Pressing Concerns (tags Taki, Jandro, Sebastian)

[Jandro Juarez]

Jandro truly hoped that Thad was exaggerating and his friend wasn't crazy enough to want to do any such thing. He never really paid much attention in church when his father's family dragged him there, but he had learned that much at least. "Lia says that any evil you do will return upon you three fold," he quoted for she was the one with the spiritual training in his household. "You would be better off to protect yourself some other way and let Karma do the punishing." His bright blue eyes gazed at the newest of his acquaintances, glad that Teddy wasn't there to confront this sort of thing.

"From what I have heard there is nothing worth endangering your soul by tying it up with demons or other creatures from the abyss. If you need protection we can help, but not if demons are involved on your part." Jandro would face down a demon, but he would not align himself with one.

[Sebastian Flambert]

Demons? Clones? Evil?

Sebastian couldn't help but blink in confusion at the youngest Cotton's unexpected outburst, clutching his blue security tightly to his chest when he saw a pair of unfamiliar faces accompanying Thad pop out of nowhere. So far, his day had been more or less tolerable, though Jonell had been exceptionally persistant in her attempts at talking to him earlier in first period, but the sudden surprise of three eccentric teens with talk of demons on their lips was... well... definitely unexpected.

"Erm..." mumbled Sebastian, lost for words. "W-Well... I really h-haven't been th-thinking about summoning demons recently.. b-but I'll take that bit of advice to heart.."

He glanced over the three boys suspiciously, eyeing each one of their faces with a pair of steel-gray eyes. Was this some sort of silly joke they were trying to pull over the new kid? If it was, he was far from understanding its punch line.

Sebastian shifted uncomfortably, lost in a cloud of confusion.

"It's n-nice to meet you two.." quipped Sebastian, nodding slightly to Takumi and Jandro, "My name is S-Sebastian.."

Uncomfortable silence..

"Erm..."

"I don't get it... Honestly, I don't.."

"Is th-this supposed... supposed to be funny?"

[Thad Cotton]

Thad sighed in exasperation. Apparently Sebastian was intent on pretending he didn't have anything to do with demons. "It ain't funny! Taxi says ya can't trust demons, an' he knows stuff!" Thad lectured, "An' they's kinda like ghosts, least ways, they's spirity type things, an' I know ya can't trust ghosts, cause one of 'em pushed me down some stairs once, an' it was not funny! Ghosts're why I got stuck with crutches!"

He turned to glare when Jandro suggested sitting back and allowing karma to punish evildoers. "Naw, naw, don't let that karma crap do yer work, tha's so apathetic! You gotta take action an' beat people down! Jus' not with demons. Oh, speakin' of, you know what the plural of 'moose' is? I was thinkin' of rentin' some mooses an' I don't think that's the right plural but I ain't sure an' Taxi don't know, 'cause English ain't his first langua....wait, it ain't yours, neither. Dangit! Now I'm gon' have to look in a dictionary or summin'!" He exclaimed in disgust, "I hate dictionaries! Not right now, though, cause yeah, you gotta meet my frien's, oh, and you gotta eat lunch with me, an' I'll make sure Roxy comes so you can meet her cause you ain't yet, right, an' you should 'cause she's the coolest girl ever, 'cept my sisters, an' maybe Ezzy'll sit with us too an' that's okay with you right, but don't summon no demons, I know Si was all okay with it 'cause she wantsa be dead but Taxi knows better 'bout demons, she only knows 'bout vampires but they ain't real nice anyway, cause they eat people, an' now I'm hungry, wanna skip class an' go get cotton candy?"

[Sebastian Flambert]

Sebastian couldn't help but feel slightly indignant at the younger boy's persistance in preventing his supposed "demon summoning" from taking place, and had an incredible amount of difficulty understanding the rest of what Thad was talking about. What was all this talk of 'karma', evildoers, and cotton candy, anyway?

"Th-Thad.." spoke Sebastian, this time with a hint of annoyance in his voice, "I.. I am n-not summoning demons.. and I don't think I'd need y-your help even if.. if I was.."

He took the time to take a sizable breath, before continuing on..

"I.. I'm confused.." he added, shaking his head. "and.... I don't think this is funny anymore.."

Werewolves, vampires, and demons? Good grief!

That said, the offer to skip class for some cotton candy did seem very appealing, especially seeing as the alternative would be enduring another hour of Jonell's increasingly uncomfortable innuendos..

"I.. erm... I'll go for cotton candy, though.."

[fryn]

Between the stammered words of the demon-summoner and otouto-san's rapid speech and incomprehensible sentences Takumi simply stood to one side ... and blinked a few times. He shot Jandro a look of sheer confusion, having picked up just about enough of the conversation to know that the unknown boy was vehemently denying having anything to do with the Underworld. Perhaps Thad had misread the journal? That was probably it as the new boy didn't look like he'd be into demon stuff. For that Tkumi felt a deep gratitude.

"Ah cotton candy! I remember you first letting me try that, Thad-chan. Are yoiu sure you need more sugar, though?" He peered at the younger boy in open concern. "You already seem more...aaah... I don't know the word in English. In Japanese it is 'kanbayashi'... When a person is too..." Takumi waved his hands around frantically. "I think maybe cotton candy isn't a good idea but I will also come with you." If only to make sure Thad reached school again afterwards. He didn't want the kid getting into even more trouble for playing truant.

"Jandro? You will also come?"

As long as Taki was back before lunch he'd be happy. After all, he had a certain brother to meet up with and there was no way he'd miss the chance to get to know Jett Chen.

[Jandro Juarez]

Jandro smiled. "Can I just call my friend Teddy and see if he would like to join us? I missed him coming in and I don't want him to think I blew him off. Their 'friendship' was too new for him to treat the stylish boy so rudely. At Taki's nod, he sent a quick text message to Teddy, inviting him to walk with them to the boardwalk and get a treat.

They began to walk towards the exit and Jandro couldn't help but search the crowds for Teddy's attractive self. He apparently was bit by the Crush bug. He didn't understand it, but he didn't fight it either. Hopefully Teddy would feel the same, otherwise Jandro would just have to settle for having made a truly fabulous friend.

[Thad Cotton]

Thad decided to ignore Sebastian's obvious annoyance and instead focused on everyone's eager acceptance of cotton candy. "Yay!" He celebrated, calling over his shoulder as he limped down the hallway, "Sugar's the food of life, Taxi, always need more of it!"

He hadn't bothered to think of how they were going to actually acquire any cotton candy, of course; he didn't have a car and Taki's Vespa was unlikely to carry all four of them even if his crutches weren't in the way. He would very gladly walk all the way to Santa Monica Pier just for delicious fluffy sugar, but while walking from home to the pier was easy school to the pier was a significantly longer distance.

He halted at the doors, peering about for any sign the rentacops might stop them, but apparently the officers were more concerned with keeping people out than preventing their escape.

"Wait! You know Teddy? Teddy Patterson?" He quizzed, attempting to wedge the heavy double doors open with his whole body.

"Tell 'im to ask Roxy and Ez to come, too," He demanded, deciding that a mass breakout would be more fun than a handful of them sneaking off. If seven delinquents running off for cotton candy could really be considered 'mass'.

[Sebastian Flambert]

Roxy? Teddy? Ez?

Again, he shifted uncomfortably, biting down on his thumb as he felt a slight twinge of anxiety course down his spine. Sebastian was never one to hang around crowds, and privately cursed himself for agreeing to sneak off school grounds with the freshman delinquent. Undoubtedly the conversation would stray to that of the supernatural kind, topics of which Sebastian Flambert knew absolutely nothing about.

Good grief...

"All th-this for cotton candy?" mumbled Sebastian.

His thoughts wandered briefly to the events that had transpired the night before, and on the details of Thad's abrupt departure from the Warren/Flambert residence moments after the tour of the villa. It was a shame, as Sebastian actually had looked forward to treating the two other Cottons to a very tasy meal with Shayne, who had arrived later.

"You... You left pretty q-quickly last night." commented Sebastian, now sucking on his thumb. "D-Did you h-happen to g-get your homework done?"

He paused, also remembering the kiss he had shared with Thad's sister, Fallon. Naturally, he wouldn't bring that part up in the conversation.. At least, not unless he was forced to.

"Erm.." the boy mumbled, glancing Thad over. "Fallon and I had a good time.."

[Teddy Patterson]

"Teddy! Could you hurry up! You're gonna be late and I do not want to hear your phone blaring 'Tonight' one more time!" The thunderous knocks on the bathroom door interrupted Teddy mid-hair blow. He sighed and looked at the mirror at his frumpy hair. Blowing the lock that had gotten into his eye, he announced that he was coming out soon. But Cindy did say he had a message since 'Tonight' was his ringtone. And it could be Jandro, the oh so cute boy he had met the day before.

He shrugged and gelled up his hair so it stayed in shape. He threw a quick glance at Cindy's raised eyebrow at his hair style before disappearing into his room to change. He quickly assessed that the vest should most definitely be worn today. It didn't really matter since no one had seen him yesterday with it. Pairing the vest with a light grey form-fitting shirt and dark skinny jeans and a charcoal grey pin striped fedora, he figured he was dressed. He then proceeded to check his cell phone for that message and found that it was indeed from Jandro.

Quickly replying his acquiescence and forwarding the message to the girls mentioned, he raced downstairs to give his mother a peck on her cheek and a hug for his stepfather before grabbing a toast, shouting to Cindy to hurry up. "I'm going to be late for school!"

Arriving in school, he immediately saw Jandro and Thad with two other boys he wasn't sure he knew already at the entrance. Jandro was wearing the vest he had bought yesterday and Teddy felt like it was fate that he chose to wear his too. Blushing, he raised a hand to wave at the boys before walking up to them. "Are we going already?" he asked, his voice slightly breathless as his gaze ran over Jandro's a lot longer than he had expected.

[Jandro Juarez]

Jandro's face lit up when he saw Teddy and he had to force himself not to run to him. He waved back unaware of how telling his expression was. "You look great, Teddy," he said reaching out to touch his shoulder as if to brush a bit of lint from the pristine vest. He wished he had the nerve to take Teddy's hand, but he wasn't sure how the other boy would feel about that. He might not want people to think they were anything but friends,which technically they were not yet.

"Do you know everyone? Takumi or Taki... Thad, and Sebastien. Thad is craving Cotton Candy so we are going to go find some. I think that Woolworth's still has it in bags. They have a soda fountain too. I haven't had an ice cream soda in a really long time," Jandro said, suddenly drooling for one. "Are Ezzy, Izzy and Roxy coming?"