[zapdragon555]

"Ugh. God. I'm going home," Ichimatsu groaned, starting to turn around before Jyushimatsu grabbed his arm and tugged him towards the stand. "Noo... god, anyone but him. Please, Jyushi--"

"Karamatsu is our brother, Ichi! Don't be so mean. Come on, Oso!" Jyushimatsu said cheerily, and the eldest sighed through his nose and smirked slightly. Karamatsu was a pain in the rear, but through an objective eye he supposed the guy tried his best to be nice. Most of the time, at least.

"Oi, Karamatsu! And... Chibita? You're both here?" Osomatsu called once they were in earshot, and both figures at the stand looked over in surprise. By now the sting of seeing another brother at the festival had worn off for Osomatsu; he wouldn't be surprised now if they were all here. And that was very likely exactly the case. "Where's the oden, Chibita? You look weird."

[Roasted Chestnut Stand - 33]

[zapdragon555]

"Idjit! Mind your own dang business!" Chibita snapped, pointing the hot-tipped fire poker in Osomatsu's face. "If I have to explain myself to every one of you Matsuno menaces, I'd sooner keel over!"

"H-hey, hey now! It was a joke!" Osomatsu laughed nervously, and relaxed once the hot metal object wasn't close to poking him in the nose. He leaned an elbow on the rather humble stand, offering Chibita a smirk. "And don't worry. I doubt the other two are here; it's just us four!"

"Oh, wonderful, the only two tolerable ones aren't here. Whatever will I do," Chibita muttered, then glanced at Karamatsu with a slightly awkward smile to let him know he was mostly joking.

"Oh? No, actually, they're here," Karamatsu blinked out of the small haze of guilt (because, yes, he too had told Osomatsu he'd been too busy to go with Jyushimatsu) he'd gone under and looked up at Osomatsu. "We all came together. Triple date."

"You're joking!!" Osomatsu exploded, every ounce of anger rushing back into him at once. This was treason! Absolute treason!

[Roasted Chestnut Stand - 34]

[crow]

“Hey, but if you see them coming, tell me, okay? That way I can eat real fast before they find us. And don't wave to them!” she added hurriedly. She wanted as much time with her food as deception could buy her. “Pretend I'm not here and that you don't know them, okay?”

“Okay,” Elliot agreed, though he looked a bit confused by her instructions. “I won't.”

Their conversation might have turned to other things, but at that moment someone else approached, carrying a true bumper crop of food. Suvi's payload had nothing on this guy's. He carried fully three plates balanced in his arms, along with four mugs of assorted drinks. He was mostly getting by via hugging the whole collection of mugs and balancing two of the plates on top of it. The final plate he carried gingerly in what was left of his hands. His face wasn't even visible through the balancing act of plates on mugs. Only when he set down the entire thing did Suvi recognize him.

[Bakery: 39]

[zapdragon555]

"I didn't know you were on a date, Karamatsu," Chibita blinked, then seemed to realize something, and quickly quieted down with uncharacteristic speed. He turned around and mumbled something about how the chestnuts were burning, and left the four brothers to their own devices for a moment, a tad pink in the face.

"You three are unbelievable," Osomatsu growled, banging a fist on the table. "You find three cute girls to go out with, and don't even ask if they have three other friends?"

"You two should quit fighting..." Jyushimatsu mused, scratching at his hair awkwardly. The tension was really killing the Christmas vibe, and... wait, where did Ichimatsu go? "Agghhh... brooother! Ichi, where are you?! Where--oh...?" Jyushi blinked at Ichimatsu a short ways away, bent over slightly and messing with something on the ground, his back to the others. Curiosity prickling behind his eyes, Jyushimatsu shot a glance at the one-sided quarrel going on, bit his lip, and rushed after Ichimatsu.

[Roasted Chestnut Stand - 35]

[zapdragon555]

"Ichimatsu, come on, I need you to help me break it up over there--eh? What'd you find?" Jyuchimatsu's serious expression flashed into interest as Ichimatsu bent down lower and scooped something up. The older boy turned around with a very cold-looking cat cradled on its back in his arms, a troubled expression on his face.

"It... doesn't have a collar or anything," he mumbled, holding the cat close to his chest to try to block the chilly air. It's eyes were half-closed, likely more out of exhaustion than contentment, and he looked at Jyushimatsu with a serious expression. "I just found it. I heard it meowing--you guys didn't?"

"N... no, can't say I did! Glad you have good ears!" Jyushimatsu said, eyes wide as he looked at the motionless cat, and he puffed his chest up, determination in his eyes. "Come on! Chibita's roasting chestnuts over there for some reason! We can use the fire to help warm it up!"

[Roasted Chestnut Stand - 36]

[crow]

“Hey, you're that guy from the line,” she said. “I was wondering where you got off to.” This was technically true. She had wondered this for about a minute before food caught her attention and his entire existence was forgotten. But hey, for someone she'd only known for a span of maybe fifteen minutes, that wasn't too bad.

“Same to you,” he said, but he was already turning to Elliot. “Hey, I'm Dante. Do you mind if I sit here? I can't find a seat anywhere else, and I thought maybe you wouldn't mind sharing.”

“No, it's fine,” Elliot said, scooting his chair aside to make room, so they could sit in an even triangle around the round little table. Dante's plates took up most of the room on the surface now, and it looked like there ought to be four or five people there instead of three.

[Bakery: 40]

[zapdragon555]

Ichimatsu decided it was worth crossing Karamatsu's path to get the cat to something warm. After a moment he'd balanced the cat on one arm and unzipped his coat with the other hand, and had carefully tucked the cat partially inside. The poor thing seemed so cold, it didn't care at all. Jyushimatsu hated to admit it, but he hadn't seen Ichimatsu look so determined in awhile. Maybe they should go find stray cats more often.

Jyushimatsu hadn't noticed it before, but this cat was dirty. A few people standing around a canned fire wrinkled their noses and shuffled away as Ichimatsu got closer to the fire and tried to expose as much of the cat as safely possible to the warmth, not minding the dirt and grime on the animal's fur.

"Hey, what'd you guys find, huh?" Karamatsu asked, having gotten up from his seat and walked over to glance at the cat. Ichimatsu gave him a glare that spelt murder if he tried to touch it, and it wasn't like the prospect was tempting, anyway. "Huh. A cat... I always knew you had a good heart, Ichimatsu."

"Tch. Buzz off."

[Roasted Chestnut Stand - 37]

[zapdragon555]

Osomatsu had, by now, calmed down once Chibita had interjected their argument, though he still felt a little fume every now and then at the whole situation. Even if Karamatsu wasn't there to see a girl... ugh it made him so mad. Traitors, all of them--or at least Todo and Choro, but he'd deal with them later. "What's so great about a big can of fireeeooh... oh, aww. Poor buddy," Oso's brows knitted up in worry as the cat in Ichimatsu's arms mewled pitifully, and Ichimatsu winced slightly and started rubbing the cat's chest and back with a free hand.

It was a mostly quiet affair; the three brothers without cat-laden arms stared at the cat now and then, then at the fire, then out at the festival, each absently wondering if anyone else had noticed the cat. Probably not. It was pretty busy, just about everywhere. Real shame, it was...

"Who do you think it belongs to?" Chibita asked, walking up to the group and standing between Karamatsu and Osomatsu with purpose in his footsteps, standing on his toes to see over the tips of the flames at Ichimatsu.

[Roasted Chestnut Stand - 38]

[crow]

Suvi, clocking the overwhelming number of dishes that didn't belong to her, silently scooted her own stuff closer to herself. There was no way Dante was taking one of her things in the confusion.

“Some manners you've got,” she said to Dante. “How come you don't introduce yourself to me, but you do to Elly, huh? Don't I deserve to know your name too?”

“Well, now you do,” sand Dante matter-of-factly. Suvi opened her mouth to offer a retort, but couldn't find one. He was right, she did have his name now.

“I'm Elliot,” said the other boy. “Why do you have so much food?” He was surprised at Suvi's spread, but Dante's dwarfed it in comparison. He didn't even think one person could eat so much.

[Bakery: 41]

[zapdragon555]

Ichimatsu glanced at Chibita, then back at the cat, flipping it over to his other arm once his free one was getting tired. "Dunno. Might take it home. We can't have animals, but I've smuggled cats in before," he mumbled under his breath, almost talking to himself as he tried to rub some feeling back into the cat's lungs and muscles.

"Ichi..." Karamatsu winced as Ichimatsu silently dared him to argue, and he let out a breath through his nose, staring at the fire. He was quiet for a few moments, then nodded. "I'll help you hide it. We could set up a little bed in the closet for it, maybe?" he suggested, offering a smile. Ichimatsu stared at him with a leering expression, and grunted in acknowledgement, finally giving a small nod. Karamatsu's chest swelled slightly as his proposal was met with agreement (or at least not violence), and he smiled at the fire, looking pleased with himself. Ichimatsu wasn't unlike an unruly, angry cat himself--he just needed patience, Karamatsu guessed.

Maybe they all did. Karamatsu glanced over at Osomatsu, and looked seriously at him. "Sorry for blowing you off and coming to the festival anyway," he said suddenly, making both of the Santa-hunters look up with a somewhat surprised blink. Apologizing? It was a rare thing, between the sextuplets.

[Roasted Chestnut Stand - 39]

[crow]

Upon taking a closer look, Dante's selections didn't seem to care much one way or another for flavor or type. There wasn't a whole lot of variety left, and some of the remaining pans were full of really unpopular items. Dante's plates were absolutely laden with those kinds of things. A lot of his treats had coconut in them, so many that the smell wafted up all around. Evidently he valued quantity over all else.

He laughed a little, nervously. “I have, um, some special dietary concerns. I have to have a high caloric intake, or else I get pretty sick.” Suvi narrowed her eyes as she listened to his explanation. There it was again, the feeling that he wasn't telling them everything he knew. She didn't like it; when people hid stuff from her, it always turned out to be important, things she would have liked to know. Maybe if people hid unimportant, boring things from her, she'd be more willing to just ignore it, but it was somehow always the juicy details.

[Bakery: 42]

[zapdragon555]

"Mm," Osomatsu made a soft sound once the shock had worn off. "Well, I'm still mad at you, but--"

"We forgive you!" Jyushimatsu chimed in, beaming at Karamatsu, and lightly whacking Osomatsu in the back. The eldest grunted as the wind was momentarily knocked out of him, and he shot Jyushimatsu a look before nodding and shrugging, a tired smile crossing his own face.

"You stupid brothers oughta give each other a break," Chibita lectured from his spot by the fire, and he subtly leaned a shoulder against Karamatsu's arm. Karamatsu wasn't so subtle on the receiving end, and actually jumped slightly in surprise at the soft contact. He looked down at the man, then over at the others, which thankfully all seemed to be watching the cat or things going on around them. Karamatsu let out an inaudible breath and relaxed, his hand fluttering at his side before inching to find Chibita's, the chaste motion unnoticed by the other brothers. So he was safe, after all--the only two who knew about them as a not-quite-friends but not-quite-something-more pair were Choromatsu and Todomatsu, and those two were somewhere else.

[Roasted Chestnut Stand - 40]

[crow]

“I bet you five keystones you can't really eat all that,” she said.

Now Dante grinned easily at her. “You're on,” he said, and backed it up by immediately shoving an entire cupcake into his mouth. Seeing that, Suvi began to reconsider her decision. She was an experienced face-stuffer, and she knew a fellow eater when she saw one. It took quite some skill to get an entire cupcake down in one go. You had to have the right angle, and know exactly where to push not to trigger your own gag reflex. And here he was, doing it all perfectly at the drop of a hat. He probably could eat a lot.

... But then again, Elliot was also right. He had three whole plates full of stuff. Coconut-flavored stuff. No way he was going to be able to eat all of it without getting sick. “Okay, but you still lose the bet if you throw up after,” she said, just to be extra careful.

[Bakery: 43]

[zapdragon555]

A sudden meow of complaint cut through the silence that had settled over the five, and Ichimatsu's eyes lit up as the cat struggled in his arms. "There we go..." he muttered under his breath, fluffing up the cat's fur as it complained louder. He gasped as it jumped out of his arms and hit the snow, shaking out its fur and giving itself a few brisk licks, then looked back up at Ichimatsu. It danced on its paws slightly, the cold snow bothering it, until finally it reared up on its hind legs and clawed at Ichimatsu's pantleg. The boy practically grinned at the cat, and he bent down to pick it up again, a glowing happiness in his eyes that was almost scary for the people who knew him so well.

"Yeah, he's gotta keep that thing," Osomatsu chuckled to Jyushimatsu, who laughed and nodded his head in agreement.

"Ichimatsu doesn't like anyone, so maybe he has a lot of love saved up for cats that need it?" Jyushimatsu mused, a grin on his face as Ichimatsu growled slightly.

"Shut up. You're embarrassing," Ichimatsu muttered, then held the cat closer, scratching it behind an ear with a soft smile.

[Roasted Chestnut Stand - 41]

[crow]

“I don't think you should be changing the terms of the bet after he takes it,” said Elliot. “It's not very fair. Actually, I don't think you should be betting at---”

“It's fine,” said Dante around a mouthful of muffin, cutting him off. “I can do it, don't worry.” Elliot didn't look the least bit reassured by this, but he subsided. If Dante didn't want his help, then Elliot wasn't going to force it on him.

At first, Suvi thought that watching Dante stuff himself was going to make her hungry too. She always wanted a snack whenever she watched Rhodes eat. Granted, Rhodes was actually quite a neat eater, and his food could have been considered fine dining even for a human. Sometimes she found herself feeling jealous of his meals. Mostly when she had too many vegetables.

[Bakery: 44]