Serix followed Cassie to the dining hall, where they met up with Emily and her child once more. He did an absent sweep of the room, searching for Hunter, but the human was nowhere to be found. He was probably off somewhere nursing his wounds, or perhaps he just didn’t want to face the others after being beaten up by Cassie. Serix wouldn’t have been surprised if that were true. Hunter didn’t seem like the kind of person to show his face right after taking a blow to his pride like that.

Cassie, Sarah, and Emily all struck up a conversation once everyone was seated. Not having much to say, Serix just listened quietly as he ate. He passed the time by watching the other humans socialize amongst each other. Apart from the relaxed interaction between males and females, he almost could have mistaken them for Lunairans. They chatted and joked just like his people did when they weren’t working. If only the humans could see how similar they were to the “aliens” they seemed to hate so much. He and Cassie had figured it out long ago, and they were happier because of it. He glanced at his mate who was now playing with Emily’s child, making it smile and laugh.

“Do you want to hold him?” Emily asked her.

Cassie looked startled, “Me? Hold the baby? Are you sure? I mean, I’ve ever really held one before.”

“It’s easy,” Emily assured her, demonstrating the procedure. “Just support the baby’s head and everything is fine.” With that, she handed the child over to Cassie, who copied the way she had held it a moment ago.

Cassie smiled at Serix as she child’s eyelids began to droop, “Look at him, Serix... He’s so peaceful.” He nodded and she looked back down at the tiny infant in her arms. “I can’t believe I’m holding a baby. Never thought I would.”

“Well, I don’t know. We haven’t—” Serix started, and then caught himself. He flushed and went on hurriedly. “I-I mean, we never knew we were going to find more humans.” He stared across the room, pretending that the rock wall was suddenly very interesting. It had been a clumsy cover up. In a moment of absentmindedness, he had almost said ‘we haven’t talked about that possibility.’ He snuck a glance at Cassie’s face, wondering if she realized what he did.

Emily laughed, “Do you want to hold him, too, Serix?”

He turned to her in surprise, “Um, that’s okay. I don’t—”

“Oh, don’t worry,” Emily rolled her eyes and gently took the sleeping child from Cassie’s arms. She held him out to Serix. “He doesn’t bite.”

“Okay…” Serix said, hesitantly taking the infant from her. He held it close to his body, the way he had seen Emily and Cassie do. The child shifted slightly, but didn’t wake up. A faint smile tugged at his lip. The infant was kind of cute. He glanced at Emily, “He’s a deep sleeper, huh?”

Cassie smiled down at the baby in her arms, though, when she heard Serix speak, the first words he spoke caught her attention and she looked back up to him, a curious look on her face. He had quickly changed what he said, but she was fairly sure she had caught what he was about to say. That they hadn't discussed the possibilities of them having a child. That having a child wasn't necessarily a no, that they hadn't talked about such a thing yet. Oh course, he changed what he was saying around so the others around them wouldn't get the meaning behind what he was saying. Whether they caught on as well or not wasn't exactly a concern to Cassie though, she was more focused on what Serix had meant herself.

What would it be like if she and Serix had a kid of their own? Would it be something like this? How protective would they be over it? How would their lives change? Would it be more human or Lunairan? Would it be a boy or a girl? What would they name it? So many questions came from just holding this little infant in her arms and to be honest, maybe it was the motherly side of her, she enjoyed thinking of all the possibilities.

Serix glanced to her and she smiled softly at him a moment, only to look over at Emily when she spoke to Serix as well. Soon, the baby was handed from her to Emily and Emily had placed the baby into Serix's waiting arms, where the chest curled up and continued to sleep. The smile on Serix's lips as he held the baby made Cassie's heart flutter and she smiled more, leaning close to him to look down at the baby as well.

Emily smiled and shrugged, "He's used to being passed around. Here in the colony when there are kids we all take a part in raising them. Of course, Conner and I still have final say in things and raise him, but others help us out if we need to do anything and need someone to watch him. In a way, I guess you could say that here in the colony, everyone is family and as family we help our other family members with their kids. So, yes, between being around these loud mouths, "She jokingly jabbed a thumb at Sarah, "And Having other people watch him, he is a pretty deep sleeper."

Cassie laughed softly, leaning on Serix's arm, gently reaching out to pull a piece of the blanket that had fallen off of the sleeping baby around him again, smiling teasingly up at Serix, "Who would have thought you'd be good with kids. I'm impressed Serix."

“Who would have thought you’d be good with kids?” Cassie teased. “I’m impressed, Serix.”

“I’m just full of surprises,” Serix replied, casting her a playful grin. “I can’t let you get bored with me, now can I?” He looked back down at the sleeping infant in his arms. For a moment, he could almost imagine a future like this with Cassie; one where they could live in peace and even raise a child together. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem like that was a door that would open for them any time soon. If they were to have a child, he was almost certain it would look more Lunairan than human, given his and Cassie’s heritages. The half-bloods in the compound already hated him. He wouldn’t wish the same fate upon his child.

“I think somebody needs a nap,” Emily said, gently taking the infant from Serix’s arms. “I’ll take him back to my room. See you both later.” She got up from the table, moving carefully so as not to wake her child, and left the dining hall.

“We should probably get back to work, too,” Serix said, glancing at Cassie. He wasn’t sure how long human lunch breaks were, and he didn’t want to risk running into Ryan again for waiting around. The human was probably still in a sour mood after being scolded so harshly by Cassie earlier, and Serix didn’t want to become someone he could take his anger out on. He took his mate’s hand and led her back to the farm, where they met up with Jerry and Victoria who had already returned.

“Ah, I was starting to think you two would never show up,” Jerry grinned when he saw them. “Welcome back. We have a ripe bunch of blueberries that need to be picked over there.” He jabbed a thumb over his shoulder at a cluster of bushes that were dotted with small, blue-purple fruits. “It’s pretty simple; even Hunter could do it. Just pick the berries and put them in the baskets that are already over there. Got it?” He turned to go back to his work, and then spun around one more time. “Oh yeah, one more thing. We just have one rule: Don’t eat what you harvest. We need to make sure that the food here makes it to everyone in the caves. That’s all.” He nodded as if satisfied with his explanation and went back to planting seeds.

Serix headed over to the shrubs Jerry had indicated and went to work with Cassie. He was still determined to prove that the humans could trust him. Perhaps if he showed enough dedication to the jobs they assigned him, they would learn to tolerate him more. At least, that was the only plan he had been able to come up with, and he was going to stick to it until he thought of something better.

Serix looked up when he saw Hunter enter the farm through one of the tunnels. The human didn’t even glance in his direction. He wasn’t sure what to think about that. On one hand, it was nice that Hunter was giving him a break from his usual relentless torment, but on the other hand, Hunter wasn’t a nice person. Serix couldn’t bring himself to believe that he had given up so easily, so instead of feeling relieved that the human was leaving him alone, he found himself even more on edge.

“He’s planning something,” Serix said quietly to Cassie, subtly flicking his eyes towards Hunter for a moment to indicate who he was talking about. “I just know it.”

Once they had made it back to the farm, they were instructed to pick some blue berries off the bushes and place them into some baskets. Pretty easy job. She walked over with Serix and had just started picking off the berries when he spoke to her in a hushed tone, mentioning something about Hunter. She glanced over her shoulder to where Hunter had went, on the other side of the farm to tend to the other plants, and noticed as well that he didn't even so much as look over their way. He just simply ignored them. She frowned slightly and went on picking the berries, speaking softly to him as she did, "He is acting kind of strange after all that...."

She would have thought he would have tried something again with Ryan not being around. She thought about a moment before gong back to her work, "We just need to keep an eye on him. He may be planning something or he may not be. We won't know until something does happen I suppose." That really worried her as well. It was one thing to see the anger and expect him to come at them. But it was another story when they had no idea it was coming or how to prepare for it. They would just have to prepare the best the could she guessed. Keep their eyes and ears open, as well as watch out to not be left anyone with anyone. It was the best they could do.

She filled up the first basket and moved it to the side, grabbing another basket. She hadn't done anything like this in years. It reminded her a lot of when she was a child. Her grandmother, on her father's side of course, used to have blueberry bushes lining the back yard of her home. She used to go out with the old woman, a small basket in each of their hands, and go pick blueberries to back blueberry muffins with. They had always tasted so amazing. Maybe once she got more settled in to this place she could make some blueberry muffins to go along with one of the meals. She could maybe even drag Serix along to teach him how to make them as well. That was a fun thought that brought a small smile to her face. Serix cooking? She'd have to watch him do that because it was sure to be hilarious.

A few more hours passed of them all just working in the farm, and then it was time to call it quits. Jerry mentioned a break for free time before dinner, giving everyone a chance to go do whatever they wished during this time. And of course, with Cassie and Serix still getting used to the caves and no really knowing any of the people well enough to really 'hang out' with them (well, maybe other than Emily, but she was taking care of her baby), they just went back to their room to rest until dinner. Once there, Cassie stretching sighing as she looked over to Serix, "Farming will take a little getting used to. It's enough to wear you out, huh?" She grinned and looked over at him, then moving over to where he sat down, she massaged his shoulders, knowing he had to be sore from using that shovel so much, "You know....Emily's baby was really cute."

Okay, maybe that wasn't a very subtle hint. Aside from what all had gone on between them and Hunter that little baby had been in the back of her mind since she had held him in her arms. She wondered silently if it was the same for Serix too. But, even if it wasn't, she still felt they needed to talk about it. After all, they were married now and never once had they even discussed the possibility of having a child together. She wanted one. She was sure that when they did it would be the most adorable child she had ever seen. But, did Serix want that? How did he feel about all that? She didn't know, which was why they needed to talk about it.

Finishing rubbing his shoulders, she wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him from behind as she spoke to him, her chin resting on his shoulder, "Serix....what do you think? About having a kid? Would you even want to have a child with me? Or....is that not something you want at all?"

Serix kept an eye on Hunter throughout the duration of their work, but the human did nothing to stir up any concern. This did little to comfort him. It felt like Hunter was just biding his time; waiting for the perfect opportunity to make his move. Or maybe Serix was just being paranoid again. The human was full of anger, but he didn’t seem like the type to come up with an elaborate scheme on his own. He was too impulsive for that. Yet still, Serix didn’t relax.

He and Cassie continued to work for the next few hours, picking the tiny fruits off of the bush and collecting them in baskets. There was a surprisingly large amount of them. Just when he thought he finished clearing one section of the plant, he would find a dozen more hidden behind a branch. If he didn’t know better, he would have thought they were multiplying. He and Cassie managed to fill two small baskets, but there were still plenty more on the bushes by the time Jerry and Victoria showed up to check in on them.

“How’s it coming, newbies?” the red-haired human leaned over their collection to inspect it. He nodded slowly, as if judging their work. “Good, good. You got a lot done it just a few hours. I think you’ve earned a sold B+ for your efforts. I can’t give you an A because I grade on a curve, and Tori will always be my number one.” He winked at the female at his side and she smiled softly. “Anyways, I think you two have earned a break. Dinner is in an hour. Feel free to enjoy the wonders of the Caves and its people until then.” He took Victoria’s hand and they walked off together.

Serix didn’t really feel like meeting up with any of the other humans for an hour. For one thing, most of them seemed to hate him simply for existing, and for another, he hadn’t been able to spend much alone time with Cassie. This free period before dinner was the first opportunity they had to enjoy each other’s company since the day before. So instead of going back to the dining hall to socialize with the others, they went to their room where they would hopefully have some uninterrupted time together.

Once they were back in the privacy of their room —or as much privacy as they could get with just a curtain divider separating them from the rest of the caves— Serix fell down on the bed with a weary groan. Working in the fields all day after enduring a sleepless night had left him exhausted. He hoped his insomnia wouldn’t last much longer; otherwise he wasn’t sure how he was going to keep up with the workload that came with living in the compound.

“Farming will take a little getting used to,” Cassie said, grinning at him. “It’s enough to wear you out, huh?”

“I’ll get used to it eventually,” Serix said, sitting up on the mattress as Cassie moved to join him. She positioned herself behind him and began massaging his shoulders. He closed his eyes and sighed as she worked his sore muscles, “Okay, that’s nice.”

“You know,” Cassie said. “Emily’s baby was really cute.”

“Mhm,” Serix replied lazily. The massage was making him a bit sleepy.

Once Cassie finished massaging him, she wrapped her arms around his neck in an embrace, leaning her head on his shoulder, “Serix... what do you think? About having a kid? Would you even want to have a child with me? Or... is that not something you want at all?”

“Where is this coming from?” Serix asked, planting a kiss on her cheek while her face was next to his. “Of course I want to.” He turned around to speak to her directly. “I just don’t think that now is a good time. I mean, the humans are already making things difficult for us. Do we really want to get a baby involved, too? What if they treat it like they do me? I wouldn’t want to see my child go through that, Cassie. These caves just aren’t a good place for us to raise a kid.”

Cassie moved to position herself so that she was sitting in front of him as he spoke to her, giving her his thoughts, and she frowned slightly, averting her gaze for a moment before she looked back to him to speak, "Well...I don't know. I was just thinking how nice it would be for us to have a family of our own, just like Emily and Conner do. Besides....I mean...I don't think they'd treat a baby that way. And I'm pretty sure Ryan wouldn't let them do that even if they tried. And on top of that, if we had a child, then maybe Ryan would stop trying to flirt with me. I know how much that bothers you, so that would be a plus, right?"

Maybe she was being stupid thinking all of this, but all she knew was that it was something she wanted. She sighed and looked down against for a moment, before looking back up to him, "You say that the caves aren't a good place to raise a kid yet there are kids being raised here. And from the looks of it, they are happier than any of us are. And we're going to be in these caves for quite a while, so if not now, then when? If we never leave these caves, then does that mean we'll never have a child?" She said, a sad look on her face as she met his violet eyes again, but then frowning more, she sighed and turned so her back was to him, trying to hide the disappointment in her expression.

"I don't know....maybe I'm just being rash..." Still, even though she said this, it was obvious she was still upset by his rejection of the thought of having a child. Running a hand through her blonde hair, she frowned more, pulling her knees up to her chest, "Maybe I'm being emotional too? I'm sorry Serix. I shouldn't have brought it up."

She sat there another moment before forcing herself to turn back to him, and though the disappointment was still on her face, she moved behind him again to rub his shoulders some more, hoping to at least make him relax a little before dinner, yet in the back of her mind the thought of possibly never having a child if this was how Serix felt was still making her emotional and she felt tears stinging the corners of her eyes, and it was because fo this she was glad his back was to her so he wouldn't see that, though, every once and a while she was sniffle and let out a shaky breath from trying to calm herself and keep him from knowing how much his discission had upset her.

Serix was slightly taken aback by Cassie’s reaction to what he said. He didn’t know she felt so strongly about having a child, so he didn’t expect the look of hurt and disappointment that came over her face when he finished speaking. But maybe it was his fault. He didn’t have to completely throw away the possibility of having a child with her. After all, she was right when she said that they didn’t know how long they were going to be staying in the caves with the humans. There was always the chance that they would never leave. In that case, would it be alright for them to raise a child here? He still didn’t particularly like the idea, but seeing his mate upset like this bothered him even more.

“I don’t know... Maybe I’m just being rash...” Cassie said wistfully. “Maybe I’m being emotional too? I’m sorry, Serix. I shouldn’t have brought it up.” She moved behind him again to continue massaging his shoulders. Her selfless act only served to add to his guilt. Maybe he had been harsh in shutting down the possibility like that, and really, what was the harm in trying? They didn’t have to let the humans dictate their lives. Maybe the caves would even feel more like home if they started a family here like Emily and Connor had.

Serix leaned back, resting his head in her lap, and looked up at her, “Cassie, please don’t cry. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said no so quickly.” He reached up and gently pulled her down to kiss him, then smiled at her lovingly, “You know I’ll do anything for you. If you want to have a baby here, then let’s have a baby.” Suddenly, his stomach growled and he cleared his throat awkwardly. “Um, let’s just wait until after dinner to try.” He rolled over and climbed to his feet, offering Cassie a hand to stand up, and then led her down to the dining hall to get some food.

“I think we should keep this to ourselves for now,” Serix said quietly as they walked over to the table where Emily, Connor, Jerry, and Victoria sat. “I would imagine that news spreads quickly here, and I don’t want Ryan or any other humans that wouldn’t want us to have a child getting involved, you know?”

“Hey,” Jerry greeted when Serix and Cassie sat down at the table. “Where’d you both run off to? I haven’t seen you since work.”

“We just went back to our room,” Serix shrugged.

“Well that’s boring,” Jerry rolled his eyes. “There are so many better places to explore around here. Why hide away in a tiny little bedroom?”

Serix’s eyes flicked to Cassie for a moment, and then he turned back to the red-haired human, “We just wanted to talk, but I’ll be sure to keep that in mind next time.”

“Whatever floats your boat,” Jerry popped a forkful of food into his mouth.

“How are you doing so far?” Emily spoke up, addressing Cassie. “The work isn’t too strenuous for you, is it?”

"If you want to have a baby here, then let’s have a baby.”

Those words really did make Cassie's day. She beamed down at him when he spoke them and hen she did she leaned down to kiss him again, her excitement for his agreement in her kiss as she laughed with joy, "Serix I can't wait. I'm so excited. Thank you." Kissing him once more nuzzled her forehead against his as he layed there, "I love you so much." Then with that, Serix was rolling over to stand, saying they should go eat dinner before trying anything and nodded, "Yeah. I'm pretty hungry after all that work we did in the gardens. Let's go."

Once there, she held Serix's hand tightly and nodded when he mentioned they should keep their decision to themselves and she fully agreed with that. If the word got around that they were trying to have a child together, then Ryan and quite a few of the others would surely be on their tails trying to stop this from happening. She couldn't let that happen. She wanted this child more than anything and now that Serix had agreed to have it with her, she wasn't going to let anything stand in her way of she and Serix starting their family. And if keeping it a secret until they were sure she was with child was what they would have to do, then so be it.

Sitting down at the table, she took a bite of the apple she had grabbed and listened to Serix answer Jerry's question about and then looked to Emily when she asked her how she was doing with all the work and all. Cassie merely smiled and shrugged, "It's not bad. I think Serix was doing all the hard work with the shoveling. All I did was plant the seeds and pick the plants that were ready to be harvested." She stated, smiling up at Serix. He had been a really hard worker today and she was proud of him. He was really trying hard to make a good impression and she sure did hope some of them would see that and lighten up on him.

"Man, I'm starving." A new voice came from behind them and a young man who she had yet to see flopped down into the seat beside Jerry, a rather large german shepherd sitting obediently beside him, though, after a moment, the dog caught a whiff of Serix and began growing, turning his attention to her husband, baring his teeth and snarling as he stood to attention. The young man, as if just now noticing Serix for the first time, held a hand up to the dog, "Heal Dash." The dog immediately stopped, but his eyes stayed trained on the Lunairan as the young man looked to Serix, with not exactly disdain, but more of a suspicion and untrusting look, "You must be the two Ryan mentioned."

"If you didn't stay o locked up in that room of yours all the time you would have met them by now." Sarah mentioned, nonchalantly popping a blueberry into her mouth.

He rolled his eyes, looking at her, "Someone has to fix our guns around here." He moved his gaze back to the two, "I'm Samual. But everyone calls me Gunner."

"Ummm, nice to meet you?" Cassie said, her eyes averting every once and a while to the dog. It was calm now, but still staring at Serix, as if waiting for the command to attack. This was obviously some sort of fighting or guard dog and she didn't trust it.

As they sat there in silence another moment, the young man she remembered as Quincy walked over, a grin on his face, his hands being placed on both Gunner's and Jerry's shoulders, while speaking to everyone, "Hey guys, don't forget, later tonight we're having recreation. I was thinking soccer."

"Didn't we play soccer last time?" Conner questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Well yeah, but we haven't seen the noobs play either." He said, nodding his head to Cassie and Serix with a grin.

Jerry chuckled, "That's true." He looked over to them, "You two up for a game of soccer?"

Cassie smiled slightly, "I haven't played that since I was a kid in school. But sure. Why not?"

Serix spun around when he heard a low growl behind him. A new human had joined the group and with him was a large brown-and-black dog. The animal had its hackles raised and its head low. It bared its fangs at him hostilely. He tensed, ready to jump to his feet if the dog moved to attack him, but the human held up a hand and it relaxed, keeping its eyes trained on him but ceasing to snarl. He stared back at it, unwilling to look away in case it was still waiting for an opportunity to jump at him.

“I’m Samuel,” the new human introduced himself. “But everyone calls me Gunner.”

“Can you get your dog to back off some?” Serix said without looking away from the animal.

“Hmm, don’t think so,” the human called Gunner replied. “He’s trained to sniff out Lunairans. He’s not gonna let you outta his sight now, but don’t worry, he won’t hurt you as long as I don’t give the order.”

“Isn’t that reassuring?” Serix muttered, reluctantly turning away from the dog as another human came over to join them. He remembered this one to be Quincy, the male who woke him and Cassie up that morning.

“Hey, guys,” Quincy said. “Don’t forget, later tonight we’re having recreation. I was thinking soccer.”

Serix wondered what this “soccer” was. From context, it sounded like some sort of human activity, but Cassie had never mentioned it to him before. He listened quietly as the others went on to discuss it and Jerry turned to ask them if they were ‘up for a game.’

“I haven’t played that since I was a kid in school,” Cassie said with a smile. “But sure. Why not?”

“What’s soccer?” Serix asked.

The humans laughed and Quincy answered him, “Oh, you’ll see.” Serix frowned at the vague response, but didn’t press him. He doubted the human would explain more even if he tried.

After dinner, the group headed down to a large, spacious cavern where the other humans had already gathered. The floor was covered in strange painted markings and there were two big, netted boxes at either end of the room. Emily and Victoria went to sit off to the side with a young, light-haired female Serix hadn’t seen before, while the others joined a group of humans that were standing towards the middle of the cavern. Ryan and Jacob stood apart from the others with their arms crossed.

“Is this everyone?” Jacob asked.

“Think so,” Ryan replied. His eyes fell on Serix and he looked like he was about to add something else, but he just said: “With the addition of Cassie and the alien, there’re sixteen players. Do you want to choose first, Jake?”

“Sure,” the other male waved a hand at Quincy. “This was your idea, so I’ll take you on my team.” Quincy grinned and stepped over to join Jacob. Serix made the connection that Ryan and Jacob were the leaders in this game, and they were picking members to join their individual teams. He glanced at Ryan, easily predicting who the human was going to choose first for his group.

“Castiel,” Ryan said with a smile. “You’re with me.”

Serix squeezed his mate’s hand and gave her a quick peck on the cheek, “Knowing him, I can already guess we’re going to be on opposite sides, huh? Good luck, Cassie.” He glanced at Ryan. He wasn’t going to let the human keep riling him up over every little irritating thing he did.

“Good sportsmanship,” Jacob nodded. “I’ll take the Lunairan.” A few of the humans turned to him in surprise. Like Serix, they had probably been expecting him to be picked last. He hesitated for a moment, and then went to join Jacob’s side with Quincy.

Ryan and Jacob went on to choose the rest of their teams. By the end, Ryan had claimed Cassie, Connor, Jerry, Hunter, Gunner, Sally, and a male named Ron that Serix recognized as one of the humans who had been encouraging his fight with Hunter the day before. On the other team, Jacob claimed Serix, Quincy, Monty, Sarah, Ray, Charlie, and a male named Wes that Serix had only seen in passing. With the two sides equally divided, the leaders took their teams to opposite boxes at the ends of the cavern.

Serix caught up to Quincy as they walked to their side, “So, can I know what soccer is now, or do you expect me to start out blind?”

“Okay, okay,” Quincy laughed. “Because you’re on my team and it would be a pain in the ass for you to be clueless, I’ll fill you in.” He pointed across the room at the netted box. “That’s the target, see? The object of the game is to get the ball into that goal and keep it out of ours. You can hit the ball with any part of your body except for your hands and arms.” He gestured at the markings on the ground. “The lines on the outside are the boundaries. You can’t play outside of the giant rectangle we’re standing in. That middle line marks the division between our side and Ryan’s side, and the square around the goal is called the ‘goal box.’ You’re not allowed to go inside it unless the ball is in there or you’re the goalie, the person defending the goal. The other lines aren’t as important, so I’ll let you figure them out as we go.” He paused, thinking. “If the ball goes out-of-bounds, the team that didn’t kick it there gets to throw it back in. That’s the only time you’re allowed to use your hands if you’re not a goalie. Oh, and there’s three main positions: defense, midfield, and forward. Defense mostly stays on this side of the field to help the goalie, forwards are the people who go on offense and try to get the ball into the other team’s goal, and midfield is like backup for everyone. Since you’re new, I think we’ll start you on mid so you can get an idea of how this whole thing works.” He grinned. “So, do you think you followed all that?”

“Um, sort of,” Serix admitted. “It’s a lot to learn all at once. I think I’ll figure it out when we get started, though.”

“Good,” Quincy nodded. “Because I’m not explaining it again.” He turned to Jacob, who had taken up the goalie position. “We good to go, Jake?”

“Yeah,” Jacob nodded and called across the cave to Ryan. “We’re all good over here. You can kickoff.”

When they made it to the large recreation area, Cassie knew immediately when she saw that Ryan was one of the captains who he was going to choose frist. And it was also no guess that Serix would end up on the opposite team. Sure enough, when Jake started it off by choosing Quincy, Ryan went straight for calling out her name. She smiled and shrugged, returning Serix's kiss on the cheek before walking over to where Ryan stood, "It's Cassie, by the way. Remember? I don't go by my full name anymore."

"And you remember that I like calling you Casitel?" He grinned at her, "And since I'm the only one who does that makes it my nickname for you, now doesn't it?"

Cassie rolled her eyes and watched as Jake, much to her surprise and everyone else's, picked Serix. She smiled brightly at Serix, nodding her head toward Jake to encourage him not to be so hesitant to go over to his team. If someone was being willing to let him join in and pick him so soon in the 'claiming' then he should be happy and take it as a chance to prove himself some more. Soon, everyone was called out and the teams were picked, everyone going over to their own sides of the fields to line up. And as they walked, Cassie jumped slightly in surprise when none other than Sally came over, glomping onto her arm, "Cassie! We're gunna kick their butts!" She giggled and to Cassie it was really funny to hear the young girl talk so competitively. She probably learned that from her brother.

Cassie smiled, "Well, how about we just try our best?"

Sally laughed and nodded, "Okay! I call the goalie!" Then the girl ran off, leaving Cassie laughing more as she looked over to Jake.

"So, Cassie. What position do you think you'd be better off with?"

Cassie thought about it a moment, looking over at the other team, biting her lip in thought, "Well, how about....either offense or midfield?"

Jake nodded, "How about we start you in midfield like your...boyfriend?"

"Husband actually." Cassie said with a smile, to which Jake shrugged.

"Alright then, go to midfield and back us up, new girl." Jake said, waving his hand and Cassie nodded, going to the center of the field, grinning at Serix as she stretched and got ready for the game to begin, "Well, Serix, guess it's your turn to learn about human exercise. Not exactly like the fighting you've been teaching me, but hey, it's still really fun."

"Alright! Let's get this game started!" And with that, Ryan kicked the ball, letting the game begin.

Serix moved to his position at the upward-center of his team’s side of the rectangle and watched the others do the same. The young human, Charlie, joined him in midfield along with Quincy. Wes and Ray stayed back by the goal box on defense, and Sarah and Monty stood at the center line as forwards. Jacob stayed at the far back to defend the goal. On the other side, Ryan and Hunter started at the center line as forwards; Cassie, Gunner, and Jerry were midfielders; Ron and Connor were defenders; and Sally was the goalie.

“Okay,” Quincy said, getting Serix’s attention one more time. “For this game, I’ll be the playmaker, Charlie will be the holding mid, and you’ll be the box-to-box.” He laughed when Serix just gave him a confused look. “There’re individual roles within defense, mid, and forward. You see, Wes is left back and Ray is right back in defense, meaning they each only cover half of the field on our side. For our forwards, Monty is the striker and Sarah is the withdrawn-striker, meaning that Monty takes most of the shots at the goal, while she acts as a decoy. They can also signal to each other to switch if Sarah has an opportunity to shoot, and Monty can act as the decoy instead. Midfield is a little more complicated. Charlie is the holding mid, which means that he mostly stays behind the center line to stop the ball before it gets to our defense. As the playmaker, I lead most of our tactical advances and formations. And as the box-to-box mid, you help keep the ball off of our side of the field and give the strikers opportunities to shoot.” He slapped Serix on the shoulder and grinned. “Don’t worry. If you ever get confused, just pass the ball to me and I’ll get it where it needs to go.”

“Don’t expect me to pass it to you every time,” Serix said, returning Quincy’s grin. “This game is actually pretty similar to a military exercise I did back on my people’s ship. I think I’ll pick it up quickly enough.”

“That’s some big talk for a noob,” Quincy whistled. “Alright then, let’s see what you’ve got.” He turned back to face the other team as Ryan kicked the ball to Hunter, starting the game. A flurry of movement ensued as everyone began repositioning themselves to play their parts in the game. Serix recalled what Quincy said about his role. He was to keep the ball off of his team’s side and give it to the strikers when he had the chance. So, when Hunter and Ryan started to pass the ball back and forth and carry it onto Jacob’s half, Serix and Charlie were there to counter them.

Charlie blocked Hunter off so Ryan couldn’t pass back, and Serix swept out a foot to steal the ball away from him. The plan was perfect in Serix’s mind, but he didn’t take into account the amount of force —or the lack thereof— he needed to use to actually take the ball. So when he kicked it out from under Ryan’s feet, it sailed right out of the boundaries. This amused Quincy to no end.

“Impressive power,” the human laughed. “But you need to work on control. Soccer’s not about how hard you can kick; it’s about how accurately you can play. Keep that in mind, okay newbie?”

“Uh, right,” Serix said, following the ball with his eyes as it bounced far outside of the painted rectangle.

Jerry went to fetch the ball and the players rearranged themselves yet again. The red-haired human threw the ball back in and the game continued. As it went on, Serix began to pick up techniques from the other, more skilled players. He went from making constant blunders to being able to steal the ball almost effortlessly whenever a member of the opposite team tried to slip past him. His rapid improvement seemed to frustrate Ryan above all the others on his team. Serix would slip the ball right out from under him every time he tried to get by until, finally, Ryan couldn’t stand it any longer.

The next time he had the ball, Ryan crossed onto Jacob’s half of the in-zone as usual, but this time when Serix moved to stop him, the human shoved him aside and kept going. Serix stumbled and stared after him, wide eyed. No one else seemed to notice— well, either that or they didn’t care.

Ryan managed to slip past the defenders and score a goal. On his way back to his own side, Serix stepped in front of him, “Hang on. That doesn’t count.”

“What do you mean?” Ryan narrowed his eyes. “Don’t be a sore loser, alien.”

“You know what I mean,” Serix glared back at him. “I’m pretty sure there’s a rule against shoving people like that.”

“Well, it’s a good thing I didn’t shove a person, then,” Ryan spat.

“Wanna say that again?” Serix snarled, stepping closer to the human.

“Of course,” Ryan smiled coldly. “I didn’t shove a person, I just moved an obstacle.”

“You make it sound so easy. Why can’t you move the same obstacle when you’re trying to get to Cassie, huh? You seem to have a much harder time of doing that. I guess she’s not as important to you as a recreational game.”

“You little bastard,” Ryan grabbed Serix by the front of his shirt, pulling him so that they were nose-to-nose. Serix did the same, catching Ryan’s shirt in his hand so that they both had each other pinned. In the next instant, he felt a set of arms hook him beneath the shoulders and rip him away from the human. He craned his neck around to see Jacob dragging him back while Quincy was doing the same with Ryan.

“Break it up, you two,” Jacob growled, and then muttered more quietly in Serix’s ear: “That’s twice in two days. You’re walking on thin ice now, so I suggest you shape up.” Serix stopped thrashing at the unspoken threat in the human’s tone. If he messed up one more time, he would land himself in the hold. He swallowed his anger and forced himself to relax. Jacob let him go.

“Game’s over, anyways,” Quincy said, releasing Ryan from his grasp. He turned to the other humans, who were watching the scene. “Come on, guys, it’s getting late. Let’s go to bed.” He herded the reluctant group towards the tunnel and glanced back over his shoulder to nod at Jacob. The latter nodded back at him and turned to face Ryan and Serix, his arms crossed over his chest.

“I don’t know what’s going on between you guys,” Jacob said angrily. “But you need to get it sorted out. Ryan, you’re supposed to be the leader here, for Christ’s sake! Get this mess fixed. I’ll see you both in the morning.” With that, he turned and followed the others out through the tunnel, leaving Serix, Ryan, and Cassie behind.

Cassie thought the game was going rather well. She was having a lot of fun running abut and every once and a while stealing the ball from the other team. And, what she loved as well was that from the looks of it Serix was getting rather good at the game. After a few rounds of going about, Serix was stealing the ball every time someone came over with it. But, what she failed to notice was the greatly annoyed look coming over Ryan. That is, until she saw him shove Serix to the side. She tensed and glared off after her friend. She huffed and crossed her arms, standing over on their side, ready to scold him when he came back over, only Serix intercepted him first.

Right off the bat she knew this wasn't going to end well, and so when she heard Ryan spitting vicious words at Serix she made her way over to them, but didn't make it over in time because soon they had each other by the shirts, ready to go at it. She was very thankful for Quincy and Jake were there to stop the two of them, but what worried her was that Serix was already in enough trouble as it was. She didn't need him getting thrown into the hold because of people disliking him. These two were just going to have to learn how to get along whether they liked it or not.

After a stern comment to both from Jake, the older man left the three of them in the recreation area by themselves, a very annoyed and angry looking Cassie standing between the two of them. The first one she turned to was Ryan, arms crossed at first as she stared him down, though, as she went to talk pointed her finger at him for emphasis, "What the hell do you think you were doing?! He was just playing the game and then you have to go and, again, act like a butt hurt child!"

Then, suddenly she whirled on Serix, her posture the same as she spoke to him, "And you! I told you about getting into fights! Do you want to be locked up in the hold?! Because that's what is going to happen soon if this keeps up!" With a frustrated look she turned, pacing back and forth a moment, obviously steaming about this current situation, raking a hand through her long hair to push it from her face, "You know what? This is what I'm going to do." She stopped, standing between them and looking between the two of them, "I'm not talking to either of you. Not until I see you two getting along. Not a single word. No ifs, ands, or buts. If you two can act civilized by the end of tomorrow, then I might consider it. If not, heh, well then I guess its going to be pretty quiet between us, now isn't it?"

She knew it was a bold move to do such a thing. And it would be exceptionally hard to do with Serix, but she felt like at least it was worth a shot. If she could get them to at least stop fighting each other by doing this, then it would be worth it. Crossing her arms, she nodded "Now, if you excuse me, I'm heading to bed. This is the last you'll hear from me until I see a change. Goodnight Gentlemen." Then with that, she walked off, heading back toward the bedroom.

Serix averted his gaze when Cassie glared at him and Ryan. Now that he was calm again, he could see just how badly he had messed up this time. He had stepped within inches of getting locked up for fighting. In his anger, he had forgotten what being separated would do to both of them. It had been selfish of him to bring that risk back to the surface and waste all of their hard work to get the half-bloods to accept him. Even if Ryan had provoked him, he shouldn’t have let the human get the better of him like that.

Cassie whirled on Ryan first, chiding him for his immaturity, but then she turned on Serix with just as much ferocity. He winced at the distress in her voice when she brought up the hold. She was far more upset than she had ever been with him before, and he hated it. He wished he could turn back the clock and stop himself from getting into that fight with Ryan. It had been pointless and only served to hurt them both in the end.

Cassie paced between them for a moment and then stopped, “You know what? This is what I’m going to do. I’m not talking to either of you. Not until I see you two getting along. Not a single word. No ifs, ands, or buts. If you two can act civilized by the end of tomorrow, then I might consider it. If not, heh, well then I guess it’s going to be pretty quiet between us, now isn’t it?” She crossed her arms. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m heading to bed. This is the last you’ll hear from me until I see a change. Goodnight, gentlemen.”

Serix stared after Cassie in dismay as she spun around and walked away from them. She was really mad if she was willing to pull a move like that. He had to force himself not to chase after her. He would probably only make things worse if he tried to plead with her now. So instead, he turned to take his own frustrations out on Ryan. They glared at each other for a moment and then sighed in unison. There was no point in feeding the flames of their battle after they had both just lost the prize.

“Look,” Serix said, holding out his hand to Ryan in the human gesture. “This doesn’t mean I like you, but I want to talk to my mate. Truce?”

“Truce,” Ryan said, reluctantly taking his hand. “But I’m not going to stop trying to get her back because of this. I can’t let an alien walk away with the love of my life.”

“The same goes for me,” Serix broke out in a grin. With that, the two shook hands and parted ways.

Serix returned to his bedroom, where Cassie had already lain down to go to sleep. He smiled and crept into the room, quietly shutting the curtain behind him, and slipped into bed with her, wrapping his arms around her middle while her back was to him. He pulled her close to himself and whispered in her ear, “Come on, Cassie. We both know you can’t stay mad at me forever.” He kissed her gently on the neck. “You were the one who wanted to have a kid here. That can’t happen if you’re going to ignore me like this.” He kissed her again and buried his face into her neck, his voice muffled against her skin, “Please?”

Cassie had thought she could really last with this. All she had to do was give them the silent treatment. Right? How hard could that be? Pretty darn hard apparently because she had laid down in bed, the covers pulled over herself and her back to the door, when she heard Serix come in. Immediately she wanted to turn and talk to him, but she chided herself. She couldn't give in that easily. Or at least, she hoped she wouldn't give in, until she felt her arms wrap around her and she was like putty in his hands as he talked to her in her ear, “Come on, Cassie. We both know you can’t stay mad at me forever.”

He was right, she couldn't. But she could act like it, couldn't she? She gave a 'humph' sound, turning her head further away from him, only to have him kiss her neck, leaving her cheeks turning a bright red, “You were the one who wanted to have a kid here. That can’t happen if you’re going to ignore me like this.” He kissed her once more, burying his face against her, speaking in a way that made her just want to snuggle up to him and stay there with him forever, “Please?” Giving a soft sigh, she turned, rolling over to look at her, still staying close to him, her forehead resting against his now.

And with that touch, she let some fo her emotions flow through to him using a link. She didn't do this often, but when she did she always had a good reason for it. These emotions showed her worry for him. Annoyance at both he and Ryan for acting the way they had been acting. Her fear of what the rest fo the colony might do to him if he continued to mess up in the ways he was. And her love for him all the same, even if she was irritated. Sighing again, she closed the link and moved to kiss him fro a moment, a kiss much like the one they had shared after saying their vows in their old hideaway, before pulling back and looking at him.

"Serix....please....I asked you this before, but please listen this time, don't get into any more fights. I don't want you getting thrown into the hold. I want you here with me, safe and sound." Returning his kiss on the neck with one placed to his own, she sighed against his skin, "I love you. And I don't want to loose you."

Serix grinned when Cassie finally gave in and turned around. Instead of speaking, however, she rested her forehead against his and he felt her open a link between their minds, sending her emotions for him flowing across it. Annoyance, fear, worry, and love all poured through the short connection until she closed it off again. Afterwards, she leaned in to press her lips against his, and they kissed as passionately as they had on the day they were mated together. He exhaled softly when they parted, savoring their rekindled closeness.

“Serix... please,” Cassie said quietly. “I asked you this before, but please listen this time. Don’t get into any more fights. I don’t want you getting thrown into the hold. I want you here with me, safe and sound.” She kissed his neck this time, and he sighed at her touch. “I love you. And I don’t want to lose you.”

“I love you, too,” Serix murmured, running a hand down the length of her side and resting it on her waist. “I promise I’ll try harder to stop fighting. There’s nothing I can do if someone attacks me first, but I’ll stop provoking them to do it.” He hoped she could hear the sincerity in his voice. He really did want to stop getting into fights with humans like Ryan and Hunter. It was just making everyone around him miserable, Cassie especially so, and he wanted to stop disappointing her.

Serix met her lips again and closed his eyes. For a moment, he could imagine that they were back in their old hideout, far away from both the pressure of the humans and the danger of the Lunairans. For a moment, they were safe in their own little world again where they only had each other. For a moment, everything was right. He slowly pulled away again and met Cassie’s eyes, smiling at her mischievously, “So, how about we work on having that baby?”

When she heard that he was going to at least try harder to stop instigating the fights, she smiled softly and nodded, "Thank you." It was nice to know that he was being serious about it this time. Maybe they could finally start blending into to this human society and Serix could slowly work on getting accepted by the others now. She sighed softly against his lips as he kissed her again, just savoring their time alone together, and when he gave her that mischievous grin, she laughed slightly, kissing him once more, "You really know just how to make it so I kept be mad at you anymore." She nodded, "Well, okay. I guess we could start working on that now." She teased, kissing him once more.

~~~~~~

The next morning Cassie didn't want to get up. She just wanted to stay snuggled up to Serix and have more of their peace and quiet. Yet, she also knew it wouldn't last forever and that they would have to get up soon or risk someone else barging into their room. Well it wouldn't be so bad if someone did (they had thought to get dressed last night before falling asleep just in case something like that happened), but she preferred for the to wake themselves up, to set a good mood for the day.

Sitting up slightly, she moved, and, a playful smirk on her face, she sat up slightly, and in one bound, jumped playfully on him, probably enough to give him a scare, and went to sit on his chest, leaning down to kiss him and laugh, "Time to wake up sleepy head. If you don't get up soon someone's going to come in here and then instead of being woken up by me, you'll be woke up by them." She smiled, "And you don't want that, now do you?"

The combination of working in the fields all day and spending a night with Cassie left Serix tired enough to sleep soundly until morning, and even then he was still so far gone that he didn’t notice when she shifted beside him and sat up. He only awoke when Cassie pounced unexpectedly on his chest, startling him out of unconsciousness. She then proceeded to situate herself on top of him, pinning him so that he couldn’t get up, and leaned down to kiss him.

“Time to wake up, sleepy head,” she said teasingly. “If you don’t get up soon someone’s going to come in here and then instead of being woken up by me, you’ll be woken up by them, and you don’t want that, now do you?”

“You want me to get up?” Serix raised a brow at her. “Well, fine.” He quickly pushed her off of him and rolled over so that he was sitting on top of her, although he was careful not to put all of his weight on her. He grinned at her playfully and leaned down to kiss her on the tip of her nose, “I win.” With that, he got up and held out a hand to help her to her feet. Once she was up, he threw on a shirt and a pair of shoes —he had already put on a pair of pants last night in case one of the humans walked in on them in the morning— and held the curtain door aside.

“After you,” Serix said, waving a hand for Cassie to step through first. He had to admit; he was in a better mood now that they had worked out their differences and spent a much-needed night together. Hunter and Ryan would have a hard time provoking him to fight with them today. He felt like he could handle any kind of taunts they threw at him—so long as they didn’t get violent, of course. He would still defend himself if either of them attacked him first. He just hoped it wouldn’t have to come to that.

Serix smiled down at Cassie and rested a hand on the small of her back as they walked to the dining hall together to get breakfast.

The day went pretty 'normal' from the time she and Serix woke up and went to the dining hall. This was kind of strange to her, considering everything up until then had been pretty tense. Normally there were people glaring after Serix or trying to snap at him. But, they all either seemed to ignore him all together, or included him in with their talks and jokes. Calling him 'alien' didn't really go away, but a lot of them used it in an almost joking manner, rather than condescendingly. It was nice to feel so relaxed, but at the same time, it was somewhat scary. Like she was waiting for someone to do something bad out of nowhere just to throw them for a loop.

Still, nothing went wrong. They left the dining hall and went straight to the farm, where they once again worked. She noticed once again that Hunter ignored their presence, which continued to worry her, but she tried to put that aside, at least for now. She couldn't let the worry of what he might do worry her peaceful day. Few things were planted today thanks to all the planting they all had done the day prior. Most of the day was harvesting and watering the seeds and plants. Because of this, they finished a little earlier than they had the day before.

After work they went to lunch and talked normal things with the other humans, such as some of the recreational things they did there in the caves. She even during lunch got to hold little Jamie again, something that made her beam even more because of the secret she and Serix held. Of course, she was so sure it would take a while of trying before she actually got pregnant, but it was still the fact of soon they would have a child of their own that made holding and playing with a baby all the more enjoyable.

As they were leaving the dining hall after they had finished eating, Ryan, who had come in a little later and was going to eat as they were leaving, smiled at her, giving her a side hug, "Hey Cass. What's up?"

Cassie shrugged, "Nothing really. The usual I guess? Wake up, work in the farms. Eat."

Ryan chuckled, "Yeah, things are pretty routine here when it comes to work." He grinned, "But, tonight we have something fun in mind."

"Oh really?" Cassie laughed, crossing her arms, "And what is that?"

Ryan put his hands in his pockets, "A bon fire. We always burn one every once in a while to get rid of trash. We're burning one tonight. I think you'll enjoy it."

She thought and shrugged, "Okay. I think that sounds fun. We'll be there."

Ryan smiled, "Good. I'll see you two there." He said and Cassie couldn't help but notice that Ryan even gave a nod in Serix's direction, before going off to get food.

Cassie, walking back to their room, held Serix's hand and gave him a confused look, yet with a smile on her face, "What was that about? What did I miss that would make Ryan actually acknowledged you without trying to go at you?"

The day went along surprisingly smoothly. In fact, it was so uneventful that Serix wasn’t really sure what to think about it. The humans were more pleasant than usual, either keeping their disdain to themselves or openly talking to him without prejudice. He wondered if the sudden change in their attitudes had anything to do with his fight with Ryan. He wouldn’t have been surprised if the humans who still hated him were just keeping their distance after they had seen his reaction to their leader’s taunts and insults. Well, whatever the case, he was enjoying the newfound respect they seemed to have for him.

There was only one thing that kept him alert on that peaceful day: Hunter. The human had been avoiding him like many of the others, but there was still something about his behavior that made Serix feel the urge to keep him in his sight at all times. Whenever he didn’t know where Hunter was, he always found himself glancing about the room until he reappeared. Part of him felt foolish for being so worried since Hunter wasn’t openly causing any trouble, but he still refused to let his guard down. It was better to be safe than sorry, and he didn’t want anything to spoil the progress he was making with the others.

Putting the anxiety about Hunter aside, Serix and Cassie went about their normal schedule. They worked in the fields again and broke for lunch about halfway through the day, where they met up with a few of the humans whom Serix was beginning to consider their friends. He struck up a conversation with Quincy —the male seemed to have taken a liking to him after their soccer match— while Cassie played with Emily’s young infant. They shared a knowing glance, and he knew she was thinking the same thing that he was. He smiled, enjoying the happy look on his mate’s face as she held the small child.

After they finished their lunch, Ryan came over to meet up with Cassie. He embraced her and they began to chat while Serix just stood patiently off to the side. He still didn’t like how close Ryan got to her, but he would keep his word and stop fighting with him over it. Besides, Cassie had already proven many times over that she only loved him, so the human’s efforts were wasted. With that thought in mind, Serix found it much easier to tolerate Ryan’s antics.

Ryan mentioned something about a fire to burn trash. Apparently it was some sort of entertainment for the humans. Serix wasn’t sure what was so great about smoldering garbage, but then again, he didn’t understand many things about the humans. They had many strange quirks and ideas that confused him. He would just have to wait and see what this “bonfire” was after work.

Ryan glanced at Serix and nodded at him once before he turned to leave. Serix raised a brow in amusement. The human obviously still didn’t want to treat him like an equal, so he was making a reluctant attempt while trying to put in minimal effort at the same time. If he hadn’t been on such shaky ground, Serix would have been tempted to test Ryan’s patience and see how long he could keep up the businesslike façade. However, for Cassie’s sake he said nothing.

“What was that about?” Cassie said, looking amused as well. “What did I miss that would make Ryan actually acknowledge you without trying to go at you?”

“Oh, I must have forgotten to tell you,” Serix hugged her teasingly. “I actually listened to what you said for once. We agreed to stop fighting—although he still thinks he has a shot at stealing you away from me.” He sighed in mock exasperation. “I think his delusion is incurable. Now come on; let’s go finish up our work. I want to see what this ‘bonfire’ is.” He threw an arm around Cassie’s shoulders and led her out of the dining hall.

“Oh, I must have forgotten to tell you,” Serix wrapped his arms around her teasingly and had a grin on his face that made her heart flutter every time, “I actually listened to what you said for once. We agreed to stop fighting—although he still thinks he has a shot at stealing you away from me.” He sighed in a dramatic fashion and she laughed lightly, “I think his delusion is incurable. Now come on; let’s go finish up our work. I want to see what this ‘bonfire’ is.” He put an arm around her shoulder and she smiled, leaning into his side as they walked.

"Wow, you two actually came to an agreement? That is amazing. It truly is a miracle." She said in mock shock, her blue eyes wide. Then, getting rid of her fake expression, she giggled and kissed his cheek teasingly as they walked, "Okay, okay. I'm sure there can't be much to do at the farm anyway. All we're doing is picking the plants." They finally made it to the farm, and sure enough Jerry put them to work picking some strawberries.

And as they picked, Sarah made her way over and grinned, helping to pick them, "You know, when they have these for dinner, I always save one of two. They make great lipsticks."

Cassie laughed lightly, "Oh really? I'll keep that in mind."

"You know what? Here, I think I have one of my containers with me." Sarah dug through her pockets and though Cassie went to politely refuse, Sarah pressed the small clear container of lip coloring[/img] into her hand, "Never been used. I have more in my room anyway. Besides, I'm sure you're man would love to see you wear it." Cassie wasn't sure if Sarah was trying to be nice or condescending, but either way, the woman walked off, leaving her there with it and Cassie sighed, shaking her head as she put it in her pocket, "Who wears makeup in a cave?" She asked herself quietly, wondering just how sane Sarah was.

They worked for about another hour and once they were done, everyone parted ways to go relax for a little bit before the fire, much like they had the day before. Cassie went with Serix to their room and sighing, she plopped down on the bed, she pulled out the container Sarah had handed her and shrugged, "Well, I guess what harm could it do, right?" Opening the container, she dabbed a little of the strawberry colored and flavored lipstick onto her finger and rubbed it onto her lips. Rubbing it in and then closing the lid she looked to Serix, "What do you think? Too bright of a color?"