Torta e Verdure

"Good morning, Jerry-san~"

The pink-haired chef turned around to face the window, seeing a large bulky finder standing in front of him. He lifted an eyebrow from under his sunglasses, wondering how such a childish sounding voice could come out of that. Suddenly an arm shot up into his view as the owner of that voice waved at Jerry.

"Ano... I'm down here..."

Jerry looked down to see a small boy standing outside of the window, smiling a little nervously. "Aah, CazCaz~! You're so small it's hard to see you over all these people. What can I get you, cutie?"

Cassiel ignored the comment about his lack of height, and thought for a few moments, tapping his cheek with his index finger. "Mmh... can I get... a whole layered pound cake with raspberry jam filling, lemon curd, and buttercream frosting, ...please?" Jerry just smiled and twirled a ladle in his hand. "Coming right up~"

A couple minutes later, the boy was sitting at a mostly empty table, munching away at his cake. Several finders sitting near him made a few comments about how eating cake for breakfast wasn't healthy at all and he would never "grow big and strong" if he didn't eat his veggies. One finder even ordered a plate of steamed broccoli and tried to guilt trip the boy into eating it. "But Jerry went to all that work just to make it for you, master Cassiel. You don't want to waste food, do you?"

He put down his fork and patted his mouth with a napkin, then looked at the plate of broccoli. The smell was ruining the taste of his cake, but he was much too polite to say that to the finders. Afterall, they were just trying to be helpful... in a twisted sort of way. He reached into the front pocket of his shirt and pulled out a small, white and orange hamster then set him down on the edge of the plate of yucky veggies, watching the little hamster gobble it up in seconds.

"Oh no! Jammie ate all of it. He must have been hungry..." the boy exclaimed in mock despair, trying to hide a smile. The finders just stared at the now empty plate in defeat as Cassiel went back to eating his cake.

Cassiel slowly turned around to face Shizutsi, noting the nervous looks on the finders' faces. He'd heard quite a lot about the man during his time in the order, but never actually saw him. While he seemed nice enough, his smile was just a tad creepy and he wasn't sure if Shizutsi was supposed to be a man or a woman dressed like a man. The hamster climbed inside of Cassiel's shirt pocket, keeping his head poked out and his little hands gripping the edges. Cassiel patted him on the head, then looked upwards and smiled nervously at the man... woman... thing.

"It's... nice to meet you too, Shizutsi-san. D-don't worry about Jammie. He has a big appetite anyways..." he said while taking another bite of cake. His eyes stayed glued to it as he wracked his brain for ideas on what to say next. He was never very good with light conversation between strangers. "Um... I heared you were able to perform tricks... a-and things. Would you mind showing me some, Shizutsi-san?" he asked timidly, even stuttering a little over his words.

"Ah, master Cassiel. Maybe you should head over to the training grounds or something, instead... hm?" A finder cut in, trying to keep the kid far away from Shizutsi and his antics. Cassiel turned back to face the finder, his head tilted to the side a bit. "Why? I'd only get a tummy ache right after eating. Plus.. I.. I wanna see a trick." He turned again back to Shizutsi, giving him the best puppy eyes he could manage. "Please, Shizutsi-san?"

Cassiel took the rose in his hand and smiled nervously, blushing in slight embarrassment. "Th-thank you, Shizutsi-san." He held the rose close to his chest, Jammie peeking out of the pocket, twitching his nose at it. The finders' sudden leave left Cassiel tilting his head in a curious fashion. They were acting really strangely all of a sudden. He had a small idea that it was Shizutsi's fault they ran. He couldn't see why, though. And they'd looked almost shocked when Shizutsi gave him the flower. But didn't he do that to everyone? What could they have been weirded out by?

As Cassiel thought over that, he could hear the sound of nibbling and looked down to see his hamster chewing on one of the rose petals. "Ah! Jammie, don't eat that!" he cried and yanked the flower away, making the hamster look up at his master, nose twitching. He reached into his pants pocket for a small bag of sunflower seeds and gave a few to the hamster. "Chew on that, not Shizutsi-san's flower." He whispered to his pet, stuffing the bag back into his pants pocket. "Ano... how come those finders had to leave all the sudden?" he asked while looking down at his flower, trying to fix the chewed up part of it.

"I don't know... Maybe they tried to disapear but were not fast enough." He said and chuckled. He petted Jammie. Now now Jammie-chan. Roses aren't good for you. They give you a stomach ache and then you wont be happy now will you?" He said and his grin grew a bit. "By the way, would you like to see another trick?" Shizutsi asked, playing with the cards. This guy sure loved the cards, since they were always somehow involved in his tricks.

FIngers all around the place seemed to be a bit afraid of Shizutsi, since he didn't exactly look too friendly with that grin.

Cassiel set the rose down next to him, giving up on fixing the chewed up parts of it. "Another trick?" he asked curiously, drawing his legs up onto the bench so he could sit indian style. He and Jammie both watched Shizutsi play with the cards; Cassiel insterested in the next trick and Jammie interested in eating the ace of spades.
"Ano... Shizutsi-san?" He had his elbows propped up on his legs now, his chin resting on his hands. "The finders seemed kinda scared of you..." he gestured to a random group that was watching Shizutsi and Cassiel with frightened looks on their faces.

Cassiel didn't look into the man's eyes for long and, instead, turned away to his cake. "You don't scare me..." he mumbled mostly to himself while cutting another slice of cake. He placed it on a smaller plate in front of him and turned back to Shizu, holding it out to him. His smile still looked nervous, maybe even more-so now since seeing Shizutsi's eyes. It wasn't painfully obvious that Shizutsi wasn't as happy as he looked, but Cassiel could sense something wrong. "Eat~ Sweets always cheer me up when I'm sad." He shoved the plate to Shizutsi and then patted the bench, right next to him.

"I don't see why anyone should be scared of you 'cause of your strength. You're on our side, protecting everyone. The only reason they should be worried is if you were one of the bad guys, but..." At that point, he just started rambling on incoherently about good versus evil while stuffing himself with more cake. Eventually, he stopped and looked down at his now empty plate. "Um... sorry if I'm talking too much. I don't usually... maybe it's 'cause of all the sugar." He rubbed the back of his neck with one hand, laughing nervously.

Cassiel winced, thinking Shizutsi was angry with him at first. "O-older brother?" He stared at Shizutsi for a long while, noticing the man's expression, and smiled a little himself. "Mm, okay... Shizu-niisan~" He went back to focusing on his last piece of cake, munching away while staring off into space. He didn't really know what Shizutsi meant by being an "older brother", but his intentions seemed innocent enough

(ooc: Sorry it's so short. *hides in a corner* ._.)

Shizutsi soon stood up and nodded to a finder who had whispered something to him. "I'll see you later little one. I just got a mission. Or would you like to join me? i need a partner to it after all." He said, tilting his head, still grinning. The finder twitched. It was not too often Shizutsi chose to ASK someone to become his partner for a mission. Usually he tricked them into it, or something like that. Either way, Shizutsi seemed strangely friendly to Cassier. Probably the kid had to thank his face for that, or not? Who knew. "It'll be in Russia. i promise, after the mission, we buy cakes. i hear they have pretty good ones too..." He said, scratching his cheek, looking thoughtful.

ooc: i don't mind that much ^^

Cassiel looked at both the finder and Shizutsi before hopping off the bench and reaching out a hand, hooking his and Shizutsi's pinky fingers together. "No backing out of the cake promise, otay?" He then turned and ran out of the dining hall for a few minutes while he gathered his things and put on his exorcist uniform, which took up most of his time as he kept getting lost in the giant coat. He then set the hamster back in his cage with plenty of food and water since he wasn't allowed to bring Jammie on missions and then rushed back down to where Shizu and the finder were, hunching over in front of them so he could catch his breath. "S-so... when are we g-going?" he asked through ragged breaths. Despite being an exorcist, he wasn't very good at running. He didn't really need to run with his innocence.

"Hey hey hey!" Fenrir appeared next to them, out of breath. He had wanted to greet himself, but had overslept once again. He had been running to the breakfast table and had almost succeeded when a bunch of finders blocked him. They were all exiting and had taken most of the walking space.

By the time the crowd had cleared, the two exorcists were gone. Well, Fenrir wasn't one to give up. There was currently nothing to do and he was not going to sit around the whole day. Who knew what Komui was up to these days?

So now, here he was, by the train station.

"Yeah, so...can I join you two?" he asked, smiling nervously.

( ooc: Dang, this thread died for a while. I blame it on school and work. >>;; )

"Ooooh, and after we play in the snow we can have hot cocoa and sit by a warm fire all cuddled up in our blankets~" Cassiel giggled a little, wishing they actually could do that on missions. Unfortunately though, there was almost no chance for that. Innocence meant akuma and akuma meant fighting and fighting meant no playing and relaxing. He almost started to pout when he thought about it, but being out fighting in the freezing cold was still better than being cooped up in Headquarters in his opinion.

He turned to see a figure running towards them and tensed up, ready to fight if it happened to be an akuma... or just some crazy person. When he saw the exorcist coat, he let his guard down a tad and smiled at the approaching ally. "Morning, mister Fenrir~" He said, scooting over a bit on the bench so Fenrir could sit and rest if he wished. "I hope you packed warm clothes, 'cause we're going to Russia~!" He then turned to Shizutsi and tugged on his sleeve. "Um... it's okay if he comes with us, right Shizu-niisan? Otherwise he woulda run all this way for nothing."

( ooc... again: Since Lenalee's gone at the moment, this thread's on pause 'till she comes back so we don't leave her behind. D: )

"Warm...clothes?" Fenrir blinked. The only piece of clothing he had was the one he was wearing right now. His backpack contained only food, books, and a toothbrush. Oh well. It wouldn't be that cold like the little kid had put it. When Shizutsi replied that he could go, Fenrir sighed in relief. It would have been horrible to run back to Headquarters. The exorcist was quite weird though... It scared Fenrir a bit but he sat down anyways. He figured that the other...person must have been pretty nice as they did allow him on the mission with them. "So...when's the train getting here?"

"Um... hmmm..." Cassiel turned around to look at the train schedule on the wall, running his finger down the poster until he reached train 227. "It says it's gunna come at... 10:00."

The clock standing in the middle of the station read as 9:57. "Soon~ You can get yourself some warmer clothes when we get there. We don't really have time, now." Right as he said that a train whistle blew.
"Two twentyseven now boarding!" a plump man yelled from the steps of the passenger car. He took a quick glance at his pocket watch before stuffing it back into his pants pocket. He stepped down and stood by the car, clearing his throat and grumbling to himself as he checked passengers' tickets before they were allowed to board.

Cassiel hopped off the bench and grabbed his suit case, dragging it behind him as he ran to the train.

OOC: I just realized something really important....

IC:

Fenrir watched the two of them as they went abroad the train. The little boy had hopped in first, followed by the other exorcist. Just when he was about to enter himself, he caught sight of their tickets.

Tickets Suddenly, the world was a bit dizzy to Fenrir. He forgot that he needed a ticket to board the train! Fenrir stared around. Could he buy a new ticket? No. It would be too late as the train was going in a few minutes! Besides, Fenrir saw that the train had sent someone down to check for tickets. With a quick decision, Fenrir flashed a quick salute to his fellow exorcists, "I'm still going with you guys!" With that he ran back to the end of the train and jumped, just before it started moving.

He flashed a grin to himself. It was idiotic and showed someone that was about to lose it. "Please don't get caught. Please don't get caught." He said that to himself for a few times before shutting up and edging to the next car. His footsteps, he felt, were extremely loud. If he was correct, the passengers would have already been checked from this direction and he would be safe to go back.

No. He would not have been recognized because he never showed his face and there might have been checks. He groaned. He was camping out here for a while.

Cassiel was already sitting down, looking out the window when he saw Fenrir run. He tilted his head curiously, wondering why the guy was going to attempt to jump. Shizutsi could have just scared the ticket guy into letting Fenrir board. He turned toward Shizutsi at that and visibly shivered. he was sort of scary.

To rid himself of those thoughts, he jumped off the bench and spun around to face his "older brother". "Maybe we should go find our new fwiend before he gets himself in twouble..." He said, pointing in the direction Fenrir would be.

MEANWHILE...

Ten minutes passed and all the passengers seemed to be on board, so the plump man hopped on the train and closed up the doors. He had wondered what the hell that young man was doing earlier when he just so happened to catch sight of him, hiding in one of the cars.
"You there! Boy!" He yelled over to Fenrir, stomping towards him. His grey mustache twitched as he grumbled. "I'll need to see your ticket." He stopped right in front of Fenrir, holding out his hand, brow furrowed. "If I recall, you didn't board with the others. Do you happen to be a stowaway, lad?"

Fenrir heaved a sigh of relief as the train continued moving. He was safe...for now. He stiffened when he heard a voice behind his back. He was noticed! Who knew what they did to stowaways? Maybe if he pretended not to notice the guy, they would think differently and leave... No, that wasn't working. The man was talking to him still.

"I'm not a--

Then something even stranger happened. Something was pulling him away from the other guy! He turned to see it was one of the exorcists from before... Shoot! They were going to get in trouble too if they acted like they knew Fenrir. Quickly, Fenrir tried to fidget away when the exorcist spoke. He was purring??? He looked around. People were staring at them. He waved weakly and just...smiled. This was going to make it harder for him to hide....

The ticket man visibly shrank back, seeing Shizutsi's eyes and coughed, grumbling incoherently. "Mhm well then... v-very well. I apologize for inconveniencing you in anyway, sir." He bowed and hurriedly scuttled away leaving the three exorcists behind.

"Missur Fenrir, we're sitting over this way~" Cassiel tugged on the other's coat sleeve, pulling him in the direction of their seats. "You shouldn't run off like that. It could be dangerous." He stopped and looked at Fenrir, then at whatever it was Fenrir was looking at. Noticing the people staring at them, Cassiel smiled at them timidly and hid himself behind Shizutsi. "D-don't they know it's rude to stare?"