"You don't say it like that," Xuan corrected.

"It sounds the same to me."

"You're supposed to say it from the back of your throat," she said as she rolled her eyes, "You're saying it like you're choking on it."

(How the hell do you say something from the back of your throat?)

"Let's stop with the language lessons for today, thank you very much," he snorted as they walked down the street.

Rolling her eyes again Xuan continued walking next to him. For fuck's sake he'd only learned some Vietnamese so she'd go out with him. Now she was trying to teach him the whole damn language. That was going just a little too far in his book. She stopped short to look at something in a window.

The only reason they were out in the first place was because the air conditioning back at Spooky's had broken down. It was unbearably hot and muggy this time of year. Things were made even worse by two things. The first was the fact that he was sweating more then a normal person was. Half of it was due to heat and the other half was probably due to the same reason that his hands were shaking. His body still wanted drugs. Go figure.

The other reason was his long black jacket. It was leather and he felt cut in a very stylish and flattering way. When he'd put it on that morning Xuan had looked at him oddly. She had pointed out that he actually didn't need to wear it. He'd looked at her, very affronted, and said;

"This outfit doesn't look good without the jacket."

So here he was, suffering for his fashion. Irritably he turned his head to see what she was looking at. It was a pawn shop. Big deal. Taking a closer look he saw the she was looking at a jewelry display in one of the windows. Good grief, jewelry! What was it with women and jewelry?

"Do women find some sort of weird need to wear random rocks around your necks?" he asked sarcastically.

Xuan gave him a brief glance.

"Probably no more then men find the need to complain."

"Touché."

"Besides," she said, "If you were actually paying attention then you would see that I'm not actually looking at the jewels so to speak."

Looking over her shoulder he noticed that she was actually looking at a blue colored flower carving on a silver chain. True to her word there wasn't a single jewel on it at all. He shrugged.

"Why look at that then?"

She paused for a minute.

"Hoa used to grow flowers like that. She always said that my mother used to like them."

"Used?"

"She died when I was born," Xuan replied.

Unlike most people he didn't say 'sorry'. (Why did people say that? It wasn't like they were the people who'd killed them? Or were they?) Instead he opted for;

"That sucks."

She gave a small and slightly bitter laugh.

"Yeah. Hoa, her mother, always said that the women in our family either live a very long time or die in childbirth. My father always said that was just superstition."

She paused again.

"He was American you know."

"Really?"

"Yes really. What's the point in lying about something like that?"

"Well what was he doing here then?" he asked, "the war couldn't have been going on back then."

"He was part of a missionary group," Xuan said, "Met my mom that way, settled down. Apparently my mother was a city girl before she married my father. All the flowers where she moved really made an impression on her. She always used to grow flowers like that, all around the house. Hoa said it was just about the only thing you could smell. They were still there when I was growing up."

"That makes it special…how?"

Xuan laughed and gave him a sock smile. (About fucking time!)

"Damn you're cheery. Like a sun or something. Bet you if someone served you up you'd taste like sun."

By this point Xuan had gotten used to all of the weird things that Séance said. So, accordingly she shrugged it off.

"Didn't your mom used to grow anything?" she asked.

Séance stuck his hands into his pockets and frowned. Thinking back on it he remembered Mom had grown flowers in a kind of weird parody of a fifties housewife. It took him a few minutes to try and recall what they were though.

"Geraniums," he said at last.

"Now when you see geraniums don't they mean something to you?" she asked.

"Not a damn thing," he shrugged, "The stupid things shed like crazy. You couldn't move for geranium petals in the house. They smelled like shit too. Nobody really liked them."

"Oh."

For another minute they stared at the window in silence. Wiping sweat off of her forehead Xuan said at last;

"You're not very sentimental you know. I can imagine you being a huge brat when you were a kid."

"Actually I was very sweet," said Séance, "My brothers, they were real terrors."

"You have brothers?" she frowned.

"A couple. Sisters too. All adopted though," he said, dismissing them with a wave of his hand.

"That must've been fun."

Séance cackled.

"You're obviously an only child."

"Didn't like your siblings?" she asked.

"I don't like my siblings," he corrected, "I stole socks off one of my brothers and burned the bed sheets of another. Great fun."

"You really were a brat."

"All kids are brats. I was only from 15 and up though," he argued.

She laughed and shook her head, but then she directed her glance back at the necklace in the window.

"When you buy it don't make me go in there with you," he cautioned.

"I'm not going to buy it," she said, turning around and walking away.

Following her he asked;

"Why not?"

"I thought you wanted to get out of there fast?"

"Oh I do, so very very much. But now I'm just being nosy. So why not?" he asked again.

"Can't afford it."

"'ya probably can," he said, "I should know. I buy stuff from you."

Stopping she turned around and put her hands on her hips.

"Some people have to buy necessities and think about others. Try it some time," she said, "You might be surprised."

Walking up to her he put his hands on her shoulders.

"You know you like me for it," smirked Séance.

"Actually-" started Xuan before Séance interrupted her with a kiss.

For all the fact that she was irritated at him she kissed back. He grinned inwardly. In all honesty Séance liked Xuan's lips, even if he'd never admit it to her. They were soft and oddly smooth, kind of like silk. He had no illusions about his and he was under the impression that his lips had actually cut hers on occasion. Yet, at the same time he liked it. Séance felt her lips part. He really liked it.