(no subject)
The way from the school to Vergil's apartment was more than familiar by now, and while he hadn't been spending every night in the half-demon's abode, he did travel back and forth at least once every day. This time he hadn't brought homework with him, as he didn't plan on staying the whole night. Vergil, thus far, hadn't seemed to mind the intrusion, surprisingly quite the opposite in fact, though the half-demon tended to hide most of it very well.
A case in point was when Kurando made his way to the door, sensing a slightly static sensation as he passed over the marks that charmed the door and the apartment itself from intrusion and knocked. He heard the giggling of a child, Alexei or Hotaru, he couldn't tell which, and Vergil's obviously fake angered, though loud, ordering about as footsteps made their way to the door.
The half demon peered out, one eyebrow raised, though Kurando noticed more the tiny, very happy looking cat pinned against his side with one arm. Angelo was mewling quite affectionately, even as he dangled, Vergil pushing the door open a bit to allow the young samurai inside. Kurando offered a light bow and a smile before slipping past and inside.
"Hey!" Vergil's suddenly commanding voice caused the boy to pause and turn, blinking for a second until the familiar, fuzzy little cat was brandished in front of his face. "Take this with you."
Kurando smiled as Angelo mewled at him again, setting his belongings down before taking the animal from the half demon, holding it more like a baby and watching as Vergil made his way toward the kitchen to apparently prepare food.
Anastasia had only stopped dead in her tracks, green eyes wide at the voice, too proud to admit it startled her for a minute. Given the impression - or air, rather - the man held, it was a but...strange to see the cat. And then there was this. Given if Anastasia was in a better mood, this would demand some sort of teasing. Just a bit. Given the nature of Lady any anyone from Lady's world -- Anastasia oddly felt intimidated. As if this whole space was rejecting her. She felt insignificant in a place like this, relying on others. It wasn't bad, it was...just unsettling.
Flipping her bangs from the side of her face, Alexei had to be near by. He clung to his sister ever since he came back with her. And maybe her little brother just took to the strange parental figures of Lady and Vergil too much. Pressing on an awkward smile, only through grit teeth, Anastasia had turned around, "Alyosha, not so loud!"
Shortly there on after, the little boy peered behind a girl the same height as he, with short black hair, Hotaru. He only returned with a small pouting scowl, Hotaru didn't say anything, seemingly freezing on the spot. The small Tsarevich only offered a shrug, going back to doing whatever he was doing with her. Anastasia had rolled her eyes, "And to think it could be ten times louder if Maria, Tatina, and Olga were here." It was said with disdain, but with humor in her voice.
Kurando tilted a bit to see what Vergil was doing and saw the son of Sparda rummaging around in the fridge, probably working a fixing a snack or something. He blinked twice before turning his attention to the group smiling, wagging one of Angelo's paws at them. "Kooonnichiwaaaa." Angelo mewled again, followed by an extremely audible purr, seemingly content where he was. "Were you guys playing?
There was a few moments where Anastasia could honestly admit she was jealous, a very passive expression on her faced covered the small "hmph" noise, followed by what sounded like Hotaru whispering further away.
"W-what?" She was caught off guard, turning to the small children ...playing with cards? She shifted a few steps closer, watching the both of them, content with their own devices, before turning to Kurando with a nervous laugh, "Aha! I think I'm a bit old to be playing...what they're playing."
"We're playing 'Go Fish', Natsya!" Almost on cue from Alexei, "Hotaru-chan is showing me."
A small laugh, "It looks like Alexei is picking up on Japanese terms already."
"Oh 'Go Fish is a very fun game, Ana." Kurando agreed, walking up to stand beside the princess, watching the two children as they played. "And it's not just for little kids. It's more fun with lots of people though." The young samurai crouched, letting Angelo down, and immediately the cat bolted toward the kitchen to see was his owner was doing. "Who's winning?"
Kurando hadn't had too many friends when he was younger, as most of the children in the village were either quite a bit older than he was, or too young, but he'd played plenty of games with his mother and the few others who lived in his household.
Still. Childish, ironic thought coming from the very girl herself. She didn't seem at least all interested, given the past twenty-four hours had left her wounded up, restless at that.
A pause, curiously peaking behind Kurando to observe the both of them, the soft scowl on Alexei's face had already hinted who had the lead in the game, but Hotaru was an already amazingly patient little girl. Anyone could envy that.
"Aww, I'm no good at this," Alexei responded.
Hotaru grimaced. Anastasia only forced a small smile, "At least they are having fun? Or At least Alexei won't gloat as much later."
"Well, you're just starting out." Kurando assured the little boy with a smile. "I'm sure that you'll be more than a match for Hotaru in no time."
Arching his neck to watch Anastasia for a second, he tilted his head. "Well, maybe we could find a game we could all play in a little while. That way you don't have to feel so left out, hm?" He smiled cheerily at her, hoping that her mood would lighten a little, and maybe a little fun would help calm her down a bit. "I finally developed those pictures I'd been holding on to if you wanted to take a look at them." Anything to get her mind off of everything that was going on.
"Huh?" Anastasia snapped away from seeing Hotaru playfully nudge the boy. At least he was very happy, given that he was so close to his mother. Anastasia pursed her lips together before trying to regain her footing, "Aha, no, I'm good, as long as Alexei is happy."
She adjusted herself, placing an arm around his waste, as soon as it seemed the two smaller children were now more engrossed...about the design of the cards. Only to whisper to him, "He's been having some bad nightmare lately, I don't know what to do." Pulling back, Anastasia was turning on a heal, scanning the area to see if the half-demon would return or not.
"Well, maybe I'll sleep here again tonight and we could all try and do a little campout thing or something for fun. Maybe Vergil-senpai would let us use blankets or something to make a fort. Fun stuff like that might take his mind off things enough for them to not affect his sleep." He frowned a little as Ana slipped away a bit, wondering what she was looking for.
"Food!" Vergil's voice called from the kitchen as the sound of the refrigerator door closing followed it.
Kurando had been around the apartment long enough to know when snacktime was, usually something to tide all the teeny bellies in the house over until dinner. Kurando, honestly, hadn't remembered ever being fed so much, or so well, in his life. Not that his mother wasn't a good cook, but with limited food types in the area he lived in, most of what he ate had been mostly the same daily.
Just the mere word sent the two younger children dropping their conversation of blindly irritating patterns and colors, pressing off from the floor, and completely bolting to kitchen, "Alyosha, don't run!" Anastasia called out to her brother, but the red-headed boy was already gone, tailing after Hotaru.
She blew her bangs yet again, "Good lord, look at them! They were so weak, and they can completely stampede the kitchen."
It was a good thing, Anastasia gave her first sincere smile, "If you want to head in there, go ahead, I'm fine right now."
"Well, Vergil-senpai DOES make tasty things." Kurando replied with a smile, tugging her close in a half hug once they were alone. Innocent, yes, but still, it didn't seem like something to do when the kids were around. "I'll stay with you. I'm sure no one will mind if I have a little bit later." Offhandedly, he wondered if Vergil was the type to berade someone about spoiling their dinner. It seemed more like a motherly thing to do. "Are you alright?"
She was stiff for a few moments, before relaxing, gaining a bit of a delayed reaction in her blushing. Anastasia quickly recovered, with one hand on his shoulder, at least to make it less awkward. "..A-Ah, I'm fine."
Kind of, but not truly. Vergil might have been a good cook, who knew, she could handle being scolded later -- at least that seemed more like a Lady thing to do, "I'm worried about home, that's all."