Ciel pulled back from the hug and took Arianna by the wrist, pulling her over to the couch and pushing the woman into the seat before plopping into the seat next to her. She pulled her knees back up to her chest, wrapping her arms around her legs.

Kei sighed. "I guess that means I'll be getting the refreshments then." He left the room and entered the kitchen, pulling out drinks from the fridge and setting them on a tray. One of everyone's favorites. He picked the tray back up and re-rentered the living room, depositing the tray on the low table. Picking up his drink and Ciel's, he dropped Ciel's into her lap before dropping into the last open space on the couch.

Arianna smiled at Kei. "Thanks," she said, reaching for her root beer and settling back into her seat. She had the feeling that the rest of the night would be entertaining.

Quinn grabbed his beer and kicked his feet up on the coffee table, sliding down a little in his chair to get comfortable. He unpaused the movie, letting the others think up lines for the time being.

Ciel mumbled a thank you as she cracked open her bottle of green tea. Unsweetened of course. She took a sip before recapping it and cradling the bottle in her arms as her head dropped back onto Kei's shoulder. She exchanged random lines with Kei whenever the male decided to ad-lib something...rather inappropriate. It was one of the rare moments when Kei would act immature, just when it was the four of them hanging out.

Kei finished with another line, chuckling at Ciel's response as he set his bottle of water back down on the table. Unlike his brother, he didn't care much for beer...or alcoholic beverages in general. About a few minutes later he felt Ciel's body go limp and he diverted his attention from the screen to look down at the girl. Her eyes had closed and she was breathing lightly through her open mouth. Kei sighed and draped an arm around her shoulders as he returned his attention to the screen.
"About time she fell asleep, huh, Quinn?"

Quinn chuckled quietly. "Yup," he said quietly. "She's been half-asleep for a while. I think she was just waiting for you to get here," he added to Arianna.

Arianna chuckled quietly and shook her head. "Yeah, I know the feeling," she said quietly. "I have the lunch shift tomorrow, of course. I swear Sam must hate me or something. He keeps giving me closing shifts and lunch shifts the next day." Rolling her eyes, she got up carefully. "I think I'm gonna hit the hay. Night, guys."

"Night." Quinn chuckled and looked over at Kei. "You want me to take Ciel?"

Kei raised a hand, "Night." He ran the hand through his hair and looked over to his brother when he asked if he should take Ciel. "Yea, be my guest. I'm too tired to bring her up anyway. I'm gonna just crash down here if no one minds." Kei retracted the arm he had put around Ciel and pried the bottle of green tea from her hands.

Quinn nodded and moved over, picking up Ciel and carrying her easily. "Sleep well, brother," he said quietly, holding Ciel as he went up the stairs, putting Ciel in her room before going to get ready for bed.

The next day found Arianna trying not to go crazy at work, in a bad mood but hiding it expertly. She took her ten-minute break after three hours, pulling out her cell phone and calling Ciel. She needed to talk to someone or else she would go crazy.

Ciel made a small noise of protest at being moved but got over it as she snuggled into Quinn's chest. When she was placed into her own bed, she turned over onto her side, instinctively hugging a conveniently placed stuffed animal to her chest. It was a rabbit doll, an old one that was slightly discolored and was missing a few patches of fur. Besides the pictures, it was one of the few things she had left from her childhood. She mumbled a bit under her breath as she burrowed underneath the blanket that she had carelessly thrown to the side that morning.

Kei smiled softly at his brother and nodded his head. "You too." He listened to his brother's footsteps climb the stairs before getting off the couch and collecting the empty drink bottles. He deposited them in their respective receptacles in the kitchen before returning to the living room to put away the movie and to turn the tv off. He yawned into his hand before falling back onto the couch, throwing an arm across his face. He concentrated on his breathing and was soon asleep

The next day...

Kei ran a hand through his already mussed hair again as he played with a pen in his other hand. He'd been sitting at the table for a good hour or so trying to pen down a new song that was going to be in the band's comeback album. So far he'd only succeeded in littering the entire floor with wadded up pieces of paper and attaining a headache. It was time's like these he wished Ciel were around to help him out...or to just poke fun at him. But no, he'd let the girl sleep in today and had left her a note taped to her door as he left the house. He was currently sitting at a table in the company's building, a cup of hot tea next to him and a portable keyboard spread out in the space above the sheets he was writing on.

Kei lifted his head to squint at the clock before groaning and dropping his head into his arms. He couldn't wait for his break....it was too bad he had to wait for Ciel to come pick him up today. Kei rolled his eyes as he realized that Ciel was probably still sleeping. He glared back at the sheets spread before him. He'd finish this first before he called Ciel.

Ciel was woke up abruptly and stared up at her ceiling, her eyes still foggy with residual sleep. A minute or two later, she forced herself to sit up, the bunny plushie she'd been hugging fell into her lap with a small 'thump'. Ciel raised a hand to run over the soft fur of her toy as she blinked, unseeing, at the opposite wall. She probably would have stayed like that for another half hour or so if her phone hadn't started ringing, a familiar tune blasting from her speakers. With a groan as she realized her phone was on her desk on the other side of the room, Ciel rolled off her bed and landed on the soft carpeting. She rolled her eyees at her own stupidity before getting up and picking her phone up, flipping it open without bothering to check the caller ID.

"Hey Ari...what's up?"

Ciel only called Arianna 'Ari' when she was half-asleep/extremely tired or if she was in an extremely childish mood. This time happened to be the former. As Ciel waited for Arianna's response, she brought a hand up to rub at her eyes, a small yawn slipping out past her lips.

Quinn stretched briefly at his desk, glancing at the paperwork before him. He always had paperwork to do, and he didn't like to do it. But, of course, he had to.

Unbuttoning the top button of his dark gray shirt, he picked up his pen again and started writing, filling out the paperwork. He may not like it, but he was the only one able to do it in the office. It would take him most of the afternoon, but oh well. He had chosen to go into this buisness.

Maybe he'd get lucky and Kei would call him to go out to lunch or something.

"Hey," Arianna said, pacing outside the bar. "Do you mind if I rant for a few minutes? You don't have to respond, work is just driving me nuts."

"I mean, I'm working with Joanna, and I hate working with her. She's so prissy and she slacks off and I have to take up the slack. Plus Sam's been on my ass all day because I came in two minutes late. Two minutes! Haley didn't come in until almost noon, almost an hour late, and he didn't berate her." Arianna fumed for a few moments, glaring out at nothing. "I hate my job."

Ciel listened with rapt attention as Arianna talked...err...ranted. She slowly slid into a chair as the other woman neared the end of her tirade. Ciel had never liked the occupation that Arianna had chosen and voiced that opinion whenever she could. Though she couldn't hate on it entirely...it was the way that Ciel had met Arianna anyway.
"This is why I keep telling you to let me find you another job. Come on, I'm sure I can find you one with a good pay."
Ciel glanced at the time and internally winced, praying that Kei would forgive her. Maybe he'd actually go out to eat with his brother for once. She played absentmindedly with one of the rings that was lying on her desktop as she waited for Arianna's response.

Finally! It was finally done! Kei slammed his pen onto the tabletop with a cry of glee, letting his composure slip as he pumped his fist into the air. Now that that hurdle was out of the way... He picked up his phone and hit speed dial. He waited for a few seconds before he got a busy tone and blanched. Wow...what a way to kill the mood. He frowned as he hung up. Who could Ciel be talking to now? He shrugged before hitting another speed dial and waiting for his brother to pick up. As soon as the phone was picked up, Kei didn't bother with any formalities before rushing right in.
"Let's go eat lunch together. I need a ride."

Arianna hesitated for a few moments. "Alright," she finally conceded. She'd held onto this job because she got good tips, which helped her pay help pay the bills. Not to mention she got to meet a lot of people.

"Alright, you can look for another job. But I have to keep this one until I'm sure I have another job." Arianna sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "Thanks, Ciel. I appreciate it. And thanks for listening to me rant."

"Done," Quinn said instantly. "Where are you and where do you want to go?" He stood as he talked, putting the completed paperwork into one pile and the things he had yet to do into another. That pile was depressingly tall, but he'd just work extra after lunch. If he didn't get it all done before the weekend his receptionist would kill him.

Ciel immediately brightened up when Arianna agreed to her request. "Awesome! I already have a few in mind~ I'll just drop by to see if any of my friends are looking to hire. I'm sure at least one of them will want you, they keep coming after me about it and it'd be fun to not be hounded for once~" Ciel said, extremely fast as she got out of the chair and immediately made a bee-line for her closet. She'd need to take a shower first, and then it was off to go bother her friends~
"Call me when you get off today and I'll bring you around to meet them." She added.

Kei looked around the room he was in.
"'Well...I'm in a room...Nah, I'm messing with you. I'm at my record label's main building. Had to work on a new song and go over some stuff with the president. I'll meet you outside the main entrance. Just call me when you get there or something."
As Kei spoke, he swept all his work into a pile, walking around the table (kicking a number of wadded up paper balls out of his way as he went) and deposited the finished sheets of music in an open folder. He closed the folder before putting it under his arm and returning to the table to roll up the portable keyboard.
"I feel like Italian today. How about that new place that opened up near our old high school?"
Kei deposited the keyboard in a drawer before picking up his cup of tea, staring at the contents as he waited for his brother's response.

"I get off in..." Arianna glanced at her watch. "About two hours, at 3. I'll call you once I'm officially off. Thanks again, Ciel. I'll see you later." Hanging up, Arianna went back inside to finish up her shift, plastering a smile back on her face. She got higher tips if she was happy and polite to everyone, and she liked tips. No taxes on tips.

"Sounds good to me. I'll swing by and pick you up. I should be there in five minutes, maybe ten." Quinn hung up so he could jog out of the building and down to his car, getting in. He started driving, staying within the speed limit. Most of the time. He didn't really speed, he just drove a little faster than most people, that's all.

"See you then." Kei said, hanging up. He glanced down at the paper littered floor briefly before shrugging with an 'eh' and pushing the mess into a corner. With that, he grabbed his jacket off the back of his previously occupied chair and left the room, throwing the jacket over his shoulders and slipping his arms into the sleeves with one smooth movement. He walked down the hall slowly and clicked the button to call the elevator up. Five to ten minutes was enough time for him to get down there at a leisurely pace.

A few minutes later found Kei waiting outside, near the security booth, sitting on a ledge as he glanced up and down the street for his brother's car.

After finishing her shower, Ciel towel dried her hair. She dropped the wet towel onto the back of her chair before putting on her underclothes. Then she slipped on a dark blue tube top, slipping a black long sleeved collared shirt on over it. She rolled the sleeves up and then tugged on a pair of ripped dark jeans. She then threw on a few belts, leaving them to cross themselves over her waist. She tugged a fingerless glove onto her right hand before slipping a couple bracelets onto her left wrist and a ring onto the pointer and thumb of her left hand. She finished off her attire with a black choker, tying the excess ribbon off to the side, the cross hanging off the choker glinting in the light. She swept her hair back and quickly filled in her ear piercings, five in the right and eight in the left. Finished with that, she left her room, pulling her motorcycle helmet off her dresser as she passed, bringing it with her as she quickly descended the stairs.

Ciel dropped into the kitchen and poked around in the fridge before deciding that she'd pick something up to eat while she was out. She quickly tugged on a pair of black boots, lacing them up, and left the house, locking the door behind her. She made her way to the garage and smiled at the sight of her motorcycle. She donned her helmet before sitting down and taking off. If she was lucky she'd be able to catch the first person she had in mind just before his photoshoot ended.

Quinn rolled to a stop just in front of Kei, grinning briefly at him and unlocking the doors for him. "So, you get any work done yet today?" he asked with a playful grin. He'd seen Kei earlier that morning before he'd left; Kei had looked half-asleep.

Arianna sighed when she took another two-minute break, staying in the back to talk with one of the cooks briefly. The cook had been friendly towards her since she'd started there, and they often joked together and complained about customers together.

Kei nodded as he got into his brother's car. "Took a while but I managed to finish the song my manager wanted me to write." He settled into his seat and shut the door, buckling his seat belt. "What about you? Drowning in your paperwork yet?"

Ciel slid neatly into a parking spot and pulled her helmet off. She walked into the building and smiled at the person at the desk, leaving her helmet with the lady there. She then retrieved a pair of sunglasses from...who knows where and put them on. Then she continued into the back room, smiling as she saw one of her friends fixing up yet another outfit as the model waited patiently for him to finish. Ciel leaned back against the wall as she watched him work. When he was finished, Akio looked up to glance at the time and froze as his eyes landed on Ciel's form. Ciel raised a hand and pushed her sunglasses up.
"Hey there Akio." she greeted him. A moment later she was caught in a rib-bruising-lung-crushing hug as Akio exclaimed how happy he was to see her. He glanced over Ciel's outfit with an appraising eye before waving to let his workers know to continue with their work.
"What brings you here today ma cherie?"
"One of my friends. I think you'd like her. I've never liked where she worked. A bar. You get my drift?"
"Ah..." Akio nodded in understanding. "Well, a friend of yours is a friend of mine. Bring her over and we'll talk business then. Tell me have you eaten yet?"
Ciel laughed. "Oh, you know me so well Akio. What's for lunch?" Alright then. Mission: Find Arianna a new job equals success~!

"I'm thinking of starting a fire," Quinn said, starting to drive once Kei was safely in the car. "And I'm thinking of 'accidentally' knocking all the paperwork in." He sighed. "Except then my receptionist would find new copies from somewhere, and I'd have to start all over again."

Arianna worked her butt off until half-past three, cleaning tables and toting drinks back and forth, and taking baskets and plates back and forth from the kitchen to the customers and back.

By the time she finally finished her hours of work, she was exhausted. She clocked out and ignored one of her coworkers complaining that she was leaving early, when in fact she was leaving after her shift was supposed to end. Stomping over to her car, Arianna got in and just sat there for a few minutes, too tired to do much else.

Then she picked up her phone, remembering that she was supposed to call Ciel. She dialed and waited for her to answer, leaning her head back on the headrest of her seat.

Kei chuckled at his brother's obvious hate of paperwork. "Well, it's normal for your line of work, I'm just glad I decided not to go there." He rested his arm on the arm rest and leaned his head against his hand. A pensive gleam appeared in his eyes. "A few more days huh..."

Ciel fought to get over her giggling fit as her phone started ringing again. She held up a hand to get Akio to stop as she dug her phone from her pocket.
"Hi there Arianna~ Come down to the Japanese restaurant near the park. My motorcycles out front so you can't miss it." Ciel said, laughter evident in her tone as she couldn't help but pull another large smile upon seeing Akio's expression. She laughed before apologizing to Arianna and telling her to hurry up. Ciel hung up after that and laughed again. She couldn't wait for Arianna to show up.

Quinn blinked. "A few more days until...?" he prompted. He didn't always manage to follow his brother's train of thought, and this was one of those times. He pulled into the parking lot of the Italian place, parking smoothly before getting out.

"Oh, and you're paying since I drove." Quinn grinned and sauntered towards the door, locking his car once Kei was out.

Arianna blinked at the laughter in Ciel's voice. "Alright..." she agreed hesitantly. She started driving, a little slower than normal because she was tired. It took her a couple minutes, but she parked in the lot of the Japanese restaurant and went inside.

She looked around and spotted Ciel with someone she didn't know. She approached cautiously, one eyebrow raised. This wasn't normal. Ciel didn't normally have new people around without at least warning Arianna. Oh well.

"Hey," she greeted once she'd reached the table, smiling as she sank down into an empty chair at the table. "Sorry, I took a minute to rest before I came over here. Hope you haven't been waiting for too long. I'm Arianna, by the way." That last was addressed to the new person at the table, and she extended her hand to him.

"Full moon..." Kei murmured before getting out of the car and pulling a face. Maybe it was a good thing he'd actually remembered to bring his wallet with him that day. Though he wasn't looking forward to having to actually pay for their meal. "You always figure out ways to get me to use my money..." he complained, following Quinn into the restaurant. Kei raised a hand to run through his hair as he indicated that they would be taking a table for two to the server that came to greet them. He followed and took a seat, flipping almost lazily through the menu that was handed to him.

Before Ciel had a chance to respond, Akio had taken one look at Arianna before exclaiming loudly, "She is perfect ma cherie! Where have you been hiding her from me for so long?"

Ciel was highly tempted to face-palm at that moment and was only able to refrain from doing so through sheer force of will. She set down the cup of tea she had been about to drink from and shook her head at her friend. "Don't mind him Arianna. This is my friend I told you about earlier. Akio is a fashion designer and he's always looking for new models for his clothes." She clarified, hoping that Akio hadn't managed to scare away Arianna already.

"Of course," Quinn said with a slightly evil grin in response to Kei's grumblings. He smiled and nodded to the woman who took them to their table, flipping through his own menu.

"I'm surprised you didn't invite Ciel along," he commented quietly, glancing at his brother over the top of his menu before going back to looking between a few things. Hmm, what to choose, what to choose...

Arianna blinked a few times at Akio's exclamation, but she offered him a hesitant smile. "Ah, I see," she said, nodding. "Well, I have to warn you, I've had no experience whatsoever. I've been bussing tables for the past four years, so that's my only job experience."

She raised an eyebrow as she waited for Akio's response. She wasn't trying to deterr him, she just wanted to make sure he understood and didn't expect anything of her.

Kei smothered a yawn with a free hand, "I let her sleep in today...I wanted to invite her but I got a busy tone when I called her cell. She probably has plans already. You know how she is with her phone." Kei never did understand Ciel in that aspect. While she always had her phone on her person, she rarely used it. She just preferred talking to people face to face rather than over the phone, so...her cell was just like another accessory to her.

"...I'll probably be getting a pasta..." Kei muttered before dropping his menu back onto the table. "She's probably out with Arianna anyway."

"That is not a problem. My models are all inexperienced students or random people off the streets." Akio said. Ciel picked up her chopsticks and poked around her food for a bit before sticking some in her mouth and chewing. She swallowed quickly. "Akio's business is kind of like an internship thing. You get experience working in his line of wok, and you get paid for working for him."

Quinn nodded. "Yeah, she probably is." He shook his head in amusement, deciding on chicken and dropping his menu as well. He looked over at Kei, raising an eyebrow. "Why so tired? Sitting staring at pieces of paper isn't that bad." He smirked to show he was teasing.

"Ah, okay." Arianna smiled. "In that case, sounds like fun. As long as no one throws stillettos at me, or anything. I like my feet flat on the ground, thanks much." She yawned briefly, covering it with her hand, and shook her head a little to clear it. "Sorry, didn't get much sleep last night."

Kei groaned at his brother's teasing and buried his head into his hands. "Don't even remind me." he managed out, his words muffled by his hands. "Sleeping on the couch wasn't one of my best ideas. It's a great place for naps but when you roll..." Kei rubbed the back of his head, which had smacked into the floor when he'd tumbled off the couch very early in the morning.

Ciel smiled. Mission accomplished. She clapped her hands together to get her two companions' attention and smiled at them. "So, why don't we all finish eating and we can head over to Akio's studio so he can show you how things work?" Akio shook his head at Ciel's enthusiasm, the girl switched moods so fast it was a wonder anybody could keep up with her sometimes.

Quinn snickered. "I'll be sure to remind you of that next time you have the brilliant idea to try sleeping on the couch." He grinned, unable to keep himself from teasing.

He looked up and prodded Kei under the table with his shoe when their waitress came over to get their orders. He got iced tea and chicken picata, smiling easily at the waitress and handing over his menu.

"Okay," Arianna agreed. "Sounds like a plan to me." She managed to smile, even though her cheeks hurt from forcing herself to smile all day long. She snagged Ciel's water to drink, since she was rather thirsty. Hey, Ciel normally didn't mind, and she wasn't about to freak out over germs or anything.

Kei groaned again. "What did I ever do to get stuck witha brother that loves teasing me and a childhood friend that does the same?" He whined into his hands, once again muffling his words.

At the nudge he lifted his head and gave the waitress a smile, acting like nothing was strange at all. He ordered a fettucine with tomato-cream prosciutto. He decided on a glass of ater before turning back to his brother. "So anyway, back to more pressing matters. The full moon. What are we going to do about it?"

Ciel let Arianna take her water as she normally left that untouched anyway. She preferred green tea. She took anothe rbite of her food and smiled happily to herself. She couldn't wait to tell the boys about her good deed of the day. "Well hurry up and order something then Arianna~ I can't wait to see your expression when we get to Akio's studio."