An Abandoned Constrution Site, Los Angelas

Jasper snapped his fingers in front of the unconscious red-head's face, appearing to be aggitated.

"Cmon, wake up! We ain't got all day, woman." The black haired, lanky seventeen year old put his hands in his pocket as he wandered around his medial supplies, having sutured some of Elata's more serious wounds and pumped her full of pain-killers in her sleep. Michael stood nearby, the wolf of Loyalty asleep at his feet.

He had not sat down, rested, nor even took a moment of sleep since Elata had passed out in front of him in the Marriot. He was worried. He tapped his foot nervously, and hoped his red-headed friend would awaken.

He had had Theresa and Alistair help him dispose of Ivan's body and bury it, within the basement floor of their building. The other Misfits had been ecstatic to see their leader, Michael, returned to his human form.

But right now, he desired hsi Staff, terribly. It was in Elata's things. He could go and get it right now, if he so chose. Then he would not have to worry so much, he could bask in the emotionless and the cold and not have to have his heartstrings tugged immensely by Elata's present state.

The Wolf of Loyalty raised it's head to Michael, giving the tall man a stern look, and then restng on it's paws once more.

"I know." Michael spoke out loud to his companion, shaking his head. "I wouldn't really takeit back from her. you know."

Elata was lost in a world of dreams. Her dreams were always quite vivid. She dreamed she was at the circus now. Everyone was running about in a panic, but it was all slow motion. All the different colors of clothes, grey, blue and pink, people standing out clearly but with colored blurs behind them. She spun around slowly. The sounds weren't right, they were playing at the correct speed. Suddenly Argyle was there, there was a gun pointed right at her...

Outside of her mind, it was simply the boy's fingers snapping, but inside it was a loud BANG! as the bullet exploded out of the gun. She sat up immediately with wide eyes and a suprised face, her acrobat's muscles propelling her quite forcefully. She blinked a couple times and then looked around. She looked down at her her wounds and took note of where she was, and then broke into a friendly smile. "Hello! Did you patch me up?" she addressed the young black haired man. She could tell it must have been him. "Thanks so much!" she finally realized that she was probably far away from where she was, and what she had been planning to do. "Oh, christmas...how long have I been out? Did you get the body?"

Jasper brushed a hand through his hair and, digging into his back pocket, pulled out a pack of cigarettes and lit one. Sticking the item in his mouth and lighting it, he nodded.

"Yeah. I did it."

Those were his only words, then he was back to his medical supplies with a disgruntled and angry look on his face, as if someone had stuck something incredibly sharp up his ass. Picking up a syringe and examining it, his black eyes seemed to light up with the smallest glimmer of happiness only when he was working.

A large green shape of fur and fluff hopped onto Elata's bed, brown eyes of the Wolf of Loyalty peering at her happily, expectantly. Again, these eyes seemed familiar.

Michael followed suit, approaching the bedside and grinning nervously down at the woman. It was almost hard for him to contain his relief and joy at her revival into waking, as he had been deeply concerned.

"Elata!" He beamed at her, forgetting the pretense of 'Miss' in the process. "It's good that you're awake, there's quite a deal of things we must inform you of, um...yes, Ivan's body has been buried, and we are awaiting your...well, you are awake now so it does not matter, but we..."

Michael had to stop himself! Holy shit, what had becme of his former pride? Had he no shame? He was rambling like a small child to his best friend, and took a deep breath.

"Ivan's body was buried within this building, and we were awaiting your wake up to hold the funeral ceremony." Now the bearded man paused and rubbed his relief filled, attractive face a little. "Theresa and Maria are eager to meet another female Seeker, also."

Grinning, Michael clapped his hands together once. "And I myself am so relieved you were not- uh..." He paused again. "Well, Imean, it is good that you are ijn good health. We cannot have you injured, you know..."

Elata vigorously petted the wolf and gave it a kiss on the nose. She would have to have Michael tell her about the trial for the holder of Loyalty. She smiled knowingly into the brown eyes before beaming back up at Michael. "I'm not the only one that's better. You are smiling so much more! And it's not even been so long since I took your staff." She poked his nose and chuckled a bit. "Much better than Dr. Surly." the red head said flashing a teasing smile at the doctor. She moved the wolf off of her lap gently and hopped off of the bed. "Thank you so much Dr. Surly," she said bowing deeply. Her wounds stung a bit but she barely felt it. She was just happy to be awake again. She linked her elbow in Michael's. "Introduce me to the rest! We'll talk about the going away party on the way." She walked out of the room with him, smiling with a bounce in her step.

The doctor of the Misfits let out a grunt of displeasure with Elata's nickname for him, glaring angrily as she and Michael left.

For his part, Michael smiled peacfully alongside Elata, a feeling of near-high upon him. Turning his body a bit so as to better face her, he began.

"The Misfits will be so grateful to have another adult with us; they lack guidance and since Alice and Ivan are gone...well..." Michael looked sore and weary, speaking of his loved one's deaths. So instead, mustering up a bit of Elata's optimism and spirit, he tugged his long, brown hair back out of his face and spoke of happier subjects.

"Yes, I suppose I'm in better spirits, now you're awake..." Then Michael stopped walking, remembered something, and began walking anew, now flustered and embarrassed. When next he spoke, it was slow and careful and shameful.

"...Theresa will enjoy your company...she has missed Alice very...dearly..."

Elata chuckled at Michael's new and odd behaviour. They really needed to sit down and talk and get to know each other. It would have to wait though, there was quite a lot that needed to be done. "I hope they like me. I don't think I'm quite like Alice or Ivan really. I'd hate to disappoint!" She walked quietly with him for awhile. "Wow. There is quite a lot I have to ask you, you know. After everything is taken care of, you wanna have some tea with me?" she beamed up at him as they walked and she petted the green wolf. That was probably the question she was really the most curious about. Those eyes. She looked down into them kindly as she scratched the wolf behind his ears. 'Will you be attending your own going away party?' she thought as she ran her fingers through it's fur. Wouldn't that just be awkward? She chuckled a little and gave the wolf a kiss on the head.

The almost-wolf, almost-alien, all monster face of the Wolf of Loyalty perked up in intrigue, and gave Elata a sarcastic, wry expression; almost as if it were grinning at her for recognizing it so quickly.

Even Michael appeared shocked, looking at Elata with wide yes, and then just as quickly recomposing himself. Back into the gruff and calculating man that he usually was.

"Yes, I think a cup of tea with you would be very nice. We have many things to discuss, likely to be at great length." his content tone of voice seemed palpable as he and the red-head moved into a large, pen baquet area, where the Misfits had setup a make-shift kitchen and dining area. Three figures, mere children, immediately bounced over to the group.

The first was a mangy looking girl with black hair and hard-edged fatures, who affectionately doted over Michael as if he were a doll. "Michael! You're friend is finally awake, that's so awesome. Now you can eat with us again!"

These children were odd, they seemed to regard Michael as they would regard a grandfather of kindly old age, treating him as if he were their only influence and their only protection from the world. Indeed, he truly was now that Alice and, to an extent, Ivan were dead.

Second, a blond girl who did not make a peep hugged Michael around his waist, her watery, glittering gren eyes staring up at him with tender love and happiness at her 'father's' return.

And finally, the boy with pale skin and redish eyes smiled calmly at them. He waved, a timid and complacent gesture, at Elata and the Wolf, happy to have friends to interact with.

Now Michael spoke, addressing the Misfits happily and with much leadership to his voice, trying to sound comforting and firm at teh same time.

"Misfits, it is so good to see you all again. There is much to do, I trust you all will have a good time with Elata. She will help us plan Ivan's funer...er, 'going away party'." Michael rubbed the scruff of his chin and looked at the cafeteria, which was filled with precisely 9 more children aside from the three in front of them.

All eyes fell on Michael and a hushed tone washed over them. "Elata is joining us, my students. I hope you will al accept her-- as Ihave-- and learn to share this family with her just as I have."

Michael turned slightly and peered at each and every member of the Misfits, Ivan's trench coat hanging down low to the ground, like a cape. Oddly, to this pseudo-family of defacto Seekers, Michael felt right at home, as the figure-head, as the one thing none of these children had.

As the father.

Elata smiled back at the wolf. It MUST be him. After just a bit more walking she was introduced to the rest of the misfits. She looked around at each one, truly happy to meet them all, and after her introduction she hopped forward and bowed deeply. "It's wonderful to meet you all! As he said my name is Elata. I'm excited to get to know you!" She noticed how they all looked at Michael. They must really love him a lot. This warmed her heart and the warmth showed through on her face. She also noticed how very young this group was. This made her happy, as she loved to care for people and these children probably certainly needed caring for, seeing as they were here and not with their families.
"Well! If you're excited to eat with him we can make something to eat. Show me where things are and we can cook something up. Also I have gifts! Well sort of, I have a trunk full of random things I've collected that you guys can look through after we eat." Ah! this would be so wonderful! she loved to cook! She wasn't particularly exceptional at it, but her food was pretty good. Like your mother would make. In this moment she missed Ingrid a little. They had a lot of fun times cooking together. She wondered how she was doing. Elata didn't let her thoughts stray too far though, she wanted to experience this moment fully.

The blond, Maria, stepped forward and took Elata's hand, smiling pleasantly at her. She seemed happy to have another adult female friend, grinning.

"I am usually the one who cooks, but Taryn and Bill help too...we'll have to go find them in the kitchen." She began leading Elata back towards a door in the banquet hall, however Michael followed only halfway, his big boots clopping on the floor, accentuating his stature.

"I must stay here and speak with Alistair and a few of the Seekers about plans to be made...Elata, you will be alright with the other girls, Theresa and Maria and Taryn, yes?" The question was in earnest, and as usual, he rubbed his beard out of habit.

Maria thought to herself how protective Michael was, rolling her eyes just a bit but smiling nonetheless. 'Of course she will be fine, she is not a child...' But that was not spoken, as she didn't want to embarrass Michael in front of his new....'friend.'

"Of course I'll bealright! I'm probably older than you silly!" She said hitting him playfully. "but yes, I'll see you later." She linked elbows with Maria. "Now, let's get down to this cooking business. What time is it anyway? I have no idea what to make." Elata's energy was back full force, and appearing in the best of ways. It would remind one of all the best parts of Christmas Day. Her tenacity and optimism were even more apparent as she was still covered with wounds, but she was very happy. Everytime she went through a challenge or trial in life she felt accomplished and as if she had learned something, and she did really enjoy learning. These past few days had been particularly exciting, so she was basically on top of the world. She turned to the blonde and beamed at her as they headed to the kitchen. "While we cook, you can tell me about you all, if you don't mind. I love meeting new people!"

The Wolf of Loyalty gave Michael a stare which must have meant it wanted something, and Michael nodded, smiling.

"Go right ahead." Was his reply, and then he was off to converse with Alistair and the others.

Meanwhile, the Wolf panted and wagegd it's tail happily, following Maria and Elata as they entered the kitchen, which lay at the very back of the banquet hall. From glancing around, it was clear that all of the furniture-- stoves, microwaves, blenders and etcetera, were either stolen or make-shirt, hardly working anymore.

Still, Maria the blond girl, barely 14, beamed excitedly at teh group who were busying themselves with cooking. She whirled to look Elata in the eyes brightly.

"Do you know how to bake? We are trying to find a recipe for Butterscotch Cookies, they were..." A sad look crossed the young girl's eyes, and quickly dissipated into a dull grieving state. "They were Ivan's favorite. But only Alice knoew how to make them...."

The Wolf of Loyalty whined then, and pawed at the ground around Elata's feet nervously. It's identity was NEVER to be revealed to anyone but the red-headed woman, and michael.

"Ah! I know how to make butterscotch cookies! My grandma has a recipe, I liked them too. Hold on right here and I'll be back!" she ran off and after some exploring, found where her things were. After a few minutes she returned dragging in two very large trunks. "Now, I know it's in here somewhere..." she opened one up and began to dig around, throwing out all manner of things. Various trinkets, a few music boxes, a lot of jewelry and make up, several different costumes, some very nice dresses, and finally! a recipe box. The trunk was still half full with other things but she set the recipe box out and opened it. She flipped through the several cards and quickly located her grandmother's butterscotch cookie recipe. She also spotted one for apple pie and grabbed that too. The box was absolutely stuffed with them, and quite a large recipe box at that. "I've got just about anything you can think of in here I think. I do a lot of traveling and reading and a lot of collecting. Also I used to cook with my friend Ingrid a lot, so if I found anything that sounded good, I snatched it!" she beamed and handed her the cookie recipe card. "You want me to teach you guys how to make them?" she looked down at the wolf and gave him a wink as she bent down to pet him. She would feed him some cookies for sure. "Also! Do you want to make them for the going away party? Cookies are highly appropriate for parties. And we will be having a party! so now long faces." she said pinching Maria's cheek lightly. "We will celebrate the beginning of new adventures in the afterlife! Only happy tears." She moved to the cupboards and drawers and began to find the things she would need to make the cookies, smiling and humming all the while.

Eagerly snapping her fingers for the other Misfits to help out, she examined Elata's recipe and smiled.

"Yes, perfect. Absolutely perfect." Going over to one of the stoves, she set it to pre-heat and resigned to a bit of a wait, as tehir stove did not work well or heat very quickly. Her green eyes flickered in the Wolf of Loyalty's direction, as well as to Elata, and she beckoned them both to sit down at teh table with her.

"Come, sit down. We can talk about things if you'd like, Missus...Elata?"

She smiled once more, and the Wolf trotted to her heel, sat on it's haunches and looked sullen; it kne whow long the cookies were goin to take.

As Elata took a seat, Maria's eyes darted arund.

"Oh! Would you like to go get Jasper with me? He's always so reclusive, it's best to just force him out into the open, if we ca nmanage." She giggled, her voice lofty, soft and relaxing. She was wise beyond her years of fourteen. Very wise.

A fire ignited in Elata's eyes. "By force, you say?" she vaulted off of the bench into a backflip and landed softly, twirling slowly before leaping through the doorway and bounding out of the kitchen. "Come on! Show me where he is!" Upon being led to Dr. Surley's lair she cried"Thar she be lads!"as she threw open the door. The red head ran in and simply picked the young man up and threw him over her shoulder, sprinting to the kitchen. She set him down at the table and set a bowl of cookie dough and a spoon in front of him. "We need a surgeons hands for this operation, if ye don't mind m'dear." she said beaming at him. "And I'll give you a very nice reward too!" she said with a wink as she sat next to him to form some cookies.

The young man, now extremely disoriented, blinked in surprise a few times, before assuming his familiar and depressing scowl.

'One minutes I am drinking tea and reading quietly to myself, the next....' His thoughts were interrupted b the Wolf of Loyalty, wagging it's tail and barking at him. COnfused and aggitated, Jasper growled back in a surly tone, not at all imposing or scary. The Wolf seemed to laugh back at him.

"I do not cook." Jasper spoke upwards toward Elata condescendingly, acting as if there ages were reversed. His black, mop-top hair fell in soft wisps around his face, framing it to look quite boyish and beautiful, exceptionally womanly for a man.

"And furthermore," The boy continued angrily. "I doubt any 'reward' you could hand out would be really fitting for someone like me. What is it, candy corn?"

The sneer on his face would have made the toughest, most optimistic of men cringe in disgust.

"Oh come now, you can cook." She said putting some cookie dough in his hand. She knew he was surly, and that he was probably thinking she was stupid, but she had faced far surlier! She would not be defeated by this young man. "As for your reward, Dr. Surly, go look in the bottom of the second trunk." She smiled mischeviously as she rolled the dough into balls. She knew what he would like. He was young, and there was no way he was a doctor because he went to school...well it was possible, but given the backround of most of the children here, not likely. Just to be helpful, Elata had followed the emergency medical personnel at the circus around for a bit, and bought some medical texts to learn some proceedures, in case they were somehow short staffed or simply couldn't wait for an ambulance, not to mention it was just a handy thing to know. She was sure Dr. Surly would be surpirsed to find the bottom half of the second trunk absolutely packed with medical books. Some very interesting ones too, as she had used them to try and discover what the fluid did she got from the holder of health. All in all, they contained MUCH knowledge and would be very useful. "Oh! There's also some tea in there you can have!" she had smelt it when she captured him. She had a whole collection of teas from different countries she had gotten from Sue. Tea was Sue's favorite drink after beer.

A loud and obnxious grumble was the boy's only response, as Jasper pulled from his pocket another cigarette, starting to light it. Maria gawked, and swatted the item from his hand.

"Jasper!" She shouted in a shrill, small girl's voice. "You'll get ashes in the cookies!" The black haired one's only response was a deeper, more ferocious grumble as he kicked the ground, hard, and moseyed his way on over to Elata's trunk full of trinkets.

The blond girl rolled her eyes and shrugged at Elata. "Forgive him, he's always such a miserable, bitter little guy. Most of us leave him alone, since no one can really talk him out of-"

The monologue about Jasper was cut short by a gruff cry of excitement. "Whoa!" Jasper was holding up a text book and gazing, gaping, glancing all over it, his eyes wide. For a moment, child-like delight spread over his face...

...only to be swiftly replaced once more as he pulled out the tea, and donned his former scowl once again.

"Cool. Thanks."

He grumbled some more and, meandering back to the table, began to knead cookei dough in silence, his books and tea beside him. Maria, her green eyes having glittered with happiness to hear Jasper excited over something, sighed sadly when he returned to his unhappy, depressed former state.

"Well, it's a start..."

"Don't worry dear, some people are just like that," Elata said smiling and patting Jasper on the head. "Thank you for helping!" They all rolled the dough quietly for awhile and Elata looked around the kitchen. She had finally noticed what sort of condition the place was in. If there was going to be any cooking done here with minimal mistakes, they were going to need some new appliances. She went over and inspected the oven and some other things. "So, tell me about everyone else. I'm really curious how you all met Michael too!" She continued inspecting as she listened to Maria and the others talk. She had an idea. The circus hadn't been, and probably wouldn't be, moved; at least not any time soon. Raiding the place might be fun. Especially after all the times she had to beat Ciaran off when he showed up very drunk and horny at odd hours of the night. She decided she would pitch the plan to them and get Michael's approval later when they had tea.

Jasper spoke one word in response; his 'thank you' to Elata for the gifts of medical texts and sweet, calming tea.

"Orphans."

It was really all that needed to be said, but Maria was of course the voice of the group, and she smiled sweetly across at the red-head. Her answer was much longer.

"Alive found me in an alleyway..." Pausing for a moment, as if to consider her words, Maria continued flightily. "I was homeless, and that was about a year ago. She took me back here to live with the rest of the gang..."

Now the young blond-headed girl pointed idly at Jasper, then Theresa, and grinned.

"Jasper's parents kicked him out, because he was smarter than them. They got annoyed by all his answers to everything. And-" An abrupt, angry cry from the black-haired man interrupted.

"It's not like I chsoe to be fuckign smart! It's not like...like I just woke up one day and said 'Oh, I'll really piss my parents off today!' and then went about acting like a brainiac." His chest was puffing out, and by the faces of the other Misfits, this was not uncommon of Jasper.

"Fuck! I hate people!" He threw his cookie dough back on the table, scooting away from his seat, and storming off.

Maria, sighing, leaned back in her chair for a moment.

"I'm sorry...Jasper gets like that sometimes." Having notcied Elata's gaze around the room, she raised a curious eyebrow.

"Crappy, isn't it? Maybe if this place looked nicer, people like Jasper would feel better..."

"Perhaps." Elata said smiling at Maria. "I have an idea though! You see, I used to work at a circus. Due to some uh...interesting circumstances we were forced to leave immediately and left a loooooooot of stuff there. Including quite a few handy kitchen appliances." The red head said with a wink. "I just have to clear it with Michael but I'm sure we can raid the place." she beamed as she put some cookies into the oven. "Also I don't see why we can't fix it up a bit. I have some money put away, we can definitely buy some paint and construction materials. It'll be fun!"

The group continued to bake cookies and talked about how they would fix this place up. Elata was so excited about the plans and couldn't wait to pitch them. While they waited for them to bake she drew up a list of things she would need. They made quite a few batches and hung around eating them and delivering a few to the others, Elata also slipped the wolf quite a few. She finally bade the group farewell for now so she could unpack and settle in. She brought some leftover cookies and tea into her room and waited to meet Michael. She hoped he wasn't above the occasional bout of stealing.

The minutes ticked by.

Elata waited.

The Wolf of Loyalty had followed her, eager to return to it's former Master, and excited to see Michael. However, it had taken quite the liking to Elata already, given she was aware of it's identity. (That, and it desired more butterscotch cookies.)

She waited some time before, a reasonable amount of time later, Michael finally appeared. Except, he wasn't how he usually appeared.

He entered the room looking quite friendly, his beard having been shaved clean off. Now he simply had a smooth, angular face, with accented cheek-bones and a strong jaw beneath his golden-brown eyes. He seemed stern as always, however.

"Miss Elata, hello!" He spoke as deeply as ever, smiling a bit. He strode over and sat at a table, across from Elata, beckoning for her to sit down. Hs leg, which he crossed quietly, were adorned in black dress pants and shoes.

He plucked at the button-up white shirt he was wearing, looking somewhat forelorn as Elata sat down.

"Theresa thought I'd look better." He gave a wry smile to Elata, rolling his eyes slightly at Theresa's naive crush.

"I rather miss Ivan's coat, though..."

Elata's face potrayed her shock. "Did she make you shave your beard off?! How sad..." Elata's face softened into a pout. Then snapped back to a mischevious grin. "Goodness, usually a girl doesn't have that much control over a man unless they're together. Isn't she a little young?" She laughed at the face Michael made at this comment. "Don't worry I'm kidding!" She said eating half of a cookie and feeding the other to the wolf. "So, I have a couple questions!" she said as she poured him some tea. " You can answer them in order. The first is, I'd like to get some new things for the kitchen..well, not new exactly, but functioning at least! We left a lot of stuff at the circus and Ciaran has worked up just enough bad karma to justify us stealing it , I think! " she laid down on her side on the small bed she had been given, absentmindedly stroking some scars on her thigh. "Also, tell me what the holder of Loyalty was like! I have some inklings about certain thing but I wanna hear what it was like first." She smiled and rested her head on her hand. She was going to miss the beard, but he still looked quite handsome. She would also ask him to put the coat back on. She was sure Theresa was a sweet girl, but she had no business telling people how to dress, especially if they're wearing momentos.

Michael rather missed his beard, too.

But he was a little taken aback by Elata's rapid-fire questions and comments. Jesus, this girl could talk fast!

First, Michael addressed the idea of stealing.

"I'm against it, for the sake of stealing..." His words began, slow and methodically. "But I am not against it for the sake of the children. They need a place to feel like home, and this run-dwn shit-hole doesn't feel much like that at all." If one were paying attention, they would have noticed some things.

Michael was talking. He wasn't speaking regally, or addressing Elata as if she were a peasant. He was plainly speaking, albeit with a slight tone of arrogance, as he always held. But it was much friendlier than Michael had ever seemed, and he now appeared more leaderly for it.

Second...the Holder of Loyalty...

Michael didn't want to talk about this. 'But then again, she'll likely press me if I do not immediately answer her with something...'

"The task made me go through an eternity of torture...I was forced into a war, then I was captured, and finally tortured and beaten for what flet lie kages." Michael winced. Secretive information that only he knew was within him from this Holder.

"I was attacked by the Wolf, the soliders, and finally, the Holder, who..." Michael sighed slightly. "Who took the form of the person I most cared about in life."

"I knew it!" She said sitting up and clapping her hands. She petted the wolf, her beliefs affirmed, and laid back down. "Wow, I sure have been doing a lot lately." She commented offhandedly. It was barely detectable but she did wince now and then when she moved. Her injuries did still hurt a bit, but she had grown used to pain, as her scars from the holder of Zeal constantly ached. She suddenly remembered Michael had been through some horrible things. "I'm sorry about that trial though, it must have been horrible. But! At least you got something great out of it!" She quickly ate another cookie before continuing. " I don't really want to steal for the sake of stealing. I only said the bit about Ciaran so you didn't possibly feel bad. However, I've just remembered you probably wouldn't care about him anyways. But yes, I mainly would also like to take it for the children, and because really I don't think that he'll be returning to get it back." she smiled and layed back down on the bed. This was such a nice conversation. She was quiet for once for awhile, savoring the moment and drinking some tea and having some cookies, occasionally feeding some to the wolf. After some silence she smiled and said. "You should definitely keep wearing the coat. I liked it on you."

In Michael's voice, there lay a hint of suppresion.

Something which, the burly man could have spoken and maybe should have or would have, but did not. He glanced at the Wolf of Loyalty. It knew. And he knew. But how could there be anyway of saying?

Michael sighed, took a sip of tea, and nodded.

"Yes, so you figured it out. I was so surpirsed to see him..." A hand wave was gestured towards the Wolf, and Michael once more sipped his tea. "...like that. But, it happened. The test of this Holder was very surprising to me."

Some details were left out of Michael's speech. Things the Wolf would have wanted him to tell Elata, had it been capable of speaking English. But it wasn't, so Michael was able to sit in silence and calm for several minutes, eating cookies and drinking tea. He would have liked to do this more often.

But, being Seekers, how could they? Ivan and Alice had tried hard to make life work and to build a stable relationship through Seeking, but it had never amounted to much.. And never would a moment of peace come to either Michael or Elata, should...he stopped thinking, then. Things were not this way for him.

But each time Elata winced, undetectable as it was, Michael winced with her.

Finally he addressed the issue of stealing things, and donning his coat once more. "I know where theresa put the coat, I can go and get it before we head to the Red Star for looting. As long as we're able to get in, get out, and have no problems then I'm fine with it." His face may have seemed complacent, but inside an uneasiness had grown in him. He missed the Staff yet again.

"I assume you know the layout of the Red Star better than I do; you'll have to lead the way. Perhaps we'll bring the children with us, since carrying all that equipment on our own would be very nigh-impossible." Why did cold fear set upon him so heavily now? What was it that made Michael's hair stand on edge?

Was it the fact that the Staff of Hubris had rearranged his priorities, made him into a monster which he regretted becoming? Or maybe it was the fact that the Staff had taken his emotions and his love, and forced him to made new reconnections with new people once he removed it. Mabe it was because th efirst person he connected with after having the Staff was not Ivan.

Truthfully, Michael knew just why the was bothered, and what problems lay ahead of him if he continued to dwell on this. The Wolf of Loyalty pawed nervously at Elata for another cookie. Michael took a bite of one of his, wondering about things.

Wondering why the Holder of Loyalty never was, and never had been Ivan.