Darryl sputtered a bit when she made her first comment, and she knew she was getting to him. He was easy like that. It was one of the main reasons she liked to tease and torment him... he always had reactions.

He then sighed deeply, and nodded.

"...yes." he said.

"I do. I am hungry." he admitted.

"Where do you want to go?" he asked. "What are you in the mood for, anyway?"

He thought for a moment, before nodding.

"Yeah, know just the place." he told her. "They have good wraps and stuff, too. So the both of us can grab something there." he said further.

"Lets go." he then said.

"...I'm probably taking tomorrow off." he then mumbled with a small sigh.

---

"Flight got rescheduled, but good thing I plan these with buffers, just in case." he told her. "It was either today, or 4 days from now. Yeah, shitty, but I work with what I'm given." he went on.

That's when she noticed that he was holding the tray of brownies in question.

And he smirked when she did.

"Looking for something?" he asked.

He just sighed in response.

"Yeah." he said.

"Sorry, but things have been getting busy out there." he lamented.

"I try to get here as often as I can, but that gets hard to do, aside from the occasion visit that's 'unofficial'." he added.

"Hence why I decided to take the earlier flight." he shrugged.

"Anyway, how are ya?" he asked, holding the tray out to her.

Darryl just laughed a little.

"Fair." he said.

"And yeah, I'm here now. Here for a bit." he told her.

"So how have you been?" he asked.

"How's school going?" he asked further.

"And when did you start growing up?" he then asked her.

"Heh." he chuckled.

"Mom's a saint that way." he said.

"Makes sense, though." he continued. "This is a very special time for her." he reasoned.

"But it'll be nice to spend time with you guys." he went on.

"...." he was then silent for a moment, before shaking his head.

"By... the... way." he muttered, looking at her.

"Sebastien says hi."

Darryl sighed heavily when she said that.

"No comment." he muttered.

"I don't want to put my foot in my mouth or anything." he said. "I don't even know what goes on between you two." he continued.

"For all I know, you and him are just putting on this whole production to make me feel awkward and stuff." he then said, shaking his head.

"Which, by the way, worked at first." he told her.

"...think I'm getting numb to it now, though..."

Darryl just shrugged.

"Guess we don't need to talk much." he said.

"We're cool the way we are. It's just that kinda friendship, I suppose." he went on. "Maybe it's partly that we're 2 very different people, and common ground is rare, but I dunno." he sighed.

"We're just not the 'friends-that-talk-a-lot' kinda friends." he said. "But you saw that we get along just fine when you visited for spring break." he reasoned.

"So, tell me." he went on.

"How much DO you two talk and chat?" he asked her.

"Huh." Darryl muttered.

"Yeah, Bast never seemed like a chatty guy, but guess that's changed." he went on.

He then paused for a moment, thinking about it.

"...or it's you." he said.

"Wait..." he mumbled. "Hold on, hold on." he said further.

"ARE you guys... a THING?" he asked.

"Or might as well be?"

Before Darryl could respond proper, they heard another voice. Their father's voice.

"ExCUSE me?" he asked, his tone incredulous and indignant.

"..." Darryl was silent, before sighing heavily.

"...hoooo boy..." he mumbled quietly.

"WHAT is all this about you being a minor, and there being an adult?" Jaden asked Jordan.

"What's been going on behind my back, young lady?" he asked her further.

Jaden just narrowed his eyes at her.

"I just don't want someone trying to take advantage of my little girl." he said.

Now, Jaden didn't see it, but Jordan DID.

And that was Darryl flinch a little. Because he made a heroic effort to suppress a loud 'hah' that had threatened to come out.

Darryl knew that Jordan was not someone that could easily be taken advantage of... but then again, Bast WAS the son of Lilim. However, he was sure that Bast wasn't that sort of person.

Regardless, he now wondered what would happen from here.