[IC] Fateful Convergence

[Vocalia]

"Yeah, right. Be my guest and dig in. You two can be our first guinea pigs. Just so you know, Isaac taught me how to cook it, so I'm sure it's safe... I think," Hayley replied in jest as she quickly turned to watch Eryn make a comeback. "Come on, Eryn! Kick his ass!" she cheered, fully aware of the young lady's opponent right next to her. Eryn remained focused on the screen until the familiar voice of "K.O!!" marked the end of the round with Sean managing to subvert her comeback to win that round. "Well done, Sean. You really do know your way around your characters," Eryn said to him, sounding as if she was having a wonderful time.

[Daxam]

"So do you," Sean says, grinning. "I honestly didn't think I was gonna win that. You definitely bring more of a challenge than Isaac or Hayley. We should play again after we're finished eating!" Isaac rolls his eyes and turns back to Nigel and Arlia as the former takes his first bite. After a moment, he says, "Hmm...Not bad. Could've gone a bit easier on the spices, but, other than that, this is pretty good."

[Vocalia]

Looking as her lover took the first bite, Arlia braced herself and gave the food a try, surprised to find it rather palatable. "My... So you do know how to prepare human food," she said as the other four joined the table, having suspended their game to eat their lunch. "Thank you, Arlia. I do pride myself in being able to live like a human and not like a catered princess," Hayley replied, smiling gleefully as Arlia glared back at her with barely restrained fury. Sitting down next to Sean, Eryn bit into the food and smiled. "I like how the vegetables are crisp and flavorful, but still well-done. They compliment the meat nicely," she said to Isaac and Hayley.

[Daxam]

"I just like the meat," Sean says, ignoring the vegetables and picking out the pieces of meat he can find. Isaac sighs and says, "You know you should eat your vegetables, too, right?" Sean raises an eyebrow in question and asks, "Why? I'm healthy enough without them. Why would I wanna eat like a rabbit when living like a t-rex lets me whoop your ass so easily?" Isaac opens his mouth to argue, then thinks twice about it, realizing it was an argument he wasn't going to win. Turning to Eryn, he asks, "So, how many games have you won against him?"

[Vocalia]

As if emphasizing just how different she was to Sean, Eryn's portion seemed to be mostly consisting of solely vegetables with little to no meat on sight on her plate. "Umm... I believe it's five games out of eleven. I haven't played this game before, so I was quite surprised to be able to hold my ground. I can't afford to buy most of the next generation consoles, I'm afraid," she replied with a shy smile. Still unsure of the idea of her moving in, she looked at Sean, trying to coax him to ask everyone how they would feel about it.

[Daxam]

Sean sees Eryn's inquiring look and nods. Swallowing the mouthful of food he was chewing, he says, "Eryn's moving in. I better not hear any complaints." Isaac looks at Sean and smiles. "I was wondering if you were gonna ask her." Turning to Eryn, he adds, "Welcome to our little group." Nigel, who had already finished his meal, the grief having used up more energy than he thought, looks at Eryn and says, "I'm glad to have you with us."

[Vocalia]

"Sweet! Another poor sod in our little, happy, slightly dysfunctional, and entirely wacky family," Hayley replied in jest, grinning ear to ear as she looked at Eryn. "That's excellent! We're finally able to live like a real family after so long!" Arlia couldn't contain her happiness, the only thing stopping her from simply rising up and suffocating her sister in a hug being her habitual table manners. "R-Really? You wouldn't mind me living here with you all? I-I mean, I don't have any special powers to speak of..." Eryn said to the group, looking surprised and slightly confused at the same time.

[Daxam]

"So?" Isaac says, grinning, now. "Since you're Arlia's sister, we won't have to worry about anything happening to you if Crey decides to go after us through you." Sean wraps his arm around Eryn's shoulders and adds, "Plus, I can help you out with your homework! I happen to know a few things about your degree, especially art!" Nigel smiles at Eryn and says, "Looks like it's decided, then. Welcome home."

[Vocalia]

"T-Thank you! I'll do my best around here," Eryn replied, happy to find a place outside of her own home where she was welcomed and loved. "Now that that's settled, we should throw a party to welcome her home," Hayley suggested, then turned to Sean and Isaac with a smirk. " The last time you threw a party, it was for my birthday and boy did you guys throw one hell of a party. Of course, with Eryn, we're gonna have to tone down the booze and tone up the sweets, but the point still stands."

[Daxam]

"Man, that was a party worthy of the ages!" Sean says, grinning as he remembers how drunk Isaac, of all people, got. Isaac chuckles and replies, "Don't remind me. I still get nightmares about the following morning." Sean glares at Isaac and says, "I thought we agreed never to speak of that again." Nigel raises an eyebrow and asks, "Speak of what?" Instantly, a dark cloud of carbon shrouds Isaac and Sean's arms catch fire. "Nothing," they both say, their voices low and menacing.

[Vocalia]

"Trust me, limey boy. You don't wanna know. It would traumatize even you and your girlfriend," Hayley chuckled as she gently waved her hand. Despite her dismissal, Hayley sounded as if she knew something more about this incident, leaving the Medici twins looking confused and curious at the same time. "I couldn't help but feel curious. I don't wish to intrude, but at the same time, I do wonder what could've provoked such a reaction from you two..." Arlia mused. Eryn herself was unsure of what to say and decided that, in this case, silence was gold.

[Daxam]

Sean immediately stands up, saying, "I'll leave this to you, Isaac. Eryn and I have some unfinished business." Standing up, he takes Eryn's hand and, not wanting her 'spoiled' by what he was pushing on Isaac, leads her back to the couch. "Bastard," Isaac grumbles. Seeing everyone's curious looks, he sighs and says, "The morning after Hayley's birthday party...Sean and I kinda...well..." Vincent suddenly takes over and says, "Isaac and Sean woke up, bare-ass naked, in the same bed, with their clothes scattered all over the place. It was fucking hilarious."

[Vocalia]

Hayley and Arlia promptly broke into a fit of laughter, tears slipping from the corner of their eyes. "Fuck... And I thought I had it bad when I found out that I passed out in the balcony, until I tried going back to my room and seeing that Isaac had already fancied himself a new bedmate. At least I'm not butt naked in a compromising position!" Hayley replied, her eyes glinting with a knowing gaze. "Oh my! Are you sure there were no condoms scattered with those clothes?" Arlia asked, unable to resist to urge to joke. All this happened while Eryn, still oblivious to what happened, was directed back to her gaming session with Sean which made her forget about her desire to know about the curious incident.

[Daxam]

Shut up... Isaac half-heartedly pleads as Vincent and Nigel laugh along with the girls. "Wait, wait," Nigel says. "If Sean and Isaac...did that, didn't you do it, too?" Nigel asks. Vincent immediately jumps out of his seat, a black carbon knife in his hand and pressing against Nigel's throat as he growls, "Don't. You. Ever. Fucking say that again. Got it?" Nigel nods and Vincent sits down, adding, "Besides, they didn't do anything." Vincent grins at Hayley and says, "She decided to play a nasty trick on them. While they were passed out, she stripped them naked and left them there."

[Vocalia]

"My, Summerland. You truly are a devil," Arlia said to the seemingly proud blonde. "Well, technically, I didn't lie. I said that I found them sleeping together on the same bed and that's exactly what I found. I was never asked about the nitty gritty details, like whether or not they look as if they've drank viagra with their booze when I found them," Hayley replied with a nonchalant shrug, somewhat glad that Sean wasn't listening to them. "Besides... I didn't do it alone." As if on cue, Alexis' distorted voice came from her lips, sounding as if she had done nothing wrong by being Hayley's accomplice. "I assisted my operator because I would like to observe the human emotions known as "surprise", "amusement", and "embarrassment". I have obtained valuable data as a result," she said without any ounce of guilt or shame, not that she could feel them to begin with.

[Daxam]

Isaac, now back in control of his body, glares at Hayley for a few minutes before sighing. "I guess that's why they say not to fall asleep at a party," he mutters, finding it in his heart to forgive Hayley in Alexis. Wrapping his arm around the blonde, he adds, "You're lucky I'm more forgiving that Sean, or else I'd be breaking up with you, right now." Nigel chuckles and, turning to Arlia, says, "I'm going to go back to the room. Would you care to join me, love?" Suddenly, Vincent's gruff voice sounds from Isaac's mouth as he says, "Be sure to keep it down, you two. I don't wanna hear you two going at it unless I can watch!" Nigel's face instantly reddens and, deciding it was smarter than saying anything, turns around and walks back to the room he would share with Arlia.

[Vocalia]

Arlia's face also turned a vivid shade of tomato red, but for a different reason: she was able to see herself and Nigel going at it, given her old "pastime activity" and she realized just how perverted her twisted mind really was. Nodding quietly, she followed Nigel into his room, glancing back at her new housemates with a smile of relief. Chuckling softly, Hayley looked at Sean and said, "Maybe I should have scattered condoms back then..."

[Daxam]

Isaac sighs and says, "I can only say that I'm glad you didn't." After a few moments, he rests his head against Hayley's and, taking her hand in his free one, says, "You know, I'm glad things seem to be getting back to normal already. Sarah would want us to move on." Then, a few more moments pass until he adds, "And I know she wouldn't want us to get revenge...but I'm not gonna stop until all the members of Crey are dead at my feet."

[Vocalia]

"Hey, trust me. At this point, every one of us have vested interest in seeing a mountain of dead Crey people for whatever reasons we could think of," Hayley replied and kindly smiled at him. "I want to be stronger... I want to make sure that I don't fuck up this badly again in the future. For now, since the training room is out of commission, no guess as to who is responsible, I think we should take time to cool our heads and try to build trust between ourselves. Between Nigel and Arlia now joining us and Eryn moving in soon, we have quite a bit of new faces to adjust to, though I think you and Sean would have an easier time getting used to Avignon Nigel around. I was told that the three of you used to work for Crey, but that's all in the past."

[Daxam]

Hearing that Nigel, Sean, and he used to work for Crey, Isaac's brow creases in confusion, but he shrugs it off, knowing it was more than likely. Sighing, he says, "You're right. All we can do right now is everything we can to prepare for them. Until we can start training again, we should relax and make new friends out of Nigel, Arlia, and Eryn." Smiling, he stands up and asks, "How about we go to our room? We can start acquainting ourselves with them at dinner time."