Rain Dance

Voltaire watched her walk out and felt uncomfortable. What had he done now? He glanced back at Adair, who seemed just as confused as he was.

"Don't think it's your fault," Adair assured. "Maybe she's homesick?"

Voltaire shrugged, doubting it, and walked outside himself. He saw Kimi sitting there, paused, and decided to sit down with her.

"Did I piss you off?" he asked.

"No. Just thinking." Kimi replied softly. "You didn't do anything." she rubbed her neck, tracing one of the scars there absently.

Voltaire leaned back against the wall, unsure of what else to say. He still suspected that he had hit a sore spot.

Ava came over, some grape bunches dangling from her beak as she worked on consuming a vine full of them. The sight of food reminded Voltaire that he hadn't eaten yet. The golden phoenix must have observed his ravenous stare, because she paused and looked at him and Kimi.

"Hungry?" she asked through the mouthful of grapes.

Kimi's stomach growled, an unpleasant reminder that her last meal was three or four days ago. "A little" She admitted softly.

She stopped tracing the scar, but her hand remained over it.

Ava plopped the remains of the vine in both of their laps, so that both of them got splashed with some grape and vine juice.

"Match will be soon," she reminded. "Will need to be ready soon."

"How soon is soon?" asked Voltaire, already munching down on what non-smashed grapes he could find.

"Hour," said Ava, before slipping into the cave.

Kimi popped a grape in her mouth. "You can go on ahead if you'd like. I'm sure Trevor won't mind if You leave me to get ready"

"You sure?" he asked, mouth full of mashed grapes. He swallowed. "Don't have to go just yet."

He would need to leave soon though. For one, he needed a proper breakfast. It wasn't good to go hungry to a fight. After that he would want to do some warm-up exercises and attacks in the sparring cavern that was to the north of the main cavern. He wouldn't actually be fighting anyone, just beating on whatever practice targets they had available.

"I don't mind. I'm used to being alone, remember?" She reminded him with a small, sad smile. "I've been fending for myself for longer than I've been hanging with you"

Voltaire knew this was true, of course, but somehow it made him feel worse instead of better. Still, he did need to get going.

Ava emerged from the cave, Adair riding on her back. "Ready Volty?"

"Ready enough," he replied, climbing aboard. "Later Kimi."

Ava flapped her wings and flew off.

Kimi waved good bye and headed back into the cave. She picked a comfortable section of rock and laid down to wait out the fight with a nap. Trevor would probably be gone for a while longer, since this cave had less 'guests' to suit his tastes.

Voltaire and Adair soon had a hearty breakfast (complete with devious curiosity from other changelings about their guest "...It's not like that!" Voltaire protested, much to the amusement of the others) and were having a good workout before Adair opened his big heroic mouth.

"Do you like her?" he asked.

Voltaire stopped his attack on the target sack long enough to glare at him.

"Do not."

"Yes do you."

"Do not!"

"You're a lousy liar 'Taire."

"Do not!" the Hunter insisted.

Kimi was oblivious to all. Though she hadn't fallen asleep yet, she lay curled on the floor in the room, thinking about Voltaire. She didn't quite know why, but she wasn't too concerned that she couldn't get the hunter out of her mind.

Voltaire was tempted to use Adair as target practice instead, but that wasn't a good idea right before a match. He didn't have much of a chance to anyway, as Ava soon arrived to take them to the battle site.

...Dammit, now he couldn't stop thinking about Kimi. Did he like her?

Kimi ended up falling asleep easily enough, the fair-haired hunter pursuing her even into her dreams. Trevor still had yet to return, he probably traveled back to their previous location to hunt.

As they flew to the battleground it occurred to Voltaire that he never told Kimi where the spectators were supposed to go. Well, all she had to do was follow the flood of non-competing demons to the area so it probably wouldn't be that big of a deal, but it still bothered him.

He noticed that there were already some demons arriving as they reached the central cavern's fighting zone. It was a plain enough battlefield, mostly flat except for some stalagmites sticking up from the ground. Voltaire preferred this kind of field: few obstacles, no tricks, easier attacking.

There were no stands, just a rough indication of glowing marks of where the spectator area ended and the fighting area began. It wasn't unusual for stray attacks to find their way into the crowd, so the demons with common sense stayed behind the overly eager demons in the front. He hoped Kimi would have the sense not to get too close.

Going to the fight had totally slipped Kimi's mind when she laid down. Now she slept, deeply and peacefully, without a care in the world.

(she's gonna sleep through the first fight. going to class. be back at 9)

(ok. This might take a couple posts.)

Voltaire scanned the building crowd over and over. Still no sign of Kimi. He felt a bit anxious. Where was she? Adair noticed the Hunter's nervous behavior, but didn't say anything.

The Wolves soon came on the opposite side of the field. Belle and Caleb, in fully human form, were riding on the back of a large white wolf, Fenrir. The colorless canine sat down and his two changelings jumped off his back and moved forward.

Seeing the Wolves arrive, the Phoenixes also dismounted off of their familiar and came forth. Excited roars and cheers were starting to rise from the crowd.

"You're late," Voltaire called over, spitting out a little fire.

"We didn't want to waste time waiting on your guys," Caleb replied with a smirk. Belle, though glad to see Adair, soon shook off her happy look and became more focused. "You ready?"

"We've been ready."

The two sides charged forward.

(so, should I describe the actual fight or just skip to results?)

(Go ahead and skip)
Kimi continued to sleep. She moved very little but looked peaceful. Her hair was splayed out like a Halo and her dress accented her pale skin, making her look like a little porcelain doll.

(okay)

The Phoenixes had won the match, as was generally expected. It wasn't that the Wolves were weak. It was just a matter of elemental advantage: fire melted ice, and therefore fire inflicted great damage on the cold-based canines. The match was over quickly.

It was just as well. Both Adair and Voltaire had nasty bite and slash wounds from the fight and were currently in the medical wing. Ava was nearby, using her own healing power to accelerate the already-accelerated healing spell the medical area provided. Caleb and Belle were next door, recovering from burns and bruises.

Despite the win, Voltaire was edgy. He hadn't seen Kimi anywhere during the fight, and she wasn't here either. He wanted to go out to check to make sure nothing happened, but right now he needed to get his wounds healed. It would be no use to run around bleeding all over the place like a chicken with its head cut off.

Kimi was still sleeping. Since it had been relatively quiet in that section of the cave, she had yet to wake, and this was the best sleep she'd gotten for as long as she could remember. It didn't matter that it was on the floor (granted, she might be a little stiff when she actually woke up) because the dress provided protection from the chill of the stone.

"Where is she?" Voltaire muttered, his foot impatiently thumping the bed as he waited for the last of the wounds to close. "Adair, you sure you haven't seen her?"

"Yes," Adair answered for a third time, his wounds already healed. Voltaire, on top of being half-distracted during the fight, was reckless in battle anyway, so he usually ended up with more wounds. It concerned Adair sometimes. "Do you want me to look for her?"

"I'm almost done. I'll find her," Voltaire replied, hardly able to sit still enough for Ava to treat the last remaining injury. As soon as she was done Voltaire sprang up and shot out of the room like a bullet.

Adair shook his head. He had to admit he was a bit concerned too, but Voltaire was overreacting as usual. Kimi was probably somewhere in the back where they couldn't see her, that was all. He followed after Voltaire a couple moments later, as did Ava.

Kimi blinked herself awake sluggishly. she sat up with a small, sleepy grunt. She yawned and rubbed her eyes.

Accelerated along by fire power, Voltaire and Adair searched every place they could think of: main cavern, meal area, hot springs, the cavern tunnels. Still no sign of Kimi. Voltaire was near close to panicking in the main cavern when Ava called out to them.

"She's here in our cavern! She was sleeping."

Voltaire didn't know whether to laugh, cry, yell out or to just hit his head against the wall. He just sighed instead, as he and Adair made their way back to their cave room.

Kimi apologised to Ava profusely. "I didn't mean to sleep so long! Just for a few minutes, I only just woke up. I didn't mean to miss the match or to make you all worry." She looked upset that she had caused them to worry.

"I'm very very sorry"

Voltaire leaned against the wall and looked away.

"Well, whatever. Important thing is that you didn't get eaten by some bored demon or something, so that's what counts," he said casually, though in truth he was still irritated. He was going to be reminded of his little anxiety attack over Kimi for a long time, maybe forever. "And it wasn't like we ever said you had to attend the fights, just that you could. This was more an arrangement for safety than some ego trip."