With an awkward groan which came off like cleaning their throat in an 'ehem' fashion, Kaite reopened the otherwise empty book. It was odd to be around strangers for so long with little introduction between them only to have all of them comically hinted at getting to know each other. What resulted was almost as tense and strange like a first-year fall formal. Nonverbal cues, glances of varying demeanor and emotion, the dance was on for each of them to a different tune which sparked a dull chill of loneliness in the gentleman hunter. Most of the strangeness he felt for the situation was the silence. No introductions or even words aside from the loud game of cards that seemingly escalated to the point of a blade being drawn by one of his associates. Kaite felt better off by simply leaving everyone to sketchily eye eachother and trying to keep his eyes down to resume tapping on the parchment. Meeting glances at this point in their journey was one of the worst things he could imagine happening at the current moment since there seemed to be an unspoken finesse to it which he simply didn't understand. The last thing he wanted to do was give anyone the wrong idea by accident.

A woman's voice drew him from a flourish he had started working on in the inside cover since the question was a valid one. If the island was hopelessly besieged at one instance, why should any town or settlement exist? Additionally, how sophisticated would any settlements they stumbled upon be? Or were they truly expected to step off the boat swinging? While Kaite hadn't considered asking questions, he was certainly curious of any information he could glean from other's inquiries. The one who'd asked was the rather tall woman he'd made a point to subtly avoid for a number of reasons which he considered good ones. To start, he was self conscious of his size and felt personally threatened by a woman being almost a foot taller than himself. Their readability often gave him a number of mixed emotions towards her, given his cynical lens. In all, he was more skeptical of her than anything...and it bothered him that he had little to base his feelings on other than mild insecurities.
It wasn't until he noticed her following suit with the others to survey the group and their eyes briefly meeting Kaite's that he realized he'd been staring and swiftly retreated back to the drawing. A tiny hobby, drawing calligraphic depictions of simple things like a shark, in this instance, helped him appeal to a part of him which he frequently ignored due to its darker tendencies. Tilted just right, the sketch merely looked like waves crashing against rocks as the beast was shown to be coiling with jaws agape to catch a humanoid figure impossibly smaller than itself who merely walked into its torturous maw.

[color=8882be][i]Oh distant fish~[/i][/color]

Content with their work, Kaite knuckle-dusted the damp ink with a crushed powder of ashen salt to help hasten the drying of the depiction and give it a dim silvery hue and foggy appearance. Blasphemous prayer through artistic rendition, who but old fishermen would know the patron deity of luck without being guided through the waves...so to speak.

Truly genuine fondness in his expression was broken by the footfall of Virtura, moving to clap the book shut before simply setting it aside to keep the ink from smudging all over the first page. [color=8882be]"Ye- yes?"[/color] he stammered with a hint of surprise, lifting their leg and pushing off from their lounge to elegantly rise to their feet with a click of the metal soles of their boots on the nails in the floor. The nondescript scent of their scarf was mostly attributed to having been recently washed, carrying only the faintest ghost of scents' past which blended dully together to come off as something between lilac and honey.
Kaite paced for a step or two, inspecting the armor as a hand felt at the laced belting of his own cuirass' sides. A spark of understanding glinted across his expression as his eyes trailed up her physique from Virtura's waist to her face. [color=8882be]"Ah, je"[/color] his tone chirped, mirroring her demeanor in an attempt to compliment her demeanor. With an awkward bow of his head to hint to gentlemanly respect, he placed a hand to her side to guide the plating of the leather armor together while flicking the belt open with a thumb. More focused on the work of latching the straps, he only once looked up at her face. [color=8882be]"Iz zeis..."[/color] Kaite began, biting back his expression of being out of their comfort zone as well as the temptation to let their hand roam beyond the purpose of holding her armor together while the other hand affixed it to her form. [color=8882be]"...Yeh, it looks right?"[/color] he asked, unsure how she normally keeps it and composed in his discomfort with the possibility with having to fix a mistake he was certain he did not make.

There was a an odd regard when it came to women, knowing that they tended to be judgmental on some level. In this, he'd simply rather not have word spread of his strangeness while still doing his best to aid the imposing tall figure. It was always a bother when instincts sought to rend control from his composure, and the exotic robust nature of the Elderblood's appearance did little to help.

[color=8882be]"Ehrm...My name iz Kaite. Pleasure to be ouf your acquaintance"[/color] Kaite offered with a hand to shake once he finished securing the final latch. As far as introductions went, this was as good of a time as any. The way he saw it, kindness and pleasantry was a rare commodity which would be invaluable in earning trust, and with it, allies.
Speaking from that notion, the distance felt towards the majority of his associates was so deeply untrusting that he was just as cautious of them as he would be around any stranger, hunter or no. The book with the grim flourishes on the exposed inside of the cover laid open by his pack though obscured by the pillows to the rest of the room's occupants other than maybe Virtura.