The sun was shining, the birds were singing, the street was full of celebratory things and new sights and noises and smells, and Noah Fence had plans to 'accidentally' run into Mavis Trent. Things were different now, sort of, and not just because it was sunshine and heat around them instead of ice and snow.

He lingered near the entrance of the green tent, squinting in the sun and watching the people around him visit the food stands. Noah wasn't an actor - he couldn't perform like Mavis could, though he could sing when he didn't put his vocal cords through hell... so it had been a while - but he knew how to not seem suspicious. Not act natural, because very few things felt natural, while at the same time everything did, but definitely not seem suspicious either. The trick was to just allow himself to be distracted and preoccupied, which wasn't difficult at all.

Not that what they were doing should even be considered suspicious. Reuniting after so long apart, as soulmates would (apparently) always end up doing. As far as Noah was concerned, it was one of the only things in this world that made any sort of sense.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Felixir

The sun was shining, the birds were singing, the street was full of celebratory things and new sights and noises and smells, and Noah Fence had plans to 'accidentally' run into Mavis Trent. Things were different now, sort of, and not just because it was sunshine and heat around them instead of ice and snow.

He lingered near the entrance of the green tent, squinting in the sun and watching the people around him visit the food stands. Noah wasn't an actor - he couldn't perform like Mavis could, though he could sing when he didn't put his vocal cords through hell... so it had been a while - but he knew how to not seem suspicious. Not act natural, because very few things felt natural, while at the same time everything did, but definitely not seem suspicious either. The trick was to just allow himself to be distracted and preoccupied, which wasn't difficult at all.

Not that what they were doing should even be considered suspicious. Reuniting after so long apart, as soulmates would (apparently) always end up doing. As far as Noah was concerned, it was one of the only things in this world that made any sort of sense.

It had been a rough school term for Mavis Trent and she had left Hogwarts feeling barely even half the girl who had started the term. Even calling herself a shell felt generous at times. The boulders of war that had been hurtled into her pond were still washing up harsh ripples on to the shore and for the longest time she had thrown stones back at the stupid water and only added to the ripples and waves. She had dropped her own boulder just after the winter holidays, something that had broken her bond with her brother seemingly beyond repair...and that too had been its own boulder. It was hard when very few people felt like they actually wanted to listen to you and let you feel your feelings. She had a very finite few who understood her and who she felt actually wanted to listen to her...and one of those people just so happened to be someone she was oh so accidentally going to run into today.

And today...the pond felt calm and without ripples. Even if it was only temporary and once the day ended and she returned home the heavy silence would bring it all back.

Dashing towards the food stands, Mavis looked around desperately for Noah...but a crowd of people just so happened to be blocking him from view at the entrance. So, she did the obvious thing and began to sing softly as she wove through people - Noah would always be able to find her that way!

"Angel of muuuuuusic hide no longer...come to me stranger...angeeeeeel..."

Um. Um. UMMMMM.

There was SO MUCH TO DO and one little almost ten year old who could hardly CONTAIN her excitement. She was SKIPPING as she walked, her bright rainbow tutu flouncing around over her black bicycle shorts and her Kenmare Kestrals shirt COVERED in chocolate. Was it from sneaking candy from Papa's newest creations? Or was it from exploding creating her own with her twin brother. The world may never know. What Vera WOULD let them know is she was the EPITOMY of style. It was no wonder Papa had her pick Scoot's clothes out for her as well so much. The luckiest little sister, to have such an ICON to look up to.

But currently, this icon was almost overwhelmed because she didn't know where to start with her escapades at the event. Should she drag her family to the face painting and decoration?! Or maybe bowling! For reasons, she was pretty sure it would be hard to convince anyone she should be allowed to build her own firework but BY GOLLY she wanted to TRY. Maybe this was something Birdbrain would team up with her on? She paused to sidle on over to him.

"PSSSSSST." So sneaky. So quiet. "Do you wanna build a firewoooooork? Set them off to Scoot's delightttttt?"

Even after all these years (closer to only four years, but that was still the majority of his conscious life and so seemed, to him, to be an incredibly long time) nothing could get Noah's attention like even just a fragment of a line from his beloved Phantom. The days he didn't care about it didn't count, because those days he barely felt like Noah at all.

Not to mention, it was her voice too. With the line, sung in her voice, and all the time it had been since they'd seen each other, Noah honed in on it instantly. He straightened, and plunged through the crowd.

"I am your Angel of Music," he sang back in response. Marco Polo: The Musical. He had to do so a little more softly than he would have liked, given the still maybe mildly ravaged vocal cord situation, but it worked out okay. "Come to me: Angel of Musiiiiiiiiic..."

Wait, was that...? It was.

Barging between two much taller people in the crowd before they could obscure his view of her, Noah dashed forwards, heading for Mavis Trent.

SPOILER!!: duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun dun dun dun dun dun *dadum*

Quote:

Originally Posted by Felixir

Even after all these years (closer to only four years, but that was still the majority of his conscious life and so seemed, to him, to be an incredibly long time) nothing could get Noah's attention like even just a fragment of a line from his beloved Phantom. The days he didn't care about it didn't count, because those days he barely felt like Noah at all.

Not to mention, it was her voice too. With the line, sung in her voice, and all the time it had been since they'd seen each other, Noah honed in on it instantly. He straightened, and plunged through the crowd.

"I am your Angel of Music," he sang back in response. Marco Polo: The Musical. He had to do so a little more softly than he would have liked, given the still maybe mildly ravaged vocal cord situation, but it worked out okay. "Come to me: Angel of Musiiiiiiiiic..."

Wait, was that...? It was.

Barging between two much taller people in the crowd before they could obscure his view of her, Noah dashed forwards, heading for Mavis Trent.

She hadn't really sung since they had done so together to try and earn some much needed coin and it was these performances that had been the beginning of the end of their grand adventure together. The day they had been found had been the day the song in her heart had faded, barely even humming to herself even in her quietest of moments. Over and over again she had read the journal Noah had sent her and over and over again she had heard his voice reading it to her. So accustomed to creating his voice inside her mind, she thought that was precisely what she was doing when she heard his song and her shoulder sunk in defeat.

But then...the orchestra played, the song warming her insides and eliciting goosebumps all over her skin, and her eyes locked on her favorite pair of eyes just as he came bursting through two people.

"...Noah..." she whispered, more as a confirmation to herself as her feet slowly began to move towards him. "...NOAH..." And then SHE was dashing towards him as fast as her shorter legs could manage with tears in her eyes and a HUGE smile on her face. "N O A H!"

The thing with being a twin was that most people always seemed to assume that Vera and him were so alike. That they loved alllll of the same things and they thought exactly the same way and got along all the time. Well, hate to break it to them all cause that just wasn't how it worked. He was very different from his sister. Extremely different. They had NOTHING in common. Okay, they had a couple of things in common. Most things? Whatever. It didn't really matter. Like lots of siblings they argued and teased one another constantly but when it came down to it, they would always have the others back.

However, he should've maybe told her that she looked a horrid mess with all of that chocolate running down her shirt but whatever. Better her than him. His shirt with the large black crow taking up the entire from of it and black jeans with the rip across the knee from skateboarding had no chocolate on them. Which was a miracle all in itself seeing as to how he was currently munching on bits of a chocolate bar. Definitely not out of the norm for him in anyway. If there was sweets around, he had to have some.

Another piece of chocolate was broken off and placed into his mouth as he looked around at all the different things to do. Food carts, games, face painting. Make your ow-

PSSSSSSST...

SIGH. Vasco groaned internally before the twin sisters whispered words even left her lips. His eyes had landed on something and that's where he wanted to go. Why, did she always think that she got to decide what they got to do first? About ready to elbow her inside and tell her to 'shush it' and show her where they were going to go first, he heard what she continued on to whisper to him. Did he want to build a firework? DID HE WANT TO BUILD A FIREWORK?

Vasco cast his sister a look that clearly said it all, 'Did she even need to ask?'. Did that girl even know him? "Lets do it," came the whispered reply alone with a slight nod of head. The two of them, along with their little sister could easily get their papa to okay this.

Whenever people tried to tell her she and Vasco were alike, Vera's most favorite reply was that they were wrong because she was SO much cooler then Vasco. Actually, outside of Papa she would loudly proclaim to EVERYONE that it was HER who was the best of the Thanatos family. Scooter had a good opportunity to be almost as cool as her because so far Vera was willing to take her under her wing and train her little sister, but poor poor Vasco would just have to forever accept he would be the least fabulous of the four.

She almost felt for her brother. Perhaps that was why she included him in so many of her schemes. The schemes that would never even exist if it were not for the fact her brother had the far superior brain and she just had the... initiative to put in action. Usually quickly, without much planning or listening to advise and usually to the point where it did in fact cause an automatic failure to what could have been pure brilliance. Not that she EVER would admit any of that to anyone, or even have the self awareness to notice and admit it to herself.

She glanced over at her brother after her question, pure excitement and was very clear able to read that look. Which uh.. yes, it WAS a dumb question and she DID realize that now, thank you Vasco. Which she also tried to convey with a LOOK of her own, though really it probably just looked more like a nerve convulsion. Oops. She quickly gave up on it and focused on the fact they were going to BUILD FIREWORKS.

She squealed at her brother's response, wiggling in excitement before whispering back. "Do you think Papa will let us?? I mean... we've clearly shown we are excellent at explosions." But even she had to wonder if that was in their favor or a good reason for them to not.

Freckles aren't the only things that Jasper Amir Botros inherited from his baba! He also got Hassan's insatiable appetite. It was both a blessing and a curse... and the reason why the food stands were his first stops today.

After having spent a few minutes deciding between all the mouth-watering options, he finally decided on a hotdog (extra ketchup, extra relish, extra mustard) and a loaded plate of nachos - one item for each hand. So it was truly a testament to his athletic ability that he could hold both items whilst maneuvering his way around in search of the booth that sold the commemorative cups and fizzing lemonade.

But when he did find it, he expertly joined the back of the (long) queue. Oh man, this would take ages! Fortunately he had plenty to eat while he waited for the queue to move. Multitasking - Like! A! Pro!

Vasco visibly cringed when Vera squealed right near his ear, lifting his shoulder to try to block out some of the sound. Merlin, did she know what a dead give away that was?! Geeeez. Sometimes her excitement was waaaaay to over the top to soon. Girl needed to learn to dial it back a few notches.

"Why wouldn't he? He's going to be there watching." He already knew Papa wouldn't let them do stuff like that without him standing right there. "Our chocolate volcano was epic." Vas nodded his head. "If he tells us no.. we turn Vesper on him. She'll get him to say yes." Puppy dog eyes and a pouty lip from the baby would do it every time. And if Vera wanted to beg too, she was welcome to do so. As for him, well, that wasn't going to happen.

Just gradutating Hogwarts a few months ago, Austin still wasn’t used to not going back next term, because there wouldn’t be a next term for him. He entered the section with the food stands and got himself a pepperoni pizza slice. As he ate, he couldn’t help but notice that he was probably the only adult here. He stared at his pizza not really wanting to make a scene

Noah was accustomed to reunions with Mavis that went a little like this. Sometimes singing. Usually running and colliding. Always hugging. Today. The day they'd met up in order to run away together. The night of the battle. He knew how it went, and he met Mavis and flung his arms around her and hugged her tight and buried his face in the crook of her neck.

They hadn't seen each other since that week in winter, and it was because of him that writing letters never worked out. Not only was today significant because of January, it had needed to be sort-of secret, also because of January. Noah had been warned that he had likely made his way into several people's bad graces, and he didn't want them to get in his and Mavis' way. Otherwise, he didn't care what they thought. All Noah had wanted to do was take all the hurt away from Mavis in the only way that made sense to him at the time, and he was never going to apologise for that, not ever, not to any of her family and probably not even to her, if she ever suddenly expected it. He didn't think she would.

The only person he'd apologised to was Lori, and that was for scaring her and maybe making her think he didn't want to be at Stemp House with her anymore, which wasn't true. He had wanted to stay. He had wanted to leave. He had wanted a lot of specific and conflicting things that he still could not put into words.

Quickly, Noah got himself away from that line of thinking, before he could wake up a side of himself that needed to stay sleeping, now and always. Things that made him confused or emotional only ever made it worse, and that was why they'd never made it to France.

Noah realised he'd not spoken yet, and gave Mavis one last squeeze before letting her go, reaching for her hand instead, to tether them both to each other and the world. "I'm here. Remember I promised."

Lisa had cooked up an appetite with all her exploring around the event so she followed her nose and ended up at the Food Stands. Mmmm... It smelled so good. Her eyes grew wide as she took in the site of all the options for food. She wanted to DEVOUR EVERYTHING. Where to start first? A hamburger or nachos? Or both plus dessert?

She began weaving in and around people because she couldn't really inspect the food just yet and she wanted to inspect it before purchasing something. Unfortunately she wasn't tall so she had to weave her way through the crowd to see what it was. She got onto her tippy toes and peered over another boy's head to see what the food was. "Sorry.. Not cutting in the queue," she told him after deciding that she did want to get this scrumptious food. Lisa turned around and saw just how long the line went behind this boy.

Ever so briefly did the idea of befriending said boy cross her mind to get food quicker. However, that idea went out of her head COMPLETELY when she saw a one Jasper Botros.

FRIEND!! She wished she had her cape on. All thoughts of being older and sophisticated went out of her mind as she charged towards her friend fist out pretending to be a superhero. Even swooshy noises were made because come on- who didn't like superheroes! until she got closer and realized that perhaps she was being a little too childish. How would V act? she thought and tried to straighten her posture. She was after all in a pretty sundress and had flowers in her hair.

She continued walking towards her friend and beamed widely when she got nearer. "Super Jasper! Lisa Nam reporting for duty, my dude! I've missed you!" she blurted out and hugged him. She couldn't help it seeing Jasper just made her grin and be so silly. It was EASY to be silly around him AND REMY and Serena and OLLIE TOO - but mostly Jasper. He was just fun unlike Daniel and V who came off as somewhat oddly mature despite their bickering like an old married couple. Lisa then realized that they were in public and she was hu-hugging him. She gulped and flushed bright pink.

Her tummy felt really really weird and she didn't know why. She glanced at her pink converse shoes before looking up after a pause. Awkward Stitch wave. "Hi Jasper... Mind if I join you?"

Jasper had his eyes on the prize. (The prize was the food.) So he hadn't seen Lisa with her fist out making all the whooshing noises, but if he had seen it, he would've thought it was super epic! It was only when she called his name out that he realized she was there and met her with a big, toothy Jasper-grade grin. "Super Lisa!! What's upppppp?!" He'd totally give her a fist bump, but he couldn't risk dropping his hotdog. Even as she hugged him, he held onto his food tightly just in case.

"Are you kidding!? This spot's been calling your name." He even scooted over to the side to beckon her over and make a point. "Are you hungry? I've got nachos!" He held them out, deciding that they'd be easier to share than the hotdog. He'd be willing to split that too if she wanted, he just couldn't figure it out logistically.

Oh, and he missed her too! He might've forgotten to say that in all the excitement of running into one of his favorite school friends and being surrounded by all the food, glorious food.

With as often as she made mistakes such as that, it was possible one of her mission's in life was to deafen her brother. Though she hadn't fully decided so it had not made it into her secret book of bucket list items. SECRET because she was sure Papa would tell her she couldn't do HALF the things on that list for 'legality' reasons or 'safety' or one of those unfun words Papa's were prone to using. It was sometimes easier to do it and then beg for forgiveness later. Or claim ignorance.

Which would have actually been a very valid claims in situations related to Vera Wang Thanatos.

"But would him being there watching ruin some of the fun????" Like... what if he told her she couldn't do something because it'd be 'dangerous'? Another unfun word she LOATHED hearing him use. The chocolate volcano reminder earned a giant grin, as she nodded her head in agreement. "No argument here. One of our proudest accomplishments, I'd say." She'd glued pictures in her bucket list so she'd remember it forever and ever.

And the mess that had come with it.

And THAT was why Birdbrain was the uh.. brains of the operations! "Yes!! Scoot has the cutest little face! He can rarely say no to her!" A well known and exploited fact.

Alfie had convinced his mum that he could go to Diagon Alley by himself today. He was just going to hang out at the celebration. There would be lots of people around, and he was hoping to see people he knew from school there also. So his mum had dropped him off at the entrance to the alley and gone to do some of her own shopping in London. He had a bag with a few coins to buy himself some treats and he was ready to have fun.

Everything looked cool. Make your own FIREWORKS? Yes please. Mirror maze? Cool! Bumper cars? Absolutely. But on his way toward every single booth he did get a bit distracted by the food booth. Yum! Maybe he could stop for a snack first. As he was trying to decide which line to join first he spotted two people he knew! Jasper and Lisa! Friends! He hurried over to them and gave them a big grin. "Hi guys! Whoa, that looks good!" That was to Jasper, who looked like he already had his hands full of food.

If that were to ever occur, he wouldn't even be shocked. Both of his sisters we L O U D, LOUD!!! The girls had no real volume control and even when they were trying to be secretive they failed at it. It was pathetic really. Well, not to much for Vesper since she was still little yet but Vera should know better.

He shrugged his shoulders. "Probably but if we ask him you know he's going to stand there and supervise." Like he always did. Like parents tended to do. SIGH. "Exactly." Vasco smirked at his twin sister.

Well.. someone had to be! And it wasn't her. Sorry, NOT sorry. It wasn't his fault she never used her brain at all. "No one can. Which is why we tell her first and get her to ask." Cue his prefect cheeky plan. There was no way Papa could tell the youngest Thanatos 'no'.

Should he somehow happen to do so though, well.. then they might just have to not ask.

Jasper, of course, had food in his hands. Seeing him with food made her smile because that was Jasper. She swore she always found him with either football, a quidditch broom, or a baseball cap in hand. To his question on what is up, she beamed. “The sky! It’s a beautiful day because the sun is shining for us!!” She giggled happily. She liked hanging with friends. ESPECIALLY FRIENDS THAT SAVED HER A SPOT IN LINE. “Thanks. It has been calling my name. Did you hear it singing?” Okay so she hadn’t heard it singing buuuuut it was just so easy to be silly with Jasper. He was FUN!

The impromptu hangout got even better when he offered to SHARE HIS FOOD! The world did not deserve Jasper Amir Botros. ;______;

What a gentleman.

The nachos looked and smelled delicious. Delicious cheesy goodness.

Yummy! “I was going to order the nachos. Thanks. We could split a dessert too? My treat. I have pocket money,” she beamed, fishing into her bright blue purse that hung at her waist. She took a nacho and scooped up chip and cheese. “What do you want to eat? What’s our feast consist of?”

Before she heard Jasper’s reply, someone else was greeting them. She turned her gaze to find…. “Alfie! Hi! Come join us!!” she beamed, shifting just a little closer to Jasper (hehe) to make room for Alfie. “How’s your summer?

Impromptu hang out just got EVEN BETTER!

Vera did... not know better. She had one setting. ONE. Papa had tried and tried again to teach her to have multiple, but her whisper shouting ended up just being a thousand times more annoying than her shouting shouting so really... there was no winning for anyone. Except Vera, because she didn't really care if she was annoying, PARTICULARLY if it was her brother who held the opinion.

They were siblings. Wasn't it just supposed to be like... a given that they were awful?

A small twinkle appeared in her eye at her brother's response, because he'd just said the magic thing. *If* they asked him. "So... what if we don't ask?" Papa was so busy with his own events would he really notice if they slipped away? Sure, he'd definitely notice when they set a firework off BUT by then they'd already had most of the fun and there was nothing to do to change it anyways.

But they would have to choose too. Because if they had Scoot ask Papa and by some weird act of fate he said NO well... she was sure her Papa knew her well enough to just expect Vera was NOT going to accept that and figure out how to do as she pleased anyways. Which then meant she would be under EXTREME surveillance. "So do we have Scoot ask or should we just... slip away?"

She liked the second.

The sky? Jas immediately looked up to check it out before smiling some more. He would've given a thumbs up status on it too, but his thumbs were helping keep his hotdog from falling to a terrible, tragic end. And even though he could always buy another if it did fall (money wasn't ever a problem), he was pretty determined to hold onto all his food. Hopefully Lisa got the thumbs up vibe anyway. "We're pretty special if it's shining just for us," here he nudged her with his elbow because he could do that WHILST holding onto his food. Like a boss. "Oh yeah, it was doing an opera number!" Being silly was in the DNA. Got that from his dad.

Jas was glad that she'd accepted his offer, he always meant it when he said these things. He knew some people offered things just to be nice, but he'd never say things he didn't mean. "Are you sure, we can go halfsies?" He had pocket money too! But Lisa was a total legend for offering. "They have funnel cake, did you see!?" It had Jasper's mouth WATERING. "What do you want though? I'm not picky." It was true. The boy was a vacuum.

Jas only realized Alfie had joined when he noticed Lisa looking his way. He was glad that Lisa beckoned him over to stand in line with them because he would've done the same. Alfie's a best friend. For sure. Pretty iconic. "Want some?" Of the nachos (because, again, the hotdog would be difficult to split). But aside from this (and a BIG smile in greeting), Jas let Lisa do the talking. She was good at that and he'd be perfectly content being on standby next to her whilst he listened to his friend talk about his summer.

Alfie was glad that Jasper and Lisa welcomed him into their hangout. Not that he had ever worried they wouldn't. But, you know, it was always cool when someone who you were excited to see was also excited to see you. He grinned at Jasper when he offered him some nachos. "Sure!" And he took a cheese-covered chip right then and popped it in his mouth. He gave it a thumbs up in appreciation and then turned to Lisa when she asked him about his summer.

"It's good! Nothing very exciting, hanging out around home, seeing friends. How's your summer?" He directed that to both of them. He was interested in hearing about what both of them had been up to, if somebody with wizard family had a different summer and did more exciting things than him. And he was very interested in hearing if Jasper had done any fun quidditch things over the summer.

It was then that he remembered they were standing in line at a food booth. He stood on his tiptoes to try to look over the heads of the people in line in front of him to see the booth. "What is this line for anyway?" He hadn't even looked before joining them, he had been too excited about friends to pay attention to anything else.

Why wouldn't he have an opinion when it was his ear drums that were doing all of the suffering? And Papa had wondered why he had asked for noise canceling headphones for his last birthday AND than again for Christmas when he hadn't gotten them.

They weren't just 'siblings'. As Papa always put it 'They were twins and as twins they were supposed to get along better and be closer', yeah right! The only thing Vera and him ever seemed to agree on was getting into some form of trouble.

Vasco placed another piece of chocolate into his melt allowing it to melt across his tongue before swallowing. "The we stand a higher chance of doing what we want." If they didn't get caught slipping away first. He shrugged a shoulder. "Depends on if you want to risk having him say no and then having him keep a close eye on us." See, he already knew how that worked. Whenever Papa told them no, he watched them like a hawk making it almost impossible to slip away and do anything that they wanted to do. Almost.

"So.. do you want to risk it? Cause I don't." He wanted to have fun. Not waste even more time standing around chatting about it.

Pretty special if it’s shinning for us?! That was so SO SWEEEEEET. She would have squealed and flailed her arms but she was lady Lisa now so she played it a little more toned down. “Yeah, it’s pretty nifty,” she cried with a wiggle of eyebrows and a wink. It was nifty that the sun was just coming out for them. Must have known that they were here and needed the spotlight for all of them to see. Would the musical number start soon? Speaking of singing places, she giggled at his joke that the spot in queue had been singing for her as if it were an opera. “Like the Phantom of the Opera… The phantom calls to Christine and bewitches her mind and soul!” She had just seen the Phantom of the Opera for the first time with her eldest brother and was unable to stop spewing facts or relating everything to that musical. “Speaking of shows, if you’re free. You should come watch or audition!”

She picked up a nacho that was loaded in cheese. Ohohoho. The best nachos were the ones loaded in cheese and gooey deliciousness. Yum. Did she mean it? For anyone other than Jasper… maybe like a quarter of the way. But she had offered Jasper Botros this and he was awesome so… Yeah, she did mean it. Lisa nodded. “Of courseeeee!” she sung out and nodded, looking ahead briefly at the desserts sign. Hmmmmm…. Not sure what to get just yet.

Fortunately Jasper had mentioned funnel cake and Lisa thought that sounded delicious. “i didn’t see it but i can smell it. Funnel cake always smells goooooood. Do you like loads of powdered sugar on yours?” A good quirk to know before ordering. Not a deal breaker but Lisa loved the powdered sugar on top. The more sugar, the better.

She smiled as Alfie took a nacho and nodded as she listened to him regale them about his summer happenings. His summer sounded fun. Friends, home, and more- relaxing indeed. “Ive had a similar summer to you too. Friends, home, siblings aaand I’ve been at a theatre summer camp. We’re putting on Beauty and the Beast. And I’m yours truly….. ah wait… i bet you’ll never guess who I am?” she challenged with a smirk on her lips. Spoiler alert: she wasn’t the beauty or the beast but Chip instead. However, she was curious to see what the boys would say.

Lisa turned to gaze up ahead when Alfie asked what the line was for. Uhh well she had assumed some type of dessert. “I think funnel cake?” she wagered before looking over at Jas to confirm.

She hadn't even imagined that the noise cancelling headphones had been because of her noise level, rather she figured he just wanted an easier time ignoring her and Scoot. Not that she didn't STILL bother him at EVERY single available moment. Wasn't she just the bestest sister that ever existed!? WASN'T SHE?

By Papa's logic, she supposed she and Vasco WERE closer because of their age together, but not really by choice and only to wreak havoc together. And only when they weren't wreaking havoc ON each other, as Vera tended to like to do as well.

It suddenly occurred to her and drew her attention that he CURRENTLY had chocolate. So Vera eyed him and the piece he put in his mouth, before poking his arm gently. "Do you have anymore of that???" And was he willing to share because chocolate sounded delectable. Forgetting there was an entire stand of food RIGHT THERE and she had some pocket change from Papa to get something. One track mind. Saw chocolate, wanted chocolate now. "I reaaaally want to make a firework..." And everything he was saying was correct.

Once the actual question was posed and Vasco's opinion shared, Vera nodded her head vigorously in approval. "I agree. I don't want to risk Papa not letting us. So... we sneak away?"

SPOILER!!: aaaaaAAAAAAaaaaaaAAAAAAAh~~~~~~

Quote:

Originally Posted by Felixir

Noah was accustomed to reunions with Mavis that went a little like this. Sometimes singing. Usually running and colliding. Always hugging. Today. The day they'd met up in order to run away together. The night of the battle. He knew how it went, and he met Mavis and flung his arms around her and hugged her tight and buried his face in the crook of her neck.

They hadn't seen each other since that week in winter, and it was because of him that writing letters never worked out. Not only was today significant because of January, it had needed to be sort-of secret, also because of January. Noah had been warned that he had likely made his way into several people's bad graces, and he didn't want them to get in his and Mavis' way. Otherwise, he didn't care what they thought. All Noah had wanted to do was take all the hurt away from Mavis in the only way that made sense to him at the time, and he was never going to apologise for that, not ever, not to any of her family and probably not even to her, if she ever suddenly expected it. He didn't think she would.

The only person he'd apologised to was Lori, and that was for scaring her and maybe making her think he didn't want to be at Stemp House with her anymore, which wasn't true. He had wanted to stay. He had wanted to leave. He had wanted a lot of specific and conflicting things that he still could not put into words.

Quickly, Noah got himself away from that line of thinking, before he could wake up a side of himself that needed to stay sleeping, now and always. Things that made him confused or emotional only ever made it worse, and that was why they'd never made it to France.

Noah realised he'd not spoken yet, and gave Mavis one last squeeze before letting her go, reaching for her hand instead, to tether them both to each other and the world. "I'm here. Remember I promised."

It was all so terribly romantic. The world trying to keep them apart but them always finding a way back to each other. True soulmates and now star-crossed lovers - the latter being of their own impulsive doing but this was something they could just overlook in the name of romance.

And, thankfully, she had the whole letter situation all sorted out for the future. Or would as soon as her birthday rolled around and daddy made good on his promise. A promise that had come with another hours (it felt like hours) long stern talk about responsibility and all that. Mavis had taken it all seriously, and to heart, but it had been exhausting and unpleasant and truly something awful to slug through. But it had been worth it in the end. Maybe someday she would look back and think about daddy's words as infallible and all that...but all she could really focus on as she left the room after the talk was that she had ultimately gotten what she had wanted AND had been truthful while doing so. SO...baby steps. Small progress.

But, no offense to daddy, but that was enough of thinking about him for now. Now she just wanted to think about Noah. Something that was so easily accomplished the moment his arms were around her and his breath tickled her neck. Her own waterworks were instantaneous with the embrace, which should come as no surprise to him and her explosions of emotion, and her arms wrapped around him fiercely.

He was here. This was real. He was real.

Her heart might EXPLODE.

She had certain expectations as he pulled away and took her hand, his words making her heart soar to new heights. "...I could never forget," she croaked out as her eyes fluttered shut and her lips puckered up.

A good and true romantic reunion had to be christened with a kiss, did he remember?

Were there even other people here at the food stands anymore? To Mavis, anyone else was entirely nonconsequential and simply part of the decoration.