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Spark thought these guys were going to be an interesting bit of fun. Kaiden already knew they weren’t going to get rid of him.
“Nice to meet you all! I may as well hang around and introduce you.” He offered. “Mana loves meeting new people and my usual group of friends always welcome any strangers to the Garden Square. I’ll save you from getting jumped by too much attention.”
Kaiden looked between Soren and Eli. “No there is a difference. One is being upset and the other is a form of mild self loathing that is often used to look more dramatic or angsty.”
She was technical, she couldn’t help it.
“It’s always a good time of day now, to hit up Garden Square. A lot of the senior fledglings like myself usually hang around there, play cards or do some busking, music things. It’s a good time.” Spark looked at Kai. “Especially with the reputation your mom has, you might get swarmed. Kai right? Don’t suppose you have an active or passive Guardian yet? Oh, too many questions.”
The trolley stopped in an intersection, an Kaiden told them that this was their stop. The light was limited from the narrow alley, but it passed trough the stained glass above, giving it an array of colours. There were flower vendors and even a few butterflies hanging around.
“Oh yeah Mana has been here all day…”
Eli beamed at Spark. Making new friends was pretty much the highlight of his life.
"Great, thanks! How much attention do you think we're going to draw, anyway? I mean, maybe you guys don't get tons of new people, but really..." He started to look over at Kai, could practically feel the glaring in his direction, and changed his mind.
Soren almost stuck his tongue out at Kaiden for that. "Fine, it's sulking then. Happy?"
Kai gave Spark a narrow look. What? Gee, thanks mom. "...Really? It's not THAT big a deal, is it? Whatever she did?" He was going to have to have a talk with her about things...like actually sharing them with him. He lifted his arm and studied the stone on his gauntlet before tapping it lightly. "I have no idea what it is, I don't think it's done baking yet...What's a passive Guardian?"
He tried to ignore the feeling of being utterly lost as they got off the trolley and began to check things out. 'Jem, of course, went right to the flowers, dragging Specter with her. Lanie almost facepalmed as her brother's face lit up at the sight of the butterflies. He looked as though he were about to try and chase them down.
"BUGS! Look guys!"
Soren slipped out of his mood enough to crack half a grin.
"If you guys have ladybugs too, the world'll end. Just what he needs."
“Well I’ll start doomsday prepping, Mana has everything.” Spark exclaimed. “Just down this way.”
Along the walk Spark made sure to duck between people, looking out for someone in particular. He started walking backwards as he faced the group, Kaiden walking behind. Her mind seemed to be elsewhere at the moment.
“Well Passive Guardians are like, objects that have the power of a Guardian in them. Like a lamp or a cool sword or a neat cape…” He paused for a moment. “I think someone even has one as a mic stand. Anyway they buff you up and what not.”
Krieg was still sitting on Spark’s shoulder the entire time as well. How he managed to balance a chicken there for this long, no one would know.
They came to the main pavilion where a giant tree acted as a roof over the entire square. There was a cafe on the left and another botanist store on the right. Roots arched an looped into the ground and some people say at benches. The sound of someone playing a guitar could be heard. Spark dashed right under the tree and took a quick look around.
Hanging upside down from one of the branches was a girl with auburn hair and green eyes. She had a book in her hand and a few butterflies fluttering around her. Her braided hair hung down and she had what looked like an insect carapace for a backpack.
“HEY MANA!”
She didn’t respond.
“She has the attention of a gnat.. CICADA!”
That got her attention. She looked down, saw Spark and waved with a smile. Dropping down and landing on her feet, Spark went and introduced her to the group.
“Hi! As Spark said, I’m Mana, nice to meet you!”
A lamp. A LAMP. Kai thought back to the One Armed Devil and his lamp, and couldn't resist. "That guy Kaiden told us about, the One Armed Devil? Is that what his lamp is? Does he ever forget it places? You know, you go shopping for carrots and set it down, then have to apologize later?"
"KAI."
He pretended he didn't hear the shock in 'Jem's voice, and simply followed along. When they reached the pavilion and he saw the tree, he stopped, letting out a low whistle.
"Well, I think we just found Eli's new home away from home."
Indeed, the younger boy let out a yell happier than when he'd seen the butterflies.
"LOOK AT THIS TREE. THIS IS BETTER THAN MY TREE BACK HOME."
"I think the wilting flower's feeling better." Soren commented, watching Eli begin to bounce around the pavilion.
"I think they're going to send us home if he keeps being weird." Lanie added, watching the girl hanging from the branches. "But if they don't, maybe he can join her."
Specter made a soft noise from next to her, and Lanie shrugged. "Or not, if you're jealous about it."
"No one said I was jealous."
"Then what was that noise for?"
"People make sounds, Lanie."
"Not like that."
Kai was worried that either he was going to have to get involved (it didn't seem like much of anything, but he knew Eli's sister well enough it was probably going to turn into an argument if she kept poking), or that 'Jem would, when the conversation was interrupted by Mana's introduction. At least it distracted everyone from Eli's love life.
"Hi!" Eli's bouncing had slowed, but not stopped. He was still grinning, but at least he looked slightly less like he was on a sugar high. "Spark said you have bugs. What kinds? Do you have ladybugs?"
"...Excuse him." Kai added, rubbing at his forehead. He thought he was getting a headache. "He's apparently a nature spirit or something, and he doesn't do so well away from it."
"If I'm a nature spirit, what're you?"
Kai had to think about that one. "Chaos incarnate? Or spawn of, or something."
“Yes he has.” Kaiden answered Kai quickly, before looking off to the cafe for a moment. “I’ll be a moment… feel free to explore.”
Mana seemed enthralled with the fact Eli was beaming at the tree. Absolutely happy.
“Thank you! I’ve grown it since it was a sapling over the last ten years.” She informed him. “Oh bugs! I have tons! They’re all friends of mine.”
She patted her backpack and it turned out it wasn’t a backpack at all. In fact it was a large insect with four legs that all seemed to want to meet ends in the middle. Big round, shiny eyes looked at Eli while a pair of tiny small ones looked at everyone else. The buzzing was only a gentle hum as he flew circles around Eli’s head. (Note look up Ninjask and that’s basically the shape)
“That’s Panic, my Guardian.”
Panic made a thrumming sound like he was trying to say hi. The green and grey insect started looking around at everyone else while other smaller insects seemed to join him in some kind of swarm.
“Wait, you’re the spawn of an Aspect?”
“Mana, I think that’s just a phrase…” Spark poked at her side. “Anyway, Mana takes care of this Garden Square and the one above it.”
“I actually live under this tree, its pretty awesome.” She kicked at the ground a little bit. “You guys are from offworld? That’s exciting.”
“Who are you talking to?”
Mana stopped when she saw a tall teenage boy in an orange vest with brown sleeves and cream coloured scarf, standing behind her. His hair was almost shoulder length, messy and was hiding a pair of ice coloured eyes. He had a ridiculously smooth and calm voice.
“Oh hi Genner. You stopped playing already?”
“Hi Ge-….” Spark stopped, and walked up to Genner, who only looked at him, almost as if he was half asleep. “Genner.”
“Spark.”
“You forgot something again.”
“What?”
Spark answered by slapping Genner’s exposed abdomen. Mana only sighed, as Genner didn’t like much fawning attention, but he seemed to always forget to not expose his chiseled features. Spark waited a moment, only to have the stinging in the back of his knuckles take over, and him shove his hand under his arm. Genner didn’t flinch, he only looked down, and then zipped up the vest.
“Did you have to hit me?”
“Genner, do you just decide some days to FORGET to get dressed in the morning?”
“I am dressed.”
“A shirt dude? THAT’S LIKE HALF THE WARDROBE.” Spark was shaking his head. “Excuse him, sometimes I wonder if he’s awake half the time.”
“Define, ‘awake’, Spark.”
Well. That was going to be fun to make jokes about later. Kai wondered if by making them he'd be dooming himself to the same thing. Just what he needed.
"YOU grew this?" Eli stared at Mana with his mouth open before remembering that the ability to close it was one he possessed. Not that it mattered, because he was going off again a few seconds later.
"It's beautiful, it really is! There's a tree back home I love to climb, but it's nowhere near this big...It's been there for ages though, or at least before my parents settled- WHOA."
He was staring again, this time at Panic, before turning to the others. It was obvious he was trying not to flail.
"Why doesn't anything like this ever happen to me?"
Lanie rolled her eyes at her brother. "You can walk into people's dreams you dork, do you really need a pet bug too?"
"It's not a pet, it's a Guardian, and YES."
Kai rubbed at his forehead again. Definitely a headache. He snorted at the question. Actually...
"It is just a phrase, but who knows what I am. Keeper of these weirdos, mostly."
"And whose idea was that, anyway?" Eli pointed out, before turning back to Mana. "You live here? Can I hang out sometimes? I mean, actually, you know, hang out." He pointed to the tree. "I'm real careful climbing, I won't hurt anything."
Specter coughed a little, and Eli looked back, then blushed. "Well, maybe myself if I fall out, I'm pretty good at sleeping in trees but sometimes I sorta...yeah. And we are, and it IS. Me, my sister, Soren and Specter are from Radiant Garden and 'Jem's from someplace else, but Kai's from Destiny Islands, though he and I go lots of places and-"
He stopped too when the other boy came up, and blinked. Okay, that was...yeah, if he'd ever left the house like that, his mom would've killed him. He heard Soren yelp suddenly, and looked over to see Kai lower his hand. What the-
"What's going on?"
"He's staring."
"Wasn't."
"Liar."
"Did you have to throw ice at my head for it?"
"I thought you wanted to meet my brother."
"I'm not allowed to shop around?"
Kai looked three seconds away from doing worse to Soren than tossing Blizzard at him again.
"I'm going to kill you, Soren."
"I'm kidding Kai, get a grip. I thought you didn't want a thug near him anyway?"
Kai didn't answer, only crossed his arms, grumbling to himself about idiots that needed to be drop-kicked through Corridors.
Mana was now getting a bit shy, but Spark put his hand on her shoulder. “Yeah it took some time but I got the hang of it. When I’m able to go Gate Making, I hope I end up between here and a world with a lot of plants… or a desert as cacti are neat. They’re really prickly and you shouldn’t eat them though, contrary-”
Spark poked her. Mana had a habit of getting off topic, but it wasn’t entirely her fault. Panic landed on her head to help her focus.
“Sure! You can hang out any time, just let me know.”
The three of them were rather grateful for the clarification of what Guardian’s were. They weren’t just pets, they were a part of their own hearts. They left them to being tourists and decided to change the subject.
“Well you are the kid of the first…” Spark lowered his voice to not draw attention. “Underseer, and one that parallels from what I was told.”
Genner perked up. “Wait what? That kid?”
Mana seemed to get very nervous when she saw ice magic being used at Soren. Spark just looked at him and Genner shrugged.
“I get that a lot, don’t worry about it.”
“Because someone can’t wear clothes and this is why we can’t have nice things.” Spark almost growled at him between his teeth.
Genner smirked at him. “Clearly I have a nice thing.”
“Don’t get smart with me.” Spark snapped, yes he snapped his finger, at Genner. “Anyway, Kai you might want to be careful with the ice magic.”
“We don’t want the Ice Empress to bug you…” She didn’t realize the irony in that comment one bit.
Genner swung his guitar over his shoulder. “Yeah, Ice Empress isn’t a nice girl like you four.”
“She’s a bi… we could talk about it in the cafe?” Spark caught himself as both Panic and Mana gave him a look. “Krieg and I could use a snack, and now Ghost won’t kick Gen out now that I fixed his ‘shirt’ problem.”
Genner rolled his eyes.
"Ah, sorry if I'm embarrassing you or anything, I get kind of...excited." Eli decided to pretend he hadn't heard his sister's quiet 'all the time' tacked on. "Um, when you get to go...Gate Making, you can come to Radiant Garden, we've got tons of plants. There's a reason for the name, after all."
Kai shifted uncomfortably as the subject switched, of all things, to him. People knew about him. People HIS AGE on another world entirely knew about him. What was he supposed to do with that?
"Somebody's going to have to explain some stuff." He let his arms drop and shoved his hands into his pockets. "And what Ice Empress?"
Soren was rubbing at the side of his head; apparently Kai had flicked him hard enough he was still feeling the sting a bit. "Getting something to eat while we talk about what a special snowflake Kai is would be nice."
"Shut up, Soren."
'Jem slipped up beside Kai and tugged on his arm until he pulled a hand free, slipping his fingers into her's. Fine, no more tossing Blizzard at the thug. This second, anyway.
"Guess we might as well."
Spark led them into the open cafe, which had a quiet few customers in it. Most people sat outside, but this left enough empty tables for Spark to push around so they could all gather by it. Genner made sure that everyone had a seat before putting his guitar in his lap, and drooping over it.
“Well I’ve just been told stuff from my dad. Who was beat up by your mom.” Spark told Kai. “Might want to hear it from her though. Still, she beat up my dad and that’s -awesome-.”
Genner and Mana rolled their eyes. Spark had weird priorities.
“You want to talk about special snowflakes?” Genner asked, leaning back. “Rin is hell’s special snowflake.”
“Yeah she’s not a nice girl…” Mana muttered, looking at a Moogle in a blue coat who was ready to take their order. “Oh, uh green tea, four sugar’s please!”
“Espresso latte… I mean a latte with espresso shots. Five.” Genner told the Moogle with a raise of his finger.
“I’ll take a iced tea with one of those baked rolls.” Spark followed up, Mana adding that to her list. “Maybe we’ll get a show today.”
“Knowing the Ghost? Probably.” Genner yawned. “Anyway, Rin. Rin is a Shiva Keeper and she is all about being the friggin’ harbinger of winter. Ice Empress has to be the best Ice user in the entire world and she challenges anyone who uses so much as a Blizzard spell.”
“She isn’t nice about it either…” Mana added. “She won’t let you get out of a combat match if she figures it out. It being you using magic anyway.”
“Someone needs to kick her ass and it needs to not be me.” Genner stated. “I don’t want the attention.”
“Says the guy who shows off his ‘nice things’.” Spark scoffed.
“Nice to meet you all! I may as well hang around and introduce you.” He offered. “Mana loves meeting new people and my usual group of friends always welcome any strangers to the Garden Square. I’ll save you from getting jumped by too much attention.”
Kaiden looked between Soren and Eli. “No there is a difference. One is being upset and the other is a form of mild self loathing that is often used to look more dramatic or angsty.”
She was technical, she couldn’t help it.
“It’s always a good time of day now, to hit up Garden Square. A lot of the senior fledglings like myself usually hang around there, play cards or do some busking, music things. It’s a good time.” Spark looked at Kai. “Especially with the reputation your mom has, you might get swarmed. Kai right? Don’t suppose you have an active or passive Guardian yet? Oh, too many questions.”
The trolley stopped in an intersection, an Kaiden told them that this was their stop. The light was limited from the narrow alley, but it passed trough the stained glass above, giving it an array of colours. There were flower vendors and even a few butterflies hanging around.
“Oh yeah Mana has been here all day…”
Eli beamed at Spark. Making new friends was pretty much the highlight of his life.
"Great, thanks! How much attention do you think we're going to draw, anyway? I mean, maybe you guys don't get tons of new people, but really..." He started to look over at Kai, could practically feel the glaring in his direction, and changed his mind.
Soren almost stuck his tongue out at Kaiden for that. "Fine, it's sulking then. Happy?"
Kai gave Spark a narrow look. What? Gee, thanks mom. "...Really? It's not THAT big a deal, is it? Whatever she did?" He was going to have to have a talk with her about things...like actually sharing them with him. He lifted his arm and studied the stone on his gauntlet before tapping it lightly. "I have no idea what it is, I don't think it's done baking yet...What's a passive Guardian?"
He tried to ignore the feeling of being utterly lost as they got off the trolley and began to check things out. 'Jem, of course, went right to the flowers, dragging Specter with her. Lanie almost facepalmed as her brother's face lit up at the sight of the butterflies. He looked as though he were about to try and chase them down.
"BUGS! Look guys!"
Soren slipped out of his mood enough to crack half a grin.
"If you guys have ladybugs too, the world'll end. Just what he needs."
“Well I’ll start doomsday prepping, Mana has everything.” Spark exclaimed. “Just down this way.”
Along the walk Spark made sure to duck between people, looking out for someone in particular. He started walking backwards as he faced the group, Kaiden walking behind. Her mind seemed to be elsewhere at the moment.
“Well Passive Guardians are like, objects that have the power of a Guardian in them. Like a lamp or a cool sword or a neat cape…” He paused for a moment. “I think someone even has one as a mic stand. Anyway they buff you up and what not.”
Krieg was still sitting on Spark’s shoulder the entire time as well. How he managed to balance a chicken there for this long, no one would know.
They came to the main pavilion where a giant tree acted as a roof over the entire square. There was a cafe on the left and another botanist store on the right. Roots arched an looped into the ground and some people say at benches. The sound of someone playing a guitar could be heard. Spark dashed right under the tree and took a quick look around.
Hanging upside down from one of the branches was a girl with auburn hair and green eyes. She had a book in her hand and a few butterflies fluttering around her. Her braided hair hung down and she had what looked like an insect carapace for a backpack.
“HEY MANA!”
She didn’t respond.
“She has the attention of a gnat.. CICADA!”
That got her attention. She looked down, saw Spark and waved with a smile. Dropping down and landing on her feet, Spark went and introduced her to the group.
“Hi! As Spark said, I’m Mana, nice to meet you!”
A lamp. A LAMP. Kai thought back to the One Armed Devil and his lamp, and couldn't resist. "That guy Kaiden told us about, the One Armed Devil? Is that what his lamp is? Does he ever forget it places? You know, you go shopping for carrots and set it down, then have to apologize later?"
"KAI."
He pretended he didn't hear the shock in 'Jem's voice, and simply followed along. When they reached the pavilion and he saw the tree, he stopped, letting out a low whistle.
"Well, I think we just found Eli's new home away from home."
Indeed, the younger boy let out a yell happier than when he'd seen the butterflies.
"LOOK AT THIS TREE. THIS IS BETTER THAN MY TREE BACK HOME."
"I think the wilting flower's feeling better." Soren commented, watching Eli begin to bounce around the pavilion.
"I think they're going to send us home if he keeps being weird." Lanie added, watching the girl hanging from the branches. "But if they don't, maybe he can join her."
Specter made a soft noise from next to her, and Lanie shrugged. "Or not, if you're jealous about it."
"No one said I was jealous."
"Then what was that noise for?"
"People make sounds, Lanie."
"Not like that."
Kai was worried that either he was going to have to get involved (it didn't seem like much of anything, but he knew Eli's sister well enough it was probably going to turn into an argument if she kept poking), or that 'Jem would, when the conversation was interrupted by Mana's introduction. At least it distracted everyone from Eli's love life.
"Hi!" Eli's bouncing had slowed, but not stopped. He was still grinning, but at least he looked slightly less like he was on a sugar high. "Spark said you have bugs. What kinds? Do you have ladybugs?"
"...Excuse him." Kai added, rubbing at his forehead. He thought he was getting a headache. "He's apparently a nature spirit or something, and he doesn't do so well away from it."
"If I'm a nature spirit, what're you?"
Kai had to think about that one. "Chaos incarnate? Or spawn of, or something."
“Yes he has.” Kaiden answered Kai quickly, before looking off to the cafe for a moment. “I’ll be a moment… feel free to explore.”
Mana seemed enthralled with the fact Eli was beaming at the tree. Absolutely happy.
“Thank you! I’ve grown it since it was a sapling over the last ten years.” She informed him. “Oh bugs! I have tons! They’re all friends of mine.”
She patted her backpack and it turned out it wasn’t a backpack at all. In fact it was a large insect with four legs that all seemed to want to meet ends in the middle. Big round, shiny eyes looked at Eli while a pair of tiny small ones looked at everyone else. The buzzing was only a gentle hum as he flew circles around Eli’s head. (Note look up Ninjask and that’s basically the shape)
“That’s Panic, my Guardian.”
Panic made a thrumming sound like he was trying to say hi. The green and grey insect started looking around at everyone else while other smaller insects seemed to join him in some kind of swarm.
“Wait, you’re the spawn of an Aspect?”
“Mana, I think that’s just a phrase…” Spark poked at her side. “Anyway, Mana takes care of this Garden Square and the one above it.”
“I actually live under this tree, its pretty awesome.” She kicked at the ground a little bit. “You guys are from offworld? That’s exciting.”
“Who are you talking to?”
Mana stopped when she saw a tall teenage boy in an orange vest with brown sleeves and cream coloured scarf, standing behind her. His hair was almost shoulder length, messy and was hiding a pair of ice coloured eyes. He had a ridiculously smooth and calm voice.
“Oh hi Genner. You stopped playing already?”
“Hi Ge-….” Spark stopped, and walked up to Genner, who only looked at him, almost as if he was half asleep. “Genner.”
“Spark.”
“You forgot something again.”
“What?”
Spark answered by slapping Genner’s exposed abdomen. Mana only sighed, as Genner didn’t like much fawning attention, but he seemed to always forget to not expose his chiseled features. Spark waited a moment, only to have the stinging in the back of his knuckles take over, and him shove his hand under his arm. Genner didn’t flinch, he only looked down, and then zipped up the vest.
“Did you have to hit me?”
“Genner, do you just decide some days to FORGET to get dressed in the morning?”
“I am dressed.”
“A shirt dude? THAT’S LIKE HALF THE WARDROBE.” Spark was shaking his head. “Excuse him, sometimes I wonder if he’s awake half the time.”
“Define, ‘awake’, Spark.”
Well. That was going to be fun to make jokes about later. Kai wondered if by making them he'd be dooming himself to the same thing. Just what he needed.
"YOU grew this?" Eli stared at Mana with his mouth open before remembering that the ability to close it was one he possessed. Not that it mattered, because he was going off again a few seconds later.
"It's beautiful, it really is! There's a tree back home I love to climb, but it's nowhere near this big...It's been there for ages though, or at least before my parents settled- WHOA."
He was staring again, this time at Panic, before turning to the others. It was obvious he was trying not to flail.
"Why doesn't anything like this ever happen to me?"
Lanie rolled her eyes at her brother. "You can walk into people's dreams you dork, do you really need a pet bug too?"
"It's not a pet, it's a Guardian, and YES."
Kai rubbed at his forehead again. Definitely a headache. He snorted at the question. Actually...
"It is just a phrase, but who knows what I am. Keeper of these weirdos, mostly."
"And whose idea was that, anyway?" Eli pointed out, before turning back to Mana. "You live here? Can I hang out sometimes? I mean, actually, you know, hang out." He pointed to the tree. "I'm real careful climbing, I won't hurt anything."
Specter coughed a little, and Eli looked back, then blushed. "Well, maybe myself if I fall out, I'm pretty good at sleeping in trees but sometimes I sorta...yeah. And we are, and it IS. Me, my sister, Soren and Specter are from Radiant Garden and 'Jem's from someplace else, but Kai's from Destiny Islands, though he and I go lots of places and-"
He stopped too when the other boy came up, and blinked. Okay, that was...yeah, if he'd ever left the house like that, his mom would've killed him. He heard Soren yelp suddenly, and looked over to see Kai lower his hand. What the-
"What's going on?"
"He's staring."
"Wasn't."
"Liar."
"Did you have to throw ice at my head for it?"
"I thought you wanted to meet my brother."
"I'm not allowed to shop around?"
Kai looked three seconds away from doing worse to Soren than tossing Blizzard at him again.
"I'm going to kill you, Soren."
"I'm kidding Kai, get a grip. I thought you didn't want a thug near him anyway?"
Kai didn't answer, only crossed his arms, grumbling to himself about idiots that needed to be drop-kicked through Corridors.
Mana was now getting a bit shy, but Spark put his hand on her shoulder. “Yeah it took some time but I got the hang of it. When I’m able to go Gate Making, I hope I end up between here and a world with a lot of plants… or a desert as cacti are neat. They’re really prickly and you shouldn’t eat them though, contrary-”
Spark poked her. Mana had a habit of getting off topic, but it wasn’t entirely her fault. Panic landed on her head to help her focus.
“Sure! You can hang out any time, just let me know.”
The three of them were rather grateful for the clarification of what Guardian’s were. They weren’t just pets, they were a part of their own hearts. They left them to being tourists and decided to change the subject.
“Well you are the kid of the first…” Spark lowered his voice to not draw attention. “Underseer, and one that parallels from what I was told.”
Genner perked up. “Wait what? That kid?”
Mana seemed to get very nervous when she saw ice magic being used at Soren. Spark just looked at him and Genner shrugged.
“I get that a lot, don’t worry about it.”
“Because someone can’t wear clothes and this is why we can’t have nice things.” Spark almost growled at him between his teeth.
Genner smirked at him. “Clearly I have a nice thing.”
“Don’t get smart with me.” Spark snapped, yes he snapped his finger, at Genner. “Anyway, Kai you might want to be careful with the ice magic.”
“We don’t want the Ice Empress to bug you…” She didn’t realize the irony in that comment one bit.
Genner swung his guitar over his shoulder. “Yeah, Ice Empress isn’t a nice girl like you four.”
“She’s a bi… we could talk about it in the cafe?” Spark caught himself as both Panic and Mana gave him a look. “Krieg and I could use a snack, and now Ghost won’t kick Gen out now that I fixed his ‘shirt’ problem.”
Genner rolled his eyes.
"Ah, sorry if I'm embarrassing you or anything, I get kind of...excited." Eli decided to pretend he hadn't heard his sister's quiet 'all the time' tacked on. "Um, when you get to go...Gate Making, you can come to Radiant Garden, we've got tons of plants. There's a reason for the name, after all."
Kai shifted uncomfortably as the subject switched, of all things, to him. People knew about him. People HIS AGE on another world entirely knew about him. What was he supposed to do with that?
"Somebody's going to have to explain some stuff." He let his arms drop and shoved his hands into his pockets. "And what Ice Empress?"
Soren was rubbing at the side of his head; apparently Kai had flicked him hard enough he was still feeling the sting a bit. "Getting something to eat while we talk about what a special snowflake Kai is would be nice."
"Shut up, Soren."
'Jem slipped up beside Kai and tugged on his arm until he pulled a hand free, slipping his fingers into her's. Fine, no more tossing Blizzard at the thug. This second, anyway.
"Guess we might as well."
Spark led them into the open cafe, which had a quiet few customers in it. Most people sat outside, but this left enough empty tables for Spark to push around so they could all gather by it. Genner made sure that everyone had a seat before putting his guitar in his lap, and drooping over it.
“Well I’ve just been told stuff from my dad. Who was beat up by your mom.” Spark told Kai. “Might want to hear it from her though. Still, she beat up my dad and that’s -awesome-.”
Genner and Mana rolled their eyes. Spark had weird priorities.
“You want to talk about special snowflakes?” Genner asked, leaning back. “Rin is hell’s special snowflake.”
“Yeah she’s not a nice girl…” Mana muttered, looking at a Moogle in a blue coat who was ready to take their order. “Oh, uh green tea, four sugar’s please!”
“Espresso latte… I mean a latte with espresso shots. Five.” Genner told the Moogle with a raise of his finger.
“I’ll take a iced tea with one of those baked rolls.” Spark followed up, Mana adding that to her list. “Maybe we’ll get a show today.”
“Knowing the Ghost? Probably.” Genner yawned. “Anyway, Rin. Rin is a Shiva Keeper and she is all about being the friggin’ harbinger of winter. Ice Empress has to be the best Ice user in the entire world and she challenges anyone who uses so much as a Blizzard spell.”
“She isn’t nice about it either…” Mana added. “She won’t let you get out of a combat match if she figures it out. It being you using magic anyway.”
“Someone needs to kick her ass and it needs to not be me.” Genner stated. “I don’t want the attention.”
“Says the guy who shows off his ‘nice things’.” Spark scoffed.
