Party Hard
"I'll come with you, then. And there won't be any funny business next time," said Ai, grinning. "Now, watch you don't pass out from blood loss."
She let go of Lexi and moved to sit beside her again.
"You'll just have to learn to accept it for now. And to be fair, there's a difference between sexual attraction and romantic attraction. So you catch yourself ogling the eyecandy, but do you really think you see yourself dating Al, of all people?"
Alexia moaned. "Was it really that obvious?! Just, great." She sighed.
"You know, my sister Alice? She's completely asexual. Then again..."
She frowned. No need to dwell on that. "Anyway, Hope. Do you have a crush on someone?"
She turned to look at Ai. "...I honestly don't know. I've never dated. How was it with you and Charisse?"
edited 5th Jan '15 8:00:51 PM by GrimHelm
"Ai has a fair point." Hope nodded in acknowledgement. "Someone can look mighty appealing and still be a scumbag or, at the very least, incapable of serious romance. Or the other way around. Or you might luck out and find a person that's both appealing and good-natured."
"And, well, there are always some exceptions from the rule, just like people are straight, gay or bisexual. Or anything else, even."
Then came the mighty question that Hope honestly didn't expect from Alexia, of all people.
...sure, Alexia, I think I'm pretty madly in love with you. Let's have a ton of babies.
"...I might?" Miss Remington looked away, cursing her inability to not blush.
edited 5th Jan '15 8:03:24 PM by FergardStratoavis
Duel
"And now fer something spectacular!" Ayers grabbed Pius by the leg and lifted him up. Bringing the boy over his head, he slammed Pius back into the ground. He joined his first hand with his second, then brought Pius over his head again and slammed him into the ground. As a final blow, he tossed Pius into the air, and wound up a punch. If Pius didn't recover in time, Ayers would bring his fist up in a mighty uppercut.
Beach Party
Ayers casually sauntered around to position himself firmly in Hope's line of sight, behind Alexia. He nodded, slowly. He mouthed, do it.
Chuckling, Glen said "Damn right it is!" noting that there was still plenty of meat left on the carcass, Glen added "Eat as much o' that as you want, just be sure tae save some for me."
That said, Glen sat down and began cleaning and sharpening Biorgadh. While he worked, Glen looked at Beth and asked "You one o' Ieria's kin? Or just one o' the folk who live around here?"
Kate stifled a chuckle in response to Pius "Good luck gettin' Glen to talk about anyone but himself. But from what I've heard of you lot, seein' as we have nae seen much o' each other lately, he seems to think you're all capable warriors, which is praise comin' from him."
Party Hard
"Hm. Well, I'd never dated a girl before," said Ai, giving Alexia a wry smile, "I didn't start catching on until ... after we first fought Arcana, I think. When we were in the infirmary. That's your fault, by the way. Walking out on us like that. Could you be any more transparent?"
Ai shrugged.
"It's more like the opposite problem, though. I knew I liked Charisse, I just wasn't sure if that extended to sexual attraction. But it does now."
edited 5th Jan '15 8:30:53 PM by opnerf
Alexia smiled at Hope. Well, she didn't expect that her friend would actually like someone.
"Can you tell me who it is? Only if you want too, of course."
She smiled at Ai. "I had to be obvious. Charisse wouldn't have made a move otherwise!"
Beth continued to chomp down, happily savoring the meat.
"Ie-chan's my big sis. The Jades adopted me! I love them all!" she declared proudly.
edited 5th Jan '15 8:23:28 PM by GrimHelm
Party Hard
"True enough. Still needed to coax Charisse a little on Lovers' Day, though."
Ai leaned over onto Hope's shoulder, her fangs showing once again as a sure sign of trouble.
"You wanna tell us about your secret Mr. or Ms. Tall, Dark and Handsome?" she said.
edited 5th Jan '15 8:26:06 PM by opnerf
Beach Boar
Well, I wasn't actually talking to you, Pius thought with annoyance. But you mean well. Can't fault you for that.
"Thank you, uh, Mrs. Whorple," He replied out loud. "I'm sure you're a wonderful wife to him."
Wow, so young to be married, now that I say it out loud. He realized.
Duel
The first impact cracked the ice, and the second one shattered it while drawing out a yell from Pius. Seeing Ayers' uppercut as he was in the air, Pius raised up both arms and formed an ice shield in front of them to take the blow. Upon impact the ice was shattered and the Nobel was sent rolling back several feet before stopping. He slowly got up to his feet once more, feeling the battle wearing him down.
Little less than three minutes left. Pius reminded himself. I thought I'd last longer. Getting into a ready stance, Pius prepared for another clash.
Allurand and surrounding world loading, 28%......I can't do it. She will hate me. Think I was only being nice to her to get in her panties.
...she has hots for Pius and Alfred. How can I compete with those two? At best there will be some laugh about it and we'll forget it. At worst she'll freak out.
...
"...I, well..." Hope looked away, just to find Ayers' insistent stare. Then looked away only to find Ai's grin. Things were getting better by the minute. "C-can I say it in pri-private, Alex? It's a bit embarassing..." She mumbled, not looking at anyone.
I'm just digging myself deeper, aren't I?
edited 5th Jan '15 8:27:59 PM by FergardStratoavis
Duel
Ayers grabbed Hrunting and swapped it into a sword. He took a deep breath, and revved up the electrical engine inside it. "Now don't hit nobody I'm fond of in the future, y'all." He charged straight at Pius, trying to catch his legs with the flat of an electrified Hrunting.
Beach
Ayers looked over at Ai, then back to Hope... then traced Ai's line of sight, smiled at her, and held up a fist to bump it.
Duel
Eyes glowing gray, Pius copied Ayers' Semblance so that he could have some sort of fighting chance against his electrified blades. Unsheathing his arm blades and letting a current run through them, he parried Ayers' strike and jumped to give him an air-boosted kick to the chest.
Allurand and surrounding world loading, 28%...Fight
The sound of Jack's fist hitting him over and over again was actually kind of sad. He could feel the weight of the blows, but he felt the depression in the boy more. He reached up with one hand, and grabbed the boy's head, before pushing him off of him. "I married a Berserker, boy. Your punches are like those of a ballerina." He grumbles as he stands up after forcing him off. Oscar shifts stances again, assuming a more aggressive one as he all but vanishes and reappears in front of Jack, rearing back a fist. The first punch slams into his liver. "You need to target more vital areas other than the face." He growls. The second punch is a hook to his temple. The third, an uppercut to the chin. The last one was a straight to his face.
"Otherwise you will never improve."
Beach Beauties
Francesca chuckles. "That may be so, but even I mellowed out. You are still as much of a hard ass as the day I met you. Same with Oscar really." She chuckles.
Ieria tilts her head. "Whatever you want to play. I will enjoy it. Just do not scare the others..." Is all she said to Medus.
Triplets
Deciding to cut in again, the triplets start to hang off of Alexia's body. "I'm Heeri/Cheeri/Meeri!" They call in unison as they hug.
Wolf and Black Bear
Oscar smiles as he leads her to the fireworks, of which are a few large globes. "We're going to use these, Francesca had one of the Salva family members work these up." He says grinning at the memory of the salamander youth.
With Nate
"YOU!" Was all he would hear until a small body collided with his body, revealing it to be Verne, glaring playfully at him. "I knew you'd be here, you jerk!"
With Luna
The other of the elder twins decided to make himself known as well, as he tugged on Luna's shoulder. Jules smiled weakly at her, his pale skin shining dimly in the cave light.
"I am nature's weapon. You are unfit to carry on your species, and I shall ensure that you do not do so!" - Charles Darwin, XCOM SniperNate and Verne
Nate let a small scream as Verne attatched herself to him. "Nooooooooo!" Was all he said before slipping out, running over and hiding behind Pius, sticking his tongue out at Verne.
Luna and Jules
Luna let out a huge gasp of excitement at the sight of Jules. "JULES!" She said while jumping up and down.
Wolf and Black Bear
Lupa smiled at the explosives. "Oh my these definately look like high quality... They should be quite impressive."
Cyanea wasn't exactly participating right now. Why, because she was a bit preoccupied by her own devices. After getting to the party she produce six medium sized inner tubes which over the last half hour or so she inflated, by mouth. This left her both breathless, and a bit winded by the time she finished the last one and this was all off the beach. She didn't actually show up until the pig got out, and she showed up with a nice strong cord wrapped around the inner tubes dragging behind her. Her hair was tied up, and her goggles were firmly on the top of her head. She was in a athletic one piece that was black and blue and walked down the beach. Smelling the pig she smiled but she kept straight and finding a good vantage she pulled her inner tubes behind her and yelled out,
"HEY EVERYBODY! WANT TO PLAY A GAME!?"
The Student
...To be honest, nothing else was catching Lucas' s attention. He wasn't hungry for anything after he finished that plate of barbecue, he wasn't in the mood for dancing, and a lot of people he often talked to were busy. Not knowing what else to do, he seated himself by someone he hadn't talked to in a while.
"Hey Sophie..."
The Parents
Not too far from everyone else, a russet-haired woman and her husband headed over to the party, each of them carrying large bags.
"A-are you sure this is a good idea?" the woman asked.
"It's their eldest daughter's birthday," the other man responded. "It would be rude to come."
"But this is Francesca we're talking about," the wife responded. "I'd rather not see her try to make out with you. Or me, for that matter..." She shuddered momentarily, a bit of a blush on her face.
"Calm down, Minerva, " the man responded. "She typically means no harm with that—"
"I would rather not have Thaddeus see this!" she yelled, only to realize something. "Wait, where's Thaddeus?!?"
The troublemaker
Thaddeus had a plan. This time for sure, he'd pull a sneak attack on his older brother and prove once and for all that he was the best Huntsman!
Of course, the only part of the ten year-old's plan was to run around until he got a plan. And unfortunately, he ran into someone with wings and blonde hair while he was running.
"Hey!"
...This is the last time I'm bailing you out here, Woody.
Jack staggered back as he was shoved off of the prone figure,
"I married a berserker, boy. Your-"
"Shut up!" Jack shouted, drowning out whatever else Oscar said.
Suddenly, the Knight was in front of him, Jack blinked in quiet shock. "You need to target more vital areas than the face." His fist was pulled back, Jack raised his arms in a block only for a blow to slam into his liver, Jack felt the breath leave his body as pain flooded him, his arms hung limply. Another blow slammed into the side of his head, Jack staggered to the side, still struggling to regain his breath, a blow caught him under the chin, Jack tasted copper before the last blow sent him tumbling across the marble floor of the room they were. "Otherwise, you will never improve." Oscar said calmly. Jack felt his rage spike.
"Shut up!" he roared, impotently in between desperately trying to catch his breath. "I-I-I don't..." He continued to hyperventilate, clutching his side.
Good to be backDuel
When Pius jumped, Ayers jumped with him. "No sword, then." He popped Hrunting back on, and as the boosters kicked out, Ayers caught it in the stomach. He went with the blow, letting himself get tipped forward... which was perfect for him to grab out again and grab at Pius's legs.
Beach
Ayers stared at Ai in confusion, which only compounded once Ai covered her human ears. "So, first, lily's a kinda flower, right? And it's like, uh..." He wiggled his fingers at his crotch. "And then, uh, yer..." He stared in abject confusion and a little horror at Ai's head. "I thought Faunus only had they animal ears... that's... weird... hwut the hell's the inside of yer head look like with that setup?"
Deep breaths, Hope. The last thing you need is to suffocate from all this.
It's hard not to though...
"...it's kind of a silly matter... but here goes." Deep breath. "...that person... when I saw them first, I thought that they look familiar. Like a phantom from the past, you could say." A little squeeze of Alexia's hand. "As I talked to them, they seemed both burdened with their problems yet unflinching in their actions. No matter what they'd carry on their backs, they would always get back up on their own. I wanted to help them. Make them feel less painful. At first I thought that by appealing to this ghost I can clear my own flaws. What was left of me after my initiation two years ago... I'm not making much sense, am I?" Hope chuckled, but that chuckle was devoid of humor or any emotion at all. "But then, something happened. The phantom enthralled me, but no longer as a grim reminder of mistakes done a long time ago, but rather... the steady today and the mirthful tomorrow. That the phantom looked like someone from a fairy tale, someone so beautiful that many would worship them as a god didn't matter. What enthralled me was the heart of that phantom." Hope turned a little around to face Alexia... just in time to get her almost swept off her feet by the triplets.
...am I considering infanticide right now?
"...I'll just take a moment later. Then, Alex can go with you guys if she wants to." Hope said to the trio, forcing a rather wry smile.

"...that was honestly not quite as surprising as I thought it would." Hope mused, going back to her signature monotone. "It might even be mutual on his part, since you're about the only person he seems to care about. As for the hormones, we sort of are teenagers still. Give it a couple of years."
edited 5th Jan '15 7:57:08 PM by FergardStratoavis