[Freezair]

"Oh, don't mind me," Kane said, seeing Kyvi's unease. "We agin' gentlemen are never quite righ' in the noggin."

Kane flipped his menu open, laying it flat on the table. The usual for him today, he thought. And a saucer of ginger ale. It wouldn't do for a businessman such as him to drink on the job, but the house wine did tempt him... In his earlier days, he had set up shop next to the Palmie who manufactured it. It was nothing for a connessieur, he supposed, being too sweet, but it suited his fangs just fine... Oh, but still, he'd promised himself he wouldn't.

A waited, different from the one who'd first met them, greeted them. A Wombear this time, not the least bit anthropomorphic, and only about as high as the table itself. Well, that was alright with him, then. He looked over the rim of the table, grinning broadly at their diminutive host.

"Some ginger ale, iffin' you kindly," Kane asked. "And a garlic chicken sandwich on toasted bread, but only if my companion here is ready t'order."

[(133)7]

[Freezair]

As Kane sat there, perusing the menu--my oh my, did those deserts look good--his eyes wandered down the street, admiring the bevelling around the buildings and the glimmer of the glass in the windows.

Wait a second. Didn't he know that Shartile running down the street?

Louis! Oh no! Had something happened? Kane lept from his seat, excused himself, and ran up to meet his lizardy friend. He was rather embarrassed at his own panting. He really needed to work out a little more.

"Louis! Is somethin' the matter? Drilla burnin' sugar again? Stinkin' up the shop?"

"No," Louis replied simply. "She's actually doing a beautiful job with the caramel sauce today. I think she's learned, you know! Actually, it's a message from Jade. She's managed to get you a room down at the breeding center! Your first partner is waiting, I think. That Summerland lass."

"Oh! Well, the way you were lookin' I figgured it'd be bad. Well, isn't that pleasant! Pity I have to leave, though. I was just about to enjoy a nice lunch with my new friend, here. And I still have to show her back to the shop! Well, this IS a problem..."

"Shall I fetch Jade to show her back to the shop?"

"That'd be jus' fine, bud. I'll leave the money for my meal here, and Jade'll be treated on me. I haven' done good enough by that girl recently."

Louis looked around Kane to the Shinzo at the table. "So sorry for the interruption!" he waved. "Our friend Jade will be with you in just a minute! Don't worry!"

"Y'all are gonna git yer candy iffin' it's the last thing I do, so sit tight!))

((OOC: Jade'll show up and continue the RP after your next post, so, as you were. Sorry for any confusion. XD))

[Arillumia]

"Coffee, please," Kyvimari told the Wombear and watched him walk off. She was hungry, but she really just needed a coffee.

A bit startled as Kane excused himself, Kyvi watched him run over to a Shartile. She wondered if there was anything wrong. Maybe there was an emergency. Hopefully nothing too bad. She couldn't help but wonder if Kane wasn't going to be able to show her to the candy shop. As she watched the exchange between the two, she got her answer as the Shartile waved over at her.

"Okay, thank you sooo much for helping me! You guys really didn't even have to, and I really appreciate the help," Kyvi said a bit loudly to be heard. She guessed there wasn't much of a problem, since neither looked panicked or anything.
(9)

[Freezair]

Hrrma? What a day...

Jade was aloof as she wandered down the street. Louis had come storming and scuttling into her room again. Something about going down to the Cafe Mezzo Forte and getting lunch... something completely unimportant in his usual urgent manner. Well, the "orders" were from Kane, so she thought she ought listen to them.

She strolled down the street sleepily, as if in a daze. She knew the way to the odd little eatery--she'd been there many a time with Kane--but wondered why he would tell her to go there. He'd already headed off to the Center, making use of the room she'd snagged for him. Why...?

Ah; there it was. She looked around for the guest she had been told he was with. There was a Shinzo unlike any other; definitely her. Jade slid into the seat and looked down at the piano-patterned table, wondering what to say.

"Um.... hi."

[1]

[Arillumia]

Well, this certainly wasn't taking a short amount of time. Much longer than she had thought. Kyvimari smirked evilly. Perfect, if she took a long time, they wouldn't send her again. Hopefully she had a home left to go to, though. One couldn't underestimate a tiny candy-crazed Shinzo. No you couldn't.

She sipped the coffee the Wombear waiter had brought, and waited for this 'Jade' person. She couldn't help but wonder what kind of pet Jade was. She was startled out of her thoughts by the greeting of the Lucain that had settled in the seat. She smiled brightly.

"Hi! You must be Jade, right? That Shartile said you were supposed to come. You are Jade, right? I hope so, it'd be reeaaallly akward if you weren't," Kyvi babbled. "Oh! Right! I'm so rude, sorry. I'm Kyvimari, Kyvi for short. Kane was helping me find the candy store."
(10)

[Freezair]

"Ahhh," Jade said slowly. "I see. Well, it's very nice to meet you, Kyvi. My name is Jade."

Jade flicked her tails meditatively. Her voice was slow and thoughtful; the kind of voice that always sounded slightly sad, even when its owner was perfectly fine. "Today has been a very odd day--oh!"

Here came the waiter with food! He placed a sandwich in front of Jade; she seemed very surprised to see it, even though Louis had filled her in. She nudged it with her nose. The curls of steam from the toasted bread smelled wonderful.

[2]

[Arillumia]

(I sincerely apologize. My muse is on paid vacation, sadly)

Kyvi giggled happily at Jade's reaction. "Didn't someone tell you that Kane left before he ate and all that?" She stopped and realized what Jade had been saying before the food had arrived.

"Why has today been a bad day? I mean, I know mine hasn't been sunshine and daisies but why's yours been so bad?" she said, sipping coffee. Making a face, she reached for the creamer the waiter had brought. It seemed that today had not only been a bad day for her. She briefly wondered if someone would declare it and Official Bad Day. She almost giggled at the thought but that would be rude.
(11)

[Freezair]

"I didn't quite say bad. I said odd," Jade clarified. She took a crunchy bite out of her sandwich. Warm and heavenly, but she couldn't quite muster up the enthusiasm to say so.

"Well, you see, there've been a lot of breakdowns in the shop recently--I'm Kane's mechanic, you see. We're very, very distantly related--something on the order of fourth cousins once removed. The workers have been making jokes about gremlins. And I'm almost inclined to believe them. I was working on a cocoa bean roaster for the second time in a week when I suddenly got pulled away to come out to lunch here, and apparently to show you back to the shop when we're done. So it has been very strange..."

[3]

[Arillumia]

(Soo sorry it took so long)

"Oh. Sorry," Kyvimari giggled. She took another sip out of her coffee. They really did have good coffee here.

"Ohh. I was wondering if you were Kane's girlfriend or something. Guess that shot that idea down, didn't it?" she said smiling. "Mechanic? Sounds fascinating. I'd probably cause an explosion.

"Dang. Sounds pretty odd. So everything has been breaking. Did you guys upset a witch or something? She may have cursed you. If you do have gremlins, I wonder if they're cute, or ugly, or maybe just mischievious." When Kyvi talked like that, it was a bit hard to tell if she was serious or not.
(12)

[Freezair]

Jade, who did not have finely tuned joke-or-sarcasm-sensors, took Kyvi for deadly serious. She sat back from her sandwich in surprise.

"A... a witch? N-n-no, I don't... I don't THINK so... The only witch I know is actually rather friendly. But... I suppose there could very well be... ulp..."

She nibbled on the edge of her lunch without deep thought, suddenly worried that someone in the shop somewhere had bothered a witch.

[4]

[Arillumia]

Kyvimari looked at Jade quite funnily (is that a word?) for a moment. "Jade, I was just joking! The bad luck streak will probably wear off soon, and everything'll be back to normal. I highly doubt a witch would curse the shop. Speaking of which! I never got the name of the shop! How big is it? What are your co-workers like? Is it popular? It probably is, isn't it?"
She finished her coffee and waited for Jade to eat her sandwich. This venture for candy was a lot more interesting than she'd thought it'd be. She may have to do this stuff more often if she got to meet people like Kane and Jade.
(13)

[Freezair]

"Oh... Sorry... So sorry." Jade took an apologetic nibble out of her sandwich. "The shop is called Candy by Kane. It's fairly big... I think it might be the biggest one in Nabias. But it also might not be..."

Another nibble. She was almost halfway through the sandwich now--quite a feat for her. "My co-workers, well... They're quite nice. Let's see... Louis, whom you just saw, is one of Kane's right-hand men... There's cooks, like Dax and Sal and Ludmilla and Vladmir... Maitinence people, like myself and Horace--but I'm the only one who lives in the shop, of course. Thank goodness for that.

"Err, I meant that Kane lets me stay there, of course."

[5]

[Arillumia]

Kyvimari blinked. "M'kay, it's fine. The shop sounds awesome." For a moment, she thought that maybe there was something wrong with Jade. But then she passed it off, maybe Jade was just like that normally.

"Hmm. I was wondering who Louis was. Sounds like you don't have a huge bunch of people working in the shop. You guys don't get overworked, do you?" Kyvi asked, concerned.

"Oh, you live in the shop? That sounds great! It's probably every kids dream to live in a candy shop. All that chocolate, the jelly-beans, the gummy bears! I'd probably die happy if I lived in a candy shop." Kyvi giggled with starry eyes. "And Kane seems like a great guy to live with, anyway." (14)

[Freezair]

"Well, we all do our part, certainly," Jade said. Slurp. That was the last of the sandwich. "But no, Kane makes sure that none of us gets overworked. He even makes us take vacations if it looks like we're getting too stressed. They say chocolate is a good de-stresser, but even mounds of that can't always help if you just need a break..."

Jade sipped up the last of her drink. "I guess it is every little kid's dream to grow up in a candy shop, huh." She'd never really thought about it. "Well, we obviously can't eat whateve we please, as we have to have some leftover to sell..."

[6]

[Arillumia]

"Kane didn't seem to be the kinda guy that let his workers get overworked, even though I didn't know him for very long. He's a super nice guy from what you say and what I saw," Kyvimari said thoughtfully. She giggled at the rest of Jade's statement. "You're right, chocolate is the best de-stresser. After all, who doesn't like chocolate? Although sometimes you just get on that sugar-high and then crash, dead asleep wherever you are."

"If Kane let you guys eat whatever you wanted, there'd probably be none left in the store! Can you imagine 'I'm sorry miss, but it seems my workers got out of hand and ate all of the candy, though we do have a gumball leftover.'" She laughed. "That would be hilarious!" Smiling over at Jade, she noticed she was done eating. "Would you like to get something else, or do you wannna show me the candy store now?"
(15)