short one as I'm running out the door to do something

Chores wound down for the day as the shadows got long in a small place like this one. Daisya had already spotted the gaggle of kids passing a ball back and forth between them as they hiked the approach. Beside him, Lavi had finally got quiet enough for him to hear himself think. The mid-spring wind would get chilly without a a jacket it on. Until then, Daisya was going to enjoy the feeling.

It only took ten minutes to close the gap between them and the first few houses of the village. Kanda groaned before he even did anything. Well, if he didn't want him to do it, he should stop him! It was stupid to sit around whining about it.

"Hey!" he called out as they passed the game. "Can I play with you guys?"

He ripped the Charity Bell off his hood and tossed it around between his feet to show what he meant.

Obviously, the reason Kanda groaned was that he'd done this before. Sometimes the little brats were too shy, but a lot of them had fun watching him do tricks. The rest of the time they just yelled at both of them and Daisya would yell back until Kanda dragged him away. It was kind of nostalgic.

This time, the kids just froze. All the different ages played together in this small of a village. There were a couple of girls older than the rest and one tall boy, then one or two from each age right down to the four-year-olds who were only just big enough not to fall over.

"I can show you some tricks. C'mon, look at this!"

Daisya bounced the Charity Bell from one foot, over his head, on to the heel of his other boot stretched out behind him, and then swung that foot forward to catch it again when it bounced back. There kids weren't scared of older ones showing up. They spent all day with their taller brothers, sisters, parents, whatever bustling around them.

When they all stared at him like that, he knew it wasn't because he was just a noisy stranger.

They were passing by now. Daisya just kept smiling as the girl around Lena's age just picked up the ball and walked off without saying a thing.

"Okay, see ya!" he called after them as the rest of the kids scattered.

He wrenched his eyes away from the retreating game back to the the dirt road into town. The old cloak of his hit him squarely in the side of his face.

"Thanks a lot, Kanda."

"You'll get cold."

"Not right away!"

Daisya pulled the cloak on over his head anyway, made eye contact with Kanda, made a face, and put the hood down. He knew he had another reason for it. Now they were here, they needed to find something to eat and call home.

"Are you going straight back to the Order?" asked Lavi, making him try not to jump out of his skin. He'd been so quiet there, Daisya thought he'd shocked him silent. Didn't sound like it. He just hadn't been expecting him to chime back in casually like that.

They got to the first building on the road, a stable with a few empty stalls and a lopsided sign reading "S able & ivery & Boa d NO MULES." Daisya turned his head staring at it as they went by. A couple of the boys and girls brushing the horses down stared back. Mostly they looked confused, so he waved. The old woman throwing straw all over the place with a pitchfork ignored him.

Daisya smiled. "Nah, I think I'll follow you guys. Where're you going again? Lee said he made you come here just because you were the closest."

"Beats me! Maybe Yuu made a special request," said Lavi, smiling back. What a brat. Did he realize how stupid he looked?

"Say that again. I'll kill you," Kanda growled. "Daisya-"

"Yeah, yeah, I see it. C'mon, let's get something to eat. I'm starving!"

The village pub was only two buildings down from the stable, its own wooden sign creaking in the wind. Daisya skipped on by the farrier's and the tiny post office up to the leaning two-storey building. There shouldn't be enough people coming through here for that many rooms, should there? Probably used to be a bigger postal route or something before the railways got built. He craned his neck all the way up, looking at the warm shadows that the sun cast on the worn plaster face of it. Two more old women were sitting in rocking chairs out front under a wooden awning, muttering something as they worked both ends of a quilt. Hah, that was something Daisya never thought about.

He wondered if he and Kanda could do Lenalee's hair like that. It wouldn't work, though! Kanda's braids were always too loose, she'd probably end up looking as weird as Daisya did. So then Lena'd have to help him braid Kanda's...

The old ladies didn't get quiet as he got there, just squinted at him hard and went back to their work. They'd seen way more than the kids. The last big war wasn't so far off that they'd forget it.

Daisya opened the pub door and held it out for Lavi, who thanked him like a sucker, and Kanda, who gave him a questioning look as he walked in. There were steps down to the floor and the ceiling was just as low as most of the really old buildings that were half-sunk into the ground, so Daisya bet this place had been around since the old wars. It felt kind of cool. Maybe somebody here could tell him if there were any big battles that happened.

"Aren't you supposed to make those in time for winter?" he thought out loud, switching to English. "Guess it's slow."

Kanda scoffed.

"What?" he asked.

"You don't think about timing," said Kanda.

"Huh? I don't make blankets."

"They're old," Kanda pointed out. "They can't do anything else."

Daisya mulled it over while they walked around a few tables filling up with more old people. Some of them turned and watched, some of them didn't. "D'you think they're bored?"

"Idiot."

"Hah! I get it! You know, you're smarter than you look."

"Shut up."

He didn't even have to dodge, since Kanda didn't try to shove him over. Daisya hummed contentedly as they crossed the room. They really were grown-up now, if Kanda had learned to control himself. Well. He could leave Daisya alone, but the other guy...

Lavi leaned over on the empty bar counter waiting for them, still grinning while Kanda rolled his eyes. Somewhere behind the bar, someone was making a racket with pots and pans.

"I haven't spent that long in this country. You guys can ask for the food," said Lavi.

"Yeah, mostly it's sausage," said Daisya. "Or stew." He planted his feet and shouted over the bar. "Hey! Can I get three suppers? And three beers!"

A tinny voice came out of the kitchen after bouncing back and forth between too many iron stovepipes. "Any-gah, scheisse!-any room?"

"No, just passing through!" Daisya shouted back over an almighty clang.

"Okay, okay, you pay up front!"

Daisya turned smugly back to Lavi and shrugged his shoulders. "See? I know this place back to front."

"Huh," said Lavi. The look he fixed Daisya with told him that he was holding back on the rest of what he wanted to say. Sooner or later, he'd have to get out it.

Hopping up on the high bench near the wall, Daisya patted the space beside him. Kanda stalked over, glaring like usual, and sat down obediently. They were getting three or four sidelong glances from the half-dozen people in here.

"Wanna play a game? I've got cards," said Daisya.

"We'd need a table for that," said Lavi, still leaning over the bar. He looked like he was reading the labels on the barrels underneath it.

"Nah, not if you don't peak."

"I'll pass," he said.

"Aw, come on," whined Daisya. "Fine. Kanda, you're dealing."

He set his bag down beside him and unfurled the opening, reaching one arm deep down to get the pack of nicotine-stained cards at the bottom that he took from some pub somewhere in Liverpool when they were there for a ferry. When he got them out, he didn't even have to hold them out before Kanda snatched them up and drummed them against the bench. It left some extra time for Daisya to find the star-embroidered coin purse that was Lenalee's present to him when he turned sixteen and got some extra budget allowance.

The cards made a satisfying sound as Kanda separated them into two piles. Daisya grabbed his before he finished dealing, spreading the cards in one hand and pulling his bag shut again with the other, purse shoved safely into a cloak pocket.

"You gave me all the bad cards," he said.

Kanda just clicked his tongue at him and pushed the rest of his hand over to him across the splintered bench seat. His own cards were neatly ordered with a millimetre between them. How he could play without seeing what he'd got, Daisya didn't know. He'd think he wasn't paying attention if Kanda didn't beat him half the time.

"Okay, okay," he grumbled.

Daisya picked up the rest of the cards. Fair enough, they were better than the first ones he saw.

He let his tongue stick out the side of his mouth while he sorted them all by suit and spun them right-side up. Most people thought they were the same either way, but you could tell by the wear on the edges which end was supposed to go where.

Glancing beside him, he could see Kanda staring at the cards, not him. He was putting some effort in while Lavi slacked off and ignored them. That thought put Daisya's heart on the heat like a kettle, simmering while he watched him until something Kanda did later tonight made him boil over. It was fun to guess what that'd be.

"Five of diamonds," he said to start off.

Daisya flicked the card down between them.

While Lavi wandered around the bar end of the room, Daisya managed to get through a few hands before their dinner was ready. The woman that came out of the kitchen slapped a couple of laden bowls on the countertop and froze when she saw Daisya hop up off the bench.

"I'm paying," he said cheerfully, rummaging around for some marks mixed in with the francs and lira. "Not that anybody else offered."

He held out a decent stack of small change to the lady behind the bar, shaking his hand a little so that she snapped out of it and got the picture. "Keep the change."

Instead of the goggling he expected to continue, he got a different reaction. The barkeep snatched a half-filled glass off the shelf below the bar and put it down between them. It was like she expected him to change if she looked at him through the water.

"Vinegar," the barkeep said. "For disease. You can eat outside."

Now it was Daisya's turn to step back in surprise. He sniffed, then bent down over the glass. It really was acid. Now that was smart, getting the coins clean first before he passed them on.

"Hey! That's smart! Lavi, d'you hear that?"

"Hm?" the other guy said.

"Hurry up," said Kanda from behind Daisya. Geez, all right, blame him for trying to make this more fun.

"Don't worry, lady, you can't catch whatever I've got," Daisya said, and dropped the coins into the glass. "Thanks for the food."

He kept on a sunny grin as the barkeep nodded and stumped back to the kitchen-he didn't notice before that she had part of a peg leg, so maybe she was older than she looked-and took his bowl of standard backwater soup.

"So," he said to nobody in particular. "Should we ask for some spoons?"

Then Daisya turned to Lavi and added some teeth to his smile. "Maybe it's better if you do. Kanda's not much of a charmer."

...

Lavi did get them some spoons. The three of them ate sitting on the porch sitting off to the side of the two old grandmothers. It was nice to watch the sun dim over the tops of the trees. The dust kicked up by the spring winds turned golden, and when he'd eaten everything, Daisya finished the last round of cards with Kanda.

the thought occurred to me: Daisya is functionally a leper