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Chapter LIV- A Date to Remember pt 2 (Walk in Love)

Lucas sighed as he and Xander went deeper in the forest, he had been hoping to see Greg when he got home from whatever he was doing, but when Xander got a message from his grandfather saying he wanted to see him and Xander, he knew he wouldn't be able to refuse. As the others had said before, refusing a fey could be disastrous and as friendly as Lysander seemed to be he was still wary about getting the elf's disapproval.

"You alright Lucas? You seem troubled?" Xander said as they walked, putting a gentle paw on his shoulder, causing the fox to jump a tiny bit before blushing at the other fox as he rubbed the back of his head. Looking at Xander, he was amazed at how much the other boy seemed to have improved in the weeks he had known him. His fur had largely regained a healthy glow and wasn't matted and Lucas could no longer see his ribs when he was shirtless, which was a relief. He was still appalled at what happened to the fox, but it was over and he would make sure that monster would never get his paws on Xander again.

"I'm fine Xander, I was just hoping to see Greg and Erin off," he said in a lighthearted tone. "I'm kind of worried about Greg, he has no experience with stuff like this and I'm afraid my sister will eat him alive if you know what I mean." Xander just laughed at that and shook his head.

"He's still a virgin right? Do you think Erin will try and seduce him?" Lucas just chuckled and shrugged at that.

"Who knows? If the date goes well that is likely, plus Greg is still a guy, I doubt he would say no if she offered." As he said this he sighed.

"You know, if you want to, couldn't you just use your seer powers to check in and see how the date is going?" Xander asked as they continued to travel through the forest, Lysander's grove was actually right in the middle of the area between his home and Ian's which he found rather interesting. He had asked Lysander how he prevented hikers from getting near the grove and he said his ward had a teleporting effect when exposed to mundanes and they found themselves on the other side of the ward not even noticing that they teleported several feet. As they entered the area of the grove, he sensed the anti-magic field flicker in front of them. Doing as he was taught he took a breath and began to deconstruct the ward and after about five minutes he shattered through the ward, allowing them to enter the grove and keep their magic. As they entered, they saw several pretty dryads relaxing around the little creek that went through the grove. They smiled as they saw the boys, waving cheerfully, and the two foxes waved right back and one of them, a lovely dryad girl, came up to them and began to speak.

"Good to see you two, Lysander had an appointment in Avalon but he will be back shortly. You honestly just missed him," she said with a smile, as she twiddled with her leaf dress. Lucas just nodded, he remembered the time dissonance thing between earth and the Fairy World so a few minutes here could easily be several hours if not a day within Fairy World.

"What was the meeting about Lady Astyoche? It's nothing serious right?" Xander asked, sounding a bit worried about his grandfather. But the dryad girl just gave a gentle laugh and patted the boys shoulder gently.

"Don't worry, Lysander just had to meet with someone, an old friend of his you could say. But he should be back any minute," she said kindly, before gently rubbing Xander's cheek. "Your grandfather is always talking about you, you know that right? Many of the other Fey greatly disapprove of him training you in our magic. Changelings are considered unworthy of existence, let alone learning the magic of the fey. Most fey would never admit any of their own sired a changeling let alone consider training them," she said in a sad tone. "The fact Lysander has not only embraced you as his grandchild, but has decided to teach you has made him a topic of gossip."

"That's not fair," Xander said angrily. "They have no right to treat him poorly!" Lucas didn't say anything, he didn't feel he had a right too. He wasn't a fey or half-fey so this didn't really concern him. "I just don't understand, why do the fey and mages hate changelings so much? Why do the fey kill the ones who sire them and why do mages take the magic away from the Mage parent? Why is there so much hostility between the two races?" Astyoche just sighed and placed a paw on her own face.

"Honestly, nobody knows why mages and fey are so against each other, such things have been lost to time. But I think to fey, they see changelings as a stain on the purity of their race, it's a sad thing but it's how things are," she said as he turned her attention to the other dryad who were still relaxing. "My dears, can you get some food for our guests?" she asked in a gentle tone and the dryads did as she bade, with them going towards numerous trees and starting to gather fruit from those trees and another started gathering up water from the stream with some summoned glasses and after a few minutes they walked up to the boys and handed them the fruit and the glasses of water and laid them in front of the boys.

Both the boys thanked the girls and began to eat the fruit and Lucas had a thoughtful look at Astyoche, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"Excuse me, Ms. Astyoche... I have a question, why does Lysander come here? This is your grove right? So how long has Lysander been coming to this place?" Astyoche smiled and chuckled at the question.

"Lysander is my husband my dear, these other dryad are our children," she said gesturing to the other dryads who had gone back to giggling by the stream. "While I can enter Avalon I prefer to stay here closer to my tree and thus Lysander visits us here in the grove to spend time with us."

"So these are your daughters? My father... the man who seduced my mom, was he your son?" Xander asked confused, and Lucas couldn't help but feel sympathy for him. "If he was your son then you are my grandmother? If so, why didn't you tell me that?" he asked, tilting his head in a confused tone. The woman let out a gentle sigh.

"Lysander asked me not too, I don't understand his logic with that, but I respected his wishes," she said with a gentle smile. "I'm sorry, but it was so good to meet you dear. I'm so sorry for the pain you went through, but I hope you are doing better now that you are free from that monster." Xander flinched at the mention of Derrick, before the dryad women embraced him gently. "The past doesn't matter dear, there will always be scars, but now that you are free from that you can heal and live the life stolen from you," she said while kissing his forehead, before looking over to the small swirling portal and smiled. "Looks like Lysander is coming so be ready to train alright," she said as she got off and gently brushed herself off, before walking to join her daughters. Just as she sat down, the portal opened and out stepped Lysander, the elf just as beautiful as he always was. He was wearing an elaborate green robe and his red hair was slightly mused. He look mildly annoyed, but when he saw the two boys his face brightened considerably.

"Ah, I'm glad you two are still here, I was worried you would leave before I got back. Forgive me for taking so long but I had a contact from an old fan who wanted to catch up and I lost track of time, you weren't waiting for too long were you?" Xander shook his head and smiled towards his grandfather.

"Not long at all, only for about 30 minutes or so," he said before getting up and bowing to the man in respect. "But you said you want to train us today? What did you intend on teaching us grandfather?"

"I was going to teach you how to create weapons from nature itself." Lysander said, taking a leaf from one of the trees and focusing his magic into it. The leaf glowed a bit before it morphed into a grass-sword, though some elements of the leaf still remained in the blade, which amazed both the boys.

"That's incredible!" Lucas said, staring at the blade. "I didn't know the fey could do something like that, can all of you do that? Is there a limit to what you can do with your power?" Lysander just chuckled as he let go of the sword and as soon as it left his hands, it turned right back into a leaf and floated towards the ground.

"Yes, it's a standard art of our magic. Even a young fey learns how to turn the nature around us to our advantage. It's why we avoid your mortal cities since there isn't much greenery in them, plus they tend to be polluted so it's not a good place for our kind. We don't do well with pollution, something we share with our mage counterparts." This raised Lucas's interest, while he knew mages (or at least elemental mages) could control the forces of nature, he didn't think they would be affected by something like pollution.

"Are you saying mages are vulnerable to pollution as well? Why is that?"

"It's simple really, mages are tied to the element they control and thus a water mage would be weakened by water pollution because it makes the water harder to use since it is contaminated. Same with an air mage and air pollution. The pollution makes it harder for them to use their powers and thus weakens them, plus, given time, they can get sick if exposed to the pollution for long enough because they are sensitive to their element," he explained, while shaking his head. "Us fey, however, are directly tied to nature itself, you could call us nature spirits in a sense. Pollution of any form makes us ill and weak and it is a large part of the reason my kind looks down on mortals, because they destroy the nature we need to survive. For example, with the dryads, they are tied to their tree. As long as their tree stands, they cannot die, but the moment the tree dies, so do they. It is part of the reason I set up the wards surrounding this grove, any mundane would be teleported to the other side and not even realize it. But a mage, when they enter, lose all their magic and thus are rendered almost helpless, so they cannot harm the dryads here," he continued. "But I want to show you how to do this Xander, it will serve you greatly. I want you to be able to defend yourself with your fey magic. Are you interested in learning?" Xander just nodded, seemingly eager to learn, which made Lucas smile.

"Yes, I would love to learn something new. Plus learning to make a weapon out of plants is awesome. It's like that character from that anime I used to watch as a kid." Lysander looked confused at the mention of anime, seemingly not knowing what it was, which Lucas couldn't really blame him for since he lived in another world, it was doubtful he kept up on Earth popular culture.

"What is anemee?" the man asked confused. Lucas chuckled lightly at seeing this, it was nice to see even a fey as ancient as him had things he was unaware of. Xander seemed a bit embarrassed so he helpfully explained what anime was to his grandpa.

"Anime is a type of animation from Japan you could say," he explained helpfully. "You know what animation is right? It's basically moving pictures. I'll have to show you sometime," Xander said with a bright smile, seemingly eager to spend more time with his grandfather. "You could go to a movie with me one day, would that be okay?" Lysander just chuckled and went over to pat the boy on his head.

"I think I would like that, I've never bothered to interact with the world of mortals, but I think it would be interesting, I will finally be able to understand what drove my son to integrate himself with mortals and found himself a mortal lover," the man said with a sigh, he seemed sad from what Lucas could tell. Probably missing his son even after so long. "I never understood why he did it, he knows our laws, but he went with your mother anyway and that wound up with them creating you, my child," he said as he hugged Xander close. "When I asked him why he did so before his execution, he simply said he loved her, and wanted to become a fur so he could be with her," Lysander said, his voice sounding sad. "His last words to me were to watch over you because no matter what, he was so happy to create you," Lysander continued, his voice sounding even sadder.

"When I saw your mother abuse you so, I wanted so badly to take you away, but the leaders of Avalon forbade me from intervening, saying it was a fate deserved of such an abomination," he said, his voice seething in anger. "I watched, helpless as she married that monster and then he abused you as well, but I couldn't help you, no matter how much I wanted too," the man muttered as tears started to appear in his eyes. "I'm so sorry, I should have ignored the orders and saved you, but they had put me under a geas which meant it was impossible to disobey."

"A geas? What is that?" Xander asked confused. "Why couldn't you ignore it?" Lysander let out a sigh and sat both him and the fox down next to Lucas as he explained what a geas meant. He was curious himself since he had never heard of that term before, whatever it was it must have been powerful if it was powerful enough to keep an elf of Lysander under its hold.

"A geas is a magical binding, an ancient form of magic that prevents a person from disobeying the person who put the geas on them. The one they put me under was to prevent me from saving you from your mother and to leave you to your fate, but the day you ran away, the geas was broken. Since you were no longer under your mother's care, the geas was broken, but try as I might to find you I wasn't able. I thought I lost you forever, but then I found you when you escaped Seattle and your friends found you. I had managed to track you down to the city and when I found out the truth of your disappearance, I was furious, but when I saw your friends save you from the hunters, I decided that I would allow them to take care of you for a bit before stepping in." Xander just nodded and murred as the elf continued to stroke at his head.

"So why didn't you reveal yourself right away sir? I mean he is your grandson after all." Lysander just shook his head and smiled and patted Lucas on the head which made the boy blush.

"Because I could tell he was in good paws, you guys took him in and let him thrive like a flower finally given proper water and light to grow into something beautiful. But when the death of your mother happened, I felt the need to finally step in. If I am honest I knew you would go after Xander when I took him. I wanted to meet you Lucas, you are a curiosity. I never met anything quite like you in all my years of life. A dark mage is already an astounding rarity, but one who had their magic sealed at a young age? Improbable, plus you possess powers unseen by even us fey. You are quite the topic of discussion amongst us and plenty of my compatriots have speculated in many ways why you have this power. My goal was to get you here so I could mentor you in how to handle the power properly."

"Really?" Lucas asked in shock. "You mean you planned the entire thing? Were you really planning on keeping Xander in an enchanted sleep? Or was that a bluff?"

"It was mostly a bluff, I never intended on keeping him sleeping. If you didn't live up to my expectations, I would have simply taken him with me back to Avalon and train him there, but you impressed me, went beyond even my high expectations in how determined you were to bring Xander back. I am grateful that you and the others were able to save my grandson. I will forever be in your debt," he said before getting up and brushing up his robe. "But now, I think it's time to start our training," he said as he got up before directing the two. "I want you to try and create a weapon from plants Xander, and once you master it I want you and Lucas to spar, so you can both test your skills. Is that a problem for either of you?" he asked, directing his gaze between the two boys who glanced to each other as well.

"You want us to fight?" Xander asked confused. "How come?" The elf just chuckled at the question but answered the question in an amused tone.

"It's simple, I think it would be a good way for both of you get more experience in combat. The attack on the funeral could have been a disaster, you are all so lucky nobody was killed in the assault amongst your side," he said while shaking his head. "I wanted to do something similar to this for awhile, but I wasn't sure it would be needed. But after the continued assaults from both the Cabal and the hunters, it makes me feel this is indeed necessary. But before any of that Xander, you need to learn how to change a plant into a weapon," he said as he handed his grandson a yellow rose. "Try and turning this into any weapon you can think of. You mentioned a character having a skill like this in a anemee correct? It could help if you have a visualization of the weapon you want to create."

He stepped away and Xander fondled the rose, being mindful of the thornes and smiled at it. "So you want me to create a weapon, I got one in mind," he said with a smile. Getting up, he stared at the rose with gave a look at concentration, he was still getting used to his magic and how to direct it, but he took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Lucas just looked at him, curious to see how this went. He saw the rose start to glow, which made him raise an eyebrow, then the rose started to change shape for a bit before it went right back to its default rose state and Xander let out a tired gasp as he fell to his knees. Lucas got back onto his feet to walk over to the other boy.

"You okay?" he said, as he patted the boy on the shoulder. "You almost had it man." Xander just let out a sigh and got back on his feet. "You gonna try again?" Xander nodded, before closing his eyes again. He took several deep breaths and began to focus on the rose and it started glowing once again in a bright green light and it once again it started to change, it got farther along this time turning into what looked like a whip, but before it could solidify, it snapped right back to the rose form and he staggered, but he kept on his feet this time as he started to pant in exhaustion.

"I'm so close..." Xander muttered between gasps, he wiped a bit of sweat from his brow and shook his head to focus. "I almost had it," he said, before he gave a determined look on his face. "Now, third time's the charm," he said as he focused his magic once again. Lucas just watched again, silently cheering him on. This time the rose started glowing and the change started instantly and swiftly, the rose once again took the whip shape, but this time it solidified completely and within Xander's paw was a long green and yellow whip. "I did it!" he said cheerfully as he snapped it gently, causing the whip let out a quiet clap. "This is so cool! It's like I'm a character in an anime!" he said in a giddy manner as he changed the whip back into a rose and back again.

Lysander gave a bright smile and let out several loud claps. "Bravo! Bravo! Excellent my boy!" He shouted out, his beautiful face shining in pride. This made Astyoche turn her head and smile at her husband. "You are doing so well!" Xander just blushed at the praise and looked down at his feet. Astyoche just chuckled at his embarrassment as she got up from where she was sitting and wrapped an arm around her husband.

"Your embarrassing him Lysander," she teased lightly, before giving Xander her own smile. "But what he says is true my dear, you have shown yourself quite skilled with magic. I'm honestly impressed, and you are a water mage to boot, how curious," she said, her bright green eyes staring at him in a penetrating stare. "It should be impossible for you to be both a changeling and an elemental mage. Your fey blood should block out any connection you could have with the plains where elemental mages gain their power. Yet here you are, a changeling who is also a water mage. This should make plant manipulation much easier."

"I really don't know why I'm a water mage honestly," Xander admitted, scratching his cheek gently with his claw. "I just have that power, I don't understand it, but that's just how it is." This made the dryad woman chuckle.

"So many mysteries," she said as she turned her attention to Lucas, who blushed at the charming look she gave him. "I hear that's the same case with you dear. You have powers that nobody should have, a mage with seersight, one who can see runes which should be impossible and your power is far beyond what a mage of your age and experience level should dictate." Lucas just nodded, that was the case. Not even Allison seemed to really understand his powers and she had been around for literal millenia through her many lives. If she, with all her experience, had never seen anything quite like him, it made him feel a bit self-conscious in a way. He had always stood out from others, even though he tried not to, and always stood apart from his peers. That was why he was such an outcast, people sensed he was different, which was why he was bullied so much.

"Anyway, I was planning on having you spar. But I think it's getting a bit late, I will call you again soon, so be prepared." The two of them nodded and bowed and after telling the two elder fey goodbye, they stepped out of the grove. Once they stepped out, Lucas sensed the anti-magic ward reactivated. Turning towards Xander, Lucas gave a small smile before asking a question.

"So, do you want to walk home or do you want me to open a portal?" He tilted his head, waiting for Xander's reply and thankfully it didn't take too long for the other fox to answer with a laugh.

"Can you please open a portal? I'm beat, so I would rather not walk back to Ian's if I can help it." Lucas just smiled and nodded as he put a paw in front of him and with a quick motion a dark portal opened out of thin air and on the other side of the portal was Ian's bedroom. the room was empty as Ian was probably with the others in the sitting room. Xander gave a relieved sigh as he stepped through the portal and Lucas followed behind, allowing the portal to close behind him. As he stepped through and he was fully in the room, he let out a sigh and sat down on the bed. He didn't know why, but he felt tired, maybe his body still wasn't fully recovered from being shot? He had basically been in a coma for a few days after all. His body hadn't fully regained it's strength yet, so it would figure usually simple magic for him would tire him out. Xander saw this and gave him a concerned look.

"You okay Lucas?" Lucas just smiled and nodded as he allowed himself to regain his strength. "Your body is still gaining its strength back right? After remaining inert for a few days. I'm sorry, if I knew you would get tired from using the portal I would have suggested we just walk."

"It's okay, I'll be fine just give me a minute. I just need to regain my strength," he said as he laid back on his back. "But either way I wonder how Greg and Erin are doing?"

~~~

Greg looked around as he and Erin walked down the street, he felt a bit self-conscious as he had gotten several looks from people as he and the pretty little vixen walked through the street. It was a nice day thankfully, not too chilly and not too hot, so he was quite comfortable in his green jacket. Looking down at Erin, he was still amazed at how beautiful she looked and the fact she was interested in him of all people. After a few minutes she looked right back at him and smiled.

"Like what you see Stripes?" she teased lightly, and while he was normally annoyed when Jonah called him that, (In fact Greg wasn't even sure he had ever heard the dingo call him by his actual name.) when Erin called him that, it made him flush as a special kind of heat filled his groin.

Down boy! Let's not jump the gun, let's at least get dinner before you try anything. No matter how badly you don't want to be a virgin anymore. Shaking his head, he smiled down at her and gave a silent nod, not really trusting his voice at the moment. She let out an adorable giggle and beamed up at him.

"That's good because I like what I see as well,." she said and gave a flirty wink, which made Greg blush even more. He never thought he would be so easily flustered, but something about this girl really brought the shy side out of him. Shyly, he lent out a paw, looking away and when he felt her own tiny paw slide into his massive one, his heart skipped a beat as he smiled down at her as they walked paw-in-paw down the street.

"So where are we going? You never told me, are we close?" he asked, his curiosity stirred. He still didn't know much about the area yet, so he didn't know what restaurants were around. She just gave him another smile and winked once again.

"We're almost there! Be patient okay?" she teased as they continued to walk down the street. They continued down it in a peaceful manner, but their cute little moment was interrupted when they were surrounded by several men with cameras flashing brightly. Greg was quick to put Erin behind him as he snarled at the men. He was seriously tempted to bury them with his earth magic, but he kept himself under control. They were in a public area so if he tried to use magic he would expose the hidden world, plus he didn't want to anger the Knights since they would probably have issues with him using his magic on these mundanes, even if they were pests. As the men continued to take pictures, another man, a tall stag, walked up to them with a microphone. He had a sleezey look on his face, which gave Greg the desire to punch his face in.

"Are you Erin Mason little girl?" he asked, his voice sounding extra creepy, which made Erin flinch and hide behind Greg even more. "We've been trying to get ahold of you and your brother, but this has been a massive pain. I'm with Inquiry Reports, can we get an interview," he asked, trying to force the microphone in Erin's face, before Greg snarled and grabbed his arm. The stag gave him an annoyed glance as he tried to move his arm away from the tiger's grip, but when he saw he couldn't he frowned. "Let me go you thug! I'm just doing my job!"

"You are harassing her. We are in public and I highly doubt you have the permission of her father to talk to her," Greg responded coldly, glaring down at the man, his eyes as cold as steel, which made the man shiver as he tried to back away even as Greg kept his paw gripped hard on him.

"If you don't let me go I'll sue!" the creep shouted helplessly as he struggled to get his arm from the tiger's iron-hard grip. Greg wasn't too concerned, he knew it was an empty threat. Erin's father would almost certainly sue right back and so would Jordan if it came to it, and he doubted some pathetic paparazzo could financially stand up against two very wealthy families, not even getting into the Mansfield's pull, in both magical and non-magical circles.

"Please, we both know that is an empty threat. If you tried to sue me, you would face a countersuit from Mr. Mason for harassing his daughter, and my employer Jordan Mansfield, I'm sure you've heard of him? He would likely join with his own suit in my defense." The man drastically paled as he heard the name Mansfield and he began to shiver and Greg managed to sense a slight magic signature from him, a non-elemental mage. An extremely weak one at that, barely above an Ahtan in terms of magic. "Ah, I didn't sense it at first, but you are a mage, quite the pathetic one. Tell me what Clan do you hail from? So we can send a complaint for them to control their members better."

"I... I don't belong to a clan..." the stag said, his full body shaking. "Look I'm just trying to make a living! I didn't know you worked for Mansfield! Please don't hurt me!" the man begged, losing any sign of the smugness he had before. Greg couldn't help but sneer.

"I won't hurt you... but you and all your friends will give me your cameras... all of them so I can destroy them. Do I make myself clear? What's your name Clanless?" The stag looked like he was going to protest but when Greg squeezed his arm making him wince and give up.

"Cyrus Goodwin... but do we have to give up our cameras? We are all clanless and we barely make enough to get by..." the stag begged, but Greg remained unfazed.

"I could really care less if you starve, maybe you should find a better career than being a paparazzo? Now give me the cameras or I'll break your arm in two." The stag snarled but was cut off when Greg started to squeeze down harder, his eyes still cold as he looked down in front of the pathetic man in front of him. The stag just sighed, and motioned towards the others and each of them reluctantly handed their cameras to Greg and he let the stag go. "Now, get out of my sight! If I ever see you again or hear you are going back to this crap, I will go ahead with my promise to break that arm of yours... now shoo!" he snarled loudly, this made the pants of the stag darken and Greg's disgusted sneer increased. "And you pissed yourself? Pathetic!" Greg said, and with that, the stag started crying and ran away with his fellows, leaving him and Erin alone. He noticed a small group of people had gathered around the two, but he ignored them as they walked off again.

"Thanks Greg, you really saved my bacon back there," Erin said as she snuggled up next to him making him blush brightly. "It's sad though, I feel bad for them... they were just trying to make a living so you didn't have to make them hand their cameras over." Greg just shrugged and threw the bag of cameras over his shoulder, he would make sure to smash and bury them somewhere when he wasn't being surrounded by the crowds. "Lucas told me that the Outsider Clans... the Clanless were pretty poor... since they had no support from their birth clans. It's sad really, his family must have been banished recently, it would explain why his magic is so weak," she said softly as they began walking again towards their destination.

"I wouldn't know... I might have to look into the Canadian Clans, I don't know many of them. For all I know there might be Goodwin Clan, I'll have to ask Jordan, but even then it's possible it could have been his mother or some other female ancestor so Goodwin wouldn't be the name of his Clan, but possibly the name of a mundane family," Greg said as he rubbed his chin, before smiling down at Erin. "But it's nice that you seem to care for people, even people like that bastard. You're really kind Erin." Erin blushed brightly at his comment and looked down giving sad smile.

"I'm glad you think that, you are kind yourself. Even though you try and hide it while protecting Ian, you are really sweet. You really should smile more, people wouldn't be as scared of you," she said as he grabbed his paw again. "I know intimidation is a large factor in doing your job, but you don't have to be intimidating all the time." Greg didn't say anything in response, but he squeezed her paw gently and when they arrived at the destination, he was surprised it was a Japanese restaurant. It looked quite fancy and there was a large sign on the front written in kanji which Greg couldn't read, but thankfully there was wording in english right underneath the kanji reading 'Indigo Palace'.

"Oh, I heard of this, Richard said Monet... I mean Allison took him here on their date. It's run by some prominent Brotherhood members."

"Yeah, I love going here! Luc and I always came here when neither of us and felt like cooking," she said as they walked in and they were greeted by a handsome weasel boy, who he recognized easily as Yosuke Takahara, he was a senior and on the swim team.

"Erin! It's good to see you! I haven't seen you come here for ages, I'm so sorry about your mother, I heard you were attacked in the funeral and Lucas was shot, is he okay?" he asked, his voice sounding genuinely concerned. Erin gave him a smile and nodded before answering his question.

"Yeah he's fine, he's out of the hospital now, as for the attack everybody got away alive..." Yosuke let out a relieved sigh before speaking once again.

"That's good, but what about Jaidev Mishra? I heard he was injured during the attack as well?" Erin flinched at that, she had forgotten the cheetah. She had been so focused on Lucas being in a coma that she didn't pay much attention to the now blind cheetah. Yosuke seemed to notice this and he frowned his head turning in concern. "Is he okay?"

"He's... well he's alive... he was blinded during the attack, a canister of tear gas exploded in his face and it ruined his eyes." Yosuke let out a horrified gasp with that.

"That's so awful... will he still be attending Greenhart? It would be a shame if he was forced to leave school because of what happened."

"His parents are in talks with the school to see if they can add some blindness-friendly features for him," Greg answered helpfully. "But excuse me Takahara, may we be seated? It's nice to talk but we also came to eat," he said as politely as possible and the weasel laughed and rubbed the back of his head.

"Ah, I'm sorry, do you want one of the private rooms or would you prefer seating in the public area?" He said directing a paw at the area with all the low-lying tables where people were sat on the floor like you would in a traditional japanese home.

"I would prefer if we could be seated in a private room if that is okay with you? We ran into some paparazzi pests on our way here, so I think it would be best for us to have some privacy." Yosuke just grimaced at that and nodded, not saying anything as he started leading them through the fancy-looking restaurant. It was lovingly decorated in traditional japanese style and all the servers were women who were dressed in fancy kimonos. After a few moments, they were taken through a fancy shoji door and found themselves in a large, elaborately decorated room. It was decorated green and gold and there were portraits of a handsome-looking fox in extremely elaborate robes, given how he was dressed Greg figured he must have been a daimyo.

"This is the only one we really have, we call this the Akiyama suite," he said pointing towards the painting on the wall. "The man you see is the Daimyo of my ancestors who painted this portrait. His name was Hiroshi Akayama." As he said this, Erin and Greg gave each other a stunned looking, remembering Akira was an Akayama and thus probably a descendant of the same man. "But I'll let you sit, I'll bring you tea and let you order," Yosuke said as he handed Greg some menus and left the room as Greg and Erin sat down at the table, waiting for the tea. After a few minutes, Yosuke returned with a pitcher of tea and some cups, and after taking their order, he bowed and left, leaving him and Erin alone. They stayed silent for several moments, just enjoying their tea, it was a nice silence, but Erin decided to break it.

"So can you tell me more about Scotland? I really want to know," she said, her eyes burning into him. Being happy to talk about his homeland, he eagerly spoke as she listened. This was starting out great and Greg hoped it continued, and he couldn't stop the dopey smile on his face.