Sex God Saga 36
Climax and Freedom
MONDAY:
Near the middle of the night, much of team delta was assembled on the Onyx's rooftop.
Theo wore slightly oversized street clothes with a beanie and an over the shoulder bag, his glinting leather collar serving as Outsider vessel for the wisp Flash.
Paris and Damien were in open jackets, forming a triangle with Caius around a cardboard box within calk circles of Atlas glyphs, reminiscent of pictograms, chicken scratches and cuneiform respectively.
The three Primals of the mini-pack played spin-the-bottle with a plastic bottle, the selected pairs arm wrestling on a standing table with handicaps for winners.
Keith was making everybody nervous with his anxious pacing. An open, white kimono trailed after his strides. His dangling pentagram earring hit his cheek from a sudden turn.
"Countdown one minute," the he said in his function as Agrippa's convent liaison. "We're good to go. Pinerise is starting us off."
Paris leaned in to his slave. "A bunch of poor Baseliners are going to hate Monday even more." Gold buckles on his leather jacket poked the blond conjurer in the shoulder blades.
As far as the shamans knew, the Cult of the Dreamer had switched victims regularly, so there was no obvious epidemic of sleepiness across Harpersfield, but removing all dream wisps at once was going to jolt awake some of the city's population.
"Here's hoping they don't compare notes too much," Theo said. "Though, not like you can figure out the Mysterium just cause nobody in your house can sleep."
Paris nuzzled himself into Theo's neck with a single chuckle.
One by one, the `bombs' went off. Rose Hall, the Refugium, Knox Porter's basement, Kenya Linwood's garden shack, and a few more temporary locations. The wave reached the Onyx.
The Stygians, now with the rejoined Paris, opened the package, which was filled with identical mason jars, something like multicolored sand swirling in each.
The black men gave the final push of V and the wisps followed their pacts the angels had bound them to.
Theo's mediumship let him see the wobbles in the air that leaked from the jars, sand swirling within them, raining down as the wisps left their vessels behind, pulled along the glyphs and escaping.
Wakefulness was sliding down the dark tower, into a mostly slumbering city.
"Ivory Haven reporting in," Keith said. "This deal roused some kind of nightmare fey, not on record. Seems to have gone demon. Team Alpha is dispatched."
"Damn," Damien mumbled. "That's some manpower tied up."
"We're still on track," Ace said and slapped down Fulin's arm, which the Broodguard in a stringer top had flexed at the mention of `manpower'.
"Since this went off without a hitch," Mako said, "do we get ready to move into position?"
The short Forgedancer with his trusty Labrador by his side had borrowed a low hanging, black shirt from Ace for a more muted appearance.
Keith got a call. "It's Coralline. Hello? Yeah, we're done. Do you have- Oh, sure. Where?"
Everybody except Caius headed for the elevator. Keith hung up.
"No word on the Cult yet but we need to help with the demonic fey. Theo, can you adept a beacon? Cor should be texting you instructions right now."
They rode down to the garage, Theo, Paris, Damien and Keith going first. They entered a jeep with Damien in the driver's seat and Theo got to work adding more specific glyphs to a mostly finished, generic trap, he'd spent half an hour constructing. He'd started doing those after Halloween, so the design incorporated a lot of little ghosts, pumpkins and bats – but with meaning magically shoved into the lines, hoping to serve as scares, warnings and directions to Outsiders.
He saw Cain getting into a car with the Primals as they drove out of the Onyx's garage.
"Gamma and Beta are busy as fuck," Keith said. "It's all hands on deck capturing the dream wisps once they've been dislodged. We expected that much. Kenya and her boys have the secrecy aspect under control."
Paris slapped Theo's shoulder. "All according to plan."
"You're oddly cheery," Theo remarked.
"As your master-boyfriend I gotta compensate for your nervous wreck boyfriend before he makes us all miserable."
Keith flashed them a middle finger. "As Theo's analytical thinker boyfriend I have to compensate for his nonchalant goofball boyfriend."
Paris snort-laughed. "Analytical thinker? I have a PhD in business. And since when am I the goofball? First of all you're the wannabe-"
"I think," Theo firmly said, "as boyfriends-once-removed, you two should get along."
Paris frowned. "Who is the goofball in your immediate boyfriend cluster?"
Theo tried to think.
Keith grinned. "He's not saying anything because it's you."
"'s not why," Theo said. "Uh, can it be me?"
"Nah," Keith said. "You're only sometimes funny."
Theo leaned forward to Damien. "Are we there yet?"
The driver chuckled. "Yeah, we're far enough from home. Get ready you three goofballs."
Keith fumbled with his bag. "Here, pressed lilac, so we can get Ascelin's power coming down like an orbital laser. If Team Alpha pushes the cunt the right way, she's going to get hoovered. Uh, new message from Cor. We have a lead on the Cult."
###
Sunrise Gardens was mostly shrouded in darkness of night. The block of houses newly built into the otherwise pristine area of the public park was barely lit either - half-finished construction sites and unsold property.
Rosamunde, the sprite in a raven vessel, landed on the car's hood the moment Damien pulled into the street, prompting the crown prince to decelerate.
Keith let the window down and flinched from the icy breeze. "Where to?"
"Nice and slow," the raven said as she hopped onto the window frame. "Don't want to let them see you coming. Godrick and Dawn are observing. A muse of the hunt or something is giving the cult sanctuary."
"If it's nothing else," Paris said, "we got the answer to that."
Quietly, the two cars came to a stop and emptied, the men sneaking the rest of the way. Rosamunde flew ahead.
A tall, dark, bald man in a leather coat appeared out of nowhere, making everybody jolt. Godrick. Theo took note of just how on edge the whole group felt.
"Where the fuck did you come from?" Fulin asked and got shushed.
"Glamoured out of sight, duh," Godrick whispered. "Dawn is on the roof across, ready to crossbow snipe."
"Is he in there?" Keith asked and pointed to a house just a block away. Light fell through boarded up windows.
"He is," Godrick whispered. "Unmistakable despite the human appearance. It's your fallen angel Xaphan. He's with five cultists, which may be all of them, going by the bed setup. At least all the ones in this house but they don't seem to communicate with the outside."
"Crazy they bewitched a whole city," Keith said, "and nearly bound a god with just five summoners. Let's not underestimate that Xaphan dude."
Theo checked that his prepared diagrams were with him – for the fifth time since leaving the car. He had paper pinned to the inside of his jacket, covered in Atlas glyphs. They didn't have a way to assemble a proper beacon on the fly but this conduit would do – along with Sky's preparations.
Theo met Paris' eyes and swallowed dry. They nodded at each other.
"They'll realize we're here at some point," Godrick said.
"The cavalry is about to show up," Keith said and turned to the end of the street where another car pulled into a random driveway.
Willow got out, her frizzy hair tied down with a flowery headscarf. She wore a dark overall, glinting with pins. She grinned as she approached the group. Theo didn't hear her exchange with Keith and Godrick.
Lights turned on up ahead, in the cult's hideout. Theo's mini-pack stepped forward, surrounding him, and their bodies synchronized, able to move shoulder on shoulder without being in each other's way even if they had to dodge or bolt.
A figure in a gray hoodie left the cult house.
"They know," Fulin said. "Now?"
"Willow from the side," Keith said. "The rest of us are going in. As soon as we see the target... Theo?"
"Ready."
Cain tapped Theo on the shoulder and leaned in for a quick kiss before slipping to the back ranks.
"Go," Keith said and speed walked ahead. Darkness congealed around him, his muse of the living night at her most powerful in the cold midnight suburb.
They rushed the cultist on the door step. The three Primals up ahead, Theo in their slipstream, Cain behind him. Damien and Paris formed one flank, Godrick the other.
Theo pumped a tiny bit of V into his prepared conduits and let them rain on the asphalt. Sky and his buddy, the so-called Charioteer, were hopefully picking up the signal.
The figure in the hoodie dashed back into the house and slammed the door. The building wobbled as its sanctuary keeper took over. The muse of the hunt coalesced into the form of a slender humanoid in moss-like clothing with antlers. Garden gnomes, sprite-inhabited, hurried to his side.
But there wouldn't be a fight. The Cult of the Dreamer didn't have a god backing them up at their hideout – a presence so powerful wouldn't have been able to stay hidden from the Harpersfield shamans.
Willow blossomed. Buds and flower along her overall exploded to life, growing large and bright, shimmering from within. Vines draped themselves around her. She walked along, arms wide, and the frozen front yard greened ahead of her steps.
Ohn, goddess of spring, worked through her champion. The sanctuary muse had no choice but to evade.
Fulin rammed his weight into the front door, his own muse, Weidong, emerging from him as a translucent, lupine overlay. Theo and his pack-mates rushed into the entry hallway.
The hoodie guy stood in their way. The wallpaper contorted, giving him pause. Eyes shaped themselves into the wallpaper's imperfections, a cursory glance could have taken them for a trick of the eye.
"Oh shit," the cultist said, "the Watcher is-"
Fulin kicked him with sneakers that the cold air sprite Xiang inhabited. The gut-kicked man flew backward.
Keith was surrounded by a darkness effect that made his white clothing look dark gray, his face nearly indistinct save for Dash glinting in his earring. Darkness spread along the ceiling as tendrils. "Mel is finding some prepped glyphs. I can cover them. Keep going."
Theo hurried into the living room. Two men, one woman, and one angel. Xaphan was disguised as a human, ambiguous ethnicity, plain clothes. But his height made him obvious.
The last unaccounted-for cultist stormed from the kitchen, stumbled and punched himself in the face. The Stygians stepped into his way and took turns mesmerizing him. No amount of training was going to help with the double assault.
Theo commanded Flash to carry a post-it for him. The wisp zipped from his collar as a rainbow flare and ripped the paper from Theo's hands.
Xaphan shouted orders.
A few household objects moved, sprites suddenly crammed into them. An ink squirting pen, a mattress cover, a heavy book. Fulin, overlaid with Weidong, dealt out cold kicks and some punches aided by wisps in his yin-yang tattoos. His arm veins bulged with the blood flow of excitement, his thighs thumped as he landed stomps. Mako had Everest with him in a similar way, her wilder and larger outline suffusing the short, sleeveless man, whose little ponytail whipped around as he left icy traps for the cultists scrambling closer.
Xaphan defended himself against Flash and the piece of paper. He couldn't know what it was exactly but it was coming for him like an angry hornet. The nephil retreated in a circle. He ripped off his shirt and used it to swat at the brightness wisp.
The room darkened as Keith and his nightly aura stepped underneath the ceiling light.
"Close enough?" Theo shouted.
"Yeah, close enough," Ace said with a hand on Theo's back. He acted as rearguard. He'd borrowed firepower for tonight, but he was saving it for what was to come.
Theo pumped V into Flash and through the wisp into the post-it's glyph.
A dull, low buzzing rose all around them, quickly gaining volume. Just as expected.
They came from the corners.
Like shadows taking form, dragonflies emerged, circling. The warping of space around the room was barely noticeable in the chaos.
Xaphan – perhaps realizing he wasn't winning this fast and easy – went for Theo. If he eliminated Theo now, like a mistake awkwardly brushed under the rug, he'd likely expect the angels would let him back into their ranks. Even if it took centuries to set aside the grudge.
Just the opportunity they'd hoped for.
The pack wasn't making it easy, snapping at the nephil, ripping his weaponized shirt with canine teeth, the humans under the ethereal forms ducking out of the tall man's grasps.
The Stygians made the remaining cultists head into the kitchen and haphazardly tie each other up.
"Charioteer," Theo called out. "We ask for safe travels to the goddess of birth for all present."
"On me," Keith said and took flight. His muse-boosted jump led him to Xaphan's back, where he clung as the dragonflies blotted out all vision beyond a foot ahead.
Falling and distortion, a rushing sound.
Colder air hit the crowd as darkness faded to the harsh shine of floodlights.
###
The Green Wild, by the shore of the Black Pepper River. Markandeya loomed beyond the glaring lights as a blob across the horizon. Steam rose off her indistinct shape, freezing into clouds in the late fall air.
Theo tried to take stock. Everybody seemed to have made it through the voidpath but there were many other people present, too, which made it hard to count.
The Watcher followed them, grass twisting into pupils that followed Theo's steps away from the stunned Xaphan.
"Now!" Sky commanded.
Sky was present in his true form, pure white and black across his toga-clad body. "Partake from my V, oh goddess, and grant us an arena so that the enemy of my people may not evade judgement."
Trees rustled and shifted, encircling the area.
The enemy ex-angel stomped and murmured, incredibly complex mandalas lighting up on his skin as his disguise faded to reveal his bald, striped angelic self.
Mud bubbled on frozen earth all around him and imps rose, Outsiders called to his aid before the arena closed.
A light erupted at the edge of the tree circle, flaring like a rising sun before settling on the strength of a bonfire. Cristiano had brought Fino – his father's sun serpent. The gigantic snake burned the mud monsters solid like clay in the oven. Their bodies creased and cracked with every step.
Jun rushed in. He wore nothing but sneakers, even in temperatures that made breath fog a little. He swung the short stone sword he'd borrowed from the Bellerose collection again, glinting with a new golden edge. It cut the imps like a water gun shooting cotton candy.
The arena was tightening its walls, trees stacking densely next to each other, but the foliage overhead was slow to fill in.
Xaphan had backed up from the collected crowd. He tore a bracelet off his wrist and threw it in the air. It dispersed into doves. A dozen of them, trailed by translucent afterimages.
They circled the nephil and he began to rise.
"My turn," Ace said and dropped his jacket. His black stringer top fluttered as wind emanated from his shoulders, a red aura running along his skin. His hair turned gold and crimson.
Bloomdancer Aaron had lent Earthweaver Ace his bound crane dragon Zhulong. Red tipped wings snapped from Ace's arms and lifted him into the air. He ripped through the doves with his dagger Blooddrop as a vengeful phoenix.
"Everybody on him," Sky yelled. "Clear shot."
Godrick and Sacred took position so none of their allies were behind Xaphan. The older redeemer held two ornamental revolvers, Sacred a shot gun.
The air rang with the gun fire as the arena closed overhead. Xaphan's flesh got tattered.
The nephile swiped with his arm and Theo got sand in his eyes – or so it felt. By the noises he could hear, everybody was suffering the same fate. It wasn't safe to use guns like that.
Fulin in wolf-form and Mako in ice-shedding dog-form attacked by sound alone. Ace came from above with burning claws. Soul-Joined warriors were never in each other's way, moving like the limbs of a single person.
Theo could tell how they were doing – and how Xaphan struggled under their assault to... pull something from his pocket.
"Get back," Theo shouted. "He's throwing something."
The mini-pack had realized it along with him and retreated. Xaphan let a jar burst on the ground and something like tar or molasses grew from the spot, spilling in amounts far beyond what the glass could have held.
"No clear shot," Sacred complained, rubbing at his eyes like everybody else, constantly blinking.
"I can," Ray said. Right, Ray Johnson was there, too, having stood behind a floodlight, camouflaged in all black leather. He sent his golden money idol, crackling with a trail of sparks. The monkey attached itself to Xaphan's head and zapped him, evading the nephil's large hands.
Keith rushed to the center of the arena. "Everybody! Look at me. Eyes open even if it hurts. Now!"
Theo forced his eyelids apart with cold fingers and his burning eyes calmed down. Mel's magic was removing the "sand".
The enemy shouted in some foreign language.
More Outsiders were called in, but without prepared vessels.
Theo's already racing heart sped up as he realized it was his turn.
Fulin, Ace and Mako made sure Xaphan had no way of getting a breather, assisted by Jun's sword-and-fist-wielding whenever he saw an opening.
Five wobbly shapes coalesced around the enemy.
"Ballari and Koo-eh," Sky said, hands raised, calmly walking toward the shapeless Outsiders. "You two have longstanding relations with Nimbus. Return there instead of fighting on this exiled one's side and Eclipsedrawn will grant you more V than he can."
Two of the Outsiders vanished. Fino encircled another.
This left one blurry silhouette and it went for the Stygians. Theo stepped in the way, feeling barely like himself.
The Outsider washed over him, leaving him with painful rashes and hives. If the blond had been much of a fighter he'd been nearly debilitated by how tight his skin got.
He pulsed into the creature.
Immediately, the rashes vanished and the Outsider slipped into his body.
Theo was thrown to the ground, legs held in the air, and got fucked hard enough he froze mid motion from pure sensation.
Cain was right behind him with a single leap and put his hands on Theo's shoulders. The counter-possession fought the intruder to a standstill. Cain focused with a frown and Theo felt the Outsider pushed out, clinging to his asshole for as long as possible, stretching him – punching him from inside.
Theo squeal-moaned pathetically.
Gunshots. The redeemers had found an opening because Xaphan had pushed the Primals back. Fulin was on all fours, twitching and struggling to find a balance with Weidong's possession. Ace was talking to him, his crane dragon wings gone, exhausted. Everest had reestablished her dog body and walked semi-circles of icy ground that Mako slid along to keep the enemy contained.
Xaphan was drenched in shadow, tendrils from Keith blocking his line of sight toward the crowd. The weird tar was still wobbling in the center of the space but now worked against the nephil just as much, blocking his path straight through.
Backed against the tree line, Xaphan was dripping blood, part of his flesh hanging off him as torn ribbons. He conjured more Outsiders to his side, smaller ones, probably sprites or much less powerful muses. Most got stuck in the arena's wooden walls.
Paris and Damien were on the other side of the clearing, drawing impromptu sigils to block and banish the alien invaders.
Paris ran at Theo, ducking low with a paper in hand. He slapped it into Theo's abs – when had his shirt ripped? – and the possessor was ripped from his ass like a reverse punch.
Theo whimpered and spasmed, his legs hitting the ground as he failed to regain control over his body. Cain possessed him fully to make him rise before letting go.
Theo stayed wide-legged, shirtless and quivering but not from the cold.
Paris gave him a hard but short kiss.
"The Primals," Theo started.
"Can you?" Paris asked.
"Gotta. Cain, ready?"
The zombie twink jumped onto Theo's back and clung on, at the same time taking control of Theo's legs to keep him steady. "Ready as fuck, champ."
Theo grabbed papers from his master, feeling the V-charge in them, and ran toward the heavily bleeding nephil.
With grasping hands, Theo wobbled into the fray. Mako and his Labrador were the nearest participants, Jun dashing in and out of Xaphan's range and hitting with bare, blood splattered fists. Sky had taken the golden edged blade from the nude Primal but couldn't make it past the multiple specters that made the air flicker.
Theo ran a tangent between the angel and the nephil, the koala-style riding Cain making his legs obey with brutal efficiency. He was as fast as can be and he'd be feeling the consequences tomorrow.
Rushing into the first specter, Theo pulsed. Overwhelmed with sexual pleasure, the ghostly sprite was practically hoovered into him.
Theo cried out with deep, raw grunts as his guts got hammered by an eager intruder. Cain kept him on course even as his upper body flailed and tremors of insane sex made him spasm.
The Ghoul slapped a banishment sigil on Theo's forehead. The shaman was blind from tears and now also a post-it in his way but his legs stayed on course.
Gunshots rang.
"Next one," Cain shouted.
Theo pulsed at the slight bit of residence in the air before him. The first sprite had barely left him when the second one rushed into his torso with heat and shocks.
A slap on the cheek placed a new sigil and made Theo's face burn. The demonized Outsider got a good few stroked in, ripping pleasure through Theo from head to toe, before being driven out.
"Get down," Mako's voice shouted.
Cain dropped off and Theo's zombie-controlled body rolled a perfect dodge roll, suspiciously video-game-like. He was able to see again with Keith's shadows retreated.
Sky's skin was aglow where it wasn't tattoo covered.
Mako had put on Fulin's sneakers with Xiang in them and was kicking the shit out of the exhausted Outsiders Theo had chewed threw. They'd taken spectral shapes in the light mist of ice and snowflakes that rained from Mako's shoes and were getting stomp kicked back into Ephemera.
Xaphan's arm grew three times its length by some magic trickery. Whatever wisps had slumbered in his tattoos were granting him reach. He was aiming for Theo's neck and-
The blond shaman's pulses were weaker now but he wasn't drained yet. He prepared himself for the impact.
The torn, blood dripping arm reached him and Theo gave it his all. Sacred and Godrick fired shots into the nephil's torso which made the enemy finch but didn't stop him.
Theo could feel his pulse leave him and... go right into the Outsider stretching Xaphan's arm.
The limb snapped back as a wisp rushed into Theo's body, eagerly demonizing and zapping the blond man all over to extract magical pleasure.
Cain stood still, flexing his neck and shoulders and the weak intruder was easily squeezed out by counter-possession.
Xaphan had stumbled from the sudden change and Sky had found an opening. The angel had the gold edged stone sword buried in the traitor's chest. They both stared at each other, breathing heavy, eyes wide and faces full of hatred, drawn harsher in the floodlights.
The glow emanating from Sky traveled into the blades. Xaphan's expression sagged.
Empty sigils fluttered along the grass.
Paris dropped next to Theo. Keith kneeled down more gently, his aura of darkness pouring over the shirtless Theo with a comforting effect like healing balm before it retreated back into the Asian conjurer.
All eyes were still on the giants from Nimbus, frozen in their decided combat.
Xaphan seemed to want to say something, his expression one last time turning to scorn and a snarl. He collapsed and Sky led his body to the ground by the sword handle. He placed a foot on the nephil's chest and pulled the blade out.
The arena rippled apart, trees shrinking away and restoring the forest.
The bear cub Theo knew from the naked runs galloped in with bouncing steps and dug its teeth into the dead man's shoulder. Fino snaked his way over and wrapped around the legs of the corpse. Together they pulled the body into darkness, Fino's natural shine fading away fast.
"Wh-what now?" Keith asked.
Sky dropped the sword. He wasn't looking their way.
Huffing and rustling made Theo sit up and look over to where Ace was tending to Fulin. Half-crawling Theo and his nearby boyfriends made it over.
"Is he okay?" Paris asked.
"Will be, I'm guessing," Ace said. He kept a hand on Fulin's pecs to keep him upright, the other on the man's back. "Tanks never merged with Weidong until now. He'll be back to normal eventually. For now he's kinda dog-brained."
"I'll make a joke about that another time," Paris said with an utterly forced smile, worry never leaving his face.
"Can someone take over?" Ace asked.
Keith and Theo stabilized Fulin. Through the Soul-Joining, Theo could feel Fulin's tremors and tension like they were happening in his own body. He stroked the man's cheek.
Ace wandered to the edge of the clearing and spread his arms. With a roar, Zhulong the red crane dragon ruptured from his frame and took to the air, fading away as it traveled back to Aaron by way of Ephemera.
"There you are," Paris said, looking in a completely different direction. "Glad you finally decided to honor us with your presence, hehe."
Theo couldn't tell what his master was seeing but he sensed thoughts of comfort, home and tiny paws. "Heya furball," the blond said a second before his eyes registered Midnight traipsing silently across foliage.
"Snuggle Tank for us?" Mako suggested. "I'd ask Everest if it wasn't freezing already."
"I can be warm in an emergency," the black dog said. "I'm quite exhausted, though."
They led Fulin to rest against a tree, Keith dropping a jacket over him. Midnight curled up in the muscleman's lap and Fulin made an inarticulate grumbling noise in Paris' direction.
"You're welcome, buddy," the Stygian said and got his own jacket back from Damien.
Theo accepted a spare shirt from the now clothed Jun before slipping into a jacket, too.
Sky finally joined them, looking distracted and distant.
"I'm unsure," the angel started. "Xaphan could still be reborn. Reborn better and... guided. I'm unsure if we will allow this but some in Nimbus don't want to suffer more total losses."
"Decision for another day?" Godrick suggested. "And not one you have to make alone." He slapped Sacred between the shoulders. "Good shots by the way. Apropos `way', we should be on it. The city's still in somewhat of a situation with dream sprites roaming. Alessandra has pinned down the straggler cultists and Kenya is on the way for some memory... reconfiguration if those assholes can't be reasoned with."
Keith rose. "Guessing you'd like to be there if the negotiations go sour?"
"Not that I need your permission, delta boy, but yes. Anyone else? Hm, didn't think so. How do I get out of this place?"
"Follow me," Jun said. He glanced back at Theo. "If you kids have an orgy while I'm gone, you better pay me back."
At that, Paris gave Theo a hopeful glance and wiggled his eye brows. Theo shook his head.
Paris laughed. "Rest up first. Master's orders."
Keith stepped away, phone drawn. "Excuse me, I have to check in on folks."
Mako let out a deep sigh, hands on his knees. "Epic battle behind us and no godly fuck to end on? Never thought I'd be too exhausted to bang. I need MSG. Midnight dinner at the Smiling Panda. Who's in?"
Even Fulin managed to raise an arm, despite his hand twitching. Theo raised his right hand and his left one rose on its own, Cain busy with a handheld console, leaning on a tree, not even looking at the possessee.
"Where's Ray?" Paris asked. "Also, Cristiano."
"They went after Fino," Ace said. "I'll go look for them. Don't leave without me, I need those Smiling Panda spring rolls."
Theo cozied up to Fulin and got some of Midnight's comforting effect, his body aching a little less, the cold not as biting.
"Hey," Paris said. "Don't give Tank all your affection just because the pup can't handle himself. That only teaches him bad manners."
"All right," Theo said and raised the arm not wrapped around the Broodguard. "Group cuddle while we play the waiting game. Let's share some body heat."