[Jaden Wolf]

Ios | Kitsu

Kitsu peered around the open spaces of the apartment before sliding into her favourite spot between the sofa and the wall. Ios certainly wouldn't notice her here, as he was attempting to tidy the apartment, with little success. There wasn't much here; it had only been a month since he had used his limited powers to make the abandoned house livable. On the inside it was rather nice now, if a little antiquated, but the outside still had the look of a building that was falling apart. Not even the postal service thought anyone lived here. Kitsu loved it though, having a nice private place for her and Ios.

But Kitsu worried about Ios sometimes. Adult people were supposed to have adult friends! Which is why she had borrowed his phone without asking, probably the only real rule she had. He wouldn't be angry with her, she was sure, since she was going to find him a really nice friend and he'd be really happy and forget all about her breaking a rule. Still, the thought of breaking a rule made her squirm.

Shaking the anxiety away, she unlocked the phone and googled "adult friend". To be perfectly honest, she didn't understand what most of the links were saying, but one site jumped out at her. "The Love Me Corporation." She had to bite her lip to keep from giggling in her excitement. Ios needed someone to love him, definitely!

Discovering the link led to an application with a bunch of questions, she began filling it out.

"Name three to five words that you think best describe you."

(Well, he adopted her.) Nice. (He plays with her.) Friendly. (Answers all her questions.) Smart. (He's lived, like, forever) Old (Wait she shouldn't say that. The house always has stuff all over it though. That would surprise the new friend so they should know.) Messy.

"What do you enjoy doing in your free time?"

(She's never seen Ios do anything but play with her and sleep and read and stuff. Reading's boring though, who wants their friend to read all the time?) Watch movies and play games.

"Do you enjoy eating sweet things, like candies or pastries?"

(Well, Ios doesn't need to eat. Oh, but he always eats it and says it tastes good when she makes him cupcakes!) Sometimes.

"Do you have a favourite color?"

(She always tried so darn hard to find out whenever they went clothes shopping but he always just said "it looks nice". Maybe he just didn't have one favourite.) All of them.

"What is your favourite, non-gender defining, physical feature on a person?"

(Ios only ever talked to Kitsu. Though, he did seem to fuss about her hair a lot.) Hair.

"What is your favourite holiday?"

(Oh finally, an easy one!) Halloween.

"What do you do for a living?"

(Oops. Kitsu wasn't supposed to tell people about Ios's job. 'Vanish dead people' would sound scary, after all. She struggled for a bit to think of how she could be really vague about it.) Visit really sick and hurt people.

"Do you enjoy cuddling?"

(If Kitsu really wanted to, he would, but he didn't really like touching other people. Maybe it would be ok if she just said that?) If I know them really well maybe.

"Do you enjoy art?"

(What? Like, painting? Kitsu had never seen Ios paint. But that didn't mean he couldn't learn!) Maybe.

"Do you tend to hog the covers in bed?"

(Oh, they could have sleepovers!? Kitsu never had a sleepover before. But...Ios didn't need to sleep very much, and he hardly used the bed at all. It was currently covered in Kitsu's stuffed animals.) No.

"Do you find shorter or longer hair attractive?"

(Did that matter? Anyway, she didn't think Ios cared very much about how long it was.) It doesn't matter

"Are you more of an indoor or outdoor person? Or both?"

(Oh no. Ios was definitely an indoor person, but she didn't think people would like that very much. It would probably be ok to say both. She was sure it would work out in the end!) Both!

"Describe your sense of humor."

(She had to google that. Funny? How do you describe funny? Kitsu honestly couldn't think of a good answer, but she had to put something.) Funny is funny.

"Do you have any vices?"

(She googled that too. Bad things? Ios didn't do bad things! Oh...well, actually sometimes he smoked, but hardly ever anymore because she didn't like it. Maybe that counted.) Almost never smoke but sometimes.

"Do you have any family at home?"

(Of course! But what was she supposed to call herself? What would Ios call her?) I take care of a kid.

"What are you most interested in, in a relationship?"

(Like, what did he want to do with a friend?) Talking and having fun

"Lights on or off?"

(What? Why was this a question? Who kept the lights off when they weren't sleeping? And Ios hardly slept so why in all of Evelon would he like the lights off?) Lights on!

With the form completed and sent off to the company, Kitsu slowly wiggled out of her spot to replace the phone before Ios could notice it was missing. With a massive grin, she bounded off to her room. She couldn't wait to see what this new friend would be like!

[ToxicShadow]

It was nearly two weeks later that there was a loud knocking on the door, though one of the deliverymen was concerned that it might fall right off of its hinges. "Are you sure this is a good idea?" They even questioned. It didn't really look like anyone lived at the address that was connected to the winner's entry, given the building's state of disrepair, and, if they did, then it was unlikely that they had a decent life. That could potentially be problematic. Potentially.

The one that seemed in charge of the delivery group, whom was standing at the door and did the knocking, sighed. "I'm sure everything will be fine," he insisted, glancing back at the other two men and the large wooden box that stood even taller than they did that had been resting carefully on a moving dolly; it was too large for them to effectively move otherwise. Besides, delivering the package was their duty now. "Delivery!" he shouted, announcing their intentions, in case their knocking would be ignored. Things would work themselves out.

[Jaden Wolf]

Kitsu was playing with her animals on Jos's bed when there was a knock at the door. In the other room, Jos was attempting to realign a crooked shelving unit with a lot of clattering and the occasional curse, which Kitsu dutifully ignored. It was rare that he fixed things by hand but he said it was sometimes less trouble than using powers.

It seemed he hadn't heard the knock. Yet, people never knocked here, so she was rather curious as to who it could be. It took only a moment before she remembered that website she was on a few weeks before, to get Jos a friend.

Immediately, she launched onto her feet. Maybe that was Jos's new friend! "Jos!" she called to him, clambering over the pile of pillows she'd put in the doorway. The clattering stopped in response just before a knock came again, but this time accompanied by a person's voice. Delivery? Oh. It must not be Jos's friend then, why would they be delivering? "Door, Ios," she called halfheartedly, turning to push her way back into the room.

~ ~ ~

"I heard it," Ios replied as he headed for the door. Setting his hammer down on the hall table, Jos tugged the door open with a frown. He didn't recall ordering anything recently, much less for delivery. Maybe it was one of Kitsu's things he'd just forgotten about.

"Delivery?" he echoed them as he looked at the man who knocked. He looked rather disgruntled by the appearance of the place, but that was fairly normal. Ios reached to sign for the package, confirming that it was indeed addressed to him. When he looked up for the package though, he was startled by its size. What the hell did he order? For a moment he wondered if maybe there'd been a shipping error. Or if he'd made an error. Damn technology.

"Uh, you can put it in here," he said to the men, gesturing to a corner of the entrance area.

[ToxicShadow]

Once the package was signed for, and the deliveryman confirmed the signature, he raised his hand and gestured forward with two fingers, signaling the other two. "Bring it on in." He stepped aside, allowing the other two men to wheel the package safely inside. Although neither of them made any comment on it, both took notice that the inside of the house was in a much better state than the outside; in fact, they didn't even look to be the same building.

As they pushed it in past Ios, the words scrawled on the large wooden crate in bright pink paint were certainly obvious. "Love Me Corporation," it read, loud and clear. Impossible to miss.

After depositing the package inside, off of the dolly, the men used a crowbar to effectively loosen one of the side panels of the crate that had been all nailed shut. Though they did not pry it off entirely, leaving it just hanging on, and easily removable by the owner of its contents.

With a final, "Thank you," and "Have a nice day," the deliverymen all retreated back to their vehicle, in a hurry to get a move on, while seemingly leaving Ios alone with his package.

[Jaden Wolf]

As the men deposited the package, Ios could only wonder at the contents. Though the words 'Love Me Corporation' didn't exactly give him a good feeling about it. He thought it might suggest a more...mature theme. He could only hope it would be something child-friendly. It would be a real mess otherwise.

He closed the door behind the men without a word, not even looking in their general direction. It wasn't that he was trying to be rude, Ios simply never talked to people. Before Kitsu, he never even bothered to let people see him. It never even occurred to him that he should have responded.

Alone with this crate, Ios picked up the hammer and used the back end to pry it open. It didn't take much effort, of course, but he really didn't want to use his fingers. When the lid fell away though, Ios was rather startled to see a human figure inside.

"Who the hell are you?" he demanded, voice low so as not to alarm Kitsu.