A new day; A new journey.

[Lance]

Lance shot Luna a look, his voice level, albeit possessing a slightly annoyed edge to it. "You cut the crap too. Because if this is some flirty shit, I'm not gonna deal with it all the while we're on this journey. I'm joining in because I need to find some answers of my own, and Arin's little tour of the twilight kingdom happens to be on the way to where I need to go."

He then looked at Arin, "That isn't the point dipshit! You need to use your head when you're in a public place, cause I'm not going to be your eyes and ears if you piss someone off and get laid flat."

Yang looked at the trio, sensing a fight. He looked at Aria. "Ma'am, I would recommend stopping those three from fighting in here, because if I intervene, there are going to be broken bones." Ciel looked over her shoulder, her eyes narrowing at the sight of Her brother and his friends fighting again. 

The young girl set her fork down and dropped off her stool, storming over to the trio. Her emotions caused her aura to flare, a large distortion of air bursting from her body when she reached the table, she slammed her hand on the table top, her eyes possessing a fiery glare. "STOP. FIGHTING. NOW!"

Aldari looked over at the commotion, tilting his head at the powerful aura that Ciel was giving off. "Hmm, curious..."

Ciel looked at Arin, Luna and Lance, "You're all supposed to be friends for gods' sake! But every time you get in the same room together, this starts! You're supposed to be heroes, possibly of royal blood, and you act like a bunch of jerks who bicker and fight every chance you get! So stop fighting, learn to work together and ACT YOUR FUCKING AGE!" 

[Tetsuya]

Luna jumped with Ciel shouted, not even aware that a fight was about to start. She looked to Lance, then Arin, then back to her. "I'm...actually a little lost now. I was just saying that the punishment Arin is in for was because he didn't leave me any notice about where he was going to be earlier, nothing...er, naughty," she said. Lance had been right, Ciel was likely street smart, and quite possibly more mature than she let on. Still, she winced saying the word 'naughty' in that context, even though she never meant anything perverted anyway.

Obviously, their immediate surroundings had quieted down a bit due to a little girl yelling at three grown adults. The rest of the hall was still filled with people talking over each other.

[Arin]

Arin flinched when Ciel started to get angry, seeing the three of them bickering and believing them to be fighting. His ears rang a little as she screamed at them to act their age. Calmly, Arin turned and met Ciel's enraged glare, trying not to react harshly for her losing her temper.

"Ciel, this is different from when Lance and I were fighting back on the trail, we're not angry at each other or ready to go at each other's thoats." He looked thoughtful, trying to think of how best to describe or compare it to something, before leaning close to Ciel and speaking calmly "Tell me, when you were still on the streets, have you ever had any moments when you or one of your friends would chew one another out for doing something foolish or careless?"

Cypher watched the fiasco with Ciel curiously, one eyebrow raised as he studied everything carefully. 'Intriguing. For one so young to have such a strong aura. I wonder if Aria herself was like this when she was a child.'

[Lance]

Ciel shook her head, her expression still furious. "NO! WE DIDN'T! We were too busy avoiding beatings, throwing up from disease, or trying to scrounge up filthy scraps to live! You are going to be watching each others backs out there, I could lose the only family I've ever had that wasn't made up of starving friends, and you waste time and energy fighting like a pack of idiots!"

Lance was silent as Ciel screamed at him and the others, his expression unreadable, he knew what Ciel's problem was, she was emotionally and socially stunted, her lack of exposure to people in a normal setting had left her with no sense of restraint or caution regarding communication with other people. It wasn't that she didn't care, it was that she didn't know.

[Tetsuya]

Luna wasn't sure how to feel when Ciel explained how hard her life on the streets were, but it did sadden her to know that her past did happen. Oddly enough, she did feel a small connection to the girl. Luna was a bit of a loner too, and was still coming out of her shell, so to speak. She barely knew how social standards actually worked away from her first home, and often overreacted to certain things.

Getting up, she then knelt down in front of Ciel. "It's strange, isn't it? Seeing people who are friends starting to bicker with each other? It doesn't really go along with what you believe friends should be doing, does it?" Luna asked her calmly.

[Arin]

Arin sighed when ciel confirmed his suspicions, she and her other friends never had a real life growing up, it was only survival, and when the next meal was, or who the next death was going to be "Believe me Ciel, I wish I could relate to your hardships on the streets, but the only thing I can compare it to is living as an outcast, constantly transferred from orphanage to orphanage. Most of my early childhood was living alone, but I had food at least."

When Luna knelt down and tried talking to her from eye level, he kept his distance, not wanting to crowd his new sister "But we're not fighting like you think we are. The life you've never experienced, the one you deserved to have, is much more different and complex than living on the streets. Friends fight, we argue, and we tease one another, but not always out of anger or immature hatred...We sometimes are harsh with each other because we care about our friends' well being, and want to make sure we're all making the right choices in life. I understand if that's something you didn't want to hear, given what's happened to you in the past, but trust me when I say none of us are angry at one another, and we aren't fighting angrily either...It's just a bunch of friends bickering because I said something careless."

[Lance]

Ceil shook her head furiously at Luna's question. "It's stupid! Friends don't fight when they need to rely on each other, fights hurt others, fights tear families apart...they leave everyone alone, begging for their loved ones to come back..." Ciel's eyes watered, the young girl sniffling as she desperately tried to restrain her urge to start bawling as painful memories came back, "T-here's never a good reason for friends to fight, n-not when it causes so much pain!"

Aldari sighed sadly, Ciel was more traumatized than he would have ever thought, a burning anger filled him as he imagined the pain that she must have suffered, pain that he had let happen by trusting that fat glob of grease who ran Wheat Town.

[Tetsuya]

Luna wasn't sure what to do to try and explain to Ciel that some friendships actually were based on that. Then she thought of something, something that just might help settle her down, if only a little. She looked back at Arin, silently asking him to observe her for now. Sitting fully on the floor now, she set her gaze on Ciel, smiled at her, and opened her arms to her. "Come here Ciel, and dry those tears. I have a few questions I want to ask you once you've settled down a little," she said softly.

[Arin]

Arin sighed when Ciel refused to accept what he was trying to explain, mainly because she was distraught from what Luna said. When Luna looked back and basically told him to sit it out with her eyes, he just huffed and leaned against the table, watching Luna try and comfort Ciel on her own. He would have his chance to explain things when they were done, he supposed.

Aria sat and watched silently, observing Luna as she tried to be comforting to Ciel in her distressed mood. Should it seem like things might escalate, she would intervene, so as not to cause a scene in the guildhall.

[Lance]

Ciel practically hurled herself at Luna, holding the woman tight as she let loose, sobbing into her shoulder. The dark elf gave off a motherly sort of feeling, one that made Ciel cling to Luna like she might turn to smoke and vanish, her sobs eventually dying down to hiccups as she cried herself out. "W-what do you want to know?"

[Tetsuya]

Luna hugged Ciel close as she cried out her emotions, waiting patiently for her to calm down. In the time during that, she rubbed her back gently to help calm her down. "Well, I want to know what friendship means to you. Were there any times that you and your friends weren't fighting for your lives, and you all had a little fun?" she asked. She almost dreaded what sort of obvious answer she might give.

[Lance]

Ciel sniffled and shook her head, she honestly couldn't remember, the pain, sickness and hunger that dominated most of her life was like a black hole. A cold, terrifying void that brought nothing but the crushing weight of despair devouring any small periods of peace that she had. She knew that she HAD some happy moments, small motes of light that cleared the haze of pain and sadness from her life for a short time...but she couldn't recall them, their light always being snuffed out and consumed. "N-no...I know that I did, but I can remember anything else...and it hurts, I want to remember more than just pain and sadness, but it's the only thing I can recall before meeting Momma and you guys."

When she tried to think about friendship, what it meant, she honestly couldn't think of a coherent way to put it. "My friends...we were more like family, all pained souls banding together to survive, we kept each other safe, tried to find food and medicine for everyone else, we almost never used what we stole or found, giving it to someone more needy in the group instead."

[Tetsuya]

It was more painful than Luna could have expected to hear, feeling a pang of hurt in her own heart. Their situation had been so bad this whole time, it was a miracle they managed to survive that long until she came, along with Arin and Lance to stop that whole ugly business. But at least there was a brighter side to her situation now. "A family of friendship, looking out for each other, struggling through your despair. I think anyone would feel sympathy for the situation you were in," she said softly.

She pulled back, holding Ciel by her shoulder to look into her eyes. "That's now your past Ciel, and you can let go of the pain. Keep your friends deep in your heart, no matter what anyone says. But let that pain go. It's all over now, and I know you know that." Luna then sat Ciel in her lap, giving the guild hall a quick glance over, and seeing something to help her out. "There's so much more to friendship than you've experienced yet so far, Ciel. Tell me, do you know what a rival is?"

[Lance]

Ciel clenched her fist. "You don't have things from your past that effect you, that color your views on people? I find that hard to believe, as a matter of fact, I don't believe it at all."

Ciel had to think for a moment when Luna asked her if she knew what a rival was, she knew the definition, but as to what it felt like to have one...that was beyond her understanding. "It's someone you want to surpass, to either defeat them or become more powerful...right?"

[Arin]

Arin was getting tired of Luna's failed attempts to talk Ciel down, only seeming to make the girl's mood change to different negativities, and decided to speak up, out of turn "Luna has had her share of troubles, believe me. What she is trying to say is that you shouldn't let your past control who you are, but make it part of who you'll grow up to become."

When Ciel tried to explain what she believed a rival to be, Arin nodded in approval "Yes. But did you know that friends can also be rivals, and they push each other to be better people for it? Have you ever had anyone in your family of friends who you always strived to be like, or wanted to impress? Or maybe they were trying to impress you?"