Jeane shivered and stayed close to him, nipping carefully at his lower lip. She had done some research (AKA red some romance novels) and now she wanted to test again.

That surprised Cal a little. He was really kind of inexperienced with kissing, since Delilah had tended nip hard enough to leave bruises rather than anything else, but he was more than willing to learn right along with Jeane. Just not out of books.

Jeane pulled back a little to look at him, biting her lower lip. "Okay so far?" she asked quietly. Because she had about zero clue about what she was doing.

"By all means, keep going," Cal replied, leaning in for another kiss. It was a learning experience for both of them, and he had no intention of 'failing' the practical.

Jeane had a moment to grin before he was kissing her again. Okay, this she could get used to.

Cal paused when he realized one of his hands was starting to slip under her shirt.

"I think maybe we should move off the couch," he murmured around a kiss. "What do you think?"

The next day Jeane had joined Cal at the bar again, although this time she was sitting next to Niko, pretty much completely relaxed. She yawned briefly and stretched before settling down again.

Niko had noticed the difference between the two almost immediately, but he hadn't said anything, instead waiting to see if Cal would volunteer information.

And, of course, there was no way that Cal was just going to volunteer that kind of information. So he pointedly ignored the looks his brother was sending him.

Khalid ended up walking into the bar a little while afterwards, and she also noticed the difference right away. Sitting down next to Jeane, she raised an eyebrow slightly, but didn't comment.

She also didn't notice the downy little feather caught in one of her braids.

Jeane just grinned and gently pulled out one of the many feathers, holding it up for Khalid's inspection. Translation: Yeah, you're one to talk. Then she set the feather down and leaned back a bit in her seat.

Niko rolled his eyes at his brother. After Cal got off they were going to have their talk. It was inevitable. Cal was just being stubborn, as usual.

Khalid just gave Jeane a look in return that clearly said 'What can I say?' She did rub her fingers together, though, and made the feathers disappear. There was no way she was going to walk around like that all day.

Jeane snickered when the feathers vanished, but she didn't say anything else. "You know what sounds good?" she asked, mostly speaking to Khalid.

Niko glanced at her, giving her part of his attention.

"A girls day. Shopping, movies, and ice cream." She grinned at Khalid.

Niko didn't quite roll his eyes. Didn't quite.

Cal did roll his eyes. No girly things for him, thanks.

Khalid raised an eyebrow. She normally wasn't one for such things, normally, but she was already in a very good mood, and it was Jeane asking.

"Alright," she replied. "What did you have in mind?"

Jeane shrugged. "We could go shopping and then figure out what we want to do." Mostly she just wanted to go out and do something different. And talk to Khalid.

THere were some things that needed discussing.

Now Khalid knew what was going on. Jeane usually had some sort of plan when she wanted to spend the day out, so this vaguely-outlined girls' day had to be an excuse to make it so they could talk about something. She nodded to the historian.

"Sure," she said. "Let me know when you want to go."

Jeane nodded and stayed there for a little while longer before she got up. "I'm ready when you are."

Niko glanced at Cal, quirking an eyebrow silently. He wanted to see if his conditioning would go that far, or if Cal was going to wait.

Khalid nodded and got up as well, following Jeane out the door.

"So what is this about?" she asked once they were outside. "I don't need to curse him or anything, do I?"

Cal still ignored the pointed looks from Niko. It would take more older-brother power than that to make him crack, this time.

"No, not at all." Jeane started walking, heading towards the nearest shopping center. "It's not that. Robin said something last night, something about Auphe?"

Khalid looked at Jeane a bit warily.

"Robin has a big mouth. Why do you want to know about the Auphe?" she asked.

"He said something about Cal didn't inherit something from the Auphe. I don't know what he meant." Jeane frowned, clearly confused. "And Cal told me not to ask."

So of course, Jeane had to circumvent them both.

"It's a bit of a long explanation," Khalid said. Not that that would deter Jeane at all, she knew.

"We've got time." Jeane looked at her, idly starting to browse through things in a little family-run store. She liked having things to do with her hands.

"Alright," Khalid said. She paused for a moment to gather what she knew about the Auphe. "Take every famous murderer, madman, and torturer in history, distill out their night terrors, and merge it all into one," she started. "And then you might be approaching what an Auphe was."

Jeane blinked. "Okay," she said slowly. "So the Auphe are terrifying. Do you know what Robin meant by that comment?" She had an idea, but she wanted to confirm.

"The Auphe were more than terrifying, but you have the general idea," Khalid said. She hesitated a moment, but nodded to Jeane's question. "It's... obvious, to non-humans," she hedged. She wasn't sure exactly what Jeane thought she knew, and she wasn't sure what Cal may or may not have said, but if she was told to, she would explain to Jeane.

Jeane frowned, puzzling through everything. After a moment she looked at Khalid.

"Is he half...?" She trailed off.