Night 57: M-A Block Hallway

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[from here]He slipped silently down the hallway, flashlight (turned off) in hand, as he couldn't fit it into a pocket with both the bulky radio as well as the gun. A hassle, but bearable. Having a portable source of light handy with him while wandering dark corridors was actually rather helpful, even if normally, Vino wouldn't have bothered with it

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[human_sponge]

[From here.]

As it turned out, Peter didn't have to go very far before he ran into Albedo. He'd been planning to meet up with the boy around here, but he hadn't expected him to arrive so fast. He was in the block that was directly north of this one, wasn't he? How had he gotten over here so quickly?

Well, that was honestly the least of Peter's worries. The kid had done a lot of teasing over the bulletin and Peter hadn't really known how to handle it, so he was hoping that didn't make this awkward. With any luck Albedo wouldn't even mention it, seeing how Peter was technically doing him a favor. Not that he really had to go out of his way or anything, but...

He moved toward the door where the boy was waiting and then shifted his grip on the shotgun as he approached him so that he could hand it over handle first.

"Here you go," he said, not sure if he had any other words. "Be careful"? "Don't kill anyone human with this"? "What kind of upbringing did you have to end up this way?" None of those options would have worked, and so Peter kept it simple.

[purpletaint]

There wasn't much of a wait. Peter approached Albedo readily, holding out the gun easily. Albedo took it, holding it down at his side. Hm?~ Was that really all the man had to say? How utterly disappointing. "How cold," he said, eyebrows quirked in half-amused. "Was it that much of a trouble to hold on to this?"

Likely not. If anything, it had likely been forgotten in the man's closet or something. Perhaps he had somewhere to go, or perhaps Albedo's little friendliness on the board was still having an effect? The boy couldn't know. "By any rate, I should thank you, mm?" Deliberately, he batted his lashes. "Any payment preferred?"

[human_sponge]

The response, as usual, was one that Peter hadn't expected. He hadn't thought that he'd come off as cold in any way, though at this point he was guessing that Albedo was just saying things that he thought might bother him. He frowned for a moment and shook his head. "Not at all. This is on my way. Sorry if I..." But what could he even say? He had a really tough time wrapping his head around how the boy's mind worked. Instead, he only sighed.

Any thought of repayment seemed ridiculous to him, though. The gun ending up in his possession was an accident, and as he'd just said, it hadn't been any extra effort for him to deliver it. "Not at all," he replied with a shake of his head. "Just... be careful using that." In the end, he ended up giving some sort of advice anyway. Oh well, he didn't think it was that out of line.

[purpletaint]

The end of a statement and a sigh spoke of a kind of giving up, and to that, Albedo only smiled cheerily. Peter was not Klavier, at any rate. He wasn't fighting to lock Albedo's movements into tiny stifling boxes called normality and mundanity, and for that, Albedo might grow to like him, given the time.

From his peripheral, his eyes caught movement, and surprised, his head turned to follow the other as he left. Friendliness now, was it? Here existed something wholly unexpected. And wasn't that one the one that had likely been warned about Albedo's presence? Interesting. Very interesting, actually, and he'd do well to follow up on it.

Though another time. There was a perfect sort of amusement in front of him, and despite this, Albedo didn't have the mind for it. Especially with that kind of response. It almost made it boring, said with an edge of concern like that. The boy gave a drawn-out sigh, and waved his hand, quirking his lips at Peter. "You're an interesting one. Maybe I'll listen to you in exchange for holding onto this." He shrugged, then straightened, turning to move back out the door. Raising his hand to duplicate Sora, he called backwards, "If you see our mutual friend, do look after him, mm?"

If anything, that gave more than Albedo likely wanted to say, but in the end, it was there. Peter was a valiant type, from what Albedo saw. If he came across Ritsuka, he'd look after him. There was something relieving in that.

[to here]

[human_sponge]

That had gone better than Peter had hoped. Maybe it was because the kid had been distracted by someone else waving at him or maybe it was because Peter had handed the gun off without a fuss, but Albedo brushed him off and disappeared through the door soon enough.

He didn't see what was so interesting about him, but he'd have to take Albedo's word for it. He was the one who could heal, and he still had to tell Claire about that. Another time, probably, since he had a job to do.

It was possible that he would run across Ritsuka on the way, seeing how the boy seemed to have a hand in the Search and Rescue group, but he'd just have to wait and see about that. With his load significantly lightened, Peter headed out the door shortly after Albedo.

[To here.]