This is Not a Theme Park [Lucca]

[Kari Muffin]

Castiel perked at the distraction. "A Penguin? That's really cool! I've never seen one before!" she edged a bit closer to Arkady, her eyes wide with anticipation. There had to be more to the story! She almost wiggled with anticipation. "What was he like? How did he walk?"

Conall found himself staring blankly at the girl. Normally her cheer was enough to brighten up his mood, but at the moment he could only feel bitter about everything. With a small sigh he set his fork down and stood up. "I'm going to lay down, just ignore me," he said quietly as he wandered over to the bed he had claimed earlier in the day.

He wasn't going to get any sleep, he knew that, but he could at least lay down and close his eyes to give them a rest.

Castiel watched in mild disappointment as the boy walked away. She really hoped that him laying down would make him feel better.

[Lucca]

Arkady was absolutely delighted that the distraction had worked. He nodded eagerly, and tried his best to describe it. "Well...he kind of...he waddled, you know?" Arkady stood up and tried to imitate the bird's odd way of walking...not to very much success, of course. He fell over after a moment, and looked at Cas bashfully. "Er...not really like that. He was nice! He was the one that offered to help when Conall fell. He had a metal ball attached to one of his feet...you know, cuz he was a Torque. But he had these really stubby little wings..."

Ark was almost amazed at himself. Usually he couldn't even force himself to talk so much. But it was such a relief to be having this conversation, like an easing of the tension he'd felt over the past hour. Besides, Cas was genuinely interested, and he wanted to make her happy. The beaming smile on her face just made him feel wonderful, and he wanted her to keep smiling like that. His tail even started to wag...well, until Conall had to...ruin it by being sour.

Ark blinked, and turned to frown after the boy. "Conall..." His eyes tried to plead with the other boy not to be like that. Why...why did he have to be like that? It wasn't like Ark was trying to...to kiss Castiel. Oh, and didn't that thought make his face heat up. He was grateful he had such dark fur. But...but still! He wasn't doing that...he was trying to include Conall, not shut him out!

[Kari Muffin]

Castiel was thrilled over the display Arkady put on. Waddling must have been an annoying way to get around. Though she could bet it looked adorable. And stubby wings? She tried not to giggle.

The girl tried to refrain from sighing as she watched Conall. He must have been tired though. "Okay, just feel better and try to take a nap," she said as she watched the boy practically flop on the bed.

She gave Arkady a little shrug and whispered, "We both had naps so... he's entitled to be a little grumpy."

Conall's ears swiveled around to listen to the pair of them. He shoved his face in the pillow and tried to pretend his nose didn't hurt as much as it did. It really hurt. Everything sucked. Why had he decided to come to this stupid place?

Castiel moved a bit closer to Arkady. "Do you want to go downstairs for a bit?"

[Lucca]

Arkady blinked as Cas leaned closer, and his ears perked more to catch her words. Oh, if only this was as simple as Conall being tired! He wished it could be that simple. But he nodded, letting Cas think that even as he felt a bit guilty for it. Still...he didn't want to involve her in any sort of drama, and it was Conall's place to tell Cas of what he felt...not Ark's to tell her for him. Of course, his own feelings...er...yes. He wasn't going to think about that right now.

Besides, maybe a nap really would help Conall feel better. But...wait...Ark frowned when he noticed Conall was lying face down on the bed. Wouldn't that hurt his nose? Maybe he should say something. Then again, the boy was bringing this on himself by being so stupid. Fine. If Conall was going to be all huffy about this, that was his own business, and Ark refused to let it ruin his day. He turned and smiled at Cas, tail wagging. His face got a bit hot from noticing how close she was to him, and, greatly daring, he brushed against her side as he moved toward the door. "Sure! Let's do that."

[Kari Muffin]

Conall had no intention to nap. He had every intention to pout. The world was unfair and he was allowed to throw a tantrum every now and again. He was entitled to feel like crap when his "friend" had a crush on the one girl who had every been nice to him without prior obligations. It. Wasn't. Fair.

Castiel gave Arkady a smile and stood up, brushing her clothing straight. "We're going to leave you alone for a bit, Conall. Please try to feel better."

The boy simply snuffed, his face still in the pillow. "Fine."

The girl faltered for a moment. She really hoped that he would be okay while they were down stairs. She looked to the Solandrian for a long awkward moment before walking to the door. Sometimes she wished they were both Queens, she would have been able to read their thoughts briefly. Even if it was only for ten seconds she would have been able to get a glimpse of something.

Well, at least they could observe people and have a nice talk downstairs. No point in worrying about Conall right now.

[Lucca]

From Arkady's point of view, Conall was the one being dumb about this. So really, he was done feeling sympathy for the kid. It wasn't like Cas was suddenly going to stop hanging out with him for some reason. So why was he being so grumpy? Did it really make a difference what Ark felt? He liked to think it did, but in the end it was Castiel's decision who she chose to...to do such things with...oh, he'd better not think about that too much.

Still, no sympathy for Conall right now. When Cas looked at him, he shrugged awkwardly and tried to avoid her eyes. He knew he sucked at lying, so if she asked if they'd fought he'd have to tell her the truth. So hopefully she just wouldn't ask. Arkady was quite glad that Castiel couldn't read his thoughts, as he'd been having increasingly embarrassing ones about her ever since coming back and realizing that he had a crush on her. He followed her to the door, feeling a bit bad despite telling himself that it was Conall who was bringing this on himself.

[Kari Muffin]

Castiel lead the way to a table in the corner of the little pub. She was curious to watch the people there, most of them were Torquehelms while some of them was clearly strangers. She stood out like a sore thumb with her bright colors, evening sitting in a corner she got various glances.

"So.... did something happen while you two were out?" she finally asked after a few minutes of staring at the people. She looked to Arkady with a slightly worried expression. "I mean besides tripping over the Penguin. He seems a bit upset over something though.... maybe he's mad at me about the whole thing in Tulgey."

Which she couldn't apologize more for, could she? It had been a bad idea to begin with but she was terribly curious. Next time she would make sure that they had a proper Tulgey guide to aide them. Maybe that weird Rosemary woman who appeared in the Court of Hearts would be willing?

"Maybe we should just go to Hisstor next time."

[Lucca]

Arkady happily followed her to the table, trying not to think about the boy he'd left upstairs. But then, he wasn't sure if that would be gloating or not. Conall brought it on himself, but...something was bothering him about this, Ark decided finally. He couldn't put a paw on exactly what. He tried to ignore it and put on a cheerful face for Cas. He tried to watch the other people, but the all blended together in a mass of purple and black and steel grey. The bright, lovely girl sitting across the table was much more interesting to watch.

When she asked the question and turned to him, he ducked his head, being caught staring. Oh, Suits, and now she was actually going to ask? What could he possibly say. "Um..." He cleared his throat, trying to think of a way to word it...trying to avoid talking himself into any corners. But his head shot up as she seemed to think it was -her- fault. "No...no, he's not mad about that! We just...I guess we just...I...I said something that upset him."

Great. Just wonderful. Why did he have to word it like that? Suddenly Ark became very interested in studying the table. "Hisstor, huh?" he said with false cheer, trying to divert the subject. "That would be interesting." Actually, it would be HOT and he would be miserable with his Solandrian fur coat.

[Kari Muffin]

The girl blinked. So Arkady and Conall had some sort of argument. She frowned. Really she had never known the two boys to hang around each other with her, so she didn't particularly know their habits. A small frown crossed her face for a moment. Maybe she would have to talk to Conall on her own if this didn't improve. He had been known to hold grudges.

"Okay," she said after a moment of spacing out.

She turned to him with a large smile, bouncing a bit on her seat. "I've wanted to go there for a while since... I want to see if any of the rumors were true about the realm. And I really think Conall's mutation might convince someone from Hisstor to help us out there. And we can probably drag Falkenhayn and Benedict to go with us, since they have.... their weird."

Of course the trip would have to be planned better than this one. And she would need to figure out a way to convince her family that it was safe.

[Lucca]

Arkady let his breath out in a slight wuff of relief that Castiel wasn't going to prod about what he'd said to Conall. If...if he ever did tell her his feelings...he definitely didn't want it to be in a context like this! He could barely imagine a more awkward scenario for telling someone you had a crush on them. By contrast, Hisstor was a far easier subject to talk about.

He couldn't help but return her smile, despite the fact a desert was nowhere near his top list of places to visit. Of course, which of Conall's mutations was Cas referring to? Most likely his bone scythes, a moment of reflection told him. After all, they were...Hisstor-ish. And he was an odd enough color for a Boggie that they might be fooled. Though...he still smelled weird. "Oh? Which rumors?" Maybe it would be worth it to go after all. At least he was a Spade so they wouldn't have to worry about running out of water. And bringing Falks and Ben would be kind of cool...as long as their brother wasn't there. Vaska seemed to...have a very strong dislike for he and his siblings for some reason.