Libitina, Libitina…Orion could say the name sounded familiar, but just the name wasn’t shaking anything loose in the hunter’s memory. Didn’t exactly help that he had a lot of extended family…

            “She’s…you probably would remember her, she usually dresses in black or white…” Iris tried, her eyes searching Orion’s face as he in turn went through his own memories. However, the only recent one he had was of the…disastrous gathering that had followed his new appearance. And while he certainly remembered Iris from that, Libitina had been a much quieter presence in the background, something that he really only registered because she was there, not because she was doing anything to get his attention. They’d certainly never spoken and especially didn’t interact then.

            “Goddess from the Italian line, of funerals and funerary ceremonies?” Iris tried again, though Orion could safely say that though this seemed like a good line of conversation to continue on, he had next to nothing to contribute. Cel, who had been watching the exchange with the same dismay that one watches their favorite player falter at a tennis match, picked that moment to jump in.

            “Must be pretty lively over at your place, what with two death incarnates living there. Well, living, not-living…”

            Though the somewhat joke made Orion wonder if they had overstepped, Iris seemed to find Cel’s fumbling over the exact state of being for a god or goddess of death more charming than insulting.

            “You have no idea how many times I asked myself that, and Libby still won’t give me a straight answer.”

            The reciprocating answer did take some of the anxious, high-strung edge from Cel’s expression, the toon relaxing back into the role of the unconcerned conversationalist.

            “Yeah, think some a’em get a lil’ too into the whole ‘being of death’ thing. Makes it jus’ too enigmatic for some people.”

            “That does make sense.” Iris conceded, a light smile blossoming on her face. Orion simply stared between the two, knowing that Cel would probably appreciate the hunter breaking in at some point or adding to the conversation. But, even as he racked his brain for something, anything to say, nothing would come to mind. Apart from Cel literally crashing into his life a relatively short while ago, all he had to talk about was heavily out of date or probably nothing that this particular party would have enjoyed.

            Well, there were some things to talk about, but none of them the hunter wanted to get into as he was fairly sure that they were the sorts of things that tended to make folks worry about a person’s well-being when they were discussed. Around him, the conversation just seemed to happen, flowing around him without any action on the hunter’s part. Perhaps if he looked up Orion would catch Cel attempting to pass him a look or two, maybe wondering at why the hunter wasn’t saying anything, but he kept his eyeline at the table, picking out the lines and wear in the polished wood. For a moment Orion considered bringing his hands up to rest on the table before remembering the dusky blue claws and thinking better of it. He wasn’t sure if Iris really remembered him, but even though it was likely that she did at the very least remember something of his visage, he didn’t want to draw any attention to it.

            Cel suddenly banging on the table made Orion jump, his attention snapping back into the conversation just in time to hear the tail end of some joke’s punchline, something involving chickens that was getting Iris to giggle uncontrollably as a pair of white flowers bloomed just so it was tucked behind her ear, pushing the errant curtain of brown hair back. Seeming to sense Orion watching, Iris’s eyes quietly opened to meet his, the smile falling away as she seemed to take notice of the hunter’s presence. Orion quickly looked away, though Iris it seemed had taken his staring to mean something entirely different.

            “Oh, by the way, did you want to get something?” The young goddess asked, turning as though to wave someone over to their table.  However, Orion quickly beat Iris to it, trying to shoot down the offer as gently as possible.

            “No, it’s fine. We don’t want anything.” Iris’s face fell a little at the refusal, though the hunter suspected it had more to do with the fact that she couldn’t think of any other ways to pay them back. Albeit, Cel quickly came to the rescue, as it were, with what to him seemed like a brilliant idea.

            “Has anyone tried showin’ you around yet?”

            “Well, not really, everyone else has been very busy. I’m still the new one so they’re more easing me into things.”

            “We-ell, then somebody oughta, b’fore you’re kept so busy that you got no time for anythin’ else! It’d be a complete shame if you didn’t get t’see anythin’ from the big city when you’re livin’ in it!”

            “…Are the both of you offering to ‘show me the big city’?”

            Cel looked from her to him, though Orion couldn’t say that he felt he was supposed to refuse this. Seemed like the monochrome toon was indeed taking his role as their intermediary seriously. A little too seriously for Orion’s tastes, but he didn’t dare say anything to that effect while Iris was in earshot.

            “Only if you aren’t busy…” The hunter finally rumbled out, the nonconforming response seemingly taken as an ascent on Cel’s part as the toon looked right back to Iris.

            “N-No, I should be fine for the next few weeks. Is there any particular time that would be good for you, or a place?”

            “Uhh…” Alright, clearly Cel had only thought so far ahead.

            “We’ll meet you out front, and maybe…two days from now? In the morning, if that would be alright?” Orion guessed, more or less hedging his bets as to what would be doable, for her and them at this point. He’d certainly need some time to be ready to steer a young lady around the city, not to mention what they would do, or how they would pay for any of it.

            “That sounds fine to me.” If anything, he would have thought the look on her face was almost gratified at his taking charge of the whole thing.

            “Sounds good, Orion!” Cel too said, though a faint note of recrimination began to seep into the inky-black features. Thankfully Orion didn’t have to wait long to figure out at least some of the reason behind the shift in behavior, the toon quickly speaking up. “Y’know, that is if’n you want a tag-along. It’s okay if’n you want it t’be just family.”

            “No.” The hunter said, a little too firmly at first he felt, and did his best to soften his tone. “You’re welcome to come too, Cel.”

            In fact, Orion could say that the event would be much less without Cel’s presence. Though the affirmation did seem to soften the toon’s earlier mood, Cel just gave the thought a nod before leaping back into the conversation.

            “So! We’ve got everythin’ nailed down then?”

            “Yeah, that would be everything.” Iris conceded, Orion giving a bare nod to show his agreement.

            The hunter sort of flickered in and out of the following conversation, distantly trailing it through talks about what they could see, Cel going on and on about one thing or another, from places to things, Iris politely agreeing with what the toon was saying. Albeit, there was never really a bite of forcedness in her tone, the young goddess seemed indeed enraptured with everything the small toon talked about, from the description to the leap he took from one topic to another like they were all apart of some grand show. Pity it wasn’t one that he felt he could really contribute to. Peering around a little, Orion took in the few people he could still make out over at the bar, though when he noticed that a couple were glancing their way, at him or at Cel, he looked away.

            At one point, Orion had been quietly staring down at the table when Sirius had shoved his head under his folded hands, the hound looking up at him with a stare that quite plainly said he was being worrying. Glancing up at the pair just in time to register Cel throwing him an equally concerned look for a half-second, Orion briefly wrestled with his own thoughts for a moment before coming up with something to add.

            “What about the sea?”

            “Yeah, the sea-wait, what?” Cel asked, completely derailed from what he had been talking about. Well, now that he had both their attention and knocked their conversation off its intended topic, the least Orion felt he could do was add something.

            “I was wondering, what if we went to the sea? Just for an hour?” A beat passed, the pair looking between him and each other with varying levels of consideration, and a few flickers of quiet concern. The hunter was particularly surprised to notice that Iris was the source of at least some of those brief flashes of worry, though…well, perhaps it wasn’t so surprising. He had been sitting here like a statue for more than a few minutes, after all.

            “It’s alright if we can’t do it. I won’t mind.” The hunter threw in, noticing that the quiet following his proclamation had carried on for a few minutes now, and figured that both might have been trying to guess the politest way to let him down. To his surprise, both reacted more in favor of the idea.

            “No, no it’s fine! We can head down there, there’s gotta be a lotta fun stuff t’see!” Cel said, Iris silently nodding her agreement though her expression was making an effort to look, warmer? Perhaps inviting was the better term.

            The conversation sort of petered out after that, Orion not sure whether or not that was his fault or just how things were going to end up either way. As he and Cel pulled themselves to their feet, Iris offered to walk them to the door, though there was still a hint of recrimination in her expression, one that Cel easily picked up on.

            “Hey, what’s th’ matter? Was there somethin’ you wanted t’add? We can still change plans t’go somewhere you wanna go, just say th’ word!”

            Though the young goddess was shaking her head, brown curtains waving softly as she looked from the toon to Orion.

            “It’s only…I just wish there was something I could do to repay you both for this. Are you sure you don’t want anything, I could---”

            “No, no it’s fine.” Orion waved away, the sentiment echoed by Cel.

            “Yeah! ‘S long as you’re havin’ a good time, then we’re fine.”

            It didn’t quite lessen the tenser lines in Iris’s face, but a faint, grateful smile did bloom over the tanned, younger features. It was one that Orion did try to echo, though he really could only do so much before his teeth began showing. Besides, Cel did a much better job with that sort of thing, as he was currently demonstrating.

            “Thank you,” Iris murmured, right before they went through the front door and back out onto the street.