[Ciara] [Date: The evening of Friday May 21st.] [Three days ago, one Kyon Sorata showed up at Kyoko and Kira's workplace to talk with Kyoko. This provoked some interesting reactions when Kira came across him, and involved fire and spears and mops and fields.] [Since then, Kira hasn't shown up to work. On the first day, Kyoko tried calling him from work and got no answer. The next two days, she tried again with the same result, covering for him with their manager by telling the manager that he was sick.] [Now it's evening, and Kyoko is home. Reiji is asleep, and she's decided to try calling again, this time from her own phone.] [What will happen? Let's find out! Start!] --- [Jihatsu] Kira hefts the plastic bag and upends it onto his kitchen table. Most of this is probably garbage, but some of it won't be. He discards the bananas, unfortunately, then sniffs an onigiri and tosses it as well. The wrapped package of mochi, though, is definitely still good, even if it's past the best before date, so that goes into the heavy canvas satchel propped against the wall. Same with the chips and the hard-boiled eggs. The carrots are way past edibility, but the tops are intact; given a bit of time and water, those can grow into plants, which will give seeds, which might - might - take root in the uncertain World Reversed soil. He tosses those in to join the long-sprouting onions in the satchel. Then he picks up his phone, and frowns at the unfamiliar number. He accepts the call. "Hello?" --- [Ardweden] "Hello, Kira-san?" It's Kyoko Ozora on the other end; she's sitting stiffly at the small table in her and Reiji's apartment, still wearing her Pao Pao uniform from today's closing shift. --- [Jihatsu] "Aah, shit." Kira winces. He leans a hip against the kitchen table. "Hey, Ozora-san." --- [Ardweden] "You haven't been coming into work," she points out. "I had to tell the managers you're sick. Are you okay?" --- [Jihatsu] "Uh," Kira says. He pinches the bridge of his nose. "I, uh. Quit? You were there. I haven't been coming to work because I quit." --- [Ardweden] Oh, so he meant that. "You didn't put in your formal resignation," Kyoko points out after a moment (what would Kyon say?). "It's gonna be hard to have good references if you don't." She reaches over to the notepad with her grocery list on it for something to poke at, only to find that the words are nearly illegible under Reiji's doodling. She sighs; that's just great. --- [Jihatsu] "I..." What can he even say. "All right, uh, I'll drop it in the mail. Thanks for the. Uh. Heads-up." He sighs, and goes over to sit down on the floor-couch, in front of the TV. --- [Ardweden] "You should do it in person." That statement is all supervisor. Kyoko pokes at her ruined grocery list and adds, "If you do it at all. I just told them you have the flu. Wear a mask for a couple of days and it'll be fine." --- [Jihatsu] "I did do it in person. I did like a big deep bow and everything. It was official as fuck." He rubs his brow. Maybe swearing to the boss isn't-- but she's not his boss anymore. That's the whole point. "What's this really about, Ozora-san...?" --- [Ardweden] "You did it when a _field_ was up, outside, while I was on break and immediately after nearly hit each other with sticks." Well, he had a stick, but Kyoko's spear was at least part stick, and she would have stabbed him - still, it totally had to count. "But it's not like we were going to kill each other by then, and I sure hope we're not gonna kill each other now. Don't you need this job?" --- [Jihatsu] Kira is, literally, speechless. There is silence on the line. --- [Ardweden] Silence. Kyoko glares her her phone for a second, transfers the glare to her grocery list, then rips it from the top of the notepad. "I told you I'd fucking protect you," she says into her phone while she starts ripping the list into little pieces. "And I _will_, as long as you don't go after Kyon or any of his people or-" She stops, abruptly, and starts again, "I know it's not much - I'm not that smart, I don't really know what's going on half the time, and- but it's something, right?" --- [Jihatsu] "Wh--... Why, Kyoko? Why do you care? I..." He stands up, one fluid and too-swift motion, and starts to pace around the small room. "If past experiences are anything to go on, all of us have more than enough shit going on that taking on an extra person to protect is a big ask. I appreciate it. Really I do." He exhales, comes to a stop by the window and leans against it, looking out. "I just don't get it. Isn't it just easier for me to get out of your hair?" --- [Ardweden] Kyoko blinks. "No?" And then, "Weren't you already in my hair?" --- [Jihatsu] "I..." how do metaphors even work. "I mean sure, but I'm trying to get out of it? And this Arcana bullshit changes everything, I... This conversation is kind of surreal, Kyoko. I... I don't need to know what you've been through, and you don't want to know what I've been through. But we're probably safer staying out of each otter's hair." There's something unsaid, in that. --- [Ardweden] "No. You're so wrong." Kyoko isn't sure about much, but she's sure about this. "If bullshit wants to find you, it's going to find you. And it doesn't end just because nothing's happening." Obviously. "So it's better to be somewhere with people you can trust. So, like..." She sighs. "If you've got no control over your powers and actually think you're too dangerous to be around, then fine, but you tried to hit me with a fucking mop and weren't even possessed or- or drugged up, so I can probably handle myself." --- [Jihatsu] Kira snorts, then bursts out laughing. "I did try to hit you with a mop," he admits. --- [Ardweden] "Just the handle part." Kyoko's grin can be heard over the phone. --- [Jihatsu] "LISTEN," he says, still laughing. "My options were limited." --- [Ardweden] "You could have thrown bags of flour at us or something. Oh, ripped open a bag of beans and hoped we tripped!" --- [Jihatsu] "I'm a resourceful son of a bitch," he says with a grin. "I'd have worked something out." --- [Ardweden] "Yeah," Kyoko agrees, still smiling. "Like a mop." --- [Jihatsu] Kira turns his back to the window, relaxing against it. "Yeah." --- [Ardweden] Kyoko gathers her newly created confetti into a small pile on the table. "So, um... are you coming back?" She tries not to sound hopeful and basically fails. --- [Jihatsu] Kira sighs. "It's weird, you know. Honestly? I'm scared," he says. "You're... I mean you seem cool, but I really don't want to be, you know, opening windows. And it's fucked up that you know Sorata." --- [Ardweden] "I've known him for years. He's never let me down," Kyoko replies, easily. "He didn't tell me to get you out of my hair, so it's all fine." She frowns, and again, it's obvious in her voice. "It's way more fucked up that you knew him - or, I guess, someone wearing his face - and I didn't know anything about any of it." --- [Jihatsu] "Well in that context, yes. I would have to agree." He sighs. "God, I mean... he killed two people I knew, Kyoko. How can I..." He sighs AGAIN, deeper this time. "I thought he was coming for me. You know? I saw him, and I thought, 'This is it, I'm the next hit in his vendetta'. I was fighting for my fucking life. With that damned mop." His voice cracks a little, perhaps out of humour. --- [Ardweden] "Sorry." Kyoko disrupts her confetti pile with a fingertip. "I, um. You're not. He's not trying to kill anybody, it was..." War. "It was war. I..." She trails off, falling silent. --- [Jihatsu] Kira nods, breath shaky in the receiver. "Yeah." He lets the back of his head press against the glass. "It was bullshit." --- [Ardweden] "Yeah. I sat a lot of it out, when things got bad. If Kyon wasn't there, I don't know, me and my bro-" She stops. Starts again. "I'd be fucked. Basically. More fucked." Kyoko makes a face. That was way too honest; how do people even talk about shit like this. "So what I'm saying is that working with me is better than not. Unless you've got somewhere else to make some money with people who can protect you and understand, but I kind of think you don't, or you wouldn't have been working there in the first place." --- [Jihatsu] Kira has a long sigh. "So you're proposing an alliance, basically." --- [Ardweden] Kyoko blinks. Uh. "I... guess...? If you want to call it that?" --- [Jihatsu] "I have to think about it," he says, quietly. "Sorata's gang.... like I'm glad he looked after you and your brother, but they were... dangerous. I have to think about it." --- [Ardweden] "We're _all_ dangerous!" Kyoko snaps, and then she realizes she might wake her brother and she quiets a bit. "That's the point! I want to- why won't you let me help you?!" --- [Jihatsu] "Well I mean, honesty zone, I find it slightly weird that you're pushing so hard, and that's kind of making me have second thoughts a little tiny bit, but you know. Look. It's been two years. I've been trying to rebuild my life into something that kind of makes sense. I've put some distance between me and the people I used to run with who I couldn't really get behind. I've cut my losses and I'm trying to rebuild. And suddenly one of the more murderous gangs from my misspent youth shows up, fireball in hand, what I see is a door opening towards a whole lot of complication." He peels off from the window, pacing again, but more slowly this time. "I've got people I'm protecting too, you know? And my own life I'm trying to look after, and decisions I'm trying not to walk back on." He comes to a gentle halt. "Why do you really want to help me? I wasn't _that_ good an employee." --- [Ardweden] "Sorry," Kyoko says, immediately. "I'm... sorry." She blinks, then scowls at herself. She's not going to cry. Not when talking to _him_. Time to change the topic a little. "You just- I don't know. I like you. You know? It's not... really... about you being a good employee. Other people have better numbers. But you... you're not a dick. And if you're not a dick now, I don't think you're gonna be one when you know I can fucking stab you. So I... want to help? And I think it'd be good to still have you around?" She adds, softer and uncertain, "You make my day better." --- [Jihatsu] Kira blinks, then _blushes_. Oh. _OH_. "Oh," he says. --- [Ardweden] "Yeah." Kyoko sure as hell can't see him blushing. "Sorry. I know it's selfish." --- [Jihatsu] "It's not," he says, quickly. "I. I mean, fuck, you make my day better too." He exhales, blush firmly anchored on his face. "Okay. What. Fine. Sure. But I'll need a little time to... Let's like, let's get dinner or something sometime. Before I come back to work. It'll be good to talk in person." --- [Ardweden] "Dinner?" Kyoko asks, blinking. "Like, um...?" --- [Jihatsu] "You know," Kira says, and swallows. "Like dinner. ... maybe we can do take out and find a nice place to put up a field so we can talk without having to be weird about it." --- [Ardweden] "Oh," Kyoko says, softly. Is he asking her on a date? It sounds like he's asking her on a date. Why would someone like him want to go out with her that much? "I, um... yeah." She shifts, looking at the calendar tacked to the board on the wall and the lists she stuck next to it, at her carefully balanced shifts and Reiji's appointments and housework that needs to be done and what leisure time she can manage without disappointing literally everybody. "I guess... shit. I don't know if I can manage to do it before the week's out though, and I don't think I can keep covering for you by then. So I might not be able to meet in person and, like, not at work before it's too late..." --- [Jihatsu] Kira has a bit of a smile. "I mean, we'll make it work. That's a yes then?" --- [Ardweden] "Yeah." And then Kyoko adds, more strongly, "If you stop slacking and come in for your next shift." --- [Jihatsu] Kira snerks. "Well would you look at that, seems like my symptoms got all cleared up, boss." --- [Ardweden] Kyoko laughs. "Sure." She's smiling. "I'll text you some times that might work and we'll figure something out." --- [Jihatsu] "Cool." He smiles too. "Sounds good. I'm looking forward to it." Aaaaaaa?? --- [Ardweden] "Yeah. I mean, me too." Kyoko blushes, slightly. "See you tomorrow." --- [Jihatsu] "See you tomorrow, boss." He grins. And then the call is over. Aaaaaaaaaa???? --- [Ardweden] Kyoko looks at her phone for a second, then the calendar. Well, there's a little time. Still smiling, she goes about texting Kira various gaps over the next few weeks before she forgets (she'll totally forget). There aren't very many, and some of them might get closed off, but... whatever, at least he's coming back to work. She hopes he won't hate her if she ends up too busy. That done, she gets up and goes about hiding the evidence of her ripping up some of her brother's pentacles (he really hates it; he ruins his own pentacle paper all the time but if SHE does it, noooo) and heating up dinner for the both of them. She gives him an 80% chance of actually eating it today, based on how he was behaving earlier, and a 50% chance of eating the entire thing - which is really pretty good. Things are looking up for Kyoko! Session End.