soul_logs | Some Nights

Entry tags:

Some Nights

Characters: Rhode Kamelot & Kurapika
Location: Rhode's Apartment
Rating: G
Time: March 4, around 10 AM
Description: Rhode has been keeping a rather large secret from Kurapika and the rest of Death City. Unfortunately, the cat is about to be let out of the bag...

The weather looked like it was going to be somewhat decent, today.

Rhode was still lying in bed by the time the sun was high in the sky, watching the digital 10:00 flash on the bedside clock with a dispassionate expression. The cat was sleeping on Mukuro's pillow, purring quietly as Rhode reached out to put a finger on the tip of her nose, feeling her little cat breaths brushing her fingertip.

She hadn't touched that side of the bed since he'd disappeared. The cat had always liked sleeping on his pillow, though- Perhaps she liked the scent of him as much as Rhode had. Now it was just a mess of sheets and an indentation where her partner had been before he vanished into nothingness.

Holly the cat still waited for him on the kitchen counter, hoping he'd show up to give her a bit of milk or food.

Rhode sighed loudly, rolling away and turning her back to the clock and the empty half of the bed. She had picked up another two shifts at the maid cafe this afternoon; it was a good distraction, being able to play the cute girl she had been at home without all of the uncomfortable weight of being around people who had known her and her partner.

She didn't want anyone to know that he was gone. She'd done a fair job of it so far; she hadn't heard from any of his friends, and all of her own acquaintances seemed to have vanished, as well. It was just one more punishment from BREW, reminding her how much power it had over her and her life in this world.

Taking Mukuro, though- That had been too cruel.

With the Exorcists here, she was once again defenseless in a city of enemies. The truce with the General had been sufficient when it was just Allen and him, but now… Now she was checking the locks on the door twice again, looking over her shoulder when she walked to work and to the store. She would have to figure out how to take care of them, when it came down to it. With her partial Weapon form, at least, she wouldn't be completely defenseless.

By all rights, she needed to appear quite depressed by the disappearance of her partner. She was upset, of course, but crying over her pet human wouldn't get her home any faster. Unfortunately, with the sort of relationship they'd shown the rest of the city, she'd need to cling onto being sad for a long while for it to seem appropriate. It would be far more convenient if he'd come back, but judging by the letter he'd left- by the way all of his belongings had disappeared, down to the tea that he loved but she hated in the cupboard- that wasn't going to happen anytime soon.

Wouldn't it be brilliant, if she could find some way to lose all of the baggage and nonsense that had hooked itself into her persona since she'd arrived in this city? A plan was starting to form, but she needed to have a bit of tea before she could really consider the finer details of it all. A game that would add something new and interesting to the daily bore of this city, something that would be remarkably easy if she did the basics the right way. All it would take was a few simple moves...

Rhode flopped back onto the mattress, stretching out her arms and legs with a loud yawn. Holly the cat hopped up, not quite pleased by the disruption, pacing to the edge of the bed and jumping down with the soft jingle of her collar to go find her food.

She had a while longer to stay in bed before she had to get up and get ready. Perhaps she'd wear her violet hair ribbons today. Mukuro had always liked the color with her eyes. The customers seemed to like them, as well- And extra tips for being adorable never hurt.

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Rokudo Mukuro had sent him a letter in the mail. Kurapika didn't think that people still sent each other actual letters here, since it would have been easier to just use the phones or the communicator, and at first he'd suspected the letter to be just another gimmick to get him to visit. Reading the contents had quickly robbed him of that notion, however, leaving only confusion and a growing sense of emptiness and dread. It sounded exactly like the farewell letters the guests had taken to writing just in case they got returned randomly (not that he'd gotten many--he hadn't gotten any from Kuroro or Prussia, after all) and he had no idea what to make of it.

Well. If this really was just a gimmick, then good for Mukuro, because after an hour of brooding over it--and a few attempts at calling the man's communicator (not a single response, which was ominously telling as far as signs went), Kurapika had decided to just answer the summons and check for himself. If it was a trick, then it could also serve as a lesson, and force him to remember not to fall for the same trick again. If the letter meant what it meant, however, then...

Then what? Even if it meant that Rhode would be by herself, her welfare was still none of his business. And they'd both made it quite clear on several occasions that they did not get along with each other. She probably wouldn't appreciate him poking his nose into her affairs.

But he still needed to check. Kurapika cursed his own altruism even as he stalked down the hallway towards the other pair's quarters. The corridor was quiet, and there was nobody around. For that alone he managed to tone his knocking down to something more polite rather than the obnoxious banging he'd planned on doing.

The cat came scampering back into the bedroom when the knock came at the door, disappearing beneath the bed into what she believed was the safest spot in the apartment. Rhode sighed, dragging her pillow over her face and clutching it there for a long minute as she tried to decide what to do. Ignoring it sounded like the best option, but there was the chance that it was actually something important.

As if that would happen. The Noah groaned quietly as she rolled toward the edge of the bed, taking most of the sheets with her as she slid off the side and onto the floor. She pulled herself to her feet with a hand on the bedside table, pushing a bit of her hair out of her face and letting it stick in with the rest of her messy spikes. It was really getting far too long. One more thing to take care of, when she felt like it.

Rhode made sure her steps were quiet as she made her way into the living area, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes with the back of one hand. The peephole was too high up to reach on her own, which made it a bit harder, but she picked up the the phonebook from beside the rubbish bin and set it up in front of the door so she could peek out.

Oh. It was Kurapika.

She sighed silently, leaning back from the door and looking back at the rest of the apartment. If she didn't let him in, he might go away... but knowing the majority of their acquaintances, it was just as likely that he'd break in anyways. Perhaps she needed to find some shop that could install a lock that couldn't be picked. Did they make those?

It didn't really matter, since she didn't have one on the door at this exact moment. After a moment of consideration, she hopped down, moving the phonebook to the corner and starting to undo the locks with an irritable abruptness. She almost left the chain on- Almost. That would be a little too obvious, though.

Rhode rubbed her eyes vigorously before she opened the door, making sure they were a bit damp as if she'd only just woken up. She let it swing open just a little bit, leaning against the doorframe as she peeked out and feigning a little yawn behind one hand before looking up to Kurapika.

"... Awfully early for a visit, isn't it?"

Kurapika would be the first to admit that he didn't know Rhode well enough to call them more than just passing acquaintances, but there were two things that he was fairly certain were true beyond any doubt. One was that she loved her pastries, almost to a disgusting extent. If there was nobody around to regulate her meals she'd probably have dessert for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and he honestly had no idea why she hadn't visibly gained weight yet.

The second was that she was lazy. She and Kuroro were cut from the same cloth. The both of them wouldn't lift a finger to do any kind of manual labor if there was someone else around who would be more willing to do their chores for them.

Which is why, when the door opened to reveal the girl instead of the taller male he'd been expecting, his first reaction was to stare at her. His second act was to flick his eyes up above Rhode's head to look into the room behind her, as a final confirmation to his suspicions. His third was to turn his stare at the letter he still clutched in one hand. And then after another second, Kurapika slowly, deliberately turned his head to look Rhode in the eye.

"He's gone, isn't he?"

Rhode had a sharp jolt of dread when he looked at her, and it took quite a bit of focus to keep it from showing on her face. Instead of pulling a grimace, she blinked sleepily at him, glancing down at the letter in his hand with a drowsy, confused expression.

She had to think fast. Very fast. Somehow he knew, and the fact that the paper he was holding was the exact same sort she had sitting on the bedside table with Mukuro's final words was not likely to shift things in her favor.

"He's almost always out of bed by eight," she finally replied, grumbling a bit as she scratched her hair. If he came in, the game was over. If she could just convince him that Mukuro was out on his usual wanderings, then things would work out just the way she wanted them to for the time being. "If you need him so badly, you should call him."

He wasn't going to pick up. Had Kurapika already tried to call? Likely. The excuses for why Mukuro wouldn't pick up his communicator were abundant before the thought even ended, spinning into some kind of plausible story as she closed the door a bit, pressing right into the crack to keep his field of view limited.

"I have to go work soon. I want to get a bit more sleep, if you don't mind."

Kurapika blinked, and then narrowed his eyes. He also knew Rhode to be self-centered, but surely not to this extent. Was it possible that she hadn't even noticed the absence of her own meister?

"I already did. Several times, in fact," he replied, intonation slow and deliberate as he tried to figure out what was going on. Because something was going on, that much was certain, just what he couldn't say yet--how dull he'd gotten, after nearly nine months in this place.

"He isn't answering." His gaze kept getting drawn to the girl's face, for some reason. Or maybe that was because Rhode was already closing the door and there was nothing else to focus his eyes on. "This letter," and he held it up so that Rhode would see it in case she hadn't yet, "can only be one of two things, and if it's another of his silly tricks, he would have accepted my call right away."

He utterly ignored her request to be allowed to sleep longer. It was nearly midday, anyway.

With the letter shoved in her face, Rhode couldn't quite resist the temptation. She reached out, trying to get a better look at it, eyes scanning it even while it was still in his hands. If he didn't let her get it, she still saw enough to get the general idea: Mukuro had been prepared for his disappearance, and he was making it as hard as possible for her to pretend that he was still here.

Now what?

"Perhaps he's busy." It was a last ditch excuse, and she grabbed the door when it started to drift open again, holding it just a bit too firmly to be casually keeping Kurapika outside. "You aren't the center of the universe. Nobody's required to take your calls."

Kurapika could see Rhode's eyes following the letter, trying to catch a glimpse of what was written on it. He wasn't so possessive over the contents that he wouldn't have minded letting her look at it, or even have it--he had the message memorized, anyway--but only if she asked for it outright, and he had a feeling that she wasn't going to. Still he held the letter up like a flag to signal what they must both know by now.

Rhode still hadn't answered his original question.

"And I suppose you think you are," he said, voice gone soft with an implied challenge. Blocking the door, not allowing him to see too far into the room. The idea was already forming in his mind, waiting for him to sit up and take notice. "Why don't you try to call him? Just to check that he hasn't disappeared like the last time."

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Some Nights

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