**_Achille, Sugar, & Shannon_**


As yet another horn blared behind him Achille was reminded for possibly the hundredth time that week of the very reason he never drove around Black Fall during the winter season unless he absolutely had to. Despite the fact that traffic had compacted itself into a bumper-to-bumper conga line in front of his own vehicle, allowing Achille no room to move up or around the jam that was moving slower than paint dried, the driver directly behind him seemed to have it in his head that Achille was behind the delay in some way. Were he a lesser man he might have gotten out of the sedan to have a word with the angry driver in question. That would have required exiting the warm interior of the luxury vehicle and stepping out into the frigid air outside however so there was no way in hell that was happening.

Instead, as he had done every time the driver had angrily slammed on his horn like it had hit him first, Achille simply reached over to the dashboard and turned up the radio some more, the sound of soft club jazz echoing inside the car and shaking off a few of the snowflakes that had found a tentative foothold on the smooth surface of the windshield. In truth Achille and his two passengers didn't need to go much farther down the road to reach their destination, a garage park with a single guard at the entrance waving off any vehicles that tried to pull in for a spot. The guard in question was a broad, tall Afrikaner who Achille knew through his sister, Eo. The guard, Wikus by name, was two years younger than Achille and had been in a relationship with Eo Sinagra for the better part of six years. As the trio made a final desperate push through the throng of traffic, another horn blast chasing them as they sped towards the car park, Wikus took not of them. His irritated frown turned into a pleasant smile when he recognized the owner of the vehicle, waving Achille through and indicating through some rather intricate hand gestures that the two of them would have to talk when he was on break.

"Stay calm, Blathnat,." Shannon started off, ruffing her hands through Sugar's hair. Her little sister... Jesus, she was so excited a little while ago, now she's less than thrilled upon hearing that she'll have to get into a car. It took a little convincing, but it was more of getting to the destination that made Sugar continue into the car (That, and Shannon using Sugar's "princess" mentality to cox her in). Now, young Blathnat had her head rested on Shannon's lap the whole trip, with Shannon's hand on the side of her head, ruffing gently through her hair. Quietly assuring her. And not one word came out of Sugar's mouth, strangely. Shannon herself hasn't been able to see the... psychological... effects of the crash like this s - except for Blathnat's sudden "Imaginary Friend" appearing and her fear of cars.... Not that it was something she enjoyed seeing....

But, Shannon kept her eye on Achille... she didn't trust him, even though Sugar did. Well, he better not be planning anything shifty, since leather is one of the things that Shannon's able to control. It'd be a shame if the interior of this car got ruined. However, one of the things that Shannon does trust is Sugar, and her power specifically. Even when distracted, it seems that Sugar's telepathy works just fine... almost as if it's autonomous. In any case, if necessary, Shannon was sure that she could wrestle control of the car from Achille.
It took another few minutes of cruising before Achille found a spot for the sedan, sliding it in between a pair of massive SUVs that looked like they wanted to be military vehicles when they grew up. He kept the keys in the ignition as he put the vehicle into park and turned to his passengers, grinning as per usual. He had hardly stopped doing so during the previous five or so hours so he saw little reason to do so now.

"Well that was certainly an exciting drive. Sorry you two had to put up with the Grinch behind us. Guess we were keeping him from ruining someone else's Christmas huh?" He winked at Sugar, hoping it would help ease her nerves a bit. She had seemed less than thrilled at the whole car drive to begin with so he couldn't really say she'd look back fondly at the memory of being honked at for twenty minutes by some fat forty something behind the wheel of a Nacho-Town delivery truck. "Anywhere you two need to head in particular for this whole shindig? I don't need to deliver the good to the crew for another half hour so I've got time to kill if you wanna just check out some of the stands or floats before they launch."

Thankfully, the car-ride came to an end, and Shannon quickly opened the door. Sugar was relieved to know that the car ride of fear was over. She raised her head as soon as the door was open, taking up an upright position, Sugar put her feet on the ground and slid her way across the leather seats. Fast actually. Her feet were on the familiar concrete awfully fast. Sugar immediately let out a sigh, and her head went from the left to the right. Blue eyes scanning her surroundings. The fair! She was wondering if she'd get here! That fast fear was quickly replaced with the childlike joy she's used to. And it showed in the smile that etched across her lips. Far as the eye could see, there were the familiar stands that made up the fair. She wants cotton candy! And candy canes! And caramel apples! And everything!
But is it worth it if she isn't with her father and mother? Achille's question went over her head as the war raged on inside of Sugar.
Whether she should be happy she's here, or sad they're not here.

On the other hand, Shannon was much more calm while carrying herself through the fair. She merely walked up besides Sugar and gave the place the same run down. Before she had crossed her arms, she adjusted her glasses, and gave everything the same neutral glare as always. The same Fair she's been going to since, what? The time she was ten and sent to live with Debby? Which had to be over a decade ago... Honestly nothing new. The same old, same old. Vendors, creeps, annoying people, and the people who choose to prey on them. Shannon shrugged and let out some air. Ultimately, she didn't care for this place, since she's just as likely to get groped than have some semblance of "fun". Whatever.

Achille had to ask them if they needed to be anywhere. Well Shannon might as well engage in the casual dialogue at least. Hm. There was meeting Debby, but she was going to sort that out real fast. "... Not at the moment." Shannon answered, pulled one arms away and putting it on her chin, two fingers on her jawline. "I guess we can just enjoy the fair for now, I guess." She quickly snatched that hand away as she shrugged. Her stomach started growling, and it made her realize the downside to skipping lunch quite fast. "Perhaps we can get something to eat, uh...." She doubted that he was going to pay, unless he was that big of a gentleman. After all, this whole trip was him "repaying" the Balores for helping him (Even though they haven't lost anything).

The mere mention of food brought a gleam to Achille's grin that outshone the brightest Christmas tree. If there was one thing he could provide and enjoy in spades other than laughter and money, it was food. He had also forgotten to eat after the little performance he and the off duty crew at the Big Top had put on for Sugar so his energy levels were demanding a bit of recharging anyway. 

"Food 's good with me. What are you thinking? Pizza? Sausages? Apple fritters? Oh, how about those weird doughnutty battery things with the powdered sugar? "Tunnel Cakes" or whatever they're called. I've heard they're pretty great but I've never had them." He brushed a few snowflakes out of his hair, the thick black locks falling back into their usual place once the white crystals had been freed. "Or better yet, why don't we just go around the stalls and eat a bit of everything? My treat of course. I feel I owe you after putting you two through that car ride. The kid especially." 

He had meant to inquire about Sugar's leg in the car but after seeing the state she was in after the first few minutes he had wisely kept his questions to himself. Achille didn't like to jump to conclusions but if he had to guess he'd say that her missing limb and her attitude towards the car ride were connected. Even if that wasn't true however, he was going to make sure he made up for the honking driver and all the little stops and starts that plagued their ride to the car park.

As the group passed by a vendor and a couple of rowdy teenagers Achille spied something across the street that stood out to him. With little more than a quick "Wait here!" he bolted through the crowd, surprisingly agile and balanced for someone of his size. A minute later he reappeared out of the throng, holding a trio of sticks above his head, each with a thick napkin of some sort wrapped around it. As Achille drew closer however it became clear that the sticks were in fact skewers, a steaming kebab impaled along the length of each. The meat on the spits were thick, slightly charred and extra juicy, still hot from the grill where they had only recently been taken from. The scent of well cooked meat washed over the others as Achille halted in front of them again, two of the kebabs extended outward in offering.

"I've always wanted to try these." he said, an almost childlike glee manifesting itself on his face as he marveled at the grilled delight he had just acquired. "Here, take them."

Naturally, Shannon was incorrect yet again (Snap!). Looks like Achille was willing to get them food. Well, not that she could complain - more money in her pockets, after all - but she was still mighty suspicious of him. As he walked up with the kebabs, Shannon bumped Sugar rather hard with the hand that was closest to her. When Sugar looked up with those blue eyes of hers, Shannon was quick to tell her what she wanted, "Can you get "Sir Reginald" to, uh, tell me what he's thinking?" Shannon quickly asked of her sister... She didn't know the mechanics behind her power, but from what Sugar (And Debby, who can sense it's presence) tells her, it has something to do with that "Imaginary Friend".

Oooooh. Read the man's thoughts again? Sugar felt a little underwhelmed by that request, since Sir Reginald had alerted her ages ago that Achille meant no harm, and was more or less the man he appeared to be. But Shannon asked her, Sugar had no choice but to oblige! Sugar looked up at Sir Reginald, who was invisible, high above Sugar (Maybe up there to have a good vantage point, but Sugar didn't display the most awareness herself, so she just figured that he was up there to be up there). Sugar didn't require his help, so he merely taken to observing for now. She merely sent the request to him, and he followed through with it. Piercing through the man's mind, into his inner-psyche, and transmitting it right into Sugar's brain.

Good. Something about kebabs. Time to report back to Shannon with this new development! "Psst," Sugar whispered, "He wants to give us Kebabs..." 

Shannon's palm immediately slapped against her face, covering her eyes. "... Forget I ever asked." Sugar will some day make an incredible detective. She just knew it. Just deal with Achille, that's all she had to do, really. She had to force herself to smile. Though, it looked more like she was crazy. As the smile was too wide, cheeks too rounded, and it just looked like she was putting "too much" energy into it. Well, she didn't know how much energy was too much since the only energy she put into these situations were strictly none.  "Why thank you..." She said, leaning in forward to grab onto the kebab, and looking him dead in the eyes through her glasses. Hm. Shannon never ate such foods often, but it couldn't be too awful. Unless it was actually rat meat he was offering them....
Food! Sugar didn't hesitate to snatch the kebab from Achille's hand and take a bite... mmmm... not bad. Truly worthy of Princess Sugar! Achille here... in her eyes, he was a knight. Big, strong, and noble. Just like all knights should be! Even went out on a dangerous journey to get her food. Simply knightly. However, while this was good, she was in the mood for something else. Some cotton candy, actually. She found it simply delectable, almost like all other sugared treats. There was a reason why she was called Sugar. She was simply sweet as Sugar.

Where was some, actually? Sugar knew how to solve this, call upon Sir Reginald! While Achille was a knight, Sir Reginald will always be her one true knight. She looked up at him again, and mentally sent the command, "Find me some cotton candy, please." And he floated off in some random direction. In relation to Sugar, he was going behind her. He didn't escape her eyes, not even for a second... she was almost ready to follow him....

The kebab was almost at it's end, the skewer was almost out. Okay, Shannon liked this more than she thought that she would, actually. It was so krispy, and the meats were so juuuuicy.... Of course, that had to come to a close. Shannon didn't realize it until it was too late, but someone had slammed into her shoulder-arm areas at high speed. All she felt was the collision between the two (And the immediately felt the pain shoot up her arm) and her getting knocked over. "Hey!" She loudly shouted as she threw her arms up to brace herself, but all she did was let her shoulders take the brunt of the fall (Probably brusing them for later). Her glasses had fallen off her face, and thankfully, as a reflex action using her power, had caught them... well, in a way. She merely slowed down their descent so they wouldn't shatter on impact. Her control over plastics wasn't nearly as good as her ability to control fabrics, but it did help her.

Obviously, the first thing Shannon did was grab her glasses and push them back up her nose. Otherwise, she can't see worth shit. She stood straight up, and turned towards the person who had the audacity to crash into her. She gave him the up down... a tall, lanky, teen, had to be at least eighteen, with short blond hair, and wearing a plain tan padded winter-coat with jeans (Like everyone in this city wears). She was about to raise hell when she noticed something was off. She had whipped around. Where the hell is Sugar? Oh no. Shannon's head turned around to see every corner of her field of vision, but where ever she looked, all she saw were more people, or vendors. No Blathnat.

"Wait, where's Blathnat?!" Shannon had asked, her eyes were wide. "Where the hell did she..." She asked herself again, before choosing to outright shout, "Sugar!"