To anyone reading this after I changed the rating, know that I changed it down from M. Even with some cursing jokes and blood I still felt no ill will for showing this to my 13 year old sister. I feel like the system is a little skewed for that stuff so treat it as teen+ because I think that's a more fitting place. with that here is the original forward.
This is a herculean task for a first fic, but as I tried my hand at writing I quickly learned that I either go hard or go home. This is what came from just a few ideas popping into my head coalescing into this multi arc mess.
Some details I should clear up. I will use some of the cartoon's canon as well as canon from every incarnation, thus making my own canon. Treat this as any new continuity in comics: anything is possibly canon, until it is directly stated to not be canon. Schrodinger's canon. I obviously want this to be in the spirit of the show because it was my gateway into buying damn near every current run on DC's listing, but I still want to honor the other great stories that only appear in the pages and panels and not just the small screen.
This could mean many things to various fans of the cartoon. One is that I will not be treating Terra kindly, if I ever do some flashbacks. She is an unapologetic sociopath in the comics and while I will use elements from the show, I will lean more towards the comic dynamic, or at least the DVD dynamic where she is a little apologetic. Just a tad.
Another thing to set straight is that the only OCs I will be using are the six introduced here. Any other mainstay character I introduce will have already existed, in some form or another, in a animated series or comic.
Anyways, I'm new to being on this side so we'll see how this goes.
This is truly only the beginning.
The sun shined through the fabric of dark blue curtains that lined the windows overlooking Jump City. The room was dark, with various Gothic furniture. On the wall by the entrance was a bookcase with two chairs and a table to enjoy the various books, both literature and comic. Against both walls opposite the entrance were dressers, one with a vanity mirror above it. In between them was a canopy bed that, instead of curtains, had carved wood that seemed to imitate both the folds of gothic drapes and the vines of a jungle canopy.
On this bed lay two figures, bodies curled around one another in their sleep. The sun basked them and stirred one of them from her slumber. Dark violet hair was rustled as the owner came into the world of the conscious, rubbing her face into the fabric in an effort to wake faster. After a few moments of stillness she started to rise, at least until the accompanying figure tightened his grip around her waist, pressing her against his green chest.
"Garfield." She said, her accusing edge dulled from the morning grogginess. "We have a long day ahead of us. We need to get up."
A simple huff that blew her hair into her face was her response.
"You know that stalling is playing with fire. They won't want to be kept waiting." She chided him again.
The arms around her torso stiffened. A groan came from over her shoulder. "They can wait a little longer, Raven. I want a few more minutes alone with you."
Raven couldn't help but let the corners of her lips curl up in a small smile. She shifted in her lover's arms, his stiff hold on her loosening a fraction to accommodate her task, and cupped his face with the hand that wasn't pressed against his chest, the metal band on her ring finger shining in the morning light. His eyes were half lidded, somehow glowing with determination to stay in bed and sleep.
"We have a lot of things to do on top of the big changes that are happening this week." She gently told him.
"Don't remind me." He said, closing his eyes again.
"Paperwork and meetings." Her gentleness fading into a teasing tone, her eyes shifting side to side as she began listing off tasks.
"Raven!" He warned, his lips curled in a playful smirk.
"Training and pape-"
Whatever was left of her list was captured by Garfield's lips. They both smiled into the kiss before Garfield pulled away.
"I just want to spend a few more minutes with my wife." He said, leaning in again.
Before he could close the distance a thump sounded from the direction of their door. As they turned to the source of the disturbance, an object violently collided into the small space between the married couple.
"Good morning!" The offending object shouted.
Raven glanced at the door. Between the foot of the bed and the entry was an overturned chair that she used to relax with a book most nights. Though it seemed that the young girl that was now lounging nonchalantly on top of the covers had used it as a springboard.
"Sesha." Raven said, her voice dangerously calm.
The teen only started laughing.
"Come on, mom! You two can't suck face in bed all day!" The pale green skinned teen exclaimed. "You two promised the pier!"
She brushed back some of her choppy bangs out of her eyes, disheveled from her leap onto the bed. Her face was twisted with laughter, framed by her messy dark, almost black, green hair. Her pajama shirts velvet threads danced in the light as her chest shook with her chortles.
Raven collapsed back onto the bed and rubbed her temples. "We promised to do a lot today so just give your dad and I some time to get ready, Sesha." She said.
A foxy grin spread across Sesha's face. Unfortunately for Raven, her eyes were squeezed shut. Were they not, she would have known that this smile meant that her daughter was about to say something regrettable.
Sesha crossed her arms and spoke. "Give you time? To get ready? Or to get freaky?"
Raven's eyes snapped open and she made to grab Sesha by one of her pointed ears. Her fingers met nothing but air as a small green bat flew to the foot of the bed and resumed the form of her daughter.
"Sorry, sorry." She said with waves of laughter shaking her shoulders. She bent down and righted the chair that she had toppled.
Her peals quieted when something between a growl and a moan came from the male on the bed. Until then the mother and daughter had almost forgotten that he was there with how quiet he was, which in and of itself was concerning. The two females quirked their brows at him as he curled into himself under the covers.
"Uuuh. You okay, dad?" Sesha said as she leaned forward, her head tilted in concern.
Even with her husband blocking the pain from reaching her and her daughter's empathy, Raven knew what had happened almost immediately.
"You know I don't like you hiding your pain, Garfield." She said as she started to rub circles on his shoulder, the only soothing she was willing to do. She wasn't about to start healing that area while there was an audience.
"Like I wanna share this." Garfield said through clenched teeth.
Sesha faltered for a moment as her father's fetal position finally clicked in her mind.
"Oops." She hissed the 's' sound between bared teeth like a whistle.
Garfield's head slowly turned towards her daughter, his pupils slits. "'Oops'?" He growled, "'Oops' is all you have to say?"
Sesha gave a dramatic jump backwards. "Whoa. Watch out! Dad gets testy if you hit 'em in the testes."
Her parents both rounded on her. "Sesha!"
But she was already out the door, making whooping sounds while her hands shifted into the shape of lobster claws.
"We let her watch too many late night cartoons." Garfield said, barely even believing that the sentence came out of his mouth instead of his wife's.
Raven had resumed rubbing her temples for the third time. "You know we can't stop her in the internet age. Besides, being part demon with your sense of humor? I'd say we got off easy."
Garfield raised a brow at her self deprecating observation. His concern turned to mirth when she had stopped given her temples a massage to give him a sidelong smirk. He started to chuckle and soon after they were both laughing, though Raven was more reserved in her buoyancy.
They were taken out of their moment by a knock on their door frame. They both looked to see a boy standing in the doorway with a small smile on his pale green lips. The two returned his smile, still riding the coattails of their laughter.
"Good morning, Conrad." Raven greeted.
Conrad yawned as he ran a hand through his shaggy green hair and he addressed the two in the room.
"Morning mom, dad. She wake you?"
The two shook their heads.
"Already awake, huh? She do anything unruly?"
Raven nodded and Garfield explained. "Dive bomb knee between my legs."
Conrad sucked air through his teeth, crossing his legs. "She say anything weird?"
Raven raised her brow at the obvious rhetorical question while Garfield held up two fingers.
Conrad's hand slapped his face. "She is so weird! If we weren't both green I would ask for a blood test!"
The couple turned to give each other a knowing look as Conrad's hand slid down his face.
"But as weird as she is . . . " He started, his hand still pulling his eyelids down and his palm covering a smirk.
His parents turned their eyes back to him in a silent gesture to continue. Conrad's hand finally fell and swung at his side.
"A dive bomb, you say? Does that mean she was actually able to sneak up on you two? Impressive that she hid herself from an empath and someone with heightened senses."
Their eyes widened as they looked at each other and Garfield started to stumble for a subject change.
"Just go get ready for the pier. Your mom and I have to get ready." As the words came out of his mouth, Garfield had a sinking feeling that the conversation with their son was gaining a similar flow with that of his wife's conversation with their daughter just a few minutes prior.
Conrad chuckled a bit and started to follow his sister down the hall, but not before poking his head back into his parents' view. "Either she's getting sneakier, or you two were preoccupying each other with something."
He ducked down the hall before he saw their reaction, but he at least heard his father's.
"Even without the skin I don't think a blood test would be necessary!"
Raven sighed with a smile and shook her head in slight incredulity. She swung her legs over the side and stood. "Come on, we've most likely awoken the rest of the house by now."
Garfield shrugged. "The twins can sleep like a pair of rocks. So not the whole house."
He made to follow his wife, with some hesitation as he was still recovering from his injury.
Raven walked to the doorway leading to the bathroom. "Let's take a shower. I'll heal you, too."
Garfield's ears perked up. "Together?" He said with his eyebrows wiggling.
Raven stopped and turned her head to her husband. "Whoa. Down beast. To save time. We have children to keep up with."
Even though he knew nothing would happen, he still leaped from the bed towards the bathroom. It wasn't everyday that Raven suggested they shower together.
As the shower started, there was a faint sound of a slap and a yelp.
"Garfield! Not now!"
"Later?"
Only an exasperated groan responded.
Less than thirty minutes later, Garfield was trudging down the stairs. Raven, however, was almost done dressing in the room he just walked out of.
As he made his way to the kitchen, he became aware of two things. A delicious aroma and the ring of familiar voices. Remembering what happened the last time he heard one of the voices he put up his mental barriers taught to him by both Mento and his wife. After being in a family full of empaths for years, one learns to shield their mind. Once he was confident that they were unaware of his approach he peeked around the corner into the kitchen.
The first figure he saw was at the counter. Sesha was grumbling over the stove stirring two pans with her head rolled back in boredom.
A voice that Garfield couldn't see the owner of made her head jerk up. "Careful with the sauce! Don't want a repeat of what happened last time."
Sesha paused in her stirring and turned to the voice. "Ulrich, might I remind you that it was Willow who screwed it up last time. Not me."
Conrad's voice spoke up with an accompanying bark of laughter. "You let her distract you when she flaunted her high score."
Sesha scoffed. "Hey! I'm the eldest and I must defend my position atop the scoreboards!"
"Really showing off those extra minutes of maturity you got on Conrad and I, sis."
"It's 'and me', Ulrich. 'You got on I' doesn't sound right, does it?" Conrad said simply.
Sesha laughed triumphantly and pointed her mixing spoon at where Garfield assumed Ulrich stood. Afterwards she turned back to the stove to continue stirring, yet with much more vigor than before. She took a whiff of the two pans.
When she almost filled her lungs with her long inhale she froze.
"Uuuuuh." She muttered. "Hey dad."
There was a pause as Garfield peaked around the corner to look into the kitchen.
"Aw, dude! You're getting better at sneaking past us." Ulrich said.
"And it comes full circle." Conrad said.
Finally looking fully into the kitchen Garfield was able to see just what they had prepared. A huge plate of still steaming waffles was on the counter next to Ulrich. Of the three teens in the room, he was the one who took the most even ratio of traits from both his parents. His green hair framing his face in a similar fashion to his mother, albeit with a more choppy and disheveled cut. While he had his father's eyes, the way they looked back at their predecessor was more akin his wife than a mirror.
Conrad stood next to him with a plethora of utensils, all in the grasp of dark emerald crows, silently flapping their ethereal wings.
Sesha stood in front of the stove, busying herself with finishing what Garfield saw to be strawberry and blueberry sauce.
"So." Garfield started. "This a 'sorry' for how you woke me up?"
"I got up early to do this. What are yo-" Ulrich started, but cut himself off at Sesha's reaction to the question.
Sesha didn't look up from the stove. She only dipped her head and reached to grab a pair of bowls on the counter next to her, moving as little as possible in her actions to do her task.
Conrad snickered and his mirth seemed to permeate to his constructs as they jingled the silverware in their beaks together.
"Sis, what did you do this time?" Ulrich asked, crossing his arms.
Garfield leaned nonchalantly on the entryway frame and pretended to examine his claws, flexing them in and out of their sheathed and extended position.
"Yes, daughter. What did you do?"
Sesha groaned. "It was an accident, okay. I didn't have much time to aim where I landed and it was already near impossible with you two all tangled up in each other."
Ulrich raised a brow. "You jump on top of him or something?"
"Yeah, more specifically my knee did."
Urich scrunched his face up in a small wince. "Ow? Where did you . . ." Ulrich tapered off. "You didn't."
"I'm sorry!" She nearly yelled.
"I'm not the one to apologize to!"
"I did say-!" Sesha's face reddened, "Oops."
Her fellow triplets put a finger and thumb to the bridge of their noses.
"And you brag about being the oldest all the time." Conrad said.
Ulrich just took the hand against his face and motioned it towards their father, who was still quietly pretending to clean his claws. Sesha turned to him, her head swaying with it loose on her shoulders, with a look of self-pity on her face.
"Sorry, dad." Sesha said while rubbing the back of her neck.
Their father only wordlessly walked over to her, a gentle smile on his face. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and opened his mouth to accept the apology.
And also proceeded to grind his knuckles into the top of her head.
"I forgive you!" He shouted with glee over Sesha's protests, dragging the final word as he accelerated his knuckles over her scalp.
Conrad and Ulrich shared a glance before shrugging and turning to set the table with food, plates and cutlery.
"Guys! Ow! Help! He morphed scales on his knuckles! Ow!" She yelled, trying in vain to squeeze out of her father's grip. For a few moments she fruitlessly transformed into animals, but no matter the form her father's grip stayed firm. Wither wolf, eagle, lion or even a pachycephalosaurus, he was just as quick to adapt his own appendages to accommodate whatever form she took.
The two brothers continued to set the table, the cloud of bird constructs placing forks and knives besides the plates that Ulrich put atop place mats.
"Fine." She grunted, still the helmeted dinosaur, "Uncle. Uncle!"
Immediately Garfield stopped. He patted the dinosaur on the top of her armored skull and by the third pat, transitioned to ruffling her already strewn hair.
"Careful with your claws. We don't want to replace the hardwood. Again." He said as he stepped back towards the entryway of the kitchen.
"Which is why we suggested masonry. There's already not a single thread of carpet in the house." Ulrich said, still not looking up from his task.
Garfield turned to the three of them. The boys had finished with the table, the large breakfast ready to be eaten by their equally large family. Sesha was trying to tame her hair by running her hands through it, it's unruly nature unimpeded by the attempt.
"Let's go get the rest of the litter." Garfield said.
Sesha snorted and the triplets followed their father up the stairs to the hallway that connected the two rooms that belonged to the teens. There they saw a small blond boy with bed-head who was walking to the bathroom that also lined the hall.
"Ethan. You're up!" Sesha said cheerfully as she jogged down the hall, passing the girl's room, and pinched the young boys cheek. When the fact that his peach skin was slick with morning drool registered she retracted her hand with an over dramatic sound of disgust and wiped the slick appendage on Ethan's shoulder.
"But you still need a shower."
Sesha did one last wipe on Ethan's shoulder with a flourish. The boy raised a tired brow at his sister before giving her a shove that Sesha returned in kind. The two of them had smiles on their faces when Sesha spoke again.
"Go take a shower ya twerp."
The blond boy waved her off as he started to make his way to the bathroom.
As he walked down the hall, Sesha turned around to see her other brothers in front of the bedroom she shared with the two remaining siblings. They knocked on it's surface beside a 'beware of dog' sign, the small silhouette of a doberman having been customized with paint to give it two pairs of red eyes.
"You two ready in there?" Ulrich called through the door.
"Keep your pants on! We're almost done." A voice much more demure than Sesha's said.
Conrad raised a brow. "Almost? You two almost had Ethan beat you getting ready, and you girls have the conjoined bathroom."
A voice much like the first, yet with a slightly more animated tone that gave the impression that it's owner had a smile on her face, answered.
"Oooooh," It cooed sarcastically through the door. "Sparing us having to walk down the hall. What an advantage!"
Sesha threw her arms up and quickly strode up to the door and gave it a single stern smack with her knuckles. "Come on you two. These two might respect your privacy, but this is my room too. Don't make me drag you out, no matter how decent you are."
The two voices simultaneously droned out with a defeated tone.
"Fine! Just give us a few more seconds!" The first voice said as a rapid rustle of clothing seemed to preoccupy the other.
There was a beat of silence before the door swung open and a figure barreled out of the room, knocking into Sesha.
"Sweet Azar!" Sesha cried at the sudden spontaneity of her younger sibling.
After the mint green blur's stopped she grabbed the eldest sibling by her shoulders, her long emerald ponytail whipping around still carrying momentum.
"Fast enough for ya?" She said, a feral glint in her eyes.
Sesha shrugged off the grip on her shoulders. "Almost."
The pony-tailed girl turned her head to look at the family all grouped in the hallway.
"Why are we all just standing here? Let's go get some breakfast!"
Ulrich looked down the hall, having registered in the back of his mind that their father had silently departed sometime after coming up the stairs with them. A quick scan placed him back in the master bedroom with their mother.
"It seems dad is going off to procrastinate with mom again. We already made breakfast, but let's wait for them before we start eating." He said.
The girl shrugged in response. "Never stopped me before."
Sesha made to grab her but in the time frame it took to extend her arm, her sister had melted into green hued darkness. Seconds later a squeal of jubilation sounded from the kitchen. Ulrich sputtered in protest before he gave chase.
"Willow! I said wait!"
Sesha gave a bark of laughter while Conrad had a laugh building in his own throat as well.
Sesha looked like she was going to say something but was plowed into again by a pale girl with violet pigtails instead of a ponytail like her twin.
"What I miss?!" She said as she finished putting her pale arm through the sleeve of her shirt.
Sesha rubbed her shoulder and swiftly jabbed her sister in the shoulder in return.
"You missed the terror twins throwing caution to the wind and running me over!" Sesha emphasized her overdramatic description by arching jazz hands in front of her face, then throwing both then up indignantly at the end of her assertion.
"Hey, you wanted us to go fast. Don't get testy when we do what you ask." The younger girl fired back, rubbing her own shoulder in a similar fashion as her eldest sibling, her hand quickly flashing a calming blue that dispersed whatever pain gained from her sisters punch.
Sesha flinched at a certain word in her sister's rant and palmed her face when Conrad laughed behind her.
"Had to say that word didn't ya, Desiree." Sesha said with a wry smile, then turned to Conrad.
"You heard that one?" She asked rhetorically.
Desiree perked a violet brow. "Heard what?"
Conrad chuckled. "Dude, she was cooko this morning, Dez. I only caught the tail end of her third joke and watched her run down the hall with claws for hands."
Desiree only lifted her suddenly green brow higher. Her palette had, within a second, turned green and she lifted her hand. It's nails were now long and pointed.
Conrad shook his head.
"No, no. Big, meaty," He lifted his own now inhuman hands to display a set of crustacean pincers. "Claws."
Desiree stifled a laugh behind her, pale once more, hands. "Oh Azar."
Sesha walked up between them and slung her arms around them. "We get it. I'm a riot. Now, if you don't mind, I wanna get to the dining room so that those two," She jerked her head at the wall where they knew their parents' room was. "Can take a hint and hurry up."
Desiree let out an actual laugh this time. "They are always going on about getting up faster yet they are the last ones down half the time."
At the large circular dining table, the majority of the children were seated, all with various levels of patience. Sesha leaned back into her chair, tipping it slightly on its back legs, as she outstretched her arm to also tip her empty glass with her pointer finger. To her right sat Willow, the pony-tailed girl grumbling and casting impatient glances at the huge plate of waffles at the center of the table, and Desiree, smiling softly at the other occupants at the table. Beyond them was Ulrich and Conrad both of them sitting like statues, Ulrich only breaking his stoic demeanor to swat Willow's hand with a black clouded fork that was beside her plate whenever she reached to the center of the table.
Said girl was currently growling and clenching a fist that was sure to have a bruise on the back.
"You surprise us with a huge pile of fresh waffles and expect me to just sit here with my thumbs up my ass?!" She hissed in a sharp whisper.
Ulrich rolled his eyes at her. "Yes. We are going to wait for everyone."
"But mom and dad always take forever." She shot back.
"Don't get hangry at me." Ulrich calmly retorted.
Willow just huffed in response crossing her arms in impatience. She took another look at the plate of waffles and with an unimpressed flick of her wrist, caused the entire plate of waffles to disappear in a swirl of clover. The entire table froze and the two boys who had already been still bugged their eyes out.
Willow calmly put her hands up in a placating gesture. "Before you guys freak out, you know my pocket will keep them nice and fresh."
Ulrich opened his mouth to protest but was cut off by Willow.
"I might as well keep them fresh in my pocket while we wait, and it will make a nice show for when mom and dad walk in."
It was Ulrich's turn to grumble as a grin spread on Willow's face. The two bowls of blueberry and strawberry sauce disappeared in a similar swirl of magic.
"Should give them the same courtesy too." She said patting her hands together to rid them of the particles of magic that remained.
Conrad tilted his head at her, the most motion he displayed as of yet at the table. "Just make sure that the same amount of waffles return."
The girl in question only grinned a wicked smile. "Did you count how many were there?"
The two other girls snickered at their sister's cocky attitude while Conrad and Ulrich let their heads fall in defeat.
"When are mom and dad gonna get here?" Conrad said, exasperated.
"If they're this late," Sesha started with a mischievous smile. "They might be gettin' bizay."
Desiree squeaked out an indignant 'ew' and put her hands over her ears.
"You are nasty, Sesh." Conrad said with his head in in palm. "We can sense them walking down the upstairs hall."
Sesha just shrugged it off. "We're all animals here, and we want a big pack, right?"
Desiree lifted her hand from her ears and looked at Sesha with a tired look. "Why can't six be enough?"
"Because that is the sole population of our awesome demon-beast species. Don't tell me your instincts don't want more survivability. Both instincts." Sesha said.
"Normal kids just ask for another sibling or something." Ulrich said. "You make it a point to talk about their sex life."
"Joke about. It's not like I go asking for details." Sesha shot back while waving her green finger at him. "And besides, we are obviously far from normal."
Willow kicked her seat back in a similar fashion as Sesha's and adopted a mocking tone.
"Hey, mom and dad. Done hiding the cucumber?"
Ulrich slammed his head on the table, jostling the cutlery on it. Conrad groaned and put his face deep in his hands. Desiree started to retch over dramatically, and Sesha muttered something about needing to remember that one.
Any further innuendos were cut off by by an irritated clearing of someone's throat.
Knowing who it was before even seeing them, Sesha whipped her head around with a question on her tongue.
"Hey, mom and dad! Done-"
"No." Their mother said dangerously, their father standing at her side with a look of disapproval and chagrin. The shame they sensed rolling off him was easily deciphered into 'they got that from me'.
"To me talking? Or to what I was asking?" Her grin was positively impish, knowing they had heard Willow's parody.
Raven's eyes narrowed, silently daring her to to continue. Sesha's grin faltered and she muttered an apology.
"Anyways." Ulrich started forcibly. "What took you so long?"
Garfield took the subject change gratefully and lightheartedly nudged his wife. "She was trying to meditate the morning away. So I had no choice but to nearly carry her down the hall."
"I'm going to have no time to do it until later." Raven started. "so I-"
She was cut off by her husband grabbing her around the waist and spinning her in a circle.
"Yeah, yeah. But now that we're here it's time for-" He cut himself off as he finally looked at the table, now barren of the food he expected to see. "Breakfast?"
He arched his head over Raven's shoulder curiously, a brief look of confusion on his face. He looked at each of his children in turn swiftly. When he made eye contact with Willow, who was sucking her lips in, he chuckled.
"No breakfast yet? Are we still waiting for Ethan?" Raven said.
Sesha sat up at the mention of the youngest. As the front legs of her chair finally clacked against the tile of the floor, a voice spoke up softly from beside her.
"I've been here for a while."
She swung her head in the direction of the voice and saw Ethan lounging in the chair beside her, a glazed look in his eyes.
With a yelp, she clutched her chest. "You need to stop doing that, or we're gonna put a bell on you!"
The glazed look left his eyes and a small smile came to his lips. "But it's too much fun."
At this point the rest of his siblings took notice and started to look about the room, looking at Ethan and to the kitchen that they should have seen him walk from. It was so comical looking that Ethan laughed at them all.
"Aren't we supposed to be having breakfast or something?" He said with a chuckle still in his voice.
Willow immediately perked up in her seat, obviously waiting for some cue. "That we are, little bro!"
She thrust her hands forward and splayed her fingers out and up. In a black flash and a triumphant "tah-dah" she materialized the entire breakfast selection to its rightful place on the table.
Garfield smiled at the reappearance of the food and nearly shouted one word in jubilation.
"Waffles!"
Raven smiled at the obvious flourish of ability, letting a burst of pride and approval through her empathic walls for Willow to feel. Willow smiled widely in return.
Garfield ran around the table to the two remaining empty chairs, all while still carrying Raven, and sat her into an empty seat. As he sat down beside her, Raven smiled at the entire sight in front of her.
"Thank you." She said softly to the teens.
"It was nothin'." Sesha said.
"You only made the sauce." Ulrich said.
"Are you saying I did less than Conrad?" Sesha said with a raised brow.
Conrad furrowed his brows as Ulrich simply answered. "Touché."
Raven rolled her eyes at her children's banter and daintily picked up a fork. Willow and Deserie copied her action, though Willow was far more enthused and the fork almost hummed in the girl's hand in anticipation.
"Let's eat." Raven said simply, and the table burst into action as everyone started to attack the mountain of waffles in varying amounts of vigor.