II: Introductions x And x Magic

January 3, 1999

"You two have the same name? That's dumb. Why the hell would you give your cat the same name as yourself, huh?" A rumbling voice asks.

"Because I like that name," Levi replies, matter-of-factly.

The speaker rolls his eyes in response. Slicked-back blonde hair and a tracksuit, with hairless brows knitted together in a seemingly permanent scowl—he doesn't appear to be the welcoming type.

"Hey!" The samurai pipes up, "How about we start serial-wise? I'll go first of course. I'm Nobunaga, kiddo. Nice to meet you!"

"Feitan." Tall collar with a skull on it, black piercing eyes, and contrasting pale skin—the definition of eerie.

"Machi." Light blue eyes, rivaling Levi's, and a nonchalant face—intimidating yet approachable.

"Hisoka~" Dressed in the oddest of clothes, makeup on his face, and glittering golden eyes—scary but inviting.

"Phinks." An irritated face—yet not a hint of bloodlust.

"Shalnark!" Another set of rivaling blue eyes; a cheerful demeanor unlike the others, with a beaming smile on his face—sweet and likeable.

"Franklin." A heavy build, with multiple scars on his face—he sounds much gentler now, his bloodlust gone.

"Shizuku." A soft innocent voice, accompanied by the shifting of glasses—she seems friendly enough.

"Pakunoda." A tall imposing woman—her kind smile is comforting.

"Uvogin!" A very loud and intimidating mountain— somehow still passes off as good-natured.

"Kortopi." Only slightly taller than Levi, long hair covering the entirety of his face except a single big eye—strange but not unnerving.

"Okay, so..." Levi starts counting on his fingers, "... Nobu-san, Fei-san, Machi-san, Hiso-san, Phink-san, Shal-san, Franklin-san, Shizu-san, Paku-san, Uvo-san, and Kotorpi-- sorry, Kortorpi-- I mean, Kopro--"

"Kortopi." Nobunaga helpfully says with an amused smile.

"Right, Kortopi-san! And... if Chrollo-san is added too then... but that still only makes twelve... am I missing anyone..." Levi mumbles to himself.

"You're missing yourself." Franklin points out.

"Oh." A small flush creeps up his cheeks, his pale skin an easy victim to blushing.

An awkward silence reigns.

"So..." He glances in Chrollo's direction, "Uhm... what now?"

Chrollo, in turn, gives him a warm smile before eyeing the other troupe members.

Right... I'm supposed to... interact with them now...

His stomach rolls as he returns the stares of the other Spiders.

Finally, Shalnark sighs. "We were playing two truths and a lie earlier, shouldn't we continue? It will be more challenging with a new member, and--" He claps his hands together once with a big smile, "--we'll get to know each other better through it too!"

A murmur of agreement runs throughout the room, Shalnark's smile getting wider with every new player.

"What about you, Levi?" He asks, once him, Phinks, Uvogin, Nobunaga, Machi, and Franklin are seated closer to each other; the others interested only in acting as the audience.

Levi lets the cat out of his lap-- it busying itself in finding a good spot to sleep in-- and sits down on a crate next to Machi.

The game commences, providing Levi with a variety of interesting but mostly useless pieces of information-- Machi is allergic to contact lenses, Uvogin took a total of only seven seconds to name his ability (hence the lack of creativity), Nobunaga only uses swords made by a certain swordsmith, Shalnark dyed his hair black once (was so terrible he immediately washed it out), Phinks is absolutely convinced that his name is the hardest to say in the troupe (a surprisingly controversial topic), and Franklin got the temporary scars on his face from a friendly sparring match against Nobunaga that ended up being too competitive (although he doesn't mind).

Levi really isn't sure what to make of them. They are incredibly strong and intimidating, yet don a completely different type of personality when together. They still usually end up fighting when the teasing gets too far but...

"Levi, it's your turn now." Uvogin nudges him with an excited grin, nearly toppling him over even with that miniscule force.

Levi gulps, unsure. They deliberately saved him for last but he completely forgot that he was getting his chance soon too.

He stumbles over his words before managing to make something up. "Uh... I'm allergic to peanut butter, I dyed my hair blue, and... I'm a transmuter?"

"Easy!" Nobunaga smirks. "It's the last one."

The others nod or shrug in approval.

Levi blinks. How?

"It was the... second one. This is my natural hair colour."

Side-looks are shared before half of them break into a chuckle.

"Good one." Machi, the only one not laughing except Franklin, sighs. The one time she didn't listen to her intuition.

That night, they eat at a fancy barbecue restaurant, killing the hosts as payment.

As the troupe settles down for the night, Levi smiles, feeling them warming up to him and vice-versa, no more threatening auras being thrown around... at least not at him, with Franklin and Uvogin fighting over something.

From his claimed spot in a relatively quiet corner, he's the closest to the jester... right, Hisoka-san.

His queer appearance doesn't bother him, but rather that his behavior is quite different from the rest of the Spiders. He doesn't usually interact with them, his sights, at most, only set to a select few including Chrollo... and not excluding--

"Levi? That's your name, isn't it?" The jester grins, looking thoroughly amused with catching him off guard.

Levi nods.

"A pretty name, indeed." He beckons him closer, with a card fixing itself into the concrete floor next to him.

Levi obeys, finding no reason not to. He scares him a little but he's sure that he means him no harm, after all he's a Spider and Levi is now one of them.

If anything, he seems charming, quite inviting. Perhaps, he's only shy... he could be a recent member too?

Levi tilts his head to the side, admiring his aura. Despite holding a neutral-- almost lazy-- expression now, he's still very much on guard. He wonders if he can ever be like that.

Just as another amused smile stretches over the jester's lips, Levi feels eyes boring into his back. Turning around, he finds Chrollo looking at them with an unreadable expression.

He turns back to Hisoka for an answer. The man seems to understand the look as he finally retracts his small bloodlust.

Levi feels the atmosphere getting lighter, a previously unknown weight being removed from his chest. While hours go by like nothing with the other Spiders, time appears to slow down around him.

Hisoka leans forward, crossing his legs, he places a hand under his chin. With a fox's smile fixed on his face, he asks. "Do you like magic tricks, boy?"

Levi perks up. "Magic tricks? Isn't Magic just another name for Nen?"

"Hmm..." Hisoka pretends to think, before answering. "No. Nen has boundaries, while Magic doesn't."

"Huh? Isn't that impossible? Everything has boundaries, right?"

"Not Magic. That's what's special about it."

Levi lets out a soft gasp. His eyes sparkle with excitement, further widening the smile on Hisoka's face. He really does adore an eager audience.

He takes out a fresh deck of cards from his pocket and hands it to the boy. "Examine it as much as you want to. Check whether it's conjured or not."

After using Gyo and playing around with it a bit, Levi returns the deck to him.

"Hm... let's take one card and--" He places a card face-down on the ground, "--put it right here... Now, say the name of a card-- any card will do."

"Uh... the queen of hearts?"

Hisoka's grin turns into a chuckle as he observes Levi's awe filled face when he shows the boy the pattern on the card from the ground.

"How did you- how could you have- but I- there's no way that you knew which card I was gonna say beforehand!"

"Magic." Hisoka replies as he shuffles the cards and pockets them back again.

Levi giggles.

Meow!

"Oh hey, Levi." Levi pets the cat on his lap.

Hisoka suddenly looks bored again, golden eyes scrutinizing the interrupter. "Lev, it's quite late now. You should go to sleep."

"Oh, right. Thanks a lot for that magic trick, Hiso-san! Good night!" Levi beams and turns away to settle himself and his cat down.

"Good night."

January 4, 1999

Violent meowing and a strange sensation in his arms wakes Levi up. A ball of fur jumps onto his face at his slightest response.

"Levi? What?"

Maoww!

"Hey! You sleep like a log too!"

MaoWoww!

"Fine. Fine. I'm getting up." He gently puts Levi beside him, the cat still lividly meowing.

"Are you talking to your cat?" A puzzled voice laced with amusement asks.

"I am, Paku-san-- Levi, shut up!-- don't worry about it. He's just hungr-- hey! Just wait a minute, will ya-- right, sorry about that!"

Uvogin comes forward with a big grin and twinkling eyes and picks the cat up by the scruff of its neck.

"There! Simple as that. It won't bother you again," He proudly declares.

"Thanks, Uvo-san," Levi absentmindedly mumbles as he searches around for something.

"The hell you lookin' for, kid?" He asks, blatantly ignoring the cat violently meowing and scratching at his wrists.

"My bag. It has cat food in it." Levi scrunches his nose. "Hey! What do you mean I-- ohh!"

Uvogin blinks. Maybe Levi's nen ability is related to animals? That could be the reason he can talk to the cat. But, what kind of transmutation ability could it be?

Levi groans as he gets up.

"Good morning, Chrollo-san!" He whines, "I forgot my bag in an airship. Can I go get it?"

"Good morning, Levi. Did your bag contain anything important, as in irreplaceable? " Chrollo answers as he noiselessly flips a page in the book on his lap, his eyes never leaving it.

"Huh? Hm... not really..."

"Then I suggest you don't bother yourself with the bag. Machi and Paku were planning to go shopping today. I'm sure some of the others will be going too. You can go with them." Chrollo says, flipping another page (he sure reads fast!).

"Oh. Okay! If they don't mind!"

[A/N: Despite my exams still going on, I couldn't help but add another chapter. I'm basically restarting my story, changing many things. I hope it's better than my first attempt. I plan to keep it light-hearted for a while as I realised I really enjoy writing bonding moments and missed out on many opportunities on my first try. Thank you.]