Rain Dance

"Do you want to wait here for him? Or go back to our room?" Kimi asked, from where she had remained seated.

"Ava's with him. He should be okay," Voltaire answered.

"Noisy..." Adair repeated irritably from his room.

"And I don't think he wants us around anyway."

"Okay" Kimi replied, standing and smoothing out her skirts. "Do you want to get something to eat?" She asked.

"Yeah, that sounds good," Voltaire answered as they began to leave. "You should properly meet some of the other changelings anyway. We fight each other in the tournaments, but we mostly get along. If anyone bothers you, you can fry them for target practice."

Kimi looked away instead of answering. She didn't want to have to 'fry' anyone.

"Or I can fry them instead," Voltaire suggested. "Might work better that way."

Kimi shrugged and held his hand lightly, twining her fingers with his. "You don't have to do that" She murmured

"Some are more tempting targets than others," Voltaire replied, though his hand relaxed in her grasp. He headed for the food area.

Kimi smiled. "I'll take your word for it." She chuckled lightly.

The cafeteria area was busy as usual. Separate sections were set for the demons and changelings, with the demon section having a much wider array of food. Demon appetites varied greatly, and many things delicious to them were inedible or at least unappealing for humans demonically charged or not.

Voltaire heard some amused murmurs among the changelings. Voltaire only felt a twinge of embarrassment.

Kimi shyly stepped closer to Voltaire. She still didn't like being around so many, it made her shy and nervous.

"Just relax," he assured her, leading her over to the buffet. He had to let go of her hand so he could grab his plate and put food on it. "You'll be seeing these guys around a lot in the future so might as well get used to them. And like I said earlier, if they bother, we roast."

Kimi nodded slowly. She grabbed a plate as well, copying Voltaire's movements.

Voltaire went to sit down at one of the smaller stone tables, hoping that would discourage too many people from coming to visit once. He started gnawing on a chicken wing.

Kimi sat across from him. She picked at her food lightly, eating more daintily than Voltaire.

"So how's it feel being a changeling so far?" Voltaire asked as he ate. "Not that you've had much time with it yet, but still..."

"Its not so bad" Kimi replied. "All I've really done is follow you around and watch."

"Yeah, you seem to be handling it okay now that you're better," replied Voltaire. "When Adair turned changeling he kept accidentally settings things on fire."

"Well, I haven't really tried using my fire that much, and I'm used to controlling myself." Kimi replied. "Part of being a princess."

"Well Adair had Hero training but it didn't seem to help him much with firebreathing," Voltaire replied with a snort. "Of course he was a nervous wreck after all that happened but still..."

"Hey Voltaire," greeted Ruben, as the Raven changeling walked over to the table. "Finally decided to be social huh?"

"There's been a lot of crap going on," Voltaire replied. He glanced around trying to figure out where Omen was. "Kimi, this is Ruben. He's a decent guy. Omen however..."

"Omen's not joining us anytime soon," the black-haired Hero replied, noting Voltaire's suspicious scanning. "He got a good whack to the head during our last match. Getting treated for a concussion on top of everything else."

"Same as Adair then," said Voltaire. "Barrett gave him a couple good blows to the head."

"Ouch."

"Hello" Kimi mumbled shyly, not meeting his gaze.

"Hello," Ruben greeted back, nodding in Kimi's direction. He didn't say anything else.

"Ruben's not much of a talker either," Voltaire mentioned quietly to Kimi. "Never has been."

"I can hear you you know."

"I know."

Kimi quietly kept eating. "Should we bring Adair anything?" She asked quietly "Or do you think he'll be alright?"

"We'll pick up some stuff for him before we leave," answered Voltaire, now eating some green beans. He wasn't crazy about vegetables, but they were somewhat of a novelty. Meat he had all the time. "So did you guys win your match?"

"No," Ruben answered with some irritation. "Lost to the Dragons again."

Voltaire let out a huff. Those goddamn Dragons. He hoped they weren't their next opponents.

Kimi looked up at Voltaire. "Is there something wrong?" She asked softly