Today was a rather unsuccessful day for Nyasa Freeman, but at least she hadn’t come home looking like trash. Not like poor Buddingtonite had. She sat in the living room, enjoying her downtime and trying not to think of how best to pay her debts when he dragged himself into the condo, almost forgetting the glamor that hid his true identity from both the cold woman on the couch as well as the Irish wolfhound that had begun to growl from his spot on the couch. A few seconds later, Buddingtonite powered down, revealing his ever-charming Richard self, and Nyasa continued to pretend to not have noticed him, turning the page in the magazine as Baldwin leapt from the couch to greet his owner. He looked like he had a busy night, and she couldn’t help but wonder to herself, as he took a seat next to her with an exhausted groan. ’I thought this was his off day...’

One would think so, given how adamant he was to leave his home and enjoy a night out, away from his Negaverse duties and especially away from her. She recalled this with such detail that she almost wanted to bring it up with him, but she said nothing. Knowing Richard, though, he’d likely tell her all the juicy details, whether she wanted to hear it or not, and this time, Nyasa was genuinely curious. So, she waited patiently for him to spill the beans, and when he did, she couldn’t help but stop her ‘skimming’ and looked dead at him.

“You did... what?” Nyasa asked, looking at Richard with curious, turquoise eyes, and while he must have thought that gaining her interests was a grand feat to be honored, he could not have been any more wrong. And now, as he pampered his dog, whispered sweet nothings to him as a way of avoiding the issue, Nyasa repeated herself, even so much as setting the magazine down completely as she asked. “What did you say you did, Richard?”

He repeated himself, with a little more pride this time, as an exhausted laugh escaped his mouth as he laid back on the couch. “I killed a youma. I helped kill a youma... all to save this little page!”

She wasn’t quite sure what emotions he was running through, and in truth, she didn’t care. What did she care what he did? Normally, she wouldn’t, but the fact that he was confessing to her, a senior ranking officer, than he had assisted an enemy in killing a youma... she wanted to feel anger, and in some part of her, she did. Instead, she felt a bit of curiosity get the better of her, and she shook her head, before retrieving the fallen magazine and forcing herself to read over it. “You’re going to get into trouble for that, you know.”

She wanted him to get in trouble. Anything to put the damn waste of breath in his place. And yet, he didn’t care. He gave a shrug, as if to say ‘so what’, before going back to showering his dog with affection, leaving Nyasa to shake her head in silence. ’A little talk with the higher ups will straighten him out... you’ll be singing a different tune soon enough.’

(Word Count: 552)