This is Not a Theme Park [Lucca]

[Lucca]

Arkady frowned deeply as Conall continued to harp on about it. What did he care anyway? It wasn't like they were going there tomorrow! It wasn't like they weren't inviting Conall himself to any and all places they went! It wasn't like Ark had -done- anything to the other boy other than honestly answer a question! Well, apparently, that had been a mistake. So he did his best to ignore Conall's statements. If he was going to be a brat about this, then Arkady was not going to even acknowledge him.

Of course, then Castiel decided to leave. Ark whimpered. "Wait, Castiel!" he started to call, but she was already vanishing up the stairs. Ark stared after her, ears going back and eyes wide and sad. He...had he really been 'catty'? He certainly hadn't been trying to! He had been trying to get Conall to stop acting like that! He had been nothing but polite! He hunched over, only half looking at Conall. He completely ignored the muttered apology. Conall would have to do a bit better than that to convince the Coyote it was actually worthwhile to talk to him again.

[Kari Muffin]

Conall didn't want to try much harder. He was anoyed, and honestly felt a little bit entitled to being angry. Arkady didn't have to worry about causing Castiel a horrible allergic reaction because they touched, and he was drinking soda with her like it was nothing.

His fists were clutched in angry balls on his lap until his soda arrived. When it did he took a small sip.

"It's not fair," he started. "You're flaunting what you're capable of in front of my face... and why don't you just tell her? You can actually act on your feelings."

He shifted uncomfortably, returning to drinking his soda.

Castiel had slipped back into the room with her bander. She flopped on her bed unceremoniously staring up at the ceiling. A terrifying thought had popped into her head while she was climbing the stairs. Boys fought about girl's didn't they? But that wasn't possible with those two.... right?

She wrinkled her nose and rolled over to her side to pull the bander closer. "That's a stupid thought, isn't it Akane?"

The bander simply sneezed.

[Lucca]

If Arkady had heard Conall's angry thoughts, it would certainly have upset him. He hadn't been drinking the soda with her like it was nothing...he had been very affected by the experience, and had understood its significance possibly better than Cas had. As for the lack of horrible allergies to the girl, it was merely an accident of birth. It wasn't Ark's choice to be Solandrian any more than it was Conall's to be Bog. Of course, anger and resentment didn't feed off of logic or compassion.

Arkady stared at the table, wondering why in the world the day had to keep flipping back and forth between wonderful and terrible. He winced when Conall spoke, but frowned up at him, not afraid to meet his eyes. "I wasn't flaunting anything," he protested, keeping both the growl and whine out of his voice, though both were reactions he could have had. "She was the one who ordered the soda for us. And you're wrong...she...she doesn't feel that way towards me." At least, he didn't think she did, though a part of him wished for it more than anything. He'd even give up a chance to see Solandria if it meant more time to be with Castiel, and he'd clung to that dream for as long as he could remember.

"You're seeing only what you want to see," he accused the other boy quietly. "I'm not trying to sabotage your friendship with her."

[Kari Muffin]

"How would you know if she had feelings for you or not?" He said with a faint hiss escaping him. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest. Why didn't Arkady get it? Why couldn't he understand that Castiel was something he could only dream about and the fact that Arkady could go and ask her out at any moment was like a knife hovering at his back?

His nose automatically wrinkled at the last comment the boy made. Not trying to sabotage his friendship with her? Really? He yelped in surprise when he realized how painful the facial expression was. Right. His nose was still broken.

He covered it as he half glared at Arkady. "If you have a crush on her, and try to put the moves on her I would consider that trying to sabotage our friendship. When a normal person is in a relationship with a significant other and have... an average of five friends, three of those friends get dropped so more focus can be given to the significant other. I would be dropped, don't you think?"

He had read too many books in his young life to add to his paranoia on the situation. He knew nothing about actual relationships, just the theories behind them and the various studies people had made.

Castiel continued to wait upstairs, playing with her bander's ears trying to banish the troubling thoughts. She loved her friends as friends and didn't want that to change.

[Lucca]

Arkady frowned, slumping down in his chair a bit and feeling smaller and smaller as the other boy kept tearing him down. Why was this so unfair? Why did the other boy insist on making it all about -him-, when Ark was trying his best to consider -them-. He really felt like he had done nothing at all wrong, so why was the other boy acting like he did? It seemed like he was simultaneously being told to tell Cas about her feelings and being accused that by doing so he'd be hurting Conall. Couldn't Conall see that's one of the reasons he -hadn't- told her yet? Didn't he think for one little second that Ark might actually care about him?

"I...I just..." Ark really had no answer to how he knew how Castiel felt about him or not. But as far as he'd seen, she didn't treat him any different from the way she treated everyone. She was just a genuinely nice person, and Ark didn't want to lose his friendship with her over anything...even if it meant he had to keep his true feelings to himself.

But at the next statement, Ark openly glared at Conall. He had no right to accuse him of that. "No, Conall, I DON'T think that would happen. You know why?" The normally quiet Coyote was raising his voice, now. "Because I don't have five friends, I have two. Castiel and YOU." Let him chew on THAT for a while. Ark gave him a bitter look.

[Kari Muffin]

The train of thought and anger derailed itself when the canine raised his voice. The statement completely throwing off Conall's prepared response.

He opened his mouth to say something, but promptly shut it. He couldn't exactly argue with that. He could admit defeat. His ears twitched when he heard a few whispers. He was fairly certian that they were directed at him and Arkady. Mostly him.

Rather put out by everything the boy sipped his soda in hopes that his brain would come up with an appropriate response besides sulking. The soda was polished off rather quickly, leaving the boy with nothing but a straw and an awkward look.

"You're my only friends. Everyone else hates me." He finally said. "Everyone. I don't even think my parents like me. And I don't want to lose either of you."

Defeat was clear on his face. "And I really.... really like Castiel. Even though I know... "

Castiel rolled off her her bed and onto her feet, bouncing on her heals. What if the boys were actually fighting? Maybe it had been a bad idea to leave them together? She bit the inside of her cheek as she looked at her bander with concern etched on her face. "What do I do Akane? It hasn't been that long so... should I just wait for them?"

The bander, of course, couldn't respond and looked up at its owner with a confused expression.

[Lucca]

The outburst had been a bit uncharacteristic, and it surprised the Coyote as much as it did Conall. Arkady felt his face heat up and his ears pull back as he heard the whispers. Was everyone staring at them, now? He forced himself not to turn around and look, to focus on Conall. Of course the other boy didn't look like he was going to say anything anytime soon. Awkward, Ark pulled the soda that was just his, now, toward himself, trying to ignore the other straw in it, and sipped at it until it was gone. It didn't take long. He and Cas had already drank most of it.

Then, his eyes darted to the ceiling, towards the stairs, and finally down at the table where his gaze stayed until Conall finally spoke again. "I...I think your parents like you," he whispered, though there was no conviction in his voice. After all, hadn't his birth Mother left the Court and left him behind? At least Ark knew his technical Mother would have loved him if he'd lived. He swallowed, feeling a flash of jealousy as Conall said those words despite not wanting to think ill of his friend.

"I...Castiel would never do that," he said, more confidence in his voice this time. "Even if she did start dating...m-me or...you..." He swallowed. Why was this so hard to talk about? "She would never abandon her friends." He had full confidence that this was true, and it gave him a bit of hope even if she was never going to notice he had feelings for her. Maybe he should tell her? But no...then Conall would just be mad at him again, and it seemed like he'd finally gotten through to the other boy. Ark frowned, conflicted.

[Kari Muffin]

Embarrassment was all Conall could really feel as he looked at the canine across the table. Suits he had just gone and said some of the dumbest things he possibly could and now Arkady was trying his hardest to be nice.

It was almost painful. No, it was painful.

The whisper didn't really help things. It was obvious that he had been abandoned by one parent and the didn't care all that much for him. He was, after all, a freak no matter what.

He sniffed doing his best to collect himself. "Sorry. I'm just... I'm sorry I had to ask and make a big deal and everything." He didn't want to ask for forgiveness. He was obviously defeated and felt like the world was going to crush him now that he admitted the truth to someone.

"Can we pretend this never happened?"

Even if they couldn't it was worthwhile question.

[Lucca]

Yeah, he definitely wasn't telling Castiel. He longed for nothing more than to be with her but...Conall had already been through so much. And despite the nasty side of Ark that wanted to point out how horribly Conall had been acting this whole time, and wouldn't it just serve him right if Ark went and confessed to Cas right now? the Coyote felt bad for the boy. His ears were flat against his head and he looked on as Conall sniffed. Man...he was really upset by all this.

Something in the Solandrian eased up a tiny bit when Conall spoke those words. Even though he wasn't sure it could be that simple. "W-we can try," he said quietly. He cleared his throat, brushing at his main with a paw. "But we need to...apologize to Cas. She was unhappy..." He stopped, looking a bit meek. Obviously, they weren't going to tell her of the actual situation, and he as no good at lying. Maybe she'd just...accept that they'd made up and things were better now?

[Kari Muffin]

Conall shifted uncomfortably, glancing at a few of the people who had taken to staring at them. Mostly him. He tried not to frown. At least Arkady was willing to try to forget this. Even if it was impossible. They would always have something hanging over their heads, wouldn't they?

And then there was the matter of an upset Castiel upstairs. Yeah. They needed to fix that. "Right, we do." He glanced at the stairs. He pulled out a bit of money for his soda and left it on the table. "Let's do that now before things potentially get worse."

They sucked pretty bad as it was. He had screwed up in a spectacular way, people were staring at him, and this day just sucked on so many levels. He decided to let Arkady go first up the stairs, just in case he fell backwards or some other freakish thing happened. He wouldn't doubt anything at this point.

Castiel would be waiting with her damp bander.