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No cats to be found, and not with her, and not with him, and not at a pet store. Albite scratched at his scalp gently, closed his eyes and scrubbed his dreads back behind his shoulders, shook the tension out there.

So his fate was sealed by her words, and even with some of his questions answered he still lacked any real solutions to anything. No homeworld, no cat, nada....

"Yeahh...yeah I hear you. It's fine, not like you make the rules up for the whole of the universe right?" the worst part was that he'd have to wait around, and what, hope and pray a cat found him whenever it damned felt like it? He didn't understand any part of how that worked, but the implications had him spooked.

Knowing a cat would or could find him whenever it pleased was terrifying. The thought that some day he'd wake up off his couch and find a furry beast perched there all 'Hi, I'm your new guardian cat, time to upgrade ya b***h!'

The very notion made Albite shudder, despite the lack of chill in the air. He would have welcomed anything else. Instead all he'd have to forewords to would be nightmares of lurking cats; fluffy beasts hanging in shadows to surprise him with...surprises....

"I'd rather they not find me, if it's all the same to them. I don't want to know how they do it....Whatever, do you want some coffee or something? A meal? I know a place, and I owe you for your time. You've actually been really helpful, including the uh..cat things..." Albite asked, chagrined, but eager to give her something in return. He'd barraged her with nonsense for who knew how long, and she'd been polite through all of it, answered everything.

Nicer than most really.

"You could -" but he was glad she didn't "-and your welcome." grin magnanimous, the way it took up his face. It was almost a relief to stop asking the questions. Especially since they all seemed to lead to increasingly disparate ends for him. Better to leave it for another time

"There's the sweetest little naan' there, runs this coffee joint, if you sass her she'll take your ear right off..." and his words were drenched in the knowledge that came with experience of such things. "You'd like it - not far from here. N' we can drop the glitz n glam or not. Lady doesn't care so long as someone's paying." Albite wasn't sure how much sight she had, the owners squinched shut gaze spoke of many years in the sun, but all the cooking was taste's and smells; who needed perfect vision.

A Javanese open air stall - open late - they made coffee with cardamom in it, had spicy little bowls of broth and vegis that Albite would have died for. He'd gotten a lavender honey iced latte, something he'd never have considered before he tried it at this place.

Sweetest little old nana with a sharp ******** tongue - she liked to work late because the nights made her lonely - because she liked to be there for people. English wasn't her first, third, or fifth language - but language was never needed when food was involved. Albite liked a woman that had raised enough kids that she didn't take s**t from anyone, but still had all the love to give with her food.

Albite was tempted to make a joke - several thousand innuendo laced jokes - never had he gotten a woman out of a dress so fast before dinner. Instead --"Dee huh? I like it, Waru works fine for me - ya don't need the whole thing, I haven't met anyone who can say it without making me roll my eyes outta my head." The grin for that, the hint at caution, because he liked her - but he wasn't gonna take her home, unless...no.....that'd be rude...

It was easy enough to drop the glamour, a roll of shoulders, that moved into him stretching, cracking his neck briefly because that head of hair was heavy. All the magic in the world couldn't make up for the feel of himself with it - and then stepping into a form where it's absence was so clearly noted.

"C'mon Dee, I'm hoping you don't mind Javanese. You seem like a girl who's willing to try new stuff though - all things considered?" Waru smirked softly, all forest green cargo shorts n' white t'shirt. Quirked a finger at her as he led her out of the alley, around a few corners - but no further than two blocks away.

"Since I'm the gentleman, most of the time, anything you want? I'm payin." The fare wasn't expensive or extravagant. So Waru never minded the cost. Was more than happy to wave beseechingly when they approached the place - small iron tables and chairs out front - brightly colored awnings - little hanging lanterns and a string of fairy lights that glowed the place up on the corner between two busy thoroughfares. Had it been daylight, the place would've been bustling.

"Anything with cardamom in it, for the hot drinks . Not sure how long you wanna stay up after this? There's some really good chai too - iced with honey and cinnamon in it." chatting easily as he sidled up to the front of the joint, gave the old woman a smile - though she largely seemed to ignore him - with the exception of a slow nod at his presence. "It's all kinda like Indonesian food? Lots of veg - soups, lentils, bread, rice..eating with your hands!"

Waru grinned, and he could eat most things, whenever, he liked to get a variety though - when the naan had it on offer. "Lets go with...Soto Bangkong..and then Jepara beef satay? The soto is like a chicken soup, but overloaded - and then the beef is all skewers, easy to share." Waru offered up with a shrug - turned to chat the old woman up, the shift in crags on her face suggested at a hint of a smile, burred under age and time - her turning to being busy suggested she knew him - it wasn't the first time he'd been there, nor the first time he'd ordered those dishes.

Waru liked the time she took - meant he could talk about whatever, or just sit and enjoy himself. It was a good way to take a break - making himself wait for food.

The screech of noise he made as he pulled the chair out had the little old naan behind the counter toss an utterance his way. He could hardly contain himself, careless as always, and though he'd pulled the chair away from the table he seemed unable to actively sit in it. A little bounce in his standing as he watched the woman cook from the table. More content to lean across the back of the chair with folded arms, to bend over it and stare at Dee excitedly.

Head cocked in listening, to her, to the familiar sounds of cooking coming from within the bright and aged stall. A clank of crockware, earthen stone and clay that had sat over banked wooden heats grating against each other. Scent's of fire, low roasted chicken, thick broths and sizzling meats that arose and comingled in the air.

"You'll love it, there's this bread that comes with it, oh and rice too! You can just..Like, eating with your hands is fun? Not the soup obviously yeah, but skewers n bowls of the other stuff..Little fixings 'n everything." Waru snickered, and learning to like cardamom in his coffee had been a thing, something that made it milder and earthy, that settled the bitterness of caffine. Much like using salt free coffee butter - how the fat allowed for better absorption, and also better flavors. He'd been glad enough to have friends to show him those things.

"She really does make the best food. Don't even gotta worry about finishing it." Waru was able and willing to let the silence linger for a moment, let the air sit around them before the naan barked an order at him - Waru knew the tone if not the words, and was quick to go fetch the drinks. Ginger about how he held her glass in his large hands - brown tall stone painted mug - clinking with ice.

He set his own across from it - crossed his arms briefly "Hey Dee, n' this is totally outta left field, but what were you doing out here tonight? Ya seemed uh...lost?" Waru had thought it was him, and maybe it was, who'd had her looking so spooked. He'd apologize if that was the case. He just wanted to be sure.

"Nah, I get that, I tend to be surprising yanno? Honestly I was looking for people too, though..like..those people were just other 'senshi' in general. So any aura woulda had me on point tonight. You wouldn't believe how hard it is to track people down for questions without going to their offices?" A ripple of muscles to indicate a lackadaisical shrug. Carefully he lifted his mug to his lips to sip, the pleasured noise he made as the warm liquid engulfed his tastebuds.

He loved cardamom in his coffee, the way they made it in places like indonesia - he wished they had it done in a sand pit here, the traditional way. Still, he'd seen the way the nana did it. Steaming hot milk, enough to make it creamy, and froth at the top. Ground cardamom added and then the whole of the brew strained with nescafe - which would have sounded odd, except a little went a long way. She always put four teaspoons of sugar in his, instead of the regular two, because he liked his drinks sweet - coffee was for the caffine, he didn't want it bitter, but spiced and herby and creamy.

"Ya gotta take it home, if you leave any behind I'll just be tempted to eat it all." licking foam off his lips and turning his head back to the kitchen as a rapping noise came from the counter. Wooden spoon snapped against aged metal, and Waru was quick to go fetch the food. A large circular tray laden with flat japati breads, sides of rice, heavy whipped cream with ginger and cucumber slices alongside it, and large cuts of seasoned vegis to go with the beef skewers.

The skewers of meat on a hot stone plate, the soup in a bowl large enough to serve three, a stacked pair of wooden bowls next to it, wide rimmed sporks that could have been mini pronged ladles themselves. "Here, leme show you a trick - honestly if I had to describe the bread its like...chalupa? But harder, more absorbent, but you can still pick stuff up with it. S'all spiced, usually with butter n garlic. " Waru went on as he set the tray within the middle of the table, shouted an overeager thankyou to the older woman and finally sat himself across from her.

"If you fill a bowl with it - I like to eat out the rice and meat with the bread soemtimes, like a little sandwhich." deliberately tearing a large clice of the flat bread into manageable, foldable, hunks, that could easily be grasped between his fingers and used to dip or scoop.

Nodding eagerly along, because she should have taken it home, because it all made great leftovers. The amount of times he'd taken something and thrown it in a pot - and when it was this sort of food it didn't matter. It could all go in on one and boil up and be eaten straight out of said same pot it'd been reheated in.

"G'hood yeah? Toldja" the words murmured through mouthfuls, and Waru eagerly heaped himself a portion of soup into his own bowl, didn't bother with the spoon as much as he did the bread itself, stuffing bits of rice and meat into it and dipping it briefly into the hot fatty broth before engulfing it in hungry, finger licking bites.

Salt, spice, turmeric, and Waru was glad to see her smile. Dee looked like she could've used a smile, and it was more than payment enough for suffering though his questions.

"You pass the word on huh? Bring your friends, your General, whoever. Old lady doesn't look it, but she likes seeing people, and I like giving her business." prideful truth delivered with glee, and Waru was more than happy to put out the good word, eager to get more stories from the gran of customers who would come by after, and if not stories than looks, because she'd lovingly suffered through people he recommended. Even if she looked like a cragulous mountain at the ends of the earth, she smiled at him sometimes, knowingly, exasperatedly, at his dumb antics and brashness.

She didn't small talk the tables, or bother the eaters, and he liked that about this place, she'd never once asked him questions that he didn't want to answer, and he felt others would appreciate that sort of thing from the experience.