A Much Friendlier Encounter

“Maybe Ren should have a pet,” Kotone thought idly, shrugging to herself. She was certainly a caring girl, and she had no qualms about cats, even if she did with humans that weren’t Kotone. Suddenly, he was asking about more pets. Rather, he was asking if Kotone had ever wanted more pets. Followed by talking about finding strays who needed a home and bringing them back to Lamia Scale. Kotone grinned, shaking her head at Kade. Not from disagreement, but from some level of amusement.

“Strays, huh? Like me?” she asked him with a slightly raised eyebrow as if to emphasize the question that she had asked in response to his own. She let out another chuckle. “It’s not weird. I’m sure a lot of strays want a home. Or could use one whether they know it or not,” Kotone decided. Kotone was one of the stray people, technically speaking, but she knew far more stray animals she didn’t have time or energy for. Sidney was kind of lucky like that.

There was nothing wrong with idealism. Kotone was no longer especially idealistic, but she still had her moments. It was one reason she hadn’t given completely in to her bitterness awhile back. She still wanted to be a hero, even if she resented the people she wanted to save. She was glad she didn’t feel like that so much anymore, even if it was hard not to every once in awhile.

“Probably. But I wouldn’t suggest it to her.” He knew how she got about things. It was hard to predict, but never all that surprising. She was improving, but he couldn’t say that would account for too much. He was a bit embarrassed, maybe, over his randomness, but there was no harm. He shrugged when she asked if he meant strays like her. Yes. “Sounds like you get my meaning.”

“So, Kotone,” Kade said after a pause. He wasn’t sure when Ren would come back, but he knew when she did his chance to talk to Kotone would be mostly gone. He wouldn’t take their time away from them. They were friends, and both seemed to rub together well. “What are your plans for the rest of the day? If we’re lucky Ren will be back sometime today and you can see her again… but I am interested in getting more time to talk to you. How often are you actually at your house in Hosenka?” He was under the impression she travelled a lot. It came from her not having a home, and how she talked about Hosenka. Much as he would like to show up in town and surprise her with a visit, it wouldn’t do much good if she wasn’t home, now would it?

Kade certainly had a strange recruitment method. Just run out and find strays. Stray people or animals, from the sound of it. Kotone suddenly imagined Sid in a Lamia Scale Tattoo. She wasn’t even sure if cats could get guild tattoos. The girl was pretty sure Kade was talking about people as much or more than animals, though. She said nothing else. He was neither asking her to join as Fairy Tail had more than once, nor did his statement seem to require any response.

“… My… plans?” Kotone was suddenly confused. Kade was asking her plans? Why? He was interested in getting more time to talk. That was interesting… maybe he wasn’t just doing her a favor after all. She couldn’t hide the surprise at him being interested in continuing to talk to her. “I uh, I’m at my house a varying amount… I’ve been on a… vacation lately,” she told him. “If I’m not here I’ll probably be there for the next few days. Other than that… your guess is as good as mine.”

As for his original question… “As for the rest of the day… I guess I don’t have any. We can do whatever,” she told Kade, actually kind of excited at the thought. She’d thought they were just waiting on the cake and he was being nice to her because of her obvious desire to talk to another dragon slayer. He actually wanted to talk to her.

There weren’t really any people Kade talked to for any amount of time out of obligation alone. He enjoyed talking to people, and if he didn’t enjoy talking to someone he didn’t carry on a conversation with them. He didn’t have many arguments, clearly. That meant that he wasn’t just sitting around Kotone and talking to her for her health.

“Vacation. That’s a good use of time,” Kade mused. It was better than just disappearing and being aggressive and violent. There was no need to dwell on that now though, because he was feeling better, and in the company of a pleasant young woman. On her eighteenth birthday. Making her about four and a half years younger than him. Those four years which would have made a huge difference when their dragons left, but not so much now.

“Well, once we finish with your cake I can give you a tour of the area. I don’t know how much Ren really showed you. That is, if you like. We have the general areas, and quite a few bedrooms. Not that I’d show you around people’s individual rooms. You can see mine if you wanted,” he shrugged, “but that’s the only one I can speak for. Then there’s the yard and my garden area.” He was pleased that she sounded happy to hang out.

Kotone nodded. She supposed Ren really hadn’t shown her much, considering the girl had eyes for two things: Staying seen by Kotone and staying unseen by everyone else. “It’d be fun,” Kotone agreed, also finding her time spent with Kade rather enjoyable. She ran her fingers through her hair as she took up a new position next to where Kade was standing while they waited the final few minutes for the cake. Sure, there was a timer, but her nose was good enough to tell it as almost done, so she didn’t really pay much attention to it. Not that she had to – it was Kade cooking her cake, not her attempting to bake. She’d heard baking was actually rather different than the cooking she was used to.

Seeing Kade’s room would be fun. He’d get to see hers if he visited her home, after all. How did he live? Did he spend much time there, or did he spend most of it ‘away’ even if he was at the guild hall? “As much fun as snooping is, your room is fine,” Kotone chuckled casually. “I’m more interested in people I actually know anyway. Besides, I’ve never been given a guild tour before. Maybe because I hadn’t joined up or something,” she shrugged, a toothpick of ice appearing in her hand with a tiny flourish as she stuck it in her mouth in the same smooth movement. She didn’t get nourishment from her own magical ice, but it was something to chew on, even if it wasn’t the most appetizing.

Ren really was good about being unseen. It was part luck, part personality, part actual effort into hiding. Kade could probably have found the girl when he wanted, but he didn’t want to upset her. Always being there even when she wanted to hide would have messed up the relationship they had. Kade soon pulled the cake out and said, “We can let it cool while I show you around.” It would be better that way.

Kade showed Kotone around the outside of the building first. The rabbits and the garden. Those were his pride and joy. Not so much the rabbits, since they weren’t his, but he garden itself. He’d built the hutch. Kade was good with his hands, and knowing what he needed to do. He had a crate stuck in the ground for all his gardening supplies, but it didn’t look like much to anyone not standing over it. Next they went inside. He showed her to his room. A large bed, made that morning. A closet and a dresser. A chest in the corner and a desk with a chair. Several book shelves. The window was open. He had several things hanging on the walls, seemingly odd things that he had found over time.

When they went back downstairs to look at the cake Kade spotted a Ren. She was standing in the corner and came over when she saw Kotone. “Well, I guess you two will want to catch up.”