Lizzie smiled slightly. "I'm nineteen but all my friends are married," she admitted sheepishly.

She turned slightly to watch Sebastian who was grinning slightly now, completely unaware that he was a Singston kid.

"Of course I want to know... tell me every single detail," she said with a sly grin. "And who told you to go through with this plan?"

She was nearly on top of him now because she knew this was easy persuasion and she could tell the person who was there to get her out right away, if she needed to, was laughing slightly. Veronica had changed her outfit slightly and the disguise seemed to be working.

"You know," Verona began, in sort of a whisper. "He's Ezekiel's cousin.. You should talk to him you know.. He's really a good guy."
Hah! If Lizzie only knew.

"Hey Sebastian," Verona called, motioning for the two to approach the cart. "Come here!"

Holding Maria around the waist loosely, Mayhen still clutched his head.
"It was all Eric's idea.." Groaning slightly, Mayhen winced. "Damn, I can't feel my head."
What exactly had he been drinking?

"He wanted the company..." Swearing under his breath, he massaged his temples..
He was losing it big time.

"Oh my god..." Lizzie. "I couldn't do that..." She was blushing slightly now.

Sebastian had heard Verona and had immediately approached. With permission he jumped up onto the carriage so he could talk to them. "Yes m'lady," he said with a grin.

She didn't say anything but continued to listen. She wanted more so she leaned further into him so he could smell her. She'd frequently been told that it was a slightly intoxicating scent and she knew she could use it against him.

"Now tell me how you did this deed?" she asked as she placed a hand against his face, preventing him from rubbing his temples.

Laughing slightly, Verona leaned back a bit.
"Sebastian, I'd like you to meet my new friend Lizzie. Lizzie, this is Sebastian Singston."

Motioning from on to the other, she grinned. She loved playing matchmaker, maybe a bit too much.

Leaning his head back, Mayhen closed his eyes. "Damn it, this girl is too much..."

Pausing before he actually answered, Mayhen nodded slightly, his arm still around Maria.
"Eric gavvve me a gunn."

If he could keep his responses less detailed, and short, he'd be o.k., right? Right.

Lizzie was blushing slightly from embarrassment. She waved slightly trying to hide the fact that she felt completely and utterly humiliated.

"Well it's nice to meet you," Sebastian said with a grin. "Will you be staying in town for a while?"

Lizzie nodded slightly. "I have school there, I'm learning the skills for a bakery."

"Oh you silly boy," Maria taunted. "You are more of a man than I realized."

She had a slightly mocking undertone though there was a certain level of admiration that was coming from her. She stroked his face slightly, trying her hardest to distract him.

"Now tell what you did with that silly little gun my handsome hero."

Giggling, Verona nudged Lizzie. She was just so cute, with her little blushing about Sebastian.
She'd keep out for now though... Jumping from the cart, Verona wobbled a little, and stepped beside Ezekiel.
"She likes him," she stated.

Stroking the back of Maria's head as best he could, Mayhen nodded.
"He gave me a silencer too.." Hmm, it was normal sounding.
Picking up his drink, he took the last few swallows of it. "The silencer worked real well... The day of the second speech..."
His voice trailed off upon realizing what he was doing.

"I shouldn't say anything else.

Lizzie half-glared at Verona at that point. She looked completely helpless now and Sebastian was just grinning. "So you like cooking?" he asked.

"Yes, sir," she said softly.

"I can tell," Ezekiel said. "She's turning beat red."

"Be that way," Maria said sliding away from him.

When she out of the seat she started walking away. She had the information she needed now and she felt her heart pounding. Veronica stood up as the old man she was dressed up to be and smiled slightly.

"M'lady," the old man said. "It seems to be you need an escort for the route home."

Taking Ezekiel by the arm, Verona smiled, and watched the two up on the carriage.
"Yeah.. I wish I'd been like that with you," she began. "Maybe things wouldn't be such a mess if I had."

Getting to his feet almost immediately, Mayhen was wobbly, but not too bad.
"If it's an escort, I think I can handle her old man."
Glaring at Maria, he took her by the arm, and exited the bar with her.

His head throbbed, and he still wasn't very sure of what he was doing.. But it was working.
"So tell me Singston, do you know remorse?"

If they had luck nothing else would fall off on this trip. He was pleased at the moment.
"It would have avoided a lot of mess," he agreed. "For one, I probably would have fallen in love with you sooner, probably at the ball, and therefore, if my thoughts are correct, the occurrences at lunch would not have occurred."

"Not entirely," Maria admitted. "at least not yet."

He'd grabbed her arm a bit too hard and she struggled slightly. She didn't mind though and the old man, or rather Veronica, was half-following them now so that she could keep an eye on them.

"But, wouldn't you have still taken me somewhere? " Verona asked, amused with his new theories.
"I mean, would you have still changed?"

Growling slightly, Mayhen hadn't even noticed the "old man" behind them, he just began leading her down some random path.
"You'll see it soon enough.. Mayne I should talk to your brother about it, hmm?"

(Soo sorry it's so short..)

"I don't know," Ezekiel said with a slight sigh.

He was watching the two on the carriage now and they seemed to be whispering to each other. There was news that Lizzie would be needing a place to stay and Sebastian had offered a place wherever he was to reside.

"Can you let go of me," Maria said sharply as they past Aldous' store. "I want to go home."

She was almost scared now and regretting doing this. There was a tone in his voice that frightened her. Veronica had already entered Aldous' place to inform him of the troubles that they were having.

((you can play Aldous in this part))

Nodding slightly, Verona felt a bit pester-ish to Ezekiel.
So falling behind him slightly, she sort of walked by herself, watching the dirt under her.

"Well," Mayhen began, not releasing Maria's arm. "You should have thought of that before you began all of this, shouldn't you?"He did however, loosen his grip on the girl.
Though he was drunk, he wouldn't be too, too rough. Besides, she was a pretty face, right?

Upon hearing what Veronica was saying about Mayhen, Aldous instantly rushed from his shop, broom at hand.
He'd been there from birth, with both Mayhen, and Verona. He knew how to treat Mayhen when he got out of hand.

"Mayhen," he hollered in an angry voice, trailing after the two.. "Leave that young lady alone!"

Ezekiel stopped until she caught up and took her arm gently.

"You shouldn't fall behind or we may never get to town," he teased slightly.

"Look! I can see the town," Lizzie blurted out after a moment. Sebastian just laughed at her and when she almost fell off he caught her.

Maria was comforted when she saw that Aldous was there and she was nervous at the moment. Her heart beat was so fast that she was worried she would change any second. She tried yanking her arm out of his grip then and when she couldn't she whimpered slightly.

"Please let go," she begged.

She could feel feather former on the arm that he was not being held. This was a good point to put him in a bad spot. She knew Veronica would be beyond pissed off at Mayhen at this point.

Shaking her head at Ezekiel, Verona giggled a bit. But when Lizzie went crazy about seeing town, Verona's eyes shot back up to Ezekiel, a spark of excitement in them.
They were so close now, and even Verona, as short was she was, could see everything in the distance.

She couldn't wait..

Flipping around suddenly, still hooked to Maria, Mayhen was suddenly overcome by a massive blow to the face with Aldous's broom.
He immediately dropped Maria's arm, and fell into the cobblestone streets, limp.
It had knocked him straight into pass-out mode.
It was all he needed to be put out.

"There we go," Aldous told Maria. "Are you alright? Let me see your wrist."

Taking her wrist into his hand, Aldous smiled softly upon only seeing a few red marks.
"A bruise at worst," he said.

Ezekiel smiled slightly and hugged Verona while they were walking. He'd noticed how Sebastian had literally saved Lizzie and now she was bright red from embarrassment. He had his arm around her now to make sure she wouldn't fall off.

"It's happening," Maria squealed. "And he killed my father the bastard!"

She kicked him then as hard as she could in the ribcage before running off into an alley to cower and wait till this change was over. Veronica had come back out with her sleeves slightly rolled up, in her normal clothing.

Shortly after she came out though a finch came racing out of the alley, darting back and forth before finding its way towards the edge of town. She had to tell her brother now or he'd get killed.

When she reached the edge she could see the carriage in the distance. She began to flap her wings as hard as she could. When she finally bridged the gap she slammed into Ezekiel unintentionally. He caught her though and looked at Verona.

Verona had only giggled when Ezekiel hugged her, and glanced back to Lizzie and Sebastian. They looked cute in her eyes, though, almost everyone did.

When Mayhen had been brutally kicked by Maria, he groaned aloud, and clutched his chest. Though he was passed out, he sure felt that one! And no doubt, he'd be feeling it the next morning too.

"Oh Mayhen," Aldous snapped. He listened to every word Maria had said though, and began dragging the drunk towards his store, dropping him under the awning.
"The boy will never learn.. " He stated blankly, staring down upon him.

Upon seeing the flustered Maria collide with Ezekiel, Verona gasped, and turned to look at Ezekiel as well.
She wasn't sure what her flying to them meant, but she knew it couldn't be good, judging by her frantic behavior..

"Maria..?" She asked quietly.

"Stop the carriage," Sebastian yelled.

Lizzie looked confused for the most part since she knew nothing of the curse. She jumped slightly and almost fell off again but steadied herself this time. Sebastian let himself down at walked towards the two.

"Is it Maria?" he asked.

"Yep and from the looks of it we need someone who can sing and someone who can give her new clothes after she changes back into her human form. Then we'll need someone to give her some tea so she stays calm," Ezekiel explained.

"Oh I could just kill him right now," Veronica said with her arms crossed.

She glared at the body but since she knew it would be a bad idea to take advantage of his weakness now, she sat down. She'd get him later, when he was drunk and incoherent, and then she'd get her cousin... that little devil.

Verona sort of watched the two of them converge, and then looked over to poor Lizzie.
Clearly, she had no idea what was happening; poor girl.
She felt the urge to tell her about the curse, since really, it wasn't so much of a secret as it used to be..
Maybe it'd help her..?

"Ezekiel," Verona whined, tugging on his sleeve. "Can I tell her?"

Moaning again slightly, Mayhen even rolled over a bit. He was fully aware of what happened, only now, he couldn't really get up. He was known to have odd drinking, and hangover habits.
That included him passing out. Rolling onto his back now, his eyes fluttered open.

"Where did Maria go..?" He asked to no one particular. "Why- Oww..."
Clutching his ribs, he groaned aloud.
"Did she kick me!?"

Ezekiel seemed to think for a moment and then nodded slightly. He could tell Lizzie was trustful due to her shy nature. One of the carriage attendants had grabbed a change of clothing and a blanket. Ezekiel had covered Maria with it so she wouldn't be embarrassed.

"Ask her if she can sing too," Ezekiel said.

Veronica stood up over him then and looked down at him.
She was crossing her arms at the moment, making her look more vicious.

"You touch her again and I'll literally beat your brains out," she snapped.
"And yes, she did kick you but you deserve it... foolish drunk."

Cocking her head to the side, Verona had no idea what Ezekiel meant about singing, but she'd ask..
"Lizzie," she said with a smile, hopping onto the carriage next to her. "Can I talk to you for a moment? It's important, it has to do with the whole Singston family, including Sebastian."

Smiling slightly up at Veronica, Mayhen grabbed her ankle. "I remember you," he said nodding. "Didn't I dance with you at the ball..?"
He had, right? He couldn't remember, not like this. He thought she was beautiful then, and beautiful now... So he could always use that for something, right?

Lizzie looked concerned for a moment and shifted slightly. "Yes?" she asked.

She wondered what it could possibly and she frightened that it was something dangerous. She seemed delicate like Maria in the fact that she jumped a lot of things, including a bee that landed on her hand.

Veronica was suddenly very glad that she was wearing jeans at the moment.

"If I did then I regret it," she snapped.

She was trying to dislodge her ankle from his grasp now. She managed to swing her other foot down and step on his wrist. She was so disappointed she wasn't wearing heels at this point.

Noticing the small ounce of fear in Lizzie's voice, Verona quickly began to shake her head.
"It's nothing bad!" Making a few obscene body gestures, Verona smiled.
"Well, have you heard anything about them?"

That seemed like a good place to start.

"Ahh-haa-howww!" Grabbing his wrist, Mayhen cussed slightly, and shook it.
"What was that for!? I would have let it go!" Trying to sit up some, he failed.
"Would you mind helping me up at least..?" He asked her, smiling slightly.

And this time, it was a genuine smile.. He quite liked Veronica.. Although, he wasn't sure why..

Lizzie relaxed slightly from Verona's reassurance. She looked towards Ezekiel again with a slightly loving expression, a blind love that is and looked back at Verona.

"Then tell me," she said.

Veronica just frowned slightly. Why was he asking for her help?
She felt like being stubborn but her polite nature kicked in and she offered her hand to him.

"Let's get you some bandages for anything that's injured," she said with a sigh.

There was something about Mayhen that was catching her interest now. She knew Maria held an interest in him but it was shallow and unfounded.

"We also need to get you some nice strong coffee...."

"Well-" Verona began. "There is a family curse, right? And it has something to do, with certain members of each generation...turning into animals..."

There, if that didn't scare her away, then Lizzie and Sebastian were made for each other!

Taking Veronica's hand, Mayhen wobbled to his feet, and towered over the girl. He had seemed to grow a bit... Although, everyone could have sworn his growing streak was over.

"Coffee?" He asked, stumbling to the wall. "How's that gonna help me in any way..?"
He didn't even like coffee.

Facing Veronica a bit more now, he swept some of his sloppy, black hair from his face and grinned. Really, he wasn't so bad.. He just had his moments... And then, murder..

"I love animals!" Lizzie yelled without realizing it. "Tell me what do they each turn into..." She was almost begging at that point.

She was on the point of falling off again. She slipped then and ended up landing on her side, without breaking anything but she was quite stunned.

Veronica back handed him lightly before glaring at him.
He would just not listen to her... this was going to me one hell of a day.

"Alright, coffee to help you get over this drunkenness and a time to inquire as to why you listened to Eric," she snapped.

He was so cute though so she was starting to feel bad for slapping him like that. she yanked him forward though and into the store.