School's in Session

[Vyncent Schwarz]

Kai could feel another growl rising up in his throat and threatening to tear out, and this time it wasn't intentional. He had to give Dariyush his due, the noble knew how to press all the wrong buttons with him, and bring out the worst in him, and he could feel himself getting particularly wound up by now. In Kai's opinion, he was just too ignorant to see what was in front of his own nose. Yes, the half-demon had to admit that he was in the wrong for some things (he was used to that, after decades of trying to escape the Arena and being whipped for his trouble) but that didn't give Dariyush the right to treat him even more like dirt. Being brought out of slavery was starting to re-awaken the pride in him, and with Leila already having hit a nerve, arguing with the noble was likely just to make things very much worse.

He narrowed his eyes and shot an icy glare across to Dariyush as he pulled that little threat over his head. Yes, he should have been expecting that, but it still hit him hard. It was almost as though he had been released from one form of slavery only to be shoved into another kind. No. This was worse than that. This was blackmail, this was 'do as I say or I will make your life a misery', and there was nothing Kai could do about it. He casted his gaze back to the floor in that typical submissive manner which was second nature to him, sighing softly. Although you could physically see the change in him when Dariyush called him an animal, his ears pricking up and the fur on his tail bristling. The half-demon had struck before even he realised what was happening, aiming a heavy punch at Dariyush's jaw with enough force to make the noble's head spin.

"Animal?" he growled softly, choosing each word carefully. "Maybe you're right. But you just know right now that you treat me like an animal. So that's how I'm goin' to act. Pari treats me like a person. So I act like a person. It's not hard to figure out, and that's why the smack I gave you is nothin' personal. I'm just actin' how you expect me too." he snapped at the noble, trying to disguise the hurt in his eyes as he turned to stalk off into the gardens, one of the tall palm trees rustling a few seconds later to signal that he had leapt from it onto one of the balconies, and then onto the roof.

[Angel ♥]

Dariyush looked satisfied as Kai lowered his gaze, relaxing a little now, as though he thought that it was much less likely that the pair of them would end up fighting now. He had been wrong, of course. The punch came out of nowhere, and it did leave his head spinning; for a moment he would have sworn that he saw stars flashing in front of his eyes. He stumbled a few steps before regaining his balance, raising a hand to touch to the side of his jaw. His lip was rapidly swelling, blood running freely down his chin. There would be a nasty bruise there tomorrow, and his lip had been burst open, but he didn't think that anything was broken. "Everyone here thinks you're an animal, Kai, so keep acting like this and you'll be on your merry way home before you know it. If I were you, I wouldn't get too comfortable." He yelled after him, ignoring the pain that speaking caused. Damn, he should have seen that punch coming.

Dariyush remained where he was for a second or two, tentitivly touching his lip, before turning to head back towards the house. He wasn't hungry anymore, nor was he in the mood for company, instead of heading back to the dinner party he went to his room to clean up his face and change out of his blood spattered shirt. If that was how Kai wanted to play it then it was fair enough, Dariyush would find a way to get back at him.

The dinner party went on forever, or that was how it seemed to Pari. It seemed to drag on for even longer than usual, almost to the point that she was on the verge of getting up and walking out. Leila had, of course, been the center of attention since Kai and Dariyush had left the room, everyone fussing over her, speaking over Pari when she attempted to say something in Kai's defence. At least this stopped people asking her akward questions about where she had been, but it didn't really give a very good first impression of Kai. This had been too much for him, she shouldn't have brought him here so soon. How could she have been so stupid?

It a good half an hour before Pari finally managed to excuse herself and sneak off in search of Kai. She headed straight out to the gardens, guessing that was where he would have gone, either there or back to his room, and from his room he would be able to see her in the gardens and hear her. "Kai...?" She called as she paused in the middle of the dark lawn, biting her lower lip anxiously as she looked around for him, azure eyes unable to penetrate the shadows that filled the garden. "Kai, I'm sorry. I'm not what she said, but I'm sorry. Are you out here? Are you alright...oh...where are you Kai?"

[Vyncent Schwarz]

Kai had found himself sitting in the cool darkness on the high rooftops of the building, near the edge as to see down into the twilight of the garden, but completely out of sight unless you were sharp enough to make out his pale silhouette in the blackness. His hand hurt, and he was in a foul mood and he was feeling pretty bad about himself at present. He thought he was far past this whole feeling out of place thing, but now that he wasn't just another slave, just a particularly unusual one, he found himself sticking out even more than usual; it wasn't just his demonic heritage that made them stare now, it was his very presence, the way he walked, talked, his mannerisms (which were weird enough as it was). His ears flicked this way and that as he listened to the conversations from the dinner party below, to their mindless gossip and the like, and he found he'd never really be able to fit in with them. Not even if he wanted to.

Maybe he was an animal... in which case, he decided, he had acted the right way in giving Dariyush what he deserved. After all, nobody would expect anything less from a savage slave, would they? He had been mulling this over for a while when he heard Pari's voice, the half-demon instantly looking up, eyes flashing in the shadows as he quickly located her, seeming quite ethereal as he prowled to the very edge of the rooftop. She was looking for him? Did that mean she had heard about his little run in with Dariyush? Or was she just wondering about the incident with Leila. God, he really did make brilliant first impressions, didn't he?

Sighing softly, he knew that he couldn't hide forever, creeping forward and dropping silently from the edge of the roof, landing in the grass behind her like a ghost. "Hey, Pari." he murmured as he straightened up, brushing his hair out of his face and wincing as he saw the lovely dent in the manicured lawn from where he'd landed. Oops. Stupid noble lawns. "What are you sorry for?" he asked softly. "It was all true, every word of it. I don't belong here, it's too far out of my reach for me to even grasp what's goin' on. I'm just an animal, you don't have to treat me like anythin' more than that." he shook his head, as if to say she didn't have to pretend any more.

[Angel ♥]

Alarm was wirtten across Pari's face as she spun around to face Kai, startled by his sudden apperance. "You scared me." She told him, breathing out a soft sigh of relief as she put her hand over her heart, as though in an attempt to slow down it's beating. "I didn't hear you, I thought that you might have gone inside." She murmured in explaination, smiling to him softly. Kai seemed...different to the person that she had been talking to before the dinner party. He seemed withdrawn again, more like he had been when she had first met him back at the arena. He was upset, and it was all her fault. Oh, she was a bad friend, wasn't she? What kind of a friend would let Kai go to that dinner party? She should have known that it would all be too much for him.

She opened her mouth to apologise again, but Kai started speaking before her. Pari tilted her head to the side as he spoke, her confusion evident in her eyes. Had Leila said all of that to him? She would get her sister back for this, Pari was used to her belittling comments, but it wasn't fair on Kai. No wonder he had snapped, anyone else would have as well. "Kai, you're talking nonesense." She told him softly, smiling to him. Poor Kai, he just looked so upset, she hated seeing him like this. She was the one that had asked him to come here and now he felt uncomfortable. It wasn't fair, shouldn't there be one place where Kai could be happy? He deserved to be happy.

Without thinking she stepped forward and put her arm around him; he had just looked like he needed a hug. "I'm sorry for being a bad friend. I should have made an excuse not to go tonight, I expected that people would be more polite. I didn't mean to throw you in at the deep end like that, they're not pleasant people, not any of them." She sounded genuinly annoyed with everyone, and worried about him. "I don't know what she said to you, but everything that Leila say's is poison. Don't listen to her because none of it is true and none of it is worth worrying about. If you want to stay here then you are welcome, but things will take a bit of getting used to, afterall, it's not what you are used to." Pari let go of him a little, moving so that she could look up at him, her hands still resting on his shoulders. "You're no more of an animal than I am, so if you are an animal then I and everyone else here must be too. I treat you like I would treat anyone else. You're my friend, right? So I treat you like a friend." She sighed lightly, moving to hug him again. She was so annoyed at everyone for making him feel like this, what right did they have to make him feel so out of place?

"...you're thinking about leaving...aren't you?" She whispered after a long silence, Pari suddenly glad that she was hugging him and that he couldn't see her face or he would be able to see how upset she was that he was thinking about going. "Please don't go. If you stay you'll be able to prove Leila and everyone else wrong. Just be yourself, there's nothing more anyone else can ask of you..."

[Vyncent Schwarz]

It was safe to say that Kai was a little stunned as she suddenly moved to hug him, his eyebrows knotting into a confused frown, the half-demon not quite knowing how to react to that. He was just a pushover really, wasn't he? He was a serious, tough opponent when he was fighting, and in the Arena he was renowned for being solitary and quiet, and in the years before that he was seen as cunning and quick witted. But Pari could throw him off guard with just a hug; it was such a foreign mannerism considering where he'd come from, he probably would have reacted more comfortably if she'd have slapped him. He tilted his head a little as she started talking about Leila; that's what she thought this was about? Sure, her sister had been the thing to make him rise to the bait, but what she'd said had just bounced off him. Because, as Pari had confirmed, everything Leila said was poison.

"A bad friend...?" he sounded really confused then, shaking his head, "Don't be stupid. I should have behaved better, it's not your fault. And I couldn't care less about what Leila said, she knows not to cross paths with me again." he assured her, although he was close to laughter at her claims that he wasn't an animal. "I know you're tryin' to help, Pari, but you haven't known me for all that long. You don't know what I'm like, you don't know the half of it." he shook his head, "So I very well could be an animal for all you know, I might just be really good at acting." he lowered his gaze back to the floor again when she moved back to look up at him, his ears flattening to his head. He was only just recovering when she hugged him again, Kai stumbling back a couple of steps.

"...Look around, Pari. I'm not good with people, I'm not a student, or whatever you call it... How am I s'posed to get by here...? The Arena was horrible, but at least I knew what to do there." he muttered, smirking lightly as she told him to be himself. "I'm not sure that they'll appreciate me bein' myself." he murmured, sighing a little, although the upset tone in her voice was enough to make him think twice about going. He was silent for a good few moments, before eventually speaking up again. "...If I stay, what's gonna happen?"

[Angel ♥]

Pari had noticed that he seemed a little akward about her hugging him, but she was afraid that if she let go then he would disappear. If he decided to run off then Pari wouldn't stand a chance at keeping up with him, and she hated the thought that he would be wandering around on his own. In fact, she had already decided that if he really wanted to leave then she would go with him. It hadn't even been a difficult decision. She had run away once, she could do it again, she would just have to try harder next time so that she didn't get caught. She couldn't let Kai go alone...unless, of course, he really didn't want her to go with him, in which case she wouldn't have much of an option.

"I have known you for long enough to know that you aren't an animal." She shook her head at him, telling him that he was most definatly wrong. "I don't think that even the best actors would be able to hide something like that so flawlessly. If you were an animal then you wouldn't be so upset by someone calling you one, and you wouldn't have hung around here wondering if you were going to get into trouble. You're one of the best people I have ever known, Kai." She shrugged to him a little, as though to say she wasn't sure what to say to make him feel better, or if her words were helping at all. It was far easier to make someone feel badly about themselves than it was to make someone feel good about themself. How was she supposed to make Kai see how much of a good person he really was?

"You're only not good with people because you're not used to them. You were great with those kids in the oasis, remember? It's just that adults are harder to get along with. I would bet that you felt out of place when you first got to the arena too." She smiled to him weakly, moving to hesitantly let go of him as he seemed to agree to stay. "I can't promise that the people will be nicer, but they will get less curious about you over time. Once they start to accept that you're staying then things will be far easier. But I'm here...and I'll do as much as I can to help you to feel at home... Just, please, give it a chance? And if you really can't settle in then we can leave. But it's your choice, Kai. Do you think you could be happy here?"

[Vyncent Schwarz]

He frowned and stared away from her she she tried to convince him that he wasn't an animal, not really having anything to say to that. Everything that Pari was saying was very nice, and it was supposed to make everything feel better, but Kai had been around criminals and savages and people who would cut of your hand if they didn't like your face for far too long for a few words to make a difference. But he had to admit that he did feel a little better because Pari actually cared enough to say those things, whether he believed a word of them or not. It wasn't the fact that he couldn't settle there that was the biggest problem; anywhere was better than the Arena. The problem was all of the people around - Kai wasn't a sociable person on the best of days, and this whole noble business seemed to revolve around being amongst dozens of people at once.

"...I don't know." he shrugged honestly as she asked if he would ever be happy at the academy, glancing up again. "I've never been happy in any one place. Not even when I was a kid, I dunno what it feels like." he murmured, "...But I can only try. Anythin' is better than where I was. That's what I'm tellin' myself anyway. Maybe I should just avoid going to big social events from now on." he decided, seeming to have gotten over his little thought of leaving, stepping back from her and sighing deeply, looking up at the brilliant starry sky and the pale crescent of the moon. He did seem a lot more comfortable when he was outside away from all the people than when he was surrounded by them.

Eventually he looked down at his bruised knuckles from where he had smacked Dariyush in the face, pouting a little as though he should really have thought twice before doing that. Maybe he had hit him a little hard. But Kai really did think he had deserved it. He didn't know why, but he didn't really care when Leila insulted him, almost as though he expected her to do it, but when Dariyush said it, it seemed all the more real, and serious. "Tell your brother I'm sorry. And I hope he's still got all of his teeth." he murmured after a while, tearing his gaze from the sky and beginning to stroll back towards one of the palm trees, as if he was going to use it to get back onto the roof and then to his balcony.

[Angel ♥]

"You don't have to go to the social events. I avoid them when I can too, but I have to go because my father runs the Academy. You don't have to go though, not if you don't want to." She shrugged, as though it was as easy as that. With Kai having a special scholarship for the Academy it would have been preferable for him to attend at least a few dinners and dances, but Pari wasn't going to make him if he didn't want to. She would be able to come up with excuses to get him out of that without much of a problem, after a while people would get the picture that he didn't want to go and simply stop asking. "With how many people there are here I'm sure you'll find a couple of people that you get along with. Not everyone here are nobles, there are other people that earnt their places through pure talent, like you."

"You're sorry...his teeth?" Pari looked bemused for a moment, tilting her head at Kai before suddenly realising what he had meant. "You were fighting? Why were you fighting...did he say something too?" She sighed heavily, rubbing at the side of her head. Why couldn't people just let Kai be? If they gave him a chance they would see how much of a good person he was. "Dariyush liked to throw his weight around sometimes, let people know how much power he thinks that he has. Just ignore him when he gets like that, he's a good person really, he just hides it well sometimes. I'll tell him that you're sorry though. Are you alright? You didn't get hurt?" She asked, her eyes giving him a quick once over to make sure that he wasn't seriously injured, but the lack of light out there made it difficult for her to see him properly.

"...Kai...where're you going?" She called after him as he turned to walk away from her, hurrying to catch up with him. Time alone for dwelling on what had been said was the last thing that Kai needed right now. "I'm guessing that you didn't get to eat very much before you left. I'll go to the kitchens and see what I can find for you, there will definatly be something left over. Do you have any prefences? Or should I get you a bit of everything, so you can try it all?" She knew that Kai always said that he wasn't hungry when she asked, but he had to start eating. If he was going to train properly then he had to eat at least a little something at very meal. "If you want to eat out here I'll bring some lanterns too...or we could eat on the balcony...that still counts as outside, right?"

[Vyncent Schwarz]

"I s'pose you could call it fighting." Kai smirked faintly, "He shoved me, and called me... what was it? 'A savage beast?' So I punched him in the face. No harm, no foul." he murmured, "So I don't s'pose you could say we fought, exactly... he didn't really fight me, I just got brused knuckles." he flexed his hand and looked down at it, sighing a little. "Nevermind, I guess. You should just probably be more worried 'bout Dariyush than me..." he admitted to her.

He was just about to leap onto the palm tree and jump to the rooftop when she called him, the half-demon turning around and tilting his head at her. She was going to come inside with him? He assumed she'd prefer to go back with the nobles, but after a few seconds of consideration he realised that no, she would probably much prefer to be anywhere BUT that dinner party right now. He was about to decline, but he amazed himself by actually feeling hungry. Maybe he hadn't eaten much at the Arena, but the last couple of days had gone by so quickly that he'd barely eaten at all. He remembered the fruit from the oasis, and that was about it. Perhaps he should think of having something soon. After a couple of seconds of thought, he finally nodded to her.

"Sounds good..." he murmured, about to jump away again when she spoke once more, looking around at the garden as if trying to decide. "I think the balcony is a better idea... not as far to go when I want to sleep. I'd prefer it up there anyway, less of a chance of running into people." Like Leila, or Dariyush, or even Pedar Kashani, but that was more because he didn't want to face the idea that the single person besides Pari who had treated him as an equal since he'd gotten there would have been witness to him losing his temper. He was pretty sure that any first impression made there would have been anything but a good one. "I'll see you in a little while, 'kay...?" he murmured to her, seeming dead set on not walking back through the house if he could help it. He doubted he would go anywhere but his bedroom for the entire time he lived there.

Giving her a brief smile, he turned to look up at the dark canopy of leaves in the palm tree, before suddenly just... disappearing, leaping silently into the air and using the tree as an anchor to jump onto the rooftop, where he landed gracefully and disappeared into the darkness to go to their balcony.

[Angel ♥]

"He called you a savage animal?" She scowled at that before nodding to Kai. "He deserved a punch. You shouldn't apologise to him until he apologises to you, otherwise he'll think he's won." She didn't seem at all concerned by her brother's well being. He had suffered worse than a punch in the past, he would be fine. Plus, he had his fiance to take care of him, she was sure that the stupid woman would fuss over him when she came back from the dinner. Until then Dariyush could be left to suffer on his own, he deserved it after what he'd said to Kai. "I'll get you some cold water for your knuckles, to help the swelling go down."

"Alright. I'll be up as soon as I've been to the kitchens. I might take a little while because I've got to sneak past everyone, I kinda snuck away after dinner finished." She admitted with a shy smile, rubbing at the back of her head. "I figured that I couldn't get myself into much more trouble than I already am." At that she let Kai go, watching him as he leap up towards the palm and disappeared, still awed by how fast he moved. Kai really didn't have any idea about his own worth, did he? He needed a little bit of self belief, hopefully one of the teachers at the academy would be able to help him to see that. What was it they said? You had to believe in yourself to make others believe in you.

Once Kai had disappeared, Pari turned and headed inside again, sucessfully managing to sneak to the kitchen and back without being caught. She was used to this, leaving the dinner parties early and sneaking back to her room, she knew all the best places to hide when people were coming. Sneaking past Dariyush's room was the hardest, Pari having to avoid all of the floorboards that creaked because she knew that he would know it was her if he heard someone on the corridor, and she had no desire to talk to him.

She breathed a sigh of relief as she got back to the room, before looking perplexed as she looked at the door handle. She was carrying a large tray which was litterally crammed with all the food that she could find, as well as two precariously balanced bottles and a bowl of cold water for his hand, a cloth draped over her arm for Kai to wet and put over his hand rather than sitting with his hand in the water. "Um...Kai...help?" She called quietly, hoping that he would be able to hear her. His hearing was pretty sensitive, she would have thought that he would hear, unless he wasn't paying attention or wasn't there yet...

[Vyncent Schwarz]

Kai had been sitting on the balcony for a few minutes now, staring down at the garden and seeming rather peaceful actually, to say that he was probably doing just what Pari had wanted him not to, and was dwelling on everything that had happened that day, from being accepted into the Academy to his memorable debut at the dinner party. His ears pricked up as he heard the faint sound of Pari's voice from outside her door, and his name in there somewhere as well. "Hm...?" he rose to his feet (he had actually been sitting on the railing of the balcony), slipping down and shuffling into her room. He didn't know why she was calling him, and he felt a little bad about going through her room without her in it, but soon enough he had opened the door and peered out, as though expecting his senses to be playing tricks on him.

"Oh, it was you." he smirked faintly as he spotted her, his nose twitching as the scent of everything on that enormous tray floated over to him, the half-demon opening the door fully now to let her come inside without throwing anything everywhere, holding it open until she came inside, when he clicked it shut again. It actually amazed him that she'd made it this far upstairs without throwing everything everywhere, with how clumsy she claimed to be, and he was watching her carefully now, just in case she tripped over her shoes or any dust motes that might be floating around there. He wandered back out to the balcony, holding the curtains apart so that she could get through, before returning to where he had been sitting on the railings, the light from the moon reflecting from his pale skin so that he looked almost like a ghost.

"Did you really manage to sneak past everyone without getting caught?" he enquired, the faintest hints of amusement in his voice, "Even with that big tray?" he tilted his head at it, actually looking a little intimidated. Did she really think that he'd be able to finish even half of what was there? For being a half-wolf demon, he didn't really have the appetite for it. Hopefully that would change, the longer he was at the Academy, and he'd actually start to look like a fighter, instead of just surprising people with his strength.

[Angel ♥]

"Yeah, it's me. I'm sorry, I couldn't get the door handle...and I was scared that I would drop everything if I tried to put it down and open the door on my own." She explained, a look of concentration written over her face as she stepped into the room. Getting up there really had been a challenge, especially the stairs. She just had to take little steps, and freeze when everything started to wobble, holdig her breath until everything looked a little more stable again. She had surprised herself by getting this far, it was quite an achievement, and she refused to let everything drop now. She only had to go a few more steps out onto the balcony, and she wouldn't get tangled up in the curtain because Kai was holding it back for her.

She successfully made it out onto the balcony, carefully putting the tray down on a low coffee table before smiling triumphantly. "Ha! I did it!!! Well...there was some more bread on the tray, but it dropped off and I wasn't going back for it." She explained, disappearing into her room for a moment to grab a huge cushion for her to sit on before returning. "Yeah, I snuck past everyone. I had to hide behind a door at one point. I have no idea how they didn't catch me." She laughed, putting the cushion down on the floor before flopping down to sit on it, still smiling as she looked up at Kai. "I think that this is quite an achievement...but I am kind of worried that my clumsiness will sneak up on me tomorrow and I will fall down the stairs, or something equally as stupid."

She leant back on her hands, looking down at the tray for a moment before looking back up at Kai. "Did I get enough? I wasn't sure what to get you, like I said, so I brought everything. I can go back for more if you are still hungry..." She nodded, unsure about how much Kai could eat. She figured that he looked like he could do with a good meal anyway, so eating wouldn't hurt him. "Do you think that it's dark out here, should I light some candles and lanterns?"

[Vyncent Schwarz]

The half-demon actually looked particularly worried about her string of good fortune in not falling over anything or managing to get caught. He'd have to keep an eye on her tomorrow, just in case she broke anything or anyone, or did something ridiculously unlikely and clumsy. "You'll just have to stay in your room all day," he concluded with a nod, "Until it's safe to go outside again, when the clumsiness has passed." he smirked, glancing down into the garden and chuckling as she told him about the bread; he could see the image of some noble strolling along later and ending up incredibly bemused upon finding some bread on the floor. Oh, God, what if Pari fell over the bread tomorrow? That would be ironic to say the least?.

His eyes widened at her question, and he looked close to bursting out laughing at it. She thought it wasn't enough? Kai had rarely seen that much food, let alone thought he could eat it all. It was remarkable that he'd managed to keep fighting for so many years on so little food and water, and he'd grown so used to it that he could probably be ravenous and barely feel it. As a wolf demon (well, half of one) he should have an unrivalled appetite, but Kai was the exception to all of this. If he got anything out of staying at the Academy, even if he didn't enjoy the place and hated the people or whatever, he could at least get stronger here. But he had to learn to start eating more, even he knew that.

"...I think that'll be enough..." he chuckled to her, rubbing the back of his head and slipping down from the railing to sit cross-legged on the floor; he didn't bother with getting a cushion, the floor didn't bother him in the slightest. He was looking at the contents of the tray as though it was something foreign, though - some of it looked familiar; bread, water, cheese, some of the meat, but a lot of it was new to him. He glanced up as she spoke, smiling a little. "I can see in the dark, but you can light some candles if it's easier for you." he suggested.

[Angel ♥]

"I think that I could still find something to hurt myself with in my room. I would end up pulling one of my draws out and dropping it on my foot, or something equally as stupid." She laughed, shaking her head at the thought. The scary thing was that she could actually imagine that happening. "Maybe it would be better if I just stayed in bed all day? But then I would feel lazy...and I have classes tomorrow...I can't really miss them." She pouted a little at that thought, as though having to leave her bed would surely mean that her clumsiness would sneak up on her and catch her out. She was going to fall over somewhere public wasn't she? She would trip up in front of everyone and land face first on the floor; it wouldn't be the first time that something embarrasing like that had happened.

"It will be enough? Oh good." She smiled to him, seeming relieved. She didn't want Kai to be left hungry, she would be a terrible host if he finished his meal and was still hungry! "It should still be warm, not too cold I hope." She murmured, catching how he was looking at the food, wondering if he just thought that it didn't look appetising or if he simply didn't know what anything was. "Hmmm, what did I eat tonight? I ate this, it was quite nice. It's not too spicy, I don't like things that are too spicy." She explained, pointing to one of the little dishes. "But, if you want to try something spicy then you should try this. You have to have pretty resillient taste buds to eat that." She grinned, pointing to another dish. "Anf I brought wine and water up...I didn't know which one you preferred...and water for your hand, but I'll let you eat first."

Pari nodded as he said that he could see, rising to her feet. "I'm not great at seeing in the dark. Just give me a second..." She murmured, disappearing inside to find her matches and a shawl to put around her shoulders; it was cool out tonight. She came back wrapped up in a thick, intricatly embroided shawl, a little box of matches in her hand. There were candles and lanterns dotted down the balcony, all of which Pari lit, illunimating the space in pretty, flickering light. "There, much better." She smiled to herself as she returned to sit down.

[Vyncent Schwarz]

"I don't like things that are too spicy either." he admitted with a light smirk, looking down at the things she had pointed out and tilting his head curiously. Kai was admittedly a lot more used to spicy food than he had been when he'd first arrived in the Xyndi Empire, simply because he'd had no choice but to force himself into accepting the culture. Either that or he'd end up eating nothing, opposing to being fed stupidly little amounts. But given the choice, Kai would prefer the plain option that didn't burn his tastebuds off his tongue. He nodded and smiled to her as she got up to light the candles and such, his eyes flashing strangely in the darkness as if to say that he could see her perfectly as she walked away. There were a few perks to being a half-demon, weren't there?

He had started picking at the tray by the time she came back, seeming to find most of the food pretty good, even though the dish that she'd said was spicy was pushed far across the tray, Kai currently wrinkling his nose up and taking a drink of water. She was right. It was spicy. Bleeeeeeh. He smiled to her a little as the candles burst to life around them, casting golden and flickering shadows around the balcony and bathing them in soft light. He tilted his head at her shawl; he would never understand the people born in the Empire, he decided. How they could get cold in such a hot place, even at night, he had no idea. Kai actually seemed a lot more lively than he had in the day, in comparison, the cooler air had woken him up.

Although he couldn't see himself staying awake for much longer, despite feeling more energetic. It had been a hell of a day in his eyes, and it was rapidly catching up with him. "Hard to believe you came from this place..." he murmured softly, looking down into the garden again. He just couldn't understand how she'd come from here to the Arena where he'd been enslaved, of all the places that they could have gone. It was strange, to say the least. "What's gonna happen tomorrow, anyway...?" he asked curiously.