Bumbling Booze [Job/Kite]

"You ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?"

- Kite

The walk from his hut in the woods was luckily peaceful as most days, there weren’t any storm clouds in the sky pouring rain down on him, and there certainly weren’t any sort of claps of thunder or strikes of lightning in the area like it seemed to happen most days lately. Kite looked up at the sky as he walked to see a flock of birds flying in the direction he was walking. In a clearing like area with trees surrounding it stood the old guild hall which was recycled into not only a bar but it also housed the teleportation lacrima that connected the ground level guild hall to the actual guild hall that was a floating castle in the sky. After a quick walk from the edge of the trees Kite entered the ground level guild hall and waved at the people that were there It was just like any other day in the Sabertooth guild hall, "Good Morning Sabertooth!“ he said to the general populace seated in the ground level. He looked around to see that not everyone was all smiles and sun shine. "A fine howdy do to you too “ he said to them as he headed towards the back of the Ace of Spades where the a wooden door lead the way to a back room that housed the lacrima that would teleport him up to the floating castle in the sky which was their actual guildhall.
Within an instance he was in a completely area and if he didn’t know any better he wouldn’t have known the difference between the main guild hall and the bar that was now 2,200 meters below him. He stepped out of the area and looked back at the lacrima "I don’t think I will ever not be amazed with simple this seems to work. “ he said before turning his attention to the main intersection of the guild which lead to different areas, where he wanted to go was the mess area where the food was as well as the job posting board and so he did and entered the area and stood in the middle of the room with his arms crossed "Do I want to get food or take a look at the jobs? “ he paused and looked at both the food line and the mission board weighing out his options "It has been quite sometime that I actually took a job that I started, aside from that one piece incident the last job I had was when I went to those old dusty ruins to give Haretsa back up, they are gone now, so a partner for said job won't come by so easily “ he said outloud unaware of the person coming up from behind him. He looked at the line again and his stomach let out a grumble "I do need both but I could always place my order and scan the board for fun jobs for me to take while waiting for my delicious food. I think I’ll do that. “ he said to himself now having an idea on what it was he wanted to go an do. However he didn’t get a chance to act on his decision before he heard a timid sounding voice come from behind him which made him turn around to see who it was.
He had then noticed the short girl behind him, standing roughly 5 foot with dark blue hair that was a shade shy from being black. Her agate green eyes looked at his crimson ones as she spoke to him. He took notice of her fumbling over her words and sorta rambled on after she had asked him if he would accompany her on a job but in an interesting way but he couldn’t help but smile at how cute she was being with it. "Well I was planning on going on a job today as it just so happened. So sure it should be fun. “ he paused and uncrossed his arms putting his right hand out for a handshake. "My name is Kite Wilhelm it’s nice to meet ya!“ he said to the girl who seemed to be exasperated for some reason. "I look forward to our adventure. “ he said while he awaited her introduction.

"You ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?"

- Kite

" “
Kite let loose a smile, it would appear that him mentioning that he would take the job with her caused her to feel some measure of joy. It was evident by the way her ear had perked up after he mentioned it. Shortly after Kite had extended his hand for a handshake after introducing himself and waited for the short girl to respond to his introduction, she blinked blankly for a short bit before speaking up and introducing herself to him as Mao Nakiri and bowed slightly while doing so she took hold of his hand and gave it a gentle shake after waiting a second longer than most people would but it had become apparent that she was more accustomed to performing a bow upon an introduction so he then decided to give a slight bow in return . Kite stood with his back to the line facing the while his eyes were locked onto the dark blue haired girl. He watched as her eyes drifted from him to the line behind him and then back to him and mentioned something about how the job wasn’t a rush job and told him if he wanted to eat while they discussed the details he could do so. However before he could accept her offer to get some food she had already bowed her head and scampered off to a vacant table and awaited him with her companion, a large canine that looked similar to a doberman with a pair of red horn like objects protruding out of it’s forehead. Kite looked at the canine for a second and scanned him using his ability and was able to determine that it wasn’t a demon of any kind not that it mattered either way he had no problems with demons at all, demons that minded their own business and cause no harm that is. He merely examined the canine for the opportunity presented itself and seeing as he has little experience with demons outside of the one who had taught him demon slayer magic so seeing and interacting with other demons would be advantageous, but this wasn’t one of those times, so the question remained what did he want to do next. He looked at the line for the food stand and noticed that it was a lot longer than he would have prefered and the wait time wouldn’t be fair to the girl who was waiting for him. He looked to his right and smiled seeing the concession stand with coffee and other drinks. He grabbed had made a pot of coffee and a pot of tea and brought them both to the table with cups and the condiments they would need if they needed it at all.

Kite set the stuff down and sat across the table from her as she sat up straight and slid the paper over to him. While she had done this he had poured her a cup of hot tea that and slide that over to her and he then picked up the paper and began to look it over. ""Damn it! I need some people I can rely on, people I know and trust. My tavern is being attacked nearly every day and night by some bastards who tasted my beer and got hooked on it! If they manage to steal my beer they might copy the formula and ruin me! My bouncers and some helpful travelers have been good so far, but I'm running out of time! Please “ As his eyes began to glide across the sheet of paper but stopped before he could finish reading and gave Mao his attention now as she started to describe the job but the “in a nut shell” version. He sipped his coffee as he listened to her explain what the job was and luckily it seemed to be a pretty easy mission in terms of what the tasks were. The client needed help dealing with a bunch of people who were making his life much more difficult than he would like. Kite smiled "Seems like an easy enough job “ he said out loud but he spoke a little too soon. Mao started to sulk a bit as she revealed the reason why she didn’t want to go alone on the job, apparently she had attempted this job in the past and with another member with the end result being the destruction of the client’s business and losing out on the reward. Kite sighed for a moment as he took two things away from what she had said. The first being that despite his business being destroyed and rebuilt he was still having the same problems, more than enough reason to take the job but the second one is what stood out the most to him and that was this Mao girl, who he had just met spoke honestly to him about her previous attempt, he was certain of the authenticity of her story due to the fact that no one would want to admit to this and with the way her eyes shifted and her ears lowered it was obvious that she was truthful. Kite drank the rest of his coffee maintaining the silence for that brief moment and then he looked at her with a warming smile "Mao, don’t you worry about what happened before okay? “ he said to her and paused for a moment until she looked at him "I promise that this time around the job will get done and you will get the reward you deserve. “ he said with pure optimism in his voice. "but before we go I do have to say one thing to you… and that is thank you for being honest with me at the start, not alot of people would have the courage to do that. Tells me you are definitely the kind of person I would want to work with, although I can’t help but laugh at the idea of asking a Flame Demon Slayer and not expecting some destruction “ he said winking at her before standing up from his spot at the table holding his cup upside down finishing it off and putting it back on the table with authority. "Do you want anything before we hit the road? it’s your lead “

"You ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?"

- Kite

" “
Kite couldn’t help but smile as Mao graciously accepted the cup of tea, as it was obvious by her body language that she was caught by surprise by this gesture. Shortly after she had enjoyed her tea he had been caught up on the mission specs. He was also given the full a full story on what had happened with Mao’s original attempt at the job which he had no problem with at all and showed her gratitude for the honesty she presented to him despite the fact that she didn’t owe him any sort of explanation. Kite made absolutely sure that he kept kind smile on his face while he remained engaged in Mao’s company, but she started to explain why she had told him and it was a very good reason. She felt that there was a chance that very topic could come up while in the company of the client and she felt that it was only right to give him an opportunity to change his mind on taking this job with her. This alone was quite astonishing to the demon slayer, this girl’s honesty was blowing his mind but had really made him smile even more was when she said she didn’t want to trap him. He had made a small comment on the irony of requesting the help of a flame mage to help avoid unnecessary destruction which seemed to tickle her a bit making her giggle and her response was that he would be less destructive than Fredrick. Kite made a humming noise upon hearing the name of a guildmate whom he hadn’t actually met but the reputation of the man was well known to all, and while Kite took great joy in being destructive in his own rights he knew he was far outclassed when compared to that man. "Well, luckily it would take a lot more than my own power to be able to match his capabilities of destruction. However a little destruction could possibly go a long way if used right.  “ he said giving a wink and a bit of a playful smile.

It was shortly after this brief encounter he had finished his coffee and Mao had finished her tea and they were outside making their way towards the mountain Village, where the client was waiting for them. Kite noticed Mao was digging through her bag for something while her canine companion was following behind them, maintaining a distance of a few paces behind. Kite didn’t pay attention to what Mao was looking for, but he did look over his shoulder eyeing the large beast behind him, something about the dog compelled him to be interested in it but that would come later seeing as they would eventually be in the same guildhall again so he faced forward again but only in time for Mao to pull out a banana from her bag and held it out to Kite for him to take. He didn’t get a chance to eat before they left and so she offered it to him as a snack to tide him over until they got to the village, but before he could accept the offer she began to fumble over her words again as she did earlier searching for an apple and then mentioning she had biscuits in her bag. Kite chuckled as he took the banana from her hand at the end of her rambling "The Banana will be fine, thanks. “ he said shooting her a warm smile as he peeled the banana’s peel back and began to bite at the meat of the fruit. He had gotten halfway done the banana when Mao began to speak up again, she once again spoke up about a topic in which she believed could be a factor in if Kite goes on this job with her. This fact is that her magic is crystal magic and as it so happens that particular magic has an extreme weakness to flame magic, to the point that it could go as far as melt them entirely.
During this revelation Kite quickly scarfed down the banana as Mao began to get extra frantic as she began to explain she was on a job with Hare before and it had went well and gave other details but this made Kite turn to Mao and placed one hand on her shoulder and then turned her placing a hand on her other shoulder while lowering his head so he was closer to her eye level, "Mao, don’t you worry about getting in my way. A weakness is only a weakness until it can be used to our advantage, don’t sweat the small stuff about supporting me either or not. “ he paused. He knew her points were very strong ones, all points that they should consider but that was a bridge they would have to cross eventually, right now Kite wanted Mao understand where he stood on everything. "but don’t think go thinking that you are useless because of something that hasn’t happened yet. I want you to know that I don’t think you are or will be useless. Now lets go kick some butt and get some booze! “

"You ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?"

- Kite

Kite’s red orbs had locked onto the soft green gems that Mao had for eyes while he had spoke to her. Kite didn’t really think about the possible consequences from it, if he had he would have realized that he most likely getting too close to her, invading her personal space. He wasn’t sure what she was thinking after his little pep talk and he was half expecting her to push him back or sick her wolf like companion on him. "I sure hope I didn’t screw up by doing this. “ he thought to himself hoping Mao took his words as he had intended them to be. It had seemed that she was momentarily lost in thought but snapped out of it and was about to speak when her pet wolf shoved his horn in between them and gave him a nudge back, he didn’t resist and went with it but locked his gaze onto the wolf’s. Kite didn’t say anything though but he was relieved that the nudge was all that it did to him. Kite put his hands in his pockets and watched as Mao gave the wolf a pat on the head and telling him that he needs to take it easy and not react every minute thing. There wasn’t a thing to say at the moment Mao had it under control but he couldn’t help but lock his gaze onto her warm and tender smile and follow her lead causing a smile to come across his face. "Wow, ain’t that something “ he said under his breath admiring that honest and caring smile.
It would seem that her words had reached her beast and with a huff of air he lowered his speed so he was once again a few paces behind and bowed to Kite and apologized before she told him that she would keep those words in mind but followed it up by joining him in his cheer of kicking butt and drinking booze. Kite smiled at this pumped his fist into the air "This is going to be a blast! “ he paused and looked at his partner for the job and smirked "Figuratively I promise! “ he said trying to reassure her that this job will go more smoothly than the last time. It was after this they continued on their journey south towards Era, where they would be able to catch a carriage from there all the way to the mountain village. Luckily for them the cabin was big enough for all three of them but only after he put his sword up on top of the carriage where the cargo would usually go. After getting settled and the carriage started on it’s route Kite smiled "I’m gonna catch some Z’s wake me up when we are there? “ the Demon slayer said to Mao as he leaned his head against the window and before long had dozed off for the majority of the ride and would have to rely on his guildmate to wake him up.

"You ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?"

- Kite

" “
The sound of the bunny eared girl’s giggle caused a smile to grace his face, the demon slayer felt a certain amount of pride in that. "This girl, she is cute, has a good smile and laugh. It’s nice to see the guild is full of good people like her. “ he thought to himself, he turned his gaze onto the wolf "and she has a companion like him to keep her safe. Yup this job is gonna get interesting. “ he added before making the decision to take a nap as they travelled by carriage to the mountain village. Kite leaned his head against the window and as he began to drift to sleep he heard Mao wish him a pleasant nap, this made Kite smile "Thanks cutie, wake me up when we get there. “ he said as he stopped resisting the compulsion of  sleep and closed his eyes and let the rocking of the carriage be his guide to sleep.

Kite didn’t often dream, most of the time when he slept it was a quick sleep where he didn’t even realize he did sleep aside from the fact that he would feel the after effects of it which was a new sense of rejuvenation. However this time he had entered an unfamiliar phenomenon in the form of a dream. The scene was familiar, the lighting was a dark red color, the terrain was no different from the Volcano that he had visited to train with Ard and Hare, the only difference was that the head was unbearable. Kite found himself once again in his younger body, the body of a boy who had yet to master Demon Slayer magic. He was dressed in the clothes he wore when he first found the book that had transported him into Asmodeous’ realm. He wore a blue sleeveless vest covering a torn black shirt. He still was in ownership of his goggles and wore his blue fatigue pants. Much different from the all black outfit he had been wearing, but unlike both sets of clothes these were charred and burned all over, with the skin beneath them covered in minor burns. Kite knew it was a dream, his conscious mind that was still present knew this to be a fabrication of past events but just like when he was younger he could not stop the events from playing out, instead he was forced to relive it. Kite was on all fours, panting and wincing from the pain that riddled his body, it was a pain he felt long ago but it would seem his subconscious mind had not forgotten and it wasn’t about to let him forget it either. Standing over the burnt and broken boy was the demon king of fire, Asmodeous. "No more, the flames… they are too hot. “ he said, pleading with the demon seeking to quit the training, the boy looked up, locking his red orbs onto the demon’s blue and black eyes. Asmodeous laughed his sinister laugh “I hear you boy, any mortal having to endure such trials, especially at such a young age is no easy feat and I understand your wish to back out now.” The demon king said to Kite, empathizing with his pain, even going as far as to showing sympathy. “But in order for me to uphold my end of the our deal, this is our only course and Kite my boy, you will learn Demon Slayer magic but first you must be able to endure the overwhelming heat that comes with it!” he said as he engulfed the boy in a veil of multi colored flames. Burning his body and clothes while he screamed in pain.

Unlike when he was younger while he was being burnt alive, instead of just the pain, Kite’s mind began to have strange visions. One vision in particular involved the sound of a girl screaming in pain, surrounded by flames, each one a different color and she is screaming in agony much like how he did as a child but her screams could pierce a soul and Kite could feel the pain. As the dream concluded he began to shift in his sleep but luckily he felt a nudge on his leg and his eyes suddenly opened, no fire, no brimstone just Mao sitting across from him informing him of the arrival time left. Kite sat upright again and looked at Mao, "good, the faster we get there the faster we can get our reward. and get booze. “ he said forcing his dream into the back of his mind and giving the girl a thumbs up. Unknown to him was that the action had already started as they approached. "Anything fun happen while I was out? “ he asked her curiously.

"You ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?"

- Kite

Kite had received an answer to his simply question, if he had missed anything fun while he was sleeping, to which she replied that he had not. Kite had let out a small sigh after sitting upright again as they made their final approach, he looked upon Mao, he noticed the look she fixed on him, "I sure hope I didn’t say anything in my sleep about my dream to concern her, or to make her worry about my focus on the mission.“ he thought to himself but made sure to hide any expression his face would have made and looked out the window once more. The scenes in his dream flashed before his eyes again, almost like a flashback on a distant memory that he was trying to escape the back of his mind. "Something bad is going to happen soon. I don’t know what but… someone is going to be burned “ he said remembering the sound of a girl screaming in pain as seven colored flames surrounded her. Kite bounced back from his day dream as the carriage came to a complete stop. A grin made it’s way onto Kite’s face. He was ready to get this party started even more so than usual, that image, while horrible reminded him of his time in a literal hell, like a sword that gets sharper from a wet stone, he felt like his flames were going to burn a bit hotter today than usual. Mao and her canine friend were the first to exit the carriage, Kite knew his manners well and knew that ladies first, but perhaps he would have reconsidered had he known that three men, enemies would be outside to greet her right off the bat. Kite stayed in the carriage for the time being and just listened to what they had to say and peered around the corner to get a good look. Two of them had pistol like firearms drawn, while the larger looking man, had his hands free, he appeared to be the leader of the group and it was made ever more evident when he started to speak and poorly at that. Kite looked and listened to the man as he spouted out his insults towards the dog, and his inexcusable manner of speaking directed at Mao.

Kite gritted his teeth, his anger was boiled at this point but it wasn’t quite enough to cause him to lash out or act, what had sent him over the edge though was the ruffian's next choice of words, telling her to come with them peacefully they won’t hurt her and that her boss would also want a piece of her. Kite’s anger hit its high point, the aura he usually kept under control began to flood the area, and poured out of the cabin of the carriage as he stood in the entrance, with a glare fixed on the man who started to gather magic into his hands. "Sorry, but she isn’t going anywhere with scum like you. “  he said to the man with the dark magic who now trained his gaze onto the demon slayer. “Oh yeah, looky ‘ere boys looks like our girly has knight in shining armor. New plan, take em both and kill the poo..” The man had looked to continue to speak but Kite was done with talking and he had no intention of letting his mouth utter one more disrespectful word "Flame Demon’s Rage! “ he shouted as he fired a large stream of white flames shot directly at the man speaking cutting him off and sending him flying from his attack that he didn’t see coming. Kite stepped so he was next to Mao locking his crimson orbs onto the girl "I won’t let them speak to you like that, but it looks like we have to kick their assess before we get our drinks. Which one do you want to fight? “ he asked her and then fixed his eyes from his friend to the man he hit with his rage stood up, his shirt have burnt off smoking from the attack. "Do you wanna put that one down or want me to take him on? “. He awaited her answer before making his next move.

"You ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?"

- Kite

Kite didn’t get much of a chance to get Mao’s answer to his question before her pet went on the offensive as did Mao, each one attacking the men that weren’t all covered in burns. Kite saw the man he attacked stand up, shooting him a glare that could kill if he had the ability to kill with looks that was. Not looking to waste anytime Kite acted fast, he reached up and gripped the frame of the carriage’s entrance and pulled himself up and swung his legs up and over the side so now his knees were on the roof of the cabin, soon the rest of the body followed the  momentum and he was now crouching on the roof with his hand reaching for the massive broadsword that was resting on top.He took the handle in his right hand and went to bring it up onto his back but as it would seem that what he planned wasn’t going to be what happened. Without noticing, the loud mouth had already made his move and was descending down from above Kite with a pistol in one hand and his free hand cloaked in darkness and both were aimed at the demon slayer. The man was much faster than Kite had originally thought but then again his breath attack did catch him off guard so he didn’t have any real way to know how fast he was until now. "Shit… this is going to be close. “ he said outloud to himself as he brought his sword up, held so the width of the blade covered his body like a makeshift shield right at the moment he fired his gun and magic attack, both crashing into Shamash.

The Carriage’s cabin wasn’t sturdy enough to hold the weight of Kite’s sword, Kite and the impact of the man’s attack so it gave way and the Flame slayer found himself now on his belly down on the floor of the cabin with wood surrounding him and his sword on top of him. The man landed on top and peered down into the hole that he had a hand in making “that’s waat ye git for playin tough, hero” and proceeded to spit down onto the slayer “once I am done with ya, I’m gonna give ‘er a piece of me too and not nice like either” he continued to say while Kite made it to his hands and knees "over my dead body... “ he whispered and clenched his hands tightly into a fists "Flame Demon’s Commandment! “ he shouted as flames swirled around him and shot up into the air like a geyser busting out the rest of the roof right off the carriage and catching the loud mouth in a torrent of flames and flung into the air only to land on the ground in front, near where Mao and the pooch were standing. Kite emerged from carriage that was now a blaze and approached the man who was scorched from the last heat filled attack. "Like I said i won’t let that happen. but hey while we are here why don’t you go ahead and apologize to the lady.“ The man grunted and scoffed at the thought of apologizing to Mao for the way he spoke. Kite let out a sigh and lifted his sword so he was holding it out and then proceeded to drop it on one of the legs on the man who yelled out in pain from the weight crushing his foot. "She is waiting. “
" “

"You ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?"

- Kite

Right before Kite could finish his approach towards the loud mouth the man shuffled a bit to get his hand into the holster strapped to his leg, and tried to draw his pistol, but before he could the wolf like beast pressed it’s mighty paw right on the wrist stopping the quickdraw dead in its tracks and then used it’s horn to thread through the trigger guard and tossed it into the bushes. Kite’s smirk was plastered on his face "well, that could have caused a heap of trouble for me, you have my gratitude.“ he said to the wolf right before demanding the bandit to apologize to Mao for his foul mouthed comments, and he had even dropped his massive sword onto the man’s leg to add incentive for the apology, "Once I hear the word’s I am sorry in a sincere like manner I will take my sword off your leg and you can go on your merry.“ he declared showing a bit of mercy towards the man even though he didn’t really want to he would have prefered much more to burn the dunder head to a crisp. Kite’s gaze left from the man and looked upon Mao who had began to speak, telling Kite that it was fine, that she was going to let it go seeing as the man most likely wouldn’t be the type to apologize either way. "My apologies, but i can’t just let him go after speaking to you in that sort of way. Just wouldn’t be rigth ya know?“ he thought and was going to ask but Mao cut her sentence short and her gaze grew a bit more intense on the man who now had a shroud of darkness surrounding him, Nocshanks nudged Mao back and created some space while Kite quickly bent down and lifted his sword up off the man’s leg and backed away himself raising it in front of him preparing himself to fend off some sort of incoming attack. Luckily that wasn’t the case, it was made apparent that the man was simply making his quick get away by slipping into the shadows, much like a certain Dragon Slayer he knew.

Kite put his sword on his back as the man finished his descent into the shadows and left them all with an ominous threat to think over, ”Y’all’ll pay for this! Boss’ll have you guys squealing like pigs for it all ta end when he’s done wit ya!” Hearing these words didn’t worry Kite one bit, in fact it excited him a bit Mao comforted her companion after he huffed in apparent frustration telling him that they hadn’t seen the last of them which caused Kite to look over at the girl "I believe you are right on that Mao, but don’t you worry about nothing, when they come we will be sure to give them a warm welcome.“ he smiled, fully intending on making a pun like he did with the intention of relaxing his guildmate. "Fact of the matter I like the notion of meeting this boss of theirs, so I can see what sort of fine example this man is setting for them. “ he crossed his arms and followed Mao’s gaze back over to the carriage that was a flame now due to the violence that had just occured and a bead of sweat dropped down from his brow as he looked over at the driver who was hiding behind a tree. "Leave that to me, my fault my bill. “ he said as he approached the carriage driver but looked back at Mao "In the meantime why don’t you go and meet up with our client, I’ll be along shortly.“
" “

"You ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?"

- Kite

Kite couldn’t really hide his smile as Mao used her hand to mask her giggles from the little joke he made, she was already cute but her laugh, something about it just made Kite feel right about making it happen but ultimately Kite took responsibility for the destruction of the carriage, he didn’t want Mao to catch any heat so he suggested that she go on ahead of him and meet with the client, she didn’t waste anytime in agreeing with his plan and mentioned that he hoped that the driver would be kind enough to give him a discount of some sort since his life was also most likely saved thanks to the intervention of both Kite and Mao. Kite nooded "If only.“ he said to her knowing that in this case the whole cart was collateral damage that could have been avoided if Kite had been faster on the draw. When she wished him luck he gave her a smirk "Thanks. Something tells me I’ll be needing some. See ya in there cutie.“ he said to her as he turned and walked over to the driver of the now burning carriage, it was only when Kite got close enough to him that he heard the man weeping a bit “ My Carriage…Now what will I do!” he said in general clearly broken up by the fact that his carriage was now gone, his only means of making money destroyed. It almost broke Kite’s heart to hear a grown man crying in such away. "Excuse me sir...“. the slayer said but the man backed away and gave him a sign to leave “You… monsters haven’t you and your hybrid freak of a girlfriend caused me enough trouble. Kite heard the insult directed towards Mao and let a small flash of his aura flare "She had nothing to do with your carriage blowing up, that was me so don’t insult her unless you wanna end up like your carriage.“ he said which did more harm then good, the man was shaking so Kite lowered his aura and sighed "Look I’m sorry. This fight had nothing to do with you so I want to make it right...here.“ Kite pulled a small pouch of jewels and tossed it to the man "That should be enough to cover your losses and then some.“ Kite turned to walk away but stopped when the driver shouted “Thank you sir, that was very kind of you!!” Kite didn’t look over his shoulder, "You are welcome, but if I hear you insult that girl again you won’t be any longer.“ and with that left the carriage driver on his own to do his thing.

Kite had entered the small business establishment and let out a small gasp in awe, this place, while small was sure something else for sure. There was something about it, almost like pride permeated the building and it was nice. It was after a quick look around that he noticed the ears and tail he had grown familiar with sitting at the bar, occuping one of the many bar stools that were empty  and headed over towards her as she spoke with an older man, most likely the client. He didn’t hear a majority of the conversation but he did happen to come at a good time it seemed, something about bringing a date along this time which caused Mao to go into a panic, unable to form a sentence. Kite smirked at sat next to her "Sorry that took so long hunny.“ he said pecking on the cheek with a light kiss. He knew she would be shocked and thus he had a smirk waiting for her and after would look at the owner. "So you are the client?“ he asked the man whom Mao was speaking with upon his arrival. He nodded” That be correct.” He said simply as he placed both glasses down on the counter in front of them, Kite sipped, "So out of curiosity the warm welcome we received just a bit ago, is that a regular thing or is it often much worse?“ the question was simple enough but it brought a hint of despair to the man’s eyes “Aye, unfortunately many who come here don’t have the ability to fend them off as you two have so it's usually much much worse.” Kite heard this and shook his head. "I’m not sure is Mao informed you yet, but one of the men that attacked us slipped away and is suppose to be bringing their boss. Things could get messy if they come here and seeing as the objective is to prevent this place’s destruction I’d rather not have this be the battle field Do you know where we can find these men before they find us?“ he asked but only got a head shake. Kite let out a sigh and faced Mao. "So how do you wanna play this out? got a strategy in mind?“
"“

"You ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?"

- Kite

Kite would have tried to hold back his amusement at Mao’s inability to speak due to not only the events that had apparently taken place before he entered the building but now even more so due to Mao’s reaction to the kiss he had placed on her cheek, which seemed to send her a bit over the edge. He let out another chuckle as the gibberish escaped past Mao’s lips, the possible fact that even Mao most likely didn’t understand her own words tickled Kite’s humor bone quite a bit. "I’m sorry Mao, I over heard and just couldn’t resist.“ he said to her admitting to his purposeful act of kissing her cheek. "I’m not sure if this is an act for her or how she truly is but this shy and timid act really works for her, makes her that much cuter.“ he thought to himself as the color of her cheeks were matching the color of the iris of his eyes.
After the fun and games had passed and steam was practically pouring out her ears from her brain being fried Kite spoke to the owner about the events that had taken place upon their arrival, Mao’s eyes had began to drift from Kite and the client to the room around them, the signs of fights and possible vandalism were scattered throughout the bar but Kite kept his eyes on the client as he shook his head at the question Kite asked regarding the whereabouts of the thugs that were causing so much trouble “sorry mate. They come from all directions when they do come and none here will go out there to find them. "Well that makes that idea more difficult to pull off. We could try to search the area but with the return of those bastards approaching and their boss possibly among their rank. It wouldn't be a good idea leaving this place unguarded“ He contemplated to himself as the client dried a glass and set it down on one of the drying racks and walked away from them.  as Kite turned to face the cute girl lost in thought as she sipped her drink, he had asked her a question which made her go huh, but it was obvious that was because of her coming back to reality and not still lost in her thoughts. She seemed to ponder his question as she took a large gulp from her glass and then responded addressing all possible routes they could take for the inevitable battle that was about to ensue. Her first suggestion was to split up and take positions near by but on opposite ends of the road and wait there for them to arrive. The idea of splitting was not a bad move but if they came in numbers might be best to stick close but he sat quiet as she continued.

He listened to her suggestion about finding the boss but then it seemed that the fight from earlier concerned her, evidence of that were her ears drooping down and her eye contact breaking from his, her tone was much sadder now, regretting their run in with the welcome wagon but a small glimmer of hope burned inside her as he heard her mention his flames and her pets ferocity but he noticed she left herself out "and your precisely  placed crystal constructs are sure to make them run for the hills.  “ he interrupted her for that one comment before she let him know of her plan, the plan to have Kite and Noc hide while she greet the enemy, play it off that Kite went out to find them. Truth be told the plan wasn't a bad one at all but Kite had to speak up "by no means are you weak, but Mao are you sure that's the direction you want this to take?“ he pauses and looked down breaking his gaze from her "you aren't weak and I mean that but, if something were to happen to you...I'm not too sure if there would be anything that could stop me from turning them all to ash. “ he said to her, slightly red in the cheeks from the minor confession. He waited in silence for her to speak up before saying anything "but that plan might be best. Just gotta find a place for me and your be… What's his name to go and hide, but it has to be close enough for us to be there the instant things get hairy. “
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"You ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?"

- Kite

Kite felt quite pleased with the small reaction he had gotten out of Mao after he interrupted her but only to include the cute girl in her own calculations of how things were going to go. It would seem that his own interjection into caused the girl to think a bit. Kite had no idea why he felt so inclined to make sure she felt included but it was clear that she didn’t seem to have such inclination of her own to do so, so Kite had no problem picking up the slack for her. It was shortly after Mao finished listing several different ideas, one of which made the notion of using her as bait for the incoming squad of thugs, the response Kite gave seemed to surprise the girl, mentioning that if any of them hurt her they would regret it as they were reduced to a pile of ash, and that was if they were lucky. It was this reaction that caused Mao to respond with a revised edition of the plan which would put Kite out as the bait instead of Mao but not before correcting Kite’s reference to Nocshanks as “ What’s his name to which Kite would make note of later, but back to the plan there was a very big reason to why Kite actually considered going with it and that reason was that it would be the Demon slayer put out in the front lines over the smaller girl but that could be counter productive, they might not all attack at once if that were the case, or even have some hide while wearing him down in the process. No Mao’s original plan was the best one from any angle and he let out a sigh seeing that any point he would make would be on the losing end of the battle she even promised to be careful in such a cute way Kite couldn't help but wave the white flag."Well I don’t like it, but it is the best plan we have. The only problem is we don’t know from which direction they will be coming from, so which ever way Nocshanks hides he will need to take cover until the last possible moment.“ He said, this time actually addressing her companion by name for the first time now that he actually knew the name. Kite nodded and started for the entrance and started to speak as he walked "So I just gotta find myself a nice tree to hide in so if I have to spring into action I can, that means we have to make sure you are close enough for me to do so.“ he paused and looked over his shoulder at her "There was a small clearing out to the left of the building about 10 yards away, that might be a good spot and it gives Nocshanks plenty of space to charge in also.“ he noted and paused right before he actually touched the door and spun to face her. He gently took her hand into his and kissed it softly, he did so now knowing that Nocshanks would not take kindly to this but either way he smiled as he fixed his red eyes onto her pretty green ones "To add to your promise of being careful, I promise that I won’t let anything hurt you ever.“ and with his word given and sealed with a promise he exited the building and headed for the clearing he mentioned earlier and climbed up the tree, high enough that he wouldn’t be in eye shot, but close enough that he could get to Mao if needed.
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