Welcome to Gaia! ::

KD woke up with an itch she couldn’t quite scratch. It had been a while since she had been to a rave and ever since finding out about this new world and the war she was a part of she hadn’t really felt like venturing out into the city alone late at night. It wasn’t that she couldn’t find a way, she always could. Her parents remained more or less oblivious. Half the time she didn’t even sneak out, she just didn’t make her leaving obvious or loud. Her parents called their method the “mellow” form of parenting.

Still...maybe she could go if a certain tall older boy was willing to take her.

KD bundled up and ran down to the bakery to catch Arias before he left for the day. Her cheeks were rosy when she pulled up short, looking for him inside.

“Arias!”

She was happy to greet him with smiles and hugs. That’s what best friends were good for, after all.

Arias poked his head up from behind the counter; he seemed like he had been cleaning out the bottom display case, but he recognized that voice immediately and wasn't going to waste his time getting up slowly. Even if his back was sore and doing so only agitated it. "KD," he greeted, flashing a smile. He eyed her appearance and a look of slight concern quickly washed across his features. "You look a little red, is everything all right?"

…Was she in trouble? Running from something?

Did he need to worry about powering up, or get her something warm to eat?

His eyes drifted to the door and it didn't look like anyone was chasing her, so he immediately began pulling out some of the still warm cookies they hadn't yet sold, quite intent on feeding them to her until she warmed up.

“Brrr it’s chilly out there. You’re lucky you’re close to so many ovens, Arias.” She took a cookie as soon as it was offered, munching on it while he stayed in suspense. “Oh, everything’s fine. It’s just COLD.”

She cuddled close to him while she warmed up, pulling her hat off to shake out her mane of brown hair. Being around him was almost as comfortable as being alone so it didn’t matter to her at all if he was close and she didn’t give a second thought to the idea that he might have something else to do besides listening to her machinations. Between the smells and the company KD liked coming to the bakery.

“You look...tired.” she decided, patting his shoulder sympathetically.

Her idea could wait while she looked around for tea and let him feed her cookies because what person in their right mind turned down free warm cookies? She certainly didn’t, not with a baker as a best friend.

“Well, there is one thing I could use help with this weekend.”

“I was up late,” he said after a second; between powering up and dealing with keeping the bakery operating, he had his fair share of things to keep him up at night. “If you want anything warm, feel free to help yourself. I can make you something special, if you like.”

His eyes went to the door just to double check that there were no nefarious followers, but upon finding none, he finally seemed to relax.

Looking back at KD, he smiled again. “-I’m sorry, what were you saying about this weekend?”

He had never turned down a request for help--especially from a friend. Besides, he’d missed spending time with her, and right now...any distraction sounded like a good distraction.

“Well, maybe you can take a night off from your secret life to come to a party with me.”

She knew it wasn’t really his scene but Caydence loved Arias and knew that he was a good person and wanted him to be able to break out of his shell a little more. Maybe it was a bit pushy of her but she did it with only the best of intentions. She wanted everyone else to see the boy she knew and was proud to call a friend. That wasn’t such a bad thing in her mind and she made it her mission to share him with the world when she had the chance.

Though, maybe calling it a party was an understatement.

She had a certain penchant for going to raves. The thrum of the music and the darkness appealed to her in very freeing and artistic ways. She didn’t worry about anything beneath the colored lights as she bounced the night away. KD did not drink or take recreational drugs at her raves, though they were plenty available. She just more liked the feeling of being somewhere where no one knew her, no one cared about what she did, and she didn’t have to pay attention to anything more than her own heartbeat.

“It’s in this warehouse in the industrial district and it should be killer. The DJ is epic, Arias, and he’s worked out an entire set list just for this party. You can dress up with me and we’ll have so much fun!”

Though that probably gave away what sort of party it was going to be just by where it was located, not in someone’s house.

Arias' eyes narrowed a bit as he listened to KD describe the evening she had in mind, though it seemed to be more in an effort to imagine just exactly what she was going on about.

…What type of party was in the industrial district? …And what was a set list?

He tried not to look like he was puzzling over what probably seemed like trivial things, so he instead just leaned against the counter and tapped his fingers lightly across the top of it.

After a few long seconds, he repeated, "…Dress up?"

Caydence tried not to grin at her best friend’s look of complete confusion. Obviously he’d never been to a rave before and was not familiar with her little world. Not that it was a little world. Actually, quite the opposite, it was a rather big world and getting bigger as new DJs emerged and more partiers found their way to what used to be more underground shenanigans.

“Sure! You don’t think you can go to these things without dressing up, do you?”

She had an alternate persona, Miss Kitty, that she’d adopted for these things so that no one would recognize her. The information couldn’t get back to her parents.

"I don't…" Arias' voice trailed off and he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Okay," he said, though sounded more hesitant than before. He had no intention of backing out, but that didn't mean he understood what he had just gotten himself into.

…He had no idea.

"So…what type of dress up are you talking about? I don't exactly have Halloween costumes or anything hiding in my closet. I mean, feel free to come raid my closet if you want? …But I doubt there's much, ah, party clothes there."

With sudden, seemingly renewed interest, he asked, "—What type of party did you say this was?"

“It’s just a party, Arias.”

A very large and loud party in a warehouse downtown with little more than tonal bass lines to call music. Something kicked at the back of her head telling her that leaving that information out was probably an abuse of lies by omission so KD dropped her head and offered softly.

“A rave?”

Not that she hadn’t been to a hundred on her own before, so much so that she had developed an entirely new person to play there. KD always attended raves as Miss Kitty in the hope that she would not be discovered by her parents through someone recognizing her. Now that she was almost an adult her parents were taking a more hands off approach and she hardly needed to worry in that respect anymore.

“It’ll be great. Trust me. Once you start dancing you’ll feel so good! No one even has to know who you are.”

Originally this had started as a combination of her love of roleplay with her desire to experience new things. She felt free when she was alone in the dark listening to music. With nothing around her but the beat KD let herself go, shrugging off the worries and stresses of the world for some much needed her time...just in the company of about a hundred strangers.

“Besides, you wouldn’t want anything to happen to me out in the big, bad world, would you?”

“No,” he answered slowly; he didn’t want anything to happen to her, but he wasn’t sure he trusted her choice in parties. Though, to be fair…

If it wasn’t her first one, she probably knew what she was doing. And if he didn’t go, she’d just go anyway; he doubted he stood even the slightest chance of talking her out of it. “...All right,” he finally said, hesitance heavy in his voice. “I’ll go, just...let me know when it is. But if it’s too weird…”

His voice trailed off and he made no effort to finish the sentence; it was what it was. If it was too weird he’d just suck it up and stay with her until the end to make sure she made it home alright.

“Just make sure you keep an eye out for me too, all right? I’m not used to all your hip, young hobbies. Don’t let me make a fool of myself.”

“You’re so dramatic,” she accused, rolling her eyes at him. “You’re only a few years older than I am.”

This was probably not the worst thing she would ever ask him to do and certainly not the first time she would use his concern for her to her own ends. Shameless to that end, in fact. He was right about being unable to talk her out of it. Her mind was set and she needed the night out, to be honest and this sounded like just the ticket.

“I could make you an owl.”

She was pretty sure there was something somewhere about an owl and a kitty cat.

KD was certain he would have fun if he gave it a chance, knowing full well what she considered fun and what he did differed significantly. The truth was she considered it her duty to make sure that her Arias stepped out of his bubble every once in a while to have some decent fun of the going out and meeting people variety. She’d never heard about him with a girl, nor did she know about him dating or well, being romantic with anyone. He gave excellent cuddles. It was high time he found someone to cuddle with.

“I...don’t. What?” Arias stared blankly for a minute and then just looked even more confused as his brain failed to process what exactly she was saying. Finally he managed a confused, “Okay, just...whatever needs to be done, I’ll do it...Just...Oh, boy.”

And then, he couldn't help it--he just laughed. “KD, I don’t know what I’m going to do with you. Promise me we’ll do something normal one of these days, like just go grab lunch or feed the ducks. I don’t think my heart can handle all this excitement without at least a little reprieve every now and then, deal?”

KD rolled her eyes at him and crossed her arms over her chest.

“It’s not like I’m taking you to a monster truck rally, Arias.”

She could only imagine what that suggestion would have garnered as far as looks from him. She loved her best friend but he was not very adventurous on his own. But she loved him and was willing to deal with his little jokes in order to get what she wanted.

“We can have lunch any time. How often will I be able to get you to a party with me?”

She was pretty sure after the first, barring a miracle, he would not be doing it again.

Was a monster truck rally worse? Arias could barely even imagine the concept (Was that the one where they ran over all those cars? Why would you waste all those parts? Wasn't it dangerous?" …But, she was right. This was just a party. A…strange one, that sounded more like a very loud costume party.

"All right, all right. You win, you're right. Just promise me one of these days it's going to be a nice, easy day of duck feeding, all right?"

For her, he could do just about anything.

She was too good a friend for him to lose, and if all it took to keep her happy was a rave every now and then…

So be it.

Besides—it might even be a little fun.

“Someday,” she promised, with a smile.

But someday certainly was not today and was not likely to be tomorrow. Someday he’d talk her into going to a quiet cafe for lunch and for feeding the ducks like normal people. She’d mortify him, she was sure, in some way. She sometimes did when fool ideas wormed their way into her head. But she was who she was and that person loved him, and he seemed to lover her despite the things she made him do.

She clapped happily when Arias conceded, pleased to have a companion this time around.

“I’ll come get you after work to go shopping for your costume. You’ll like this, I promise.”

She leaned up and kissed his cheek with sugary lips, the last of her cookie disappearing soon after she kissed him. Her grin was worth whatever wheedling it took to get it. It seemed to light up her face with joy when it made its appearance.