White Camellia, Red Snapdragon and Lilies both. (Private)

It's not like Aurora expected Yurio to keep reacting to her silliness anyway.

Carol's reaction only made Elizabeth even more amused. It was rather childish of her to take so much enjoyment from that, but she did, shamelessly. Regarding the story that Carol shared with everyone, that's what finally ended the period of Eliza being calm and collected. She grinned widely, barely stopping herself from bursting out with laughter in front of everyone. Shaking her head, Elizabeth contemplated finally revealing the surprising truth about the so-called rivalry between Carol and Dalibor.

By the end of Carol's story, Angela was staring at her auntie with a blank, somewhat disappointed look. Petty pride was the source of it all. It wasn't really all that surprising, but Angela couldn't believe that people as old as Carol and her father could still fight because of things as dumb and insignificant as that. Honor? Sure. Pride? Pride was the downfall of many great historical figures. With a sigh, she rested her face in her hands and shook her head. Besides, her father's pride? Would he really enjoy winning against Carol in a duel? The only thing he was proud of was his family. He surely wasn't so petty as to go into rivalries like that. Eventually, Angela finally looked at Carol again, still keeping her rather blank stare. "You want to beat my dad up because of... pride..." Angela said, disappointment present in her voice. A yet another sigh followed her words. "See, Aurora's partners left her after she failed her mission. She ended up without a limb, without her dearest friends, and without a purpose. The results of it all were... nightmarish. That's all I will say since it's a period Aurora would rather forget. Anyway, I was assisting a Death Scythe in cleaning the mess that Aurora was unable to finish dealing with herself. And... Eh, the point is, Aurora has never held it against me that I finished her mission for her." Angela said as she crossed her legs and arms. "Forgive me for saying it, but refusing to let go of your pride is something I find to be childish."

"Hah! I'm already here, y'know? You better hurry! Hahah!" Dalibor said and then laughed with joy. Of course, he was going to wait as long as needed. He wasn't in a hurry or anything.

"Can't say you're wrong, but again, her experiences and my own are different and neither make the other lesser. I try not to compare," Carol said, shrugging. She had a smile on her face, despite Angela's scathing review of her admittedly unreasonable attitude towards Dalibor. She wasn't going to make excuses for herself, or go into all the little things that ended up making her how she is. In the end, when everything happened oh so long ago, her family wasn't one she could fall back on and she was embarrassed beyond belief. She couldn't be honest with herself, not if she wanted to avoid admitting that she had failed entirely. Pride in herself was all she had, and even that was more or less shattered even without letting herself see the truth. Now, the only thing she that she hadn't managed to overcome from that time continued to be her friend, Dalibor. "I will say... I don't want to beat him up. No, not that. I want to win. And I don't hold it against him, no, even though he and Gyles are the reason why I quit being a weapon meister and the frustration persists even after all this time. My feelings on the matter are really quite complicated."

Gyles hung up the phone even before Dalibor started laughing. He just wanted out of his office and the underside of the academy both, and so he left them behind with a brisk step, heading for the school entrance.

Finally, they started reaching things they could agree on, Angela thought. "You want to win..." The witch repeated Carol's words and nodded a little, giving her auntie a grin. "Now yer speakin' my language, Carol!" She said and let out a small chuckle. "Good and healthy competition is never bad, heheh! I always like to race against my dad. He's really fast for his age, not gonna lie! Being a PE teacher is really good for him too." Angela said, her usual energy and enthusiasm finally making its great return. "Poor NOT students, they always look so exhausted after going through his workouts." Angela took a good long look at Carol, before grinning once more. "You seem to be in top shape too! Judging by your appearance I'd say you're 30 years old tops."

Elizabeth smirked at that remark. "Are you sure there is no witch blood flowing in your veins, Carol?" She asked jokingly.

Doing nothing while waiting for Gyles to join him, was not something Dalibor would consider his style. Thus, he started doing push-ups to kill time.

"I'm an even 40, and nobody is quite sure how our family ended up with this youthful vitality we've got," Carol said, grinning. That was another thing she was proud of. She looked very young for her age, and would continue to do so for a while yet. She wouldn't expect Dalibor to do anything sitting down, nor would she expect him to be anything less than the very peak of where he could be physically. "Sounds like Dalibor. I'm no slouch either. Again, we've always been evenly matched."

"I want to see that match..." Lyra said, knowing full well how Dalibor worked his students. Not that she personally minded it.

When Gyles finally made his way out of the depths of the academy and out to the front, he wasn't surprised in the least to find Dalibor doing push-ups. He walked up to him and poked his side with the toe of his shoe. "I didn't take that long," he said.

"If not for the fact that I might outlive you at least a few times over and still look young, I would probably be jealous." Elizabeth said jokingly. However, what she wasn't pointing out was the fact that outliving all her friends was something she was secretly terrified of. She wasn't alone in that regard either. Both Angela and Luna had similar fears. As for Aurora, she was rather lucky with Yurio. Dragons should have a rather long lifespan. Probably.

"Oh yeah, I don't doubt that you're evenly matched." Angela said and rubbed her chin, thinking about something. "I kinda wonder if Aurora in her prime shape would've been a match for you or dad." She suddenly said, finally saying out loud that her sister has lost her edge as a meister. It wasn't too surprising, really, after all her meister career was basically over at that point. "What I know for sure is that without my magic I probably wouldn't be able to beat any of you, but that's fine, I'd be having fun anyway."

Dalibor stood up from his previous position and clapped his hands together to clear them of dust and dirt. "Hah! Of course, you didn't, pal. You know me though, I don't like wasting my time standing like a street cone." He said and then chuckled. "Let's go, yeah?" With his hands in his pockets and a grin on his face.

"Mmm, yeah, nothing beats a witch when it comes to staying young," Carol said, nodding. She was rather jealous of that, even though she had it better than most. Really, anyone who enjoyed their beauty was probably jealous of witches. Or so she liked to think. "I wouldn't know. Considering she was working on two Death Scythes at once, I'd reckon so. Especially if you count in magic, too."

"But if you didn't have magic you'd totally learn to do a menace or something, right?" Lyra asked, now that the topic was more something she could get do participate in. "And, that just means you've got to train harder, too," she added after, nodding to herself in self-assurance.

Yurio, now done with what he was doing, set his invention in front of both Aurora and Luna, while keeping one cup for himself. Each was in the form of a latte. What the coffee smelled like, before he made it, made him think it'd be relatively low on the bitterness and more of a pronounced coffee flavour. 


"Well, no skin off my back," Gyles said as he shrugged, thought he couldn't understand Dalibor's constant need for exercise. Gyles kept in shape, but that was about it. "Yeah."

"Some say being able to live as long as we do is a curse." Elizabeth said smiling a little. Certainly, not every witch was cursed with such a gift and certainly, some would probably seek a way to end their longevity. Most Fosters, however, were able to live longer than 200 years.

"As far as I'm aware, we just can't learn meister abilities. All we can do is wield. If learning to do a menace was a possibility for us, we'd know." Angela explained while scratching the back of her head. "Aurora doesn't even need meister skills, her magic synergizes well with standard meister fighting styles. And in my case... all I can do is fire magic." Sometimes Angela really disliked being so tied to that one element. Her magic was destructive and as a result of that, her everyday life was a constant struggle not to allow herself to be too affected by the sway. Angela suddenly clicked her tongue and looked away. "Being able to live longer than humans sucks... We'll end up watching our friends and lovers die..." Angela said, returning to the previous topic for just a moment. She had to let that out of her mind before she could continue.

Both Luna and Aurora picked the cups up and started examining the coffee drink that was in them. "A latte, hm? " Aurora said and smiled. "Seems like we're in for a delicious treat, right Luna?"
Luna was the first to take a sip. "Y-Yes..." she said quietly, almost whispering, then took another sip.
Encouraged by the fact that Luna wasn't complaining, Aurora tasted the coffee drink and nodded to herself.
"It's g-good. C-certainly it w-wouldn't wake Ana up, b-but no latte can, really." Luna finally stated.
"Good job, Yurio. It's a really damn good latte. Good choice of beans too. The arabica mild flavor mixed with milky foam... Yup! It's a proper latte." Aurora said and then grinned, giving Yurio a thumb up.

Leading the way, Dalibor but his hands into the pockets of his coat. "Say, is DWMA CIA really that dull, pal?" He asked Gyles, glancing over at him. Judging by how bored he'd sounded during the call, his work had to be quite unexciting.

"Oh, I know all of that, I just thought, you meant if you just didn't have magic," Lyra said. She knew more than a fair few when it came to the intricacies of meisters, witches and the various things each could and couldn't do. She studied really hard. She didn't really want to comment on the more depressing matters.

"Lets hope that whatever happened to Dalibor put his sell-by date off by a good long while, huh?" Carol said, though while looking at Ana, who was in turn looking straight towards Luna. 

"Lets stop," Ana said. Short and to the point.

Yurio smiled happily to hear the two of them compliment his work. He was about to discuss, but his ear caught the conversation happening at the far end of the café and it deflated him a little. The thought made him as sad as the rest, and he tried to play it off as just enjoying his own coffee by lifting it to his lips. Ah, the best he could do was to make sure they all had a friend around whenever the time came about... No use worrying about it for the time being, though. 


"Not usually. There's a... Special kinda case they got me lookin' into. Just, piles an' piles of old, dead family tat, lookin' for someone that may or may not exist," Gyles said. He waved his hand through the air in dismissal and reached into his pocket to pull out a crooked cigarette, which he placed between his lips. "Sucks, but I got the time, so," he shrugged.

Angela snapped her fingers at Lyra's explanation. "Oh! Oh, right. Lemme just put it in a simpler way - if I were to spar with your mom, my sister, or my dad while being forbidden to use my magic, I would lose. If I weren't a witch at all, I would be training in meister arts and aim to grasp the power of Soul Menace, which would at least allow me so stand a chance against Aurora. Speakin' of, we should train together sometime, Lyra." Angela said, giving her younger cousin a grin. It was better to put the sensitive topic that human and witch longevities aside and focus on some more positive topics.

Elizabeth gave Carol somewhat of a pained look when the topic of Dalibor's expected lifespan was mentioned. Thinking about it certainly wasn't the healthiest for any witch that was being friends with or had a human lover. Eliza knew what she was getting into when she married Dalibor and while it was painful, she wanted to be happy with him and stay by his side until the very end, despite being aware that what would follow afterward would be years of grief. Looking towards Luna, Elizabeth realized that Luna would be suffering more, being way more delicate and emotional. That's why Eliza was glad that Angela managed to switch topics so easily. "I've never been much of a fighter myself, I'm afraid. That doesn't mean I cannot protect myself and my family." The fox witch added her 50 cents into the topic. Truth be told, in reality, she's never shown Carol, Gyles nor even her daughters the true scope of her magic. All that she was known for, so far, was her expertise in creating illusions.

Aurora frowned a little. Yurio was trying to hide it well but, being Elizabeth's daughter, Aurora inherited her perception to a certain degree. She moved closer to him and whispered into his ear. "Are they... talking about... uhm... that topic?" Aurora asked, making sure Luna couldn't hear her. She had to be right, there was literally nothing else that would cause that slight shift in Yurio's mood.

"Y'know, I can handle my teacher responsibilities quite well and I still got some free time." Dalibor said, glancing over at Gyle's cig. "So, if ya need help with the investigation, search or whatevs, just lemme know, yeah? I'll always be happy to help ya, pal." He said enthusiastically, then grinned and raised his thumb up. Of course, DWMA CIA couldn't just allow a mere teacher for too much if anything, but at least he wanted to help his partner. "Speakin' of CIA stuff, do ye think they'd accept a musclebrain such as myself into their 'em or somethin'? I'm kinda thinkin' of doing something more blood-pumpin' than just training the future meister and weapon generations." Truth be told, he was kind of afraid Eliza wouldn't let him do that anyway. She'd become quite overprotective of him since her cousin's attack.

"Oh, totally. Is it bad of me that I really want to see what a fire menace does to someone that's immune to fire?" Lyra agreed, after nodding along to Angela explain herself properly. Lyra had been curious about what Angela could do for a long time. That and fighting a witch that didn't want to kill you sounded like fun.

Carol was more than happy to sidestep the topic of long lives and how some just didn't have them. No, she didn't like to talk of it either, what with her best friend being a witch. "My whole family happens to be able to handle themselves, so being the strongest among them doesn't really matter. Not that I wouldn't spring into action the moment either of my girls were in any danger~" Carol said, taking the opportunity to capture Lyra and Ana in another set of side-hugs. At once.

"They were," Yurio said, glancing at Luna from the corner of his eye. She'd be the worst off, he thought, followed most likely by Angela and then Eliza. In his mind, anyway. Ah, then Aurora Boyd would have to say goodbye to her weapon and that ninja guy... So many people. Yurio somehow couldn't help but keep thinking of it all, concerned as he was about the happiness of all the people he treasured. He sighed, taking hold of Aurora's hand behind the counter. 

"I ain't doin' any of the searchin', just seein' if this person even exists. It's nobody specific, even. Just, don't mind it," Gyles said, dismissing the topic again in the same manner. "You're a three-star meister, Dalibor, they'll take y'in a heartbeat into any branch y'damn well please."

Angela couldn't help but laugh at Lyra's obvious willingness to use her unique menace against her. "Hah! My bet is on one of two scenarios - either nothing would happen or I would end up filtering out the fire part and end up being hit by pure wavelength." Angela speculated. Although she couldn't be fully sure herself.

Elizabeth smiled a little, seeing the interaction between Carol and her daughters. It was truly heartwarming to see them reunited after Carol's period of being away working. "I've always admired your skills, Carol." She admitted while nodding.

Aurora smiled at him a little despite the dark thoughts that started filling her head. The whole life was ahead most of them. They could afford to move such worries to a much, much later date. "It's gonna be fine. There are still a few decades ahead." She simply said. Besides, there was always a possibility of them figuring out how to prevent the seemingly unavoidable grief.

Dalibor nodded his head after hearing that Gyles didn't need his help with his task. "Ah, well, y'know, I've always thought they were taking the best." He said, before letting out a short chuckle. Then, a sigh left his mouth. "I doubt Eliza would let me though. She keeps worryin' that somethin' will happen to me if I started doing some proper meister work again..." Dalibor admitted and he wasn't the one who would risk upsetting his wife.

"I thought so too, but I want to know which one. Mum doesn't know either, y'see, since she's never hit anything that's immune either," Lyra said, and Carol nodded in an affirmation of the statement from above Lyra's head. Lyra wasn't the only curious one.

"I'm sure you have plenty hidden up your sleeves. Be they real or not," Carol said to Eliza. Though Carol maintained that Eliza wasn't that much of a mystery, she really couldn't recall anything but illusions when it came to her magic. She couldn't recall if she ever saw Eliza casting even those, either.

"True," Yurio said simply, returning a little smile. Worrying about it wasn't going to do anyone any good either way, not at this early point in time. 

"Three stars says you're exactly what they mean," Gyles repeated himself, then shook his head. "They're takin' brawn and brains both, even if you're missin' some of the latter. And that ain't my problem to deal with."

Angela sighed a little, then grinned at Lyra, before standing up and walking up to a place with some free space. She waved her arm and her cousin in an encouraging manner. "Come on, let's try it on while we're here." The fire witch said. It seemed like she wasn't too thrilled to just let herself get hit without trying to defend herself, but she was willing to do it in the name of science.

"Angela, my sweet child, could you do it outside?" Elizabeth asked calmly. Truth be told, she would rather not have her daughter risk getting hurt because of curiosity, but who was she to try to stop her? Ah, well, she was her mother, but she had a rather open-minded approach to raising her kids. Basically, she wouldn't hesitate to allow them to learn from their mistakes, no matter how stupidly painful they would end up being.
Eliza looked towards Carol and tilted her head to the side. "I do, actually. After all, I assisted Dalibor during the fight against my cousin" She admitted, smiling a little.

"Anyway... You're getting really good at being a barista, dear~! I'm proud of you!" Aurora told Yurio, grinning up at him with excitement in her voice.

Dalibor laughed heartily at that comment. True, he wasn't the smartest, but at least he wasn't entirely stupid either. "Hey, at least I've always excelled at Soul Studies, pal!" The man said in his defense. While that statement was true, he was bad or mediocre at everything else that wasn't related to being physically fit. "So, how's Carol doing, by the way? Still busy with work? Damn, I haven't seen her in ages, man. I wonder if she's still cursed with back luck when she's near me, hahah!" He was completely oblivious, yes.

Lyra extracted herself from her mother's grip, leaving Ana the only one that Carol still had a hold of. Not that Ana seemed to mind. "Alright, if you're game," Lyra said as she followed Angela out to the empty space. She started cracking her knuckles when Eliza suggested that they don't go shooting off menaces inside the building. Made plenty of sense, that, so Lyra went on ahead to head for the outside.

"Mmm, well, I'm sure you won't show me unless something forces you, so I won't ask," Carol said, shrugging her one free shoulder. She was looking towards where Lyra was going off to. Curious, but clearly not enough to get herself up.

Yurio smiled and took a half-step towards Aurora. "I'm getting there, yeah," he said.

"It ain't academics they're lookin' for, anyway. Not for all roles, anyway," Gyles said. He also shrugged at the following question. "Ain't heard 'bout her comin' back any time soon, so I reckon so. An' she brings that on herself."

Angela followed Lyra outside. Once outdoors, she made sure to find plenty of room for their little experiment. What was the worst that could happen? She could get hit by a standard menace, no biggie. One can't die from it. Besides, Aurora was around in case she got hurt. Taking a position, she released her soul protect and covered her upper torso by forming a small shield with her forearms. "Ready when you are Lyra!" She announced.

Aurora, who had a good view of the situation outside let out a loud sigh. "What is that idiot doing?" She said quietly, before glancing over at Yurio. "I guess... I'll go keep an eye on them... Hang on in here..." Judging by the sound of her voice she didn't want to do it, but felt like it was her responsibility as the older sister and older cousin. She left the cafe to join the two. "You two, I hope you're not going to spar in the middle of this street." Aurora said, crossing her arms on her chest. She quickly released her soul protect in case the insanity needed to be stopped.

Elizabeth let out a sigh seeing the trio outside. At least Aurora was there to keep an eye on them. Carol's statement amused her though. "I wouldn't be so sure if I were you."  She said, smiling a little. "In fact, you just have to ask and I will gladly show at least some of my magic."

Dalibor scratched the back of his head a little. "Y'know, back in the day, I used to think that Carol always seemed angry at me for some reason. I dunno why though, eheheh!" He said and the laughed a little, in a somewhat nervous way

Lyra took up a position a few meters away from Angel and continued her hand and arm stretches. There wasn't an amount of physical exertion that she thought was too small for a little preparation if it was at all possible. She dropped into a half crouch when Angela said that she was ready and grinned despite herself. She pulled back her hand to her side, and then launched herself towards Angela, her long black hair trailing behind her. She ignored Aurora rather thoroughly, though she did see her join them outside and hear her to boot. A couple of steps and she slammed her palm into the middle of Angela's arms, sending the burning menace forth. If she held back, there really wasn't anything to show it.

Yurio grunted in both confirmation that he had heard Aurora and in displeasure at her leaving his side. He knew what they were playing at, and he would have even volunteered his scale-armoured form for the experiment were it not in fact a stupid thing to test in the first place. 

"Uh-uh. Some," Carol said, rolling her eyes at Eliza's clear dodge. At least that was what it was in Carol's mind. She'd probably show her some of the things that Carol knew she could do already, though ones she hadn't seen cast. "I'll pass, though. Don't need to know."

"You thought right, way back when. But don't worry 'bout it, y've just got some... Low level noise goin' on in your comms, nowadays, yeah," Gyles said. He wasn't really willing to explain everything. Someone was going to have a bad time if he did, and that fallout would inevitably make its way back to him. No, that wasn't something he'd invite onto himself.

As expected, Angela's natural resistance to the fire element fully absorbed the elemental part of Lyra's special menace. What about the regular damage that a normal menace would cause? Well, obviously Angela couldn't have a resistance to that, thus, she felt the energy hit her arms and body. The strength of it caused her to lose balance and end up falling onto the ground. Clearly, she wasn't expecting to actually feel anything, otherwise, she'd be braced for the hit. "Ouch..." The fire witch groaned quietly.

Aurora sighed seeing the, rather obvious, result of their stupid little experiment. A certain part of her wanted to just go back, seeing that Angela was alive and well, but that wouldn't be nice, considering the range of her magic. Feeling quite disappointed in both her sister and cousin, Aurora pointed a hand towards the former and muttered her mantra, before finally casting a spell. "Morale boost" Aurora muttered and soon, Angela was back on her feet, the pain caused by the menace gone. "Soul Menace is Soul Menace, no matter if it's improved with a fire element. Getting hit by it will always hurt." Aurora stated.

Elizabeth nodded a little, although, there was a clear hint of disappointment present in her eyes. It almost seemed like she did want to show off her magic a little bit, but needed a good reason to do it. Without a reason though, she just opted to focus on what her daughters and Carol's kid were doing outside.

Dalibor scratched the back of his head trying to decipher the meaning behind Gyle's explanation. His limited knowledge of what was going on inside Carol's head made it an impossible puzzle to solve. Sooo... what have I done to earn Carol's anger?" He asked.

Lyra was ready for Angela to give way, it wouldn't do to fall flat on her face because she expected her cousin to stand there and take it. She stopped a couple steps behind where Angela had been standing. The question had been answered, she felt, but she asked anyway. "So?"

Carol watched what was going on outside with interest, while Ana did so with seemingly none. Once Angela landed flat on her backside, Carol looked away. "That answers that, then," she said.

"Y'don't remember her yellin' at you about how you jacked her soul?" Gyles asked, raising an eyebrow. The cause of it all was more than obvious, and he doubted it'd tip off Dalibor to what was going on nowadays. "Not that I think it's logical."

Aurora didn't answer her, instead, she rolled her eyes and went back inside without a word. After quickly taking a spot behind the counter, she let out a loud sigh and put her soul protect back on again. "I don't even need coffee today anymore..." She muttered to herself. In her opinion, knowing the results and testing anyway regardless of how dangerous it could be was just irresponsible.

"Daaamn that hit like a truck." Angela commented. "That was a good menace. I wasn't affected by the fire part though." The fire witch said, before giving Lyra a thumb up with a grin on her face.

Elizabeth couldn't hide her disappointment that Angela just allowed herself to get hit by a menace without even trying to do anything to avoid it. She let out a sigh. "The outcome was obvious, wasn't it?"

Dalibor snapped his fingers as if he'd just remembered that. "Oh! So that's why? Daaaaaaaamn, pal. We saved her butt though! It's like, we completed her mission for her, it shouldn't be much of a deal, right? Couldn't she just, I dunno, take a new mission or somethin'?" He said, feeling a little bit confused. It didn't seem to make much sense. "Wait didn't I tell her the exact same thing all those years ago? Ah, women, trying to understand them seems impossible sometimes, hahaha!" A short laugh followed.
A few moments later, they were almost at the cafe. They could see Angela and Lyra standing in front of it too, for some reason. "Oh, look, our kids are here!" Dalibor pointed out the obvious.

"I heard it," Yurio said. He hadn't been watching, but even that was enough. "Ana was kind of right about being surrounded by muscleheads, huh?" he asked, as if Aurora had been a part of that particular eavesdropped conversation.

"Of course it was a good menace," Lyra said with a grin of her own, throwing up a strongarm pose and giving her bicep a good slap while doing so. "Lets go back inside," she said as she turned to do just that. She hadn't noticed their parents coming along. Her passive soul perception just wasn't something she had mastered. 

Unlike Carol, who perked up and let go of Ana rather suddenly. She looked out towards whatever that something was, though having lost even the little bit of concentration that keeping up a general feel for the area, she wasn't looking towards where the subject of her sudden interest actually was anymore. Ah, if only Gyles was the one walking on the inside of the path... Now, however, Carol grinned and stood up. "Dalibor's coming," she said, just as she darted through the tables and towards the front door, arm held back in the same fashion that Lyra's had been earlier. Carol dashed right past Lyra, and then right past Angela, only to find that she was moving full pelt towards something she wasn't quite expecting. It wasn't just Dalibor, but actually Dalibor and Gyles. It was a bit of a shock, after not seeing him for so long. She should have been annoyed, as she had been with him for not telling her anything before, but she couldn't help it. All her attention went from her target to her husband, and her concentration vanished entirely. The menace that was brewing went out and she managed to trip over her feet to boot. 

And she would have planted her face in the dirt, as she had said she wanted to do to Dalibor, if Gyles hadn't lunged forward to catch her. His eyes were wide open, but he betrayed no other sign of his immense surprise. The unlit cigarette wiggled as he tried to think of what to say to the woman who he suddenly found himself holding close. He finally settled on a quick "Hey," which Carol found she didn't have much of an answer for.

"Sometimes... I'm so disappointed in this whole family... " Aurora said quietly, resting her elbows on the counter. Why couldn't they just be normal? That when yet another sudden thing happened - Carol stood up and stormed through the cafe and headed outside. What was the reason or purpose? She was about to see. So, Aurora was the (un)fortunate witness of her aunt's absolutely embarrassing incident. Carol went from wanting to attack someone to tripping over her own feet Luna-style. In the end, her aunt got caught by Gyles, miraculously. Aurora sighed and crouched behind the counter. "Muscleheads everywhere..." She muttered, covering her eyes with her right hand

Eliza rolled her eyes, seeing Carol's behavior. "Why am I not surprised?" The witch asked herself rhetorically. It was clear that Carol wouldn't give up on her goal of winning against Dalibor. If only Dalibor knew of their rivalry, but he didn't He was completely unaware. Yet, every time Carol wanted to ambush him, something unexpected would prevent her from doing so. In most cases, it was just Dalibor obliviously dodging all the incoming strikes and never realizing any were coming. Such was the nature of their so-called rivalry and Eliza was both amused and disappointed by the whole thing.

Seeing the rather bizarre scene unfolding before his eyes, Dalibor put his hands into the pockets of his coat and watched Gyles holding Carol in his wife. In his mind, he compared it to a scene taken straight from a romantic comedy or something. He had no clue why she just tripped over her own shoes like that. It seemed rather unlike her. Regardless of the reason, Dalibor let out a quiet chuckle, before grinning in a friendly way at Carol. "Yo, Carol! Long time no see, eh?!" He said and then chuckled again.

"Mmmhm," Yurio agreed, looked outside from the corner of his eye. It's like nobody around them could help themselves to a little bit of self-imposed humiliation. He started prepping for what he thought the two were going to have, however. Might as well get them their orders quickly, whenever it was that they would come. He also poked Luna and pointed out the time. "Your shift's about over," he said.

Ana was rather surprised to see her mother do something like that, even though it wasn't off-brand for the two more energetic Kindleberry's to do silly things. So far, it had mostly been her sister with a stupidly competitive penchant; guess there was answered the mystery of  Ana sighed, glad at the very least that she would probably have an out soon enough...

"Shuddup," Carol said quietly towards Dalibor, giving him a half-hearted glare. She pushed herself away from Gyles (despite the premium placement that her stumble had landed her) and sighed, dusting herself off though no dust could have gotten onto her. She coughed, then sighed again, regaining her composure. "Right, yes. Long time no see indeed. For both of you..." she said, looking between Dalibor and Gyles both. "Not that you look much different than when we last saw each other. I'd call you lucky, if I didn't know what caused it," she then pointed towards the rejuvenated man, ignoring that her own appearance wouldn't have changed all that much either due to her blood. 

Gyles chuffed in amusement and gave his wife a partial smile. "Missed ya'," he said, before resuming on his way towards the end goal of getting a drink; now, however, he unexpectedly ended up with her arm around Carol's shoulders as he went on inside. He noted everyone he saw as he did so, counting the Foster kids and then his own, and then adding on the, well, additions that came with some of them. Except for the Strout brat, who he heard had managed to get with Angela, that made a full set. "We're the last, huh?" he asked, and he received an answer in the form of a hum and a nod. He didn't seem all that upset about it, all things considered.

Luna looked at the clock and scratched the back of her head. Leaving meant staying away from the family businesses of these two weird families. On the other hand, she wanted to see it all out of curiosity. Well, she would leave the final decision in Ana's hands. Luna nodded before disappearing into the back room, which she left immediately after taking her apron off and taking her bag. Then, she went straight to Ana. "H-hey, luv... I'm done with my shift for today..." Luna told Ana and nodded to Elizabeth.

"I guess I'm taking over then. I can start working on a drink for dad." Aurora said, before getting to work. She knew well what her father would always order while visiting the cafe, so it was a fair assumption that he wouldn't change his habit without a reason.

"And thus I am going to be left alone sitting with ever bigger musclebrains." Elizabeth said to herself while crossing her arms on her chest and shaking her head. "Have fun you two." The (older) fox witch said to Ana and Luna.

Dalibor took a step back and threw his hands in the air, seeing the glare from Carol. "Jen klid, girl! I'm not laughin' at ya." He said in response to the woman's initial reaction upon seeing him. He couldn't help but grin and scratch the back of his head in reaction to the fact that Carol knew why he looked so young.
He laughed a little at Gyles' little comment. "We're hard workin' men, that's why!" He responded. "So, shall we head in?" Dalibor suggested to both of them, gesturing with his hand at the door to the cafe.

"Good," Ana said, quickly getting up. She didn't have much in the way of stuff on account of how fast she had made her way over when she heard the news, so took Luna's hand and headed straight out towards the door. She waved to her parents as she passed by. "I'll see you later," she said.

Gyles and Carol were just inside when the girls passed and both nodded in acknowledgement of them. Carol would have liked to spend a little more time with Ana, but that could come later. If she had plans, she had plans. Even if the plans were actually unplanned, as it were. They both headed over to where Eliza was sitting, along with Lyra who was walking just behind. Her seat was over there, too.

Yurio nodded to Aurora, though he didn't know what Gyles would order. He didn't visit all that much. Maybe he wasn't a huge coffee guy, even despite the fact that he was surely buying a whole lot of it with Ana around. He also didn't seem interested in going to the front to order, which was fine. "Guess I'll take Gyles' order when I bring Dalibor his coffee."

"G-Goodbye..." Luna said quietly, before leaving the cafe with Ana. As always they had many fun things to do. No matter what that thing would be...

Angela followed the rest and eventually sat back where she had been sitting before. She put her soul protect on not to trigger any sensitive meisters in the area. With no Foster without Soul Protect everything was back to normal.

Aurora was quickly done with Dalibor's coffee. It was a rather strong, black as the night cup of coffee - just the way her father liked it. "Mhm! You can do it now actually." She told him with a gentle smile on her face.

"Hello, my dear. Hello Gyles. It is nice to see you two." Elizabeth greeted them in her usual calm and perhaps even a little bit dignified way. Seeing Dalibor but a loving smile onto her face, although it was still barely visible under her usual seemingly calm expression.

"Hey there, my loveliest loves!" Dalibor greeted Elizabeth with a wide grin on her face. It seemed like seeing his daughters and wife in one place made him so incredibly happy that nothing could contain it. He was basically beaming with joy. Truly, he was a family man. Taking his opportunity, Elizabeth made enough space for him to sit next to her, which he gladly accepted