World Refugees Final Mix

He didn't glance up as Ren walked into the room, didn't even seem surprised by her arrival. Instead, he leaned forward against the counter, the growing energy becoming more apparent and his eyes starting to glow faintly.

"The more, the merrier," he mused, throwing Ren a winning smile. "You arrived just as these wonderful ladies were going to tell me more about my darling sister. I can't help but be worried by the way they keep darting around giving me information."

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Ren gave a small, surprised laugh and hugged Amy back. "You sure know how to make a girl feel appreciated," she said before her breath caught in her throat at James' smile. She knew full well that "sex demon" plus "good Christian girl" was a recipe for disaster on her end, but man, he was making it easy to forget that. "Um, yeah, toast and tea would be great..." she managed to get out as she crossed her arms over her chest, once again really missing her bathrobe.

"Oh, Lilith? I'm sure she's doing fine," Ren nearly babbled with nervousness. "She's a survivor if nothing else."

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Song pushed her plate - which had originally been James' plate - across to Ren. There was still one whole slice of toast on it, untouched except for the coating of honey and cinnamon which Song had applied.

Then she turned her attention back to James.

"Alright. I'll tell you, but your sister's had a rough time lately. If you do anything to make it worse...."

She didn't finish the sentence, and she began the story in a brisk voice before anything else could be said.

"About a year and a half ago our friend Josiah acquired a magic book which came with a complimentary succubus. That part probably doesn't surprise you.
And, being as fascinated as I am by demons and such, I had to go make friends. I'd like to say it was my winning personality, but I think it was just my persistence that overcame her usual dislike for other women. Either way, she got used to me and I got attached to her. Insert a few crazy shenanigans here, including a body switch between her and Josiah. While reversing that, the two of them soulbonded so that Lilith could have a bit more freedom without endangering the entire male populace. The side effect is that Josi's now half demon. You'll recall I said there were two others..."
She paused for a sip of tea.
"...Things go on, we win the War of Hearts, everyone's happy, and then Lilith's dead pirate decides to be undead and possess Josiah."

She stopped there, giving the others a chance to add anything if they felt like it, and trying to judge what James thought of the story so far.

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She was already taking care of Ren's tea while Song talked, scowling to herself. The energy James was giving off was nothing but irritating to her, and she was this close to going over and smacking him.

Bad idea, be nice just a little longer. Maybe once he learned what he wanted he'd go away. Or she could torch his hair...Turning around with a smile, Amy held out a cup towards Ren.

Flaming incubus, whee.

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He kept his intent gaze on Ren as he listened to Song's explanation. His lack of reaction may have been proof that he wasn't too surprised about what she had to tell him.

He did glance at her in surprise at mention of a certain pirate. "Ah, so Calum went and made her life more interesting again. Figures." His cool, charming smile reappeared then as he slid out of his seat, walking a bit closer to Ren while keeping eye contact with Song. "Anything else?"

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"'Interesting' is the polite way of putting it," Ren added as she got up to collect her tea from Amy with a "thank you." It was painfully obvious that she was trying to put some distance between James and herself, but she didn't expect anyone to call her out on it.

"The creep spent all his time either invading our minds or acting all enigmatic about what he was after. Really, he only ever came off as smug and conceited..." Ren continued. She stopped after that, realizing she was getting louder as she ranted. "Sorry..."

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Song glared pointedly at James as he approached Ren. She was finding that she really didn't like him near her friends.

"As Ren says, he was a general bastard and tried to kill us all, including Lilith herself. Given our history with her past 'friends', I'm sure you can forgive us for not trusting you all that much."

She waved a hand dismissively and turned away, looking at the counter in front of her instead of at him. "As for Lilith, last time she was here I was still trying to help mend her broken heart."
Her tone was not only bitter but warning, an almost-growl that set off the dog who had been skulking in a corner. She put a hand on his collar as he moved between her and James.

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"But did James ever say he was her friend? Just her brother. That alone would be reason enough not to trust him." Okay, her dislike of Lilith was starting to show, but honestly, it was nothing compared to how she was feeling about the other one. She edged closer to Ren before glancing over at Song, suppressing a wince. She'd have to apologize later.

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If he was bothered by any of their reactions, he didn't show it. He just laughed and the same electric charm that was in the air becoming more pronounced and very difficult to ignore. It was the energy that permeated his aura, and considering what he was, it was very apparent what that energy was inclined towards.

"Conceited, enigmatic, arrogant, devoted to a fault... yes, that sounds like Calum alright," he chuckled, shaking his head in amusement despite the hostile looks he was getting. "My sister always did have excellent taste."

His posture was relaxed and he was still smiling even as his eyes narrowed sharply. "Is there anything I can possibly do to change your minds?"

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Oh, that was just cheating. Ren tightened her fingers around her teacup and stared into it, ostensibly so she could blow into it to cool her drink down.

"Change our minds about what?" she asked, trying to think of something innocent. Like kittens. Or stuffed animals. Or bun--no, bunnies were bad right now. "Song's already told you what we know about Lilith right now."

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Song shivered and also focused very intently on her cup of tea.

She felt that she'd done a good job of not missing Josiah while he was away. It certainly hadn't been painful as the absence of Orpheus had. In fact she felt wonderful, or she had up until a few moment ago.

The presence of James - the familiarity of his aura - was awakening a keen longing for her wayward lover, and she did not appreciate it in the least.

But she'd given him his answer, and he was offering to 'change their minds' about trusting him. She didn't trust him, of course, but the least she could do was try.
"You could help us," she said in a voice turned dull by her attempt to hide her frustration. "I believe the original agreement was a trade of stories, but other information might be more useful."

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"You could also tone down the pheromones or whatever the hell you're doing before I torch your ass." The threat was delivered with a smile and a completely cheerful tone of voice, but Amy was dead serious. She had finally had it with this guy. Oh sure, setting him on fire wasn't going to help anybody, but it'd be fun to watch.

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He winked at Amy, unruffled by the threat. "Oh, but you wouldn't, love." He leaned forward. "Besides, I would love to see how your mate would react under similar conditions."

He glanced between Song and Ren and again, smiled brightly and ignoring the request to restrain the energy that he was emitting. "Now I did promise that, didn't I? And I am certainly a person of my word. Although I admit that I would have preferred a more..." He nodded at Ren, "intimate setting for a tete-a-tete."

He crossed his arms, eyes shining cheerfully. "What would you like to know, love?"

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Ren blushed and bit her lip, switching her thoughts to clobbering Heartless instead. Or maybe just clobbering James. Yeah, that was nice and satisfying.

Much like Song, she was also feeling particularly aware of how lonely she was, but she hadn't been able to admit her feelings to the object of her affections, or with anyone else for that matter. It simply would have caused too many problems if she had. And Ren was trying to get over that, really, which was what was making James' tactics so effing frustrating.

She stayed quiet, not wanting to risk saying something she'd regret. Song seemed much more confident against James right now, anyway.

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Song straightened up, elegantly composing herself and putting all of her willpower into banishing the ghosts of memory - of warm arms around her and a gentle voice in her ear...
She still refrained from looking at James. Her eyes were closed.

Yasha had curled up under her seat, but he was still staring at the incubus nervously, and perhaps that was why Song didn't feel the need to watch him herself.

"We've had a few unexpected problems recently, ones we thought would not threaten us again. Heartless and Nobodies which were said to be gone for good have returned, and the Princesses of Heart have vanished. If you know anything about these events, or anything that might be connected to them, we are sorely lacking in clues right now."

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Oh, but I should.

Amy knew how Jalen would react, all right. There'd be a decapitated body in the kitchen by now. She reached over and gave Ren's hand a squeeze. James wasn't the only one she was starting to pick up on. What a morning.

Taking a deep breath, she tried to block him out, at least enough that she'd stop wanting to smack him. For a while, anyway. She understood why Song was bothering to talk to him - after all, anything he might know would definitely help, but...

Ugh.

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James shook his head with a chuckle. "I make it a point not to engage in the affairs of the worlds. I don't believe I can help you on that front." He leaned back casually against the counter and grinned. "But perhaps there may be something of importance that I know that I'm simply unaware of."

He passed a glance to all three women in the kitchen, the glow in his eyes becoming as noticeable as the energy in the air. "Strange how the memory is so selective at times."

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Ren suddenly bristled as the glow in James' eyes once again jogged her memory of another pair of unusual eyes she had seen not too long ago, and of an unfortunate meeting at the Star Market... "Ugh!" she ground out, suddenly no longer interested in her tea. "That's right! That slimy creep called himself James that day!" She shuddered and stared defiantly at the incubus, her indignation temporarily overriding her insecurity. "You might be interested to know that Calum borrowed your name for a bit during last year's Star Market," she told him. "Sure, it's a common name, but at this point, I don't think either of us believe in coincidences anymore."

Sure, it had little to do with the conversation now, but like James said, the memory is selective...

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Song was trying to imagine what James was implying, and hoping it wasn't the obvious, because she really didn't know what to say except something along the lines of 'we're not having sex with you for information.'

Ren once again provided a nice distraction. She'd honestly forgotten about Calum haunting the Star Market. Ren's rage actually made her smirk faintly, and she deigned to open her eyes again and glance at James. She was curious about how well he knew the pirate, since he obviously knew of him.

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"This whole conversation is beginning to give me a headache." Was her only addition to the discussion before she took a seat on her stool again. She'd be adding this to the list of things not to tell her husband about.

It was getting to be a long list.

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"Really now," James murmured. "I'm surprised. I always assumed he never liked me much." He sighed deeply, closing his eyes as if he were thinking about something before adding, "But I guess that's something entirely different."

He smiled again, beginning to walk around the island in a casual stroll. "But if I can be of any assistance, just let me know." As he walked past Ren, he nonchalantly brushed a hand on her arm, and a sharp sensation passed between them. He almost did the same with Amy, but settled for leaning a bit too far into her personal space. "I hate for such beautiful ladies to be in distress."

He stopped at Song, grinning at her, his eyes still glowing faintly. "And I'm sure there are other stories we can share."

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Ren was fully aware of just what that "sensation" meant, and she bit down on her lip again to stifle any embarrassing little sounds before they could come out. She took a few deep breaths through her nose before looking back up at James through narrowed eyes. "You're not doing much to help our 'distress," she snapped, hoping she was hiding her attraction toward him at the moment. Once again, she found herself thinking that this was entirely unfair... which led to her drawing a comparison between the two of them and Sarah and Jareth from Labyrinth, which wasn't helping all that much, either.

"But come on. Seven beautiful ladies are in distress right now. Surely you must know something about how we can help them?" Ren asked, stressing the fact most of them were very much female humans and very much uninterested in getting into their skirts.

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nachtstar.livejournal.com

Speaking of distressed ladies, the closest door to the outside swung open suddenly and Ari made a undecipherable wailing sound. "Teeea." She moaned pitifully, waving the empty pot in her hand.

It should be mentioned that Ari had never been a morning person, usually with the fact she occasionally goes to bed around this time. Yesterday however, she had slept early only only to awaken to the fact she had no morning tea at all and the store was too far away for the half-asleep Ari to make. Thus, the trip to Rainbows End with the teapot, and completely missing the fact that there was a rather obvious tension in the air and the not-so-strange stranger.

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Song was looking at James with a rather good impression of a deer caught in headlights. So much for that lovely composure.

"I'm sure..." Damn him for having such pretty eyes. And for infusing the entire kitchen with his evil aphrodisiac aura. And for... everything else. This was supposed to have been a fun morning. What was more invigorating than testing the limits of a dangerous but useful creature of Darkness?
Okay, even that mental sentence hadn't come out right.

But Song was lucky, it seemed. This time the distraction came from Ari... or was that an as-of-yet unclassified tea zombie?
Either way, it was something interesting to focus on besides the incubus.

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