Cat-less Cat-owner

[Deleted]

Finding it lying on the floor Kano grabbed it and began skimming through it, noting anything of interest and huffing again. Really the way she did this was never good, and the Old Man had been coming down on her for it harder as she got closer to leaving. It was a bit more painful than usual given the tightly grouped times she had shattered the illusion. Noting a self rewinding watch idea again the clockmaker wished she had kept those watches to try it with.

[Red_Tower]

"I caught some rabbit and cooked it up; it's sitting on a plate on your other side along with some water." Bill told Kano without turning around. He wasn't trying to be cold, if anything he wanted to try and be as good to her as he could, but he wasn't very good at that. Add on top of that the number of things he was working on in front of him, and he didn't have much to spare on the shifter. Still, he continued to glance back at her frequently, checking constantly to see if she needed help.

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Ignoring the food, Kano drank the water and continued reading silently. She was a bit sorry for worrying Bill as he was responding apparently similarly to the Old Man, there was a lack of forced anger but it wasn't that unsettling for her now. Her golden eyes found Bill to have moved the cloth separating the rooms and working with some of the books and other items from the room. 'I wonder if he can speak other languages. I can only speak two and given his unfamiliarity with my eyes he probably can't speak that one....'

[Red_Tower]

"If you've got the strength, mind tossing over the small red-cloth bound book behind your head?" Bill called back to her, still not turning around. He was indicating a small older looking book with odd characters on it. He didn't know why he wouldn't turn and face her, but he felt like if he did, he'd regret it. In the meanwhile, the gears of his mind were spinning, and he was working quickly on several projects. He tossed one smoking bottle into the air, catching it in his other hand and pouring it into small vial as he began grinding some plant with a mortar and pestle with the hand that he used to toss the bottle. The alchemist's eyes bounced around from book to book, flame to bubbling solution, ground herbs to glowing vials.

[Deleted]

"I don't think throwing anything at you is a good idea." Hming a bit she tried to think of a way to toss it and not have it hit him or anything he was working with. Kano spotted an empty corner of the desk and grinned, it would have to be tossed just so or it would fall. As a clockmaker she was an expert at a guesswork and balancing things that shouldn't, 'Well as a clockmaker who spends time in working clock towers anyways.' Throwing it in a gentle spinning motion she watched as it landed diagonally to the corner it was on balancing two thirds of the way off. Flipping through her book some more she found that whomever wrote it was not terribly creative in their blueprints.

[Red_Tower]

Picking the book up an instant after it landed, impressed with her aim. "Good shot." Bill told her, nodding in thanks. He flipped it open and put it alongside the rest of the books on the desk, swapping around two beakers that were set to different temperatures. "I should stop this and actually pay attention to her, but what do I say? Ask how she is? That answer is pretty clear. Gods!"

[Deleted]

"Well with the number of times I've had to throw books through past and onto moving gears anything else would ruin them." Kano being who she was very much wanted to get up and move about. 'Yeah that's not happening. Even if I was certain I could stand the way out that doesn't require getting past Bill means I have to climb and be certain I can land properly.' Finding the sling of her bag of clothing to be to far away to be useful she glared at it a bit before finding it to be to hot and tossing Bills black coat aside. Again she was a little sorry for having yanked him around, if not on purpose.

[Red_Tower]

Bill remained silent for several minutes as he worked, but his mind was occupied thinking about the shifter. "Do you need anything?" He asked her simply, turning his head halfway to look at her. The gleam of the alchemic flames shone in his eyes, and he seemed to be giving her a genuine smile. Maybe this is why he didn't want to look at her, because now he felt like an idiot, and his face went straight again.

[Deleted]

"No, not really." In this situation Kano may as well have been a cat, the glow of the flames barely reached her and the way she stared in a measured way was unnerving to most. The clockmaker almost flinched when Bill's face turned straight and while she couldn't see herself she was fairly certain hit hadn't been noticeable. He was avoiding looking at her directly, and as far as she could tell he was old enough to make it so that her dashes across rooftops at night didn't make her frustrating to look at because of spotting her while looking through the window.

'Lots of the kids in Haribute find it hard to look at me for more than a second.... But Bill isn't a kid and he never lived there. So why?' Her eyes flicked to the desk for a moment as she tried to gauge how much of his attention should be focused there, most likely less than what it was getting as Bill watched her from only one eye. If he was sitting at a different angle it would be far easier to split concentration on what he was looking at. Looking back to her current interest because he had spoken instead of leaving her to read the girl waited for him to look away or say something again.

[Red_Tower]

"I know you're getting restless, but you should feel better than ever after this rest. I would offer to help you walk around a bit, but you need to stay off your feet a bit longer." Bill paused. "I'm sorry." He said as he turned back to his work, still barely concentrating on it. Something felt off here, was it him, or her? Probably both at this point. He had grown use to have her around, use to having company, and having a friend. Did that scare him? "Of course you're scared, after what's happened to all the friends you've made before? And I still think there's more to this." The mage thought to himself, grunting it out of his mind.

Bill's eyebrow twitched, and a split second later he threw a small scalpel across the room, slicing a cockroach in half that was about to climb onto the plate of food he had set out. He had thrown it without looking. He shook his head, putting much more focus on his project now, hoping that Kano wouldn't ask about that.

[Deleted]

The look of utter confusion at his response was missed as he turned away. 'Sorry. Sorry? Sorry? I don't- This doesn't. What?' Blinking and watching the scalpel curiously for a few seconds Kano never said anything from there. Tracking his movements with the same carefully measured gaze she eventually looked away. There was nothing she really understood going on at the desk, she knew a few refinement processes for oil and metal with little else to do with any of what Bill could possibly do with the equipment. It was also a terrible idea to put oil to the temperatures some of the vials appeared to be at.

Glaring at the ladder and ceiling hatch, for a moment she considered throwing the book she had with her onto the desk just to see the reaction. Deciding against it she moved her gaze to the drawers near her, they were empty, and the girl knew that well enough. Recalling that she had left the key on the desk the clockmaker glanced up at Bill again, hoping he had noticed how soft the metal was and wasn't exposing it to any of what he was working with.

[Red_Tower]

The key was hanging below his pocket, with several small wind chimes attached to it. Bill felt bad having her cooped up in here, but he felt like he had to. But he needed to be more careful about his reactions. If he kept this up she'd be interrogating him by the time she could stand, and he didn't want to lie to her almost more than she didn't want to lie to him. After many more long minutes, Bill put out the flames on all of his apparatuses, set the glasses on a cast iron plate to cool, and wiped away the stray cutting from the herbs he was working with. At long last he finally turned the chair around to watch Kano, trying to think if he had anything to say to her.

[Deleted]

Hearing the clink of the key against something else she looked away satisfied. Hearing the turning of the chair Kano returned her gaze to Bill once again trying to figure out what it was he wanted. Cold again she pulled her hood up and rested her head on her arms, content to stare until he responded. The Old Man often told her to be quiet when she did this, although she never spoke when watching unless she felt that there was a need to. It happened often with the girl always saying she hadn't said anything and the Old Man snapping back that she was thinking.

Kano blinked once. Twice. 'Alright what do you need?' The clockmaker needed nothing that she could think of, although she was a bad judge of when she should be taking care of herself, and Bill was watching her as well. Grinning for just a moment as she looked slightly to his left her gaze returned to his quickly. 'Well?'

[Red_Tower]

Bill stared into her eyes, his mind racing. "Why are you just staring? Are you going to start playing some stupid mind game? Well?" He stood up and walked over, gently squeezing her leg in a few places. "I think you got a slight sprain before, but it seems better now." Bill muttered, looking up along her body, blinking once, before returning to the chair, and staring at her again. "Well, that was bloody eventful."

[Deleted]

Huffing a bit her eyes followed him carefully. 'A sprain feels very different, and that is something I would know given all the climbing I do. It's far more likely it was deeply bruised.... Are you okay Bill?' Eyes narrowing for a moment she contemplated throwing the book at him again. Kano was bored. There was no doubt anymore for her, and if she was kept inside for the next few days with things going this way it was likely she'd sneak out to the roof and try not to giggle till she was found. 'Should I ask? Hm.... Well now it would be sudden and odd. Nope. I'll wait.' Blinking again and finding him to be equally silent the girl did her best not to throw the book.


It wasn't that hard really, there was plenty of reason not to.