The Reunion Game

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Location: Inventer's Quarters Truesdale

Friday, July 14, 1622

<sub>Ceph was a damn day late. Daniela was supposed to meet up with him, and she got no reports, so she decided to camp out in case he was actually late. It left Andy very, very worried so he was completely unsure of what to do. For now, he was just leaning outside the airship, looking down at the Truesdale docks. Not much to really do. He couldn't go out in public without risking his hide or anything, either.

Daniela herself was waiting at the inventer's quarters, in a pretty lace top and gown, as well as an umbrella just imagine something out of Mary Poppins. She'd check the time on the pocket watch she had

"Now I'm getting worried..."</sub>

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Reuben was there too, with Andy, using a wooden stick as a type of cane. His leg was doing much better, and he was capable of walking now, but he knew not to put too much pressure on it. Besides, if Andy caught him doing something what the man considered stupid, he'd be grounded again. Seriously, what right did the other have to ground him? Sure, biological parent, blah blah, but really?

Nerys, on the other hand, practically was an older sister. He had no idea if anyone had walked in on them sleeping together the night he'd gotten shot, and he wasn't sure he wanted to know, either.

"...They're late," Reuben murmured quietly.

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<sub>Benedict himself was pretty pleased. He flew to Truesdale, a completely new place for him, with Cepheid, who is his Uncle. It was nice getting to know a little bit more about him too, and Ben was both excited and scared about meeting up with Andromeda again. He had no idea how he'd be able to make anything up with him, or if he could forgive him.

As long as Andy, didn't reveal he was atheist. Though knowing Andy, Benedict would put benefit of the doubt on him. Either way, he was walking with Cepheid and... um catching the eyes of some pretty ladies and he as already nervous.

Unlike Andy,, Cepheid, and probably even Reuben... Benedict was piss poor when it came to attracting ladies.</sub>

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The one time in his life, Ceph had a certain place to be at a certain time, and weather decided to be a brat and cause a headwind all the way to Truesdale. Well played, weather, well played...

On the rare occasion when he absolutely needed to be able to get about without being ID'd as either his brother or as the Star Man, Cepheid had one last disguise up his sleeve.

The only problem was, when he was by himself, he had no issue with it, but now that he had family and friends, he felt himself burning red under the new disguise. They were never ever going to let him live this down, but this was the absolute only way he could get into the heart of the inventor's Quarter with Ben without being accosted by fans, bounty hunters, or curious people about some suspicious character in a hood.

Cepheid now walked along, in his secret persona, one he never pulled out unless necessary.

So there walked a thin looking woman dressed in a velvet gown with a thick viel over her face and a flowery parasol gently placed on her 'dainty' shoulder. On her hip was a decorated silk bag which contained a few items, including a small blank book and a pencil so she didn't get coal on her silk gloves when she wrote, because she had been struck mute since an early age. She walked alongside her escort, Father Benedict Armstrong, who had graciously agreed to accompany her on her travels. 'Her' name was Joanna LeStraud.

Ceph wanted to kill himself. This was for his brother, just remember that. He was doing this for Andy. If there was a god he would strike him down right there.

He walked alongside Ben, walking with the poised grace of a highborn woman, looking around idly, until he spotted Daniela. Bingo. Gently putting a gloved hand on Ben's shoulder to get his attention, he then pointed to Daniela and pulled out his 'lady' booklet and quickly wrote a note in it. Finishing it, he guided himself and Ben up to Daniela and let Ben do an introduction. Of the two of them, and he would hand the note to Daniela, bowing slightly.

Please don't laugh Dani. Ceph didn't need that right now...

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<sub>Andy was completely unaware of the things that Cepheid was doing right now. Either way, Reuben was around, walking on a cane, enjoying himself and getting fresh air, but Andy was keeping an eye on the kid, making sure he wasn't in too much pain. He'd look back, leaning on the railing and letting the wind dance his hair.

"They indeed are." He spoke up, matter of factly.

Dani herself would look over seeing a um... women and a young boy approach her. It seems that they were pretty familiar, and with half horror, she realized that was Cepheid. Crossdressing. Oh boy. Dani had to bite her lip to remain stoic, not wanting to attract attention to anybody.

"... I really want to know where you got that dress."</sub>

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Reuben was blissfully unaware of what Cepheid was up to. Otherwise, he would've had ample blackmail material on the man, which he would never have told Caden or strangers, at the least. Either way, he could feel Andy's watchful eye on him, and shifted a bit. Life had been so much simpler when he'd been running around, stealing from people, and escaping from psychotic rapists.

Everything had changed.

"You don't need to watch me so closely. I'm doing just fine, Andy." Pops was only a trolling term, but otherwise, the man was Andy.

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<sub>Benedict could not stoop in the awkwardness of being around a crossdressing man. Especially one who HAD to crossdress so he couldn't get caught. It was something that he was not taught how to deal with in the Bible, and he wasn't sure whether to be horrified, or laugh at this scene. He swallowed hard when he came up to this woman that Cepheid seemed to walk over to and he coughed lightly.

Her asking where he got the dress aside, he would have to explain this, and his social awkwardness finally kicked in.

"Um... I'm Benedict. That's... you know who that is a-and..." He kind of lost his voice for the moment, shuffling nervously. Why was he so much more comfortable around kids and not women? "... I guess you're taking me to Andromeda?"</sub>

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In the note Ceph handed to Dani, it would explain why he was in a dress, who Ben was, who he was claiming to be, and was requesting that she guide them back to the Star Crash.

Ceph gave a smile that reached his eyes as he kept up the disguise, and gently nudged Ben in a silent 'get yourself together!' message. Ben, you were so hopeless sometimes. Lucky it was Dani and not Selena. Dani was pretty, yes, but in a masculine kind of way. Had it been Selena or Nerys, Ben might have gotten a bloody nose.

When Ben said the name Andromeda out loud, Ceph quickly leaned over and tromped on Ben's foot. NOT SO LOUD, IDIOT. He shot Ben a look and shook his head.

---

On the Star Crash, a certain blond haired little girl was on deck, playing with a certain little clockwork. She had discovered that not only could it play charades like Cepheid said, but it also could play monkey see, monkey do, as well as Simon says, with Lapis giving directions or her having to copy what the little clockwork did.

She was in the middle of one of these games, happily trying to balance on one foot as the clockwork teetered and fell over with a light clunk. Not being one to lose a game, Lapis fell over in much the same manner, letting out a squeak as she hit the deck.

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<sub>Andromeda looked over to Reuben again. Really now? It did surprise him that he used his nickname instead of 'Pops' as per usual. Meant he was being serious this time and the man took a deep breath, looking at his son. You can't stop him from worrying over you, Reuben. Of course he wasn't watching Lapis at the moment, who was happy to play with that clockwork.

"I have my rights to worry about you." He murmured, of course his attention was shattered when he heard Lapis squeak. He whipped his head around to see the girl was on the floor.

"You okay, kiddoe?" Half because Andy didn't want the girl bruised when she gets back to Julian, half because he did have a mild concern over her.

Daniela herself would read the note, finally getting the full jist on it and then wincing and glaring at Benedict when he mentioned Andromeda's name. She'd look around, relieved nobody heard that and then pocketed the note. So that was Andy's son. And.. Joanna huh?

"Alright, then 'Joanna.' Let's go~!" Gosh the look in her eye was pretty mischievous. "Tell me all about your travels if you want to~."</sub>

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Regardless, Reuben felt he would be fine. He wasn't going to run off to Dula again and get himself shot yet again. He had hoped he could stay in Seria or Truesdale for a bit, recover, and then go back to doing what he normally did.

"I know, I know, but it's an odd feeling, you know," Reuben replied. Of course then Lapis let out a squeak and he turned around to where the little girl had landed on her bottom on the deck.

"Alright, Lapis?"

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<sub>"So this means-OW!"

Benedict wound up having his foot stamped and he just decided to shut up before he said anything else stupid. Benedict just looked incredibly awkward and uncomfortable, not used to keeping secrets, not used to anything, really. Especially something like this.

"S-sorry..." He squeaked, before Dani finally told them to come along and he followed the young woman, sort of trailing nervously. He was dying to ask question, but it seems that Dani and Ceph were focused on talking, maybe. He didn't want to speak up. he was way too nervous to.</sub>

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Lapis giggled as she got to her feet, being careful to mimic the little Clockwork's brief moment of floundering first. She wasn't going to lose! "I'm alright!" She said as she immediately dove back into mimicking the clockwork toy's movements. Weee!~

---

Cepheid would have let out a groan due to the bad feeling he was getting, but Joanna was mute, so he wasn't permitted to make a sound.

Instead, he rolled his eyes slightly and followed after Daniela, walking next to Ben as the woman chattered on. Well, there was one advantage to not being allowed to talk; once Dani ran out of things to prattle on about, she would probably stop talking. Maybe not, women were capable of amazing feats of pulling topics out of their bums.

Maybe Ben and Dani would start talking. Hopefully not about anything sensitive, but something simple.

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<sub>Andy scratched his head when Reuben spoke up about that. Well, it was kind of weird, and Andy found himself unable to control his more fatherly instincts, which was weird for him. Usually it was libido. He looked behind him to see that Lapis was perfectly fine. He breathed in relief.

"Right." Andy, thanks to stress, wound up pulling a cigarette out and lighted it. "Everything had been too weird for even me lately." He breathed in through the cigarette.

Dani, well... Dani was herself. She paused and noticed neither of them were going to talk, so she just prattled on about... something. Knowing the two of them, they'd tune her out. Either way, it was about ten or fifteen minutes before they hit the docks and where Andy would be parked.

"-and I was like, 'Watermelons? Are you crazy?' ... Oh hey we're here." He'd point to a particular ship, the one with the rather famous marking on the side, though they were in a pretty hidden part of the docks so as not to attract attention.</sub>

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Reuben smiled back at the little girl as she told them that she was alright and went right back to playing with the Clockwork. The urge to see whether he could tune it up was there, but he turned back to Andy as the man pulled out his cigarette. Fatherly instincts, coming from Andy, were weird. But at least it wasn't the libido.

"Tell me about it. This is so much of a change I'm still trying to adjust to it."

Hm. Where were Dani and Cepheid? He hoped that they would get there soon. Especially since they were supposed to have been there yesterday. He didn't see Dani, Ben, and 'Joanne' approaching just yet.

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<sub>Benedict followed Dani and Cepheid as they walked towards the ship, the priest's nerves hitting the high end now. He had no idea how to react to this, what to do, what to say... Reuben probably had better to say anyway. He looked down, shuffling a bit as the woman spoke up and yes... he tuned her out.

"..." he then looked over as she mentioned they were coming up to the ship. Benedict looked up to see the ship and he squinted to try and pick pout anybody that was up there. Hm... he couldn't identify them, not at that distance. Was he going to have to go up there, or were they meeting down here?

"...."</sub>