clearly this girl is a diabolical genius. "You poked me first!" Joshua pointed out, resting his hands on her waist. "But you're right, I was incredibly mean and should do everything in my power to make it up to you." And with that he leant forward and captured her lips into a kiss. After a while, he pulled back and gave her a wide smile. "You know, you are quite possibly the cutest person in creation."

She grinned at him. "In creation? All of it? Not just some of it. So in the entirety of existence, I'm the cutest person ever?" she asked, beaming at him. She thought that deserved another little kiss, which she gave him. Sure she was aware that she couldn't be buggered off smooching her boyfriend all night, but for the time being she was feeling pretty good about it.

"That about sums it up yeah." he replied, clasping his hands behind her. "And I'll have you know, I'm a world-wide respected scholar of cuteness, so what I say goes." So he was being silly, he didn't care. This was what girlfriend time was about; making her smile. And if kissing was required to make that happen? Then he was more than willing to make the effort.

"Well, if you're an authority on the subject, who am I to contradict you?" she asked, grinning at him once more. She gave him a more substantial kiss then, drawing it out some. Not as much as she would have liked had she say, oh, not had hostessy party things to tend to, but she gave him something to think about. "How's your ankle?" she asked. "You shouldn't be on it long."

The question didn't quite register with Joshua at first, what with his brain being fully focused on the kissing that was over far sooner than he would have liked. "Ankle?" he asked, blinking slightly as he shifted slightly sending shooting pain through his leg. Oh yeah, that ankle. "It's fine...ish." he replied, biting the inside of his lip to distract him. "Though you know, I've heard fabulous things about sitting down, thought I could give it a try." Yes sir, he was smooth and not at all unconvincing.

Lullaby looked amused, a little half smirk on her lips. "Sitting down, you know, I've heard great things about that too." she said. "In fact, it should be tried. I'll even give it a shot with you, how's that?" she asked, taking both of his hands in hers and she swung them back and forth in a playful little manner.

"That sounds marvelous!" he said with a grin, using the momentum of their swinging arms to spin Lulu around a couple of times. Catching hold of her before she got too dizzy, he gave her a gently squeeze. "Where would you suggest, what with you being the hostess with the most-ess and knowing all the good sitting spots?"

"I would definitely say the best spot is right outside of my tent. It's by the fire, and it'll be close to where there will be resting and other things later." Lullaby said, with a very bright smile. Of course, it was also probably an evil smile. Clearly, it was there behind those big, mostly innocent brown eyes. That little spark of hellfire bright and shiny.

That little statement, teamed with that smile had Joshua's brain kicking into overdrive. She so did not just say what I thought she said, did she? No, she definitely did. Oh god, right, wow. Right, stop reading into this Barclay. So what if you're going to her tent, it's a completely innocent proposition. And say something before you look even more like an idiot. "Okay." he managed to reply, his voice sounding slightly higher than usual. Kicking himself mentally, he cleared his throat before continuing. "That sounds great."

Lullaby had to resist the urge to giggle at how his voice had changed some. Standing up on tiptoe, she gave him a peck on the cheek, and then started leading him back towards the fire and the party, deciding she just won points. Definitely points for managing that.

*~*~*

Thom piled out of Isaac's car as they pulled up at the beach. He'd been fairly quiet all the way up - today had given him far too much to think about so far. He'd tried to keep himself busy - for a start he'd sat in his room and played with his new knife. He couldn't believe that his mom had given him a knife. And then, once he'd gotten over that, he'd spent the afternoon working on Kaysen stuff. Specifically, on the hoodie that he'd stolen from her without anyone noticing the other day. He'd wanted to spell it - wanted to spell something she'd have with her a lot, which meant either her hoodie, or her board and he'd not thought that he'd have a snowflake's chance in hell of stealing her board. So, hoodie it was.

It had taken him hours far too long - but the spell he'd had in mind was about as complicated as he could manage. He'd spent the entire time scared witless that he was going to send the item of clothing up in flames, checking and double checking each ingredient, but, at the end, it seemed to have worked and the hoodie that Thom had slipped into Kaysen's bag when they all piled into Isaac's car should now have the effect that, when she was wearing it she should go unnoticed by anyone who wished her harm. He knew they were limits - he really wasn't that good and anything really, really effective was way beyond him. But as long as she wasn't doing anything to draw attention to herself and as long as whatever or whoever it was wasn't actively seeking her out, it should do the trick. At least, it would lessen her chances of being a random target.

Thom shouldered his bag and led the group towards the tent, walking by Leija's side. His mother's words hadn't gone completely unheeded, but he didn't agree with her either. Silently, he reached for his girlfriend's hand and held it, giving her a little smile.

Leija allowed her hand to be taken and gave a little smile back. Yes, she was nervous. Yes, it had everything to do with the fact that he'd been quiet the whole time they'd been together today. Sure, his friend seemed in a better mood and therefore did a lot of the talking on the way up, but still. Maybe it was rampant paranoia, but it felt like there was something gnawing the hell out of Leija's stomach over it. Had he thought it over? Did he really not want to be with her freakish self anymore and was just getting through this one thing he'd already invited her to?

She made herself take a breath and stop gripping his hand so tight. Social things, she should be ... social. That would be nice and distracting. As they drew closer to everybody, her eyes started to scan around for Caleb.

As they drew near the ring of tents and the people already gathered, Thom leaned in to Leija a little more. "I'm just gonna go claim us a space, okay?" he told her, softly, into her ear. "I'll be right back." He turned his head slightly and kissed her on the cheek, lingering longer than he really had to. He didn't let go of her hand either - he wondered if it was possible to be distant, yet clingy at the same time. He wasn't sure what to say, but he didn't want to leave her either. The one thing that he did know was that he wished they didn't have to be here tonight - that they'd had some alone time to work things out. But here they were and he'd have to just get over in and be sociable.

Her grip tightened up again. She had a terrible feeling of not wanting to let him more than three feet away from her. "I'll come," she said, looking over at him after he seemed done kissing her cheek. "I'll help set up." The smooch was slightly reassuring, but her demanding nature wanted her to go and talk to him. Or do something normal, like setting up a tent, that wasn't within earshot of everyone else. It wasn't like they could talk in the car. Then it occurred to her that he might want to be away from her for a few minutes. "Unless -- ... okay, I'll be here." Stupid. Where else are you gonna go?

She needed have finished that sentence anyhow, since he was already dragging her away from the group. Good job he hadn't let go of her hand really. "Here do?" he asked her, once they were in a clear space away from everyone else. He dropped the bags he was carrying - except for his guitar case, which he carefully put down, finally letting her go to do so. He turned back to her. "You okay?" he asked. "We... I know we haven't really had a chance to talk..."

Leija let her own backpack slide to the ground. She'd only been camping a handful of times, so there looked like as good a spot as any. She glanced over her shoulder at everyone hanging around the fire, then back to him. "I was gonna ask you the same thing," she said with a faint laugh. It was more nervous than amused. "Um ... yeah, I'm ... fine. Are you okay?"

Thom noted the emphasis and eyed her. "Yeah, I'm fine - tired. Didn't get a whole lot of sleep last night and I was up early this morning, but..." He sighed a little and stepped into her, putting his arms around her and pulling her close. "But I haven't suddenly changed my mind," he said, reassuringly, leaning in to brush a kiss over her lips. He didn't mention his mother, or what she'd said, or the demon thing. That was definitely a conversation for another day. A non-urgent subject that could be put off until some time when she wasn't going to jump immediately to the worse possible conclusions.

It was hard not to jump immediately to the worst possible conclusions, but the closeness helped some. She unknowingly echoed his earlier thoughts about wishing that they could be somewhere else that was more Alone, but ... it would be fun. Maybe. And there wasn't anywhere Alone where she could really spend the night with him, so bonfire it was, and she'd be grateful for it. "Good," she murmured, mouth still close to his. She brushed his hair a little more out of his eyes so she could look into them. She believed him; after everything, he wouldn't lie to her. "Me either. And ... and if you want to talk or anything, I'm here, okay? Even if we look like antisocial assholes, you're more important than them."

"There will be," he told her, still not letting her go. "But - not here. I'd prefer to not always be looking over my shoulder to see who's around. Look - tomorrow. You busy? I was thinking maybe we could let your dad know that I didn't abduct you in the night, then maybe we could... talk. Properly. Just you and me." That was sensible - more sensible than trying to talk it out here and now, when people would be around and coming to see what they were up to - or cat calling and making fun of the couple who were off in the shadows together.

Just promise you're not breaking up with me already. But he'd already said he hadn't changed his mind, so that would be fairly Paranoid Girlfriend of her to say. She knew if she were him, she'd have a billion and ten questions to ask, things to try to figure out and understand. ... Hell, she did have a billion and ten things to ask, but she couldn't. Leija bit her bottom lip for a second, then nodded and took a steadying breath. "Okay. Tomorrow then," she agreed, trying on a smile. It felt okay, so she kept it. But she couldn't help but add on: "We're okay, though, right?"

"Leija," Thom told her. "If we weren't okay, you'd know already - I don't string people along, it's not fair and I suck at it." He would never be that kind of person. Never.

"I know," she said quietly, some heat coming into her cheeks. "Sorry." And she did know, she was just ... worried. He wasn't the only one who hadn't slept well the night before. Her eyes ticked down to his collarbone and she chided herself for being so concerned. This was bigger than some infant relationship, anyway.

"Hey," Thom said, gathering her into his arms. "I'm sorry - I didn't mean for that to come out like that." His tone had been bordering on harsh, he knew - he wasn't doing well with words tonight, it appeared. He decided to give up on them altogether and reached to tilt her head up so that he could kiss her.

*~*~*

Kaysen got out of the car and walked a few feet away, staring down the rocky path that lead through the woods then down to the beach warily. She had her hood pulled up, and she was sort of pausing. Her hands were shoved in the front pocket, absently noting that one of the many, many patches sewn onto the material was frayed a bit and needed to be re-sewed. Hello inane observations. She was uncomfortable, but she was trying to tell herself she belonged there. She'd been invited. Sure, by her brother, but still. Invited. She was actually going to be there at the party, not just around it.

This is a stupid, horrible, terrible, no good, very bad idea.

And no way in hell was she showing that, so she set off down the path herself to get there first. Take that. When she took the wooden steps two at a time to make it down to the beach where there was in fact a fire going, she hesitated again, her bravado evaporating. She gave a kind of awkward half wave to the people standing there. "Hey." she said. That was casual, wasn't it? That said 'I belong here, don't look at me like a freak', right?

As with the house party, Charlotte hadn't allowed herself to arrive right away. Even though her mom had dropped her off this time, Charlotte had still made her circle the block a few times, just to be safe. And then Charlotte had got out of the car, and hurried her mom away before anyone could really see her. Kaysen and Isaac were here, and so was Lullaby (well, duh). That was good, though. Three whole people she already knew. In theory, there was no possible way this could be worse than the house party.

Walking about a dozen steps behind Kaysen, she waved awkwardly to the group of people slowly gathering. This didn't look bad. This would be survivable.

Kaysen looked back, and then gave a kind of half wave to Charlie. "Hi." she said. Did that sound strange? This was the girl who'd been kinda sorta nice to her and she was waiting for that to horribly backlash on her and make her world a miserable place. "Edison's doing fine." she added, so she'd know she hadn't killed the poor thing or something. Some people would have figured it would happen.

Charlotte actually grinned. "I'm glad." she said. "I'm really happy you took him in." She'd been wanting a chance to check in on the pair, it just hadn't happened yet. She wasn't anywhere near powerful enough to check in on the kitty's mind when it was inside another house. Someday, though!

"Me too. He seems to like me, I guess. And my room. Like, under my desk is his favorite place. And I have feather pens he likes. He's pretty cool with my backpack too." Which she felt naked without. It was like her board. She was twitchy without it, but sand didn't mix with boards.

"Underneath desks are pretty much kitty-fort paradises." Charlotte commented, stilll grinning slightly. Her cats had already unearthed every super awesome hiding spot in the new house - which made Charlotte's abilities more than a little helpful for finding them when it was hidey time.

*~*~*

Jezebelle curled in on herself, hands coming up to cover her eyes as she bent over her knees. That had gone spectacularly bad. She'd had awkward moments with humans before, but nothing that even compared to the looks she'd received from all three of them. Even Journey. And now Lullaby had left, which meant she still wasn't going to meet Journey's friends or... well, she'd met them. She just didn't think they'd come back after that. "I'm sorry," she whispered, unable to look at Journey, afraid of what she might see.

He kept his grip on her hand, and gave it another little squeeze as he turned to look at her. Journey let out a sigh, the little ball of not-resentment dissolving at how upset she was. He reached out and slung an arm over her shoulder, giving her a little squeeze as he scooted closer to her. "It's okay, Belle. Don't be sorry," he said softly. "What's going on? Why're you so afraid of Josh?" Or maybe she was just afraid of flaming marshmallows. Who knew?

"I don't know," she said, looking up at him, her cheek resting on her knees. "It was just this feeling I had. Like I was going to be sick or something. Like I should run away. So, I thought, maybe I was... I don't know," she sighed. "I usually only feel like that when I should run." All her instincts screamed 'beware of Joshua' in big bold letters. Looking at him, she couldn't reason it, and she knew it was odd. She knew it, but she couldn't help it any more than she could understand it.

That was weird. And a little crazy. And unnerving. Lulu was dating a guy that scared the shit out of his girlfriend. Okayyy... What the fuck did that mean? Josh had seemed like a good guy so far, curse and all, but maybe... Ugh, he needed to not think about that! At all, preferably ever, because that road just led to all sorts of badness. No questioning Lullaby's boyfriend, unless... well, unless something else fucked up happened. He had a guardian angel, right? Guardian angels didn't hang out with murderers, so it was all good. Journey bit his lip, considering their course of action. "Uh... I know this is shitty to say, but I think until he does do something that might actually be considered dangerous or bad, you should just... ignore it?" he offered, internally cringing. Oh yeah, he was so helpful. "It's not that I don't believe you or anything, it's just that so far, I've talked to Josh a couple times, and seen how he acts around Lu, and he hasn't done anything bad, Belle. And I wouldn't let him hurt you, anyways, you know that, right?"

"Okay," she said softly, realizing that was just what she'd have to do. Until he did something awful, she had to pretend he wouldn't, like that feeling wasn't there. She wasn't sure what unnerved her so much about Joshua, but there was just something about him. Course, there was something about her too, and Journey never seemed to realize it. If he couldn't even figure her out, she didn't think he'd ever manage to know something was up with Joshua. "You should go see them," Jezebelle sighed. "I'll go meet other people. Don't be stuck with me just cause I run your friends off." Maybe Journey could fix things. There was always that hope.

Journey glanced over at where Lullaby and Josh were, and he watched them for a few long moments, just in time to see them start smooching on each other. He really couldn't help but make a face at the display. "Uhh... no thanks. I'll just hang out here by the fire for awhile. Eat some marshmallows, you know, maybe talk to some people." Except he wasn't really in a chatty sort of mood right now. There was a lot of stuff on his mind, and... well, hell, he was horrible at keeping things in. If he started talking to someone right now, he'd just go on a rant. Fuck that. "You go talk to people, have fun. I'll be here if you need me, okay?" he said, flashing her a grin. He kind of sort of got the feeling she was wanting to branch out socially, meet some people that weren't so closely related to him. Eh, it could only be good for her.

It wasn't that she wanted to get away from him, but that she knew she needed friends. Jezebelle couldn't spend every waking minute with him, and every time he was gone, she was alone. She'd committed to staying in a world where she knew no one and for some reason she wasn't clicking well with Journey's group of friends. It was discerning and made her worry that she'd made the wrong decision. She could still go home. Thinking about that made her feel worse than sitting around Joshua though. "I'll see you later then," she said, trying to give him a smile as she rose to her feet. With her confidence at an all time low, Jezebelle set out to meet a few other people, hoping that maybe she'd meet someone who understood her.

*~*~*

Tensiel had had what you'd call an 'interesting day', and she wasn't ready for it to be over yet. Not by a long shot. Maybe it was being out of the house and roaming around like she was used to again after so long stuck in one place; or maybe it was not having anybody telling her what to do (even if they were right); or maybe it was because she'd just woken up from a nice nap in the back of her truck - but she was perfectly full of energy and still had Lullabye's invitation to a party involving a large fire.

Fire for the win, frankly. So here she was, pulling in next to some other cars near a fire and some tents by the shore. Tensiel checked her dressings, turned out the ignition, and petted the dashboard before slipping out her truck and making her way towards the other teenagers.

It crossed her mind many times that she'd not exactly done a great job at the last gathering she'd been invited to... but she was determined to try again. She swallowed a bit, hands at her sides, and walked over.

Tensiel was relieved that Lullabye recognized her, and remembered that she was hard of hearing so she just smiled and waved and nodded back - seeing that the popular girl was busy with all her other guests. She ventured nearer to the fire, and it was once the light of the flames really made the other kids visible that she saw another face she knew.

Well, saw her firey hair first, of course. Tensiel raised and waved, daring to raise her voice a little bit in the bustle of excited voices.

"Leija? Hiya!"

Leija'd gotten a bit more comfortable by the time Ten arrived, with a drink in her hand. She was still kind of hanging around Thom, but not so much in a shy, I'm-having-a-bad-night-go-away sort of fashion. It was more of a this-is-my-boyfriend fashion. She looked around as she heard her name being called, her expression surprised. Oh! It was Tensiel! Murmuring a word to Thom and getting a nod, she headed over in the other angel's direction, smiling brightly.

"Hey Ten," she greeted. "Good to see you, sweetie, how's it going?"

"It goes," Tensiel answered, smiling back at the nice reception from Leija. It made her feel much better about coming. "It's good to see you, too, Leija."

She hoped Leija hadn't been looking for her at all since the last time they'd seen each other (and had that talk) had been right before she vanished on account of her stitches.

Speaking of which... she needed to pick out some nice snacks for Caleb and then she needed to sit down. But first, Leija! Tensiel looked up at Leija and gave her a small smile, "How've you been? Who's that guy you were with?" Curiouser and curiouser, that was Tensiel

"I've been okay," she said, still smiling back. "That's Thom, he's --" Leija broke off as she glanced the other girl over more closely, and noted the bandages on her hands. "Oh what happened?!" she exclaimed in a worried, breathy sort of way. She gestured to Tensiel's hands with her cup, not wanting to snag them up for a closer look or anything. She looked genuinely concerned; Tensiel was too sweet and ... well, angelic, to be hurt. That just sucked.

"Hm?"

A confused little noise came out of Tensiel as she looked down too, then she realized Leija meant her hands. Uh oh, she'd meant to hide them better, but really there was only so much to do about it. The little angel shrugged a bit and held them out to look at them curiously as well. "I cut them on some metal," she explained, giving Leija a glance through her dark-brown bangs that had fallen into her eyes. "It's okay, I just shouldn't shake anybody's hands or climb trees and stuff for a little bit. Don't worry."

"Oh," she said, though it didn't sound terribly convinced. "Well ... lemme know if you need help opening cans or anything." However, it wasn't like she could argue or anything. So she just nodded and smiled in a sympathetic way, giving a glance around. She hadn't seen Caleb yet, and she was kind of starting to wonder if he was going to show at all. Which was weird, 'cause he'd invited her, but. She of all people knew sometimes that things came up. She didn't think to ask Ten, however, just aimed the subject in another direction. "Are you going to stay the night?"

"Stay the night?" Tensiel echoed, looking around too and finally noticing the tents set up just a little away from the fire. Oh, so this was a camp-out sort of situation. Maybe she would have done, but Tensiel had to shake her head a little bit. "I promised I'd see Caleb at home later," she told Leija. Speaking of... there were some snacks and drinks. Tensiel picked up a can of soda, feeling the beads of condensation on it seep through her bandages eventually as she picked up a spork from a nearby pile of cutlery for the snacks and used the handle to lever open the tab.

"And see, I've got cans covered," she said with a small pleased smile, waving the spork cheerfully. Such useful things! And they only existed in North America so far as she knew... a native species of cutlery. She took a sip of the soda and sneezed a little bit. Lots of caffiene in this! "How about you?"

*~*~*

Jordan had wandered a little, though she made sure she could still see Chance, not wanting to wander too far and loose sight of her ride. The last thing she needed was for him to get into a fight with Isaac and Thom which ended with him storming off or worse. She didn't want to get stranded here, but more than that she didn't want Chance to have to deal with that. A selfish part of her would have been devastated if she had been the one person to bring a guest that brought the party to physical blows. She'd never be able to look Lulu in the face again- and with the weekly lessons... that would suck. From what Jordan could hear though, at least there seemed to already be a verbal battle going on elsewhere.

Chance found Jordan a few moments after leaving Kaysen. He was already ready to go, but they had just arrived and he wanted Jordan to at least say hi to her friend. He touched her shoulder gently to let her know he was back and he shot her a small smile, his voice low as not to draw attention. All of that seemed to be on the argument going on elsewhere. "You doing okay?"

Jordan turned when she heard Chance approach and nodded to him. 'G-r-e-a-t.' She was enjoying the view, the one that didn't have people in it. Part of her realized she should try and find Lullaby soon so they could take off. 'How was' She could sign the question, but didn't know how to spell Kaysen's name. 'K?' she finally completed, glancing around for Lulu.

Lullaby wasn't far, and she looked over and smiled at Jordan, waving. She wandered over as well. "Hello." she said to both Jordan and Chance. "I'm Lullaby. You can call me Lulu if you want, I'm assuming you're Jordan's friend?" she asked him.

Chance didn't have time to answer Jordan's question before Lulu arrived, for which he was thankful. What could he say? Add another "get lost" to the Kaysen file?

Turning to Lullaby, he smiled at her tentatively. "Yeah, I'm Chance. Nice to finally meet you Lulu."

"Nice to meet you too." she said. "I hope you're enjoying the party, did you need anything?" she asked, hoping that she was loud enough to be heard, since she knew her voice was a little strange and too-quiet sometimes. She also wasn't sure Chance understood sign, even if she was doing it.

Chance nodded, understanding everything she was signing to him. He was determined, now, to learn more sign language to be able to talk to Jordan easier. Maybe if he signed with her, it would make things easier? He wasn't sure. "No, I'm fine, thanks." He turned to Jordan and touched her elbow gently. "Do you need a drink?"

'Please, Thank you.' She signed to Chance with a thankful look too. She shouldn't need to tell him what she wanted. Anything with caffeine, that's how she rolled. 'Hi, Lulu.' She finally said, turning to Lullaby. She had been hoping to not have to 'talk' to anyone tonight except Chance and Lulu so she prepped the note ahead of time. Digging it out of her pocket she passed it to Lulu. 'Thanks for the invite, we're having a wonderful time.'

September was not happy. In fact, she was pretty damn close to livid. Joshua had left through his window, hurt himself, and then continued to go to an outdoor party in the middle of nowhere. He had snuck out like a little boy. And while perhaps not the most rational of thoughts, September was just going to go ahead and treat him like one.

I warned him. I warned him. I told him if he put me in this position again what I would do. Well, now she was going to do it. The cab pulled in on the dirt drive before the happy bonfire scene, and September told the driver that he was going to wait for her or face pain of death. Then she got out, slammed the door, and marched over to the scene of happy teenagers, glaring at Joshua all the way. "JOSHUA BARCLAY."

Joshua had a marshmallow half way to his mouth when he heard the familar voice and his blood froze. Turning towards the voice, the colour drained from his face as he saw an incredibly pissed off guardian heading straight towards him. This is not going to end well. Giving Lulu's hand a reassuring squeeze, he pushed himself to standing. "Brace yourself Barclay" he muttered under his breath and slowly started walking to meet September.

I told you. I told you not to put me in this position again. You bastard. Yes, it was more than just quite possible that September's temper had reached its peak. There were two versions of this mindframe. One was with an enemy, where she could treat it as such. And one was with Joshua, where she was simply going to get very loud, very angry, and very unreasonable. September didn't even attempt to keep her voice down. "Sneaking out of your window like a little boy?!" she demanded. "And hurting yourself in the process! If you want to be treated like an adult, why do you insist upon acting like a little boy?!"

Seeing September this angry was not doing anything to calm him down. Even at the hospital, she hadn't seemed as angry and then she was dealing with demonic hallucinations. Trying to keep his voice level, which was really difficult because as well as being more than a little freaked out, what she was yelling at him was starting to piss him off. "I'm not a child September. It's my life, my choices to make even if it's the wrong one."

"Yes I went out of the window because I knew, I knew you wouldn't want me to come and I was trying to avoid having another argument with you. Yes, I twisted my ankle but it's been iced and I'm fine!" So staying calm wasn't working out so well for him.
"I just wanted to go out and have some normal teenage fun with my girlfriend, for fuck's sake. Look around you September, there's nothing here!"

"And if there was?!" September demanded. "Would you 'run' again? Would that save you? What about everyone else? You are eighteen Joshua! And since you haven't considered what that means, let me tell you! It means you would be held responsible for everyone here as a present adult if something did happen! You know that it's dangerous to be outside right now, and not only are you putting yourself in danger, you're going along with it even though all of your teenage friends and teenage girlfriend could be in danger too! Would it be worth it then?! We're not just talking about YOU, Joshua! You're an adult now and you have to start showing some responsibility for those around you!"

Joshua felt as though he'd been slapped. September had struck a major nerve with what she said and he took another step towards her, his eyes glittering with anger. "Don't you think I know that!" he yelled, his hands balling into fists beside him. Gritting his teeth, he brought his voice down so only September would hear him.

"I have a curse hanging over my head that means people could get hurt just by being around me. Me just being somewhere causes things to go wrong. You just got out of the hospital for fuck's sake. I can't stop people making the decision to be involved with me, all I can do is take responsibilty if something happens - whatever that might mean."

"Trouble finds me whether I'm looking for it or not, I can't just hide away and hope it wont find me. What the hell would you have me do September?!"

"I would have you not go to a bonfire when there are demon cats wandering and attacking, and I would have you warn Lulu about said cats." September hissed, voice lowered and for Joshua's ears only. "You're the one that wants to share information, that would be a great start. Not doing anything to protect yourself and those around you is just the same as enabling it to happen."

September was seething mad, and wanted nothing more than to grab Joshua by the ear and drag him back to the cab - like she'd told him she would do after the party at the abandoned orphanage. "But they are not my responsibility - you are. I don't care what you think about it, we're leaving. What you tell your friends is up to you."

The retort 'make me' was dangerously close to escaping Joshua's lips but he managed to bite it back before he could antagonise September further. Her turning up was bad enough in itself but he could tell if he pushed her anymore he was liable to get dragged home kicking and screaming and his ego had taken enough bashing for one night, thank you very much.

"Fine" he said, rubbing the back of his neck with barely veiled frustration. "Can I have a minute to grab my stuff and say goodbye?"

September didn't say a word. Just kept the annoyed glare on her face (she was so good at it, after all), gave a single, curt nod, and turned to go back to the cab. She didn't actually get in, she just opened the door, and stood with crossed arms waiting for Joshua.

Lullaby stepped up from where she'd been, only noticing the commotion, then she noticed what was happening. She blinked at September, then Joshua and she opened her mouth, but didn't say anything. She didn't think there was anything to say right now, nothing that wouldn't get in the middle of a family argument, and she didn't want to do that. She just got a horrible sinking sensation in her stomach, and she looked around to her other guests, hoping no one was...well, frightened. September was scary.

Turning on his good leg, Joshua slowly made his way back to the fire where Lulu was standing. "I am so sorry." he said, signing as he spoke before wrapping his arms around in a hug. "I didn't mean to mess up your party." he said after pulling back, his face a mixture of emotions. Reaching down, he pulled his backpack onto his shoulders, casting a look back to his guardian and scowling. "God I hate her sometimes. She's just so...so...argh!" Turning back to Lulu, his anger faded and he gave her a warm smile. "I'm glad I came you know. Seeing you is well worth getting yelled at for."

Taking her hands in his, he gave them a gentle squeeze. "Can I come see you tomorrow?"

She nodded. "Yeah, of course." she looked past Joshua to September, then back to Joshua. She forced a smile, soft and worried a the edges, but it was there. Then she stood on tiptoe to give him a little kiss. "I'll be home, I hope you're not in too much trouble. I'm glad you came too." she said quietly for his ears only.