Stitches

[Ren Caverly]

Ren hadn’t seen Kotone in far too long. Like far too long. Today was the day though. She’d sent Kotone some letters, via random people, and they were going to meet. Okay, so she hoped that they were going to meet. She had invited the lovely ice dragon slayer to Lamia Scale. She didn’t mention that she had a present for Kotone, but she was so excited. She normally didn’t get excited, but for today she was, so that was new.

Ren had contacted someone and gotten supplies in Oak Town. She’d met some intimidating girl there who talked to her about things and displayed her magic like it was nothing. Weird. Ren had never been able to do that. Her magic wasn’t good enough, or her magic wasn’t pretty, or worse of all it was “dark.” Well, duh, it was dark, it was moving shadows… but what she really didn’t like was people who made that into a bad thing. Dark things weren’t bad, they weren’t evil but as soon as someone saw her shadows they got up in arms like she was up to some mischief. She’d grown a lot since the last time she got to see Kotone, and she was learning how to properly use her magic. She was good with it… and it was good magic. People who thought otherwise were just mean and ignorant.

In any case, she’d met up with someone. She gave Ren supplies, and Ren took them home in a backpack. From there she spent hours, and hours, over many days, working. She’d stabbed her fingers many times, but she was careful not to get blood on anything. It was all clean. She’d sewn an adorable black cat plushie. It was really cute, if Ren said so herself, and she did say so herself… in her head. So she thought it was cute. The black cat was almost big enough to be a pillow, and looked as similar to Sid as she remembered. She even made him a collar. Ren had gotten some twine and braided it into a nice collar, then sewn a little silver patch to look like a tag, and stitched “Sid” into it. She was so proud. She even cuddled with it just to make sure she hadn’t left any needles in or anything. It was perfectly safe. She put the cat on her bed under a small blanket and went into the front area. She took to hiding in the shade of a tree, in her usual getup. She hoped she’d see Kotone today.

[Kotone]

The teenage girl in question had arrived in the nearby town the night before after she'd gotten the request from Ren, of all people. She hadn't known Ren could even make requests from people, but apparently the dragon slayer was to be pleasantly surprised. She was proud of Ren for even contacting her.

It had been a long while and Kotone had done a lot of growing up, herself. She wore a somewhat pleasant smile on her face as she finished her walk to Lamia scale. She was wearing a green thin-strapped tank top and was wearing a black skirt instead of her normal clothes; it was warm lately and she preferred to be cool.

With a sigh, Kotone closed her eyes and prepared to enter the Lamia Scale grounds. She would probably attract attention like she always did when she went to places where people might recognize her. Being a dragon slayer was like being a celebrity sometimes. Or a criminal. It really depended on whom she'd dealt with at the time and what had come of it. She didn't take long to find Ren hiding in the shade of the tree nearby; she could smell her before she even saw her. "It's been awhile since someone contacted me with a letter. Much less several of them," she told Ren in a cheery voice. "It's good to see you're doing well. Sorry I only got two written back. I've been a bit busy doing some, er... soul searching I guess."

[Ren Caverly]

Ren was capable of requests. Demands? Well, no. She’d done a lot of things she hadn’t formerly been capable of, but no one should expect miracles. It was nice enough that she was seeing results from her effort. She rarely actually made progress, but since she had written letters to Kotone, Kotone had shown up. How much better could it be?

Ren jumped up awkwardly, balancing on her heels as Kotone spoke. She blushed deep red when Kotone mentioned the letter, her face almost apologetic. Kotone didn’t sound annoyed though, but Ren was still embarrassed. She was fragile, and for that reason she didn’t go around putting herself in extra vulnerable situations. She’d been borderline maimed a few times since she’d seen Kotone last, but she hadn’t went around making friends and being vulnerable in that sense. Goodness no, that sounded so much more dangerous.

“S-sorry,” she said out of habit. “I made you a present. S-so I want to make sure you got it, and I wanted to see you,” she said with a small nod. It wouldn’t look like much, but that Ren was actively saying what she wanted, was a fairly big step in it of itself. “So… I can take you to it, and… um, how have you been?” She sounded fairly excited, albeit very nervous, to see Kotone again. She wanted to hug the girl, but she also personally tried to avoid touching people most of the time. She’d hate to impose.

[Kotone]

Kotone only raised an eyebrow when Ren apologized. Did she do that a lot? Kotone had the feeling her first response was to apologize for whatever she did. She told Kotone she’d made a present for her, and that she wanted to make sure she got it, personally it seemed. It made Kotone grin as she placed her hands on her hips. Her hair and skirt blew slightly in the gentle breeze.

“Admittedly, I missed you too, Ren,” she told the girl sincerely, the grin backing up her words. “I’ve been doing better,” she told Ren, not explaining what it meant. Kotone was feeling a lot less apprehensive at the world after clobbering Tatsuma, despite her general loss of respect for him. She was starting to be the daughter Krendall had wanted her to be instead of the egotistical maniac she’d become there for a year or two. She was trying to be a hero, and not just play hero. “Lead the way, I suppose.”

Kotone expected the pair would be going back to Ren’s room. It was a cute little room. It could use more stuffed animals though. Actually, most rooms could use more stuffed animals. Kotone was practically a hoarder of plushie dolls. Her bedroom was a mountain of them, and she even had several around her living room. Had she placed one or two in the kitchen as well? She couldn’t remember.

[Ren Caverly]

Kotone was a hero, obviously. Ren knew that. She’d been really nice and helpful when they met. Ren didn’t know much about heroes, but she’d decided that Kotone was one. It made sense. Her first response was to apologize for things, shrink, hide, ect. She was doing pretty well on this particular day. It was the first time in a long time that she had chosen to initiate an interaction. When had the last time been?

Ren didn’t really keep plushies around her room, but she had the one. She walked a bit easier with Kotone up to the bedroom. Had she been a different person she might have skipped or danced along. Being Ren, she just walked a bit more lightly. She was very happy to see Kotone, and to show her the present. She didn’t even mind being given the job of leading, or anything.

Once inside her room Ren pulled the curtains open. She was totally fine in the dark, but she thought Kotone might like some more sunshine. It wasn’t a bad day for sunshine. Maybe they’d have an eclipse someday. Ren thought that would be very pretty. She needed to stay on topic. She pointed to the object hidden under her blanket. The adorable cat plushie. She’d put so much love into it. “I didn’t wrap it or anything, so… its just under the blanket. You can look at it now,“ she said. Kotone could look at it whenever she pulled the blanket off, but clearly Ren wanted her to do it like… now. She even smiled a little nervously.

[Kotone]

Raising an eyebrow questioningly, Kotone slowly lifted up the bedsheet, wondering what was under there. Just as she did, Sid picked that moment to wake up, mewing as he popped his head out of her backpack only to see Ren, mewing again as if saying hello. Kotone paused for a moment when she saw the stuffed animal, but grinned a slightly fangy grin after a moment.

That was obviously a plushie clone of Sid. Part of Kotone told her to take it and be calm and act appreciative but not overly excited. But the other part of her said ‘screw that noise,’ and instead she let out the girliest squee she’d let out in front of anyone since she was like… twelve, hugging the plushie to her cheek and sending Sid running for cover when it surprised him.

“This… is… SO ADORABLE!” Kotone practically yelled. She was obviously both pleased and excited. Something about it being a combination of being given an adorable homemade plushie and it being Ren just melted all of her ‘cool’ away, leaving a happy, bouncing teenage girl who liked plushies entirely too much in her place. “Did you make it yourself? You did a great job! It even has a name tag!”

[Ren Caverly]

Ren was extremely nervous. In the somewhat recent past she’d met a girl who got her to make a present for another guild member. It was pretty strange, really, but they baked a cake and he liked it. Ren ran off before she could really give it to him, and so this was odd. She was giving someone she really liked a gift, and she was waiting to see the reaction. She fidgeted, even as Sid popped up to greet her.

The young woman’s brown eyes grew very wide, taken aback by the squeal of the super serious dragon slayer. She hugged the stuffed animal tight and seemed extremely happy with her present. Ren bit her lip and relaxed slightly. This was a good sign, right? She even smiled, which for Ren was pretty rare. Kotone seemed to love it, and looked pretty adorable herself, bouncing around with the object. She asked about the plushie. “Mhmm! I got some supplies and made it for you. I’m glad you like it,” she said, biting her lip still as she smiled more and blushed. “I… hadn’t seen you for a while, and you were r-really nice to me, so I wanted to make you something special. It seemed like the best thing…” she said shyly. It was probably the happiest she had looked in years, many, many years. Seeing Kotone react so well didn’t calm Ren, but it did make her really happy.

[Kotone]

Kotone didn’t stop gushing over the plushie very quickly at all. Even after Ren spoke up about the Sid Plushie, she held it close to her with a grin the dragon slayer hadn’t worn in a long time. Sid even showed his appreciation of his cotton effigy through a meow and a purr while forcing his face into Ren’s hands for petting. “It’s really nice. I didn’t think I’d done anything special though. I mean, I guess I wasn’t a jerk or anything… though I’ve been trying extra hard not to be anyway lately….” Kotone admitted, resting her chin on the Sid doll.

Kotone knew better than to comment on Ren’s own happiness. It might kill the mood, and Kotone was rather happy with the mood in the room. “Well,” she started, subconsciously swaying a bit like the little girl she was deep down inside. She still hadn’t stopped hugging the poor Sid doll close. “I’m glad I came. I certainly don’t deserve it though. We should ah, do something since I’m here. I’d hate to take a lovely gift and run, you know.” Kotone told her honestly. Yeah, the whole cool façade she kept up was gone for the moment. Well, it wasn’t entirely a façade, but it was certainly hiding the little girl she’d never completely grown out of being despite having to grow up and be the big bad dragon slayer. That little girl had never had anyone she actually called a friend. Ren was one of the nicer people, and probably the first she'd been willing to admit was a friend when she'd looked back on their initial encounter.

[Ren Caverly]

It was normal for Kotone to be calm and calculated. It was normal for Ren to be invisible and lonely. Right now was anything but normal. Ren smiled some more and happily gave into Sid. He got a lot of petting and Ren even picked him up and held him. While she was standing there with a living, breathing, real cat, Kotone was gushing over a toy. It was a cute near mirror image. “Well… I mean… you don’t… earn favor, right?” she tried to reason, blushing a little. She was trying to speak more openly, but it was hard for her. Not too hard, since this was Kotone. “You were nice to me… I wanted to make you something. So… I did.”

It was pretty easy to kill a mood with Ren. Bad moods were like a large pit for her. A good mood was effectively a moue scampering across a string, hoping not to fall. The slightest nudge knocked her off. She didn’t feel that way right now. Right now she was really… happy. She kept smiling as Kotone swayed. “I’m glad you came too. I like your visiting…” Kotone said she shouldn’t just run, and Ren nodded quickly. She didn’t want Kotone to run off. “I don’t really have any plans… I just made that, and had been hoping to see you so I could give it to you.” She kept stroking Sid as he soaked up the affection. “We could… sit and talk, or… whatever you want to do. I don’t spend a lot of time with people…” she blushed, but still smiled a small bit.

[Kotone]

Kotone looked at the Sid doll again, holding it gently despite her earlier squeezing as Ren told her that one didn’t earn favor, and insisted that Kotone was nice to her, so she wanted to do do something for her, so she just did. ‘You were one of the first in a while,’ Kotone thought to herself as she hugged the doll to her chest again using both arms as Ren told her she liked when the dragon slayer visited, saying she didn’t have plans but had just been hoping Kotone would drop by.

Sitting and talking was simple enough. Why not? Sid was enjoying the attention anyway. She could swear last time they’d left Sid had been indignant that Kotone didn’t treat him with as much affection as Ren. She’d insisted that maybe he didn’t deserve it after stealing so much of her food. He’d only tilted his head like being a cat was excuse enough for such behavior. Kotone sat down on the bed next to Ren, giving the girl a friendly grin. “Alright, what have you been up to?” Kotone asked Ren, hoping to make a little conversation since the idea had been to sit and talk. She wasn’t sure if she expected much from that question or not. She seemed the type to hide in her room a lot. Not that there was anything wrong with that.

[Ren Caverly]

Without trying, Kotone was Ren’s best friend. Logically her best friend, if she had friends, would be Kade. He had known her the longest and spent the most time with her. However he wasn’t the person she let closest. For better or for worse Ren let Kotone closest. She’d shared a room with her willingly, even invited her over. She’d met with a stranger just to make a present for Kotone. This was worlds away from what she did for other people, which usually boiled down to hiding or stuttering in an attempt to not be rude and ignore them.

They seemed to agree to sit and talk. Ren sat down with Sid, lavishing attention on him without worry. She didn’t know it would cause him to be rude to Kotone later. She just knew he was soft, and nice, and didn’t scare her. He wasn’t a person, and that was great for Ren. Kotone asked but Ren had been up to and she bit her lip. She had been doing things, and hoping Kotone would be proud of her, but she felt awkward saying that. “I… um… I did a couple of missions,” she said, sounding a bit shy for the achievement. “I trained a few of my spells… and I did a B rank mission, it was really hard though…” She said that a bit quieter, looking to Kotone to see how the woman would react. Ren was only really supposed to do C rank jobs, not that Kotone knew that. Ren probably looked like a D rank wizard, but she was stronger, really she was. She just lacked all the necessary confidence.

[Kotone]

“Really? A B-Rank Mission?” Kotone asked, a surprised look on her face. Ren certainly didn’t look any worse for wear after glancing at Ren. Not that she could tell so easily; the girl was made of hoodie. She was a lot stronger than Kotone had given her credit for, but that wasn’t the first time she’d made such a mistake. “That’s amazing,” Kotone nodded enthusiastically. Kotone had done a B-rank mission as well not too long ago, though it easily should have been A-Rank or higher. It had been a harrowing ordeal, but she’d made it through it with the help of several others.

“I’ve been trying to improve too,” Kotone grinned, revealing her fangs. It was apparently her most favorite grin. “A dragon slayer can’t fall too far behind the mighty Ren, eh?” she chuckled good-naturedly. She cared who was stronger out of a sense of competitiveness, but if Ren was strong enough to take on a B-Rank mission, she was confident the young woman was able to take care of herself and stay safe at least. “I’m glad to hear you’re improving as well,” Kotone nodded as she glanced at Sid, who seemed to be melting into the bed with happiness. “I didn’t know anyone could be a master cat handler and a strong wizard besides me.”

[Ren Caverly]

Ren nodded shyly, but quickly. She was proud of herself. Really. Okay, she was proud of making Kotone look pleasantly surprised. Ren didn’t look any worse for wear right now, but she’d been an absolute mess at the time. Lots of bruises and marks. “Well, this guy I know… he suggested I get a job, and I took that one. It was to help people… and I like helping people…. Th-thanks,” she said, blushing when Kotone told her it was amazing.

Kotone was apparently trying to improve, and she looked happy about it. Ren nodded slowly as she was told Dragon slayers couldn’t fall too far behind. She then blushed more and looked away when her name came up. She thought it was just about not falling behind. “Oh, I’m sure you couldn’t fall behind me.” She kept giving Sid a fair deal of her attention, and he appreciated it. Kotone praised Ren some more. It made her warm and awkward. She liked the praise, from Kotone, but she still wasn’t good at handling it. “Thanks…. Oh… and… this guy, Kade? The one with the apples… he’s doing that… tournament thing that is coming up. He asked me to come. He kinda… encourages me to do stuff a lot,” she added. She talked much more fluidly than she did to other people, but it was still awkward in its own way.

[Kotone]

Kotone nodded at Ren’s thankfulness, not really saying much more at that point. She continued by saying Kotone couldn’t fall behind her. “You’d be surprised,” Kotone insisted lightly, a grin crossing her face. “Even dragon slayers get too lazy. It’s a wonder I didn’t get fat too,” she chuckled with a shake of her head. At least Sid seemed unconcerned with the exchange of modesty going on in the room. It was weird and awkward. Kotone’s natural instincts were to play up how awesome she was so no one would see her as weak, but she knew it was stupid and it wasn’t how it usually ended up working. Plus… it wouldn’t go over so well with Ren, she figured.

“I’ll keep an eye on him when I watch,” Kotone assured Ren. She had no intention of playing Ranor’s game. He had plenty of strong wizards and she didn’t want to give Fairy Tail an unfair advantage in the tournament. Well, that was her excuse. Really, she didn’t like the idea of camping with other people. She’d tried that with Raven and it hadn’t worked out.  “And you too, of course, if you say yes. I bet you’d do well,” she encouraged Ren.

[Ren Caverly]

Ren blushed when Kotone insisted that she could fall behind. Even dragon slayers could get lazy. Well she knew a dragon slayer, and he was absolutely not lazy. She wondered if she could be considered lazy before. She mostly just shuffled around the building. It wasn’t out of laziness though, it was mostly out of awkwardness. She didn’t mean to.

They spoke about the tournament next. Ren kept blushing when Kotone said she would keep an eye on Kade during the game. “Okay. He is nice…” she said, although she had said it before. He was a very strong wizard, as far as Ren was concerned. Sure she was bashful and awkward, but he was pretty cool, and it took a lot to get a positive impression from Ren. She would have immediately hated this Raven guy for hurting Kotone’s feelings. Not just been sad or awkward, hated him. She was hardly capable of anger, but she would be angry at anyone who hurt Kotone. It was worse to hurt the strong people. It took more effort, and it was just mean.

“Heh… I don’t know… I don’t… um, I don’t like being watched. B-but… I’ll do my best. I’m… um… proud of… Lamia Scale,” she said, increasing her awkwardness, “So I want to do good for them. And for anyone who… well, wants me to do well. Do you want to maybe… take a walk?” she was getting fidgety and it might be a good idea to get some of her built up anxiety out that way.

[OOC: Since you said we might want to wrap this up with them hanging out, we should aim toward that.]

[Kotone]

Kotone looked at Ren, smiling and nodding when she said she wanted to do well for her guild. “I’m sure you’ll do great with… whatever it is this tournament thing is about,” she told Ren honestly, shifting her posture as Ren suggested the pair go on a walk. Kotone wondered about this Kade guy. He’d been nice enough when she’d talked to him before. Whatever the guy was actually like, he was certainly popular in the guild, and she supposed someone that popular couldn’t be that bad. Not if Ren liked him. She doubted Ren would let someone bad distract her and she would just run away more, at the very least.

Kotone stood up, still hanging onto her cat doll like it was the most precious possession in the world. Plushie Sid was going to stay in her backpack nearby instead of at her house. It would probably make her feel less isolated when she looked at it. “Alright,” Kotone told Ren with a nod, “Let’s go on a walk. It’ll be fun. We can like… what is it people do? Bond? Yeah. We can do that.” Kotone nodded, giving Ren a grin, “After all, isn’t that what friends are supposed to do... at least from what I hear?”

(we can end it here or you can have one more post. your choice)

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