Prompt 8 (Mouse in the House): It’s snowing outside, and it’s going to keep snowing--all night long. They're not calling it a blizzard but it sure does feel like one. The power seems like it’ll stay on, which is good because it’s so cold outside. You’re safe and warm--but you’re not alone. At first, you might not notice anything. Maybe you see something move out of the corner of your eye, or hear something in the other room. It doesn’t take long to find the culprit: a mouse.
A mouse is sharing your living space, your shelter from the storm. On one hand, you don’t know where it’s been. On the other hand, it’s freezing outside, and it has big, sweet eyes. Do you have the heart to kick anything out in this weather? ...Do you really want that thing running around your place unchecked?
"What the ********."
Sitting in his office, pen in hand, Faustite felt quite perturbed. He closed his fist around the poor metal thing, and as it heated, it gained a bend with the amount of stress Faustite was putting on it. The past few weeks had been terribly trying, so much that he found himself perpetually irritable, and unwilling to tolerate even the slightest sound in his office.
He'd been hearing shifting sounds for the past hour that he'd returned to his office. They were rare, happening only two or three times during that period, but given how quiet the Citadel had been, they drew his ear right to the noise. Drew his concentration, too. So, for the past hour, he managed three sentences on a report. Within the past minute, he heard it again — sounded like shifting fabric — and Faustite already had his suspicions.
Youma rats must've been attracted by his new sister's festive displays. They must've been interested in the bright tinsel and ribbon, the lights, the fake pine, the ornaments. They must've thought them to be starseeds, so they nested in his office somewhere. Faustite excused himself from his desk and began a hunt.
He checked behind the wreath, found nothing. Behind the mini tree was nothing. Behind the dented and scorched bookcases, he found nothing. They weren't hiding in the writing desk that he should've thrown out by now. They weren't in the other char-marked chairs. Under his battered desk, he found nothing. Even his stool had no rats underneath.
Which left the tiny utility closet in the corner. Faustite approached it with a sense of triumph. It was the only place they could've been hiding.
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Posted: Sun Dec 19, 2021 10:55 am
The tiny utility closet in the warmest room in the castle had been the perfect place for Yuuri to take a quick nap without worrying about someone, like Albite, bursting into his office to present him with more plants. Or bothering Axinite by sleeping on his couch.
He’d brought the blanket from his own office with him, and powered down when he realized that Faustite wasn’t there. He didn’t want to harass his friend, either, so it was just easiest to hide and get a quick nap in, before getting back to work.
He didn’t wake when Faustite opened the door, although he was normally a very light sleeper. He was exhausted. Nightmares were keeping him up more than usual, and tossing and turning in his shared bed with Misha only woke up his friend.
Yuuri had the blanket pulled around himself, and he was scrunched up in a way that couldn’t possibly be comfortable, but he was used to it. Years of hiding in closets to avoid other people ended up turning the small space into something of a comfort device. Although probably not the healthiest one to have.
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Posted: Sun Dec 19, 2021 2:54 pm
The youma rats were quick to startle, and quicker to dash between his feet; when Faustite opened the closet door, it was with a careful hand, wary of letting any of those squeaky critters escape before he could immolate them. But when he opened the door, he saw what looked like a foot wrapped in a blanket, and as he opened it further, he discovered the sleeping form of a human.
Scratch that. A Kamacite.
Faustite blinked, for once wholly taken aback by surprise. As soon as it wore off, he was quick to snatch his cincher from subspace and wrap it about himself, tamping down the heat that licked off of him. Hitching up his pants, he crouched.
"Kama." He nudged the boy gently, or as gently as a slight poke with one of his nails could be. He had to wonder — what brought his friend to his closet, of all places? And why was he sleeping there instead of at home? Were he and Misha having a fight? Was it something between Yuuri and Misha's brother? Did something happen to their house? Did Kamacite prefer closets to actual beds?
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Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2021 6:46 pm
Yuuri didn't startle when he was poked awake, but he did stare blearily up at Faustite for a moment, before he could feel his cheeks warming as he realized he'd been found.
"Oh… sorry," he muttered, lifting a hand to rub at his eyes, and, since there was no point in hiding any more, he quickly fished out his pen from his pocket so he could power up. He had been wearing a heavy winter coat, but the robes, plus the blanket, would have to do. His legs would probably be cold, but that's what he got.
"Sorry," he said again as he struggled to push the now swaths of fabric off of him, whether it be from the blanket or his robes -- oh and his hair was in the way now too. Maybe he should have waited to power up until he was out of the closet, but he hadn't really been thinking about it.
"Sorry, I was cold, and you weren't here, but I didn't want to bother you," Kamacite explained, hoping he wasn't going to be kicked out, but prepared to do so-- if he could wiggle his way out of the closet.
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Posted: Wed Dec 29, 2021 5:48 pm
"Small wonder you were napping. Surprised Negaspace didn't drain you to death." Maybe it didn't affect its own when they were powered down, but Faustite never thought to ask. Never thought to test it, either, but he was aware of how the area sucked away the life force of anyone not actively identified as Negaverse.
Then Yuuri transformed and — found himself in a bigger mess. Faustite dismissed the apologies as politeness — Kamacite was afflicted with it — and summoned his cincher to hand. Kamacite could sort his apologies and his considerations out while Faustite donned the cincher, and snapped the last of the clasps together, sealing his fire.
He reached down, wordlessly, and took up his friend's cold hands to bring him to his feet and out of the closet. He hadn't known much of what was in there, having relegated the space to whatever Albite and Lysithea decided to stock in there, but he couldn't imagine it being very comfortable.
Not that the rest of his office was comfortable.
"Here," he instructed, and he reached past his friend to gather up the blanket and pillow. Caught them both up under his arm and he walked back to his desk, laid the pillow atop it and dragged one of the backed chairs back around to face the desk next to his stool. He stood behind it sorted the blanket out in his hands until he caught the corners. He would wait for the orange-swathed senshi to sit, then cover his shoulders wit the blanket.
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Posted: Sun Jan 16, 2022 1:45 pm
"Didn't want anyone to find me," he admitted, because if he'd been powered up, the aura would have made it obvious. He wasn't too worried about napping as a civilian though. He'd done it before, and whether or not his energy was taken didn't matter if it meant getting a good nap from it.
He shivered now that he was pulled out of the closet, but was grateful to Faustite's assistance with making him more comfortable. Kamacite yawned as he sat in the chair, and tugged the blanket a little tighter over his shoulders once it was placed over them.
"Thank you. I'm sorry, I know you're busy so I didn't want to bother you," he explained again, because he wasn't sure if he said it out loud the first time, or if he just imagined it. He was still very sleepy. Maybe his energy had been sapped a bit.
"I keep getting more plants in my office… don't know what to do about them," he mumbled off handedly. There wasn't much for Faustite to do about them, but Kamacite thought he should maybe try and be better company than just sleeping.
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Posted: Sun Feb 06, 2022 10:54 am
For the concern of bothering him, Faustite only shrugged. Kamacite was ever considerate of others around him, of course; Faustite had no doubt that he was sincere about it. But just as it was in Kamacite's nature to be gentle, it was in Faustite's nature to be bothered. Something always had him irritable, and it was almost never his friend.
This time, it was the inanity of reports. He understood their purpose, but he hated the rigamarole he had to go through to file them. Really, the reporting process was entirely unfriendly to persons on fire.
Of which the Negaverse had only one, but. Surely they would meet him halfway if they cared about his opinions.
The plant thing, though — that was odd. Usually youma didn't make their way into Negaspace, and when they were, it was at the behest of their commanding officer. So, was there an officer around who wanted to drop plants off at Kamacite's? Or a youma being left off its leash? Or even a subordinate, lacking two brain cells to rub together?
He wondered, particularly, about the latter. Who bothered to keep plants in Negaspace?
"Could get rid of them for you. Or help you take them home."
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Posted: Fri Feb 18, 2022 10:23 am
Did he want to get rid of the plants? He certainly didn't have room at home to put them. Well, maybe he could talk to Misha about it, but somehow he doubted Misha (or Lev) would want to have their home taken over by plants.
"It might encourage Albite to bring in more if the office is emptied," he sighed and shook his head. "Thank you. It's okay, I'll… figure something out. General Prehnite gave me some supplies to take care of them. Well… when I still had one and not a bunch."
But apparently it was a fun thing to give him plants upon plants.
"Would you like one? It might help you focus on something if you get too overwhelmed. I think it's helped me a little," he offered, hoping it didn't sound like he was trying to get rid of them. Some of them needed to be pruned and if they could be repotted to continue to grow, then that was a good thing, wasn't it?
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Posted: Thu Mar 10, 2022 11:43 am
"Oh," and Faustite nodded knowingly, his attention distant. "Albite's doing it." He snorted, then laughed at himself for not guessing it sooner. Who else but Albite? He'd directed the boy to seek counsel from Kamacite once upon a time ago, hadn't he?
This was Albite's mess, but Albite's mess was also his mess by virtue of subordination. By virtue of inadvertently causing it.
"Could take one," he conceded. It was another thing he would have to avoid burning, but his office was full of such combustible trifles now, so what was one more. If it would burden Kamacite a margin less, then he should accept one. Maybe he could give it a corner in his bedroom. He wouldn't burn it if it was in the opposite corner to his piece of sheetmetal.
"Talk to him, too. Usually listens to me." Usually, but not always.
Albite was ever a better reader of people than him.
Across the top of one of the pages on his desk, he wrote, THIS REPORT IS GARBAGE, then crumpled the thing up in his hands. It began to brown and smoke, whereupon he poked it between the slats of his grate with the butt of his metal nib pen. It caught, burned, then died out in short order. Seizing a new sheet, he started penning a new draft.
Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2022 11:42 am
Kamacite was listening. He really was. He nodded in understanding, even as his eyes felt heavy and drooped a bit. He watched the way the paper turned to brown and burnt up. Thought of how Albite wasn’t as horrible as he seemed -- just loud. And Faustite taking one of the plants might help him get them in order.
But the room was also so warm and comfortable. He slouched a little more in the chair, thinking that maybe he could continue just talking to Faustite, even if he let his eyes rest a little longer.
“You can have one. Would look nice…” he tried to explain his thoughts, even as he faded. He normally didn’t fall asleep so easily around people, but he clearly trusted Faustite.
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Posted: Thu Apr 07, 2022 5:57 pm
It was common for Faustite to leave threads of conversation to languish, thinking they were finished. He had thought as much when Kamacite left off his comment, and returned to his work, feeling no more productive than before. He trusted that the pale sunflare would mention it to him if he'd misinterpreted a conversational lull, though not to the bullheaded extent that Albite would.
But he must've guessed right, for silence followed. Usually he'd gone without suspecting that his friend was too shy to say something, and while he felt that suspicion creep in as he worked, he quashed it.
Then he heard a shift in Kamacite's breathing.
It wasn't that he was snoring, and it wasn't that his breathing was audible before. But it became audible for the deep draws of breath, and their slow expiration. Soft little gusts that arrested Faustite's attention. His friend had fallen asleep in a pool of hair and fabric.
Faustite hid a smile in his sleeve. Then he turned hi attention back to his work, knowing that he would be there for a while yet.
