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Post by Linyü on Oct 1, 2020 12:51:49 GMT -6
"You're going out?" said Roku. The cat was sitting on the fence that ran along the front of the apartment building, paws tucked under himself, the tip of his long tail twitching. "Yes," San replied. "Where to?" "The Quest Board." As he answered, San wondered what Roku wanted. It wasn't as if Roku never took an interest in what they did anymore since they came here, but without the impetus of orders from above to bind them to a task, Roku was generally more content to leave them to their own devices. Sometimes San wouldn't see him for days at a time, and if the cat had any business of his own that he was attending to, he didn't share this knowledge with anyone else. Ichaival might have known, of course, in the way that Ichaival seemed to know a lot of things it shouldn't, thanks to that accursed telepathy. 1
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Post by Linyü on Oct 1, 2020 12:55:59 GMT -6
But if that was the case, the dragon certainly didn't volunteer any details, at least, not to San. And why would it? The dragon's allegiance was clear, and anyway it had nothing to gain from antagonizing the cat by divulging his secrets.
Then again, maybe even Ichaival didn't know. If there was anyone San thought capable of keeping their own secrets even in the face of a telepath, Roku would be it.
"The Quest Board, hmm?" The cat considered this answer for a moment, then rose to his feet and stretched languidly, then shook himself off. "Very well."
"You're coming?" San asked. He couldn't keep the surprise entirely out of his voice. It was rare for Roku to accompany him anywhere these days; the cat seemed to have satisfied himself that San had settled in, and that had been the end of his interest in watching over him, as far as San could tell.
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Post by Linyü on Oct 1, 2020 13:03:23 GMT -6
And they had never been close, not even as agents. They knew each other well enough to do the jobs they had been assigned, and no more. San had been surprised that Roku had come with him at all, when he had gone rogue. But in retrospect, knowing what he did now, maybe Roku had simply been waiting for a good chance to get out himself.
That didn't explain today though. Roku didn't answer, but he did hop down from the fence, walking ahead as though San hadn't asked the question. That was answer enough, San supposed.
The season was slowly turning to autumn. The leaves had begun coloring on the trees, and the temperature dropped gradually, to the point that it was cold enough to necessitate a light jacket some days, especially early in the morning. San was glad for the walk, companion or no, for the opportunity it gave him to warm himself up.
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Post by Linyü on Oct 1, 2020 13:12:44 GMT -6
He didn't really think anything of it; he had been here long enough to recognize that the seasons here, at least, were more or less what he had known in Xinzhou. But when he arrived at their destination, he took in its state in mute surprise.
"Ah," said Roku. "That time of year again."
"Is this... Some sort of festival?" San asked. It was a fair question, and not a strange one for him to ask even if they were in public. Linyü didn't hide the fact that he was a foreigner, after all.
The cat stood there, staring at the quest board for a long moment. San was beginning to wonder if Roku would grace him with a response at all when Roku said, "Not quite, though you aren't far off the mark. It's Halloween. A... celebration of sorts, or perhaps you might call it a holiday, though I doubt you'll get any time off."
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Post by Linyü on Oct 1, 2020 13:17:47 GMT -6
The cat's voice was offhand, but San thought it sounded deliberate, not to say forced. He registered this detail, but didn't press the point; it wasn't his place, nor his habit, to inquire about details that his companions didn't offer themselves. Roku went on: "On the surface you might think it a children's festival. They dress up as monsters, and go about asking for candy. Well, in a well-off town they do, anyway."
"And in a less well-off town?" San said.
"The parents that can afford to humor their children buy the treats themselves." The cat's tail waved to one side, and then the other. "And the beggars take their kicks, same as any other day. Halloween isn't a holiday predicated on generosity."
San turned over the cat's words in his mind. Again there was an undercurrent of something more, but he didn't know enough about Roku to hazard a guess.
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Post by Linyü on Oct 1, 2020 20:22:44 GMT -6
Still, he was curious despite himself, not the least of which was because of how the cat had phrased it. "You said on the surface of it. What else is there?" he said.
The cat was quiet for a time, but San had known him long enough to be able to tell that Roku was merely weighing his words this time, rather than refusing to answer. The two of them stood a little back from the Board itself, and Roku stared at it as the decorations on it fluttered in the wind, but something about his gaze made San wonder what he was really seeing.
"These days, things are stable enough - and advanced enough - that most people know better than to rely on superstitions to guide them," Roku said. His words were slow, and the tone of his voice sounded tired in a way that San wasn't used to hearing from him.
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Post by Linyü on Oct 1, 2020 20:29:15 GMT -6
"We still believe them - you remember the gossip you heard in the markets. Ill omens, unlucky numbers. But it wasn't as bad as it used to be." Roku's tail was still now, no longer carried high as it had been on the walk here. "The monsters are stories they tell to scare children now, and not real things they search for among their own."
San listened quietly. Roku didn't mention anything specific about himself yet, or anyone he knew, but this was already more than the cat had ever bothered to tell him in all the time they had known each other.
Not that San had told him much either, but some of that was because there was no need to. A little of his history was known to the unit when he and Shi had been introduced to it. More than that, they didn't need to know, and likely didn't care about.
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Post by Linyü on Oct 1, 2020 20:34:16 GMT -6
San preferred it that way. His own sordid past didn't really bear retelling. And he hadn't been as good an agent as his sister; he still had bad dreams, still had doubts, well past the point where she had stopped even flinching when she pulled the knife across a man's throat.
He still had them now.
But Roku had always seemed untouchable, above the petty concerns of the humans - an image that the cat projected, but also one that made it impossible to imagine that he'd had any demons of his own to confront.
It felt a little like when Rei had first spoken to him. And yet, in a way it was nothing like that day at all. Rei had proven, for the most part, to be more resilient than he had given her credit for. Roku was baring, just a little, an old scar that he had kept well hidden until now.
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Post by Linyü on Oct 1, 2020 20:42:08 GMT -6
"My first... companion," said Roku, "was a girl. She was kind to me when I was a gormless kitten. Yes, I know; it's hard to believe, isn't it? But we all were, once upon a time." He had recovered a little of his usual attitude, and now he licked a paw - a nervous check, perhaps. "Her family knew a little magic. Herbal healers, all of them.
"They were persecuted for witchcraft. They fled. A series of bad and desperate bargains brought them to Xinzhou." The cat's ears went back for a moment. "What happened after that, I'm sure you can guess. But they never would have had to run if not for... Well."
Roku fell silent. San said nothing. There was nothing to say. The weight of what had been spoken hung heavy over them both, but San had no comfort to offer, and he doubted Roku would have taken it even if he did.
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Post by Linyü on Oct 1, 2020 20:54:19 GMT -6
But then, that was the way of it. No one joined the Watchful Ones of their own accord. There was a reason, too, that it had become a part of the Watchful culture not to ask too many questions. Underneath it all, everyone was the same.
They stood like that for a while, before Roku shook himself off again, as if unwelcome thoughts could be shed like so many unwanted insects. "It was a poor choice," he said, "to come here. I think I shall excuse myself." And with that, he was off, leaving San to inspect the Quest Board on his own.
San didn't blame him, after what he had just said. Besides which, he somehow doubted Roku would offer to help him on any of these jobs. They weren't, for the most part, very dangerous; and if they weren't dangerous, then San could be expected to handle them on his own.
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Post by Linyü on Oct 17, 2020 23:13:08 GMT -6
San expected to find another odd job, something small-time to tide him over between other part time work. He couldn't afford to sign up for full employment hours, since Seveth couldn't be trusted to hold down anything resembling a day job, and Seveth was awake every other day. But what he found, instead, was an invitation to some sort of party... What was the purpose of this? And this address, he had never had any occasion to go to this part of town before. Interested despite himself, he memorized the details, then pinned it back on the board. When he got home for the day, he spoke to Rei about it. "A party?" Rei said. "I don't know. That was what it said," San replied. He was in the midst of making dinner, with Rei sitting atop the fridge, watching him do it. A typical evening in their household, more or less. 11
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Post by Linyü on Oct 21, 2020 21:38:47 GMT -6
San's hands were deft as he chopped up the vegetables, scooping them up with the blade of his cleaver and depositing them into a waiting bowl. He checked the oil in the pan sitting on the stove by moving it around, then dumped in diced onions, moving them around a little with a wooden spoon. Times like this, he missed the wok, but the shops here didn't sell anything like it, and it seemed like a frivolous expense to get one custom made.
His body may not move like he wanted it to, but at least he hadn't lost the dexterity in his hands. Cooking still felt more or less the same as it had before he had gotten ill.
"Will you go?" said Rei.
"Probably."
Since it was Rei, he didn't explain any further: That it was strange that they had posted it on the job board, of all places.
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Post by Linyü on Oct 21, 2020 21:42:25 GMT -6
That he wanted to know why they were paying people to come. Or whether they were paying people at all, and why he hadn't seen it advertised elsewhere.
It afforded him a reason and an opportunity to go to a part of town that he wasn't familiar with as of yet, and that alone was valuable. But more than that, it felt as if there was something strange about this, and part of him wanted to find out what it was.
It was, he knew, the opposite of what his instinct should have been. When there was danger, it was best to avoid it, especially if it had nothing to do with you. He wasn't anywhere close to returning to form, even with his best attempts to train himself; he could only push his recovering body so far without risking the kind of strain that did more damage than good.
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Post by Linyü on Oct 21, 2020 21:47:28 GMT -6
And even the Watchful trainers had taken the span of two whole years to train San when he had started out, and the child that San had been had been in better physical shape, with a child's capacity for learning and recovery. At twenty-three, he wasn't old, but he wasn't a boy anymore either.
"I'll go with you," Rei was saying, as San tossed shrimp and vegetables together with seasoning in the pan.
"It might be dangerous," said San, without looking up. Rei said nothing, though he could sense something like a hint of reproach in the quality of her silence.
Well. Maybe she had a point. Who was he to tell her this now, after everything? But still, he couldn't quite keep himself from saying, "You don't have to do this."
"You're going," said Rei.
He sighed. There would be no stopping her, and in truth it would be useful to have her along.
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Post by Linyü on Oct 21, 2020 21:55:30 GMT -6
She was a good scout, and after so many years of working together, they could read each other better than anyone else. It was more comfortable to rely on Rei, even over Roku, who had the benefit of more experience.
Rei knew all of this, and knew that San knew it too. He felt the sting of guilt, made sharper by the fact that he no longer had the excuse of Watchful necessity to excuse it, but this was easier than arguing with her about it.
Once he was done with the food, he turned off the gas and began packing it into portions to put in the fridge. Seveth never cooked; either he didn't know how to or didn't care to bother with it, and if there was no food, he would sometimes go without eating altogether, or order in expensive, nutritionally empty meals whose aftermath San would have to deal with.
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