Mana stood up from the bar stool as her eyes stared at the door. The tavern didn't seem very busy at all today! She lifted a hand and pushed up her sunglasses a bit. Mana enjoyed cooking and cleaning so much so that's why she decided to work at the tavern. She could do both! The demon was teased by others about her habits. She couldn't help what she loved to do. "I wonder if not many people are traveling today." Mana closed her eyes before she pulled her sunglasses off and wiped them off with her dress. Once her sunglasses were back on her face she opened her eyes again. Since she was a bat demon her eyes were sensitive to the light. If she opened them during the daytime or with a light near her she would go blind! Mana's eyes were completely white so most people assume she was blind anyway.

Mana moved over to one of the tables close to her before she started cleaning. She had to do something to pass the time. She sighed to herself until she heard soft but quick footsteps. A smile appeared on her face before she turned around, holding out her arms. "Hi Meilou~"

Meilou giggled and jumped into Mana's arms. "Hi~" Her nose twitched as the woman set her down. "Mommy and I came to visit! Did you cook yummy things?" Her ears perked as she bounced from foot to foot.

"Of course Mei-Chan~ You know I always have yummy food for my favorite little girl~"

Kayko walked through the door a few minutes after her daughter. "Just what I was hoping you'd say." The demon grinned. "We're starving, aren't we, Meilou?"

"Yeah!" Meilou beamed.

The front door to the tavern swung open and a large metal humanoid stepped though. "Ah yes." His voice was loud but didn't really seem to come from anywhere in particular on his body. "This looks like a perfect place for you two to rest."

A boy that could not be more than 2 feet tall walked in behind him. "Yeah this'll have to do." He looked around. "It's dead in here though...maybe the food is gross?"

A young, normal hieght boy hits the short one over the head with a book. "Shush, that's rude. And Windup keep your voice down." He shook his head. "Remember what we said about inside voices?"

"Ah yes, sorry Master Takumi" The machine said, bowing.

When the door opened again Mana looked up from Meilou with a smile on her face. "Welcome! Please take a seat anywhere you wish. I will be right over with menus!" Mana quickly made her way into the kitchen.

Meilou peeked over a table, staring at the three that just walked in. They all smelled kinda funny but the big robot thing looked cool! She then moved away from the table and followed her mother over to another table and climbed up into a chair and sat across from her mother. Meilou swung her feet on the chair, humming no real tune.

Kayko's ears twitched, listening to the three of them. The food, bad? Please. Mana's food was the greatest thing ever..but she figured they'd find that out shortly..and she promised Mana she wouldn't yell at guests anymore. Her nose picked up the scent of the three of them. Ugh. They certainly had been traveling, haven't they? She shook her head, turning her attention to her daughter, smiling.

Mana came out of the kitchen a few minutes later with a pile of menus in her arms. She handed two to Kayko and Meilou before she moved over to the three guests and held out the menus. "Please take your time in ordering. My name is Mana if you need anything."

Windup stood next to the table and nodded to Mana. "ah thank you Miss!" He said, opening the menu and starting to thumb through it. His workings giving off a rhythmic ticking with each movement.

"Dude what?" Shush, said, looking up at Windup. "Why are you even looking at that? You can't even eat...can you?" He turned to Takumi. "Can he? He can't right? I mean...I've never seen him eat but it's not like I'm watching him all the time so I suppose it's possible that he-"

Takumi shook his head again and opened the menu. He knew that quicklings couldn't help this kind of hyperactivity but it was still annoying. He reached up to take off his hat but his nose caught a familiar scent. He looked at the woman at the other table, deciding to keep his hat on.

"You're welcome." Mana bowed for a moment, turning to walk over to Kayko and her daughter seeing as they were quick to decide.

Kayko shifted her gaze back over to the guests for a moment. Her nose twitched before she mumbled quietly to herself. "I smell a cat."

"Did you two decide on what you would like?"

"Chocolate milk~!"

"And for food?"

"...Cake?"

"Meilou."

"Ham?"

"Ham is a good choice."

Takumi's ears twitched under the hat, that line had basically confirmed it. That woman was a dog. He sunk deeper into his seat, hoping she wouldn't peg him out.

"Master Takumi?" Windup steped to the other side of the table, setting the menu down. "Are you quite alright? Perhaps we have been travel for too long?"

"And for THAT matter what about sleeping? Does he just sit there staring at us every night while we're asleep? Cause I know he dosen't sleep! He can't even sleep! And I don't like the idea of that one bit. Or what if he walks away? That's even worse he could just be abandoning us in the woods while he wanders off to do god knows what! Shush was cut off by his stomach growling. "OH...right...Hey lady! I'm ready to order!"

When Mana heard one of them call her she turned with a smile. "I'll be right there." Turning back to Kayko she smiled. "What would you like, Kayko?"

"Steak. Really rare."

"Alright." Mana turned and made her way back over to the three guests. "What can I get for you, gentlemen?" She adjusted her sunglasses a little.

"Nothing for me, thank you." Windup said, handing the menu back to her.

"Uhm..just some water for me...oh and maybe one of these pastries." Takumi said pointing to the menu.

"Coffee for me, black, no cream no sugar." Shush said, standing up on his seat so he could reach Mana to hand the menu back.

Mana nodded, taking the menu from Windup. It wasn't hard to figure out he probably didn't eat. She turned to Takumi and smiled. "Water and a pastry. Got it." When she took the menu from Shush she blinked. "Just coffee? You aren't hungry or anything?" He seemed so tiny. She left like he should eat something at least. "Well if you change your mind, let me know, ok?" She put the menus in a pile before she returned to the kitchen.

Kayko tapped her clawed fingers on the table, watching her daughter climb down off her chair.

Meilou ran over to a window in the wall and peeked over it, watching Mana work in the kitchen. Her tail wagged as she watched happily, enjoying the singing coming from the back room.

Shush plopped back down into his chair, looking over at Takumi. "What's the matter man? You look like something's buggin you."

"I'm afraid I must agree with Master Shush, Something has been bothering you since we walked in here. You haven't even taken your hat off." Windup said, reaching for Takumi's hat.

Takumi moved away from Windup's hand. "You still have your hat on too."

"You know why I choose to leave mine on, but it is improper for a young man to wear a hat at the table." Windup moved faster this time and suddenly had the hat off of Takumi's head.

Takumi blinked as he realized his ears were visible. The cat ears flicked nervously around before Takumi covered them. "Windup! What the hell?!" He hissed.

Kayko raised her eyebrow, watching the three of them. They weren't exactly dangerous but they were certainly weird. When they started arguing about hats, Kayko rubbed her forehead and sighed. She kept thinking about the promise she made to Mana not to hurt guests.

A loud sigh escaped her lips before she let her hands fall on the table, shifting her gaze over to the three of them. "You know..if you're trying to hide that fact that you're a cat..the way you're going about it won't work for demons like me. Mana probably knows too. That way might work for humans but we're not as dumb as them. My sense of smell doesn't let anything hide from me." Kayko snickered. "No point in hiding, kitty cat."

Mana exited the kitchen again, balancing two trays in her arms. She walked over to Kayko and set the tray down with their food.

"Yay food!" Meilou ran over and climbed back up into the chair.

Mana carried the other tray over to the three guests and set it on the table. She handed Shush his coffee and Takumi his pastry and water. "Is there anything else I can get you gentlemen?"

"Is that the reason you kept your hat on? That is a most foolish reason Master Takumi."

"You can't blame me for being cautious...you know how I feel about dogs Windup..." He tossed his hat and cloak onto the back of the chair, exposing the rest of his cat features. His tail swished behind him, showing his irritation.

"Nah we don't need anything else" Shush said, picking up the coffee mug with both hands an downing the whole thing in a series of quick gulps. "Mmmm...perfect." He sighed and giggled as he began to flicker in and out of sight."

"Not a huge fan of cats either, buddy.."

"Kayko."

"Tsk."

Mana cleared her throat. "Will you be needing a room for tonight? It will get dark here soon and it's dangerous to travel at night. I can set you up with some rooms.." Mana always got nervous if guests wanted to travel at night. Usually people couldn't see as well as she could at night! There were bandit camps outside of town sometimes too. Though some were brave enough to venture in town sometimes.

Meilou pushed a chair next to Windup and climbed up onto it to stare up at him. "Are you a robot? Can you fly? Do you have lasers?" Her ears twitched. "You make lotsa noises." She leaned closer and sniffed him a little. "I never met a robot!"