Kite smiles almost shyly, "i'm the best i've ever been. That is, as they say, the problem, hmm? In many ways, being properly insane was so much easier than this...thisness. Still, no Path but forward, right? Going back doesn't exist, it's only forward in a different direction. It's like, stuff has to move in order to grow, right?"

The shy smile became a grin as the elevator opened, "Right now i think forward leads to crepes. Come on!" Kite attempted to take Kanoe's hand and scamper giddily from the elevator and out into the night towards the minimall, whether this resulted in anything other than a sore armpit and being brought up short was entirely upon Kanoe's willingness to be dragged along.

Kite did not really answer the question beyond mentioning she was feeling fine. The rest did not make any sense to the witch at all. Before she could ask again, the elevator opened and the woman immediately snatched Kanoe's hand. "H-Hey!" But it was too late and Kite was racing out with her arm in hand. It was either follow or let her arm get painfully yanked. The raven haired woman half followed and half was dragged by Kite towards apparently some place that served French pastries among other things. "Slow down! You do not need to rush." Kanoe called out.

Kite did not slow down at first, giggling a little, "Oh, but we do! Not for much longer, though!" Another thirty, maybe fourty feet and she slowed down, letting Kanoe catch her breath, still grinning, "Now we're clear. Inside 150 feet or so of the dorms is a pretty common attack area, they like the false hope of proximity to the imagined safety of the dorms and fellow students. Unless you're in a large group where at least half don't know what's under this place's skin, best to cross that at speed, especially after dark. Some of the dumber ones might even think you're already being chased if you're running. Stupidheads."

Kite giggled again at this, letting go of Kanoe's hand in order to stretch both arms above her head while walking towards the minimall.

The short run was not an issue for the dark witch. As she mentioned before, she does swim and run to keep up her endurance. Kite seemed amused with herself as they slowed to a walk once more. Still using that cheerful tone, the student showed her experience by revealing details about high chance zones where monster attacks may happen along with a method of detering said attacks. "Makes... sense..." Kanoe replied slowly though she hoped no creatures heard Kite's insult. Goading them was perhaps not a wise thing to do when evading possible attacks.

Kanoe moved up to walk alongside Kite as they continued their short journey to the minimall. Though it was later in the afternoon, the minimall was generally open majority of the day and most of the evening. It was very much possible to get dinner from this place if necessary along with some essentials. The automatic doors slid open as they approached and they were finally inside the air conditioned building. "So someplace here has crepes? Did not think the minimall went for french deserts." The witch said calmly.

Kite strode confidently forward into the minimall, still looking really far too pleased with herself. "None of the dessert places, no, but the all-day breakfast place does! It's not on the menu, but i was asking their cook for pointers, and you know how the staff in here tend to be perpetually almost mechanical? Well, when i asked her for pointers she lit up and got, well, alive! i still can't make a crepe to save my life, but hers are -glorious-."

Kite drops her voice to a whisper, "Pretty sure at least some of the staff here are graduates instead of automatons, can't blame 'em for not wanting to get attached to those of us just passing through when they're stuck."

Certainly 'the pancake shack' did not have the sort of reputation to suggest validity of Kite's statements, so the question then became one of whether Kanoe would assume it another aspect of Kite's insanity, or if it were one of the island's technically benign secrets Kite had discovered.

Kanoe could not help but think Kite was showing off at this point in showing how much she knows. Rather odd telling the woman went through the effort of telling her she would not to avoid endangering the dark witch. She still did not really understand it all, claiming that some of the merchants here were actually machines. She never really came here too often so it could be true. Should they really be eating anything made by robots working for the school? It should not matter. If she really wanted to be that paranoid, she would have to refuse eating anything from this bloody island.

Still, there was the matter of the graduates being supposedly 'stuck' on the island. Speaking of graduation, was this place really going to just let her go after she finishes her degree? She found it hard to believe for many reasons. The witch was bound to remain here as leaving would be the end of her most likely.

Kanoe had given up questioning anything Kite said at this point. Either the woman gave a response that does not answer anything or she gets an answer that only creates more questions she did not wish to ask. The witch had already let this crazy woman lead her here. Even if the crepes are not here, she was certain the woman would find something to offer her whether it be from this pancake shack or elsewhere. She continued to follow Kite to the counter and waited for the woman to order, most likely for both of them.

Kite led the way in, ignoring the person at the counter and waving at the woman in the kitchen, "Hi Misha! i'm back again!"

The woman who was evidently Misha had her light brown hair tucked up under a hairnet, and what was visible from outside the kitchen she seemed to be wearing a white shirt under a white apron, both starched within an inch of their lives, with the collar of the shirt turned up to completely cover the woman's neck. "Again?" her voice sounded amused, but her eyes looked emotionless, almost dead, "At this rate you'll end up with diabetes you know. And you've brought a friend?"

Kite paused, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "You might be right... i should probably cut back. Or... try to invent an artificial pancreas! We'll go with that one! Usual for me!" Kite turned to Kanoe speculatively, "What would you like to get? i'm thinking you'd probably get the most out of something with a lot of tart to it, like passionfruit, mango, and custard, but... well, you wouldn't BELIEVE how much stuff Misha's got back there. i don't."

Kanoe could only assume that Kite was allowed to just go into the backroom like this and followed the woman. The graduate or staff member working back there seemed rather normal the witch, maybe a bit tired in the eyes. She did recognize the look and it may be due to the island, it certainly would not surprise her. Still, the woman spoke normally at least and did not sound like a robot. The witch remained quiet as the two banter for a bit before Kite made her order.

When it came to her turn, the witch had no clue what to get. They were in the backroom so there were no menus or anything to look at. "You brought me here to help relieve stress, feel free to order what you think is best for me," the witch passed the decision to Kite. Not being allergic to anything and this being a pastry sort of shop, Kanoe could at least assume what she will get is edible. Whether it will actually help relieve stress and tension, well she will just have to wait and find out.

Misha nods, "Mango-Pash it is, then. I'm guessing from your tone you've noticed she changes her mind almost as often as a charging rhino."

"A comittee of charging rhinos," Kite agreed shamelessly.

"So, you two go find some seats and they'll be out in a few minutes. Just finishing a catering order for a party someone's throwing in building C. What kind of party involves 170 ham and cheese omelettes, I don't know, and I'm sure I don't want to. Now outta my kithen, since you're not here to learn today."

Once shooed from the kitchen, Kite led the way to one of the smallish booths in the back corner away from the door. "Been coming here a lot the last month or so. Good balance. Not as isolated as staying in my dorm, not as ridiculously noisy as trying to work in the common room. Can get a lot of work done, and the sugar doesn't hurt."

Misha was normal enough to notice Kite's random mind at least. The witch could certainly agree with the comment, it made Kite difficult to keep up with in conversation. But that was about it with their moment with Misha as she was already ordering them to leave the kitchen for obvious reasons. Kaneo could only guess that she was having what Kite was having, whatever Mango-Pash was. From the name, it obviously involved fruit in some form or fashion.

Kanoe smoothed her short skirt before sitting down across from Kite. The woman began revealing a bit about herself in small talk which was thankfully easy to follow. "Working out in the open has its benefits," Kanoe replied, "My work would not do well out here though. The last thing I need is people wondering what I am reading or translating. From what you said to that woman and what you have spoken a bit back in the room, you make pieces of technology I'm guessing?"

Kite nods, wriggling some to get comfy in the booth, "Mostly i do math, but then i need tools that don't exist, so i study electronics to go invent the tools, and then it needs metalworking and welding and soldering, so i do a bit of everything, really." As she spoke, Kite's head bobbed back and forth with each phrase, and then Kite pauses, deep in contemplation, before adding, "Except singing. i don't sing. And i don't build any exohematotics anymore." Saying this, Kite's fingertips go to her upper lip, probing briefly, and then she grins again, "Ha! i can say that one! Too weird a synonym for them to recognize it!"

After a few minutes, the woman who'd been at the counter brings over the food. Rather than with cutlery, each plate has a stand on it holding up the crepes which have been rolled into cones and wrapped in paper to lift them by. Kanoe's was easily recognizable, looking in, one could see large chunks of mango and copious passionfruit glued together with a minimal amount of dark chocolate custard, announced by the server drily as "One Mango-Pash," followed by "And one Pancreatic Shock." The contents would be difficult to discern by eye save that it was nearly overflowing with whipped cream and covered in sprinkles, and that Kite was all too eager to grab it in both hands and start licking the sprinkles out of the whipped cream one by one.

"What?" Kanoe was again confused by the random things that come from Kite's mouth. Apparently exohematotics was a synonym though she had no clue to what. The student did like talking about herself though. This was probably best as Kanoe had little care of talking about herself and what she did with her time. The other woman could probably guess in anycase.

Food or rather desert arrived rather quickly. Both pastries were things she did not really recognize. The witch knew what a crepe was but that about it. She never seen them be wrapped as cone before. It did look good enough to eat for certain though Kite's choice of food looked more like a giant mound of whipped cream and sprinkles rather than anything coherent. The witch grabbed her food by the paper. There were no utensils so she had no choice but to lick the pieces of fruit and eat them individually. It tasted sweet and it did wake up the taste buds in her mouth. "It tastes good," she said quietly.

Despite her catlike method of eating it, Kite made quick work of the whipped cream, revealing the icecream and fudge and brownie chunks beneath. It was no great surprise why it had arrived under the label of 'Pancreatic Shock.' Whether or not she was aware of the flecks of cream smearing her cheeks was an open question, her only response to Kanoe's admission was a triumphant smile, and sticking her face back into the crepe, licking at the icecream while starting to tear away some of the paper, delighted eyes staring at Kanoe over the top of both their food before taking a large chomp of crepe and contents alike, which burst the tip to dribble all over the plate.

She was definitely aware of the mess she was making, albeit a carefully contained one, and revelling in the chidlishness of it. It was definitely a food designed as the enemy of the fastidious. The question was what Kanoe would do, whether or not she would let herself enjoy it....

No matter how good the food was, there were certain habits that were hard to break. Habit was not the right word. Training would be a better term. Already being trained as a servant and slave, Kanoe was very concious of posture and etiquette. She was not going to be a messy eater. That was not to say she did not like the food. The witch was just not one to go wild and get excited about such things as enjoyable food. She nibbled on the crepe, eating nowhere near as quickly as the other student. Kite did look very pleased with herself as she gorged herself on the mass of fudged and whipped cream. She looked more like a child than a scarred veteran of the school at this point.

Unsurprisingly, Kite finished hers rather quickly, her only deference to traditional ettiquite being a fistful of napkins to wipe down her hands and face, and a little of the table surrounding her plate, before leaning back in the over-plush booth with a contented sigh. Technically, her manners were exceptionally good for someone who grew up feral, not that such information was particularly advertised, but anyone with access to the real student records as opposed to the public ones would know about it.

"Mnnngh... oh, i needed that." Kite's voice was quiet, not quite a whisper, but certainly not audible beyond the booth save to the plethora of surveilance devices. But then, every student was watched by several at once at all times... even while conducting experiments on technomantic fusion of magic and electronics in a cave under a waterfall. "We may all be doomed, but there's nothing like good food as a reminder that here and now, we're still alive."