A Birth day

Ruby and Aria sat and fed the babies and chuckled at boys reaction to the training Robert has devised. They both listened to Angus talk then Ruby looked at them both " training readies us for fighting, makes us more adaptable in situations. " she said as she gave Caprice her spoon to eat the mac and cheese.

Aria nodded as she fed Amari and listened she nodded at Ruby's words then at Angus " I'm sure what ever your going to se will be showed again in the afternoon" she said as Amari took her hand and moved the spoon to her mouth now Aria let Amari take the spoon herself and watched as she fed herself " hum smart girl" she said smiling.

"We'll protect her," Victor said.

"No," Angus said quickly, too quickly for the boys to interpret it in any other way than hearing that there was something especially dangerous. "No, you won't. Not this time. This time, that's my job. You four need to stand down this time. I can't let you help this time. Understand me?"

"Angus, you do not stand alone in this," Edward said. "I'm standing with you. It isn't my first vampire, and I'm not afraid of a dark Fae either."

"He won't be alone," Marcus said. "He can't get rid of me that easily. So if we're going to the movies, the popcorn's on him."

"Actually, if we're going to the movies, then I think the popcorn should be on Sam and Victor," Angus said.

"Done," Victor agreed. "Sam can spring for the sodas."

"Okay," Sam shrugged. Jada looked at Angus and then at Minos and she started to try to sign something to Minos. Minos signed to Angus.

"Oh. She's questioning if we're allowed to go to muggle movies," Angus said. "Technically? No. Do we sometimes bend the rules? On rare occasion, yes. And besides, a little mischief never hurt anybody, not if it's done right. And in this case, so long as we don't use our magic, we'll be safer there because no one will suspect we're there, and the ministry won't be able to find us because they won't have a magic trace to find us. But that does mean you don't dare use your magic, any of you because if you do, we'll be screwed." Jada looked at them, uncertain that this was a good idea. Marcus smiled and patted her hand to reassure her.

"Yeah, yeah. we know," Sam said.

Ruby looked at Angus as he spoke then to the others " well I'm going to be there" she said " I like a good movie, and besides we've never been to the movies together" she said smiling as Aria chuckled again and looked at Angus.

" well that's unanimous" she said looking to Marcus " I'm guessing that we'll be the rear guard?" she asked winking to him " but no back row stuff" she added with a smirk to Marcus. " besides its would be nice for us all to do something together, and you don't have to sit with us once inside , but Angus is right , do not use magic while there." she looked to Jada and smiled softly " sometimes they react with out thinking, typical boys" she added softly to her " but their hearts are in the right place."

"Let's get to Saturday first, shall we?" Angus said. He got up and plated the dessert and floated a serving to everyone, putting a small serving of Ruby's dessert and a small serving of Simone and Jada's on the same plate. Then he floated a mug of coffee to everyone. Everyone seemed delighted with the desserts.

After supper, when Ginger got up to clear the table, Jada got up to help. The boys headed for the shower, and Jada seemed to immediately get the idea. Supper, showers, and a little fun before bed. When the kitchen was clean the girls all headed for the shower, and the kids had agreed to go down to the girls' bedroom to play a board game for awhile before bedtime.

"She seems like she's happy. She seems glad to be included," Marcus said. Minos signed to Angus.

"Minos said its all a different world to her. Remember, she was left in an orphanage without explanation, and she was there from the time she was three until she ran off in the last year or so. She watched all kids of kids be adopted, and she was never chosen because she was thought to be an albino mute. She wasn't considered acceptable or desired, so she watched everyone else get chosen and she was left behind over and over. And here, she's accepted instantly, and nobody thinks she's undesirable. She's accepted just as she is. It's a bit overwhelming for her."

"I think that means you need to just keep doing what you're doing, and it'll come," Edward said.

"Anyway, thank you for a lovely supper, Ruby. I'm heading over to the main house because Kate and I are doing some crocheting tonight," Simone said. "And this one," she gestured to Edward, "is making some sort of concoction in his lab."

"Its at an awkward stage, so if I dont' soon tend it, its liable to blow up. I need to get going very soon," Edward said.

"Don't you make a mess up there. If you do, you're cleaning it up yourself. Not me," Simone said.

Ruby was glad the others liked supper and smiled when Angus thanked her " No worries Simone, making sure every one gets fed is part of what I do, thanks to Angus" she said smiling as she helped the girls clear the table before she saw with her coffee " thanks for the coffee Angus" she said and heard Marcus and Edward talking " I agree with Edward, just keep doing what you're doing." she said with a smile. Hearing Edward talk of his concoction he was brewing Ruby chuckled " then best get to it" she said " night guys" she added.

Aria looked at Marcus and smiled to him . " that's right and what you do benefits not just the child but everyone around you" she said " it shows no matter who or what you are, right here you'll be accepted." she added then smiled and waved to Simone and Edward then chuckled at their banter of Simone telling Edward he was to clean up if he made a mess in the lab.

Edward and Simone left for their separate destinations, and Angus and Marcus soon heard laughter and chatter, along with the musical bell sounds that sounded like Fae speak coming from downstairs. Then he saw five sodas float out of the fridge and downstairs.

"I'd say the board game has begun, whatever they're playing," Marcus said.

"And it sounds like she's okay with them hearing her own natural voice. That's a good sign," Angus said.

"It certainly is," Marcus said.

"Andrew, I'm honestly getting tired," Elwood said. "Can we do my bath so I can just go to my room and read, please?"

"Absolutely," Andrew said. Andrew took Elwood upstairs.

"Well, that leaves the four of us again," Marcus said.

"What do you suppose this new training is about?" Angus asked.

"I don't know, but I almost think its some sort of tai chi," Marcus said. "I've seen Robert and Brian outside near the running tracks in the very early morning, and they seem to be doing some tai chi. That's a little unusual for them."

"It certainly is. I bet you're right," Angus said. "I like tai chi, actually. This could be fun."

Ruby saw the sodas float down the stairs and chuckled shaking her head " hope they bring back the empties" she said and looked to Angus and Marcus as they spoke of Tai chi " oh Jessie's good at that2 she said " he use to do it to keep control of his wear side a lot"

Aria looked up and heard them talking about Tai chi " oh that is very relaxing and can focus energies rely good" she said and smiled " I had a friend in the bayou who did it a lot, she was good at it too". Aria looked at Marcus and Angus " she tried to get me into it but I just don't have the poise for it" she added as she turned the page of the paper over.

"I'm not concerned about the empties," Angus said. "If they don't bring them up, I'll go get them in the morning. It'll be fine. I'm more focused on making sure that Jada feels welcome and secure here. I don't care if they leave a case of empty soda cans if they make her feel welcome."

"Well, I don't think, by the sounds that we're hearing, that's going to be a problem," Marcus said. "What's your real fear? You think that, since she's already run off from the orphanage, that if she doesn't feel welcome, she'll run off to try to face the faepyre on her own? Well, of course, that's a possibility, but here's where I see the difference. Right from the outset, we've accepted her just as she is. We've listened to her, focused on her, and done everything that we can to show her that she matters. And I"m willing to bet that Minos has been trying to convince her that she's far safer here than being anywhere else."

"I'm sure you're right," Angus said. Marcus went to the desk and got out a deck of cards.

"Come on," Marcus said. "You need to stop stewing and get your mind on something else. Let's play some five card stud."

"Are we using real money?"

"Well, how serious do we want to be? Money or matchsticks?" Marcus teased.

"Matchsticks works for me," Angus said. Marcus headed to the kitchen to get a box of matchsticks.

"Either of you want dealt in?" Angus asked Ruby and Aria.

Ruby heard Elwood talk to Andrew and smiled to him " rest well Elwood" she said as Andrew took him to shower and change. She looked at Angus and chuckled " of course and by the sounds of it they are all having fun" she said smiling as she sat down with Aria and saw Marcus grab some cards from a draw in the kitchen. " oh I'm in" she said as Aria chucked and stood up moving to sit close to them.

Aria took the deck and shuffled the cards before she delt every one a hand "okay so how do we play this game?" she asked looking to Marcus and Angus as Marcus returned with the match sticks a and Ruby sat down next to her with a smile.

"Five card stud is a variation of poker where 5 cards are dealt instead of seven, and, often, deuces are wild," Marcus said. "You're making your hand into a book of some combination of cards. 4 of a kind, or three of one kind and a pair, or some other combination. The same hierarchy of what beats what is the same as in regular poker. You make bets on whether you believe your hand will beat everyone else's. The best hand wins."

"He and I can usually hold our own if we play," Angus said, giving each player a batch of 100 matchsticks to start with. "Most of the time, we play with poker chips. Each color indicates a different cash amount. But, since this is just for fun, the matchsticks are the cash."

"Of the people here, generally, the top players are Robert, Kate and Khaat, and just about in that order too," Marcus said. "It's hard to beat Robert and Kate because of their abilities to be strategic. Khaat's just plain scrappy. She isn't afraid to get in there and fight through her hand to try to win. And she'll outdrink anyone else at the table. She has an extremely high tolerance of alcohol, and sometimes she wins later in the game because, later in the game, when everyone else is mostly pie-eyed, she's relatively unaffected, and she cleans their clocks and takes all their money."

"it generally works really well for her," Angus laughed. He picked up a matchstick and tossed it into the center of the table."

"That's called an ante. It's your signal to the other players that you're in the game," Marcus said, ante'ing into the game. "Toss a matchstick in, and then we'll teach you how to play. Let's play a hand or two with the hands face up so you can see how its done."