10.
"Is mine, you cretin!"
"I found it on the fax!"
Weiss the Immaculate stretched out his leg and tripped Azul and Rosso as they carried their battle too close to his barcalounger. "What are you two fighting over?"
"Is invitation to party!" Rosso stated proudly. "My first party, and this oaf thinks he's going!"
"You never check the fax machine," Azul muttered. "I found it, I should get to go!"
A slender mechanical wing-arm reached between the two and plucked the mangled fax out of their frantic grasp. Nero read the invitation in puzzled silence, then handed it to Weiss. "It came from Upstairs."
"Then it must be on the level," Weiss mused.
Nero rolled his eyes. "Of course, if it comes from Upstairs it's always on the level," he muttered, raising his hand in the 'hail Weiss' salute, a gesture that could easily be mistaken for 'giving one the bird' if seen from an off angle.
"But Weiss," Rosso pouted, "I vant to go!"
"You're doing it again," Weiss said with a grin.
Rosso stamped her foot, making her otaku-designed she-armor jiggle. "I do NOT haff aksent!"
Weiss waved her away. "I'm just messing with you. You're too damn serious, Rosso. Take a clue from Azul, here, he's –" Weiss paused to prod the blue-haired man firmly with his toe.
Thumb in mouth, Azul snorted and rolled over.
"Well, maybe not that relaxed," Weiss admitted, "but still, you need to learn to go with the flow, Crimson. I think a party may be just what we all need."
"What about them, brother?" Nero whispered, gesturing at the masked figures guarding every doorway.
"If this is official from Upstairs," Weiss replied with a smirk, "they can't say no, can they?"
"Do you mean they're invited too, or they can't stop us from going?"
"Which one did you mean, when you asked me about it?"
Nero thought about this a moment. "More on the 'stop us from going' angle, I suppose."
"It's decided, then!"
Rosso looked up, her eyes betraying a deep and unfathomable befuddlement. "What are you two talking about?"
The brothers answered simultaneously:
"Restrictor has to let us go to this party," Nero said.
"Restrictor can be our designated drivers!" Weiss said.
"No, they can't!" Nero growled. "I didn't say we should invite them too, brother!"
"Yes, you did," Weiss told him.
"No, you said that," Nero stated as the darkness began to twitch.
"I didn't say it, I just asked you what you meant –"
"Oh, for crying out loud!" Shelke interceded. "I just asked if they even wanted to go, and they just said to bring them back some cake."
"Oh."
"Oh…"
"…so, it's decided, then?"