From: kamiohazumu	Date: January 27th, 2008 08:09 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Hazumu was standing right in front of the building which, according to her research, was the one she looked for.

She stared at the door for a good five minutes now, but apparently the door in question was completely immune to telekinesis and didn't show any signs of willing to open itself.

The girl shrugged which resulted in two heaps of snow falling off from her shoulders. It indeed was snowing; good thing she decided to wear her raincoat today. She looked at the door again, a bit hesitantly, knocked, and pulled the knob.

She entered the building with a "Anyone home?.." question - a pity nobody could hear it if they were not in close vicinity of the speaker. But alas, Hazumu was in an unfamiliar place. But it was quite warm inside. She knocked at the door from inside, "Hello?.." - and noticed an open door. Apparently, it was the kitchen. She looked inside, hiding behind the door entrance though, and there - finally - were people, cooking different stuff.
"Excuse me... Is it Mr. Kaplan Scharfshutze's place?.."

Apparently, nobody here would suspect her of being a commander-in-chief for a private almost-military organization like Strongwill Security. Just a shy girl. Middle school, anyone?

	From: hk_colt_sa_45	Date: January 27th, 2008 08:44 pm (UTC)		(Link)

One of the people inside would notice her. Mainly because he was preparing a salad near the entrance.

"Kaplan? Oh, Kepi. Yeah, this is his place. You looking for Kep, he's out back, manning the grill." The guy said, and continued to shred various greens and mixing it. The Kitchen seemed to be in a battle with the elements. A large stove and oven kept half of it warm, while an open door leading outside brought in cold.

Coming from the outside, would be voices, laughter, stuff you'd hear in a family outing. There would be a canopy covering the picnic tables outside, a few portable heaters being maintained by little children with scraps of wood.

Yep, friendly environment. If only the shy girl would introduce herself.

"Who are you anyways?" The guy who told her where Kaplan was would ask, having finished the salad and now apparently heading outside.

	From: kamiohazumu	Date: January 27th, 2008 08:50 pm (UTC)		(Link)

She blushed, saying "I'm sorry, I forgot to introduce myself...", with a bow.
"My name is Hazumu Strongwill, I'm a friend of Kaplan... and I was invited to a party today, or so I was told..." Her voice went more and more quiet as she said that, completely embarrassed. Now all that she wanted was to run away back outside, to the safety of the street.

	From: hk_colt_sa_45	Date: January 28th, 2008 06:47 pm (UTC)		(Link)

The guy smiled nicely. "Come on out. You're in a company of friends if Kepi invited you here." He was heading out the door, just as two desert wolf pups came into view playing with each other.

	From: kamiohazumu	Date: January 28th, 2008 10:52 pm (UTC)		(Link)

She followed quietly, a bit scared of the 'crowd' ahead. It sure was lively out in the yard... so she looked for some shadows to hide in and to look for a familiar face from.

	From: hk_colt_sa_45	Date: January 29th, 2008 04:35 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Kaplan had finished cooking the fish. The vegetables were somewhat...gone. The baby savage was resting happily on his stool, a few pieces of vegetables around it and the bow straining against its middle. The baby desert wolf stood, alert, as Kaplan started to walk to the tables. That's when he spotted her.

"Hazumu! Finally you arrived!"

	From: kamiohazumu	Date: February 2nd, 2008 11:39 am (UTC)		(Link)

She almost jumped, and turned in the direction she was called from. With a weak smile, she waved at Kaplan and bowed politely. He was on the opposite side of the yard which was a problem with all the commotion and the guests crowding around. There also was another problem... a woman looked at her with an "I think I know who this person is!" expression. Hazumu, of course, couldn't know that it was Kaplan's mother.

	From: hk_colt_sa_45	Date: February 7th, 2008 05:20 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Kaplan handed the platter of food to another passing guest, before heading to Hazumu's direction. The Baby desert wolf went ahead, and started at Hazumu. He barked once, and sat, tail wagging. He seemed to think she wasn't much of a threat.

"Just what the hell you're doing you old hag." Kaplan said in a hushed tone. He playfully hit his mom's head and started at Hazumu.

"If you haven't figured, this is my crazy mom. The one who does things on impulse. Mom, this is Hazumu, a friend from the war."

"I was expecting her to be close to your height. Not some young girl. We didn't raise you to be someone like that!" Kaplan's mom said, loud enough that Hazumu can hear it as well. Poor Kepi. He started to grow red and started to stammer.

"But...she's...I...I..."

"Make sense Kepi. Or else you sleep with the puppies tonight."

"You can't evict me out of my own home mom." Kaplan said, regaining his wits.

"Yes I can. Last I remember, I kicked your ass. You weak long range brat."

"Mom! We have a guest." Kaplan said, fully annoyed now at his mom.

"What, you using her as an excuse now?" She glared at the still red Kaplan, before doing an about face and presenting a smile. "Hello there, you must be the girl Kaplan keeps talking about in his war stories. I'm Isana. You can call me Ana. Welcome to our annual Christmas Party."

	From: kamiohazumu	Date: February 8th, 2008 11:15 am (UTC)		(Link)

Hazumu, blushing, bowed politely to Kaplan's mother and tried to smile.

"My name is Kamio Hazumu, of Strongwills. Pleased to meet you..."

	From: hk_colt_sa_45	Date: February 15th, 2008 03:05 pm (UTC)		(Link)

"Ah, so you ARE his friend. My." Ana said, smiling, before turning to her son. "You, failure. Show the girl around." She said, before walking back into the kitchen. Kaplan, somewhat shaken, walked to Hazumu.

"Yeah...my mom..."

	From: kamiohazumu	Date: February 15th, 2008 08:40 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Hazumu giggled. "Your mother seems like a really nice person..."

	From: hk_colt_sa_45	Date: February 15th, 2008 10:05 pm (UTC)		(Link)

"Oh, yeah. Because both of you can combo-atatck me to ragnarok." He said, laughing. "Come-on, your present is roasting itself nicely on the grill." He said, guiding her.

	From: kamiohazumu	Date: February 15th, 2008 11:57 pm (UTC)		(Link)

"My present?.." She blinked. "I didn't hear anything about presents..."

	From: hk_colt_sa_45	Date: February 16th, 2008 05:48 am (UTC)		(Link)

"It's Christmas." He said, as if that meant much. They neared the baby boar, who was napping happily, belly full, as seen by the strained looking ribbon tied around its middle.

"Hope you like the present Hazumu. Merry Christmas." He said, ruffling her hair, before taking the cover of a plate of meat and throwing it down on the grill.

"Don't worry, we haven't used his brothers and sisters as food. We bought these from the market."

	From: kamiohazumu	Date: February 16th, 2008 07:57 pm (UTC)		(Link)

She stared at the little animal with sparks in her eyes.
"My present?.." The cuteness of her new pet was almost unbearable. "I think... I need some time to get used to this fact."

	From: hk_colt_sa_45	Date: February 17th, 2008 02:46 am (UTC)		(Link)

"Get used to it soon." He said, as he worked on the food. "Cos I've been showing it your picture and telling him you're his owner." He laughed loudly, waking the baby boar up.

"Puhi~"