The worn floorboards creaked with the shuffling of feet as the jaegers filed into the living room at the back of the house. Towering curved windows took up the back wall, letting the dim morning light cascading in and giving them a perfect view of the fog rolling in over the waves.

Freshly dressed and ready for the day they piled onto the gilt Victorian-style couch, bouncing off its worn green cushions as they pushed and prodded each other until they were comfortable. Cherno accidentally elbowed Striker, sending him to the floor where he grumpily sat, arms crossed.

Pentecost strode in, pushing Coyote Tango's wheelchair. The young jaeger gripped a large box and roll of paper in his hands, looking pale, but excited.

The Marshal nodded a greeting, his face stern. "Morning, jaegers, I am glad to see that no one needed my help getting dressed this morning."

"Pants are right way round this time!"

"I can see that, Cherno." Taking the card board box from Coyote, he sat it on the floor. "As you may know, Visitation Day is tomorrow, and-"

"YAY! VISITATION DAY!"

"Gipsy."

'Er-, sorry, Marshal…."

"As I was saying," he continued, "Visitation Day is tomorrow, but the rangers are arriving tonight for dinner , and we need to be prepared. "

Crimson shyly raised his hand," but how?"

"We spent all of last week cleaning, now it's time to decorate. I have set aside a little project for you all, call it testing your art skills." He unrolled the large piece of paper, letting it unfurl down the length of the room. "Their arrival requires a welcome banner, and you are required to make it. This box next to me contains crayons and markers. They are coloring utensils which you will use to-"

"OOO!" Gipsy bounced off the couch, raising her arms excitedly. "I KNOW HOW TO DO THIS! RALEIGH TAUGHT ME HOW TO DO THIS! I KNOW HOW TO DO CRAYONS!"

"Gipsy." Pentecost frowned at her interruption.

"Uh-sorry, Marshal….again," she returned to her seat, abashed. Striker snickered.

His eyes softened slightly, "since you seem to have some previous knowledge of this, how about I let you be the leader and help the other jaeger's while I do some paperwork? I'll check back in an hour or so."

Gipsy's golden eyes grew wide as the Marshal left the room, a nervous blush creeping to her face as she surveyed her rough and calloused hands. "What does he mean by 'leader'? "

"He means to be like him," Crimson piped up helpfully from his place next to her. "You know, strut around giving orders and stuff."

"Do I get a mustache?"

"I don't think so."

"Aw," standing up, she gripped the cookie printed across her tank top. "Alright, I guess I could do this, come on."

The jaegers gathered around the unfurled stretch of paper as Gipsy knelt down and gripped a purple crayon with her fist. Biting her lip in concentration, she began to haphazardly scribble lines, causing her companions to let out a collective gasp.

"See? It's easy, all you do is grab the crayon, move it around a bit, then it makes stuff!"

"Tch, give me that," Striker snatched it out of her hand and sat beside her, running the crayon up and down the paper in awkward circles. "Look at that, I'm pretty sure I'm already better then you at this!" He grinned proudly, the scar across his nose crinkling.

"Nu-uh," Gipsy retorted, looking at the remaing jaegers. "I think we should put some words on the banner….you know….like….a welcome…something to say to our pilots when they get here."

"I can do that," Crimson rubbed his hands together before grabbing an orange marker.

"Cherno, wanna help me draw stuff?'

The Russian's face broke into a wide small. Suddenly he froze, looking hesitantly back at Coyote, whose forlorn face poked out of his hoodie. The room fell silent.

Coyote forced a smile, frosty blue eyes staring down at his baggy sleeves. "It's….*cough*….It's okay, you guys….I can just watch…."

Glances were exchanged before Crimson moved over to the wheelchair and picked him up. Coyote let out a surprised gasp as cushions were detached from the couch and he was sat upon them, his blanket laid gently across his lap. He looked up into the stoic faces of Cherno, Crimson, and Gipsy as they silently worked to make him comfortably, his heart beating rapidly as a blush crept to his face.

Striker kept his back to them, jaw tight, coloring away.

"All of us jaegers," Cherno motioned around them with finger, "all of us do this together."

"Come on," Crimson stuck his marker into his hand," you can do this, we're not gonna let them take you to Oblivion Bay." He let out a shy smile, and Coyote couldn't help but smile back.

So they set to work with a passion, the circular room filled with nothing but the sound of scribbling and quiet giggles. An hour passed before they got up to admire their handy work. Cherno put Coyote on his back so he could get a better vantage point.

They clustered by the wall, staring at the mash of lines and colors filling the paper, looking for all the world like a rabid pack of kindergarteners had stampeded over the banner.

"It's…."Crimson's jaw dropped.
"It's beautiful…." Coyote whispered.
"One MASSIVE problem, though," Striker crushed the mood, "Crimson was supposed to write "welcome pilots" across the front, right?'

"Yeah?" Gipsy cocked an eyebrow.
"Well he wrote it in CHINESE!" He angrily gestured at the scrawl, the room instantly exploded into angry chatter.

"Crimson!"

"YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO WRITE IN ENGLISH, MORON! HOW IS HERC GONNA BE ABLE TO UNDERSTAND THAT!"

"Hey, no one told me what language to write it in!"

"SHOULD OF WRITTEN IT IN RUSSIAN! CHINESE IS TERRIBLE LANGUAGE!"

"OH COME ON! YOU'RE MAKING ME MAD, CHERNO!"

"PUNCH HIM, CRIMSON! PUNCH HIM!"

"OO! OO! I"LL PUNCH YOU, STRIKER!"

"SHUTUP, GIPSY!"

Coyote covered his ears, " p-p-please stop….p-p-please…."

There was suddenly a loud banging from next door. "DON"T MAKE ME USE THE BROOM!"

The jaegers instantly fell silent, staring moodily at the banner. To them, it was ruined, which meant visitation day was ruined as well.

After a few minutes, Striker let out a huffy sigh. "I don't get why we had to make a banner, anyway. It's stupid."

"I think the Marshal wanted us to make it so everything would look nice and presentable," Crimson shrugged. "I think that's also why he wanted us to color it."

"So…." The cogs in Striker's head began to turn, "if we color it, it'll look presentable and the Marshal won't yell at us?"

"Then….if the banner's ruined…." Gipsy picked up a marker, "then maybe we should color EVERYTHING ELSE to make up for it!"

A fire lit in Crimson's eyes as he extended his hand in a gesture he had seen the triplets do before a basketball game. "Are we in this together?"

"Da," Cherno put his meaty fist on his.

'Yeah!" Gipsy added her own hand, face determined.

"Sure," Striker joined.

'Oh…okay!" He had to bend over Cherno's shoulder a bit, but Coyote's fingers finally brushed the pile.

"Alright, then, jaegers. LET'S DO THIS!"

7 o' clock came with the ringing of the doorbell. Marshal Pentecost straightened his tie before turned the doorknob, coming face to face with a mash of jaeger pilots, all clustered together on the tiny wooden porch, wearing various stages of grumpiness on their rain beaten faces.

"Come in, Rangers, the jaegers are waiting for you in the living room." Hands behind back, he led the way, the chatter of the rangers echoing down the narrow hall The Wei triplets were the loudest, joking and elbowing each other playfully. Mako and an albeit nervous Raleigh followed them, tailed by the Kadainovsky's who carried with them a mysterious box. Herc was at the end of the pack, silent and strangely pale.

Pentecost frowned in front of the living room door. . He had left the jaegers in there all evening, and sadly he was too busy to check on them. Hopefully they got the banner done in time.

The door slid open, and jaws collectively dropped.

The walls were covered top to bottom in marker and crayon, swirling together in sloppy mash ups of shapes and color.

"SURPRISE AND WELCOME!" The jaegers simultaneous cheered in their spot in the center of the room, throwing up their arms excitedly and revealing that they, too, had covered every bare piece of skin they had with marker.

"MAMA! PAPA! LOOK! I MADE MYSELF PRESENTABLE!" Cherno beamed underneath the Aleksis-style facial hair gipsy had scribbled across his face.

Sasha and Aleksis simultaneously blinked in surprise, casting dark looks over to Pentecost.

The marshal's eye twitched slightly. "This is why I can't nice things," he muttered before closing the door on their faces and walking back down the hall.

TO BE CONTINUED! (Sorry for taking so long to get this chapter out. School and tests got in the way, but now I finally have some time. :D)

Thanks to Knightpheonix2, ShepardisaBOSS, Xahras, Winged Pyro, Tel nok shock, Prophet21, Vindicator Eden, Mr. WigZ, and the twin anons for reviewing the last chapter. you guys are awesome and thanks for the support.

As always, reveiws/comments EXTREMELY WELCOME! thanks :D