Description: ...of Igniz!! As promised, Shurui alerts K' of the strange encounter she recently had with the master of NESTS; and all at once, K' finds himself dealing with all the fallout resulting from Igniz's recent return to the world. ...He doesn't take the revelations well at all.
Distant thunder sounds as rain lightly taps against the dorm's windows, summoning the sweet smell of wet grass and concrete. Spring has come, and whether despite it or because of it, a troubled wind blows for some residents of Southtown.
In this case, that trouble is Igniz, making his appearance before the eyes of certain people, Shurui included. Shurui, thankfully, had a better time of it than Whip or anyone else he may have passed, but the trouble lies within the temptation. And the vague answers. 'You were so happy.'
Was she happy? As it stands, K''s the only one so far who has given her solid answers, even if they were to questions not about Shurui's past, but his own. The possible parallels do give the clone something to think about, even if she currently isn't been seen as a failure. She's already 'proven' herself. And Igniz is offering her everything her heart has ever wanted.
The cell phone flips open. ".... Well, this *isn't* a emergency, really," Shurui quietly murmurs to herself, rolling over on her stomach as she lays on her futon. "..." Time to try out this voice text mail thing she got. Flipping open the voice, she labors with it a while, before she comes up with something that seems.... satisfactory. Okay, Shurui is going to assume it worked. She's not about to proofread a stupid cell phone message, and it should be legible enough for K' to figure out that he needs to call her. Sighing as she pushes the button to send the message, Shurui sinks her head into her pillow, listening to the soothing patter of rain.
So what does K' have to deal with?
'Strange guy met me at why F sea sea please call back soon am okay.'
The boy in question is, at the time of the call, doing what all red-blooded young men do in the late hours of the afternoon. He's sleeping. Having returned to his apartment very late last night, after a long and entirely unexpected conversation with a certain rampaging coworker, he'd had to get up again entirely too early in order to run some errands. Upon returning, he had decided a nap on the sofa was in order; and in good time, the scruffy stray cat that's declared itself his new roommate had opted to agree with him.
The little creature rolled up on his chest doesn't stir even when K''s cell starts buzzing insistently against his hip. But after a moment, K' does. A long breath sighing out of him, he eventually cracks open one annoyed eye and digs into his jeans pocket for the thing.
This better, he thinks to himself muzzily as he flips the phone open, be fucking important. And at first, he doesn't think it is. The YFCC attracts any number of 'strange guys' all the time, it's not like this is a huge event. Annoyed, he considers blowing it off and calling later, but then he figures it's probably better to just get it done now rather than down the line.
Besides, a tiny, niggling voice in the back of his conscious mind cautions, this could be something different than just your average 'strange guy.'
After about fifteen minutes, Shurui's phone starts ringing. When picked up, without preamble, K''s smoky voice comes over the line, still half-asleep and drenched in its perpetual irritation. "-What-...?"
Gentle noise has always been something of a sleep drug to Shurui, as far back as she could remember. Rain, the certain hum of a fan at night, the crashing of waves, the steady thump of a heart. Focusing on the gentle wash of water against her window, the girl's eyes grow heavy and slowly close, the phone dropping against the cushion from a slackened hand. Thoughts of NESTs and robed men with soft, smooth voices fall from her mind, and her breathing slows. Breath in, breath out..... the body energy of Muda, flipping through a newspaper, the sound of a record playing Chopin.... 'Just because you have learned to open up does not absolve you from being able to depend on yourself. You must be independent, a fortress that can stand alone when needed.' The memory of incense....
*ring* *ring*
Shurui's hand fumbles and grasps the cell phone, flipping it open and smudging it against her face. While it was possible K' would have called back immediately, Shurui was certain that the surly K' will call her when it was convienent for him; she in fact intended it to be so. Not because of manners, of course, but because of, well, she'd liked to not have a pissed off Beast of Flame breathing down her neck for interrupting him in the middle of... ..... What sort of things *does* K' do in his spare time?
The grey-haired clone squeezes her eyes shut as she hears K''s irritated one-word reply, her head turning to the side and slumping against the pillow. ".... You know, I was *trying* to do you a favor by paging instead of calling..." She closes her eyes and lets out a sigh, trying to awkwardly rub the sleep out of her eyes with her free hand. "Turns out you were right. ..... That guy... he was from them. He kept referring to himself as 'my father'." Shurui's voice seems more careful than frightened, like she is simply telling K' the information while strategetically planning her next move.
"There was no danger. He just wanted me to go back with him. He offered me..... many things." A pause. ".... I kind of know what your answer to that might be, but you know more than I do."
Silence reigns on the other end of the line. There's no background noise in the least to suggest what it is Shurui might have interrupted. He makes no reply to her first, defensive retort, that not being any kind of a helpful clarification as to why she called, but when she finally does specify, K' goes-- if possible-- even more silent.
"...they came to you. In the -YFCC-." When he finally breaks the silence, the vehemence in his voice is thick enough to cut with a knife. "Where the hell are you now? You didn't -agree-?"
NESTS entering the public sphere was the last thing K' had expected. Secure in that assumption, he hadn't bothered much to observe SNF or any of the trappings of professional fighting in the past few weeks, having had more pressing issues to attend. But for them to brazenly call on the YFCC, right in the open, and contact a former experiment of theirs... K' curses himself out thoroughly for not being there at the time, the thought of a NESTS agent among those kids stirring a fury that surprises him with its fervence.
Not knowing what other movements they might have made in the public arena while he wasn't watching it, K' immediately resolves never to overlook even such public venues as SNF or the League ever again. Tonight, he'll actually go over the fight reruns from the past two weeks. He'll actually take a look at the latest news and happenings of the fighting world. What he'll find will put Whip's recent, uncharacteristic silence in a lot better perspective... and it'll likely send him into a furious panic.
"Yes. In the YFCC," Shurui half-parrots, without the added emphasis. "I'm at my dorm."
... She didn't say either way. Igniz's words made it hard to say no, but Shurui knew enough and has experienced enough to never say yes. And even if Igniz didn't treat her like some long lost lamb he wanted to encourage back into the herd, there was still that concern. -In the YFCC-, indeed. The phone scuffles as she sits up in bed, adjusting her grip on the small device. Her next answer is nuetral, monotone. "I said I'd think about it."
Shurui doesn't need to be in K''s presence to know he's between enraged, irritated, and paranoid. She can hear it in his clipped words, so loaded with that rage. ".... He said it was alright if I refused." A beat. ".... The way you sound tells me he's lying." Shurui's eyes lower down. ".... I was hoping I'd be able to detect him as a liar. But he seemed to know everything. .... I was probably watched all my life. Maybe even now." That childishly sulking, mumbling tone that Shurui greeted the fellow NESTS experiment is gone. The words on the other end of K''s cell are serious and neutral, but with trace of nervousness or fear.
... It's apparent she doesn't know all the risks. "His aura wasn't evil, but what I saw wasn't really all that good, either. It was all white. But it wasn't because he was innocent or anything. It was an aura of someone who thought they were above everybody. Like, divinely. There was something.... distorted about it too, like it had been scretched and manipulated. He said his name was Igniz."
There are the sounds of movement on the other end of the line, now. A brief and disgruntled yowl even reaches the receiver when K' abruptly sits up, dislodging his chest's erstwhile tenant. The useless black cat shoots right back out the window in a huff, offended at this treatment; but the boy doesn't even notice. He's already pushing out of his seat and stalking into the other room. There's no guarantee there'll be anything relevant on the television at this precise moment in time, but that's what the Internet is for.
"You're not going to think about it," his voice orders over the phone, his tone brooking no disagreement with that decree. "And it's not 'all right if you refuse.' You don't know what you're dealing with." It might be infuriating, that patronizing and commanding way he tells her what is and isn't good for her... but from the way he talks, he sounds like he's got enough experience to back up those words.
A long, sighed breath makes it over the line, the heavy exhale the first sign K''s resorted to his old standby in nervewracking situations: a smoke. He listens to her description of the man who came after her, the name pinging around in his mind long after its initial utterance. Igniz. No one he ever heard of during his time there, but then NESTS was always a den of secrecy.
K''s left hand spiders in wait over his laptop keyboard as he waits for his browser to come up. Leaning back in his seat, he takes a pull from his cigarette, but doesn't inhale; the hot smoke just filters back out again with his next words, mingling with his unimpressed voice. "After what they did to me and what they had me do?" Both things he's never really revealed to Shurui-- but he doesn't notice that, for now. "No. There's nothing to think about..." K' trails off abruptly and audibly. It's because he's reading the coverage of Igniz's fight with Vanessa and Whip.
Is that....? A cat? Shurui's face becomes a mask of envy, ironic even in its seclusion to her room, rather than someplace where K' can't see it. Out of all the things people could envy about K'..... Shurui chooses the fact that he could have a cat in his room. The Gedo dorms won't allow that. Otherwise, the potential for trouble is boundless. .... Then again, whereever K' may live may also have that rule. He just chooses to ignore it.
The thought of cats and happier things is just as quickly pushed aside as K' gives his orders, whether bidden or not. There's a silence on the other end as Shurui swallows her pride, the analytical part of her brain already in agreement with the order. "..... I know." The words help ease the thought of immediately bowing to K''s demands. "He promised me everything, but gave me nothing to trust him." K' promises her nothing at all, and...
Has K' given her something that would prove she could trust him?
Shurui's eyes focus on the small windchime that hangs from the ceiling next to her window, an object kept for its sound rather than its looks. Well, perhaps. He gave her answers about his past. The exact details about it are too fuzzy to recount with detail, but the way his body reacted to his hand when he released it from its prison.... And yet, when K' goes on about what NESTS did to him, Shurui is faced with the fact that she still doesn't exactly know.
"..." There's no words Shurui can summon up, now that she feels caught between two places. Then, a steam of words tumble out of her mouth, consisting of simple recounting rather than anything she had marked of particular importance for K' to know. "... I asked him why he dumped me in that alleyway. He said it was to teach me to be humble. He said he didn't know why I didn't remember anything. That's right around the time I left. I had too." Why is she telling K' all this? "The rain helped me think better."
K' doesn't immediately answer anything Shurui says. It's cruel, but the sudden flood of information that's hitting him in connection to the name 'Igniz' is stunning him a little too much for him to be able to keep up with her train of thought. 'Igniz made startling revelations of a mysterious and frightful nature to the women 'Vanessa' and 'Whip' in their SNF... ...immediately preceding the brief disappearance of the two from the world...' A vivid fear seizes the back of his mind at the implications-- especially when taken with Whip's recent radio silence.
He hadn't thought anything of Whip not contacting him for a while; the girl had never made any promise but to check in every few weeks or so, and whenever she might have found some information. He had respected the distance they had to keep between themselves in order to maintain their own safety, and he had respected the ability of the Ikari to protect her at the times he couldn't. Perhaps, he thinks, suddenly blindingly angry, I gave more respect than was due.
And now they've found Shurui, and pursue her as well. He shouldn't give a shit about the girl going back to NESTS-- after all, better HER than him-- but somehow... he just does. The girls are the only two people K' gives more than half a shit about other than Maxima, and NESTS has reared its head again to threaten them both: simultaneously threatening the only stability, normality, and peace K' has managed to scrape out of his life ever since he woke up a shivering failed experiment. Not only that, they threatened Shurui right in the heart of the YFCC: a place he knows is nothing more than a collection of test subjects to NESTS, a group of children who-- but for sheer luck alone-- could have ended up just like him. He did not, and -cannot-, do a fucking thing about their entry there. And it pisses him off.
It's all abruptly too much for him. He snaps. A deeply angry, frustrated sound pushes out of the back of his throat as he shoves away from the screen, bolting to his feet and settling into a restless pace. 'He said he didn't know why I didn't remember anything,' Shurui says, and with a sudden violent movement K' half-upends, half-pitches the nearest end table with enough force to smash it-- /loudly/-- against the far wall. "He's LYING," his answer seethes venomously over the line. "Why do you think NONE of us remember if it's not INTENTIONAL?"
Merciful silence descends, the minute sound of K''s breath hissing past his teeth not picked up by the receiver. Finally-- more calmly, but no less coldly enraged-- he continues, "--this isn't fucking safe. Don't go to the YFCC. Don't go anywhere." And with that, he gives her only a scant few moments to protest or agree before he abruptly hangs up.
Shurui's reasons, when one looks closely enough, sometimes reveal a careful side to the girl. The idea that she 'needed to think on it' not only freed her from the emotions Igniz summoned within her, it excused both the possibility of her walking into a trap of her own free will, never to resurface again, as well as the possibility of Igniz showing a darker side if she were to refuse. It also allowed her a chance to call K', to gain more information by way of exchanging this information, which, in itself, is a stategic advantage.
This is how Muda convinced Shurui to open up: first, it was with food, then it was with this line of thinking. After that, that selfish desire to love and be loved took over, somewhat catching her up with peers her age in terms of societal maturity. -Somewhat-.
It's this voice that kept her from completely rebelling against K' when he first told her to refuse. She was bound to do so anyway; there was too much to give up and too little information to know what she's trading it for. If things had continued down the path she had intended, whenever Igniz decided to show up again she would have bartered her cooperation for more information, until she was convinced that Igniz was either a liar, or....
K' couldn't be the liar, could he? Shurui's grasp of her abilities made her confident to be able to tell when someone is the sort of lie or not. But, after meeting with Ayame who changed her energy signature at will through sheer force of will and extensive, selective training, could Shurui be so sure?
..... But how can the resulting rage be from anything but the truth? Or a percieved truth, something Shurui is very familiar with in how it influences the way a body looks to her. ... I fucking know that!! Otherwise our experiences wouldn't be- *che* listen to me, damn it!" Shurui grits her teeth, a hand clawing its way in frustration through her grey hair. "I called you because I knew something was up! I'm no stupid- I didn't tell him no right off because that would have been crazy in that situation!" Then again, there were emotional reasons as well. Ones she shouldn't reveal to K' right now. Or ever, considering how he's acting here.
Then- "Wait a second! What about the people here?! How is this place s-" Click. Shurui stares at the phone in confusion for a long, silent moment, then with an enraged grunt, she throws it against the futon, allowing her body to fall back against the cushion. "..... I should've taken things into my own hands. Can't go around depending on others to save me." Then, with a long sigh, she flops on her side to the bed, her eyebrows furrowed. ".... If I'm being watched, wouldn't that put him in danger too...? .... Fucking hell, I can't take shit like this on a daily rate."
The answer to that is simple; K' does not care much about the people at Gedo, and like hell he's going to tell her to meet him at the YFCC. Nor will he tell her to go to some other less high-profile, more isolated location: to remove themselves from civilization would be a bad move now. Even NESTS can't be so brazen as to put an attack on a -school- on their list of contributions to society: not yet, anyway.
As for the fact she might be a trap for him... well. At this point he almost welcomes the chance to sink his claws into anyone stupid enough to try to spring anything on him right now. He'd just -love- an opportunity to vent.
Seemingly not trusting Shurui to make her own judgments, K' snaps at her with his customary overbearing harshness and hangs up. The girl is left to her angry and irritated thoughts only a short time before the source of her aggravation makes his presence known. If nothing else, K' can get around very quickly... and moreover, can do so in complete and subtle silence, judging by the way there's no warning to prepare her for the quiet rap at her window.
A glance over reveals that K' is there in her very windowframe, balanced like a wet hawk with an unnatural and precarious poise. Never let it be said K' had any sense of propriety in the least. One hand hooks against the bottom of the frame in support, while the other slings across a bent knee. He looks profoundly unimpressed, and wet from the drizzling rain: his silver hair has melted into his eyes, and his sloped shoulders shed a trickling of water.
His yellow eyes study her intently. She looks no worse for wear, though he'd be the first to tell anyone that appearances mean nothing at all in the scheme of things. At first he says nothing, the cool rain seeming to have helped in cooling his temper, but eventually he continues as if nothing had happened: "What did he offer you."
"...." The spring rain patters on against her window, and Shurui ponders clearing her head by taking a nap. A nap would be good. Something. She can't call the enraged clone back immediately until she's managed to figure out what exactly there *is* to say. Pondering this over, Shurui rubs her face as she lays against the futon, just about to give it to the emotional exhaustion and sleep, but...
*taptaptap*
Shurui sits up in bed like a girl possessed, face turned directly towards the source of the tapping, as well as the glowing energy that sits just beyond her window. Wait, it's just K'. ...... W- FUCK, IT'S K'. Shurui scrambles to her feet and gets to the window, unclipping the locks and pressing the lower frame up and sticking her arm and head out into the rain if neccessary in order to haul K' inside. "Are you nuts?!? Get the fuck inside! You wanna get sick?! How are you going to do anything if you're fucking throwing up all over the place with the flu?!" Shurui fusses audibly as she opens the door to a small closet, hauling out a clean, large towel and throwing it to him whether he accepts it or not. "Dry off."
The dorm seems..... completely unlike the surly girl. Nothing looks new; everything seems used or antique. A record player, along with a collection of old records in a cabinet underneath, sit in one corner. A small row of a few windchimes mark the wall along the one window where K' passes through. A small kitchen area is to one corner of the room, compact and small. A futon, packed with blankets and mismatching blankets sits to one wall. What *is* 'new' are the few gadgets around the room, like a strange magnification screen held in place of a small TV, a small low-end looking computer with the same advantages, and various other tools. If K' was oblivious to the fact that something really is wrong with Shurui's eyes (whether or not it's due to the pains she takes to minimize it in front of other people), it may be a little hard for him to miss it now.
"...." And yet, he continues talking as if he's never hung up at all. Fishing out a smaller towel for her own self and rubbing it against her head, Shurui says, quite simply. "A family. Happiness. Freedom from fear and money problems. Love. The ability to see. ..... He was probably lying, about all of these. And the sight thing..... well, maybe they could fix my eyes, but what if me mess me up even more in the meantime...?"
K' starts right on in once the window opens, but then Shurui-- who doesn't seem to think he's coming in fast enough-- helps him right along with an insistent hand wound into his collar. Trying to squeeze a six-foot frame through a dorm window is already a tricky endeavor, even when the owner of said frame has complete control over it; Shurui's help expedites the process, but it doesn't really make it comfortable for the young man in question, who finds his intent glare handily derailed by this treatment.
Stumbling to a halt once he's back on reasonably firm ground again, K' recovers his balance only to get pegged in the face with a big fluffy towel. "I'm not gonna get sick," he retorts, palming the towel off his face and glaring at her. "I never get sick." Still, he does eventually start drying off, one-handedly ruffling the towel through his hair. Better than him shaking off like a dog and getting her entire room wet... and marginally more dignified.
While he does that, however, he's hardly remaining still. Heedless of the fact the rest of him is still wet, he goes poking liberally through her apartment, studying every last corner: seemingly suspicious of being watched or overheard. Eventually, satisfied enough with his inspection, he slings the towel about his shoulders and circles back to the window, shutting it with his newly-freed hands. Momentarily, he squints out the closed window, and then he twitches the curtains shut.
Discarding the towel into what he assumes is some kind of hamper shortly thereafter, he leans back against the window frame and continues as if there were no break in their conversation at all. Her answer half-lids his eyes, his yellow gaze looking even more unimpressed. "They can't just promise to give back to you," he eventually says shortly, "those things they already -took- from you." Shoving his hand through his hair, trying to ruffle it back to some semblance of normality (futilely), he eventually adds, "And you don't want to let them get you right back on the table..."
So here's Shurui's choices: a graceful figure in a cloak who speaks eloquently of love, family, and the gift of sight, who moves with a poise so obvious that even Shurui can see it clearly, whose words drop like silk from his lips. Then there's..... a teenager who throws furniture, hangs outside her window demanding to be let in with any notion that he'd be coming, is an eloquent and subtle as a brick crashing through a window, and-
Well, at least the latter doesn't make her feel ashamed, guilty, and on edge all at the same time. Just irritated, fussy, and, well, in the back of her mind, a little comfortable. K' is an asshole. She can deal with assholes. She's deal with assholes from day one of her waking up in an alleyway. "I don't really either, but you don't see me fucking inviting disaster," Shurui grumbles lowly, like the embers of a smothered fire. Her hair sticking around at weird angles as she releases it from her rub-down with the smaller towel. "Flaunt anything and the world'll piss on you. Flaunt nothing and the world'll still piss on you, but you won't feel as stupid."
This is Shurui when she's at ease. .......... K''s not getting much of a break, depending on how you look at it. Eying the white-haired boy as he stalks around her apartment, Shurui's lips pull downward in a frown. "H-hey, what are you looking fo-" The notion comes to her, and she silences, mumbling a resigned, ".... don't go through my dresser or something like that." Walking over to her futon and plopping down as she eyes her guest's nervous trek through her apartment, Shurui stays silent, only offering protest if she feels he's going through something private.
It's in the details that things do stand out. But they're not the things K' is particularly looking for. Sitting on an end table beside the bed is a framed dog-earred photograph of a stoic elderly Chinese man, cleanly shaven with glasses, but tucked behind it, if K' looked further, is a small boxcutter. Little touches like that filter throughout the place, some less obvious than others. Then..... well, if K' has the balls to sort through the frame of her futon that she so convientantly sat on? ........ Manga. Particularly, the shoujo genre, about magical girls and romances between clumsy girls and devishly handsome boys who play basketball or something. .... Shurui's only three. She hasn't gotten a chance to grow *out* of that stuff, much less graduate to anything more potentially embarrassing.
The subject of her age comes up in Shurui's mind as K' begins to talk, his words stinging, yet truthful. Brick-esque as he may be, when he makes a good point.... it's a good point. There's just one thing that nags at the short girl's attention, however...
'.... for you see, Shurui, that is not truely your real name, but it is not that you have lived many years after your first.' Igniz said that to her, changing the subject when she tried to ask for more details. "I don't think there was anything to take, in the first place. It was implied that..." Shurui shakes her head. "... your point still stands, no matter where I came from. Not going to get anything."
Well, sometimes you need a direct and forceful approach to things, which K' certainly has. Hotaru could tell you that from the conversation she had with the boy last night. K' never holds back when telling other people off; in fact, K' never really holds back, period, in anything he does. He just doesn't see the point in wasting effort being anything less than brutally straightforward. Sure, he's like a brick crashing through a window-- but that's PART of why his points, when he makes them, are so good. They don't waste any time on their crash course to your face.
That probably contributes to Shurui's increased ease in dealing with him. With someone as blunt as K', you always know exactly where you stand.
With a quick roll of his eyes at her irritated, cynical return shot at him, K' just lets that topic drop, contenting himself to circle around her apartment with all the obnoxious self-assuredness that his own scruffy stray cat had had when invading HIS apartment, just an hour or so earlier. The parallel entirely lost on him, he eventually calls off his inspection-- which wasn't quite so thorough as to go through anything private, he isn't COMPLETELY lost for tact-- and leans back against the wall where he started. His arms cross.
"There was," he interrupts her impatiently when she muses that there might not have been anything to take. The vehemence in his voice and eyes might almost be of a quality that could be designated 'passion'; K' has had enough time free from NESTS to form some very strong beliefs about certain things. "Your chance to live your own life." With a sharp scoff, he slants his gaze to one side. "...Igniz. I never heard that name before. Not that that tells me anything about who he's supposed to be. Nobody knew anything there. Two years, and I never found out anything but what I was -allowed- to find out."
And therein lies the fact that Shurui can't peg the idea of lying on K'. It's not that the guy seems to have something against lying. It's just that, from her experience, he probably just never sees a reason to do so. Shurui? Yes, she'd lie. Especially when there's an advantage to it. However, the truth always comes as a preferred option.
"..." Shurui's shoulders sag. ".... Well, yeah. That's a thing I stand to lose now. I meant.... well, everything that I didn't take for myself. They can't take the things I didn't have at the beginning. The things other people take for granted. Like family and things like that. But things like freedom, choice. That's something I can't give up to anyone. I'd no longer be myself. So yeah, you're still right. A good pair of eyes aren't worth anything if I can't be allowed to choice what I can see."
"..... It's irritating, when you think about it," Shurui muses, flopping on her side on the bed, even as she still is in the presence of K'. ..... Even as irritated as she is, she's not going to resist flopping down like some sulking cat. "It could be a case of 'i don't want you, but i don't want anyone to have you'. Funny how they started appearing out of the woodwork *after* someone kidnapped me. They probably were able to find out about it- it wouldn't be too much of a stretch, would it?"
She closes her eyes and sighs, musing quietly over K''s words. ".... That.... really sucks." Silence, and then another question follows, oddly.... careful. Not out of fear, but out of the understanding she has of being sore about questions about the past. It's why she stopped doing it, after their first meeting. However, now that things are a lot different and the two are forced to come to terms with each other whether they wanted to or not... she has to ask it. To compare against Igniz's presentation. ".... What was it like, for you? When you had to work for them? How'd you deal with it?"
With her, with Whip, with anyone else reasonably on his good side who he can actually tolerate? No, there is rarely a reason to lie. There may be a reason not to -speak-, a reason to fail to clarify: but there is just never a reason to go to the effort and bother of concocting and perpetuating lies with people he might have to see more than once. Those he neither knows or cares for? It's a crapshoot. He could be shockingly truthful, or he could lie with a calm face and no compunction. K' is straightforward about things even when lying through his teeth.
But there's no lies in anything he has told and will tell Shurui. She might be able to see that, she might not. He certainly doesn't give her any help in discerning either way, what with his current attitude of restless silence as she muses aloud. He keeps glancing over his shoulder, out through the crack in the curtains, even as she talks. It's rude, but it's a necessary precaution; and besides, it's not like he's going to disagree with what she says. Her ultimate conclusion is that he's right, after all.
He's unable to emulate her increasingly casual attitude. Arms folded across his chest, back leaned against the wall, he maintains a careful distance from her and any of the trappings of her room. His gaze rests moodily on the floor, and it doesn't shift to her even when she asks him that more direct question. Doubtless, he thinks, she's asking about his experience in order to compare it with whatever drivel this Igniz told her.
That in mind, he isn't quite so quick to shut down and become defensive about what is and isn't her business. After all, he supposes, it IS now kind of her business as well. "I dealt with it," he eventually replies flatly, "by being the machine they treated me as. By being what they programmed me to be. It made things a lot easier on me to just comply. They never really gave me much, anyway; they weren't very interested in fielding failures. Competitions for funding. Kidnapping to provide test subjects. Murder when things went sour." His eyes finally shift over to narrow on her as he goes down the list, the boy openly admitting his stained past if only to hammer home the reality of NESTS. "Nobody there ever really saw what they were doing. Either they thought they were in the right, or they were like me. No memory to know it was wrong."
It's true that when K' first ran from NESTS, it was not out of any conception of morality or right or wrong, but rather solely out of spited anger, frustration against an organization that constantly denigrated his worth, and a desire for revenge for his own lost life. But since then... exposure to the real world-- and Maxima's patient influence-- have instilled just a little consciousness of right and wrong in him as well. Selfish revenge is still his primary motivator-- but it's not all that's there anymore.
A casual attitude, yes, but not because Shurui's unconcerned or unable to appreciate K''s paranoid mood. In fact, it's because of K' that she remains relaxed, in much the same way a soldier is able to sleep when another stays on the lookout. However, listening to K', she sits up, hair knocked astray as those clear dark eyes listen to K''s every word, no matter how heavy the subject. It's not as if K' has made himself out to be the sort of person no one would suspect of things like murder and kidnapping. Being a machine. "..... errands. Simple favors." Shurui's quiet words are heard after K' speaks, overlayed with the dark intensity of the subject at hand. ".... 'A few errands, like any son or daughter does when their mother or father needs aid.' That's what he said to me. He probably meant the same things you had to do." There's a wry, dry chuckle, even if there's no really humor the girl could ever truly see in this. Just dark irony, a detour better passed over than taken. "I'm not as strong or as fast as you, but I can see where your weak points are when I focus on you. As long as I can see someone's energy signature, I can pinpoint them until they change."
Shurui gets up out of her bed. "But that's just my advantage. You still beat me in that fight. You knew how to handle me, whether you cared what I saw or knew or whatever. NESTS probably wants that power, just like Marise. Once they got that, I'll be in the same boat as you." She walks over to the kitchen area. ".... That's why I wanted to ask. Plus... well..." She pauses, and shrugs. "Whether you're just visiting or whatever, you might as well make yourself comfortable. You got a thing for tea or coffee? I got soda too."
So, in short, Shurui will trust the wet irritated tomcat who tapped at her window and hauled himself in without a word. He's the one who's bothered to give her answers, and, while it'll be hard to tell what she'll say when Igniz exerts his influence once more, Shurui trusts K' more. .... Well, she trusts him to be selfish enough to give her an idea of what to do. K' doesn't care who she is, after all, or what her powers are. ".... So what's next? Igniz'll come back for my answer, no matter what. I had some semblance of a plan for myself, but.... listening to you, it's a shit-ass plan that'll just delay the inevitable."
There's a distinct bitterness to the look of him, now, and he says nothing in reply to her musings. He won't admit it, but in some way he's almost angry at Shurui for being NESTS's little prodigal daughter. He doesn't know if she was thrown out as a failure, like he was, or if her release was just some kind of test... but whatever the case, NESTS finds her to be good enough now that they want her back, and will expend these resources to lure her back. To coddle her. To appreciate her cultivated abilities in all the ways his own incomplete power never was.
And irrational as it is, K'-- called worthless and failed all his short life by the only parental figures he's ever had-- can't help but feel a spasm of resentment. His strength -is- greater than hers, even with his imperfect control... he's even improved since he left them. So why is it he's still considered no better than a mere reject to get put down? He shakes his head sharply, as if trying to physically clear the thoughts away; he doesn't know why he's even ANGRY about this at all.
After all, favor in the eyes of NESTS is -nothing- to be envied. It's something to be avoided-- something to PROTECT others from. K' pushes away those petty thoughts angrily, shoving away from the wall and falling into a restless pace. She asks what he wants, and even despite the hour he's quick to respond, "...coffee. Black. Sugar." He needs something to help him think through this, because he really doesn't know the answer to what she's asking right now.
"Simple favors..." He resists the urge to spit at the laughable words. "They'd have you like a dog on a leash, to use while you were useful and to throw away after. No. You're not going with him. But hiding from them..." Silence. He knows how hard that kind of life is. His eyes narrow as he comes to a stop facing the wall-- the way his mind keeps running into a mental blank mirroring itself mockingly in the physical world-- and he eventually sighs sharply and rests his hands against the wall, lowering his head and leaning against it as if for support. "The easiest thing would just be to kill him when he does return," he muses. He just... doesn't know if he -can-.
It's a blessing that Shurui's sight hasn't developed into something as subtle and exact as Stasya's literal empathy. While emotions can influence a body's flow to quick or slow, the chances can sometimes be so subtle, especially for someone whose emotions are hidden down past a physical level. And then, if she's not familiar with the person, she still might notice anything off. K', for better or worse, is someone she's been able to stare at for long enough periods to figure out his highs and lows. Somewhat. All she sees is a slight brightness, a vague indicator that could mean anything from rage to determination, with no marker to determine whether the source is positive or negative.
With K', it's easy to assume that it's rage. Especially when there's a lot of things to be angry about. A certain bitterness to his words helps fill in some of the other blanks, leaving Shurui with some sense of how to take their conversation. While it could be out of some sort of empathy- Shurui'd hate to do the same things to him that she finds infuriating when she's in the same position- there's also stategy. K''s pretty much on guard for the both of them. If he's angry at her, if someone attacks, where will that leave the both of them?
"Exactly," Shurui says quietly in genuine agreement. "I couldn't go with him unless I knew exactly what I was in for, whether or not I called you. I can't just walk into something unsafe like that. It doesn't matter whether or not I was created by them, whether or not that's my family. It's better to remain a exiled reject than to be on their pedestal, looking at the evidence I've got."
They could possibly kill Igniz, yes. Shurui is silent at this thought. "..." Could she kill him? While her abilities may not be enough by themselves, with K''s they could be. But it's not that that drives her to brood in silence as she takes out the coffee and the sugar from the small cabinets above her stove. Could she kill a person she has no reason to personally hate? Marise, yes. Igniz? Unless he showed a tendency to be as cruel as he was eloquent, not really. Then again, she had the benefit of not being trained to be a killing machine.
The coffee is placed into the coffeemaker, steady drips falling into the glass pot below. "Have you eaten." It's not even an idle question. If he's going to do whatever he needs to, Shurui's sure he can't do it on an empty stomach.
For K', that musing of whether he can kill Igniz does not arise out of any moral uncertainty or trepidations. He has no doubt he would lose very little sleep killing him if it came down to 'him or us.' It's not like the boy hasn't killed already. No, the only thing he isn't certain about is whether he even has the raw power necessary to contend with him, should he be some high-ranking agent or officer of the organization.
Sure, perhaps he AND Shurui together could manage most things... but he can tell the girl isn't built and programmed to be indifferent to murder, not like he is. She might hesitate, might have some last-minute compunctions, and that could cost them. Going over other potential assistance that could be invoked, his mind settles immediately back on Whip-- and a spasm of renewed fear stabs through him. He should be looking for her. He should at least try to...
His phone comes out again, the boy instantly occupying himself with sending Whip a terse and tense text message. He pushes 'send,' considers a moment; and then dials her number for good measure. Predictably, he gets voicemail; in a low undertone, he states flatly, "It's me. Call me back." It isn't a request.
He doesn't explain that behavior; nor does he voice the concerns he has with regard to Shurui's particular situation. Instead, he just flips the phone shut and replies her agreements irritatedly. "I -told- you what you'd be in for. It's not anything you want. Try not to get caught alone. Don't hang around the YFCC. If he comes back... tell me. And don't tell him yes." He silences again after that, intruding into her little kitchen space and nosing at the slow-ass coffee drip with a moody impatience. Dissatisfied, he evacuates again, his lean frame edging past hers with a quick deftness.
Has he eaten? For a few moments, he actually has to stop and think about this; and mercifully, while he's doing so his stomach doesn't do anything so self-incriminating as to answer her for him. "No," he concludes eventually, "but I don't have time for it. Coffee, then I'm gone. I've got things I have to check on. I can't wait."
Shurui isn't a killer. A thief? Once. And she wasn't the best at it. A fighter? She excels at it when someone takes into consideration her age. She had to learn in three years want most learned in six, thought it was at the cost of the experience and age that others were granted. She was built to be a soldier, but the training to make her into a proper killing machine never happened. Instead, she's the sort to expend enough energy needed to get out of a situation, and escape when the situation was too dangerous. That's what her environment taught her- killing caused attention. And you never wanted to stand out from the pack, no matter how much you hated said pack's guts.
She'd only kill if it came down to a 'do or die' situation. And that's definitely a hinderance to K', who has no such limit on his behavior. Shurui can feel that limit, as K' paces around attempting to think of a plan. "...." If it came down to it.... If K' was in a position where he needed her to help him kill, would she do it? Tenma's face and Stasya's voiced worries cross her mind. .... He did it for Stasya, right? To deal with the concept of it afterward...
".... I've lost the advantage of being able to choose whether I can kill or not. If it comes down to it, and it's you and me against Igniz... I'll help you. I can at least tell you where to strike. You got your own neck to worry about, right?" Liquid, dark and thick, drips into the coffee pot as she leans again the counter. "Just... kill one and another's gonna replace him." Igniz seems to be just another employee from the way K' speaks of him. Then again, that aura...
"Not gonna take him on my own, though. And I'm not going with him." Shurui looks at K'. "I won't tell him no straight off, though. That'll at least give you time." She looks to the coffee pot. She'll have to get supplies. Damn it, why didn't she get her groceries yesterday?! Taking up an old thermos and some sugar, she begins to scoop some sugar into the metal cup to save time. "... I'll call if anything happens."
K' doesn't reply her offer of help aloud. What he expects from her, if she really wants to help him, is implicit in his silence: and that is simple compliance. She can have whatever crises of morality she likes later, after the fact, just as long as she does what is necessary when lives are at risk and action is required. He is not willing to die or be retaken due to the shortcomings or lack of resolution of other people. That much is clear from the cold look of him.
Finally, however, he seems to relent enough to at least say something to lessen the tension. "...Fine," he acknowledges shortly, restlessly flipping open his cell again and looking blankly at the distinct lack of response on his screen. There. An agreement a little more than just tacit.
He is silent for a time, seeming quite absorbed in watching the coffee drip. His yellow eyes, however, aren't really focused... they seem to be staring off beyond, absorbed in thought. At this point, he has MORE than just himself to worry about, and that's why he seems too preoccupied to even really listen fully to everything she says. He picks up on the important things, however.
He also picks up on a hapless box of Pocky sitting right out on the counter. His eyes sharpen on it.
In the next half minute, K' has a cookie in his mouth already, and is surling a response at Shurui around it: "Don't get yourself in trouble, stringing him on too much. As for another replacing him..." He shrugs. "What else can you do? Best way would be to find the head and cut it off... but not ready for that. Yet."
The look is taken, and Shurui's eyes return the gaze with an empathic nod. She said it- K''s neck will be on the line as well, and, if it comes down to it, it may be for her sake, even if it fits alongside the surly man's decree of revenge against NESTS. She'll have to remember that pack mentality, even if the 'leader' in this case would be someone she doesn't neccessarily hate. No, Shurui knows too damn much to hate him; the leader of her last 'pack' has the unfortunate qualities of being lustful and greedy. .... There's a reason she never particularly minded looking like a boy. ... K' may have these qualities too, but she doesn't forsee herself as having the same problems.
Tenma killed Marise because he had to, for the sake of Stasya and the teammates in battle with him. She'll have to do the same; she's alive because of that determination.
After she speaks, she stays quiet, looking at the coffee drip, about as lost in thought at K' is. That is, until K' preys on a defenseless box of Pocky. Shurui glowers almost childishly as K' indulges in a cookie, grabbing one for herself and chewing on it now that the box has been opened. "Telling him no's gonna get me in as much trouble. But yeah. Let's say this- the moment I see him, I page you. The message'll be something random- it'd take too much time to write out a response, and talking'll just give me away. That work?"
The coffee finishes, and Shurui takes the pot and pours it into the thermos. "Stay alive. If you need a place to crash, come here." It's almost a command, rather than a polite offer. "Also." She exhales slowly, her eyes low.
A few sticks of pocky are handed towards him. ".... Thank you.
The only thing K' lusts-- as far as anyone can really /tell/, anyway-- is revenge. His desire for vengeance is not just clear; it's glaring. The hatred that consumes his yellow eyes at any mention of NESTS is more than enough to prove that to anyone who might doubt; and his violent, demanding drive actually infuses him with a kind of charisma towards anyone else who might bear similar grudges. He certainly doesn't have any OTHER kind of charisma.
A silent nod is his only response to her proposal, her new 'pack leader' not being much for talk (and hardly being anything like her previous one, K' is neither greedy nor lascivious). He just finishes off his cookie with a quick efficiency, licking a bit of chocolate from a canine and accepting the things she proffers without much protest.
Her thanks initially go unanswered, the boy's eyes simply dipping and slanting away with a faint and awkward annoyance. "We do what we have to," he eventually replies shortly and cryptically, before he turns shoulder and makes to leave: this time, through more conventional routes.
If Whip won't reply his messages, he's got some visits to others he has to pay.
Quickly preparing the coffee and handing the thermos over to K', the girl mumbles, "Just give it back when you're done." She was lucky enough to get that on discount because of that ding in the side! Thermos like that aren't *cheap*, you know. ..... then again, the ones that are generally look a little better. However, the coffee will stay as hot as it did when it came out of the pot, and Shurui's got a second, similiar one as backup.
".... Yeah," Shurui finally says, looking up at K' as he turns away. "We do."
She watches the Beast of Fire walk away and exit her dorm, silent as the rain pours down against the glass. It isn't until she's certain that the young man has left that she goes to her small closet, fishing out something that could make for a quick disguise. She needs to grab groceries, after all, if she's going to limit herself to her stay here.
It's going to suck. But the alternative is even worse.
Log created on 19:56:01 04/11/2008 by K', and last modified on 06:47:39 04/13/2008.