It had quite literally been some time since a claw had been last set upon this town.
No.. not some time... Forever it seemed since she had even come close to this place..
And since the unexpected, yet extremely glorious, night in the caves, she had quite literally been jogged through a memory lane. It had only been since dawn that the two have parted ways and the beast soon found herself walking through the back alleyways towards a faint memory that was very familiar.

Crimson's Restaurant...

Stomach growling as the catch that morning had not been too good, managing to catch just enough, but still...
For a female, this creature had a ravenous appetite and could put most men to shame with how much she could put away.
Putting her hood up over her head and horns, she slowly opened the door and stepped in, taking a seat in the darkest booth she could find.
Hopefully no one would be able to recognize her right off the bat, she just wanted some peace and quiet.. at least long enough to get over the daze she had been since it all started...
Or should she get Crimson alone and talk to her about it?
Oh poor Rynn was confused...

A still relatively young and friendly face was bound to find her though, a tiger/dragon hybrid by the name of Scarlet. She walked down from her room upstairs and paced into the dining area, pausing almost instantly as a vaguely familiar scent caught her attention. The hybrid smiled, pacing her way to the darkest area of the dining room and hopping up into a seat next to Rynn grinning ear to ear. "Hiya auntie Rynn, missed you. I'm not quite all grown up yet if you wanna babysit again, hehehe." The hybrid crossed her legs, her paw gently nudging Rynn's leg as she giggled. "Don' worry I just noticed you a second ago and wanted to say hi, mom hasn't seen you yet."

My oh my, how this child had grown!!
Sure after the other four were born she hand't been around much, but still...
It seemes she might have been gone much longer than expected and missed out on a lot of things.. like a few birthdays and such..
"Hey there lil Scarlet.."
Rynn gave a big grin, despite being surprised by how quick she was in finding her, and ruffled her fur a bit between the horns.
"You've gotten awfully big while I was gone huh? I may just have to babysit you guys again just for the fun times again."
The hybrid smiled at the other. Quickly writing down what she wanted to order on a piece of paper, Rynn folded itt in half and looked at Scarlet again.
"Wanna do something for Anutie Rynn? Give this to the grouchy cook and bring a huge glass of lemonade to share with me?"
For this particular moment, Rynn's usually dull eyes were brightened and actually shining. Now whether or not it was because of Scarlet being here or it being from.. him.. either way, she was rather peppy from the last few days she spent alone with him.
However, no mater how it was to be looked at, after she would eat, Rynn had some business to attend to with Scarlet's momma before going back to him with a definate answer.

"Hehe, fun times as long as Black isn't there. She's not too bad really, just likes to try and show she's the biggest and strongest. We'd still love to see our nanny, or auntie Rynn, hehe." Scarlet took the little note and gave a salute, bouncing down from her seat and giving a quick little curtsey before scampering off to the counter and returning at a much slower rate with a tray carrying the lemonade and cups. "One huge glass of lemonade, hehe. And two small plastic cups for sharing." Of course once in a while she still made "childish" acts cute, like bringing the glass pitcher of lemonade as a "large glass" instead of a large soda cup or anything. And the little hybrid had never really seen Rynn in a bad mood, so she thought this was still Rynn at her normal self. "So whatcha been up to? Lotsa fun grown up stuff? Ride that bike around the entire country yet?"

Heh, Rynn never really got tired of watching kids run around with boundless energy to simply enjoy life.
A rough chuckle escaped out of the hybrid as she watched Scarlet try to hurry back with the big tray of lemonade and cups. In an effort to help, Rynn took the tray and set it up on the table and set everything out, pouring the cold liquid while her company was getting back in her chair.
Scartching at a horn, Rynn gave a devilish smirk to Scarlet, knowing how she seemed to admire that thing.
"Oh yeah, that ol' bike has taken me to many a place and back again safely. I even went to that great big wondrous Niagara Falls. Here, choose one and the others your siblings can choose from."
The creature smirked, pulling out five small snow globes with a tiny Niagara Falls and a little sign and white and glitter flakes within.
"Don't be shy, hurry before your momma sees. I wanna surprise her with her present later."

Scarlet listened intently, all her attention focused on Rynn. Which, for a kid, was really kind of hard to believe. And then the nice present, she stared at them for a good minute before she gingerly took one and gazed deep into it as though the very meaning of life could be found written on the back of one of the tiny snowflakes, an answer she would have all to herself. And half a moment later she was squeeing in delight and practically bouncing out of her seat, settling down when she realized she was getting a few looks. "Oops, hehe, sowwy. It's sooooooo pretty, musta been nice to see the falls up close when it was snowing." Oh again, that sweet childish innocence she loved to showcase. There was a good chance she knew she was just joking, but there was an equal chance in her youth she thought it really had been snowing when Rynn visited the falls. "You're so thoughtful bringing presents like this. Even one for momma."

It was honestly enjoyable to see someone else enjoy something that Rynn could give, well aside from grown up things but that was another matter to discuss entirely.
"You like it? good, I was afraid you guys might have been too grown up for these when I could finally come back and see you guys again."
Though it was unnecessary, she did feel it was a kind of responsibility as the illegitimate aunt of the five kids... nine including the other four that Rose and Blake were still watching.
"Besides, I couldn't resist such cute souvenirs."
She giggled as she watched Scarlet bounce around a little. Before she had been sort of conned into raising Blake's kids, she really did not care for kids all that much. But now she absolutely adored the children even when they misbehaved... And in many ways she yearned to have one of her own some day. She wanted to settle down and have a private home with a son or daughter playing on the floor with their toys and cooking when her husband would come home to a warm meal.
At the smell of food bring brought out, the hybrid was brought back to reality and winked at Scarlet as she looked to stare at the food, a three course meal set right in front of her and one of Scarlets favourite snacks set in front of the young hybrid.
"A little ttreat for helping me out already."
Rynn smiled, hoping Scarlet still liked those.

"Too grown up for a present from our favorite sitter and auntie? Never, hehe. We know you too well Auntie Rynn, you could have brought us each a rock you just picked up from outside and as long as you made up a clever story where you got it from we'd love it. Well, maybe not Jack, he's too bookish sometimes... always reading grown up stories instead of listening to the ones around him..." Such an adult viewpoint from the little hybrid, and yet moments later as her favorite snack was placed in front of her she was once again back to the giddy little near toddler attitude. "OOOOOOOOOOO, you remembered! You're the Bestest Ever Rynn!" And thankfully the little one was focusing too much on the snack to mention what else came to mind, as she very nearly asked how come she didn't have someone special to be with. Of course she also forgot that auntie Rynn could read minds... the main reason she always knew when one of them was about to get into trouble.

Such a cleaver child. Rynn honestly wished she could share her gift of mindreading sometimes with other just for a little while, just to let them understand what almost always went unsaid through her mind.
Course that was a different story as Crimson always seemed to know when something was on this critter's mind.
Picking up a fork, while Scarlet was preoccupied now with her favourite treat, Rynn hungrily attacked the food. Most three course meals did nothing for her, but this meal would sedate the ravenous hunger for now.
"I don't know about just any kind of rock. Black and the others seem to be much smarter than they look as far as rocks go around the home."
She chuckled again, tail twitching as she was finally getting some food.
"By the by, don't tell them I said that."

Scarlet giggled, poking Rynn's elbow. "Hehehe, of course not silly. They can be really smart but sometimes they can be kinda silly too." Silly was sometimes Scarlet's simpler way of insulting someone, and sometimes just a fun comment. "You gonna be back for a while I hope, we miss you. Especially me, hehehe. I wanna see the bike again too, maybe you'll let me steer?" She gave that wide eyed pleading look to Rynn, smiling. Of course she didn't expect it to work, and she wanted to give auntie Rynn a chance to eat, but there were soooooo many things constantly running through her young mind. Scarlet was full of questions and full of comments, she wanted to share how great she was as a waitress, how she could get a tip and a smile from even the meanest customers.

Oh those huge pleading eyes again, it made Rynn laugh out loud as she nearly choked on her food in the process.
"Hahaha, now don't get ahead of yourself there little one. I might let you sit in my lap while I drive but no steering for you right now."
She grinned, ruffling Scarlet's fur again. Taking a few more large bites, Auntie finished off her first plate, took a drink of lemonade and took on the next plate of food.
"So I've heard you've become an even better waittress than Ashlin now. Is this true?"
She commented thoughtfully, playfully winking at Scarlet as she took a bite. She wanted to eat but also knew that if she could keep it on a subject that required little talking on her part, she'd be finished eating before long.
She still had many things to talk to everyone about, bt most of all Crimson right now then coming up with an extended apology to Shimmer and Blake and Rose. They were the ones who seemed to have missed her the most, but... Athan seemed to have proven that the first night that they were just playing around.

"Awwwwww, well least I'll have the wind in my fur, hehehe, I'll be sure to let it grow longer so it's all flying around in the breeze." Scarlet finished her treat and was noticably beaming with pride. "Did she say that? Hehehe, I been trying to show how much I've learned from her and how great I can be for everyone. Everyone feels better if they're smiling, even if they don't have a good reason to, smiles make it all so much better. And they help me get good tips too, hehe. Everyone loves a cute little kid like me bringing them food to help out momma." A very simple secret to her success, but very accurate. She poured herself a little more to drink and sipped the lemonade, before grabbing a fist full of sugar packets and tearing them open one by one to pour into her drink. Yep... she definitely had a sweet tooth. Possibly the source of her boundless energy.

Oh lawdy!! The hybrid could not help but laugh brightly at the child still. She used to not laugh around the kids even when they did something that should have made a laugh come out, but since she had left she found herself enjoying things more.
"Oh I believe you. I have no doubt that you like to help her and your momma out, but I find it funny you sem to be doing better than she right now."
She continued to enlighten the child, that was until the huge handful of sugar came into play.
Whether or not it was the excellent rare steak in front of her she hadn't had in a long time or the fact Scarlet had out all of it in her lemonade, her jaw dropped open.
"Easy on the sugar there, dear. I just got back, don't want to have you bouncing around without being prepared for it."
And she really didn't. As of the situation, she didn't know what she wanted to do here or to just leave again for another six months again. However, she did want to spend some time with Crimson and her kids before deciding what else to do.

Scarlet looked to Rynn, then back to her lemonade, then back to Rynn with a big goofy grin. "Okay, no more sugar. I'll just water it down a little." She took a huge gulp out of her glass, poured fresh lemonade, another big gulp, and poured more. "Hehe, there, less sugar now." Scarlet was smart... but... her math skills hadn't quite evolved to the appropriate level. Nor had her chemistry skills. She grinned, sipping the lemonade and grinning. "Lemme know when you're prepared for me to be hyper, hehe. It's ok, I only recently got up anyway. Still kinda sleepy. An' maybe she's not doing as well as she used to because she doesn't have a big sis around to keep her motivated?"

Oh dear... every time a sip was taken from the lemonade, a third of the sugar disappeared as well..
Well... at least she could say that when the sugar would fully hit that they would all be outside and she could burn it all off. However, she giggled softly when the commentation was made of Rynn being the big sister.
I mean, yeah sure she was taller and by far much more flexible, but age wise.. well Ashlin would always beat her in that department.
"Heh I suppose so, but I always heard she was well enough without me as well."
As long as Ashlin had Diablo to lean on for support once in a while, she really felt there was not much need to hang around.
They were all blood related and yet total opposites. Diablo and Ashlin were open and friendly about most everything. Rynn was closed up like a vault and often had a hard time saying things that she truly wanted to say. All family but near nothing alike, almost sad to think about..
Finishing her second plate, she finished off her glass of lemonade and poured herself another as she piled the empty plates together and took on the last one, consisting of half dessert and half delicious overdose of actual food.