[8] The Survivors

[Kaden]

"Are you all toge--"

As the quintet of contestants walked through the front door of the restaurant, recognition dawned upon their hostess. As Sage, the last person to enter the restaurant, let the door close behind her, everyone was pleased to notice that the snowstorm she had been projected was down to only a few flakes; it seemed to have died down as everyone goofed around outside. As everyone adjusted to the relative warmth of the building, Kaden gestured towards his companions with a wave of his arm.

"I believe you were expecting us," the courier smiled at the hostess.

"... indeed," the woman responded. For a hostess, Kaden imagined she could have been a little more approachable.

Grabbing five menus, the woman led her patrons through the restaurant. Most of them noticed that the entire place had actually been emptied out. Kaden wasn't entirely sure what to make of the gesture. To someone trained to be aware of dangerous situations, they might have been suspicious of traps or ambushes. Kaden just thought it was cool to have the place to themselves.

"Here you are," the hostess stopped in front of a round table and began setting down the menus.

"You guys have a patio, right?" Kaden asked the question more out of politeness than anything else. They passed the patio on their way in.

"Would you prefer to be seated outside?" the hostess asked as she began picking the menus back up.

"No!"
"No!"
"No!"

Kaden almost jumped as three of his female companions answered in unison. Blinking, the courier turned to the rest of his group, none of which looked thrilled about the idea of going back out into the snow.

"It's freezing out there," Ashe replied to the courier's dumbfounded gaze.

"I just thought... it would be... pretty. Y'know... with the snow..." Kaden's eyes scanned over his companions, but he was definitely alone. "... alright. Inside it is."

Standing behind one of the chairs, Kaden waited for his female companions to seat themselves before sitting down. To his left was Sophia, then Sage, then Ashe, and Piper closed the proverbial circle on Kaden's right. While everyone else picked up their menus, Kaden reclined in his chairs and folded his arms behind his head. His eyes darted about the table, watching his companions as they scanned the restaurant's offerings.

"Can I get you all started with something to drink?"

Kaden inclined his head to see a waitress standing between himself and Sophia. Having time to actually relax, Kaden found himself amusingly aware of the fact that he hadn't heard her approach. Under normal circumstances, such a thought probably wouldn't have ever crossed the courier's mind.

"Ladies first," Kaden said as he nodded across the table to Ashe; she was, by his estimation, the youngest girl at the table. When the waitress came back around to Kaden, the courier simply sighed. "I don't know what, but I'd definitely like something with alcohol in it." Instead of picking up the menu, Kaden gestured at the waitress. "What do you like?"

"Well..." the woman brought her pen up to her chin as she thought.

"Just surprise me," Kaden said with a wave of his hand. "I'm not picky."

Jotting down the drink orders, the waitress told them she would be back shortly and left, leaving everyone else at the table to either twiddle their proverbial thumbs or go back over the menu. As he looked around at his four female companions, Kaden couldn't help but wonder...

"Does anyone know what happened to that old guy? Oliver?"

"I was actually going to ask if you had... seen him," Sophia replied.

"Oh." Having grasped Sophia's meaning, Kaden ran a hand through his now-clean hair. "I hadn't thought about that." Kaden shrugged. "I might try after we eat. It probably works better on a full stomach anyway."

As the waitress returned with their drinks, small talk started to spring up between Ashe and Sage, which quickly spread to Sophia and Piper as well. Kaden was content to simply lean back and enjoy the company of anyone not trying to kill him. Shortly, though, his attention moved on to the glass that was set in front of him and the white liquid within. Reaching out, the courier took a sip.

"So what did you end up with?" Piper asked.

"Well... there's definitely rum. And coconut." Kaden took another sip. "Piña colada, I'm thinking."

Before leaving, the waitress took everyone's order and left them to their drinks and continued small talk. Kaden was amazed at how normal everything seemed. It wasn't like they were in any less danger or that Kai couldn't get to them where they were, but it didn't seem to matter. Of particular interest to Kaden were the way Piper and Sophia conducted themselves.

The first time Kaden had had any interaction with Piper had been back as Kai's mansion, at that wasn't really the best place to get a feel for someone. After that it had been one psychotic situation after another. Even in the case of Sophia, Kaden had met her the day after her temple had been attacked, half the people she knew had been killed, and her entire way of life had been thrown into chaos. Needless to say she probably hadn't been going through her usual motions.

"Maybe you ladies can help me out with something," Kaden began during a lull in the conversation. "You think we're lucky to have made it this far?"

"Well we're not dead," Ashe responded. Her tone of voice, though, gave the impression of general pondering rather than actually answering.

"But we're also still here," Piper countered, a sarcastic tone in her voice.

"Both good points..." Kaden mused. "So much for that I guess. Ok, how about this. A toast," Kaden picked up his glass and raised it. "To finding Kai and kicking that son of a bitch's ass."