Mephisto was spending yet another weekend cooped up in his room. The only part that seemed neglected from clutter was a small table by his bed he used as a desk. His sketchbook lay open as he penciled in another drawing. He usually drew whatever he'd seen that day, in person, books, or other artworks- anything he could transform. Today he found himself sketching a tiger, a ferocious, wild beast, confused and unable to focus. The irony of it amused him.

Praxina had come to check on him, but that was hours ago. She left with Danielle to go hang out at the park. Usually she didn't come home until after dark, which was earlier than last year. If she wasn't home within the hour, he planned to eat dinner by himself. Cereal would be the easiest option, but all left was Praxina's box of Lucky Charms.

He took his mind off of food. It was late, and he still had homework to finish. It was hard to concentrate now that he was alone when he'd forgotten much about how to solve the problems, and he wished he could still be talking with Auriana. At the thought of her came memories from Friday.

Why did she not realize how close she was getting?

It was a strange thing; he couldn't figure out why that bothered him. The most obvious reason was that he wasn't used to anyone getting that close, but that explanation didn't seem to fit. It wasn't like he knew Auriana that well to begin with. She probably hadn't given it a second thought, and here he was two days later still thinking about it.

Besides, all of that happened at play practice after their tutoring session. Her explanation of the material then had been largely the same as Mr. Gramorr's. It wasn't a huge help other than it meant he was forced to get some of his work done. He already had half the packet done which for him, was an improvement.

The more he thought about it, his intial doubts kept coming back.

Why is trying to be friends with me? Is she just generally friendly? Is it out of pity? Did she think being in play was enough to make them friends?

He gave in for the time being and figured he'd make the cereal early, or earlier than usual anyways. He opened the door and was surprised to see Praxina's door open across the hall.

He called out, "Praxina? When did you get home?"

No response came, so he started to go downstairs when he finally heard his sister's voice. "About ten minutes ago," she walked into the doorway, "Did you already eat dinner?"

He looked back at her- the answer written in his expression. "Yeah I had some frozen carrots with a spoon of peanut butter."

Praxina scoffed, "Well sorry, I was just trying to be the civil one and offer to make something together."

As much as he liked being snarky, Praxina wasn't reciprocating their usual banter today which took all the fun out of it.

He groaned, "Fine, I'll wait for you in the kitchen, sorry," then he added under his breath, "That you're no fun."

"What was that mister 'I'm too good for frozen carrots?'" Emphasis on the carrots, "It's better than any glop you could've cooked up yourself."

There was the Praxina he knew.

Mephisto continued down the stairs when he got an idea. A grin spread across his face that she couldn't see. "Actually, you go ahead without me, make whatever you want. I was just gonna get a bowl of cereal." With those fighting words, he rushed downstairs, Praxina close behind. With the headstart, he managed to take the box out of the cabinet and hold it above his head.

She tried to reach for it, "Hey, not fair! That one's mine!"

In an overdramatic voice he said, "You can't claim the box for yourself, it's for everyone to share~"

"Some sharing. You already ate most of the box, I only got two bowls so far!"

"You've had two weeks already, you're just letting it go to waste."

Not having any options, Praxina grabbed a chair. Meanwhile Mephisto ran for the opposite side of the table. He held the box in front of him, ready to go at a moments notice. When she moved left, he moved to the right, finally she bolted for the right. He thought he was getting away until she stopped on the short side of the table. When he least expected it, she leaned across the table and knocked the box out of his hands. He tripped on the chair leg trying to get it back.

"Hey!"

"Serves you right-" she said that, but her mouth was turned up in a smile.

He couldn't contain his laughter.

Sometimes it was just fun to mess with her.

"What's so funny? You almost made me spill them!"

She went to pick up the box, but mistakenly grabbed the bottom. The cereal really did spill everywhere which only made him double down with laughter.

"Ughhhh," she rested her head against the wall. It wasn't mock annoyance anymore.

It was fun sometimes, though he was starting to feel guilty about it now.

While Mephisto tried to think of something to say, their dad walked in carrying bags in each hand sagging to the floor like the bags under his eyes.

"What's all this?"

On a regular day, he would be wildly unprepared to deal with any of the twin's shennaningins, tonight moreso. He got closer, noticing what was spilled and sighed.

"Well you're in luck, I brought some more."

At this the twins looked up again, but he put the cereal away in the cupboard.

"No one gets it till tomorrow. Today we'll make real dinner."

~~

Auriana had a sheet of paper out with a list of ideas for the costumes. She'd seen the ones that came with the script, but the designs all seemed a little outdated. It also would take a much greater skillset than Auriana had currently.

She tried sketching out, very roughly as drawing wasn't really her forte, some ideas for what they could try. As she did, she thought over the events that had transpired that weekend.

On Saturday morning, she, Talia, and Iris were all free, so they met up to spend the day in town. They had mostly just checked a couple of shops and hung out in the park. By noon, they went to the local smoothie shop to get something to eat.

The trio walked inside to find a stylish smoothie shop. It was generally inviting, with open tables and a lounge area, brightly colored in a way that was more remininscent of summer that'd past than autumn.

To their surprise, a familiar face was standing at the counter.

"Hey guys," Nathaniel smiled and waved a hand up as they entered.

Iris ran up to greet him, with Talia and Auriana following closely behind.

"Nathaniel!" Iris exclaimed, "I didn't know you worked here!"

He laughed and replied, "Well I only started last week. How've you girls been?"

Iris answered for the three of them, "Busy honestly. This is the first time we've all hung out this month just for fun."

Talia added, "Well, we did hang out at your place last week."

"Which ended up being homework for an hour. That is not fun," Auriana exaggerated her point by putting a hand on her hip and making a pout. The four of them laughed at that.

Iris noticed a few customers standing behind them reading the menu. They weren't in line just yet, but they would be in a moment. "Are we bothering you? Will you get in trouble for talking to us during work hours?"

Nathaniel studied the other group, "It's not too busy for a Saturday. Maybe once I take these orders I can take my break early. Do you girls want anything to drink?"

"I'll take something with mango!" Auriana ordered.

Iris checked the menu, "How about the strawberry banana smoothie?"

"I'll just get an orange juice." Talia reached into her bag for change, but Nathaniel stopped her.

"It's okay Talia. This will just go on a tab for me."

Talia protested, "What? You just started here, I can't let you do that. I have enough for our drinks."

Auriana pitched in too, "Yeah, we brought money." She dug around in her bag, but came up with napkins and hair ties "Somewhere in here."

"Are you sure you don't want us to cover it?" Iris asked.

Nathaniel shrugged his shoulders, "It's already done, so it's my treat" and the reciept printed.

After thanking Nathaniel for the drinks, Auriana and Talia went to find a seat at a table while Iris waited for Nathaniel by the counter.

Auriana noticed Talia kept her head down for some reason. She kept playing with her fingernails and fidgeting with her hands. It seemed that Talia was lost in thought about something. She tried asking her friend if something was wrong.

"Talia? What's up?"

She looked up from her hands and turned to face Auriana. "Huh? What do you mean?"

"Well kept looking at your hands kind of like when you're nervous. Was it because you couldn't pay?"

"What? No- well I mean did want to, but that's not it."

"Then what was it?"

"I never said there was anything."

"Sure you did," Auri reasoned, "You said 'That's not it' which means there is something else."

"No it doesn't, I just meant that it's nothing."

"Does it have to do with school?"

"No."

"The play?"

"No. I already said it's nothing."

"But you're using nothing to mean 'not important' instead of actually nothing. Which could mean-"

"Auri," Talia raised an eyebrow and her voice was starting to get a hint of annoyance.

Auriana decided it'd be better to stop grilling her with questions. The more she asked, the less Talia seemed to let out. She wasn't the kind of person to respond well to pressure, and today was no different. If she wanted to tell her, Auriana would have to wait for Talia to do it on her own time.

Finally, Iris and Nathaniel arrived with their drinks and sat in the empty seats across from Talia and Auriana.

The four of them caught up for a bit. Apparently Nathaniel had gotten into creative writing, and Iris shared some of her song ideas. Auriana mentioned some of what had been in the school's storage closet, ommitting who she'd been with. Talia didn't say much. As the morning wore on, the smoothie shop started filling up, and the group had to part ways again.

Now, Sunday night, Auriana kept her brief conversation with Talia in mind. Looking back, she was probably being too nosy. As she put her things away and got ready for bed, she went over a plan in her head for what she was going to do tomorrow. Classes, lunch with Iris (and maybe last minute assignments), studying with Mephisto-

Even though they were just getting to know each other, she'd found herself enjoying his company. However, she still didn't really have a plan for how to help him with math. She wasn't sure she'd be able to come up anything tonight, so she went to bed resolved to have a plan by tomorrow.

It would come soon enough.