Fred's satisfaction at having won quickly dissolved as, with a disgusted expression, he leapt backwards off the bed. The fruit landed on top of the bedcovers, reeking gently. Fred gripped onto the stone dragon altar to keep his balance.

//Will somebody please come and remove this thing the ghoul left in my room?// he said irritably to Armin, Rex and Dianne.

Dianne: "Oh geeze...I'll get it..."

{Dianne swiftly went up the stairs to Fred's room.}

Dianne: "Jeeze, can't Barnabas leave anyone's fears alone?"

Fred was keeping far back from the rancid fruit. The storeroom didn't have a window, so the smell was particularly strong.

'You need to keep a tighter leash on your ghoul,' he said in a long-suffering tone. 'He's a useful tool. Not something to be left running around wildly.'

Dianne: "Yeeaahhh....I'll keep him from making any more messes from you. Sorry..."

{She then gingerly removes the fruit and carries it downtairs.}

Dianne: "I'll be back with a scented candle."

Fred gingerly sat back down on the edge of the bed, avoiding the spot where the fruit had touched. //No, it was only a fruit. No matter what it smelled like, it was just a fruit. Nothing... unsanitary.//

While Dianne was dealing with Fred's problem, Armin remained in the kitchen to guard the brew, watching it curiously.

{Dianne walks into the kitchen, kisses Armin on the cheek, grabs some scented candles from the cupboard, then heads back up to Fred.}

Dianne: "Ok, this should help..."

{She proceeds to light a candle, placing it on the altar.}

'Thank you.' Fred eyed the candle on the altar, then picked up his book and settled down to resume reading, seeming to relax fractionally.

Dianne: "You're welcome. Let me know if there's any more trouble."

{With that, she heads back downstairs.}

When Dianne got back into the kitchen, Armin smirked at her. 'Not scoffing at my scented candles /now,/ are you?' he said jokingly.

{Dianne looks at him, amused.}

Dianne: "I was never scoffing. I was just surprised."

'Surprised by what? They're /useful,'/ said Armin with amusement. 'I don't understand why it's so surprising. I mentioned before you came here that I sometimes light candles.'

{Dianne just shrugs.}
Dianne: "I don't know. I've just never used them, so I guess I never thought about that. I light candles too, just not the scented ones."

Armin turned back to the bubbling mixture, poking at it curiously with a metal spoon.

'Is this stuff ready to take off the heat yet?'

{Dianne looks at it, contemplating.}

Dianne: "...Not quite yet..."

Armin grunted in acknowledgement. He scooped up a spoonful of brew and then let it flop back into the pot, watching it bubble noisily. //At least it smells better like this.//

{Dianne leans against the wall, arms crossed, observing her surroundings.}

Dianne: "Where did Esme get off to?"

'She went to bother Rex...' said Armin absently. 'She's still in his room with him, I think. She's fine.'

Dianne: "Those two seem to be getting along very well. I think I'll go see what it is that they do together."

'If you want, go ahead.' Armin continued watching the brew, prodding it boredly with his spoon. 'Rex might not be the most fond of /you,/ admittedly, but he doesn't mind Esme. It's nice.'

Dianne: "I'm well aware...Just make sure that doesn't boil over, please."

{Dianne then walks to Rex's door and knocks.}

'Come in...' Rex grunted in response.

When Dianne entered the room, she would find Rex and Esme in the middle of building a large castle-like structure out of colourful plastic blocks. Esme was doing her best to pick up the blocks in her jaws and add them to the structure, which was nearly two feet high at that point. She glanced at Dianne briefly before going back to her task.

{When Dianne saw what they were building, a smile spread across her face.}

Dianne: "Hey, sweetie, what's going on here?"

{She asks, sitting down in front of the structure.}

Esme squeaked in response. It was slightly muffled, as she was holding a large brick in her jaws. She proceeded to push it into Dianne's grasp.

'I thought I'd keep her busy while you and Armin were ruining the air,' said Rex. 'And before you ask, I didn't have a secret stash of building blocks. Someone brought them over when they delivered Fred's books.'

Dianne: "Really? Who did that and why? Not that I really mind. And we weren't ruining the air. That batch of cure is going to help a lot of people."

{With the plastic block in her hand, Dianne places it on the castle wall.}

Dianne: "Also, you wouldn't happen to have any modeling clay, would you?"

'Someone Fred knows has got children, or used to, I suppose,' said Rex. 'And no, I don't have any of that. Why?'

Esme watch attentively as Dianne placed the block, then picked up another one for herself. The castle consisted of a large keep, with a thick wall running around the outside that was still in-progress.

Dianne: "Oh, I just know a neat trick I can do with clay. Along with animating draugr and automatons, I can also breathe life into clay. I was going to populate this little kingdom."

'What, by putting spirits of dead people into the clay?' said Rex.

Esme continued building the outer castle wall while they talked.

Dianne: "Well, I could, but I can also just animate them out of force of will as well. It's a lot less potent, but little clay people don't need to do much other than hop around and dance."

{Reaching behind her, she picks up a block and addo it to the wall.}

'Odd. Not an ability I've ever heard of,' Rex remarked.

He contributed another block, filling a gap in the wall that Esme had left. The courtyard between the wall and the keep was wide enough for the dragonet to have stood in.

Dianne: "I take it you don't have much experience with Necromancy. Most necromancers can only raise things by force of will. What I do with souls is kind of exclusive to the organization I was apart of."

{Dianne places another block, smiling at Esme.}

'I don't see what animating clay figures has to do with necromancy. How can you 'raise' something that was never alive to begin with?'

Dianne: "No one is entirely sure. It is said that the Creator Godess made the first beings with sentience out of clay, so perhaps it is a property of the clay itself. Or, perhaps it is the act of creation that makes it capable of animation. I can't raise the clay until I shape it. Likewise, I cannot raise metal and stone until it is shaped like man."

Rex looked like he still wasn't entirely sure what she was talking about, but he didn't ask any more questions. 'Well, you can always go and buy some clay, if you think such a thing would entertain her.'

While they'd been talking, Esme finished the outer wall. She sat back to admire her handiwork, wondering what else she could add to it.

Dianne: "It's something to consider."

{Standing, she smiles at Esme.}

Dianne: "I'll be right back. Maybe you can add some towers to the corners?"

{She then walks back to the kitchen to check the brew.}

Dianne: "Armin, how's it looking?"

Esme chirped inquistively. Rex began to construct a tower on one of the castle's four corners.

Armin looked around when Dianne returned. 'I was just about to ask if you were ever planning to come back. I've had to stop it from boiling over twice.'

{Looking amused, she stirs the brew with a ladel. Determining that it was done, she turns off the flame.}

Dianne: "Alright, it's done. Now, we let it cool a bit before we strain out the stuff. Esme, Rex, and I are building a block castle. Care to join us?"

Armin raised his eyebrows with a look of faint amusement. 'Well, that's not something I ever expected to hear. But, I guess I can do that.' He put his metal spoon away.

{Dianne then walks back to Rex's room with Armin.}

Dianne: "Hey, how's Castle Esme going?"

Esme squeaked in response, leaning back to inspect the structure. It now had one complete tower, and she and Rex were working on the second.

'You know we'll have to break it apart before bed, OK?' said Rex warningly, to which Esme just chirped happily.

Armin eyed everything. 'Huh. Didn't expect her to be into building things.'

Dianne: "Who could have known? She's only a few months old. She hasn't had time yet to decide who she wants to be."

'Yeah, but I always thought she was too chaotic and destructive for this kind of thing.' Armin sat down beside the castle. 'I never really played with blocks...'

'Nor did I,' said Rex. 'But it's oddly relaxing.'

Esme continued working on the tower. She seemed to have the gist of it now.

Dianne: "Blocks and constructor sets didn't even exist when I was a hatchling. Still, I must admit, it's kind of enjoyable."

{Dianne sat next to Esme and began helping her build the tower.}

'Yeah, you played with dead things,' said Armin slyly. 'And ferrets.'

He started building the third tower while Dianne and Esme worked on the second.

Dianne: "Trust me, if everything was trying eat you and you went hungry more often then not, you'd take any offered solace too."

'Oh, I know. It's just really funny to me to think of a big scary dragon hanging out with a tiny ferret.'

Armin grinned slightly, scouring the floor until he found a red block. He was making his entire tower red. Esme, on the other hand, seemed to be gravitating towards the yellow blocks.

Dianne: "Hey, I hang out with a teeny tiny vampire. I don't think that's much different."

{She says mischievously.}

Armin eyed her sideways, a hint of the grin still on his face. 'Tiny? I'm only tiny compared to your dragon form. I'm taller than you in this form.'

Esme started on the fourth tower, nudging a yellow block towards Rex and forcing him to help.

Dianne: "Yeah, by an inch. And you may be taller than me, but with our strength difference, you might as well be tiny."

{She say, chuckling. Gathering more yellow blocks, she continues to help Esme.}

'Well, good luck finding anyone stronger than you,' said Armin with amusement, as he continued work on his red tower, using smaller blocks to put battlements at the top.

{Dianne just chuckles as she continues building.}

Dianne: "So, Esme, what do you think of your castle?"

Esme cocked her head and chirped in what sounded like a satisfied tone. By the time they were done building the castle, only a handful of leftover blocks lay on the floor. It was quite large, complete with miniature doorways and windows in the walls.

'Well, I guess it's about finished...' said Armin, leaning back and stretching.

{Dianne takes a step back to admire their handiwork.}

Dianne: "It's quite impressive. A shame we have to tear it down. "

'That's the fun of building blocks, I suppose. You can knock it down and build something else later.'

Armin reached into his pocket for his phone, turning the camera on and getting a picture of Esme sitting next to the castle.

Dianne: "True. I'll get some clay for next time. We'll populate the structure with sweet little pseudo mortals."

Rex rolled his eyes. Armin looked mystified at that, but decided he'd wait to ask another time.

'Anyway... is it time to start making dinner?' he mused.

Dianne: "Yeah. I feel like steaks tonight..."

{Getting up, she walks for the kitchen to start cooking.}

(Skip to after dinner?)

(Sure. You can start.)

----

Later, as night was falling, Esme was happily sitting in front of the TV after devouring her steak. Rex had demolished the block castle in his room after everyone left to make dinner. Fred was still upstairs, where he was sleeping early.

Armin leaned back into the couch, idly flipping through several channels before settling on some action/adventure movie.

{Dianne was relaxing, watching the movie. Despite the rough encounter of the previous day, Dianne was feeling quite at ease now, sitting in peace with her family.}

Armin also felt quite comfortable, in spite of everything. It had been a nice day, Fred was recovering, and the Aspect hadn't shown up again. //The weirdest thing that happened was that old lady in the woods... But even that was more funny than concerning.//

Eventually, he sunk down to lean against Dianne as usual. He kissed her jaw, then snuggled in contentedly, smiling.

{Dianne kissed Armin's cheek, then wrapped an arm around him, settling in comfortably. She sat in silence, watching the movie.}

Dianne: "...Heh...The one liners are pretty funny..."

'Mhm...' Armin wasn't paying much attention to the movie, though Esme was watching with rapt interest as always. After a moment, he said, 'So... are we going to take Pythia those cures tomorrow so she can stop bothering us for a bit?'

Dianne: "Yep. Now that we've strained and bottled it, we can take it to her at our earliest convenience...and I don't think she's out of our hair just yet...I still need to teach her to fight, remember?"

'Oh, yeah... I might have to watch that. No offence to Pythia - I know she was forced to be a pacifist for years - but the idea of her actually fighting anyone is hilarious.'

{ Dianne smiles in response.}

Dianne: "Yeah, it's sure to be entertaining...I'll raise some skeletons for her to practice on..."

'Maybe if she gets good enough, then the next time Crowley has a go at her, she can completely destroy him. That would be even more hilarious...'

Dianne: "That's the goal. If she can wallop Crowley, then my work is done."

'Yeah, and be able to protect herself in case any other maniacs come after her. Though, they seem to mostly come after /us...'/

Armin gave a yawn and settled more comfortably against her.

Dianne: "Yeah. But, maybe it's better that way. We can actually deal with them. She's a healer, not a fighter. Even if I teach her, she may still not fight with her all..."

{She then nuzzles the side of his face, kissing him on the cheek.}

'Well, that's OK. Just let her do what she's best at - and we'll do what /we're/ best at.'

He grinned a little smugly, playfully nipping just under her jaw.

{Dianne chuckles at that, retaliating by playfully biting his neck.}

Dianne: "Seems reasonable enough. We're all good at something."

'Of course we are.' Smirking, he tilted his head back and loosely wrapped his arms around her. 'We're all good at some things and crap at others.'

{Dianne starts to nip and kiss him along the length of his neck.}

Dianne: "True...But some of the things we're bad at, we just need to get better..."

'Mhmm...'

Armin hummed distractedly in agreement. He started to lightly dig his nails into her lower back, tugging her closer as his breathing grew slightly heavier.

{Smiling, Dianne squeezes him tightly, continuing to scrape her teeth along his neck, stopping to bite the muscle between his neck and shoulde, like he does for her.}

Armin sucked in a quick breath at that. He dragged his fingers across her back, clinging to her as he tensed involuntarily.

'Heh... it really doesn't take much... to get you in the mood, does it?' he murmured slyly.

Dianne: "Hey...You try going without for two millenia...then see how easy it is to set you off, eh?"

{Chuckling, she bites him a bit harder, moving a hand up to his hair.}

Armin tensed even more, letting out a slight whimper. However, he still managed to speak through his ragged breathing.

'If you've been that long without it... I'd have expected you to have godlike self-control... Ha... what are you going to be like in mating season?' he said teasingly as he recalled some past conversation.

Dianne: "I do have godlike self-control...When I so choose to excercise it...If you'd like, I can excercise it right now and cease...And you'll just have to wait and see...When that season arrives..."

{Despite her words, she was grinning and not stopping. Aware that Esme was still in the room, she starts to position herself to pick up Armin, with the intention of carrying him away.}

'Oh yeah...? You couldn't just stop. Not now.' Feeling the shift in her stance as she prepared to pick him up, he smirked and nipped sharply between her neck and shoulder. 'Upstairs, please.'

{Dianne growls playfully as she lifts him.}

Dianne: "Heh, don't tempt me, sweeheart..."

{Dianne picks him up and carries him upstairs.}

Dianne: "Barnabas, watch Esme."

As she carried him past the closed door to the storeroom, Armin smirked. 'I hope you can be quiet...' he murmured playfully. 'Frederick's fast asleep, but enough noise might wake him up...'

{Dianne simply shot him an amused look.}

Dianne: "Surely you've seen by now I'm a rather quiet lover. I don't make much noise, and neither do you, so we'll be fine."

{She spoke quietly, softening her footfalls as they walked past the store room. Once they got to the bedroom, Dianne closed the door and began carrying him to the bed.}

As soon as she set him down on the bed, Armin reached up to wrap his arms around her neck, pulling her into a sincere, passionate kiss. Despite his jokes about how easily she could be set off, he was clearly doing no better.

{Dianne welcomed the kiss, reaching back to loosen her dress. She then slowly pushed him into the bed as they kissed, positioning herself above him}

Armin moved his hands to the opening in the back of her dress, absently running his fingers down her back. Drawing back from the kiss, he nipped at her shoulder muscle a bit harder than he normally would.

{Dianne tensed at that, her pulse quickening. She pulls him against her, leaning her head back.}

Growling quietly, Armin roughly dug his teeth between her neck and shoulder, like a dragon might have done.

{Shuddering and letting out a quiet groan, Dianne's grip tightens. Her breathing becomes ragged and she wobbles slightly.}

Dianne: "Mmmm.....You're starting to really get me...."

Giving a breathless chuckle, he wrapped his arms around her tightly, reflexively trying to get her closer. He nuzzled into her throat, his own breathing shaky.

'Good... I like seeing you like this...'

{Dianne grins, welcoming his affection. She pulls him closer and lies down on her side with him.}

Dianne: "Oh?...And why might that be?"

'It's quite nice... that after two thousand years... /I'm/ the one you chose to do this with,' he said, with a slightly smug grin. 'And, seeing as I love you, it's nice to see you enjoy yourself.'

He shifted a bit, kissing just under her jaw.

{Dianne laughs, out of breath.}

Dianne: "And right you are, to be so smug...I don't pick partners lightly...And yes...I haven't had this much "fun" in, well....Ever..."

'Mhmm... I won't pretend it's not an ego boost to hear that,' he said with amusement.

Dianne: "Oh, you smug little...."

{Smiling, she starts to bite and nip his neck again, while slipping her hands under his shirt.}

Dianne: "Let's move things along, shall we?...."

(We can skip there, or if you want to do one more reply. Your call.)

Armin leaned his head back in enjoyment, still smirking a little from the exchange.

'...Yeah... let's get on with it already...'

(I guess we're skipping to morning? You can start if you like.)

-------------------

{The next morning, Dianne was sleeping peacfully, snuggled up to Armin. Her neck still showed the bite marks from their activity the last night.}

Somewhat late in the morning, Armin stirred. He blearily opened his eyes, blinking, and took a moment to eye Dianne, noticing the marks from last night. He didn't doubt that he had a few of his own.

//Hmm... hard to believe we've only been living together for a few weeks... I don't know if I'll ever get used to it, entirely, but it's nice to not be alone...//

Shaking off his musings, he settled back down, wrapping one arm around her.

{In response, Dianne stirs, but does not awaken. She simply snuggles closer, muttering incoherently.}

Armin sent a telepathic message downstairs to where Rex was. //Hey. Anything about Fred?//

//He said that he's planning to leave today,// Rex replied. //He also mentioned staying at Ryder's house until Pythia moves out of his, so he can avoid her patients.//

Smirking slightly at that, Armin ended the conversation and continued to doze there.

{A good while later, Dianne stirs again, opening her eyes.}

Dianne: "Mmmm.......G'morning, Amateotl....sleep well?"

'Yes, I had a very... relaxing sleep,' said Armin, yawning halfway through the sentence. '...Mhm... I like autumn and winter mornings... The cold makes the bed more comfortable.'

Dianne: "It does...But it also makes it harder to get up...All I want to do is stay here with you."

{Smiling, she wraps her arms around him, nuzzling into his neck.}

Armin chuckled softly, tensing a little at her nuzzle. '...Careful with that. I don't have your 'godlike self-control', you know.'

{Dianne laughs, kissing him on the cheek.}

Dianne: "Yes, I know. We have to take Pythia those cures, so we'd better not get...sidetracked."

'We do have to take her the cures... Assuming either of us can actually get up to do it...'

He yawned again, then buried his head against her shoulder.

Dianne: "Heheheh....Yeah, I'll get up...in a minute..."

{She moves a hand up to his head and starts stroking his hair.}

'I'm pretty sure you won't...' Armin let out a long breath and relaxed further, enjoying the soothing sensation. 'I'm pretty sure neither of us will...'

{Chuckling, Dianne continues to lie there for about ten more minutes.}

Dianne: "...Ok, I'm hungry now. Let's get up..."

(Posting new room)