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"I don't understand why we couldn't have gone to the yummy looking ice cream place instead." Zoe whined. She was dragging her feet as they entered the coffee shop, her shoulders drooping in a rather pathetic version of the 'abused puppy dog' posture. Dressed in a pair of bright pink micro mini shorts and a black shirt that cheerfully screamed 'Visit Vietnam!' she didn't really fit into the stereotype customer of Deathbucks.

"Because." the abstained you idiot was clearly written across Jared's face. "The last time we went you tried to get behind the counter and lick the man. I'm not going to get banned from the ice cream store because you don't have self control." at least here the people looked snooty enough to ignore her if she got out of control.

"Fine, fine." Zoe looked around, face visibly perking at being surrounded by so many pretty people. "Still don't understand why you don't want to wear our shirt together." they had bought it on their first mission! It was something to be proud about, really. Scanning and spotting a couple of free seats near a table surrounded by cushions instead of chairs, she watched another customer walk in that direction. Not if she got there first!

"You have to tell me what you want." Jared yelled out as he watched her make a mad dash to the seats.

"Get me an iced latte with plenty of raspberry syrup, Red!"

Jared sighed, and nodded his head, looking away. If she was going to make a fool of herself trying to steal someone else's seat... well, he might as well pretend not to know her for now. Besides, that was one of the reasons he had refused to wear that stupid Vietnamese tourism board shirt : it was just rubbing it in that they were stuck with each other for life. Or at least until he managed to reach Death Scythe status.

"Raspberry latte with plenty of syrup, and a double espresso." he ordered, frowning. "Whatever that is in your language."

Jared winced and handed the money over. He wasn't really frugal, but how come places like this always seemed to be overpriced? Although it could be worse... really. So he grinned and nodded at the fellow victim. "As long as they know what I want, right?" he responded, grinning. Following the man's eyes, he looked over to where Zoe had clearly lost the race, and winced. s**t. This was going to be embarrassing. "I'm not with her." well, that was a lie. The man had clearly seen them talking together before the order, hadn't he? Still. It made him feel better saying that.

Partner? Jared perked up and examined him a little closer. The guy looked older than Jared was, which meant maybe he was a much more experienced shibusen student? Technician or weapon, though? "Shibusen?" he asked, wondering. Maybe he could ask for advice! Such as: how do you deal with bossing your technician around? Ooh. The day was certainly looking up. "I'm Jared." he said, introducing himself first. Might as well, right?

Zoe stared at the guy who was sitting in her seat. She knew she had just won the staring contest because he had given in to speak to her first. Well, she couldn't actually kick him off now that his butt was kissing the cushion, could she? Besides... he was kind of cute! Not as cute as L maybe, but almost. With a grin, she took a seat riiight in front of him and offered her hand.

"My name is Zoe. What's your name?" she asked, completely avoiding the question. She was being so subtle, introducing herself and taking a seat. She pointed in the direction of the barista. "That's Red, my weapon. He's getting me my drink."

All stealth-like, really.

So he was a weapon too? Jared wondered what rank he was at now. Surely two... maybe three? Who knows? He hadn't actually studied up on the average age, because he was sure it didn't exist. Still, this was very interesting. Well. If they were all going to go sit together, he supposed it made things very different. Picking up his drink and Zoe's, he nodded. "I don't really think either of us have a choice." he answered. Both to being waiters for their technicians, and to sharing tables. There was something very settled about Zoe's posture that let him know they wouldn't be moving tables: nor would she really give the other man a chance. Damn it. It wasn't safe to let her loose anywhere, was it?

As they walked over to the table, he frowned. "That's my technician, Koh." he said. So he had pretended not to know her: couldn't really avoid it now if they were going to sit together. "She's um... well. She takes some getting used to?" Jacob seemed like an easy going man. The posture of Leon, not so much.

Zoe brightened. "You're a technician? Awesome! So am I." seeing that the two men were walking towards them (and unable to decide if the technician or the weapon was the better looking of this duo) she beamed. "How long have you been together?" it felt as if she was asking someone how long they had been married. But she supposed the question wasn't too different in impliance. Technicians and Weapons had very good relationships, didn't they?

She reached out for her drink pointing to the seat across her. Jared could sit _there_. That way, she could sit in between the two boys. Damn, she was smart. She was getting better that this subtlety thing (yeah right). "This place is really nice! Could get used to this whole black and white theme. Red's favorite color is red, though." sure. As if anyone cared really. But she liked to talk. Seemed like this one didn't as much as she did.

Jared wondered what this Leon was like that: for one moment he had the horrific image of a male Zoe: but that was too much. Besides, Leon certainly didn't appear like another Zoe. So instead he just followed the older man and took his seat: the one Zoe had assigned him, of course. "A week?" the man certainly looked older than a new weapon would be: maybe there was a story behind that. Maybe he had been assigned before, to someone else and had... woooah. That strided onto dangerous territory (namely the thought of leaving Zoe for someone else) so he decided to ignore it.

"We've been together... a little bit around that as well?" he turned to Zoe with a questioning glance as he handed her the raspberry drink. Zoe nodded rapidly at the question a little bit distracted though by the arrival of another good looking man. A Zoe sandwich it was now! Wow.

"A little over." she commented, grinning as she tugged on her T-shirt. "We just went on our first mission, to Vietnam? It was AWESOME. Plus we signed for our own place yesterday." her smile was giddy as she took a sip of the raspberry ice latte. Totally epic! "You guys are new too! That's great. How are you finding it? Do you two live together?" oh wow. They should have sleepovers then. "It's nice to meet you, Jake. Zoe. Or Koh. Call me Koh. Everyone calls me Koh." she was beaming, feeling the first thrills of a coffee shop romance.

At his comment, she nodded. "I always get Red to take my orders." she said, confident that her weapon wouldn't let her down. This was really good. Raspberry flavored caffeine! "You want some? It's good. Really good." she waved it in front of Leon's face, and then Jacob, still unable to make up her mind.

It was such a sad and romantic story! Zoe decided. How unique, like something out of a book. Deciding that officially Jake was her new hero from a great big battle book called Shibusen: Jake's Story, she reached out to pat him in sympathy. Actually, it was just a lame excuse to pat him, end of story. She would protect him from all the evils of the world! Like decaf coffee and nail polish that chipped in the first hour.

They didn't live together? Deciding that _that_ threw all her thoughts of sweaty male sleepovers out the window she frowned with a nod. Well. "I guess you're private folk."

Jared sent Zoe a look that clearly read 'I WAS a private person too. But you just won't have it!'. But Zoe pointedly ignored it and instead moved on to another important topic. "Where do you live, then? Maybe we live near each other?" Oooh. She could go borrow sugar off them, or something. Do something sweet and neighborly to win her extra points with hot neighbors. Good plan Zoe.

Jared flushed a little bit at the congratulations. He couldn't help it: praise did that to him. He nodded though, and frowned as he saw the guilty look that Jake sent his direction. He thought it was admirable really: have no idea about this sort of stuff, get thrown into the middle of it and STILL manage to be polite? That took guts! "We're going through all of this together then, so I guess we can go to each other for advice?" he asked this to Jake, and smiled. "What is your weapon form?" sometimes it felt so personal about asking this, but other times, it felt like guy talk. Weapon talk.

This older guy was endearing! Look how he was trying to make conversation. Maybe he liked talking too, the same way she liked talking. Zoe nodded her head. "I bet they take secret pleasure out of seeing who actually knows the correct names for these drinks." she motioned with her plastic cup to the barista. "Maybe if you're good enough they give you free stuff?" Just talk, really. At Jared's question though she perked up with a little giggle. "Jared turns into a special sword." she announced, with a smirk. Special alright. Bendy.

Counter productive? Everything a weapon and a technician did together was productive, no matter what it was. But Zoe nodded her head sagely as if she actually understood what the word meant in their kind of relationship. "Oh?" there was a mark of disappointment in her voice. No borrowing sugar off this male goodness pair. She'd have to settle on borrowing... taxi money to make it back to her house, or something. "Too bad, I think we live a neighborhood away?" she looked at Jared for confirmation and he simply shrugged. Sure. Better to have Zoe think they were too far away to play with.

A gun blade? Jared's eyes glowed with admiration. That was awesome! So it was this guy who had pulled Jake out into his weapon form? There was a story there, and one he'd ask for later when the atmosphere was less new. Maybe he had finally found a weapon he could look up to, someone who didn't scare the crap out of him. "It ignites?" he'd actually never seen a gun blade in action, and only had a vague idea of what it looked like. But it sounded so cool. Better by far than he what turned into.

"I turn into a flame blade." he said, coolly. Trying to hide the embarrassment that touched his cheeks in a slight flush. It wasn't such a big deal, it wasn't some ordinary sword and he was proud of that. His complex was all Zoe's fault, commenting on him the way she had the first time he had turned into a weapon in front of her. It was annoying, this little weakness. But it was okay if he said just that. A flame blade. It almost sounded cool, didn't it?

Zoe snorted, ruining the effect. "He turns into a wavy blade?" she drew the outline with two fingers in the air with a grin. "It's quite cool." she added, an small admission really that she didn't mean all the teasing she doled out to her partner. "But it's kinda funny too. Like, a normal blade? But all curly. Kinda looks perverted really, except it's sharp and it cuts through people." it had been AWESOME the way he had just decapitated the bad guy, that mission. Her eyes lit.

"I know, right? They'll be better weapons. But won't it be super fantastic when we reach rank two, finally? I mean, it hasn't been a long time since we've been together but we went on our first mission? Red's trying to train me at the gym because my stamina sucks, but I make up for it with other things, you know? I'm very flexible and I can jump. But he wants me to last longer." she frowned, looking at Leon. This guy probably had good stamina. Probably practiced all the time using his stamina too.

Oh hello. Perverted thought.

Well there were small miracles weren't there? Leon had been absurdly and irrationally afraid that she'd say they lived in the same complex. One could only imagine what would happen if she turned up at his door one night... Accident? What kind of accident? Zoe perked up at the thought that there was some juicy gossip there that neither seemed willing to share at the moment. Drawing circles on the water ring left by Jake's cup, she wondered just when they would be close enough to share secrets. She could trade, give away Jared's secrets in exchange

Jared relaxed at Jake's words, nodding his head. "That's the theory, anyways." he said, nodding. "Plus I think in terms of damage, if have something that goes straight through flesh and it isn't straight, there must be more inflicted within the body?" he listened at their training regiment, liking it. It was true, really. If they trained apart they could work on their own strengths without being distracted... he had already been tempted to do so, because he never had enough time focusing on himself with Zoe needing so much help. Still. He didn't trust the thought of her alone. She'd probably end up goofing off at the sauna, or something.

He grinned, flushing with pleasure at Jake's words. How had the two of them gotten stuck with each other? Leon seemed so cold and... professional. Actually, he admired that. THAT was more like what a technician should be like. Maybe to a lesser extent, but still. He grinned. Nap, was it? They seemed to be at ease with other, able to work off each other's dynamics.

"We try most of the time." he answered. "Normally we use the GYM, because they have everything we need. Although." he frowned. "I would have liked to have a room in the house, you know? With some equipment, and things. But Zoe thinks that would go way over our budget, and..." he shrugged. Well, had they rented a three bedroomed apartment, she had argued her pedicure equipment would need space as well. Something about training in a room full of nail varnish wasn't exactly what he envisioned a private room to be.

"We should go together, once." he said, speaking to the weapon. "I mean, training in general is the same and different for everyone, but it'll be nice to work alongside another weapon." they were different from others. From their technicians.

Plus he'd spent so much time with Zoe, he felt he was testosterone deficient.