Tea for Two

Disclaimer: Namco and Klonoa Works own the Klonoa characters, not me.

Kero: Two lumps or three?

Lolo: Ur, none.

Joka: One please.

Kero: (Smack.)

Joka: Ow?!

Lolo: Oldest joke in the book…

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Three: Books and Frying Pans

Tick. Tick. Tick.

He looked up at the clock, still standing inside his rescuer's room. Its little hand hung slightly over a pink number. Nine o'clock and the rain still hammered against the windows. Not that the weather was a problem for the fiend. He knew he could easily teleport back to his home, but it would have been rude to leave her waiting. Then again, the alcohol was wearing off and he didn't really –appreciate-the odd way she was treating him. Yet he still couldn't make up his mind whether to hop down the stairs or just go. A sudden clatter downstairs convinced Joka to stay.

When he arrived, he found the girl sitting on the floor, rubbing her forehead—a coffee pot in one hand and a few pans scattered around her. She muttered something before standing up, catching sight of the clown.

"Oh." A small tint of red on her cheeks, "Sorry. The coffee isn't ready yet." Her eyes shifted to the mess on the floor.

"I think I'll have tea instead."

She stared at him again, this time for a good half minute before responding, "Oh, right. Well, if you'd like."

"That's what I said, priestess." He made his way over to the chair at a small dining table in the middle of the room. And after spending two minutes of struggling to situate in it, he folded his hands together, only to find that he was too short to see past the table's side. Sighing, he left it and started wandering around the room, ignoring the priestess that now stood silently by the stove. Until she started to giggle which earned her a scornful look.

Lolo covered her mouth and turned back to the whistling the pot. She concluded that she wasn't laughing necessarily at him, but it certainly came off that way. It was just because of the uneasy feeling she kept feeling around him. Now it was a bit scary with her back turned to the fiend, so she peeked at him to find him watching her; sitting on top of a few books, hands folded and waiting patiently. This made her blush and in a failed attempt to grab the object she caught the teapot's side accidentally. And somehow Joka already knew this would happen. In fact, during the time he was wandering around he was actually noting everything in the room that the girl could hurt her with. "Don't move, or have you forgotten those pans you left on the floor!"

His warning came too late and she took a step in reaction to the burn on her fingers. She slipped. The pan sliding under her foot. "Ah?!"

Lolo flinched and stumbled backwards.

There was nothing.

She opened her eyes again when she felt something push against her back. Tilting her head to the side, she could see Joka holding her up from behind. She gasped and stood up straight, guessing he had teleported to the counter. "Urm…" However, she hadn't expected him to help her and all she could do in return was stutter. "Tha-Thank you…"

"You are welcome." His voice was a little flat, but became more curious. "Is there something more you would like to say?"

Lolo nodded numbly, looking back to her hands that fumbled with the hem of her uniform. "……I'm sorry for the way I have been acting."

If he had shoulders he would have shrugged, "I do not think you were being rude. I was, however, a bit surprised, but I suppose a priestess' duty is to help those in need." He looked back at the teapot. "I am quite fine now. Would you like me to leave?"

"It's not that…it's just that you have a bounty on your head, Ur…form…person…" She tried again, "and you're in my house, and you've—"

"Hurt your friends, thus making me hard to trust."

They still didn't look at each other.

Lolo sighed, closing her eyes. "Why are you so polite, Joka?"

"How?"

"Why."

The fiend frowned. "You are prying, dear heart."

The priestess lowered her head. "I'm not trying to…there's nothing to talk about…" Lolo then bit her lip, not fond of the labels he kept replacing her name with. "And my name is Lolo, remember?"

She shifted to look at him.

Joka took the pot into his hands and started to arrange some cups hanging against a wall beside the counter. Lolo immediately took a step backwards when his hand glided past her. He could tell she was hiding something, and whatever it was, it seemed to scare her. "Is that something you've noticed about me? Well…there is no point in being rude when it accomplishes nothing." He continued to watch the tea as he poured. "If I got angry and started doing everything I pleased then there is nothing to be gained. Minor setbacks would displease my master."

"Master…?"

"People always say to be themselves…who is the real person that they hide? After all, restrain is an important part of life." He held out a cup for her. "You are no different from me."

Lolo appeared surprised by his comment; staring for a second time, and found the clown grinning at her. She said nothing until she took the porcelain cup into her hands, and whispered. "Then why did you drink it?"

He jolted.

"Why did you steal Mr. Janga's alcohol and then drink it? Were you trying to make him angry at you?" There was some sort of accusation in her voice that really irritated the clown. "They say that alcohol is a form of escape from reality. Aren't you happy?"

"You offend me." And this time there was something in his voice that Lolo never heard before. "Are you not frightened by me?"

"Yes. Very."

Joka hopped down from the counter and paced a bit. "Then what is the meaning of this? You take me in so that you can shove your self-righteous nonsense upon me?" He lowered his voice, "You speak so much sweeter around that High Priestess. Perhaps this is vent up rage that is produced from the bullying at your temple?"

There was shock that quickly erupted into anger, "The High Priestess of Sadness is like a mother to me! And how did you know that I was being picked on?!"

"Nohoho, my sweet. I'm afraid plenty of people know! Your friends, Janga-chan, Garlen-san, why even Nagapoko knows!"

"You're being really rude today!"

"A fragment of your imagination; there is no harm in stating the truth. Like how you are unbelievably immature."

"Is that so? I'm a lot more mature than other girl's my age!"

He laughed even more, "Oh, then you must be six years old, my dear!"

"Coward!"

"Teacher's pet!"

"Stalker!"

"What?! That title is reserved for Janga-chan!!"

Lolo had long forgotten about tea; instead she didn't even notice that she had dropped her cup to the floor. Joka watched her with what looked like surprise by her sudden change from docile to violent as she stormed to the chair and ripped off one of the books, throwing it straight into the clown's face. "Get out of my house!"

Wincing from the impact, he pried the book off his face and tossed it onto the floor, glowering, "Done! And I hope we shall never meet again unless I get to hurt you!"

Still remembering some manners he bowed and teleported away, leaving Lolo who headed the opposite direction to her room, slamming the door.

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Kero Guardian: Good grief, don't kill each other.

Joka/Lolo: (Back to each other.) Humph!

Kero Guardian: Hug and make up.

Joka: Pity, I have no arms.

Kero Guardian: (To Lolo.) Then you'd better settle for a kiss.

Lolo: Absolutely not!