Getting to Know You (or, The King and I)
((OOC: serenityw, in temporary quarters at seto_kaiba_'s estate, needs to begin another phase of her life. Breakfast with her host may be just the way to start it. Backdated to: Sunday morning, October 21, 2007))
It was the scent of crisp, white sheets that woke her: something vaguely heatherish, not intense enough to identify but simply the fragrance of clean made stronger by the pillow Serenity had pulled over her head in her sleep. One second, unconscious; the next, peering halfway awake through the narrow gap between bed and slipcover at unfamiliar patterns of light across an unfamiliar floor.
There was a warm lump somewhere in her hair, one that moved when she did; claw-prickles kneaded briefly as Bear stretched, yawned audibly, and fell back asleep. Serenity sleepily considered following suit, but conscience nudged at her none too gently until she dislodged the pillow with a groan. The bedside clock flashed a blue digital 7:38 at her; from somewhere beyond her door she could hear, very distantly, small thumps and running water.
Breakfast?
Up. Move it, Red, the world's not gonna wait for you, niggled her conscience again, and she groaned to herself a second time and began the ritual of getting presentable.
* * *
The sun was lighting the kitchen with diffuse cheer as Maria set a plate in front of Seto. Absently, he thanked her, his eyes absorbed with the financial section of the Sunday Times folded neatly in half on the table. She chuckled in good humor, used to the off-handed nature of his remarks in the morning, and filled the cup in front of her employer with steaming, fragrant coffee.
Taking his eyes from the page, Seto picked up his fork and sliced a neat section of egg.
"Good morning..." One hand on the banister, Serenity managed to keep the shy greeting from sounding too much like a question. Slacks and a sweater in turquoise and black made her feel a little more secure-- some days, clothes made good armor-- and she smiled a little as she entered the room.
"Miss Wheeler," Seto greeted her, putting down his fork and rising. "Will you join me for breakfast?" From the kitchen sink, Maria gave Serenity a little wave, already taking a plate from the cupboard.
She blinked at the tall man; it wasn't that she wasn't appreciative of good manners or anything, but-- There was a place already set for her, and Serenity took a seat as quietly as possible, murmuring her thanks. "It smells wonderful," Serenity said, inhaling appreciatively, and glanced towards the sink. "Maria, right? --thanks," she offered as coffee was poured.
"Of course, little one," Maria answered, smiling at Serentiy. "How would you like your eggs?"
Hard on the heels of Maria's last word, Seto asked his own question, having seated himself in the interim. "Does your kitten need anything? How did you both sleep?" With seeming patience, Seto picked up his coffee cup and bent his head for a sip.
The coffee was excellent, and Serenity took a moment to breathe in the aroma with pleasure. "I slept really well, actually," she said in answer to his second question first; "and Bear spent most of the night exploring the closet, from what I could hear..." The Kleenex box on her dresser had become an overnight casualty, as the kitten had done his best to complete his denuding of its contents; but hopefully that little detail would escape her host's attention. "He's just fine. He, ah--" She hesitated. "Do you like cats?" she asked.
"--and scrambled?" Serenity added, smiling back at Maria.
"Scrambled it is," Maria acknowledged in a cheerful voice, and set about to create breakfast for their guest.
There was a long silence from Seto's side of the table as he regarded Serenity, blue eyes full of serious consideration at her question. "I had a cat once, when I was a child," he answered, eyes turning to watch Maria just before he spoke. "Technically she didn't belong to me, but I loved her. Did your kitten enjoy the things which were delivered for her? Is there something else you think she would need?"
Briefly Serenity wondered if she should defend Bear's veterinarian-altered masculinity, but then decided against it; it wasn't like he'd care, after all. The spatter of eggs frying made a background as she took another sip of her coffee. "No, really; he's going to be so spoiled... He loved the cat-tree the best, he's never had anything like that to climb on before. Did Joey tell you how I found him?"
Cats weren't a bad conversational topic for breakfast, actually; the man seated across from Serenity was rather unlike anybody she'd ever eaten eggs and bacon with before, but that was fine.
Looking up again, she couldn't help but smile. He really did have kind eyes.
"No, I don't believe the subject came up," Seto responded, just before Maria bustled over to the table with a laden plate for Serenity. He took advantage of the interruption to finish his own plate while his guest was getting settled, berating himself severly for letting the lingering whisps of memory interfere with his knowledge of something as basic as the sex of Serenity's pet.
She was a vivacious woman, and while Seto was not unused to the cheery tones of Maria or the wide laugh of Amber, the other kitchen staff, it had been quite some time since Seto had entertained a female guest outside of the obligatory party.
God. It was almost that time again, wasn't it?
Putting that thought firmly out of his mind, Seto addressed himself to the lady across the table. "I would love to hear the story."
The clink of cutlery and china made an interesting form of punctuation; and scrambled eggs had given way to a second piece of toast and more coffee by the time the saga of Bear And The Great North Woods came to a conclusion. "--it just sniffed a few times, had a drink from the stream and wandered off, like that," Serenity finished with a gesture that looked like she had borrowed it from her twin. "So I took him home with me. Couldn't just leave him there, y'know..." A pause; the quiet of the kitchen made her blink, and in chagrin Serenity shook her head. "Sorry," the redhead murmured. "I, ah, sometimes I-- talk too much. Way too much." She took another sip of her coffee, holding the cup in both hands and sinking down a bit behind it as if hiding in the steam.
Seto had been fascinated in turns by the story, the flashes of Joey he saw in Serenity, her vivacious energy and the skillful way she used words to guide and evoke her listener's emotions. He had come to the conclusion that she wasn't conscious of most of it, but was still following the narrative, and when she abruptly changed demeanor it took Seto the space of a breath to realign his attention.
"No, please," Seto assured her. "I enjoy listening to a good tale." He looked speculatively across the rim of his own cup at her, reading body language as much as tone. "Would you like to hear one of my stories?"
Steam wasn't really a very efficient blind to hide behind; despite the sudden embarrassed awareness of her own noise, Serenity managed to pull a smile out of somewhere. She hadn't meant to be so, so-- loud, Jeeze, turn down the volume, okay? said her mind's voice. But...
He had asked her something. Oh, right. "Please," Serenity answered.
The offer had been made in earnest- but without an equal story in mind. He didn't feel completely easy sharing stories of Tristan or Joey, although she would doubtless be fascinated. However, the only experience he had of comparable entertainment value involved... or Aidan. Seto rather doubted the humor value of his work would translate without explanation, and Jai'son didn't translate at all.
For some reason, Seto didn't want to share Jai'son's dry wit and sly aggression with anyone. He felt almost possessive over the other man's friendship, like it was a secret to protect. As if, should he remark on it to anyone, let alone this virtual stranger, it would be judged. Taken away.
Ridiculous. Seto was fully aware of that, and even though his inclination was now to talk of nothing but Jai'son and the tentative but solid friendship they were building-- the man still didn't translate. Jai'son was one of those people who... you really had to be there to see.
So. Aidan, but Seto shied away from that as his serpent raised its head to hiss. Too soon for perspective, too muddied.
Besides, Serenity's story had reminded him in spirit of being on Route 66, and something of equal value should be exchanged. "You know, do you not, that Tristan and I rode along Route 66 last summer?"
A nod; "Joey told me about it mostly." She took a long sip, setting down her cup with a faint clink, looking at him with interest. "Go on--"
"It was summer, and dusty, and hot," Seto began, his thumb tracing the smooth side of his coffee cup. At the sink, Maria made not a sound.
"We pulled into a little cafe to eat one afternoon. It was the sort of place you imagine when you think of diners of the past, red glitter vinyl on the booths, menus in plastic sleeves with a few of the prices crossed out and changes written in." As he spoke, a faint smile curved Seto's lips and his eyes were seeing something very far away. By contrast, his voice downshifted, softened and warmed slightly. "The kind of place that serves coffee in solid white ceramic mugs. They had the best french fries."
There was a small pause of memory, before Seto continued. "Tristan was chatting with the cashier while he settled his bill, so I went outside to wait. A car drove by and stirred the dirt beside the road, a scruffy patch with a few weeds clinging tenaciously to the dry earth. The dust swirled like a dervish, an elemental creature. An earthen tornado."
Seto smiled softly. "A tumbleweed blew past. An actual, honest-to-God tumbleweed. Just for a moment I felt as if I should have a six-shooter strapped to my hip, and a belt buckle as big as my fist. Just for a moment," he finished softly.
"But of course," Seto continued in his usual voice, "my motorcycle doesn't need the frequent stabling that a horse would. And I did have the leather accessories covered." He tipped his head at Serenity, smile not lessening.
Laughter sparked in the young womans' eyes; as mercurial as her brother, the redhead's shyness had been at least for the moment dispersed by the startlingly plausible image of Seto Kaiba as Clint Eastwood, eyes scanning the desert horizon for desperadoes. She sat forward, chin balanced on one fist; "Well, they do call motorcycles 'iron horses'... or wait, is that trains? Whatever, it still works; iron horses." Despite her amusement, Serenity's eyes softened; the memory was obviously an important one, even if fleeting. But then, some of the most lasting were, weren't they?
Still smiling, she watched her host across the table. "Did you ever see any actual, I don't know, working cowboys out west? I mean--" Serenity gestured vaguely, her free hand more or less miming a galloping figure. "Hats, chaps, saddles, broncos and all that?"
"Not to speak of," Seto responded, as Maria slid a plate of warm muffins between them. "Although we did see a horse that Tristan insisted on taking a picture of."
That brought an involuntary laugh, and the redhead relaxed again; the appetizing scent of orange-and-spices warmed the air and made the bright, clean kitchen feel more comfortable. "Tristan'd ride anything when we were really small, and if he wasn't calling it a chopper he'd pretend it was a horse... his Big Wheels, the dog, anything. Think he wanted to be Butch Cassidy when he grew up, kinda." She buttered a muffin, one eyebrow quirking up in amusement. "And Joey and me, we'd play right along, only we both wanted to be the Sundance Kid. --Well, except sometimes I wanted to be the Lone Ranger. There just aren't all that many good cowboy female role models in the movies, y'know?" Serenity took a neat bite. "Ooh, these are good. Thank you, Maria."
Maria flashed Serenity a quick smile of thanks and then turned back to her work at the counter. The coffeemaker hissed as the rich smell of a fresh pot filled the air. Seto inhaled appreciatively. "Sometimes I believe the scent of coffee is as invigorating as the caffeine," he commented.
The drowsy memory of a faint, clean scent that had woken her that morning made the smile linger in his guest's eyes; she navigated a few crumbs and nodded vigorously. "I probably shouldn't like coffee as much as I do," Serenity murmured. "Or I ought to drink decaf. But it's just not the same, despite all those commercials about 'flavor' and 'full-bodied' and..." Still holding her muffin, Serenity made quotation-marks in the air with hooked fingers.
At the sink Maria made a muffled sound, perhaps a laugh; the corner of Serenity's mouth quirked up in a shared moment of humor for a second before (in an example of the conversational off-road driving that both Wheeler twins seemed to excel in) she remarked, "Did you know that coffee-beans are actually called cherries?"
The conversational left-turn wasn't completely abrupt, as the subject was still essentially the same, so Seto followed it with ease. "I hadn't, actually," he replied. "I know what I like, and have the means to indulge my taste as well as experiment with new flavors, and that satisfies me." A small silence followed as Seto finished the dregs of the liquid in his cup, casting about for another topic of conversation. "What are your plans for tomorrow?" he finally settled on.
Serenity bit into the muffin again and made a face that had nothing to do with the flavor at all (which was excellent.) "Job-hunting, apartment-hunting... trying to figure out how to put all the pieces back together again. The longer I wait, the worse it'll be," she said a little more soberly after she had swallowed. Awareness of her situation had lost some of its bite by now but the whys and wherefores were still there, sharks circling in water that had gone deceptively calm. "My teaching certificates need updating; I'll probably try for sub work... substitute teaching, you know?"
Laying down the last bit uneaten on her plate, the young woman sighed and pushed back a tendril of hair that had been working its way loose. "But teaching, 's much as I loved it, it's not what I want to do so much anymore. I've been thinking about it for a while now, kind of trying to figure out-- alternatives? Something in the same line of work, but maybe not the same work itself. Something outside the classroom."
Maria took a moment to serve them both, and as the deep brown scent of very good coffee indeed wafted up from her cup Serenity breathed it in and remembered other cups, coffee and tea and cocoa, in a farmhouse kitchen in Connecticut. "Maybe I've lost my taste for teaching," she murmured. "Or it's lost me."
This, was familiar territory to Seto and he relaxed fractionally. It was a problem, a challenge, and if there was anything in his life Seto was an expert in, it was unravelling a logistical knot-- as long as it didn't involve his own emotions, he added, wryly.
"What is it that attracted you to teaching in the first place?" Seto asked, nodding his thanks to Maria as she finished serving him.
The question tied in with quite a lot of late-night thinking; it was an easy enough answer to dredge up by now, considering how many times she had polished it with repetition. "Back in Junior High I had this teacher, Miss Walsingham; sometimes you just click with one, y'know? And she was fantastic-- the kids didn't intimidate her, she was quick enough to stay three steps ahead of most of them... and this was Queens, there were a lot of damaged types in my school." The redhead stirred her cup, eyes looking not at the coffee but at the past. "She had this knack of, well, when things got nasty she'd turn a bad situation into a joke or she'd distract us... and she made us actually learn most've the time. Made us interested in learning, maybe I should say. That's a lot harder."
Serenity took a long sip and sighed in appreciation. "I sort of wanted to be her, in a way. Wanted to see kids like I'd been learn what I had to teach them; when a kid struggles with something and then finally gets it there's this moment when you see it catch fire inside, even for a second... and that's what I wanted." She half smiled over her cup. "Most've the time, teaching's just a job like any other, really, but some days-- That's what made it worth the late nights grading papers, extra days setting up schedules, being shorter than half your students, all that."
Suddenly a little embarrassed, she set down her cup and smiled at her host somewhat sheepishly. "Anyway. You see? That's what I wanted to do, and now I'm not sure why but it just-- I don't know if it's not there anymore, or if I just can't see it."
She wants power, Seto thought but didn't say. Joey would have challenged it and he suspected his sister would as well- and honestly Seto didn't know her well enough to be candid with his mental translation. The power to change another person's ideas. There was no taint to it; Seto honestly believed power was a worthy goal, and one that everyone wanted. Even if it was only power over one's circumstances- it was the dynamic that caused the world to turn and things to get done.
"You felt that you were giving these children something they could not find on their own? Or that you were-- unlocking something inside them?"
She had to smile at that. "Sounds a little grandios, doesn't it? When you put it like that. But actually, that was it; if it worked, they'd go away with something they hadn't had before." The level of the coffee in her cup was going down at an alarming rate; how many cups had she had by now, anyway? "And if it didn't work, well... at least they weren't out on the streets."
"Does it have to be children?" Seto continued. exploring the parameters of the issue. Leaning forward, he pushed away his plate, giving him room to rest his forearms on the table. Maria, familiar by now with Seto's moods while working, was there to deftly remove the breakfast detritus from the table in smooth silence.
"Not... as such, no. I guess? I've never taught anything but kids before, but teaching's just a means to an end, really; I want to--" Serenity hesitated, pausing to think as her plate was removed. This took something more than a well-worn conclusion.
She drew a deep breath. "The teaching is important. But the fact that someone's learning something is more important. If I come away having taught something and they don't learn it, then what I did, it's useless. If they learn, we both win. So; no, it doesn't have to be kids." Pushing back her hair again, the young woman quirked a small grin at Seto Kaiba. "Kind of the long way round to a short answer, I'm afraid; guess I'd better not try making a career in teaching Debate, huh?"
"We're not debating," Seto, to whom the word had firmly defined parameters which did not apply here, answered promptly. "I find that speaking my thoughts will sometimes help organize them, that answering questions causes me to refine- and sometimes, if I'm being honest, realize- my ideas. Suggest new options." Seto offered a small smile across the table. "So the 'long way around' may be the best way in this case."
The table had been for the most part cleared by now, leaving only the cups and saucers; the no-longer silent kitchen felt warmer, more comfortable now, and Maria's competent movements by the sink made an unobtrusive background as Serenity considered what her host had said. Her eyes met his, and she tilted her head a little to one side, watching him. "New options... huh. So-- Joey and Tristan've told you something about my history besides all the stalker stuff, I know that. If you were where I am, no prospects but nothing to hold you back either, what would you do?" She was honestly curious.
It had been a long time since Serenity had even thought of herself as having 'options' other than to wait, stay low or run. In a strange way, the fact that she had them now was more frightening than the reason she'd been running.
"What would I do?" Seto smiled into his cup, eyes full of gentle, far-away amusement. "Decide where I want to be, and write the steps from here to there. Or evaluate what I am best at, and research ways to turn it to a profit." His smile faded somewhat as he looked across the table at the woman sharing his breakfast. "I know that's not quite what you're asking, but it's the honest answer. Working for someone else isn't always the solution, and it never is for me. You could start a small business. Write a book. Whatever you'd like, there's ways to find money for it." The smile on Seto's face was as enigmatic as his voice when he concluded, "I'm very good at finding money."
Serenity couldn't help but laugh at that; the sound caught her by surprise, and (if she had only known it) the snickers she made as she attempted to bring it under control were very much like her twin's. "You could make a living doing th-- oh; well, okay, I guess you kind of already have." At the counter Maria put a plate onto a shelf with a slightly harder clink than might've been necessary. "I'd rather worry about money than, uh, other things," the redhead said after a moment in a slightly more sober tone. "Deciding where I want to be may have to take a back seat to paying the rent, at least for a while... But, y'know--" and she tilted her head again, eyes smiling, "I haven't made that kind of decision in a long time. Feels kind of good, even considering it."
And it did. It felt like doors opening, even if only a crack just barely big enough to see through.
Silence followed for a short time, and Seto was surprised to find he didn't feel the need to fill the space with words. At last, he put down his cup, pulling his thoughts from all the directions they had wandered. "I do have a small amount of work to do," he said, "Did you get your internet connection set up?"
"I did, and thanks, it's working fine." The last of her coffee had met its fate, and Serenity firmly shoved down the urge to request another cup as she sat back in her chair. "There're a couple of job sites I want to check today; I suppose I'd better get busy. You never know..." (and one corner of her mouth quirked up in less self-derision than there might have been the day before) "...somebody might be putting out an all-call for ex-schoolteachers right now." She slid the chair back, and then hesitated before standing. "Um--and thank you. For, you know, talking this through with me. It does help, actually."
Seto also rose, offering a small, genuine smile for the present. "I am happy to have been of help, Miss Wheeler," he said, looking at her fully before heading for the door. A few steps away his steps slowed, paused, and then he turned back to his guest. "If you will stop by my office... do you remember how to get there? Right out of the kitchen, right down the next hall, door on the left. I would like you to have my cell phone number in case you should need to call me."
The idea of bothering this man at his place of business (which he owned, among a really unbelievable lot of things; she was fully aware, after all, of who Seto Kaiba was) made Serenity quail inside, but she nodded readily enough and followed him down the hall. "Do you see my brothers out here much? --ah," and she suddenly flushed. "Tristan and Joey and me, we were all pretty much raised as one litter, so, 'brothers'. My family's known his since we were what, three? I think."
Since he was slightly ahead of Serenity, the slight widening of Seto's eyes went unseen at this casual revelation. Again the concept of family stole his thoughts from everywhere else, and Seto took a breath before answering. "They have visited a few times, yes. I'm not sure I see anyone 'much'." Then the two of them were at the door, and Seto reached across the front of his desk to retrieve a business card.
Flipping it over, Seto wrote his cell number in neat, evenly spaced figures. "Feel free to call me at any time," he told Serenity, handing the card to her.
She murmured her thanks, but her mind was on what he had just said. "You might see them a little more than you'd like, with me out here. We've got a lot of catching up to do," Serenity said wryly. She felt in a way as if the situation called for an apology but couldn't for the life of her see any way of expressing it that didn't sound either insulting or terribly condescending. "He's talked about you a lot, though." During his visit and in the occasional phone call; it'd been more than a little odd, trying to relate what the media told her about Seto Kaiba to her twin's friend and --employer? Something like that.
But he had been very kind, and had made her think; and her brothers liked him. They tended to have fairly good judgement, now that they'd managed to actually survive adolescence.
"Tristan has, or Joey?" Seto wasn't sure which man Serenity was referring to, but the faint bafflement in his voice was for something completely different. Looking back on the conversation later, Seto found it telling that not once was he worried about what either of them would have said about him. "I can't imagine I'm that fascinating a person."
There was something about Serenity that made Seto relax in her presence, made it easy to talk to her, perhaps easier than was strictly good for him. It wasn't that she seemed harmless, but.... maybe it was a Wheeler trait, Seto certainly found himself surprised time after time at how open he was with Joey.
And Tristan was... well, Tristan. A class unto himself.
"Joey, mostly, though a lot've it was about Tristan," she said, slipping the card into a pocket and wondering with faint horror what it'd take to actually persuade her to use it. Terrorist attack? Fire? Aliens on the front lawn? "He told me about how you met him at... a car show? Didn't go into detail about the cars, though, just-- said you were working on a project together, the three've you." Memories flicked up like cards from a rolodex. "And your trips, he talked about those; the one last year and the one this year? And he told me about your photos too, a bit."
Tristan hadn't mentioned their mutual acquaintance as much, but then... she hadn't had the chance to talk to him nearly as often, either. Serenity had missed that; the enforced isolation of her life in Connecticut had made a much too large silence where her other brother was concerned, and she was determined to find ways to make up for it. There was a lot she had to get over, and this was an important part of the whole deal.
It said something, she supposed a little guiltily, when you were more concerned about your ties with your almost-brother than with your parents. Said something, yeah; but Serenity wasn't sure she wanted to know what it was.
A very small furrow appeared in Seto's forehead as he processed the information he had just been given. Likely Serenity was not even aware that she had just revealed that Joey spoke more of Seto's friendship with Tristan than with the one they shared. "Then turnabout is fair play," he answered smoothly. "Would you tell me something that happened with you and your brothers? Perhaps when you were young. I believe the statute of limitations has run out on any childhood antics." Seto smiled. "If you feel comfortable doing so, that is."
Leaning against the wall, hands tucked into her pockets as she relaxed, Serenity felt a small, gleeful snicker trying to escape and suppressed it; almost. "Something from when we were kids... well, there was the popsicle thing," she murmured, eyes dancing. "Ma Taylor used to buy these boxes of popsicles-- I don't remember the brand, but the packages had pictures of animals on them and little facts about them... we weren't supposed to touch them on our own, we got them if we'd cleaned our rooms, done homework, that sort of thing, y'know? Rewards."
"Anyway-- I think we were, what, nine or ten? And it was hot out, and we were supposed to go play in some park or other but we had some stuff to do first; and Ma Taylor promised us popsicles to take with us. So I... think I put away dishes or something up in my place, and Tristan and Joey took out the garbage. And when I came to get my popsicle they'd split it between them, the jerks, and it had been the last one, so--" She sighed mock-tragically. "No popsicle for Red."
"But--" and Serenity held up a finger, almost forgetting for the moment just who her audience actually was in the strength of the memory, trivial and silly as it was-- "We had these water pistols. And my mom, she'd made Jello for dessert the night before, only we hadn't eaten all of it. And, well... I got mad. There they were, sitting on the front steps, eating my popsicle along with theirs-- said I'd been too slow finishing. So I took a water-pistol and the leftover Jello, and kind of syphoned it into the pistol. And since my bedroom window faced the steps, it was pretty easy to get in a couple of good shots from there." She was grinning now. "Kind of tough for them I'd locked the front door, though."
There was a pause as the images came back: Tristan and Joey, all leggy preadolescent indignation with watery Jello in their hair and down their backs, yelling at their sister and threatening doom from below. "They threw what was left of the popsicles, mine and theirs both, at the window, I shot Jello all over the sidewalk, and-- anyway, we all three got grounded for it. No park, no popsicles." Serenity laughed softly to herself. "And we had to clean up the mess, but we got to use the water-hose and ended up drenched, which was fun."
Eyes still full of laughter, she smiled at her host. "Bunch of silly kids; I guess we haven't changed all that much, not really."
A faint smile hovered around Seto's lips as he listened to the story. Although the circumstances were foreign to him, the personalities of his two friends were not so very different. A small, surprisingly comfortable silence fell between the two of them, until Seto nodded. "Thank you," he said, moving around his desk.
Serenity flushed a little, still smiling. After a moment the sureality of the situation occurred to her; popsicles, business magnates and Jello did not generally mix well. But it wasn't enough to destroy her good mood, but rather tickled her sense of the ridiculous instead. "Your turn," she prompted. And then (just a little embarrassed at her own forwardness with this very private man) she added, "Something about Joey and Tristan, I mean. If you don't mind?" She tilted her head slightly to one side.
Regarding Serenity calmly, Seto raised one eyebrow. "You've probably heard all of the..." His voice trailed off as a particularly strong and delightful memory slid out. Suddenly, the slight curve of Seto's lips curled up into a strong, genuine smile. "They made me a birthday cake," he said softly. "Joey and Tristan. With a candle, sitting on the table in their apartment. It was a surprise."
If Seto had thought about it, he would never have offered something that sounded so commonplace, but it wasn't, not to him. It was precious and warm and meant far more than it seemed on the surface.
Seto regarded his guest quietly.
Serenity regarded him back, one eyebrow up in interest; the memory was obviously important and told her just a little more about the friendship between the three men. "Edible, right? They're both actually better cooks than I am," she added with chagrin, crossing her arms. "I just don't have the knack, though Mrs. J was teaching me a bit about cookies. She was my landlady out in Connecticut."
While she spoke, though, her mind was still dwelling on that birthday cake. So far as she could recall, birthday cakes, homemade birthday cakes, were something that only occurred for family and very close friends. Ever. That's really something.
"I miss her, actually; she's an amazing woman, bright, does most of the books for her family's farm, handles a lot of the buying and management..." Serenity pushed back her hair (which was already threatening to tumble down out of its tail.) "We talked about role-models earlier, right? She'd make a good one."
"You can always call her," Seto offered. "If she is the type of woman you have portrayed her as, I'm certain she would be happy to offer advice, and perhaps honestly flattered into the bargain."
It was good advice; she'd already spoken to the older woman once since her return to the city, and Serenity doubted that Mrs. J'd mind a second call a little later. If nothing else, her daughter Kath'd be coming home shortly; that was one connection that she wanted to reestablish very soon.
In the meantime, though... Her host's position behind the desk caught her eye, and Serenity became aware of the fact that this man, corporate executive or not, worked for a living. "I should let you get on with, um, things," she said with regret-- quite a lot of it, in fact, somewhat to her surprise. "And I should be getting back to my own job-hunting; they're not going to come to me, after all. But... Mister Kaiba? Thanks for all the help earlier; I really do appreciate it."
It was the first time she had actually called him by name since her arrival; and oddly enough, it didn't sound all that awkward, not anymore.
"Please keep me updated as that progresses," Seto responded, and only after Serenity nodded and left did he sit behind his desk to boot up his computer. He could hear her soft footsteps retreating down the hall, and the silence in the office was slow to fill the space, as if the lively, open woman had left a bit of her spirit behind that was slow to dissipate.
Seto wondered what the silence would sound like when she left.
And down the hall, Serenity paused for a second before heading towards the stairs as the faintest, softest sound of keystrokes began behind her. Listening, she smiled a little to herself, carrying the sound with her like a good-luck charm as she climbed towards her room.
There was work to be done.
It was the scent of crisp, white sheets that woke her: something vaguely heatherish, not intense enough to identify but simply the fragrance of clean made stronger by the pillow Serenity had pulled over her head in her sleep. One second, unconscious; the next, peering halfway awake through the narrow gap between bed and slipcover at unfamiliar patterns of light across an unfamiliar floor.
There was a warm lump somewhere in her hair, one that moved when she did; claw-prickles kneaded briefly as Bear stretched, yawned audibly, and fell back asleep. Serenity sleepily considered following suit, but conscience nudged at her none too gently until she dislodged the pillow with a groan. The bedside clock flashed a blue digital 7:38 at her; from somewhere beyond her door she could hear, very distantly, small thumps and running water.
Breakfast?
Up. Move it, Red, the world's not gonna wait for you, niggled her conscience again, and she groaned to herself a second time and began the ritual of getting presentable.
* * *
The sun was lighting the kitchen with diffuse cheer as Maria set a plate in front of Seto. Absently, he thanked her, his eyes absorbed with the financial section of the Sunday Times folded neatly in half on the table. She chuckled in good humor, used to the off-handed nature of his remarks in the morning, and filled the cup in front of her employer with steaming, fragrant coffee.
Taking his eyes from the page, Seto picked up his fork and sliced a neat section of egg.
"Good morning..." One hand on the banister, Serenity managed to keep the shy greeting from sounding too much like a question. Slacks and a sweater in turquoise and black made her feel a little more secure-- some days, clothes made good armor-- and she smiled a little as she entered the room.
"Miss Wheeler," Seto greeted her, putting down his fork and rising. "Will you join me for breakfast?" From the kitchen sink, Maria gave Serenity a little wave, already taking a plate from the cupboard.
She blinked at the tall man; it wasn't that she wasn't appreciative of good manners or anything, but-- There was a place already set for her, and Serenity took a seat as quietly as possible, murmuring her thanks. "It smells wonderful," Serenity said, inhaling appreciatively, and glanced towards the sink. "Maria, right? --thanks," she offered as coffee was poured.
"Of course, little one," Maria answered, smiling at Serentiy. "How would you like your eggs?"
Hard on the heels of Maria's last word, Seto asked his own question, having seated himself in the interim. "Does your kitten need anything? How did you both sleep?" With seeming patience, Seto picked up his coffee cup and bent his head for a sip.
The coffee was excellent, and Serenity took a moment to breathe in the aroma with pleasure. "I slept really well, actually," she said in answer to his second question first; "and Bear spent most of the night exploring the closet, from what I could hear..." The Kleenex box on her dresser had become an overnight casualty, as the kitten had done his best to complete his denuding of its contents; but hopefully that little detail would escape her host's attention. "He's just fine. He, ah--" She hesitated. "Do you like cats?" she asked.
"--and scrambled?" Serenity added, smiling back at Maria.
"Scrambled it is," Maria acknowledged in a cheerful voice, and set about to create breakfast for their guest.
There was a long silence from Seto's side of the table as he regarded Serenity, blue eyes full of serious consideration at her question. "I had a cat once, when I was a child," he answered, eyes turning to watch Maria just before he spoke. "Technically she didn't belong to me, but I loved her. Did your kitten enjoy the things which were delivered for her? Is there something else you think she would need?"
Briefly Serenity wondered if she should defend Bear's veterinarian-altered masculinity, but then decided against it; it wasn't like he'd care, after all. The spatter of eggs frying made a background as she took another sip of her coffee. "No, really; he's going to be so spoiled... He loved the cat-tree the best, he's never had anything like that to climb on before. Did Joey tell you how I found him?"
Cats weren't a bad conversational topic for breakfast, actually; the man seated across from Serenity was rather unlike anybody she'd ever eaten eggs and bacon with before, but that was fine.
Looking up again, she couldn't help but smile. He really did have kind eyes.
"No, I don't believe the subject came up," Seto responded, just before Maria bustled over to the table with a laden plate for Serenity. He took advantage of the interruption to finish his own plate while his guest was getting settled, berating himself severly for letting the lingering whisps of memory interfere with his knowledge of something as basic as the sex of Serenity's pet.
She was a vivacious woman, and while Seto was not unused to the cheery tones of Maria or the wide laugh of Amber, the other kitchen staff, it had been quite some time since Seto had entertained a female guest outside of the obligatory party.
God. It was almost that time again, wasn't it?
Putting that thought firmly out of his mind, Seto addressed himself to the lady across the table. "I would love to hear the story."
The clink of cutlery and china made an interesting form of punctuation; and scrambled eggs had given way to a second piece of toast and more coffee by the time the saga of Bear And The Great North Woods came to a conclusion. "--it just sniffed a few times, had a drink from the stream and wandered off, like that," Serenity finished with a gesture that looked like she had borrowed it from her twin. "So I took him home with me. Couldn't just leave him there, y'know..." A pause; the quiet of the kitchen made her blink, and in chagrin Serenity shook her head. "Sorry," the redhead murmured. "I, ah, sometimes I-- talk too much. Way too much." She took another sip of her coffee, holding the cup in both hands and sinking down a bit behind it as if hiding in the steam.
Seto had been fascinated in turns by the story, the flashes of Joey he saw in Serenity, her vivacious energy and the skillful way she used words to guide and evoke her listener's emotions. He had come to the conclusion that she wasn't conscious of most of it, but was still following the narrative, and when she abruptly changed demeanor it took Seto the space of a breath to realign his attention.
"No, please," Seto assured her. "I enjoy listening to a good tale." He looked speculatively across the rim of his own cup at her, reading body language as much as tone. "Would you like to hear one of my stories?"
Steam wasn't really a very efficient blind to hide behind; despite the sudden embarrassed awareness of her own noise, Serenity managed to pull a smile out of somewhere. She hadn't meant to be so, so-- loud, Jeeze, turn down the volume, okay? said her mind's voice. But...
He had asked her something. Oh, right. "Please," Serenity answered.
The offer had been made in earnest- but without an equal story in mind. He didn't feel completely easy sharing stories of Tristan or Joey, although she would doubtless be fascinated. However, the only experience he had of comparable entertainment value involved... or Aidan. Seto rather doubted the humor value of his work would translate without explanation, and Jai'son didn't translate at all.
For some reason, Seto didn't want to share Jai'son's dry wit and sly aggression with anyone. He felt almost possessive over the other man's friendship, like it was a secret to protect. As if, should he remark on it to anyone, let alone this virtual stranger, it would be judged. Taken away.
Ridiculous. Seto was fully aware of that, and even though his inclination was now to talk of nothing but Jai'son and the tentative but solid friendship they were building-- the man still didn't translate. Jai'son was one of those people who... you really had to be there to see.
So. Aidan, but Seto shied away from that as his serpent raised its head to hiss. Too soon for perspective, too muddied.
Besides, Serenity's story had reminded him in spirit of being on Route 66, and something of equal value should be exchanged. "You know, do you not, that Tristan and I rode along Route 66 last summer?"
A nod; "Joey told me about it mostly." She took a long sip, setting down her cup with a faint clink, looking at him with interest. "Go on--"
"It was summer, and dusty, and hot," Seto began, his thumb tracing the smooth side of his coffee cup. At the sink, Maria made not a sound.
"We pulled into a little cafe to eat one afternoon. It was the sort of place you imagine when you think of diners of the past, red glitter vinyl on the booths, menus in plastic sleeves with a few of the prices crossed out and changes written in." As he spoke, a faint smile curved Seto's lips and his eyes were seeing something very far away. By contrast, his voice downshifted, softened and warmed slightly. "The kind of place that serves coffee in solid white ceramic mugs. They had the best french fries."
There was a small pause of memory, before Seto continued. "Tristan was chatting with the cashier while he settled his bill, so I went outside to wait. A car drove by and stirred the dirt beside the road, a scruffy patch with a few weeds clinging tenaciously to the dry earth. The dust swirled like a dervish, an elemental creature. An earthen tornado."
Seto smiled softly. "A tumbleweed blew past. An actual, honest-to-God tumbleweed. Just for a moment I felt as if I should have a six-shooter strapped to my hip, and a belt buckle as big as my fist. Just for a moment," he finished softly.
"But of course," Seto continued in his usual voice, "my motorcycle doesn't need the frequent stabling that a horse would. And I did have the leather accessories covered." He tipped his head at Serenity, smile not lessening.
Laughter sparked in the young womans' eyes; as mercurial as her brother, the redhead's shyness had been at least for the moment dispersed by the startlingly plausible image of Seto Kaiba as Clint Eastwood, eyes scanning the desert horizon for desperadoes. She sat forward, chin balanced on one fist; "Well, they do call motorcycles 'iron horses'... or wait, is that trains? Whatever, it still works; iron horses." Despite her amusement, Serenity's eyes softened; the memory was obviously an important one, even if fleeting. But then, some of the most lasting were, weren't they?
Still smiling, she watched her host across the table. "Did you ever see any actual, I don't know, working cowboys out west? I mean--" Serenity gestured vaguely, her free hand more or less miming a galloping figure. "Hats, chaps, saddles, broncos and all that?"
"Not to speak of," Seto responded, as Maria slid a plate of warm muffins between them. "Although we did see a horse that Tristan insisted on taking a picture of."
That brought an involuntary laugh, and the redhead relaxed again; the appetizing scent of orange-and-spices warmed the air and made the bright, clean kitchen feel more comfortable. "Tristan'd ride anything when we were really small, and if he wasn't calling it a chopper he'd pretend it was a horse... his Big Wheels, the dog, anything. Think he wanted to be Butch Cassidy when he grew up, kinda." She buttered a muffin, one eyebrow quirking up in amusement. "And Joey and me, we'd play right along, only we both wanted to be the Sundance Kid. --Well, except sometimes I wanted to be the Lone Ranger. There just aren't all that many good cowboy female role models in the movies, y'know?" Serenity took a neat bite. "Ooh, these are good. Thank you, Maria."
Maria flashed Serenity a quick smile of thanks and then turned back to her work at the counter. The coffeemaker hissed as the rich smell of a fresh pot filled the air. Seto inhaled appreciatively. "Sometimes I believe the scent of coffee is as invigorating as the caffeine," he commented.
The drowsy memory of a faint, clean scent that had woken her that morning made the smile linger in his guest's eyes; she navigated a few crumbs and nodded vigorously. "I probably shouldn't like coffee as much as I do," Serenity murmured. "Or I ought to drink decaf. But it's just not the same, despite all those commercials about 'flavor' and 'full-bodied' and..." Still holding her muffin, Serenity made quotation-marks in the air with hooked fingers.
At the sink Maria made a muffled sound, perhaps a laugh; the corner of Serenity's mouth quirked up in a shared moment of humor for a second before (in an example of the conversational off-road driving that both Wheeler twins seemed to excel in) she remarked, "Did you know that coffee-beans are actually called cherries?"
The conversational left-turn wasn't completely abrupt, as the subject was still essentially the same, so Seto followed it with ease. "I hadn't, actually," he replied. "I know what I like, and have the means to indulge my taste as well as experiment with new flavors, and that satisfies me." A small silence followed as Seto finished the dregs of the liquid in his cup, casting about for another topic of conversation. "What are your plans for tomorrow?" he finally settled on.
Serenity bit into the muffin again and made a face that had nothing to do with the flavor at all (which was excellent.) "Job-hunting, apartment-hunting... trying to figure out how to put all the pieces back together again. The longer I wait, the worse it'll be," she said a little more soberly after she had swallowed. Awareness of her situation had lost some of its bite by now but the whys and wherefores were still there, sharks circling in water that had gone deceptively calm. "My teaching certificates need updating; I'll probably try for sub work... substitute teaching, you know?"
Laying down the last bit uneaten on her plate, the young woman sighed and pushed back a tendril of hair that had been working its way loose. "But teaching, 's much as I loved it, it's not what I want to do so much anymore. I've been thinking about it for a while now, kind of trying to figure out-- alternatives? Something in the same line of work, but maybe not the same work itself. Something outside the classroom."
Maria took a moment to serve them both, and as the deep brown scent of very good coffee indeed wafted up from her cup Serenity breathed it in and remembered other cups, coffee and tea and cocoa, in a farmhouse kitchen in Connecticut. "Maybe I've lost my taste for teaching," she murmured. "Or it's lost me."
This, was familiar territory to Seto and he relaxed fractionally. It was a problem, a challenge, and if there was anything in his life Seto was an expert in, it was unravelling a logistical knot-- as long as it didn't involve his own emotions, he added, wryly.
"What is it that attracted you to teaching in the first place?" Seto asked, nodding his thanks to Maria as she finished serving him.
The question tied in with quite a lot of late-night thinking; it was an easy enough answer to dredge up by now, considering how many times she had polished it with repetition. "Back in Junior High I had this teacher, Miss Walsingham; sometimes you just click with one, y'know? And she was fantastic-- the kids didn't intimidate her, she was quick enough to stay three steps ahead of most of them... and this was Queens, there were a lot of damaged types in my school." The redhead stirred her cup, eyes looking not at the coffee but at the past. "She had this knack of, well, when things got nasty she'd turn a bad situation into a joke or she'd distract us... and she made us actually learn most've the time. Made us interested in learning, maybe I should say. That's a lot harder."
Serenity took a long sip and sighed in appreciation. "I sort of wanted to be her, in a way. Wanted to see kids like I'd been learn what I had to teach them; when a kid struggles with something and then finally gets it there's this moment when you see it catch fire inside, even for a second... and that's what I wanted." She half smiled over her cup. "Most've the time, teaching's just a job like any other, really, but some days-- That's what made it worth the late nights grading papers, extra days setting up schedules, being shorter than half your students, all that."
Suddenly a little embarrassed, she set down her cup and smiled at her host somewhat sheepishly. "Anyway. You see? That's what I wanted to do, and now I'm not sure why but it just-- I don't know if it's not there anymore, or if I just can't see it."
She wants power, Seto thought but didn't say. Joey would have challenged it and he suspected his sister would as well- and honestly Seto didn't know her well enough to be candid with his mental translation. The power to change another person's ideas. There was no taint to it; Seto honestly believed power was a worthy goal, and one that everyone wanted. Even if it was only power over one's circumstances- it was the dynamic that caused the world to turn and things to get done.
"You felt that you were giving these children something they could not find on their own? Or that you were-- unlocking something inside them?"
She had to smile at that. "Sounds a little grandios, doesn't it? When you put it like that. But actually, that was it; if it worked, they'd go away with something they hadn't had before." The level of the coffee in her cup was going down at an alarming rate; how many cups had she had by now, anyway? "And if it didn't work, well... at least they weren't out on the streets."
"Does it have to be children?" Seto continued. exploring the parameters of the issue. Leaning forward, he pushed away his plate, giving him room to rest his forearms on the table. Maria, familiar by now with Seto's moods while working, was there to deftly remove the breakfast detritus from the table in smooth silence.
"Not... as such, no. I guess? I've never taught anything but kids before, but teaching's just a means to an end, really; I want to--" Serenity hesitated, pausing to think as her plate was removed. This took something more than a well-worn conclusion.
She drew a deep breath. "The teaching is important. But the fact that someone's learning something is more important. If I come away having taught something and they don't learn it, then what I did, it's useless. If they learn, we both win. So; no, it doesn't have to be kids." Pushing back her hair again, the young woman quirked a small grin at Seto Kaiba. "Kind of the long way round to a short answer, I'm afraid; guess I'd better not try making a career in teaching Debate, huh?"
"We're not debating," Seto, to whom the word had firmly defined parameters which did not apply here, answered promptly. "I find that speaking my thoughts will sometimes help organize them, that answering questions causes me to refine- and sometimes, if I'm being honest, realize- my ideas. Suggest new options." Seto offered a small smile across the table. "So the 'long way around' may be the best way in this case."
The table had been for the most part cleared by now, leaving only the cups and saucers; the no-longer silent kitchen felt warmer, more comfortable now, and Maria's competent movements by the sink made an unobtrusive background as Serenity considered what her host had said. Her eyes met his, and she tilted her head a little to one side, watching him. "New options... huh. So-- Joey and Tristan've told you something about my history besides all the stalker stuff, I know that. If you were where I am, no prospects but nothing to hold you back either, what would you do?" She was honestly curious.
It had been a long time since Serenity had even thought of herself as having 'options' other than to wait, stay low or run. In a strange way, the fact that she had them now was more frightening than the reason she'd been running.
"What would I do?" Seto smiled into his cup, eyes full of gentle, far-away amusement. "Decide where I want to be, and write the steps from here to there. Or evaluate what I am best at, and research ways to turn it to a profit." His smile faded somewhat as he looked across the table at the woman sharing his breakfast. "I know that's not quite what you're asking, but it's the honest answer. Working for someone else isn't always the solution, and it never is for me. You could start a small business. Write a book. Whatever you'd like, there's ways to find money for it." The smile on Seto's face was as enigmatic as his voice when he concluded, "I'm very good at finding money."
Serenity couldn't help but laugh at that; the sound caught her by surprise, and (if she had only known it) the snickers she made as she attempted to bring it under control were very much like her twin's. "You could make a living doing th-- oh; well, okay, I guess you kind of already have." At the counter Maria put a plate onto a shelf with a slightly harder clink than might've been necessary. "I'd rather worry about money than, uh, other things," the redhead said after a moment in a slightly more sober tone. "Deciding where I want to be may have to take a back seat to paying the rent, at least for a while... But, y'know--" and she tilted her head again, eyes smiling, "I haven't made that kind of decision in a long time. Feels kind of good, even considering it."
And it did. It felt like doors opening, even if only a crack just barely big enough to see through.
Silence followed for a short time, and Seto was surprised to find he didn't feel the need to fill the space with words. At last, he put down his cup, pulling his thoughts from all the directions they had wandered. "I do have a small amount of work to do," he said, "Did you get your internet connection set up?"
"I did, and thanks, it's working fine." The last of her coffee had met its fate, and Serenity firmly shoved down the urge to request another cup as she sat back in her chair. "There're a couple of job sites I want to check today; I suppose I'd better get busy. You never know..." (and one corner of her mouth quirked up in less self-derision than there might have been the day before) "...somebody might be putting out an all-call for ex-schoolteachers right now." She slid the chair back, and then hesitated before standing. "Um--and thank you. For, you know, talking this through with me. It does help, actually."
Seto also rose, offering a small, genuine smile for the present. "I am happy to have been of help, Miss Wheeler," he said, looking at her fully before heading for the door. A few steps away his steps slowed, paused, and then he turned back to his guest. "If you will stop by my office... do you remember how to get there? Right out of the kitchen, right down the next hall, door on the left. I would like you to have my cell phone number in case you should need to call me."
The idea of bothering this man at his place of business (which he owned, among a really unbelievable lot of things; she was fully aware, after all, of who Seto Kaiba was) made Serenity quail inside, but she nodded readily enough and followed him down the hall. "Do you see my brothers out here much? --ah," and she suddenly flushed. "Tristan and Joey and me, we were all pretty much raised as one litter, so, 'brothers'. My family's known his since we were what, three? I think."
Since he was slightly ahead of Serenity, the slight widening of Seto's eyes went unseen at this casual revelation. Again the concept of family stole his thoughts from everywhere else, and Seto took a breath before answering. "They have visited a few times, yes. I'm not sure I see anyone 'much'." Then the two of them were at the door, and Seto reached across the front of his desk to retrieve a business card.
Flipping it over, Seto wrote his cell number in neat, evenly spaced figures. "Feel free to call me at any time," he told Serenity, handing the card to her.
She murmured her thanks, but her mind was on what he had just said. "You might see them a little more than you'd like, with me out here. We've got a lot of catching up to do," Serenity said wryly. She felt in a way as if the situation called for an apology but couldn't for the life of her see any way of expressing it that didn't sound either insulting or terribly condescending. "He's talked about you a lot, though." During his visit and in the occasional phone call; it'd been more than a little odd, trying to relate what the media told her about Seto Kaiba to her twin's friend and --employer? Something like that.
But he had been very kind, and had made her think; and her brothers liked him. They tended to have fairly good judgement, now that they'd managed to actually survive adolescence.
"Tristan has, or Joey?" Seto wasn't sure which man Serenity was referring to, but the faint bafflement in his voice was for something completely different. Looking back on the conversation later, Seto found it telling that not once was he worried about what either of them would have said about him. "I can't imagine I'm that fascinating a person."
There was something about Serenity that made Seto relax in her presence, made it easy to talk to her, perhaps easier than was strictly good for him. It wasn't that she seemed harmless, but.... maybe it was a Wheeler trait, Seto certainly found himself surprised time after time at how open he was with Joey.
And Tristan was... well, Tristan. A class unto himself.
"Joey, mostly, though a lot've it was about Tristan," she said, slipping the card into a pocket and wondering with faint horror what it'd take to actually persuade her to use it. Terrorist attack? Fire? Aliens on the front lawn? "He told me about how you met him at... a car show? Didn't go into detail about the cars, though, just-- said you were working on a project together, the three've you." Memories flicked up like cards from a rolodex. "And your trips, he talked about those; the one last year and the one this year? And he told me about your photos too, a bit."
Tristan hadn't mentioned their mutual acquaintance as much, but then... she hadn't had the chance to talk to him nearly as often, either. Serenity had missed that; the enforced isolation of her life in Connecticut had made a much too large silence where her other brother was concerned, and she was determined to find ways to make up for it. There was a lot she had to get over, and this was an important part of the whole deal.
It said something, she supposed a little guiltily, when you were more concerned about your ties with your almost-brother than with your parents. Said something, yeah; but Serenity wasn't sure she wanted to know what it was.
A very small furrow appeared in Seto's forehead as he processed the information he had just been given. Likely Serenity was not even aware that she had just revealed that Joey spoke more of Seto's friendship with Tristan than with the one they shared. "Then turnabout is fair play," he answered smoothly. "Would you tell me something that happened with you and your brothers? Perhaps when you were young. I believe the statute of limitations has run out on any childhood antics." Seto smiled. "If you feel comfortable doing so, that is."
Leaning against the wall, hands tucked into her pockets as she relaxed, Serenity felt a small, gleeful snicker trying to escape and suppressed it; almost. "Something from when we were kids... well, there was the popsicle thing," she murmured, eyes dancing. "Ma Taylor used to buy these boxes of popsicles-- I don't remember the brand, but the packages had pictures of animals on them and little facts about them... we weren't supposed to touch them on our own, we got them if we'd cleaned our rooms, done homework, that sort of thing, y'know? Rewards."
"Anyway-- I think we were, what, nine or ten? And it was hot out, and we were supposed to go play in some park or other but we had some stuff to do first; and Ma Taylor promised us popsicles to take with us. So I... think I put away dishes or something up in my place, and Tristan and Joey took out the garbage. And when I came to get my popsicle they'd split it between them, the jerks, and it had been the last one, so--" She sighed mock-tragically. "No popsicle for Red."
"But--" and Serenity held up a finger, almost forgetting for the moment just who her audience actually was in the strength of the memory, trivial and silly as it was-- "We had these water pistols. And my mom, she'd made Jello for dessert the night before, only we hadn't eaten all of it. And, well... I got mad. There they were, sitting on the front steps, eating my popsicle along with theirs-- said I'd been too slow finishing. So I took a water-pistol and the leftover Jello, and kind of syphoned it into the pistol. And since my bedroom window faced the steps, it was pretty easy to get in a couple of good shots from there." She was grinning now. "Kind of tough for them I'd locked the front door, though."
There was a pause as the images came back: Tristan and Joey, all leggy preadolescent indignation with watery Jello in their hair and down their backs, yelling at their sister and threatening doom from below. "They threw what was left of the popsicles, mine and theirs both, at the window, I shot Jello all over the sidewalk, and-- anyway, we all three got grounded for it. No park, no popsicles." Serenity laughed softly to herself. "And we had to clean up the mess, but we got to use the water-hose and ended up drenched, which was fun."
Eyes still full of laughter, she smiled at her host. "Bunch of silly kids; I guess we haven't changed all that much, not really."
A faint smile hovered around Seto's lips as he listened to the story. Although the circumstances were foreign to him, the personalities of his two friends were not so very different. A small, surprisingly comfortable silence fell between the two of them, until Seto nodded. "Thank you," he said, moving around his desk.
Serenity flushed a little, still smiling. After a moment the sureality of the situation occurred to her; popsicles, business magnates and Jello did not generally mix well. But it wasn't enough to destroy her good mood, but rather tickled her sense of the ridiculous instead. "Your turn," she prompted. And then (just a little embarrassed at her own forwardness with this very private man) she added, "Something about Joey and Tristan, I mean. If you don't mind?" She tilted her head slightly to one side.
Regarding Serenity calmly, Seto raised one eyebrow. "You've probably heard all of the..." His voice trailed off as a particularly strong and delightful memory slid out. Suddenly, the slight curve of Seto's lips curled up into a strong, genuine smile. "They made me a birthday cake," he said softly. "Joey and Tristan. With a candle, sitting on the table in their apartment. It was a surprise."
If Seto had thought about it, he would never have offered something that sounded so commonplace, but it wasn't, not to him. It was precious and warm and meant far more than it seemed on the surface.
Seto regarded his guest quietly.
Serenity regarded him back, one eyebrow up in interest; the memory was obviously important and told her just a little more about the friendship between the three men. "Edible, right? They're both actually better cooks than I am," she added with chagrin, crossing her arms. "I just don't have the knack, though Mrs. J was teaching me a bit about cookies. She was my landlady out in Connecticut."
While she spoke, though, her mind was still dwelling on that birthday cake. So far as she could recall, birthday cakes, homemade birthday cakes, were something that only occurred for family and very close friends. Ever. That's really something.
"I miss her, actually; she's an amazing woman, bright, does most of the books for her family's farm, handles a lot of the buying and management..." Serenity pushed back her hair (which was already threatening to tumble down out of its tail.) "We talked about role-models earlier, right? She'd make a good one."
"You can always call her," Seto offered. "If she is the type of woman you have portrayed her as, I'm certain she would be happy to offer advice, and perhaps honestly flattered into the bargain."
It was good advice; she'd already spoken to the older woman once since her return to the city, and Serenity doubted that Mrs. J'd mind a second call a little later. If nothing else, her daughter Kath'd be coming home shortly; that was one connection that she wanted to reestablish very soon.
In the meantime, though... Her host's position behind the desk caught her eye, and Serenity became aware of the fact that this man, corporate executive or not, worked for a living. "I should let you get on with, um, things," she said with regret-- quite a lot of it, in fact, somewhat to her surprise. "And I should be getting back to my own job-hunting; they're not going to come to me, after all. But... Mister Kaiba? Thanks for all the help earlier; I really do appreciate it."
It was the first time she had actually called him by name since her arrival; and oddly enough, it didn't sound all that awkward, not anymore.
"Please keep me updated as that progresses," Seto responded, and only after Serenity nodded and left did he sit behind his desk to boot up his computer. He could hear her soft footsteps retreating down the hall, and the silence in the office was slow to fill the space, as if the lively, open woman had left a bit of her spirit behind that was slow to dissipate.
Seto wondered what the silence would sound like when she left.
And down the hall, Serenity paused for a second before heading towards the stairs as the faintest, softest sound of keystrokes began behind her. Listening, she smiled a little to herself, carrying the sound with her like a good-luck charm as she climbed towards her room.
There was work to be done.