Another year. Another food festival. Another way to cover up the many council meetings. Evangeline sighed a bit, running her fingers through her tresses of brunette hair. She rolled her head a little as she walked with her twin sister, Bristol, towards the taco truck that they visited every year. They couldn't help it though! It had the best tacos, and even the tortillas were made by hand. "So, Saul said he would meet us where?" Evan asked, fanning herself with the map they got at the front gate as she looked past all the food trucks to the rides. "Humans are so stupid to put rides in at a food festival." she rolled her eyes at the thought.

A small yawn escaped her, having worked late the night before at the bar. Not only that, she had to take the long way home when she felt herself being followed. She knew that this was a time of meeting for a lot of different groups in the area, but didn't they know that hunters would eventually catch on? Even if it wasn't exactly a problem around here, she had seen a few. Or at least caught onto a few of their tells. She sighed, and she could feel Bristol look at her. "What? It was a really late night last night."

They finally got to the taco truck and stood in the line that was already about five people long, and Evan heard her phone going off. "You've got to be kidding me." She groaned, but when she looked at it, she laughed. "Oh, well this is okay then."

She answered the phone. "Hey! Where are you, Bri said that we were supposed to be meeting you over by that one cart with the amazing funnel cakes from last year."

"I changed my mind on that. I got here earlier than I expected to. Where are you two?" Saul's voice came from the other end and Evan nudged Bri and smiled.

"We're by that Taco Truck we go to every year. Want us to get you one if you don't get here before we get to the window?" she asked, and she heard a chuckle from the other end.

"Sure, but let Bri order for me. I don't know how you can eat things as spicy as you do." Saul said, and Evan laughed.

"Alright, alright. See you soon!" she hung up and she looked to Bri. "If we get up to the window before Saul finds us, he asked to let you order for him because he doesn't know how I eat things as spicy as I do."

After a laugh, they stood in line for the taco truck, moving up when the people in front of them before they were joined by a man with dark brunette hair and dark eyes that matched their own. "Saul!" Evan smiled as she gave him a hug. Bri greeted him as well and he chuckled.

"Well it looks like I caught up to you two just in time." Saul said, motioning to the line as they were next. "Have Dad and Denise come through yet?"

"Not yet, but you know they have that meeting." Evan sighed. "Not to mention mom has been blowing up both our phones all day. She's going to flip her lid when I have to leave to get ready for work."

"I thought you worked at the diner." Saul said, and Evan shook her head. "What happened?"

"Me and Ian had a disagreement. I took my check and I left. Now I'm working at that little dive bar across from the coffee shop me and Bri get all of our coffee from." she answered and Saul sighed and shook his head.

"How have things been with you Bri? " Saul asked, "And yes, I got those things from Kiara you asked for when I went and visited. They're back in my apartment."

Evan walked up to the window when it was their turn and ordered her taco. "I've got theirs too." She told the man at the window who nodded and took Saul and Bri's orders. She paid the guy and they stood off to the side and waited for their food. Evan felt her phone going off again, and she saw it was a text from her boss asking if she could come in about a half an hour early. She looked over to Bri and Saul. "Hey, Saul, what are you doing tonight anyway?"

"Nothing really." he said.

"My boss just asked if I could come in a little earlier. Since we'll be getting the over flow from here. I don't like walking there alone, especially after everything last night." Evan said, and she looked to Bri who nodded. She had told Bri about the guy who had been following her when she got up this morning, and Evan really didn't want to uproot them for accidentally showing what she was too soon. Otherwise she'd have handled the whole thing herself, but being discovered as a phoenix, especially in a place where word traveled quick could be disastrous.

"Don't worry, I'll walk you to work, and I'll walk Bri home. You know whenever you need me, all you have to do is ask." Saul said, and he chuckled a bit. "Although, I don't always expect you to ask since you have become good at taking care of your own problems, Evan."

"If I wasn't almost 100% sure this one was a hunter, I would." Evan laughed.

--

"There is a lot of people here." the blonde covered in tattoos spoke as she looked around. The man with darker skin beside her just gave a chuckle and he rubbed her shoulder.

"The cities tend to be worse," he said to her. "It's alright, Val. I'm here."

"I know, Siddy, but there are so many people." Val reiterated and he stopped them to the side of the main path.

"Close your eyes, Val." Siddiq told her, and Val nodded and did so. "Now breathe deep and smell all the different food. And then open your eyes. The smell of the food usually helps me keep calm at this festival."

Val followed his instructions, and she had to admit the aroma of just food in general definitely helped her calm a bit. "That's crazy how well that works."

Siddiq nodded to her and just smiled. "I'm still surprised that Darius let you come this time. He's usually so afraid you-know-who will be able to find you here that he won't let you come."

Val rolled her eyes a little. "Yeah, well, after the fiasco eight years ago where she found me, once again, with the tribes, he couldn't exactly use that being with the tribe was safer. Hell, the first time she found me was with the tribe too. He's just afraid that he'll lose me if I'm out here too long."

"Well, that's his own problem. You are old enough to make your own choices, and I get he's your father, but enough crazy is enough. You need to be able to live your life. Plus, I know you still want to go looking for your siblings, at least a little bit." he said to her as they stopped and they each got a corn dog.

"Yeah, but I don't know where to begin looking at all. It's not so simple, and plus I have to be careful as it is. Dad tells Amal everything. Which is a little creepy." she said, "And I know Amal is looking for a reason to keep me in the tribes. Not sure why, but even Aetulia has told me to watch myself around him."

"She wouldn't be the only one telling you that. Delonna would say the same thing." Siddiq said, taking a bite of his corndog. "And I've told you the same thing. That guy doesn't even smell right."

"I know, and I avoid him. It just doesn't help that dad and him seem to be so close." she said. She sighed a bit and looked to Siddiq. "So, what is there to do around here?"

"Food." Siddiq laughed. "They have some games too, and rides. After this me and you are going to sneak off and get drinks. I want to see what effect alcohol has on you considering coffee puts you to sleep." he chuckled.

Val laughed a little and nodded. "Sounds like fun, but we have to sneak out before their meeting is over otherwise I'll get stuck."

"Not necessarily. My aunt knows my plans, she'll find a way to help us out." he said, and Val smiled.

"Great!" she said. "Oh! Siddy! What's that thing?" she asked, point to someone's plate as they walked past.

"That's a funnel cake." Siddiq answered. "Come on, I know where they make the best ones."

"Awesome." She smiled as they headed off, still eating their corn dogs.

--

Tobias sighed as he leaned against the gate to the festival. He was supposed to meet up with Warren here before they headed into the meeting with Malachi, seeing as Malachi had reached out to the other dealers. "Dude, why is it always a food festival?" the dark haired man asked as he approached Tobias. Tobias chuckled and patted his shoulder before running his hand through his own black hair.

"Because, they don't want to go far for food." Tobias answered, and Warren chuckled.

"I don't blame them, but it is literally always a food festival." Warren said. They headed into the festival and off to the side where a tent was set up. They headed inside, and saw a man with sandy blond hair at the head of the table with a younger guy with identical hair sitting there.

"Alright, this appears to be all of us." he said, and Tobias nodded his head to the woman in the room with dark hair and eyes. He and Warren both took their seats before Tobias spoke up.

"I swear there were more of us last meeting." He said, and Malachi, the man at the head of the table nodded.

"There used to be. A lot of them couldn't come or couldn't be reached." he said. "But all of us who are in this area are here and we can begin. I suppose we should go around with introductions, I will begin. My name is Malachi Martin, but I do prefer to be addressed as Kai. I am the officiating entity here seeing as I am the oldest, and Lucifer himself has asked I conduct this meeting."

"My name is Azariah, but you can call me Az." the guy next to him said.

"I'm Warren."

"Tobias."

And when the woman introduced herself as Becca, Malachi nodded and started. "I would normally hold a longer meeting, but I have another thing to do in a little while. So, we're going to hit the high points, and I will leave all of you with a way to contact me if it is necessary."

Tobias began, "So, what's changed?"

"Nothing really, we've been doing very well with getting a good flow of souls into Hell, but that's not exactly what this meeting is about. We're here to more talk about personal deals. A few have been slipping through the regulation cracks, and while it isn't anyone in this room, there are a few dealers that we need to be on the look out for for what they've done. Sean Howell is one, and so is Craig Sandrige. And, again, if anyone hears from Prudence Flint, we have only been looking for her because she has gone into radio silence, but there have been a few deals made under her name as of recently."

"What did Sean do now?" Warren asked, and Malachi sighed.

"He's made more than one deal that pisses off the Horsemen and the Ascended, from what I have been told. Lucifer didn't give me many details in the brief call we had before this meeting, but he said that he wants him brought in. I'm assuming he's helping bring people back from the dead again." Kai answered, and Warren shook his head.

"And what about Craig? No one has seen or heard from him for a long time." Tobias said, "At least no one I know."

"He is in for a deal that broke laws of three different groups. No sure which three, but I know one of them was the our demon laws." Kai said, and he shook his head, "Like I said, Lucifer didn't say much. Just wanted me to touch base with everyone, and if I find out more, I will let you all know."

"Who is Prudence Flint?" Azariah asked, and Kai sighed.

"Well, she is one of the greatest dealers there has ever been, but about 12 years ago she mysteriously fell off the grid. She was believed to be dead for a while, but over the last couple of years some deals have come through with her seal. We only want to find her to make sure nothing went awry. The only time, other than death, that a dealer falls off the grid is when they are bound."

Az nodded and soon Warren spoke. "So, Sean, Craig, and Pru. Anything else?"

"Be wary." Kai said, "There is something going on in the world and no one knows exactly what is going to happen when it comes to head. It could bring anything, but there are races moving into defensive maneuvers, and the witches I stay near have been talking about how Sybil is back at her old tricks. We've gone a long time without hearing her name be brought up, but she is setting up for something, and it is why I tell you to be wary. She is a very talented binding witch."

Warren's face immediately soured at her name. "I've seen what she can do first hand. She's not good news."

Kai sighed and nodded. "I have too. But are there any other questions?"

--

Aetulia found herself rubbing her temples from her place at the table with Darius, Amal, and Delonna. She hated these meetings with a passion, especially with her husband and son so close and in a meeting of their own. She wanted very desperately to see them, but she knew how hard it would be with Amal and Darius here. They would be the first to try and burn her at the stake, so to speak, but it had been a very long time since she had seen either one of them. Almost five years now. Still she had arranged a meeting with Malachi at least, and she was hoping she could at least see Azariah, even if they couldn't really visit.

"Can we just get this meeting going instead of arguing over who sits where?" Aetulia finally snapped, watching as Darius took a seat and she rolled her eyes.

"Thank you, Aetulia." Amal said, no matter how reluctant she could tell it was. "So, I call the annual meeting of the Djinn elders to order. First item on the agenda brings us to Aetulia."

Aetulia sighed a little and nodded. "First item on our agenda is the betrothal meetings between Amal and Darius's tribes coming up in a few weeks. Shortly thereafter will be the betrothal meeting between my tribe and Delonna's, and from there we have the one between Darius's tribe and my own starting off in the winter, and seeing as though I will be taking the only available one to be betrothed from Delonna's tribe, Amal's tribe and my own will have a meeting after that." she said. "Now, we need to make sure everything goes off without a hitch, so remember, those visiting the other tribe, arrive at least a day early and allow the candidates to do their meet and greet. The day after will be the selection, and the day after that will be the wedding and celebration.

"And remember, after the weddings each couple will be allowed one week to decide which tribe they will live with and an additional week to get settled once it is decided." Aetulia said, "I believe that brings us to Darius."

Darius nodded. "There have been talks in the South about conflicts coming to an uneasy head with other races. So we all need to be prepared to know the signs to move our tribes, as these conflicts could lead to war. We will likely be sought out in the war times, but do not engage no matter what they threaten you with. I have seen enough of what can happen in the times of war to know the risk is not worth the reward. Our numbers are so small, and they could easily wipe us off the map. I will be laying out new escape protocols and sending them with Aetulia's advocate, as he will see all of the tribes before the end of the year."

Aetulia watched as Amal pulled up a list and she leaned her head against her hand. She knew what this was, and she knew that this was likely where Amal and Delonna would start bickering at each other. It was the list for trials, and Aetulia had asked it not be brought up at this meeting because it just wasn't worth it.

"Now, next order of business. We have three members between the tribes that need to be reminded that they are approaching a third trial with another slip up. Valkyrie Michels," Amal said and he looked to Darius, "I'm sure you can handle telling her."

"I can." Darius sighed, and Aetulia shook her head as the last two names were called off, and she looked to Delonna. At least this wasn't the list that had everyone who was up for trial, or a second trial even, it was just the third trial one. Still, she couldn't help the sour look that crossed her face at how Darius nonchalantly said he could tell his own daughter about her own third trial status. There was something up there, Aetulia and Delonna had had more than one discussion on the matter, and both knew it couldn't be good.

Amal looked to Delonna. "Go on, it's your turn for the floor before we begin the open discussions." he told her.

It was so noisy here this year. One would think that at a festival where the goal was either to have race meeting or to stuff your face, people would be ...well stuffing their face. But no, very few were actually eating their food. They were to busy talking or chasing after their children, who thought it was just a game. Bristol sighed softly, her headache was probably the reason she was getting so annoyed by the other people here. Her phone vibrated in her pocket and she checked her watch just to see it was just another message from their mother, that was starting to get annoying too. At least they were getting tacos though, perhaps eating something would make her feel a little better. The best thing about this stupid festival was the taco truck that she and her twin, Evangeline, went to every year. Had the best tacos, she kept trying to talk the owner into getting a restaurant so she could get them more than at the festival.

Bri looked at Evan as she asked where Saul was supposed to meet up with them. “The um….” She snapped her fingers a few times as she thought. “....Funtastic Funnels? The funnel cake truck that has a stupid as fuck name.” She said with a slight chuckle, even with a stupid name their funnel cakes were some of the best. Aside from maybe the ones their father made while drunk sometimes. When Evan said something about the roller coasters Bri shook her head a bit. "I think it's just to keep their brats out of their hair." She said before she saw Evan trying to hide a yawn, and she chuckled when Evan asked what. "I was just looking at you, calm down grumpy."

As they got to the taco truck, her mouth started watering just from the smell of the taco meat. She was smart this year and actually skipped out on lunch so she wouldn't get sick. Even if the fact they had five people ahead of them made It worse. She was about to grumble a bit when Evangeline's phone started going off. Bri laughed after Evan said that Saul wanted her to order his food. "Oh he should know by now I will order him something spicier just for that."

It was long after they started moving up in the line that Saul joined them and Bri smiled giving him a long hug once Evan let go of him. Bri nodded rolling her eyes when Evan told Saul that their mom had been blowing up their phones. "Honestly, I'm hoping they don't get here until just before the meeting. I'm not in the mood to deal with how annoying mom is being."

Bri couldn't help but frown when Evan explained the Ian thing, because honestly the disagreement was partly her fault. She sighed when Saul asked how things were going with her. "Oh awesome thank you! But things aren't much better, they moved me labs because of a disagreement with the supervisor. I'm not even sorry about it, she was an idiot and she needed to know it, so I told her." She shook her head, and grumbled under her breath, before going up and ordering her taco and a drink. Honestly she was glad that Evan asked Saul about walking her to walk and nodded a bit. Even though she didn't want to admit it, the whole hunter thing had her worried. And she could tell it did Evan too. But hunters weren't often a problem around here, and that was likely part of it.

Once they got their food and started walking a bit, Bri listened to Evan telling Saul what had happened the night before. When he asked if she had been having any issues with hunters, she looked at him with a mouth full of taco and shook her head "Knot reelie." She answered before rolling her eyes as Evan and Saul laughed at her. "I'm reelie hongery." That got another laugh before Saul started talking about how things had been going for him since they last saw each other. Which what he had been working on sounded really interesting, and she would have to remember to ask him to see it when he was done with it.

Bri shouldn't help but sigh a little as she finished her taco and felt her phone vibrate. Though looking at she let off a sight squeak showing it to the other two since they had their hands full. It was a group text between her, Evan, and their aunt. "Oh my gosh guys aunt Anais is coming into town for the meet this year. Mom is going to be pisssssed!" She said before laughing a bit and starting to text back. Barely paying attention to her surroundings or the crowd of people around them, until she heard someone apologizing and looked up to see a pretty little blonde holding Saul's taco.

"Oh I'm so sorry. It's getting a little hard to move around here." The blonde said before checking Saul out in a very not settle way and handing him, his taco. "I'm okay. Good thing I caught that taco, be a shame to lose such good meat." She added before winking and moving past him, turning into one of the more crowded areas.

Bri couldn't help the loud laugh she let out before looking around Saul at Evan. "Such a shame to lose the meat. That was so bad."

---

Ah the food festival, she could remember when it wasn't a reason for races meeting. When there wasn't such a thing as fried..well everything and she insisted on going every year. It was kind of funny that she had made it back West in time for it this year. Though food wasn't her interest but the easy targets lined up with money they saved up for it. Though, the corndog she had was fucking delicious.

With a slight sigh the short blonde threw her trash away, before turning her gaze towards the large crowd of people heading her way from the rides. Taking a deep breath, Namoi easily inserted herself into the crowd of parents trying to calm their children down, people excited from the rides, and random others making their way another.

Sadly most humans didn't realize how easy of a target they were. Like the woman who sat her purse down to yell at her kid for something and tie their shoes. Truly the woman deceived to have her purse snatched up from the ground. A couple of teenagers that were pushing their way roughly through the crowd while bitching about old people. They didn't need loose money or the bit of jewelry Naomi was able to get off the last girl, to feel entitled. She was doing a service really, even going so far as stuffing a five in some kids pocket that looked hungry as she passed them.

Though maybe she got a touch to cocky as she made her way into the food truck area, by taking a man's wallet as they were waiting in line. Only getting a few people into the oncoming crowd before hearing the man start yelling. As glanced over her shoulder to make sure the guy had started following her, bam, Namoi felt like she ran into a solid wall. Her hand catching whatever was falling off it.

Only to take a step back and glance at the taco with a few bites out of it in her hand. Even more confused, her light brown eyes looked in front of her, seeing that the solid wall, was actually a tall rather build brunette man that looked as caught off guard as she was. "Oh I'm so sorry." Naomi said a slight blush coming to her cheeks, "It's getting a little hard to move around here." She added with a smile letting her eyes ran over his figure as he spoke to her, before handing him, his taco as her other hand got his wallet out of his pocket.

"I'm okay. Good thing I caught that taco, be a shame to lose such good meat." She answered with a wink before moving around, pocketing the wallet before shaking her head at herself. Did ...did she just trying to flirt with a hot guy using a meat pun? How, even? What the fuck was wrong with her?

---

The tall light blonde woman couldn't help but shake her head as her friends headed giggling towards the rides, and she headed through the festival. Sometimes she forgot how much younger dragons could be like little toddlers. At least Asirre had went them them to make sure they didn't just burn down the roller coaster. Even if it seemed a bit extreme for them, she wouldn't be surprised honestly. Honestly she kind of loved this festival, aside from the rides, which were such a stupid idea in the first place. The food was always good, with new kinds of food rolling in each year. Plus it was nice to be in a place she knew was mostly supernaturals, after having to work and live in the human world so much.

Making her way gracefully through the large crowds that lingered a bit around the food trucks, Jamila couldn't help but smile a bit seeing her friend towards the front of the funnel cake truck. Before making her way towards the dark haired man with glasses and jet black hair. As she got closer she noticed the large smile on his face while looking down towards his phone. "What has you all smiles?" She asked, looping her arm through out of his. "Did you get some cute guys number?"

Zayden didn't even move as he felt Mila loop her arm through his. Even with a crowd this large, he could smell his best friends perfume from half a food truck area away. Though her question made him glance up from his phone and give an overly dramatic eye roll, which only made her laugh a little more. "No, nosy. My uncle just gave me a heads up that he is in town for the festival and wanted to know if I wanted to meet up tomorrow." He answered before moving to the front of the line, and getting them both funnel cakes. Hers with strawberry sauce, like a freak.

"So where did the others go? I thought you were bringing your whole dance group?" He asked as they moved a little away from the truck to get out of the way and eat.

Mila chuckled and rolled her eyes a bit. "Asirre took them to go ride that roller coaster."

---

Rebecca was glad that she had come early to this festival, it gave her time to ride a few of the rides and get something to eat before this meeting. Though it was out of pure luck that she had arrived back in the area in time for Kai to reach out to invite her to the meeting this year. Not to mention, it had been a few years since she had seen Kai, and it was nice to hear that he was still around. Though she wasn't exactly especially expecting a brand nice face when she walked into the tent with a mouthful.

She smiled slightly when Kai said something about her being the first one to arrive, and gave a slight wave while making a point to show her mouth was full before getting to her seat. It wasn't very long before Tobias and Warren finally got to the tent, and she smiled winking at Tobias as he nodded to her. "The ones farther south have been cut out of contact for a few weeks now, from what I've heard. I guess something big is going on." She added when Kai said something about not being able to reach some of the dealers.

She smiled a bit and nodded towards Az. "I'm Becca." Becca couldn't help the fact her face soured at Sean and Craig's name. Though she had only had to deal with Craig once. Each time she had to deal with Sean, she wanted to literally kill him. So it really wasn't very surprising when Kai said he had pissed off both the Horsemen and Ascended.

Honestly she hadn't heard the name Sybil very much. Here and there in her travels a few times. But honestly she barely actually dealt with witches, other than the ones in the East. Even still she made sure to make a mental note. When asked if there were any more questions, she bit her lip a bit. "It's not really a question, but if any of you catch sight or hear about Travis Hendra. Let me know, they still haven't gotten him back to his cell and I tracked him here."

---

Delonna couldn't help but smirk slightly as Darius got upset that she had sat at the other end of the table. So he was unable to sit by Amal. "I already told you no. I was here before you and am comfortable." She argued before Aetulia snapped and told him to just sit down. She stretched a bit and sighed as he sat down, getting an even dirtier look from him. Delonna was really glad she had, had time to talk to Aetulia before the meeting. Because there was no way that Raelynn would agree to be betrothed to anyone in Darius or Amal's tribe.

As much as she hated the fact that she was putting her tribes escape plans in Darius hands. He unfortunately was good at making them. She hoped he was smart enough not to bother planning where her tribe was going to relocate this time.

The instant that Amal pulled his stupid little list out of his pocket, her eyes narrowed. As if the letters he had sent on Siddiq's visits weren't enough! Her fingers tapped as he started reading off the names. She gave Darius a look of disgust when he emotionlessly said he would inform his daughter of her third trial. "Why not just tie up the poor girl and have Amal burn her in front everyone Darius." She spat out, before glancing at Amal. "And what is the reason Shasfi is now on her third trail now? She has done nothing wrong since coming to my tribe."

When Amal finally gave her permission to speak, it took all of her willpower not to start up another argument. "To start, Darius this year my crops have been fairing very well. I know that where tribe has trouble growing without magic. If you need extra crops or fish, I can have it sent to yours within the week." Delonna said, giving him a chance to answer before continuing. "Also, I'm sure that...almost everything has been feeling a shift in the Abyss within the last few months. I have been looking into the issue...safely of course."

---

This had to be one of the most crowded areas that she had ever been in. Which made it both safe and dangerous. She knew not even Sybil would approve of her drones attacking her in this big of a crowd. But they could blend in really well. With a sigh Nireen shook her head, her eyes going to the food trucks as her stomach growled. She had been surviving off mostly free food she could find and the occasional cheating that put her in danger of being noticed. Biting her lip a bit she got into one of the lines and started looking over the food they had. She hadn't been able to try anything they actually had, and as she got to the front of the line she randomly named things off.

As the woman told her the price of the food Nireen couldn't help but frown a bit. She reached into her pocket and gripped two of the blank scraps of paper. Before some guy a few people behind her started screaming about someone stealing his wallet. She was paying more attention to drama than what she handed the woman, and felt more money put in her hand. She gave the woman a weird look before putting it in her pocket and taking her food. "You gave me a fifty hon." Shit! She took the food and money as the woman closed the money drawer before quickly taking off. Well that was going to get her noticed. It didn't take long to hear the woman screaming curse words as she opened the drawer for the next customer. At least she had real money for once though.

Sitting down at one of the little benches they had for people to sit at away from the rides. Nireen sat there quietly as she watched the hoards of people walking around carefree. There were a lot of powerful people there, she could feel her body trying to soak in as much magic and energy as it could. She had never been freely allowed around this diverse of races and she could feel it's almost calming effects while eating. Though it was sadly ended as her eyes caught a few people working their way through the food crowd. A few that she knew, and the way they looked at her said they noticed her as well. Throwing what was left of her food away, she started walking as fast as she could without making a scene. She just had to get away from the massive amount of humans. However, instead of finding a place with less humans. She found herself in a place with no one and lots of meeting tents. Well fuck!

Turning a corner she saw a man leaving a tent, waiting a few moments she saw no one else leave but the tent was left open. Assuming he had been last one to leave the tent, and seeing her tail coming into the tent area she quickly ducked into the tent. Almost running into a younger man that was heading out of the tent. "S...sorry." She stuttered trying to move out of the way but ended up in a different strong pair of hands. Taking a second she noticed the woman and other two men in the tent. Their engry screamed demon, and she was happy to not be around humans. "Are you alright honey?" Becca asked, her face going from annoyed to concern when she saw the worried look on the girls face.

"Sorry….I thought this tent was empty." Nireen mumbled out with a nervous laugh moving away from the guy that caught her. Her eyes going to the back of the tent. What kind of tent had only one exit?! "Search every open tent then. I'm not telling Sybil we lost it again." A voice came from outside somewhere near the tent and Nireen felt herself panic looking around before moving to the table and turning herself into another chair.

Evan had never been so happy to get food before, but apparently not as happy as Bri was. Her and Saul couldn't help but to chuckle at how she was answering, but Evan could understand that she was hungry. She just wanted to take her time with the tacos because they were literally something she could only get once a year. Saul went on talking though. "Yeah, I have been working on some absorption devices. I'm starting small, with rings that can absorb elemental discharge, but seeing as I've managed to get the fire one pretty well down I'm working on other items for it." He went to ask Bri for help with ice when she squeaked a little. He smiled a little at what she said.

"Yes!" Evan smiled. "Two birds one stone. We get to see Aunt Anais AND we get to see Denise get super pissed off." She giggled and Saul chuckled too.

"It'll be nice to see Anais too. I haven't seen her in..." he had to really think about it, but the thought kind of made his face fall. He saw her since the last time he had seen his own mother, but he shook the though from his mind. "I think it's been about seven years. The last time I was staying with Kiara to get supplies for my inventions."

It didn't take long for someone to bump into him, and he looked to the pretty blonde that who was now holding his taco out to him. She apologized to him and he just gave a soft smile. "No, I'm sure it was my fault. I'm sorry. Are you alright?" he asked. It wasn't long after that when he heard her say something about the taco meat and he raised a brow. When she left he listened as Bri and Evan laughed loudly. "What?"

"That was the worst flirting line I think I've heard in my life." Evan wheezed. Saul rolled his eyes a little and it made Evan laugh harder. "She checked you out, Saul. That girl was trying to flirt with you."

Saul waved his other hand and sighed. "Sure she was." he said. He managed to finish his taco and threw his trash in a nearby bin before he felt his phone vibrate. He patted all of his pockets at first and it dawned on him. "Fuck." he mumbled. Evan gave a look.

"What's up?" she asked, and she saw him pull out his phone. "Wait... No really, why are you saying fuck?"

"I lost my wallet. Maybe I left it at home." he said, and Evan sighed.

"Or, or, that girl who very poorly hit on you took it. This is why we've been telling you to keep your wallet where it's not so conspicuous." Evan said, and Saul rolled his eyes before looking at his phone. He stopped in his tracks for a minute.

Hey sweetie. I'm in town. I've got to scope the festival for other angels, but I'd like to meet up with you there. Love you, Mom.

Saul heard some snapping in front of his face and he sighed. "Sorry." he said, opening the back cover of his phone to see he still had his emergency money there. Something he had learned to do after the first time he lost his wallet.

"Who messaged you?" Evan asked, and Saul noticed they were in another line.

"Well, Aunt Anais being here might not be the only thing to piss off Denise." he said, and he opened the message and showed both Bri and Evan. It was no secret that his mother was someone that pissed off Denise. When their dad was drunk one time with them, he even admitted that he wished that things could have turned out differently between he and his mother. And Denise knew it too. Not to mention that she was best friends with Anais, and that basically made it worse. Evan's loud laughter made Saul jump.

"Oh... That would be a fun powder keg. Denise would totally burst a fucking vessel." she said, and she gave a grin.

Saul nodded a bit and then looked to Bri. "And before I forget again, sometime this week when you get time, can you help me with some of my inventions?"

--

The blonde girl with bright blue eyes could never understand what the whole point of these festivals was. It wasn't until she and her traveling companion and friend for the last 10 years had explained it was for meetings for different races that she understood. Sierra wasn't at all bothered by that, she was off the radar and hadn't heard news of her mother for decades now. Though, it made her wonder. The last time she had heard, Sybil had more children after her, and she couldn't help but to wonder if any of them would be in the area. Sierra moved through the crowds easily, helping Temperance scale the areas for more angels. So far the only angels she had seen had been other fallen angels who didn't seem too interested in the whole thing for Heaven. Another good thing about the angels that were after Temperance was that they tended to stick out, and so far she hadn't seen any. Sierra did notice something though, a blonde girl was being followed by a rather pissed off man and she rolled her eyes a little. Gently she tapped the man's temple from behind and watched as he teetered a bit.

Sierra walked up to the girl who had just seen walk into another guy and head off not long after. She gently looped her arm through hers and whispered. "Stick with me for a few minutes, dear. There's a very pissed off looking guy following you." she said, and soon she turned her head a bit to see the guy still following them. Sierra took her other hand and made a hand motion before she saw him hit the ground where the crowd had broken apart. Sierra let out a long breath and walked a little further with the young woman. "Sorry, I didn't like how that situation felt and would much rather help where I can." she apologized before her phone went off. She looked at her message and smiled a little. "Sorry, been looking for my friend in here and it's hard when a lot of us are blondes." she said, motioning to her own hair. "I'm Sierra by the way. If you want, I can stick around a bit and make sure that guy doesn't try to come after you again."

--

Val was glad when Siddiq brought her to a stand that had those... funnel cakes? Yes, funnel cakes, at it. She was very distracted by how loud everything was around them, and how many people there were. Val had been out in society in limited amounts and it was never this crowded. She felt Siddiq place a hand on her shoulder and he smiled to her. "It's okay, Val." he said, and she nodded. However when they went to step forward she bumped into someone and she saw Siddiq catch her and the plate of the person who she had just bumped into.

"I'm soooooo sorry." Val apologized to the blonde girl as Siddiq handed back her plate. His eyes caught the guy the girl had been walking with and he just smiled a little. He saw Val looking the girl over. "Again, I am so sorry. I'm really bad at this whole crowd thing and..." she started talking fast.

"Val, calm down." he whispered to her. He noticed how the air was changing a little but it stopped and he let out a long sigh. Val still wasn't the best at controlling her magic and reality bending in large crowds, but he couldn't blame her. She didn't have nearly enough experience around people. He could hear her still apologizing to them and he chuckled and patted the top of her head. It got Val to stop. "Sorry about my friend here. This is her first time here and she gets distracted easy because of how many people there are."

Siddiq moved up in the line and shook his head as Val finally moved off of apologizing. He chuckled and ordered her a funnel cake and handed it to her when he got back over. Luckily, they hadn't been too far behind them in the line. "So you eat it with strawberry sauce?" She asked, barely noticing Siddiq slip the plate in her hand and rip a piece off of it.

Well, since they were now engaged in conversation, Siddiq looked at the guy again and smiled. "I'm Siddiq, by the way, and this little klutz here is Val."

Val waved a little and smiled. "Hi. Sorry. I'm really bad at this stuff." She said with a nervous chuckle.

--

Aetulia was not happy with how this meeting was going in ways of tension. These thing had never been free going since Amal came to join the elders, and it was annoying. Before Darius could say anything to Delonna after she made her comment about Valkyrie, she kicked Darius under the table to keep him from saying anything. But Amal's answer made her roll her eyes. "It was in my notes that she needed to be reminded that her next offense would result in third trial." He said but he didn't fully answer the question. Which he never did.

Delonna went on to talk about her crops.and everything amd Darius gave a nod. "Thank you." He said.

It was when the Abyss was brought up she noticed Amal kind of tuned out. The Sentinels and Behemoths both had been under Aetulia's care since Amal became an elder. Foragers had always been under Darius and the Assassins had been under Delonna. She could see Darius visibly tense at the news and she sighed. "If you need me to, I can have Drakstin help you as well as the sentinels." Aetulia said.

"Eileena could meet up with you there as well, she mentioned noticing something off in one of the darker parts." Darius said. This was one of the few things, Aetulia noticed, that tended to put all but Amal on edge.

"Have you found anything out at all?" Amal asked, and Aetulia could hear some commotion outside. She waved her hand and bent reality enough to hide them when someone opened the tent flap. They looked around for a moment before leaving and Aetulia sighed. She saw Darius get up.

"Excuse me. I need to go find Valkyrie and…" He began.

Aetulia motioned for him to sit back down. "She is with Siddiq. She will be fine."

Amal rose a brow. "Anyway…anything else we need to discuss?"

--

The meeting went fairly smooth, Kai thought, but he nodded to Becca. "Of course." It seemed the meeting had been pretty well wrapped up by then and he looked to his watch. "If you guys ever need to get a hold of me. You can with these." He handed them each a small coin. "I have another meeting to get to."

Kai looked to Az as he headed out. Az stuck around for a couple of minutes and gathered up his things before a girl knocked into him at the entrance. He gave her a curious look before he saw her end up caught by Warren. When she said she thought the tent was empty when Becca asked he raised a brow. That was when they heard people outside talking about Sybil.

Warren smirked. "Oh now to have a little fun." He said and he looked to Az. "Might want to move, kid."

Az nodded and headed out. It wasn't a moment later that a few men entered the tent. They looked around and Warren smirked. "Did a girl come running in here?"

Tobias just shook his head, sitting in the chair beside the chair he saw the girl turn into. "This will be a fun exchange." He mumbled.

Warren chuckled. "Nah, but I've got a message for your boss." He said, his eyes going over black. For a moment they all stopped in their tracks and started being each other up. "This is my favorite trick."

Tobias chuckled. "I'm not helping you with clean up this time." He said.

Warren rolled his eyes and watched as they took the fight out of the tent. A few moments later security had taken them off and Warren turned and looked around for the girl. He saw Tobias motion to the chair beside him before standing. "How many people does this bitch have here?" He grumbled as a couple more filed in.

--

Temperance sighed as she walked around the perimeter of the food festival. She pulled up her wavy locks of dark blonde hair, and she sighed a bit. So far no angels were here, but she wouldn't put it past Michael to have them here. Even if angels didn't hold meetings on Earth. She stopped for a moment and texted Sierra to let her know she was going to make one more round before heading in. Then she texted Saul. It had been nearly a decade since she had seen him last, and this time she could tell him she was sticking around longer. So he could see her more.

Okay, mom. Can't wait to see you. Aunt Anais is supposed to be in town too. Love you.

That whole message made her smile and soon she headed into the gates of the festival. She put on her ball cap and pulled her ponytail through the hole in the back before she started looking around. This place had definitely changed since the last one she had been to about 25 years ago. But it was nice, and the bustling crowds were easy for her to hide in. She bumped into someone after being pushed to the side by a woman looking for her purse.

"I'm sorry about that." She apologized, dusting her hand off before offering it to the person who she had accidentally knocked to the ground. "Here let me help you up."

Bri looked at Evan when Saul seemed sad about their aunt being away so much. She didn't realize he had missed her that much. "Well if you want to crash at our place so you can see Anais more you can." She offered. "We have a pull out couch." She offered, though the subject was changed when the taco girl bumped into Saul. Evan and her cackling at the world's worst pick up line ever.

"Oh come on Saul she totally was." She said before mocking a flirty tone. "She wants all of that good taco meat." Then Saul said he couldn't find his wallet and Bri frowned when he said he must have just left it at home. "No, Saul. You bought our tacos, remember." She insisted. "She must have stolen it."

When he said that his mom was visiting Bri smiled. She still hadn't met Saul's mom yet, but from what their father had said while drunk, and what Anais told them the woman was awesome."I can hear it now. Her blowing a gasket and then being super whiny when Anais tells her off. Do you think we can meet her this time?"

Saul then asked her if she could help him with his inventions. Seriously. Was this like the best day ever? Good food, drama, and how he wanted her help. She smiled excitedly, she always adored her brother's stuff even if it wasn't the type of science she was good at. "Absolutely! How am I helping? Do I get to ice something?" She asked quickly with a slight bounce before she caught herself. "I
..mean if I have time." She added ignoring Evan's giggle at her.
--

Naomi would be lying if she said that she didn't jump a bit when an arm looped in with hers. She looked at that woman before looking behind her. Oh great she thought that maybe she had shook him in the crowd. Must be a bloodhound or something. Then the man tumbled over and she glanced at the woman again. "Um...thank you. It was kind of my fault he was following me though." She sheepishly admitted taking the guy's wallet out of her bag. The woman looked at her phone and Naomi frowned thinking maybe she was calling the cops but she smiled and said something about her friend.

She chuckled at the woman's joke. Before the offer to join her was thrown out. Naomi chuckled a bit. "I mean, I can just give it back. But sure, I have nothing else to do. Hold on." She said, before going back to the guy and giving him the wallet back. Quickly pocketing the lose $100 before heading back to the woman. "I'm Naomi by the way."
--

Jamila blinked a little bit, one moment she was talking to Zayden. The next moment, some girl had bumped into her, and the girl's friend was handing her plate back. "It's fine." She replied out of habit, a slight growl and tune of annoyance. Not at the girl as much as the simple fact that she had been just walked into. Zay couldn't help but look over the guy that caught Mila's plate. Not only because the guy was attractive, but those quick reflexes were definitely pretty impressive. He wasn't really sure if he had been caught when the guy smiled. But he smiled, gaze quickly going back to the girl talking again.

When the girl went on to apologize again going on about not being used to crowds Mila felt a little bad for the annoyance. "It's fine really, moving through crowds is hard for even us used to it." She said softly before looking at the guy talking. "Ah…." Was all she should get out before the girl started apologizing again. "It's fine, though, if it's your first time here. You should go to the taco truck they have here. It's the best in the area." She said, finally getting her off of apologizing and into an actual conversation.

Mila nodded a bit when she asked about the strawberry sauce with hers. "Yeah, you have to ask for it, but the strawberry kind of cuts through the sugar. You can try it if you want." She explained. As her friend came back over.

Zay smiled a little at Siddiq as he introduced himself. He glanced at Val when she spoke. "You're doing better than you think" He said "I'm Zayden, and the grumpy one is my sister Jamila." He added, looking at Siddiq, his eyes sweeping only slightly. "I have to say you definitely have some quick reflexes. It was pretty impressive." Zay said, taking a slightly flirty test of the waters undertone.

Mila smiled a bit at Val. "So, are you guys meeting up with a group for meetings? If not, do you want to join us?"
--

Delonna frowned at the half careless answer that she got to her question. If it was something that little…."You have sent four messages this week Amal. She knows." She said before the subject changed. When Darius said he would like some of her crops she smiled. "That goes for you too, Aetulia." She added.

When she brought up the business of the Abyss it was more for Aetulia and Darius than for Amal. He didn't care about the Abyss clearly and it was good. Because it was a better place without him stepping inside it. She nodded to Aetulia as she offered Drakstin and the sentinels to help her. "It would be most appropriated." She looked at Darius and nodded to him too. "Thank you. I know she rules those sides tighter." She replied before Amal said something finally. "I've found a few things off. A few beings that don't belong there that aren't a threat." She was cut off by the noise out before she could saying she was looking for the man Life had spoken of.

Delonna watched Darius jump up for Val before Aetulia calmed him. If only he seemed to care for the poor girl that much all the time. There wasn't much business left to the meeting. She had Darius down anything else they might have needed in his clan she might be able to get. Then the meeting was ended thankfully. She had to gather her stuff quickly to be able to catch up with Aetulia. "Tulia wait." She called after her. "Can we get lunch? You understand the money thing better than me?"
--

While Becca didn't actually see the girl turn into a chair. A little more certained with that the new boy hadn't to head with Sybil's ghouls outside. She herself had only dealt with Sybil in passing, but something about that woman gave her the creeps. She did notice that there was one more chair than before at the table. With a smirk she sat on the table beside Tobias crossing her legs and whispered softly in his ear. "Told you he would show off today. You owe me a drink darling."

Her eyes glanced at the chair when Tobias gestured to it. Well that was surely a bad idea. Good thing he knew which one it was.

Nireen had no way of knowing how much time had passed, nor what was going on around her. She was a chair. She had no ears or eyes. She could feel the movements around her from her magic. She could feel a lot of powerful beings around her and then some of them leave. Luckily no one had sat on her or that would have hurt. To be honest, this was the stupidest panic shift she had ever done. She would give it...that was a strong pat at the back of her chair. She didn't who it was and did not shift back. Feeling around her for answers.

The next pat was a few seconds later, on what would be her seat and it was much softer. After a second she shifted back, staring up at the guy that had caught her in his arms earlier.

Becca let out a soft bell like laugh. "See Warren, don't be such a man."

Nireen stood quickly, looking at Warren like she was expecting him to attack her before glancing at the others. "Um...thank you. I'm sorry." She said guardedly before going to head out of the tent.

--

Chris was barely listening as Denise droned on talking on her phone while they walked. Normally the meetings were supposed to be the place to talk business. At least the ones that he had been too. But here his wife was talking about things and how she felt they should be with the newer members on her phone. Any intelligent person knew what she was doing though. The new members wanted someone to look up too, to help them understand the politics. Which of course Denise was happy to wiggle in and help them out. He rolled his dark chocolate eyes a bit when she glared at him for not keeping up. Not that he honestly gave a shit about politics, he had given his family's seat to Anais years ago.

The only good thing about being at the food festival was the food. Also the alcohol. It wasn't the easiest to sneak in himself but he knew some of the owners of the food trucks and they would sneak him in some. Like the taco truck his kids liked, he made sure they came back every year for his kids because the owner owed him a lot of favors. Not that they knew that of course. He would rather they think he was always drunk and useless so that it didn't hurt them as much when he was. Not to mention giving out bottled fire to warlocks was a little more than frowned upon.

Chris pulled out his phone as he followed Denise, sending out a few texts letting people he knew that he would be here. As well as texting Evan. I'm sure your mother has been blowing up your phone. But we are at the festival in case she decides to go looking for you girls. As he hit the send button he got a message from Anais saying that she was going to be at the meeting and wanted to see him after. His lips formed a smile as he said he was looking forward to it. She was worth having Denise bitch at him. The two of them hated each other with a passion. It was a bit hilarious honestly.

Chris wasn't looking at where he was going over his phone and groaned frowning as someone knocked him to the ground. At least his phone didn't crack. He took the hand offered to him by the woman that knocked him down. "It's fine. Should have been watching where I was going." He answered before dusting himself off before looking at the woman. He froze in his tracks as he saw her face. "Temp?" His voice lowered to a confused whisper as he said it.

A loud sigh came from a bit in front of him. "Hold on Crystal, my husband got distracted." Denise said still on the phone before roughly grabbing Chris by the elbow and pulling on him. "Yeah, you would think he would be better sober." She added with a chuckle pulling him behind her without even paying attention to who he was talking to. Or the fact he was still looking at Temp until she got out of sight. Chris pulled himself free as she hung up. "Could you be a little fucking less embarrassing at least today Christopher? We're in public, don't make me have to ruin your daughter's fun to babysit you. " She snapped quietly at him.

"If I'm embarrassing you go off by yourself, Denise." He snapped back at her.

She gave a shocked and hurt looked and gasped. "Why are you snapping at me? You're going to make a scene. Calm down sweetie." She said in a hurt tone making herself look the victim to the people passing that couldn't hear her.

Chris frowned at her before signing. "Sorry…..I'm getting a drink." He said ignoring the eye roll as he got as he wandered off angrily. As she went off to find the tent.

Saul appreciated the offer Bri said about staying with them, but he realized that he probably sounded sad for a reason they didn't realize. Sure, he loved Anais and missed her a lot, but it still bothered him from time to time that he saw her more often than his own mother. It wasn't addressed though as the girl bumped into him. Evan and Bri did have a point that the girl probably stole his wallet, and the fact he was so not there at the moment probably didn't help. It wasn't the first time he had lost his wallet, by any means, but for it to be stolen this was probably the first. He didn't much care though. He did need to take their advice every once in a while and keep his wallet where it wouldn't be so easily stolen.

"Maybe I just need to always wear a shirt with an inside pocket and keep it there." Saul muttered.

Evan smiled a little when Saul brought up his mom coming, but she got distracted a moment when her phone went off. It was a text from their dad. She kind of smiled when she read it. Of course he knew that Denise was blowing them up, but it was good to know that they were there. "The fireworks may start soon, dad and Denise are here already." she said. She totally missed Bri asking if they could meet Saul's mom this time, but suddenly the question became aware to her.

"Of course. Mom has been waiting for us to line up so she could meet you." Saul said. He chuckled a bit at Bri's excitement and he noticed Evan giggling.

"You're doing it again," she said to Bri.

"Actually yeah, you do get to ice stuff." he said as he pulled out his phone. He went to go text his mother when he saw a new text from her appear on her screen. He smiled and looked around. "Shit." he muttered.

"What?" Evan asked.

"Mom hasn't been here in years and she's asking where we are exactly, trying to figure out how to explain to her where we are." he said.

"Call her." Evan said. "Does she like funnel cakes or corn dogs? I'll totally get her one. And do you want either because I'll get you one too?"

"No, but thanks. Mom might want a corndog though if you really don't mind." he said. "I'm going right over there." he said, pointing to a small area with picnic tables set up. "Might be easier to see her from there while I'm not in the thick of everything. Might be easier to talk too."

"Okay. We'll be over in a few. Unless you want to go with him Bri, I can get your stuff too." she said. She saw Saul standing near an empty picnic table on his phone and looking around the crowd and she smiled. At least today is going better than she had hoped. Denise would probably burst a vessel, the food was always great, and she gets to look forward to not only seeing Anais, but meeting Saul's mom finally. Everything she had heard about the woman made her kind of jealous of Saul because she sounded like a wonderful woman and mother. Saul had explained to them why she wasn't around, and it was honestly noble and made her wonder about how things worked with angels. Not something she often thought about because she knew that how creatures were portrayed wasn't always accurate, look at phoenixes. She moved forward in line and she took up her phone again and sighed, finally replying to her dad.

Thanks for letting me know. If you can break away from her long enough you should come say hi, Bri and me are with Saul. Would be nice to see you at some point today without her. Aunt Anais said she was coming if you didn't already know. Love you!

Evan knew their dad a little better than the rest of the kids, mostly because she was his little girl. She loved him no matter how much of a fuck up Denise tried to make him out to be, and she could tell he was just miserable and it was why he was the way he was. It wasn't hard for anyone to tell that, but it was hard to help him out when they didn't know everything.

She finally got to the window and ordered the food for everyone, making sure to order them all a drink too, even Saul's mom. She waited near the pick up window before she looked over to see Saul and Bri both looking in the crowd now. She took the drink carrier from the guy at the pick up window and set it down near them before going back over to get the food, and she stood up on top of the table. "Come on guys, make yourself easier to see."

"Good thinking." Saul said. "Hey," he said into the phone, can you see a girl that looks like she's standing on something near a funnel cake and corndog stand?" He waited a second and smiled. "Great, see you soon then." he hung up and looked up to Evan. "Mind standing there for a minute?"

"Not at all." she laughed. She laughed even harder. "Oh this is great, a little kid just kneed a big jock looking dude in the nuts."

--

Sierra smiled a little to the girl. "Well from the looks of the guy," she said when Naomi showed the wallet. "That dickbag kind of deserved it." she said. She watched as she went to return the wallet before her phone went off again.

I'm meeting up with my son, I'll catch up with you in a little bit. I get to meet his younger sisters finally. she saw the text on her screen and smiled. At least Temp was safe and would get to see her son. She knew she had been missing him. When the girl came back, Sierra smiled. "Nice to meet you, Naomi." she chuckled. Something about the name sounded familiar, and the fact that she did look pretty uncanny to her bloodline that she knew of made her wonder, but she wouldn't say anything yet. "My friend is meeting up with her son and his sisters so, I'm going to give her a bit before trying to find her. You been to one of these before? I have but not one like this. It's so much more congested than others, and to be honest, I'm starved and cannot find anywhere that has those giant slices of pizza. Please tell me there is at least one of those here."

Sierra took note of a few people she recognized and she quickly turned and ducked her head down, watching as they walked off. What were Sybil's people doing here? "Oh that's not good." she mumbled to herself a bit. She sent a quick message to Temp to let her know that Sybil's people were there so she would be trying to lay low too and would meet up with her when she was ready. She and Temp knew a lot about each other, especially after running together for the last ten years. But she was almost certain that Sybil's people didn't know she was here. They had to be after someone else, which also made her curious.

--

Val was glad when they didn't seem too upset with her for knocking into them, and she smiled a bit. She quirked a brow. "Taco truck?" she asked. It was probably very apparent now that she didn't get out much, but when Siddiq came back she felt more at ease. She smiled. "Thanks, Siddy." she said. When Jamila offered to let her try some she shook her head a little. "No thank you, I've never actually tried one in general, so I'm just trying to feel it out, you know?"

Val smiled when the guy, Zayden, said she was doing better than she thought. That actually made her feel a lot better that a stranger let her know she wasn't doing that bad. She smiled a bit. "Nice to meet you guys."

Siddiq smiled and chuckled. "Nice to meet you, and thank you. Could say they are... cat-like." he chuckled at his own joke, knowing that the others wouldn't get it. The head shake he saw Val give was worth it though. "Just saying."

Val shook her head. "Oh that would be fun!" she smiled at the offer.

"Would be nice to actually go around with more people, especially those as nice as the two of you." he said, and Val smiled. However, it quickly faded and she handed her plate to Siddiq and moved to stand behind him when she saw people going through. He was confused for a moment until he saw the people and he shook his head. "They're gone, Val, you're good."

Val nodded and moved from behind him before she took her plate back from him and chuckled again. "Sorry. So, where are we heading?" she asked.

--

Aetulia was glad when the meeting was finally over, and she headed out. She heard Delonna, and she turned and smiled to her when she asked about lunch. She nodded. "Sure. Sounds lovely, just got to figure out what we want." she said. Kai knew to wait for her if she was running behind. That was good thing about their marriage, for as little as they saw each other, they always knew that being patient paid off in the long run. Plus, Kai actually brought Azariah with him today, and while she was looking forward to seeing him too, she couldn't risk Amal or Darius finding out about them. Delonna she knew wouldn't say anything, but she didn't know if Amal or Darius were watching right now. Darius likely wasn't with how concerned her seemed over Val when those people came into their tent, but Amal was harder to gauge.

She started walking off with Delonna and sighed. "I know you mentioned that Life said something about someone in the Abyss." she said, quietly. They tended to figure more out when it was just the two of them as it was, and when it came to matters of the Abyss, while Darius was a good help, they were better off trying to figure it out themselves half the time. "Is there anyway that they could help, you think?"

Her eyes briefly caught sight of Kai as he headed off towards another, smaller tent. She smiled a little to herself, especially after seeing Azariah go in not long after him. At least they were here already and she didn't have to worry about that.

--

Tobias sighed a bit and rolled his eyes before looking at Becca. "Looks like I do, don't I?" he laughed at her notion about owing her a drink. "You just let me know when you're ready for it."

Watching Warren deal with Sybil's people was always entertaining. He knew that there was vendetta there, considering Warren had ran with both of Sybil's sons in the past. What was sad was that he ran with Roland for longer than he did Atticus, but he got much closer to Atticus than he did to Roland. Then again, Tobias did meet Roland once over the course of knowing Warren and that guy tended to be a huge dick. He saw Warren turn back to them when he was done and he chuckled.

Warren watched as the girl transformed back from a... chair? What the hell, who turned into a chair?

"Don't be such a man." Warren mocked Becca. It was good natured, and he laughed after. "What does that even mean?"

He quirked a brow at the girl and he shrugged. "It's not a big deal. I hate that bitch they work for." Warren said, but before the girl could go, he looked at her. "You know that wasn't all of them, I know how Sybil works, unfortunately, and that probably isn't even half of her followers here. I don't mind taking care of them for you, considering I do love fucking with that bitch's plans, but with how many she generally has... it may not be smart for you to go out there by yourself."

Tobias looked over to Becca when Warren offered to help the girl. He hadn't seen this before, but then again, he also knew when it came to Sybil it was liable to happen. Tobias never personally dealt with the woman either, but he knew dealers that did, and they were bottom of the barrel. Now this would be interesting if the girl took him up on his offer. Especially with how skittish she already seemed. "But really, you ran into the right tent honestly, most of the other groups would have kicked you out. We rightfully don't mind a little bit of action." Tobias told her.

--

This place was somehow more crowded than she remembered it being years ago. Time really did change things. She texted Saul and let him know that she was already in the festival. Had it not been for the lady shoving her, and her knocking the man over, she might not have ever seen who it was. When she helped them up, she could hear her name and initially her heart sank. She thought she had missed one, but when the voice fully registered with her, she looked at the man before her. "Chris?" she breathed. She was frozen herself, but all she could do was watch as the blonde woman he had been walking with dragged him off. She stood there until he was out of sight, barely feeling people brush passed her. He was here? She shook her head a little soon heard her phone ringing.

"Hello?" she answered.

"Hey mom, where are you? I'm going to try to get you to us." Saul's voice came and she smiled.

"Us?" she asked.

"I'm with Bri and Evan." he answered her, and she smiled and moved out of the way of the crowd.

"Um, well, I'm in the middle of two lemonade stands and I see cotton candy and popcorn stand in front of me. I just got in the gates a minute or two ago." she said, and soon he started telling her where to go. She followed his directions for a bit, but navigating the crowd was getting harder and she could hear him talking to someone next to him. After a moment or two he asked if he could see a girl who looked like she might be standing on a table near a funnel cake stand and she looked around. "I do. Oh, that must be one of the twins, isn't it. I'll be right there." she smiled. She hung up and shot a text to Sierra, seeing one come back in return. She frowned a little when she saw that Sierra had seen Sybil's people, but she shook her head and headed towards the girl she saw standing on the table. When she got out of the crowd, and smiled when she saw Saul, and she watched as he walked over and picked her up in a hug.

"I've missed you so much." she whispered to him, and she smiled a bit and looked him over. "You haven't changed much."

"Neither have you. I've missed you too mom." he said. He motioned for her to follow him. She saw the girl get off the picnic table and she smiled. "Mom, this is Bri and Evan." he said, motioning to each respectively. "Bri, Evan, this is my mom, Temperance."

"Just call me Temp though." she smiled, and she looked them over. "It is so great to finally meet you girls. Saul is always talking about you."

Bri couldn't help but smile when Evan said their dad was finally there. And Denise too apparently. She didn't really bother to check her phone. Not that her dad never texted her but when he knew they were together it was mostly Evan he texted. She just hoped that Denise would be too distracted to blow up their phones even more.

Saul said that they would finally get to meet his mom. Which she was super excited about. Then he asked if she would help with his invention. Bri couldn't help but bounce a little bit in excitement. She heard them both laughing at her, but she couldn't help herself and rolled her eyes at Evan. She adored her big brother so much and was finally getting to help him work on his experiments.

"Will you get me a corndog?" She asked Evan before going over with Saul and trying to help him guide his mom to them. She giggled a little bit when Evan came back and got on the table. "Don't be your clumsy self and fall okay." She said watching her stand there.

Bri smiled when Saul's mom finally found them, she could instantly tell that they were mother and son which made it even cuter. Saul looked so much like his mother. She gave a smile to Evan offering her hand to help her down. "I totally see what Kiara said about Saul looking more like his mom than dad." She said before Saul brought her over.

Bri gave a little wave when Saul introduced them. "It's really great to meet you too. We've heard a lot about you from Saul too." She said with a giggle. "You should give us all of the baby Saul stories. When you get the chance."

--

Naomi smiled a little bit. "Nice to meet you too." She said before Sierra said that her friend ended up getting distracted by seeing her son. Which was kind of sweet. Her smile turned a bit sad thinking of the parent she was still looking for. She shook her head a touch to get it off of her mind. "Honestly it's been about twenty years since I've been to this. But I think they had it back that way." She said gesturing the way they had just walked from. She hadn't really stopped to think about it, but she was kind of hungry herself. "I have to say though that if you eat sausage on your pizza. I might judge you a little." She joked a little bit.

Naomi raised a brow when Sierra ducked her head and turned. Turning her head to see Sybil's people walking through. Oh, what the hell were they doing here? She knew they weren't here for her. She had shown Sybil the last time she tracked her down that she wouldn't join her. That had been almost five years ago.

She really really wanted to find out Sybil was wanting here. From the way that her new friend reacted though, she could tell that she wouldn't want to snoop with her. Naomi pulled out her phone glancing at it for a moment before frowning. "Shit, um I have to go make a call really quick." She lied to get away. "Maybe we can meet at the stand?" She added not wanting to blow the girl off or anything. Once she managed to slip away she started tracking after Sybil's goons.

--

Mila just raised an eyebrow when the girl asked about the taco truck. Clearly the girl didn't get out very much. Not knowing what a taco was was almost a sin against nature. "You've never had a taco?" The guy she was with came back, and she nodded a bit declined trying the strawberry funnel cake. "Oh okay." She answered before eating her own.

Zay didn't get the joke pre say. Though he could tell from the smell of Siddiq himself that he at least had some shifter in him. They seemed to have a slight earthy smell to them. So while he raised an eyebrow at it. He got the general tone. Meanwhile Mila just gave a confused look between the two of them before inviting them to join them. She smiled at how excited Val got about it.

Zay didn't get a chance to answer before the entire mood changed suddenly. Val handed Siddiq her plate and hid behind him, he could almost hear the growl trying to fight itself out of Mila's throat. Glancing over he could see her eyes had slight as she watched the people walking away. Zay nudged her softly as Val took her plate back, giving her a worried look as she closed her eyes and let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding.

Zay smiled a bit at Val when she asked where they were going. Mila, still trying to relax herself. "Well, since you still have your fennel cakes. They have little stalls you can buy shirts and stuff from. It's a little father that way." He suggested pointing the opposite direction the other people had just walked through.

Mila nodded a bit, having composed herself a little more. "It's a lot less crowded but they have nice stuff. I have to get some necklaces for the little girls in my class anyway and you can see if there is any other food that looks interesting."

After deciding where they were going to go and starting walking Zay kind of gave Mila a look. "Are you alright?"

Mila sighed a little bit and shook her head. "No, but, my mother is still in the far south or I would have packed and left up already." She answered before glancing at Val a bit. "I might stay until this adorable girl leaves to make sure she's safe. Might want to warn your uncle." She added before looking at Val as Zay nodded and pulled out his phone dragging a little behind the group as he wrote out a message to Alaric.

"So Val, can I ask what you do that you don't get to get out often?" She asked, trying to steer the conversation more towards Val to get her mind off of Sybil's goons.

--

Delonna smiled as she caught up the rest of the way with Aetulia. She did try to have some experience outside of the tribes herself. However, she wasn't as experienced as Aetulia with it. "Well, your nephew said something about twirly or...tunnel cakes? It sounded kind of interesting." She said, trying to remember what he called it. They had a short conversation when he visited to let her know the meeting time. The last few meetings she had just went to the closest truck to the tents. Which was all kinds of some weird chicken that they jerked around before cooking it.

Delonna looked at Aetulia as they started walking, she had brought up the being Life mentioned. She nodded a bit. "Yeah, I suppose they call it Abyss Walker." She answered quietly. Honestly she was a little glad that the subject hadn't really been pushed in the meeting. She didn't have many questions yet. Delonna sighed slightly. "Honestly I'm not sure, I'm not even sure what this person is. However, if Life seems to think I have to help they will. Aerolynn seemed a little uncomfortable with it, but not for my sake." She answered with a slight shake of her head.

That whole part made her a touch uncomfortable. Aerolynn was generally known as the least trusting King, but she had never quite been that way with her before. Delonna frowned a little to herself as she shook her head. "Is it bad that despite me knowing Eileena is trustworthy. I have begun to question Darius so much I'm not sure I should ask for her help?" She spoke in an almost whisper. She didn't want to worry about Amal poking his nose deeply into her investigation and ruining everything. Or worse make it worse.

--

Rebcca smiled when Tobias answered her about the drink. "Later tonight. There is a little bar not far from here." She answered, she had been to that bar a few times this week. Their new bartender was a sweetheart that she would take with her traveling if the girl hadn't said no.

Though in truth Rebeca hadn't been around Warren near as long as Tobias had. She was well aware of how much Warren hated Sybil. She had even come to him a few times to help her get people free of the witch. If anything he was probably a master of dealing with her. Getting to see him enjoying himself was kind of fun for her as well. The man was such a show off though. She was the one to tap the girls chair the second time once the cost was clear.

She laughed a bit as he mocked her. "It means to quit showing off. You're breaking Tobias. We" She answered light-heartedly.

Nireen nodded a touch when the man, Warren, said it was no problem. Perhaps the fact he hated Sybil should have made her relax a bit more. Definitely made her realize he wasn't going to attack. Though normally the people that hated Sybil hated all that worked for her. Though it had been forced it could be said that she had for years as well. So it did help, but didn't.

When Warren said that that wouldn't even be half of Sybil's followers, she nodded again as she walked. "I know." She definitely did. Hell that wasn't even a fourth of the ones after her today. They would be looking for her in the crowd and both the gates. She could lose them with all the people here though. Find a way through the gates somehow. This whole thing was really annoying, she just smelt the food and wanted some. Him offering to help her take care of them made her stop just short of the tent exit. That she hadn't expected, and she turned to look at him. Her eyes studied him for a moment before she sighed, body relaxed a touch.

Running wasn't a smart move in the first place, it hadn't been Sybil she expected to react though. "It doesn't matter how big of a group you're with. Trust me." She said almost sadly she had seen Sybil attack large groups and separate her target. Take them and leave the others confused why they stopped attacking. "But she wouldn't expect me to travel with anyone…..You're a dealer right? I'm sorry to say I don't have a soul to trade with you for help."

When the other man spoke, the one she didn't know the name for, she looked at him. "To be honest, I thought the tent was empty. I watched someone leave and waited. I wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for the food smell." She answered before blinking a bit. "Not that I'm ungrateful" she added looking back at Warren "if it seemed so I'm sorry. I'm not….really used to people speaking to me. I'm Nireen." She finished, hands nervously going into her dress pockets.

Becca smiled a little bit as she watched the two interact. It was nice to see the times she wasn't the only one to help people out of bad situations. Not to mention she had a feeling she actually knew who this girl was. Not by meaning her or name, but a few people she helped talked about the quiet girl magically undoing locks once in a while. She nudged Tobias a bit. "Well since food drawed you in, me and Tobias will go get you some food." She said and saw the worried look on the girl's face. "Don't worry sweetie, no one here likes Sybil." She added and the girl nodded slowly before they left the tent. "She's a cute little thing." She said to Tobias as they headed to get food.
--

This was why Chris hated festivals. It was always a little too crowded for him. He needed room to breathe. He wanted that to be the reason that he was annoyed and...uneasy. The reason had to be something other than the fact he couldn't get his mind off Temp. Why was she here? Was she sure it was safe to be? He wasn't the one quiet about where he was, she could have at least let him know she was another. He frowned to himself, at the stupidness of that thought and shook his head a bit. He personally did not take the break up the best. Though...seeing a little girl break from her little group and kick some guy in the nuts did definitely break him from his thoughts.

Laughing a bit Chris shook his head and glanced down at his phone to see that Evan messaged him. He smiled a little seeing the invitation to join them. So Saul had been able to make it this year, good. He hardly ever got to see Saul or talk to him. Even Hoyt called him more than Saul when he was in that school Chris had talked him into going to.

You're welcome. I'm not going to the meeting, but I have to meet up with a few people and then I'll meet up with you. Been to long since I saw Saul. :) I know she messaged me. Love you too. He texted back before stuffing the phone back in his pocket as he got to the taco truck. He waved at the person cooking from the side door, who pulled out a few chairs. The two of them were sitting under the umbrella, Chris having a few tacos with the cook and hanging out with him during his break.

"Why did I know I would find you hanging here?" Anais asked as she came up, laughing a bit before the cook got up and gave her a hug and a wrapped taco. "It's good to see you too, Fred. You know a way to a girl's heart." She added. The man chuckled himself before saying that his break was up and going back in the trunk.

"I figured that you would find me easier here." Chris answered light-heartedly rolling his eyes at her before Anais took up his drink. She gave it a light sniff and frowned at him. "Before you say anything, that is for while you guys are in the meeting."

Anais shook her head. "I'm not going to start on you today. At least you plan on waiting." She said before gesturing for him to follow her. "Come on, let's see what trouble we can get into." She told him and when he started to walk she stuck the cup of alcohol back in the truck before following.

"Temp is here." Chris said, Anais staring at him for a moment. Clearly she hadn't been told either, and Chris would be lying if he didn't say that bit of knowledge made him feel better.

Anais shot Saul a quick message asking if his mother was really here before looking back at her brother. "Did you see that Albus is here selling lockets? You should buy the girls some for protection." She said quickly changing the subject.

Evan couldn't help the look she shot to Bri when she told her not to be her normal clumsy self. She wasn't that clumsy. "I'm not that bad." she said, and soon Saul's mom caught up to them. She took Bri's help getting off the table, and she couldn't help but to smile at the interaction between Saul and Temp. Evan nodded to Bri. "Looks like all he really got from dad physically is hair and eye color." she chuckled.

Even Evan couldn't help but to be excited to meet Temp. From everything she heard, she was wonderful... Even if her timing seemed to suck a bit. She heard Temp laugh a little at Bri's notion about getting Saul baby stories but before she could say anything, Saul interjected. "Did you tell anyone you were in the area?" he asked.

"No. I wanted to try and surprise you for once." she answered. "Why?"

"Aunt Anias was just asking if you were here." he said, and he shot a quick message back. Yeah, mom is here. She wanted to try to make it a surprise. I didn't know she was here until she messaged me to let me know she was so we could meet up.

"I do need to talk to her. I'll be in the area for a while." she said, and Saul nearly dropped his phone when he heard that.

"What? Really?" he asked, and she nodded. "Are you sure that its safe enough for you to do that?"

She nodded. "I've been careful, and honestly, there have been things going on in Heaven that require more attention than me it seems. Haven't had anyone actively following me for a few months. I don't anticipate it lasting very long, but I would love to be able to spend more time with you than just a couple of days every decade or so."

Saul smiled. "I'd like that too."

Evan looked to Bri and whispered. "Oh, this is going to be interesting indeed." she then spoke up to Temp. "So, that means we definitely get baby Saul stories?"

Temp chuckled. "Of course. Those are my favorite ones to tell."

Evan smiled. "Great. Anyway, why don't we all sit down for a few minutes. I got you something to eat, and with the ways the crowds are moving right now, it may be better to just go ahead and sit down until they die out a little. Shouldn't be long, maybe..." she looked at her phone to see the time. "Maybe 30 minutes or so."

Temp nodded. "Well, thank you. Sitting down sounds wonderful. I can't literally run into anyone else that way."

Evan chuckled. "You and Saul have done that today. You didn't get pickpocketed did you?"

Temp looked to Saul as they sat down. "You got pickpocketed?"

"Yeah, can we not talk about it." Saul chuckled a little. "You didn't though, did you?"

"No... But it was interesting. Probably why Anais was asking if I was here... I ran into your father." she said, and Saul just turned and looked at her.

"Was Denise with him?" he asked.

"She didn't notice me if that's what you're getting at. She was on her phone. Probably for the better from the way it looks and how she sounds." Temp said.

"Definitely for the better. If you can avoid Denise, do it. She's probably worse than the plague." Evan said, and she looked at her phone again and groaned when she saw her boss messaged her again about tonight's shift. She let out a sigh of relief when she saw the whole thing. Thank goodness he was stacking the staff. She knew it was going to get crazy after the festival.

"So, mom, how have you been?" Saul asked.

"Better. Made a friend not long after I saw you last and she's helped me out a lot. Also caught wind that I may need to head north after I'm done here." she said, and Saul gave a look. "We'll talk more about that one later on. Not something I want to talk about with so many people around because it's probably going to get you heated. What about you?"

"Yeah, that's probably for the better. And good, I have a bunch of new inventions I'm working on. Bri is actually going to help me with a couple I'm working on." he said, motioning to Bri.

"Lovely! So, what do you girls do? I know what Saul has told me, but I would love to hear about it from you guys." she smiled.

__

Sierra couldn't help but to laugh at Naomi saying she would judge her if she ate sausage on her pizza. "Pepperoni is my go to for places like this." she laughed. "Who actually eats sausage on pizza?" It wasn't long after that when Sybil's people came around, and now Sierra was curious. She might have shied away from them, but her curiosity was piqued. Her mind was running a mile a minute until Naomi's voice came to her. She nodded. "Totally cool. Sounds like a good place to meet up. See you soon." she smiled. She watched Naomi disappear before she decided to follow another known group of Sybil's people.

"What the hell? How many people does she have here today?" she muttered to herself as she tailed from a safe distance. This was odd. Sybil's people hadn't been in this area for a while, so something was definitely up. They were either looking for something or someone, and she was sure it was the latter over the former. It was somewhat annoying to know, especially how they just seemed to crop up. Luckily she knew how to keep herself off their radar, but at the same time, she didn't like that they were this close. The sooner she found out what they were up to, the better. Then she could put some of this nagging in her mind to rest.
__

Val gave a nervous chuckle. "No, I haven't. At least, I don't think I have anyway." she said. Val was honestly glad that Mila and Zayden seemed to want to hang out with them more. It put her more at ease, especially seeing that Siddiq hadn't objected to the whole thing. Then again, she had also seen him check Zayden out when they weren't really paying attention. The mood shifted for a moment until Sybil's people were gone. "Going to those stalls sounds fun."

"Probably be nice to get away from the crowds." Siddiq said too. As they began walking, while he didn't mean to listen in, he did hear a little of the conversation they were having. He had been well traveled enough that he could understand a lot of languages without needing to bend reality. That girl was kin to Sybil too? He looked to Val, and he knew that later he would have to tell her about it. Right now didn't feel right. When they asked what Val did that she didn't get out much, he saw her just smile.

"We like to live off the land in the forests. My dad is a bit of a recluse, so we don't venture out into society often. We've been having to more here lately with things changing where we live." she said.

"She's coming to live with me for a while. I work at one of the spas in town, and she's going to come work with me." Siddiq said.

Val nodded. "My dad isn't happy about me wanting to be in society, but being away from people like we have been... It just feels weird now, and when Siddiq comes to visit his stories have made me want to as well. Plus, turns out I have siblings I would like to eventually find."

Siddiq turned to Val a little and nodded. "Yeah. I used to live near them before I moved into the city. There are a few small communities like that. My aunt is part of one still, and I do running for her still, and she has me go to them as well. It's good to be able to sustain off the grid, but I like interaction."

"What about you guys? I know you said you have little girls in a class?" Val asked Mila. "What kind of class?"

Siddiq was honestly glad to be feeling the tension lift after that whole fiasco with Sybil's people. It wasn't often that they were around others when they passed through, and even less often that they weren't inherently looking for Val. He was just glad that it seemed to pass on for now.

__

Aetulia smiled when Delonna brought up "tunnel cakes." She gave a chuckle. "Oh, the funnel cakes. They always have good stuff at those stands, and funnel cakes are amazing. Just can be kind of sweet depending on who makes them." she said. "There is a good stand for that over here." She said, continuing on walking with Delonna.

Their conversation turned to what was going on in the Abyss, and while Aetulia nodded, she couldn't help but to feel unsettled herself. The only other one of them that was any help would be Darius, but he was so hard to trust with things like this that she couldn't deny that Delonna made sense to not want to bring Eileena into it. "I could ask Lazlo, but he's usually preoccupied with Val. Drakistin will look into it too though. I think bringing Eileena into it right now isn't the best idea, but if we absolutely need her, she is there." she said. "It's so hard to tell how Darius will go about it. I know when it comes to the Abyss, Amal generally keeps out of it, but we don't need the headache of him trying to insert himself into this either."

When they got to the stand, she stood in like with Delonna. She saw Siddiq and Val with another couple people, and she offered a gently wave to Siddiq when he saw them. He waved back, and she saw Val smile and wave too before they continued on with their group. "I may go ahead and ask Lazlo to look into it too. He might be able to figure out if it is coming from here into the Abyss with as often as he's between here and the Abyss." she said, moving up in line when it was their time to. "I'll be glad when we get this all figured out. It's not often something happens there."

__

Tobias nodded. "Alright. Sounds good to me." He watched the interaction between Rebecca and Warren, and he could on chuckle and shake his head. They were always funny together, and he saw Warren roll his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah." he said to Becca before listening to the girl before them. He listened for a moment but when she brought up not exactly having a soul he interrupted her. "Don't worry about that. I honestly don't expect anything out of it. I've seen what she does first hand more than once, and if I can help people out when it comes to her, I will." he told her. Her name was Nireen, and listening to her made him even more sure that he helping her was the right thing to do. He saw Becca and Tobias leave to go get her food, and he motioned for her to take a seat. "Seriously, if you need help getting her off your trail, I'll help you. I ran with both of her sons at one time or another, and I have seen what she can do. If it involves her, it's basically an automatic freebie anymore." he told her.

He got up poked his head out of the tent and then poke it back in before he sat down himself. He was honestly waiting for more of them to come through. He looked back to Nireen. "The only thing I will ask is how long you've been running from her, and how valuable you are to her so I can kind of gauge how long she may be actively trailing you like this. Makes it easier to help out."

__

Tobias looked to Becca when they left the tent to go get the girl, Nireen, food, and he nodded. "She is. I feel bad for her. She did happen in on the best crowd though. Warren will absolutely help her for nothing if it's Sybil that she's running from." he chuckled a little. "I swear his level of spite when it comes to her is unmatched." He looked around at the food stands before looking back to Becca. "You want anything? I think I owed you lunch too."

Tobias honestly didn't mind that they were helping out the girl at the moment, but he knew that this would quickly turn to Warren's wheelhouse because it was Sybil that was being dealt with. He didn't know all the details, but he did know that the deal that got Warren known was something that managed to piss Sybil off to no end. It was known as deal of the century and when the soul was collected, he knew why. The witch he made the deal with was named Sandra Slater. She was a powerful witch, and she was now doing wonderful things for Hell as a result of the deal.

Tobias shook his head as they got in line at one of the stalls and watched the crowds as they waited. "At least right now isn't as bad as it was when I got here. It looks like people are starting to thin out or stop congregating in the middle of the pathways."

Bri was super happy for Saul when his mom said she was going to stay around for awhile. From everything that she had heard, Temp was so great. Plus Saul looked so happy, after worrying about it. Temp said that they were going to get baby stories and she was happy for that too. They so rarely got baby stories about Saul other then when he was a baby baby when their dad was still around him.

Evan asked if Temp got pickpocketed too and her reaction was funny and she laughed a little, though it was a little disappointing that they didn't get to tell the story. Not really surprised because the girl had been really pretty, he still didn't seem to believe, and it was likely against some manner somewhere. The fact that Temp had ran into her dad was a little bit of a surprise. But also a little surprised that their dad hadn't said anything in the group chat that they had going. She glanced at Evan at the news but didn't say anything about it.

She saw Evan pull out her phone and frown at it, and though she wasn't sure why. She pulled her phone out since Saul and his mom were talking, and shot Evan a quick text. Hey, we should leave them to catch up.

Bri smiled when Saul brought up that she was helping him. "Yeah, I'm so excited about it. I've always wanted to help him with his inventions." She said happily. When Temp asked about what the two of them did, she kind of smiled a little. "I'm a pathologist assistant." She answered

"So we are going to walk around a bit so you guys can catch up." Bri said, gesturing to Evan too. "It was so nice to finally meet you though. Hopefully we'll get to see you more since you're hanging around." She said before her and Evan started wandering around. "I sooo see what dad sees in her, she is kind of hot and so sweet." She chuckled

—

Naomi laughed a little at the response Sierra gave. "Only psychopaths and people without taste." She joked. Sybil's people coming through took her off guard though, she didn't expect that Sybil had anything to even do with this area. She really wanted to know what the hell her people were doing this far west. She wanted to follow them and figure out who they were looking for. She didn't want to rudely take off from the person that just helped her out, just like that. So she made up a reason to meet back up with her after having time to snoop a little. Before disappearing and doubling back to follow the group that just had walked through.

Luckily the skill to pick pockets was really useful when following someone without being noticed. Her hearing being better for being a vampire made it a little easier to hear what they were saying to each other. The issue was that they weren't talking about what they were looking for. Down talking the humans that got in their way while walking. Mumbling to each other about people they sort of recognized. They were definitely looking for something important that they were ignoring all of these other people.

Naomi was about to give up and head back to meet with Sierra, when the one male of the group mentioned something about having the pee and finding them after and went off to a little alleyway out of the way. She waited a few minutes before heading down the alleyway herself, and attacking him when he turned back towards her. She was quick, it wasn't the first time that she had drained a warlock's energy to need them from fighting her back. He was pretty weak by the time his brain seemed to click to fight bad, trying to push her away. She waited until he seemed weak at the knees to let him go, and watched him kind of fall to the ground, still fully awake though.

"What the fuck is your problem bitch?"

Naomi sighed and slapped him across the face. "Shut up. I'm the one asking the questions. Why are you here?"

He laughed loudly at her. "Do you think I'm going to answer your questions? My friends will be back you stupid bitch."

Naomi laughed darkly. "Oh trust me you'll be dead by the time they come back. Now answer the question."

—

Zay chuckled a bit slightly because he knew Mila wasn't trying to cause Val to get nervous. "Don't mind Mila, she is a bit of a foodie. You definitely have to try one some time." He said before her friend came back. The mood had shifted when Sybil's people had gone through, and all of them were clearly glad when the mood shifted back to calm. Mila suggested going to the shalls, she had a friend that sold the necklaces Mila made. Plus the fact this was a supernatural meeting ground meant that there was a good kind of stuff to buy. It made her kind of happy, they both seemed to like her idea, and as they walked she told Zay she wanted to stay a little bit due to the reaction their new friend had to her piece of shit mothers people showing up. Zay of course agreed and texted his uncle. Though with the way he kept checking out Siddiq, she wasn't surprised that he didn't even seem to care if they stayed longer.

Mila smiled a little nodding when Val said that she had lived. It sounded a lot like the tribe that they had grown up in. It was sweet that she was going to move in with Siddiq and he was going to get her a job. Not even knowing them well, she could tell it was a big thing for her. "I hope you find your siblings. I get that though, about it feeling weird to be away from society after hearing about it. After Zay got kicked out of our dragon tribe, I couldn't stand staying there and knowing about what I was missing." She said smiling towards him, only to see that he was frowning at his phone. She knew he was still listening but it did look like his uncle was arguing with him a bit.

"So…" Mila looked back to Siddiq "what do you do at your spa?" She asked and when he said that his job was a masseur she smiled a bit. "Oh? Which place? Zay could probably use a massage."

Zay had been half listening to the conversation, half arguing with his uncle. Who of course had to be more stubborn than he was old. Though he heard what Mila said, and the quick thought of Siddiq giving him a massage, caused a soft quiet growl to come from him. He quickly covered it by clearing his throat and putting his phone away. Even he could feel how darkly he was blushing though.

Mila smiled a bit at the reaction her suggestion got before looking at Val when she asked what it was she did. "Oh I'm a dance teacher, some adults but mostly teaching little girls ballet." She said proudly. "Actually some of my girls are riding rides with a coworker. Kind of a treat for nailing their first performance last night." Mila couldn't help the need to boost on how good the girls had done when given the chance. "Zayden is a photographer and he took good photos for us."

Zay smiled, nodding a little bit. "Not normally what I take pictures of, but they turned out good. I usually take nature pictures and sell them to travel magazines and travel agencies." He explained.

Though the stalls were still a little crowded once they got there, it wasn't nearly as crowded as the food trucks. Busy, but you were able to walk and breathe a little. The first one Mila wondered up to was her friends of course. "Hey Hilda, how are the sales going so far?"

Hilda, the chubby black haired woman who was running the jewelry stall sighed a little bit at the question. "You would think being in the middle would help me out. But it's biting me in the ass." She grumbled before opening her thing of money and handing it to Mila. "Here's what you've made from your charms so far." She said before looking at Val. "Anything you like sweetie? Half off if you're a friend of Mila's"

—

Nireen smiled a little when Warren said that he didn't want payment to help her. It was so nice that she even relaxed slightly. It had been so long since someone said that to her and seemed to mean it. The dealers Sybil dealt with were so nasty that she foolishly thought all of them were that way. Soon the other two left them, and though she was slightly unnerved by it, she was still hungry so she wouldn't turn food down. Hesitantly she took a seat when he gestured for her to. Nodding a bit when he said he had ran with both of Sybil's sons. "Oh that's actually impressive, I've met them both. But it wasn't the best thing." She said as he got up to check the outside again.

"The other groups are at both exits or probably searching the crowd thinking I'll come out of hiding." She said as he came back to her. This wasn't the first time she had been cornered, just the first time she had actually found someone to help her. He asked how valuable she was to Sybil and Nireen chewed on the inside of her lip at the question. Her nervousness rising again, it was just the question she had to remind herself. He was going to help her, his reason made sense.

"I believe it's been a year or almost a year, it's hard to keep track of honestly. I managed to get away when that Lia witch scared off half of Sybil's followers. Her daughter helped me." She answered before frowning. "As for how valuable, unfortunately very." She sighed a little. "I don't know if you know of Adria? But she is my creator. So…" Her voice went quieter watching him closely as she finished. "I've been basically forcibly by Sybil's side, for over one hundred years."

"But I'm not with her, or like them I swear." She said quickly, almost rambling in panic, that maybe he would change his mind because she had technically worked for Sybil. "I just did things for Adira because I had no choice and am technically bound to her, but never directly for Sybil. I would even sneak away and unlock her cages if it was safe to. Hell I even ruined what plans I could without being noticed." She shook her head absolutely annoyed with just how desperate she must sound. "I just have to hide out for another month and then the bind Adira holds will break off completely, then I can join the small group of other Mimics hiding here."

–

Becca was glad that Warren was helping the girl and she nodded a bit. "Oh definitely. But I get the sense that she doesn't really have anything." She said with a slight head shake. She laughed at his notion that Warren's spite for Sybil was unmatched. "Oh without a doubt it is." The offer to get her something made her smile. While that wasn't what she had thought of when he owed her lunch, she wasn't going to turn down the good food on the food stalls. "Sure that sounds great. Want to get something from the noodle stall?" She asked, gesturing to one of the more popular stalls that had started to die down and was easy to eat on the go.

He seemed in his own head as they walked to the stall but she was very distracted by the smells of the food in the area mixed together and the sounds of the people around her. Becca definitely didn't realize how hungry she was until they were around the actual food area. She looked around when Tobias pointed out that people were starting to thin out. "Yeah they are, what time is it? Maybe they are all in the meetings or on rides. Either way, it's nice to not have to worry about people running into me." Becca said with a small laugh.

When they finally got to order their food she looked at Tobias. "Well since you're getting mine I'll pay for our friend's food." She said buying Nireens food and waiting for him to order theirs. Smiling as he handed her the vegetable lo mein that he had bought her. "We really should have asked what she ate. I'm hoping she eats alfredo." She said looking at the bowl of noodles that she had gotten the girl. Some of it was because it was cheap but also it felt like the safest option.