Kai shows up like a stray cat, i.e. whenever he feels like it. He's brought tea and quality chocolates, though. The benefit of spending Loki's money like it's burning a hole in his pocket. Luckily, he's caught the Sorcerer Supreme at home. He sits in the chair he usually occupies, holding a cuppa in his hand. "And that's when I realized I can and will eat my weight in cocktail shrimp given half a chance. More if driven by revenge."
There's a rolling laugh from Strange, not at all indulgent by tone.
"I used to have a colleague with that attitude in regards to buffets. I could track his table by the plates of discarded shrimp tails." He sips at his tea, brewed from the blend brought as present, and glances aside at the chocolates. "Wanda will appreciate the candies, Kai, thank you for your kindness. Would that I could partake, but alas — more for her." He grins again.
Kai inclines his head and says, "It's my pleasure. The lady of the household should always be given due respect." Because Kai is usually so hung up on what's appropriate. Maybe he's turning over a new leaf. He grins, then sighs wistfully. "If they didn't want me eating all their shrimp, they shouldn't have put it out where I could get at it. I don't share with bad people, either. Bad people don't deserve anything but empty cocktail sauce dishes and disappointment."
The Sorcerer snorts, the sound half-muffled into his cup of tea.
"Indeed, they deserve the hollowed shells of crustaceans and soured dip." Another quiet laugh and he leans further back into his chair. "What can you tell me about the chocolates? Wanda will ask. It's in her nature to be cautious." Saying this is likely akin to stating that the sun is warm and bright. And Miss Maximoff-Strange is wary of the world as a whole.
"They're made by chocolatiers in France," Kai says. "An assortment, but none of that nasty nougat stuff, and I think you're safe from coconut filled. Now those I would eat all day, too, but some people don't like them. It's mostly fancy truffle and caramel-filled. Caramel is probably nature's perfect food. I've had this kind before, they're decadent." He flashes a crooked smile. Decadence is a hobby, after all.
"What's she like?" Kai asks, sitting forward a bit. "You know, I've never actually met her?"
Lifting his cup in a salute, Strange then sets it aside.
"You spoil us, Kai — myself by proxy of her." He then settles back into his chair again, hands gently steepled before his sternum. "You haven't met her? I could have sworn you have. I'll need to remedy this… She's away on errands right now. Usually she would join us for tea, or at least offer a greeting in passing. But what is she like…?"
The Sorcerer inhales and exhales slowly, looking thoughtfully into the low fire burning in the fireplace, its heat keeping the worst of the chill in the Sanctum's living room at bay. "She's… Imagine a rose, Kai. The rarest rose, composed of starlight and volcanic fire, held together by light and shadow and the reflection of the moon. Beauty and danger, sweetness and thorns…and then add a touch of Fae feline, I think…" He hums, a sly smile curling one side of his lips. "Yes, for her eyes. Wonderously intelligent, charming in her own way. Incomparable."
"I don't think I have," Kai murmurs. "Perhaps if I did, she was so radiant my mind became clouded." He smiles winningly. He can pour it on thick when he wants to. Not that he sounds any less sincere for it. His expression softens as he listens to Strange describe his lady love. "I'm glad you've found her," he says. "A man of your nature and responsibility shouldn't have to be in this world alone."
His smile lessens, grows jaded in the mildest sense, and he nods at the Elf.
"I would have readily taken on each challenge offered up to me on my own, Kai. It has been this way for at least…two-thousand years, the Sorcerer Supreme keeping watch at the Gates alone. I don't know the opinions of the past mantle-bearers, but apparently, they felt a companion wasn't necessary." He snorts softly, rolling his eyes at himself in a way. "Companion…not the appropriate word at all. Not enough at all… Partner. For eternity. Or at least until I'm finally fool-hardy enough to reach my demise." There's the cocky grin, the bring-it-on-Death wrinkle in his nose in passing. Hmph.
"Of course a companion is necessary," Kai says. "We're not made for solitude. Neither our bodies nor our minds, certaintly not our souls." The mere thought of the expectation of going it alone riles the elf up a little. "We're just not made that way. I thought I didn't need anyone either, but I don't want to imagine life without Loki. Even when he's turing that trickery on me, I'd never give him up." Then his smile returns, and he says, "No getting yourself killed. Who else will take me out for scones?"
Strange eyes the Elf, listening…and nodding again, in silent agreement with his thoughts on things. Then comes the bark of a laugh, in regards to pastries.
"Scones? I should be more afraid of what Wanda would do to be, if I came back bleeding all over the carpeting and flooring of the Loft." He laughs a few times more before sighing contentedly. "Of course, Kai. I have no intention of leaving this world, much less my post. I have far too much to live for. In a way…an extremely back-handed way at times," he amends with a click of his tongue, "…I do like the job. It is…rewarding."
"Your job is unique, that's for sure," Kai says. "I thought I hated work, but I missed it so much I started showing up at Saganaki to wait tables. Bert hasn't made me stop yet, so I keep coming. It's nice. I don't get paid but I pick my own hours." He takes another sip of his tea, and he sighs contently. "Maybe it's not as rewarding as what you do, but it makes people happy. So do you, in a way. No black magic raining down from the sky probably puts people in a great mood even if they don't realize it."
"Yes. I can't imagine that umbrellas would be of much use if it suddenly began raining fire," and Strange grins again. "Your position is simply more visible, which detracts nothing from it. I presume that you're at least fed as well as allowed your own hours?" he asks, tilting his head in mild scrutiny at the possibility of unfair employer treatment.
Kai says brightly, "Oh, sure. I was just stealing food before, but now he gives it to me. I get more that way, and he tells me to rest, even though it really doesn't take anything out of me. Better to let his human staff rest." He waves a hand glibly. He doesn't require rest. Or pay, apparently. "And! I can work the courtyard where lots of weird people hang out, so they can keep being weird and it won't disturb me."
"Hmm. I'm surprised that I haven't seen you in the courtyard," Strange comments, his smile taking on a teasing air. "I've taken Wanda to dinner there once or twice. No wonder that I felt in good company there. Albeit, we're more strange than weird, I suppose." Shameless pun, and equally shameless in delivering it. "Still, this is all good to hear. And likely delicious as well. It certainly smells as such. Wanda's the spoiled one, in the end, I think." He doesn't seem too bothered by it, not when he gathers up his tea again and sips at it rather than make a face.
"Huh," Kai says. "Must've been on nights when I wasn't there." Then his shoulders tremble with quiet laughter. Shameless puns have mileage here. "She should be the spoiled one," Kai says. "She's the light of your life, and I know how love works; you want to give them the world just to see them smile." He sips his tea, then says, "At some point I should probabely tell Loki I'm working again."
"You haven't told him?" Another click of his tongue, gentle remonstration as it is. "Communication is important, Kai. You likely know this, but allow me to underline the point. I may be able to read Wanda's mind, but it doesn't remove the necessity of spoken words." The Elf even gets a one-two shake of a finger. Tsk indeed. "Though, it's not as if you're haring about after dangerous beings or undermining Asgardian relations here with Midgard. I don't see what issue he could have with it."
"I just forget," Kai says. "I'm more interested in what he's done with his day than what I did with mine, though he's always good about asking. One of these days I'll remember to bring it up. I don't think he'll care one way or the other." He shifts a little where he sits and says, "He might tease me." He smiles though, despite himself. One must expect at least a little teasing when shacked up with a trickster god.
"I can imagine that he might," Strange allows, resting his cup within his encircling fingers. The heat radiating out from the fine tea-warmed china is soothing on joints and scarring. "If he raises any objections, I would point out the utter normalcy of the job — the inanity, without any insult intended," and he raises a hand to accent the point. "You draw little attention to yourself in the process."
"Oh that's not what he'd object to," Kai says. "It's that I don't have to work, and that it's menial perhaps to be servile to these mortals. If he had any problem at all." He smiles a little as he lifts his teacup to his lips, and he says, "He always thinks I deserve better. He wants to see me reach impossible heights. I want to, too. But if I've got nothing better to do on a Tuesday afternoon than chat with people while I feed them, it keeps me busy."
Strange nods and replies, "Idle hands are best kept busy then, even if it's bussing trays and taking orders. It's a good thing, Kai. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Who knows, you may even become a business partner with the restaurant owner at one point and that is an accomplishment. I've gained the impression, over the years, that they guard their secrets and their businesses closely. Nearly closer than dragons and their clutches, as a matter of fact," he adds before taking a huge sip of his drink that apparently empties the demi-tasse. "And I don't recommend stepping between a dragon and her brood." Your daily dose of Sorcerous wisdom, tah-dah.
Kai inclines his head and says, "Your opinion carries weight, of course. I'll tread carefully around Lambert when he's guarding his hoard. I should like to someday introduce Alfheim's food to the world. We are a decadent people." Of course he would want to spread that decadence. It's in his nature. He finishes his tea and sets the cup aside. "It's always a pleasure to see you, my friend, but I should think about heading home. It's been good to see you well."