As soon as Ginger returned to her friend group, there seemed to be a wave of chaos that reverberated throughout the day. Drayven and Em had a falling out before one was thrown on the streets and another was kidnapped by old gang members. After a fight broke out, Drayven managed to rescue Emerald from her captors, and the two finally made peace. A fragile calm set in that made the group feel uneasy. 

“And that’s why I decided to host a party!"

Drayven stared confusingly at Em’s proposition. Meanwhile, Dawn and Bosko were cheering from the side.

“A party? After that whole kidnapping fiasco? Don’t you think we’ve had enough excitement?”

“Oh, no! Not a dance party or something! I mean like a casual get-together! Something where we could just group up and enjoy each other's company without any of that riff-raff.” Said Emerald.

Bosko’s cheering turned to disappointment. “What’s wrong with a little riff-raff?” “Like Drayven said,” Emerald motions towards him, with a gentle cheeriness. “We've had enough riff-raff for one lifetime. Maybe now we should just take the time to do something fun, you know?”

     Bosko begins to pout, Dawn pats his shoulder assuringly. “C’mon, this’ll still be fun Bosko. I know it’s not YOUR idea of fun, but you could at least give it a shot”. His pout turns to a disappointed acceptance, and he lets out a short sigh. 
“Ok.” he lifts his head up to look at Emerald. “So who else were you planning to invite. It can’t just be the four of us?”

Emerald perks up a bit and gives a gentle smirk. “I have some people in mind”

༄

    “She really wants ME to come along?” Ginger thinks to herself as she flips the invitation around in her hand as if to look for some kind of catch. Maybe she misunderstood the letter or maybe she was sent the invitation by mistake? Why would Em want HER at their party? The lone culprit was responsible for almost ruining her relationship. Maybe this was a peace offering, a symbol that there are no more hard feelings?

“Hey, you got one too?” Rai walks over holding a similarly stylized letter. “I thought Em hated your guts?”

“I thought so too. Say, why did you get a card too?” She asked back at him.

“To be frank, I don’t really know.” Rainex responded quite confused.

“Well didn’t you save her from that weird guy with the magic monocle and get her Bijou back from some nerd?”

“To be honest, I don’t know how much of that is canon or not.” RaineX looks back at his invitation “I mean, me and Drayven hang out sometimes. I guess WE also hang out. Maybe I just got in by association.” Ginger lights up a little. “Yeah, that would make sense!” She stands up from her mound of scrap and leans forward with a coy demeanor. “So, Arnie? Are we going to this party or not?”

“Um, yeah, Please don’t call me that.” He said uncomfortably. Ginger just giggled.

༄

      Emerald had just finished hanging the last few streamers from the ceiling. She climbs down the step-ladder and adjusts her earrings. Drayven comes over while straightening his suit up. “Nice work!”  Emerald's shoulders perk up as she puts her palms together and rest them at her waist. “Thanks” She responds, gently swaying in her gown. “How do I look?”

“Wonderful!” Drayven replies, giving a brief, warm smile. Emerald grins back. “Same goes for you!”

The doorbell rings and the two are greeted by Dawn and Bosko, both in fancy dinner attire. Bosko pulls at his collar as if being choked. “Hey guys, how’s it going?”

“It’s been going well, thanks for asking!” Emerald gestures towards the snack table with a host-like courtesy. "Feel free to grab some snacks while we wait for the other guests.”

      Bosko rushes towards the table to look for something good. Dawn pulls a chair up for herself and sits down. “You know, I don’t think you ever told us who else is coming?” Bosko looks up with cheeks filled with tortilla chips and salsa. “Cheah, chou kinda chest said chou had people in mind and then trailed off.” Bosko takes a moment to swallow. “What was that all about?” Just then, the doorbell rings again, and Emerald jumps over to answer it.

    Rai is cleaning his ears with his pinky as Ginger gives a forced smile to the rest of the party. “Hello there, Em! I got your invite!” Bosko gives a sudden glare as he notices the two standing in the doorway. “You invited HIM!” Rai waves awkwardly while giving a confused look back at him.

    Em proceeds, ignoring Bosko’s question. “Thank you both for coming but, you two seem a little… underdressed.” Ginger takes a look around the room, noticing everyone in Black Tie. She looks down at her blue overalls and knee-high socks, as she feels the weight of her beanie on her head. “Yeah well, they don’t really leave nice dresses at the junkyard, yeah?” She laughs nervously. Rai looks down at his raincoat, as a breeze blows through revealing his shorts underneath. “Sorry, I-I didn’t know this was a ‘fancy’ kind of party.”

“See, these two dressed for a REAL party.” Bosko says, pouring himself punch in a shot glass and quaffing it down. Em looks back at them, with a sense of secondhand embarrassment. “It’s fine really, why don’t you two make yourselves at home!” Em stutters for a moment. “Like, HOME home, not Junkyard home.”


RaineX walks over to the snack table and takes a seat away from Bosko. He carefully picks up a tortilla chip before biting into it salsa.

“You know Rai, if I didn’t know you lived in a trash heap, I would be able to tell just by smelling you.” Bosko gives off a vengeful grin. RaineX glazes his eyes over him before solemnly looking back at the chip bowl. “I mean, do you shower at all over there? You REAK!” He continued.

RaineX keeps his eyes fixated on his next chip. “There’s a river about ten minutes away that we clean up at.” 

 “A RIVER! AHAHAHAHA!!! You’re cleaning yourself off at a RIVER!” Bosko laughs hysterically.

“Knock it off, Bosko!” Dawn pouts as she pulls her chair over to the snack table.

“Damn kiddo, you might wanna lift your knuckles off the ground, God damn neanderthal! Haha!”

“BOSKO!” Dawn shouts over his laughing. Bosko stops and clears his throat. “Sorry ,Dawn”

“Apologize to Rai!” She Demands.

“Sorry, Rai.” 

“Thank you, Bosko.” Dawn replied in a sweetened tone. “Now that wasn’t so hard was it?” Dawn proceeds to ruffle Bosko’s hair before drawing it over to Bosko’s cheek. The two lean in as Bosko’s huffy tone sweetens. He puts his hand over Dawn’s shoulder and the two touch noses.

Rai loses his appetite after watching the display. Turning his head to the left, he spaces out. Once he catches back up to reality, he looks back at Bosko and Dawn, lost in each other's eyes. He shyly gets up and walks towards an empty section of the shrine.

       Ginger is hanging out in the corner while Emerald walks past with a CD case. “Hey, Em? Can I ask a question?”

“Sure, go right ahead!” Em says.

“Why did you invite me to this party?” Ginger asks, turning her head away and grabbing her other arm.

“Oh! Because we’re friends of course!”

“...Are we?” Ginger asked doubtfully.

“Sure, any friend of Drayven is a friend of mine!” Emerald proceeds to call Drayven over. The two look over at him carrying several bags of chips in his arms to refill the snack bowl. He looks over at the two ladies and drops the chips where he’s standing. “What’s up?”

“Is there anything you want to say to Ginger while she’s here?” Em asked him. Ginger’s face lights up with a bright red hue, her mouth stretches wide and flat across her face. She begins to shrink herself down towards the floor.

“Oh yeah!” Drayven quickly turns to face Ginger, now towering over her. “Listen, I know things may be a little awkward between us, but I just want to bury the hatchet. Me and Em both.” He wraps his arm around Em’s torso, as she giggles and leans into Drayven. “So whaddya say? Water under the bridge?” Drayven raises his other arm to shake with.

      Ginger looks to her left, before looking back at Drayven. After a bit of hesitation, she shakes Drayven’s hand. It was a warm hand. One worth holding on to.  Drayven let’s go of Ginger's hand and thanks her for comming to the party. Drayven pulls Em in closer, as Em reaches her arm around Dray’s shoulder. As this happens Ginger stands up with a humiliated demeanor, and storms off to an empty section of the house.

      Ginger continues walking until the noises of the party turn muffled. As she approaches the entrance to the furthest room, she notices someone standing by the wall to her right. “RaineX, you came here too, huh?”Rai looks to her direction, keeping his eyes fixated on the floor. He gives out a labored "Yeah" and turns his head over to the other side of the room. Ginger walks over to stand right next to him, mimicking his tone. “Dang, this party sucks, huh?”

“Yeah.” said RaineX

“Do you wanna just, like, leave?" She offered.

“I don’t know, that’d be kind of rude. Em put all this effort putting a party together, I don’t think it’s right to just walk out on her...”

“Why don’t we just hide then?” 

“Isn’t that the same thing as leaving, but without any of the benefits?”

“Well yeah, but if they ever start looking for us, we can show up for a few moments to be like ‘Yeah, we were just hanging out in the other room’, you know?”

    Rai pauses for a second before looking up at her. “Good point. Let’s do it..” Ginger reaches over to Rai’s metal hand, bumping the back with her fingers before delicately curling around to his palm, and getting a firm hold of it. Rai looks over at the two interlocked hands and gives off a subtle fluster. Ginger then leads the way, pulling at his arm as she skips over to the closet and brings them both inside. It was a pantry, mostly filled with crackers, chips, and all sorts of snackage. She nudges the door behind them, shutting all the light out from the room. It becomes pitch black.

Rai squints his eyes to try and see through the inky blackness, looking for Ginger’s shape. “Well shoot, I didn’t think this through very well.”

“Ha! Looks like my night vision pays off once again!” Ginger Exclaimed.

“You have night vision?” He asked confusingly.

“Yeah, dude. I’m a cat.”

“Oh dip, I didn’t think about that?”

“Think about what?” She asked him.

“You’re a literal Catgirl!”

Ginger pauses, trying to fully comprehend the statement. “Yeah… and?”

“Y’know, Catgirls! Right? Yeah?”

“I don’t know what you’re point is.”

Rai lets the moment hang for a moment as if to give her more time to think about. He then gives it thought himself and realizes why she’s so confused. He clears his throat as if to change the subject.

“So, I’m a deer, yeah? Don’t deer have night vision too?”

“I don’t know, maybe you still have human eyes?”

“What else about me could still be human?” He wondered.

“That’s… a good question.” Ginger gives a coy tilt of the head. “Maybe your heart?”

“My heart..?" 

“Yeah. Most deer I know have a pretty slow heartbeat.” Ginger lays her hand over Rai’s chest to feel his pulse. RaineX flusters up and brings his hand over to Ginger’s arm, trying to feel out what just touched him. “But yours is always really fast” Ginger begins to blush as well. Rai backs his head up but is stopped by a shelf right behind him. Ginger pushes his chest back to follow his head, and leans forward, gripping his scruffy fur. She places another hand on the shelf right behind him. Rai begins to shrink back into the shelf as far as he can go before surrendering to the moment. He puckers his lips and shuts his eyes. A stream of light enters the room.

“Alright, Found more chips, Bosko!” Dawn takes a closer look into the pantry, noticing a strange, Ginger-shaped object, leaning against another strange Rai-shaped object.

     After the moment hangs for far too long, Dawn speaks up. “What are you two doing all the way back here?” The rest of the Partygoers look over in Dawn’s direction, with a confused gaze. “You two?”

Drayven walks over to look at the scene Dawn stumbled upon. Once getting an eyeful of the situation, he mimics Dawn’s mortified expression. Em gives a sharp, worried gasp after seeing the two lovers frozen in her pantry, right before Bosko, who after taking his sweet-ass time getting there, looks at the two in the closet before letting out a hearty laugh and buckling over.

“What are you two doing in my pantry?!” Em asked bafflingly. 

       Ginger looks over at Emerald, pausing for a moment to come up with a good excuse. “Well, we WERE looking for some good snacks, but we got locked in here and… well, Rai can’t see in the dark so he just ripped over, and I leaned in to catch him and-"

“Were you two kissing?” Drayven asks. The two stand up from leaning on the shelf and wave their hands frantically. “Oh no no no no no!” The two repeat obviously embarrassed.

“They were about to have sex in Em’s closet!” Bosko shouts with malicious joy. The two get serious with a strong, sturdy “NO!”.

 Em looks over to Bosko, with a worrying sense of inquiry. “Y-You think that’s true?”

“Nah, but now you know what they sound like when they’re telling the truth.”

     Emerald looks back at the two. “So you really were hiding in my pantry giving each other mouth-to-mouth?” Ginger and Rai are both speechless. They look at each other for a hint at what to say but find nothing, they just look back at Emerald, taking extra care not to look her in the eye. Ginger then has a moment of clarity, and straightens her posture up to speak, clenching her fists by her side.

“We were trying to get away from you all.” Everyone, even RaineX was mortified by the statement.

“Get… Away...why??” Emerald said saddened by her statement.

        “You wanted to invite me to this party as some olive branch you were passing on. As if YOU were trying to forgive ME. But the thing is, I don’t forgive YOU, or DRAYVEN, or ANY OF YOU.” The gang looked over at each other, each holding their own expression, but each carried a hint of stress. “I go missing for some time, and when I FINALLY get back into the group, the love of my life is out playing tongue twisters with some fancy, rich girl. And YOU did that Emerald! I have to go on living the rest of my life knowing that the man of my dreams, will NEVER love me back, not now, not ever! He’s yours now.”

      The rest of the group look over at RaineX, who went from stunned silence to a more somber tone. Dawn lifts her hands off her mouth to speak. “Is that true, Rai? Were you trying to get away from us?” Rai looks over in her direction, staring at the opposite end of the room where the floor meets the wall. “I.... I don’t know how to handle this...” His eyes are glossed over.

      “I gave up everything for this one chance. Myy friends, the only real family I had, all disowned me. I was a freak where I came from, But I did it because… Because I really loved you, Dawn.” Streaks of water run down his face. His teeth clench up, showing sculpted fangs Rai carved out to eat meat. “And what else could I have done right!?” he chokes up over his own words. His own thoughts. “If I had done it the moment I met you, would that have made enough of a difference? Could I have changed enough to get your love back? Or was it always just me..?” 

      Rai sniffles sharply, His eyes begin to dribble intensely as he lifts his head back up. He tries to force on a smile.  “Because I'm such a gross little fart, you know. And I never know how to talk to people, and...” His smile vanishes. He tries putting it back on but after another two tries, he gives up, as he lets out a soft wail and showers the floor with eye fluid.

     Ginger looks over at RaineX and wraps her arms around him, pulling him closer in an attempt to comfort him. “Oh, dude, dude. It’s okay...” She puts her hand on his cheek and pushes his head to look towards her. “You don’t have to change a thing about yourself dude.” Rai begins to calm down a bit, and the leakage from his eyes begins to slow down. Ginger looks him right in the eyes “If they don’t like you as you are, they’ll never like anything you can turn into. And that’s okay. You don’t need to live your life pleasing others. You just need to love those who are already pleased by you” Rai’s demeanor slowly shifts to a heart-felt dreariness. What some may call ‘Turning that frown upside down.’

   Rai nods in agreement and reciprocates Ginger’s hug. After a warm moment, the two release each other from their embrace. The rest of the party continues watching them. Emerald lets out a heartfelt “Awe.” Bosko looks kind of bored but still caring. Rai and Ginger lock onto each other’s gaze. “You know Rai?” Ginger remarks “If it’s all the same to you, I’d like to continue where we left off. You know, before we were interrupted?” Rai clears his throat and tries to control his tone. “Yeah. I’d like that too.” The rest of the party stare intently at the two.

   Ginger, noticing the attention they’re receiving, takes off her cap and holds it over Rai's mouth. She leans in. No one else at the party could see what happened, but they could take a guess.