There were some footsteps, and then a knock on the living room door.

Jesse twisted around. "Ah, come in," she called.

The door slowly shifted open, catching on the carpet, before shutting and then pushing open a bit more carefully.

The peaky girl from earlier edged in, her suit somehow looking very crisp and clean and contrasting against her unhealthily pale skin, dark circles under her eyes, and her incredibly thin body to the point where it looked unhealthy. Dark purple circles underscored her eyes, even the one which had the scar running through it. Her curly hair almost completely covered it, and her indigo eye slowly shifted around the room. "A-ah... hello..." she said softly.

Jesse jumped a bit, several other members of the room tensing. "Oh- hi, um... did you have a name?" she blurted out, the first thought that popped into her head.

The girl shifted her position slightly. "... ahhh... no, I don't think so." Her inky fingers clung to the doorframe as if she was afraid that a good gust of wind would blow her away. Jesse could see why one might have that worry, . It was hard to imagine that this thin, frail, unhealthy-looking person could be the Witherstorm.

"Oh." Awkward pause. Olivia rescued her by asking, "do you want us to give you a name so it doesn't get confusing?"

The Witherstorm-girl blinked, her one still-functioning eye winking at them. "Ahh... okay."

"Just, um," Olivia glanced at Axel, who lifted his burly shoulders in a faintly bewildered manner. "We'll just- tell you random names and you can tell us if you like it."

The Witherstorm-girl inclined her head in a nod, still clinging to the doorframe.

"Uhh, okay... Emily?"

The Witherstorm-girl shook her head, doing it more and more until it was pretty much just a vigorous, continuous motion from all the suggestions currently bombarding her.

"Samantha."

"Ariel."

"Annie."

"Florentine."

"Calico."

"Gray."

"Blackie."

"Shadow."

"Ebony."

"That's already someone else's name! They're sitting right in the room with us!"

"Well, sorry I'm not original!"

"Nariko?" Jesse suggested tentatively. She'd read a story where the character's name had been that- apparently it meant 'thunder child', and storms had thunder, so... why not?

The Witherstorm-girl began to shake her head, stopped, thought about it for a moment, indigo eye narrowing thoughtfully, and then nodded a bit in return.

"Alright, nice to meet you, Nariko," Jesse said, even as Reuben clung to her ever-more tightly (Benedict gave another squawk of complaint), before standing up, her two lower sets of arms cradling Reuben in a hug, before walking over to Nariko and extending her hand.

Nariko looked at the hand, before slowly pulling one hand away from the doorframe and then taking ahold of the other hand hesitantly, the two of them shaking. Jesse smiled, trying not to show how nervous she was, before slowly pulling Reuben's face away from her and turning around the pig hybrid to show the curly-black haired girl. "Um, this is Reuben."

A slow, faint smile came over her face. "He's cute. Is he your kid?"

"Wha-? Oh, no, he's, um..." A blank came into Jesse's head, and she blinked down at Reuben, who was trying to restrain his shivering to a more 'normal' level. "Uhh.." she flipped backwards, upper set of arms catching herself, and blinked at Ivor. "Um, Ivor, what would I call Reuben?"

Ivor blinked. "Uhhh..."

"Well, he is like your kid," Petra pointed out, her face completely straight. "You take care of him."

"Well, yeah, but he was my pet before..."

Reuben gave her a mock-offended look, but it just looked downright adorable on his face, and ended up making Jesse giggle slightly. "Friend, I suppose I should say friend, not pet."

"Ooh, if he's your kid, does that mean I'm an uncle?" Jace asked, eyes lighting up.

"Wh-?"

"Then that means I'm a grandfather!" Ivor declared, a smile starting to form on his face. Harper snorted slightly, clearing her throat and glancing away upon everyone's look at her.

"Dad, why-?"

"Ooh, does that mean Lukas is the dad?"

Lukas choked, tail going ramrod straight at Aiden's question, the latter boy having this wide, extremely wicked grin on his face, ears pricking straight up as he hacked and tried to figure out how to breathe again. "Wait, what-?!" he spluttered upon being able to breathe again.

"Ooh, I think that means Harper's the grandma!" Cassie joked, a bigger grin spreading over her face. This time, it was Harper who choked, her face going six shades of red and Ivor's going the same shade. "What!"

Jesse grabbed the nearest non-violent thing she could find (a couch cushion) and chucked it at Aiden's head. "Q-quit it!"

"Oof!" Aiden was taken aback upon getting a faceful of pillow, but then he grabbed it off and chucked it back at Jesse. She ducked, and the pillow hit Nariko.

Everyone went still as Nariko blinked at the pillow now lying on the floor, before suddenly there was a blur of motion, and Cassie yelped as she was knocked off the couch by the pillow that went soaring at her head. "Got you!" Nariko crowed triumphantly, jumping up and down once with this extraordinarily pleased expression.

"How- wow, you throw hard," Cassie eked out, "take this!" She chucked another pillow, but her aim was a little off and she got Steve instead.

"Oh no- you do not challenge me at a pillow fight and lose!" Steve grabbed three pillows and proceeded to hit Hadrian, Axel, and Olivia in the face.

And so began the most epic of pillow wars (not really, it was just a pillow fight... well, I mean, Maya managed to hit Gill while aiming for Jesse and Reuben managed to clock Isa in the legs and sent her tumbling right onto Milo, but otherwise it was pretty normal as far as pillow fights go) in which Ebony managed to send six pillows at once flying (somehow) and Nariko managed to demonstrate some of her surprising strength.


A/N: Lol, supposed to be serious but then it devolved to this xD

RQTC: Have you ever wanted to trash someone but then couldn't?

Lucykillrcassie: Sorryyyy (cringe)

NoItsBecky: ... well, maybe not, but who knows xD

x.X. A.L. X.x