James kept hugging her and kissing the top of her head. Eventually Snow came over and threw a few thermal towels over them.

Kale slowly made his way over to the boat with Tulip's help and stared at Blaze. After a moment he shook Tulip off and went over to her.

It took her a long while, but she started to stop shaking. Then she pulled away briefly so she could turn to bury her face in James' wet chest.

Blaze said nothing, content to be king of her rock until she ran out of whatever she was drinking.

James continued to hold her close, alternating between kissing her temples and glaring at Wofle.

Kale watched for a long moment, "Hey Purplehead, drink on the boat so we can leave," he finally stated.

"Don't tell me what to do," Blaze spat at Kale before drinking some more.

Kale sighed and walked back to Wolfe. A few moments later, the boat left without Kale and Blaze.

The boat then pit-stopped and picked up a very confused Laurel and Raven. Wolfe decided to wait a little bit to see if Nic was coming. James moved Yue closed to the heater to keep both of them warm.

Blaze ignored Kale as she stood and started to head back toward the shore.

Raven blinked at all of them, not sure what to ask first.

A minute or two later, Nic showed up.

Kale followed her a little ways behind.

Laurel was a bit too drunk to really understand something was strange. But as Nic showed up she grinned and threw herself at him.

Blaze managed to keep ignoring him. She stumbled every now and then, but managed to not fall as she traversed the rock.

Nic was clearly surprised, but he didn't seem to mind.

Raven kept sniffing the air and finally seemed to figure out Wolfe had been smoking. A lot.

Kale continued to follow a bit behind.

It wasn't hard to figure out as Wolfe pulled out yet another cigarette.

Laurel giggled as she started kissing him. She was definitely actually drunk now. Some of her lipstick was already on Raven.

It was difficult for Raven to refrain from saying anything, but somehow he managed it. But he was drunk enough to have forgotten to wipe Laurel's lipstick off his face.

Nic didn't stop Laurel, but he did his best to keep her mostly under control.

Wolfe seemed to examine the lipstick for a moment then went back to smoking.

Laurel seemed to be having fun. A much different atmosphere than James and Yue.

Kale finally grabbed Blaze's arm, "Sit down before you fall down," he advised.

Raven blinked, wondering what that look was for.

Blaze tried to shake Kale's arm off. "You're not my nanny," she spat at him.

Wolfe tossed Raven a towel.

Kale sighed and let go.

Raven managed to catch the towel, glancing at it before looking back at Wolfe for an explanation.

So Blaze kept walking. Until she fell down.

Wolfe sighed and finally walked over, biting down on the cigarette as he grabbed the towel from Raven and started wiping off Raven's face. Snow giggled.

Kale sighed and walked over to her, "Told you so," he muttered.

"Huh?" Raven asked as Wolfe wiped off his face.

Blaze cussed a little before going for the last of her drink.

"You left some Laurel on you," Wolfe drawled.

Kale let her, taking a seat beside her.

Raven was confused until he saw the lipstick on the towel. Then he simply pointed at Laurel, blaming her.

At least Blaze was sane enough not to try standing again right away. But she didn't look like she wanted to talk either.

When they got back, James scooped up Yue in his arms and walked off.

Laurel had fallen asleep in Nic's arms.

Wolfe was still chain smoking. The other neonates scattered.

--

Kale sighed, "You're stone drunk, purplehead," he stated.

Yue's face was still buried in James' chest.

Nic carefully picked Laurel up and started to take her to her room.

Raven rubbed Wolfe's arm a little when everyone else was gone. "... What happened?" he asked quietly.

--

Blaze said nothing, tossing the empty bottle away.

Wolfe didn't seem to want to talk.

--

"I don't... understand you," Kale sighed as he caught the bottle before it shattered on the rocks.

Raven didn't ask again, but he tried to give Wolfe a hug.

--

Blaze snorted before laying back on the rocks.

Wolfe let him but didn't hug him back.

--

"And... you don't understand me at all," he sighed.

Raven didn't seem to care. But he didn't seem to want to let go either.

--

Blaze said nothing, trying to get a little more comfortable.

Wolfe didn't pull away from him. Raven could feel how tense his entire body was.

--

After a moment, Kale stripped off his jacket and tossed it to her.

So Raven kept hugging Wolfe, rubbing his back a little bit after awhile.

--

Blaze ignored the jacket, tossing it to the other side of her so it was out of Kale's reach.

Wolfe didn't seem to want to relax. But after awhile the tension dropped a little.

--

Kale rolled her eyes, "You don't even care about my side of things, you vicious woman. You just throw a tantrum all by yourself and assume my side of it," he accused since he assumed she was too drunk to really understand it anyway.

"I dun care - I dun wanna know why you'd pick sugar over a girl," Blaze spat at him as she adjusted her tiny top. "Your business and choices are yours, but my life is too short. So go eat some chocolate or something."

"Pick... wha-?" Kale repeated, confused. Then he sighed and adjusted his mohawk so it stood up straighter. "It's... It's not that I don't care for my body," he muttered, irritated.

Blaze didn't seem interested listening to the explanation as she burped a little.

Kale watched Blaze and found it was easier to talk to her when she was drunk. It felt like he didn't have an audience.

"I've... been alone for a really long time," he murmured, keeping his voice low. "A really long time." He paused, bringing his knees up and leaning back on a rock as he watched her. "Looking at this Neonates group Wolfe's created, you'd think we'd always been like that. But it's... really only been two years. I've cleaned up a lot in the last two yeas, Blaze." He seemed to be trying to convince her of something even though she wasn't paying attention. "I was a drug addict for a long time. Being alone night after night is hard. I'm skinny now, but you should have seen me when Wolfe found me. I've been working on stuff but... I can't just... fix myself overnight. I used to not care about my body at all. I didn't have parents, I was designed in a lab... I felt unnatural and unwanted. Like I had no right to be in this world. But I... I see a similar situation with you and your fight to survive and I... I want to care. I mean, care about more than just finding the lab, you know? Care about living. But I just... don't know how." He paused again, "And I... I don't eat sugar just cause I like it. I mean, I do like it. But I... well it's embarrassing... but I can't taste anything else. The drugs killed most of my taste-buds. Only the middle of my tongue can taste and that's the sweet ones. Everything else... just tastes like ash and sand. You wouldn't want to eat that, right? So it's not that I don't care... I'm just more messed up than you think I am. I hide it pretty well I guess. I don't like being around people. Just you. I like you." Another pause. "I love you."

Blaze was quiet for a long time. Then she burped again before trying to stand up on her own.

Kale sighed and went to get his jacket, "Not that it matters," he muttered, "I'll most likely be gone tomorrow so I'm glad... you'll never know. I'll just be that jerk who left you for sugar."

Blaze stumbled a bit as she got her balance. "You wanna be a sugar jerk?" she asked him sloppily.

"Yep, I'm a sugar jerk," he replied as he place the jacket over her shoulder, "If you remember anything tomorrow, remember that."

"Why?" she asked as she grabbed the empty bottle and tried to drink from it.

"Cause I'll be gone," Kale reminded her as he tried to steer her towards the docks.

Blaze was silent for a long time, letting Kale push her along. Then as they approached the docks, she turned back to him. "... Are you happy sugah jerk?" she asked him.

Kale chose to not answer as he tried to get her onto his boat.

Before they got onto the boat, Blaze suddenly turned to Kale with a determined look on her face. "... I need to pee," she told him.