Cassie was playing with Winslow and talking to Olivia.
Jesse had been right; the two of them DID get along well.
"Wow, some of those traps sound pretty cool," Olivia said, bleeping around the room as Axel chased her- Cassie was ninety-nine percent sure that they were playing Tag or something. Lukas was communing with Winslow sleepily from where he was lying on the floor and Petra was playing fetch with Jace, who was running between playing fetch with Petra and tug-of-war with Nell. He'd pout when Em helped Nell out and the two of them managed to yank the wolf-hybrid onto the floor. Jesse had gone off by herself for a bit.
"I guess so," Cassie said, looking at her hands. She was half expecting to see them covered in blood or something. "I just wish I hadn't used them for... well, what I used them for."
Olivia shrugged. "Well... past is the past and all that." She bleeped out of sight in a spray of pink sparks as Axel made a desperate swipe, missed, overbalanced and flopped onto his stomach rather painfully.
The door opened, and Cassie looked up to see Jesse hugging the pig hybrid- Reuben, right?- and a boy with dark brown hair tagging along with a timid look in his celery-green eyes- Aiden... she was pretty sure, anyway.
There was a loud hiss, and Cassie looked back to see Lukas on top of a bookshelf, hissing at the dark-haired boy, who sheepishly grinned back and subtly stepped back a bit, eyeing Lukas's claws.
Jesse rolled her eyes with a laugh and, setting Reuben on the floor, followed him to the top of the bookshelf and tugged him back to the floor. "All right, c'mon Cat-boy, back to the ground with the mere mortals."
"More than half the people in the room are hybrids," Lukas pointed out, shooting Aiden a look and making Aiden edge back into the doorway. He looked like he was about to leave.
"True, but the rest of them are mortals. I think, anyway."
Em let out a bark of laughter at this, and Nell covered her mouth with an amused snort. Jesse gave them a grin as the two of them came back down, before looking around. "Aiden, where are Maya and Gill?"
Aiden jumped about two feet into the air when Jesse mildly addressed him, her twin brother bounding over to her and flopping over onto his back. Rolling her eyes with a slight smile, she leaned down and rubbed his stomach, making the wolf hybrid's tail swish happily and so violently it nearly smacked Jesse over. "Oh... um... th-they opted to go make out in a broom closet or something."
"Wha- they're dating?" Lukas asked, his blue green eyes blinking in surprise.
"Finally," Aiden responded.
"I know right," and for a moment the tension was gone as Lukas and Aiden chuckled together, a bit warily, before Lukas looked away awkwardly and Aiden cleared his throat, looking at the floor.
Cassie pushed herself to her feet, Winslow clinging to her sleeve as she did so, and she extended her hand- the one which Winslow was not hanging off of, anyway. "Well, nice to meet you... Aiden, right? I'm Cassie." And she smiled at him, feeling a faint pink come into her cheeks.
Aiden reached out and shook Cassie's hand, a small smile coming over his face. "Well, pleasure to meet you, Cassie."
"Aiden and Cassie, sittin' in a tree," Axel said suddenly and rather loudly, "K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"
Immediately both of their faces went bright pink, and they both let go of each other's hands as if they'd just gotten burned. "We- we barely know each other!" Aiden sputtered, looking utterly mortified.
"W-we met like twenty seconds ago!" Cassie agreed, as Winslow actually sniggered. Betrayal!
"Hey, if you get to antagonize Ivor about his crush, I don't see why Axel doesn't get to antagonize you about yours," Jesse said mildly, still rubbing her brother's stomach... and now petting Lukas. "Do you two only like me for my petting skills?" she asked, sounding jokingly frustrated.
"Yes," Lukas and Jace chorused.
"... I had that comin', didn't I," Jesse chuckled, Reuben giggling cheerfully in Jesse's lap.
Now Cassie and Aiden were the color of tomatoes, and both were looking in the opposite direction as Winslow continued sniggering. Suddenly, he moved, and Cassie's gaze automatically moved to follow her cat-
Winslow yanked Aiden over by the sleeve of his shirt over to Cassie's side, and then snagged his claws on both of their jackets and made himself comfortable.
Cassie didn't dare look at everyone else- they all were giggling at the situation. "I-it's not funny..." she mumbled, feeling her cheeks go even redder, as the giggles amplified into laughter, and Aiden stared aimlessly at the ceiling.
From outside the door, Magnus was laughing silently, hand covering his mouth as he shook with mirth. Ellegaard rolled her eyes at the Rogue. "You are less mature than a six-month old child."
"And you, Ellie, are way too mature," Magnus whispered back, still trying not to laugh. Ellegaard huffed and rolled her eyes again, barely able to hide a smirk that was threatening to make its way across her face.
Gabriel shook his head at the two Order of the Stone members and looked back to Ivor. "Ivor, should we have them come with us right now? I think the... er... Old Builders are almost done."
Ivor regarded the laughing (and blushing) teenagers with a look that Gabriel couldn't place. It was almost... nostalgic. "... perhaps in a minute. After all we've been through... they deserve a break."
A/N: A tad bit shorter than usual, but whatever :3
TheRealRedGaming: Aw, thanks!
ChoyofBonk: The ship has sailed!
rebekahtpe: Heehee x3 And left. DARE TO BE DIFFERENT!
NoItsBecky: Hehehe xD
DemonCatLady: Hehe x3 Thanks!
ThunderstarGames: Yeahhh :/
RavenBlaze4850: The ship has indeed sailed xD And agreed.
LittleAngelbun: Lol xD
angelwings: Oh! Cool! And I did not dress up, sadly (tear)
NinjaCat: Hehe... I feel like it's sort of both for them.
RapidSammi: Lol xD
Toni42: Lol xD and I'll ALWAYS be into Hybrid enough for Season 2/3
x.X. A.L. X.x
