Post by Kotone Lazarus on Jun 16, 2015 20:05:55 GMT
"Not good enough..." It had been nearly two hours since Kotone started training - not that it was that unusual lately. It was probably literally the only activity where she was away from her family these days. The day was overcast, the ground would have been wet if not for her. Kotone flipped her hair back over her shoulder as she placed her katana back in its scabbard. The training area was covered in ice, the dummies... well, it was a good thing the reassembled using lacrima embedded in them. She was wearing a black tank top and short shorts that matched in color, her boots and fingerless gloves only made her seem more gothic in her current colors. She'd actually taken to wearing a fair amount of black lately, mostly due to a feeling of insecurity she'd had since she'd been pregnant.
Kotone let out a sigh, not having even been aware she'd been holding her breath after she stopped her training-induced rampage. On the bright side, it had paid off; despite her feelings of being too lax and too out of shape, she was about as back to normal as was possible after having a kid. "Maybe one more time..." The dragon slayer had handily beaten Zanza the other day, but she still felt like her techniques were entirely too unpracticed after a childhood of having a reason to use them all the time. Just one more time. Then she'd go find Eri and Kade. She'd told herself that for the last five tries. Hopefully the next time she wouldn't feel so sloppy.
Kade had loved Kotone since before she was his wife. He had loved her for years. Now he had more love to spread out. They had a daughter named Eri. She had brown hair akin to her mother’s, but lighter, much lighter. Kade assumed it would grow at least somewhat darker with time. Most children’s hair did that. He wouldn’t be concerned either way, she was his daughter and that was all that mattered. He rocked her in his arms as he looked out a window from inside his Lamia Scale office.
The new guildmaster spent at least some time in his office every day, with the exception of travel. He wanted to make sure that while he wasn’t stagnate, he was always regularly available in private or in public. He also wanted to make sure that he didn’t forget the internal affairs of his job. It wasn’t just about getting along with people, it was about providing for them, and that did take work. Since he had built an attachment to the guild for his house, it was easy to have more time with his daughter. He could walk from his office to his house, but he could also lock that door and enter and exit his home separately. Kade tried to give enough attention to both separate and yet combined sides of his family. Today it was mostly about his family.
Kade’s hair was cut short right now, although it varied over time. It was very short now, sitting up, but barely longer than a buzz cut. It would help for when Eri became old enough to grip at his hair, but that wasn’t the reason for the shortening. It was simply easier to maintain than getting regular cuts at a different length. He left the house in shorts, sandals, and a short sleeved button up shirt over a tank top. He let his vial necklace dangle over Eri as he carried her toward where he knew Kotone was training.
And there she was. Training hard, overly hard. Thrashing and flashing across the training area. Kade stood close enough to be noticed but far from danger. He could have protected himself and Eri from a stray attack if need be, but he wasn’t inviting that. “Working yourself into a lather I see,” Kade observed with a smile. He loved his wife, as noted by the wedding band on his finger, but she really did get addicted to her training when she felt insecure.
Post by Kotone Lazarus on Jun 16, 2015 22:28:09 GMT
Kotone hadn't even noticed Kade approaching. Hearing his voice snapped her out of it, and it didn't take much longer for her to realize that yeah, maybe she was doing herself more harm than good at this point. "Oh, Kade!" She chuckled seeing him and Eri standing there, but the slight blush on her cheeks revealed that she was aware she was, in fact, she was going a little overboard today. She took the sword off of her back and tossed it aside, wiping her sweaty brow as she panted. Truth be told she was rather sore today, but one couldn't tell from how she acted.
A quick breeze blew up, cooling Kotone off and drying her clothes - a nice side effect of having wind magic. "I was just thinking about you two." She kissed Kade's cheek and very nearly took Eri out of habit, but it was just a little bit too cute to see the pair together to do that to them. "Did you miss me?" she half-joked. She was aware that she'd probably gone over the normal amount of time she'd verbally allotted to her practice.
And besides that, she was supposed to do stuff with them today. It was one of those things that she really enjoyed about life at the moment. Well, actually she enjoyed most of it... she just wasn't sure what to do with herself. She was convinced she didn't even know how to be a good mother, considering she'd never had parents, but it wasn't like she was doing a bad job. If anything, she was currently a little bit -too- clingy.
It was strange for Kotone to be oblivious to Kade’s approach. It wasn’t just strange, it was basically unheard of. He couldn’t think of a single time when he had surprised her with his approach. He surprised her with his comments, and his intentions, but not his approach. She had every sense heightened to where she ought to be able to notice him, but unfortunately did not. He smiled when she greeted him, but it was strange for her to have not noticed.
Kade ignored the wind as he walked toward Kotone. She was proficient with her magic, but Kade focused on his one element. He could always change his magic over time, but for now, he was happy. Kotone mentioned that she had been thinking about them and he smiled, also because of the cheek kiss he received. He continued to hold their daughter happily. “Oh, well of course,” Kade responded to being asked if they missed Kotone. “You’ve been out here working so hard, we’d be wrong not to.”
“Are you ready to take a break from all of this? It might be a good chance to go swimming,” he suggested. Wind dried or not, working up a sweat wasn’t just going to evaporate. He liked that Kotone was a bit clingy. They had their first child, and she was still a baby. They were also fighters used to a lot of danger. They were prone to being overly protective. Either way, he did like the idea of going swimming.
Post by Kotone Lazarus on Jun 21, 2015 18:20:07 GMT
Kotone, herself, was a bit embarrassed to ever be snuck up on. It almost never happened, and only served to show how hard she'd been concentrating on her training. "Glad to hear it. I'd hate to know you weren't looking forward to me coming in to intrude on your father-daughter time," Kotone teased, taking Kade's hand and squeezing it before letting go so he could properly hold Eri.
"Yeah, It's definitely time for a break," she nodded. "What do you think, Eri? ready to go swimming?" She chuckled, giving her kid a gentle kiss on the head. "I guess I should grab my stuff then, huh? It's been a while since I spent a day at the beach."
Kotone figured the pair would follow as she made her way to their little guild-attachment home. She went inside, grabbed some water, and started digging for things. "So how's guild mastering been the last few days?" she asked Kade as she moved around grabbing stuff. She liked to ask, though it was pretty easy for her to tell if it was especially stressful or whatever, considering she'd lived with him for the last while. One thing she'd learned since she'd started actually spending time with people - taking initiative and asking about their day went a lot further than she had thought possible at one point.
“Our father-daughter time doesn’t somehow get less special when you are here,” Kade replied, not minding her teasing even a little. He could take a lot of teasing, and Kotone didn’t really dish out much to him. She was nicer to him than she’d ever been in the past. Well, maybe not as nice as when they first started dating. She was so flustered back then. He didn’t mind, she was more comfortable now and had settled into what made their relationship healthy and fluid.
Eri was definitely a cute baby, who looked a lot more like her mother. Hopefully she would continue to look like her mother as she got older. Not a copy of Kotone, but… well, Kade couldn’t imagine anyone who she would be luckier to grow up and look like. It would get harder to raise her as she got older, when decisions weren’t as simple as who would put her to sleep for her nap, but he was happy to try.
“All the better,” Kade said when Kotone mentioned not having been to the beach in a while. That just meant she would appreciate it after so long. They headed back to their house and Kotone looked for appropriate things to wear. Kade could just wear shorts and take off his shirt. He didn’t mind. “Its been good. New guild members have this strange habit of thinking this is like some job signup. They join a guild, they get work. So, correcting that misconception as ever. But it is still nice. I like not having to constantly worry that someone will get killed.” He went and grabbed Eri’s little swimsuit and put in on her.
Post by Kotone Lazarus on Jun 23, 2015 16:55:38 GMT
"No, but it does become a fair bit less easy to watch from afar," Kotone grinned slightly as she shrugged off her own comment, pulling out first her two-piece swimwear before shoving it back into the drawer and pulling out a one piece again with a small frown. She left unsaid the obvious of what must have gone through her head, though Kade knew her well, obviously.
Before she could walk off, she muttered "screw it," before switching her outfit again, also grabbing a set of short shorts and a lightly-colored shirt she could throw on over the swimwear. She'd been working hard, darnit, and she was going to show how much progress she'd made, even if she was still insecure. What kind of dragon slayer shied from even a self-image related challenge? Not her. Not Kotone the dragon slayer.
Kotone went and changed quickly, emerging in a white, partially unbuttoned blouse and her short shorts, along with a st of sandals to wear to the beach. She grabbed her sunglasses, placing them on top of her head. In truth, she hardly looked like a mom, save for the child. Well, not that there was a telltale sign other than a child, but one wouldn't assume so if they didn't see Eri, at any rate.
"Not having to worry about you two is a pretty big perk," Kotone admitted. Anyone who knew her knew she didn't know what to do with herself without the danger, and she was very slowly readjusting to her current life. The fact that she would prefer to be lost and have a safe family spoke volumes of her priorities.
“You’re delightful,” Kade told his wife as she grabbed a swimsuit. It was hard to watch bonding from afar? She was quite attached to their child, and it was cute. She ‘d always wanted a family, and now she had one. Why should she be anything less than ecstatic? The adorable Kotone muttered something. Kade got the wording, but not the meaning. While holding Eri he had a bit of a limitation on his movements.
Despite holding a child, Kade moved over to his wife when he had a chance. She had just changed clothes into something cuter. Less worried about her appearance? Or pretending that she wasn’t? Kade wouldn’t have wanted to gain that much weight, of course, but he also knew she handled it well. He liked how she looked when she was pregnant, and now that she had been working out. There was nothing wrong with baby weight, and she had shed it in record time. He wrapped an arm around her and kissed her on the shoulder, then cheek, still holding their child. “You look great, in case you forgot.”
“Well, yes,” Kade said when she said it was a perk not to be worrying about her husband and daughter. A time of peace was good. “I’d rather raise Eri in peace than war… certainly.” He kissed her on the lips once and picked up a bag to hand to her. It had any essentials he had packed earlier. He was dressed, Eri was dressed. They were good to go. “Ready?”
Post by Kotone Lazarus on Jun 24, 2015 21:05:11 GMT
"Great, huh?" Kotone chuckled. "You sound just like me a few years ago. I was gorgeous even if people didn't see it, remember?" She would have probably turned around and put her own arms around his neck, but she hardly wanted to squish Eri, so instad she just stood there, thinking that things had changed more than she'd realized. She knew how to deal with people, for the most part. She was comfortable, happy... What had happened to the old Kotone? The one that kept her enemies distant and her friends acquaintances? Apparently someone had actually swooped in and rescued her... and somehow she'd become... this Kotone. Slowly, of course.
She threw some things in her bag she tended to have on her when she wasn't at the guild hall - mostly for Eri, she'd never had much more than essentials, herself. Though she should probably bring some sunscreen... she didn't spend as much time outside as she used to... And what about-?
Kotone just started laughing then. It probably seemed random, even to Kade, until she explained. "It just occurred to me. I used to not plan anything or worry about leaving things behind... and here I am fretting over some stupid sunscreen and things for a baby." She gave Kade a teasing grin. "Just what have you done to me?" she asked, leaning over to give him a quick kiss before also kissing Eri on the forehead. She shouldered the bag then gently took the baby, figuring it was her turn. "Even the mighty Spell Breaker turns out to be a worry mom when the time comes."
“Just because you exude confidence does not mean I should take your beauty for granted,” Kade informed her simply. It was a fact. Just because he heard Kotone singing her own praises did not mean that he would be quiet about them. He didn’t spend all day listing her exploits, but he did want her to know she was loved and appreciated. That was never going to stop. Never cease to be his job.
Kade had liked the “old” Kotone, but he liked the new, older, more maternal Kotone even better. Because as she changed, he changed. In less obvious ways, but he still changed, and he still loved her. His love had to grow and mature with them and their relationship. Suddenly Kotone was laughing. Kade arched a blue eyebrow and waited for an explanation.
“Just what have I done to you? I think you might want to blame Eri for the sunscreen and baby supplies part. Because I don’t need either of them, personally. Unless you think the light is actually going to burn me, and if so… you’ve got a lot to learn,” he teased her. He enjoyed the quick kiss her got and then asked, “So, are we ready?” On that note they were able to leave, and start the walk to the beach. Kade could have flown, of course, and Kotone did have her wind magic. “Do you think we should speed up the trip? I don’t want Eri to get too restless before we even get there.”
Post by Kotone Lazarus on Jul 2, 2015 15:20:58 GMT
"No, you should not," Kotone nodded, pretending to be upset at the idea that he might, in fact, not appreciate her beauty properly. The look on her face might have been convincing had it not been Kade, but he would obviously know better. Kotone grinned after a moment, brushing her bangs back a bit.
"I can't just go blaming Eri for baby things. She can't help that she's a baby. I've gotta blame someone who can defend himself. Besides, I think that's more our fault than hers," She chuckled. "I'm ready," she nodded. "You can fly Eri. Wind magic is a bit... windy for that sort of travel," she stated as she considered the idea of keeping up with Kade in flight. He was a better flyer when it came to magic, there was no denying that. Besides, hers was more... well she didn't tend to fly so much as hover in place when she used her own magic.
Kotone could pretend to be upset with Kade, but he knew better. He just kept smiling at her until she grinned. Yes, because it was every possible for him to stop appreciating her beauty. In fact it was possible, but it was very unlikely. He didn’t go around looking at other women that way, and he was most certainly interested in his wife. He wouldn’t have married her if he wasn’t interested in her. That would be pretty weird. “Glad that we are in agreement.”
Wind magic was a bit windy, hm? Kade said nothing to that, just smiled. They had just stopped blaming people for baby products, and agreed to speed up their trip to the beach. He was excited. He knew some nice places near the port, but far enough away that the waves were not bad. In fact, he was pretty sure that was the area where he had first met a man named Zahn. He was pretty nice, even if he found Kade weird at the time. It didn’t help that Kade was limping around after being caught in a trap. Still a good night, really.
The bright white wings pierced the sky at Kade’s back. Pure light, made to look almost angelic. He lifted himself up off the ground with Eri safe in his arms. “Alright, then I will just meet you there,” he said. He wasn’t planning to shoot out ahead of her, but he figured, flying, and lots of wind, it wasn’t the best time to chat.
Post by Kotone Lazarus on Jul 8, 2015 15:10:18 GMT
It didn't take long for the pair to get to the beach in their chosen ways. It was actually kind of fun, though admittedly light based magic had its perks in that it was pretty like ice magic. Kotone wouldn't have had beautiful wings though, unless she'd created them from ice. That wouldn't have helped her speed any, nor would it have helped her to fly.
Kotone wasn't even really breaking a sweat when the pair got there; all the working out had really paid off, even if she hadn't registered it like Kade probably had. She was actually in very good shape; she didn't look like a bodybuilder (thankfully) but she did look like she was athletic. "So what now?" she asked her husband once they arrived. She wasn't really sure what the three of them should do. Babies couldn't swim and they probably couldn't properly appreciate the sand either. She did have the presence of mind to create an umbrella of ice to stick in the sand, thick enough to shield most of the sun's rays and allow Eri to sit comfortably.
Kotone had a blanket in her bag she'd brought, so she sat that next to the umbrella and flopped down on it, placing the sunglasses over her eyes. It helped recreate that illusion people had once held that Kotone was a tough girl who shouldn't be messed with, though she was hardly trying to back up said illusion now, so it didn't hold much water beyond first impressions for passerbyes. Plus, Kade obviously knew better. "I wonder what Eri thinks of stuff like this. Think she'll like the beach when she gets older?"
The beach was beautiful. Although it had been pretty when Kade saw it in the moonlight, it just seemed nicer in bright sunlight without dangerous wire traps and bandits. Although they would have been far too easy to take care of for Kade now, he didn’t want them around Eri. Kotone worked hard, and she had the body to show that. Using her wind magic to travel through the air must have been more difficult. It took some energy to form and channel his light magic, but the flying itself really didn’t tire him out. He got to sit there and focus, while flying through the air. It certainly wasn’t like he was doing aerial gymnastics or anything of the sort.
“So what now?” Kotone asked when they arrived.
“It looks like you have things covered,” Kade said as Kotone went to work easily, despite her question. An umbrella, and the towel out. He put Eri down on the blanket, sitting beside her. Kotone asked if he thought Eri would like the beach later, “I imagine so. I hope so. I mean, I’ve always liked the beach, so I don’t see why anyone wouldn’t. Unless they burned easily, but… ” he raised a hand as if to state the obvious, “that’s not a problem I have. As long as she doesn’t have any bad experiences here, I think it will go well for her. Do you like the beach particularly much?” Kade stripped off his shirt and folded it into a small square, placing it on the edge of the towel.
Post by Kotone Lazarus on Jul 9, 2015 22:25:38 GMT
Kotone had always been fairly neutral to the beach. It was neither especially good nor especially bad, though she did enjoy the cool water from time to time. It was refreshing, and it was a nice place to hang out. She was pretty sure Eri wasn't going to have much trouble with the sun though, between the two of them. She had never burned that she could remember, and though she was a bit paler than she used to be, she was obviously rather resistant to burns, herself.
"I like doing things with my family," she answered more accurately. "I'd be happy to do stuff in a junk yard... you know, barring the possibility of Eri getting hurt at it." Still... "It *is* one of the prettier place to be though." She brushed some hair behind her ear, glancing at Eri with a small grin. She took the child and pulled her into her lap, hanging on loosely as she watched the others at the beach. They got a few glances, being well-known and all, but the people of Cerulean Town were more used to them than most, so it wasn't like they were insufferable.
