Andy thought about that for a moment.

"Competition," she repeated, thinking. "Well, it would take a blind person not to notice how affectionate Eclipse is with you, even I could see that. I almost thought the two of you were together already. Maybe he does think Seth is competition. I just can't figure out Sess, though."

Belle gave Andy a droll look. "He's head over heels for you," she said softly. "I mean, come on. He's always by you, he's been glaring at Seth all day, you even said he's been acting more affectionate than normal! I'm telling you, he's definitely viewing Seth as competition." She paused for a moment. "Either that or we're both just total romantics and seeing things that don't exist."

"I'm definitely a total romantic," Andy agreed. "But... they've both been acting odd since Seth showed up. I mean, there's nothing wrong with my vision, and Seth is pretty easy on the eyes, but I've been here for four years, I've definitely seen prettier guys than him. I HAVE prettier guys than him." She paused for a moment, thinking. "Maybe we both need an outside opinion. Should we ask Seth if he noticed?"

"No, we told him that all bishis act differently. He could just think that Eclipse and Sess are just anti-social, even for them." Belle shook her head. "No, he won't work. The other bishis, on the other hand, know them well. The others probably would have noticed, if we're not entirely insane."

Andy paused.

"Wait," she said, "Lucivar knows something, I know he does. He's the one who talks to Sess the most, when he's able to get Sess to talk, and I know he knows something, but he won't say anything. He just keeps saying it's not his place to say." She sighed in frustration. "Damn it. And Lawrence wouldn't have noticed anything, he and the dragons are my newest. My Hiei probably noticed something, but damned if I can get him to say more than two words."

"Yes, but if we guess at it, then Lucivar's not telling us. He doesn't even have to say anything. We can guess and he'll probably react if we're right. That way he's not actually telling us what he thinks is going on, but we get some confirmation on our ideas." Belle grinned.

"Fine, you can try to worm the information out of him," Andy said. "If all else fails, I might be able to order him to tell us, but I don't want to do that. I don't know enough Protocol to do that, and I don't have a Jaenelle or a Marian to make him talk." She paused as she got an idea. "Which of your group would be the one who would know what's going on?"

"Probably Thomas. He sees all these kinds of things, you know. Has to keep track of who's safe for him to touch and who's not." Belle looked over at her. "Why? You want to try to worm the information out of him?"

"See," Andy started, "the way this is working in my brainmeats is that there's no way we'd be able to ask about our own problems. Tried that, didn't work. Lucivar won't say a word. But if YOU asked him about it, like asking if this was normal behavior for Sess or something, he might say something. I figure the same would work if I asked about you and Eclipse." She paused for a moment to think. "I'm just not sure how exactly this will work."

"Like this." Belle gave her a brief grin and moved back over to the main camp, picking out some foodstuffs and checking on Seth briefly. After leaving Duo in charge of cooking, she looked Lucivar in the eye and jerked her head to the side, walking a little ways away from camp in the other direction.

Thomas looked over at Eclipse to see him bristling and shook his head, his lips twitching in amusement.

Andy blinked. Simple, but brilliant.

"And that is why I travel with Belle," she murmured to herself. "I have a brilliant plan every so often, but she can kick it into gear." She headed back to the main camp as well. She could clearly see Eclipse bristling as well, and she couldn't help giggling a bit. Glancing at Tomas, she saw him grinning as well.

"Do you see what I see?" she asked.

"Alright, what's this about?" Lucivar asked Belle as he followed her a little ways from camp.

"I think I do, little bird," Thomas said with a grin. "Come take a seat and enjoy the show that is Duo cooking." He scooted over to give her more room to sit next to him, still grinning.

"I'm a little concerned," Belle said softly. "About Sess and Andy. I mean, she's kinda blind to it, but I think... Well, I don't know if I'm right or not. I mean, I could just be seeing things, but somehow... Somehow I just don't think so."

"Actually, mind if we have a little chat first?" Andy asked. "I just have a quick question, and I've been assured you're the most likely one to give me an answer."

"I doubt she's as blind as you think," Lucivar replied to Belle. "She's already caught on that something is different. I just don't think she knows what it is."

Thomas raised his eyebrows. "Go ahead." He leaned back against the tree, folding his arms loosely over his chest. His eyes were still a steady dark gray, and he was in a good mood.

"I doubt it," Belle said with a conspiratorial grin. "I mean, I think I just figured it out, and I doubt she'd accept that as the truth." She chuckled. "We trainers can be clueless sometimes."

"Well... Is it just me, or is Eclipse acting a bit..." Andy trailed off, searching for a word. "I don't even have a word for it. But it's just striking me as odd. Then again, maybe it's just me."

"Clueless might be an understatement," Lucivar chuckled. "Then again, Sesshoumaru has had eyes for her for a while, though I doubt he's sure how to act on it."

Thomas laughed. "Oh, yes," he said with a grin. "He's been a jealous, possessive little demon for a while now." His grin turned smug. "He'd deny it to the grave, naturally, which just gives me more ammo with which to tease him."

Belle nodded. "That's what I thought," she murmured with a little grin. "It's obvious to me, but then again, I was looking for it once I started noticing. They'd be cute together, if they can manage to actually see it."

Andy grinned.

"Aw, how sweet," she said. "They would be absolutely adorable together, too."

"Now, what brought on this sudden bout of curiosity?" Lucivar asked. He had a sneaking suspicion that Belle and Andy were working together, somehow.

Thomas chuckled. "Yeah, they would be, if Eclipse can figure out how to deal with it and Belle can just figure it out. That girl is so clueless sometimes, I swear. But she's cute, so that makes up for it."

"Sess acting odder than normal," Belle said somewhat honestly. "I mean, he's been looking jealous all day. It was kinda hard to miss, you know?"

"The way things are going, I don't think it will be long before Belle starts figuring things out," Andy replied. Then she got an idea. "I just wish I could figure out what's bugging Sess. He's been acting weird." She sighed a bit.

"And Andy still managed not to figure out what's going on," Lucivar pointed out. "She just asked if something was bothering him."

"Has he?" Thomas asked, a faint smile hovering around the corners of his lips. "And here I just thought he was always a somewhat-masochistic possessive demon. Demons tend to be possessive, I've noticed."

"Yes, well, clueless," Belle said with a little shrug. "I know I can be clueless on occasion. But this... this was too big to miss. At least, compared to what I've seen of Sess so far."

"Thomas, I've had Sess for four years," Andy pointed out. "This isn't normal for him. He's always been on the quiet side, yeah, but... He's never outright avoided the rest of us like this." Andy noticed the slight sarcasm, but ignored it. It was easier to actually look worried that way.

"True," Lucivar conceeded. "And now I think I've told you what I can."

Thomas shrugged. "I don't know," he said evasively. "I think you'd be better off asking about Sess with one of your own. I'm just the quasi-incubus." And, with a wink and a smile, he pushed himself to his feet to go goad Lucifer again.

"Well, thanks much," Belle said with a smile. "I feel better now that I know I'm not going insane and imagining things." She turned and saw Thomas sauntering over to Lucifer. "Oh, Hell."

"Yeah, I tried that one," Andy muttered as he walked away. "It didn't work." Getting up as well, she went over to Belle. "So, should we sit back and watch the fireworks of this particular spectacle?" she asked, referring to Thomas and Lucifer.

"Maybe," Belle said, watching them. "If we see many more fireworks between the two of them I'm going to have to yell at them again."

To her surprise, however, Thomas merely walked over to Lucifer and started speaking softly to him. The winged bishi raised his eyebrows before a slow, evil grin split his face.

"...I think that's worse than fireworks..." Belle muttered.

Andy was a bit wary, too.

"Oh good," she said, "at least I'm not the only one to find that expression to be a Bad Thing." She jumped a little when something big and furry brushed by her, but relaxed quickly. "There you are, Kaelas. I was starting to wonder what you were up to." The cat dropped his sight shield and gave her a wry look. Then he padded over to the fire and plopped in front of it. Andy shook her head. "Typical cat..."