[b][i] – Leroy[/i][/b] “He certainly is interesting to be around.” Leroy answered back, nodding his head with approval. [i]‘Not sure if you’d actually want to meet him though,’[/i] He thought. From what he could tell, so far, Garden didn’t seem like the sort of person that’d be ‘okay’ with listening to someone laugh over killing a rabbit and watching the poor creature squirm in pain. [i]‘Maybe they’d still be able to get along fairly well, since she likes cats and all. Though I personally wouldn’t introduce them to one another over dinner or something.’[/i] In the end though, it was none of his business whether or not Garden and Seven would ever meet with one another, or if they would actually get along. He made a thoughtful sound as he listened to Garden’s recollection of the Beach Olympics, thinking that he might’ve been able to join in as well if he had known it would be something as simple as a water balloon fight. Then noticing the blush appear on her face he asked, “Did anything else [i]interesting[/i] happen during the water balloon fight?” He purposely exaggerated the word ‘interesting’, pointing towards his own cheeks to refer to the blush on Garden’s face. Leroy let out a laugh as Garden informed him that she had actually checked to see what gender the kitten was herself. “Well, I see someone’s not shy here.” He replied back with a slight wink. Then he shrugged while replying back, “Maybe. Camping’s not nearly as fun without a giant bonfire and marshmallows, but I’ll manage somehow.” “Talk to flora? Like Alice in Wonderland?” He asked, instantly conjuring up an imagine of the well-known tale where Alice had been conversing with the various flowers in the garden. Hearing Garden’s offer, he raised a questioning brow with a strong glimmer of interest in his eyes. “Can I? I’ve never heard plants play music before, but if I could I’d really like to hear it at least once.” --- [b][i] – Kathy[/i][/b] A faint blush and a smile appeared on her face as Kathy felt Crash’s thumb slide along her index finger. It felt reassuring, and the knowledge that the two probably couldn’t really see the blush on her face saved her from further embarrassment. Later when she heard Crash cut off his sentence in the middle of responding to her plans (or lack of) for the next day, she tried to squint through the darkness to see what sort of expression he was making. “Unless..?” She repeated, stressing the word slightly with her curiosity to know what he had intended to say. Unfortunately for her, she couldn’t make out what sort of expression Crash had, but she [i]could[/i] make out his silhouette enough to know that his hand had gone to the back of his neck. Now she was REALLY curious to know what he had intended to say. “Plush animals, blankets, and jewelry?” Kathy repeated, quite amazed at the diversity in the things Alex could make. She could sew a decent amount, enough to fix a bit of torn clothing or loose button, but the idea of making a plush animal felt rather daunting. And for jewelry, she didn’t even know where she would begin to try to make one. Noticing the flash of Alex’s purple wings, she let out a laugh. “No, you’re not. You’re clearly [i]above[/i] average, in several ways.” Then listening to Crash’s response for Alex, she pretended to pout and asked, “Hey, what’s wrong with being average? I’m about as average as anyone can get within our academy you know?” Knowing that the shapeshifter wouldn’t be able to see her fake pout, she settled for giving him a light ‘kick’ (more like just a gentle contact with the point of her foot really) behind his calf. Her eyes opened wide with surprise at Alex’s real age. [i]‘He’s [b]older[/b] than me?’[/i] Not only was the pixie nowhere close to the age she thought he was, she had pretty much volunteered to become the ‘mother’ of someone that was actually older than her. [i]‘This is just… I’m going to just ask everyone their age once I start to get to know them.’[/i] Kathy was vaguely aware of the fact Alex was smiling at her, seeing faint hints of a happy expression as her eyes began to adjust to the darkness but it was mostly his gentle tone of voice that suggested he had been smiling at her. But instead of meeting that smile, she looked down at the ground below, feeling her face heat up again. There were an incredible number of reasons for her to be embarrassed. For one, he was the third person in that day to reveal she had mistakenly assumed to be younger than they actually were. Secondly, she had basically been hugging someone close to her age group without any reservations. And finally, there was the fact she was [i]currently[/i] holding hands with him. Though Crash’s presence affected her a lot more than Alex’s, she still felt rather self-conscious now that she knew how old the latter boy was. And the more she thought about it, the more embarrassed she felt with her own actions. [i]‘B-But Alex doesn’t think of me as more than a motherly figure. So… So it should be fine, right?’[/i] She wasn’t even entirely sure what she was worried about anymore. At any rate, she almost felt as though she had been rather ‘bold’ with her actions considering he was actually her senior. “I-I’m 17.” Kathy stammered out, her face still a bright shade of red. It was at this point she finally noticed that Crash’s grip on her hand had loosened up from before. She had been far too occupied with her own thoughts before, but now that she noticed she couldn’t help but feel a little dejected at the small change in his gesture. Luckily, Crash ended up holding her hand properly again soon after she had noticed the change. She had come incredibly close to wondering if he didn’t want to hold her hand anymore and deciding to withdraw her fingers from his grasp completely. After listening to Crash’s answer to Alex’s first returned question, she turned her attention to the blue-haired boy once more. “Um… I should probably just apologize outright for... Treating you like you were someone a lot younger…” There was a small pause as she seemed to mull over something, before she bent her body a little closer to Alex and whispered, “Alex, are you alright with having a ‘mom’ that’s younger than you? I don’t break any promises I make, but… Wouldn’t it be a bit disrespectful of me to keep treating you like a child?” Since she hadn’t quite explained the whole situation to Crash yet, she kept her voice lowered so that he (hopefully) couldn’t hear. It was an odd dilemma she found herself under. On one hand, it felt strange to even think of acting as a motherly figure towards someone that was older than her. But on the other, she could still remember how sweet Alex had been and how worried he had looked when he had asked her to become his ‘mother’. She gave Alex a chance to reply before pulling back into a proper upright position as they continued walking. They didn’t have much further to go before they would reach the side of the not-quite-mountain-but-bigger-than-hill. Kathy took in a relieved breath at the chance to distract her own thoughts and have a ‘normal’ conversation again. “My hobbies would be… Baking, maybe? I don’t do it too often, but it’s fun. And I really like playing sports.” Noticing that Crash had failed to answer Alex’s question, she gently bumped Crash with his own hand. “Hey. Don’t think that you get to avoid the question because you’re the one that asked it first.” Though she [i]had[/i] been joking, her tone was not as light as it should have been. There were still a lot of thoughts swimming around in her mind, and she was still a little too embarrassed to be able to joke around with either of them without feeling overly conscious of her own actions.