Mitch gave Rikki a nose to nose snuggle.

"Oh come on," Mitch said, "It'll be fun. And with me there, the whole house won't catch fire, heh."

"Fine, fine!" she said, at last. "But *I* will be present as well, you-you..." she sputtered at her dog friend. "And remember: should Mitch get traumatized for life by the experience, I'll become your worst enemy!"

Mitch put his hands on his hips.

"Well, the first half of my life hasn't traumatized me so I'm pretty sure whatever happens will be tame in comparison," he said.

Rikki shook her head meekly. "You say so because you never saw him use toast bread to do the cacciucco. Among other things."

"Eh heh heh, well we'll just see now won't we, heh," he said, patting her cheek.

She almost purred at that touch. "I'll teach you how to do the best parmigiana."
"You can believe her," valiant said. "She's a purist of the kitchen, you won't get best dishes."

"Eh heh heh, I'll take what I can get," Mitch said, "Anything I've had so far is better then what I could've got in the Orginization." Mitch finished stuffing his things in his bag, including the crossbow, and this time, picked it up himself. He had it over his back like he was carrying a large wicker basket with just a little difficulty.

"You guys ready yet?" Mitch said with a grin.

"We're all ready here!" Lance said as his dad closed the trunk of the car. He hopped in the back seat and buckled up as he looked around at the other families finishing up their packing.

Iblis, figuring that just showing up would be decent enough an answer, had silently gone about packing up. He started to stare out the window looking rather bored once he'd gotten secured.

Valiant closed the door and latched his safety belt."I still think we should carry some surveillance equipment, next time. We should have backup in case a dangerous feral showed. We need--" His words were drowned by the longest kiss a wolf could give his mate. When Belisarius was done, the wolfdog had the dupest smile ever, tongue lolling and eyes as large as saucers.
Rikki gave the wolf a thumb-up. "Owe you big time, boyo!"

Ian picked up the pace at the mention of food. Sounds like a plan to me!

Mitch rolled his eyes at the two as pulled out his book.

"Heh, you will never catch me kissing someone that long..." Mitch said, then added, "In public. Eh heh."

ooc: Pretty sure Mitch was with that group in the cars.

Rikki put a finger under Mitch's chin and drew the red panda to herself. "Oh. Not even a gal?" and before he could react, she pretty gave him the same treatment Valiant had received.
"My girl is all grown up!" Valiant said with a proud expression.
"You and I need to go on a trip, one day," Cinzia Leone said to her husband, smiling from the rearview mirror.

Mitch was in complete shock.

"I said not in public..." he managed to stammer. Completely red in the face.

"We're not in public, in fact," Rikki said, teasing Mitch's nose with the tip of her claw. "this is between us, in the family. We have nothing to hide to the family. Right, Boss?" She raised her paw.
Valiant gave her hi-five. "Right! And I'm so proud of you!"

"B-but, other, c-cars...meanie..." was all his red, though obviously happy face had to respond with.

"Relax, picciotto," Elio said, laughing. "You two are just too cute, and if anyone dares to bother you, I'll make sure they won't speak another word."

Mitch's mind was awash with thoughts and emotions, but he felt he needed to say something at least.

"Th-thank y-you, b-but, I, d-didn't even g-get to, ask, Rikkiiiii," he said, looking at her a little upset. And still mostly embarrassed.

The ferret facepawlmed. "Mitch, you're such a dear and all, but you've been sending signals like a beacon all day long! I hope you hadn't set your morse on 'Platonic'."

"No. It's fine it's just, a little rushed that's all," Mitch said, "I've never, been in a relationship, like this, before."

"Then you'll start trusting me a bit on this, okay? We're not getting any younger with the time, and I won't let Val getting all happy ever after before me."
"Psst," Belisarius whispered. "Not really romantic."

Mitch began to relax a little, but figured he had to do something to make up to her. So he scooted into her side and placed his arm around her. Still shaking a bit. He managed to work up enough courage, and, gave her a small kiss on the cheek.

"Phew, yes, I trust you I'm just," Mitch said, trying to emphasize the point, "Still very, very, very nervous. Eh heh."

Rikki snuggled against the red panda. "At least you are trying, my brave warrior..." she yawned, then practically fell against him, like a robot suddenly out of battery.
"It's like that, with her," Valiant explained. "Just enjoy the moment, now." and he too yawned and snuggled into his wolf's arms.
"When was the last time you were that romantic with me?" Cinzia asked Elio

"Eh heh heh, don't worry, I am, oh before I forget," Mitch said, "Mr. Leone, do you have a guest room or a spare couch I can borrow for tonight? I don't like to travel in the dark."

"Oh my, I'll have to cover it with good luck tags then," Mitch said, "We have a few superstitions concerning evil spirits and the like. But I'm pretty sure it's okay if the host says so. So thank you."

Mitch was more then a little surprised.

"Sacrificing? For spirit tags?" Mitch said, he thought a moment, "Our tribe never does any sacrificing as far as I know. But, for runes on paper? A bit much don't you think?"

"Eh heh heh, well, I'll try to do my best at that," Mitch said, "You know though, now that you metioned it, a sacrifice might increase the potency of the tags. Maybe a squirrell or something." He finished with a grin.

Lance nodded along listening to some music that was playing as the car took off towards home. He smiled to himself thinking of how nice it will be to be back home again and how cool its going to be to explore the rest of that cave with his freinds.

(OOC: I don't think anyone left is in the car with me right?)

Pain managed to reach the camp a few minutes after the cars took off. He noticed the sound of the cars, the fresh tracks and where they led to, he only needed to follow them to the nearest town. So he once again hid among the trees and ran next to the road.

"Going somewhere are we?" Borues said to Pain from behind.

Pain stopped in place and replied without turning.
"I have no quarrel with you, feral! What is it that you want?"

"Just making sure of where you are going," Borues said.

"I am following the road." Pain spoke "I prefer to do so from a safe enough distance."

"Well, I just so happen to be 'following the road'," Borues said, with a finger qoute, "I need to check my territories down here. And it is good to not travel alone.Would you care for some company? Especially from the looks of things, you know not the lay of the land."

"You're right, I don't know the lay of the land, but I do see the road and it ain't hard to follow a road, right?" Pain shook his head "But I know better not to say 'no' to someone several times my size."

"Smart kitty, this way," Bourues said with a grin, and then he starting walking slowly away from the road, deeper in the woods, "And you'd be surprised at how hard it IS to follow a road."

Lance had nodded off a bit as the music and road lulled him to sleep when he awoke he looked out the window seeing the sign for Sunset coming up quickly. They were almost home in a little bit they would be pulling into their driveway and then they could get ready to explore the cave system.

(OOC: Man that sounds so bad but I had no idea what to post)