[RL with the Zombie boys.]

[nevergiveitback]

This is it.
That was the simple thought that Kuroro had as he prepared to go collect his zombie companions. He'd desired the jewel for quite some time, the Shattered Life Stone, but he'd never been motivated enough to get it. Whilst it was true that it was difficult to get his hands on, it was far from impossible for him. The risk, and the effort

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[tiedbyfate]

Shito wasn't sure how Kuroro was going to come get them, but he had told Kuroro that they would be waiting in the lobby of their dormitory.

Considering they were going into a cave filled with deadly monsters, the two boys looked rather unequipped. Shito had a small satchel containing a flashlight and a length of rope, but he hadn't been able to think of anything else to bring along. He was just dressed in his usual school uniform with the cross-shaped tie clip.

He straightened up from his waiting posture when he heard the sound of tearing universe, and stared at the rent in time and space, through which Kuroro's head was poking through. "Hello, Kuroro. We're ready," he said firmly, and then walked towards the portal.

[tiedbydestiny]

"You know, I'm almost getting used to that," Chika said, following Shito and staring at the rip. "People just bouncing in outta nowhere, I mean. And that's a while different kind of disturbing."

He looked no more prepared than his partner, though he'd changed out of his school uniform into jeans, a t-shirt and a hoodie. Chika spent quite enough money on repairing or replacing his uniform as it was. He saw no reason to wear it into another universe where nobody was going to care if they were out of uniform or not.

"Are we going straight there, or somewhere else first?" he asked. He flexed the fingers of his right hand absently. "Should we switch hands now?"

[nevergiveitback]

Kuroro sat on a chair, carefully choosing a style between relaxed and formal. His legs were together but stretched out, his back straight with his hands in his lap.
"That's really up to you. It's not going anywhere, and we've got ten hours or so of daylight."

His wide black eyes took in everything about the boys, noting the differences in their styles. Shito seemed to be more formal about the occasion, but Chika seemed more excitable despite his relaxed appearance. Hmm.
"I thought we might get something to eat whilst I give you a run-down of the area. But then, I don't know if you boys eat at all."
He kept an interested smile on his face at all times, but it was devoid of any trace of amusement, avoid the idea that he was mocking them.

[tiedbyfate]

"No point in switching until we're at the site," Shito said, stepping through the portal and looking around at the extravagant suite with no change in his expression. If he was impressed, he didn't show it. "Otherwise we'll wind up wasting what little time we have."

His gaze did linger on the video game system as he wondered what the box hooked up to the television was for. It didn't quite look like a simple DVD player.

He glanced at Kuroro again, a wry twist to his lips. "We eat. And regular food, too, not brains."

Truth be told, he was rather excited about this, though he took pains to hide it. This would be a change of pace for them, and he was quite confident of their success. Not only that, but the payment for the job was likely to be significant.

[tiedbydestiny]

Chika was visibly more awed than his partner by their surroundings as they entered the hotel room. He whistled, and his eyes widened. The others could practically see the money signs dancing in them. "Well, hell, check this out," he murmured, delighted. "We're getting the royal treatment, aren't we? Nice."

He flashed a grin at Kuroro. "And we never turn down a free meal!" Chances were damned good Kuroro wasn't going to be nearly as stingy about it as the Ferryman always was, either.

[nevergiveitback]

"Hah-Hah! I'm glad. I'd feel sort of awkward having something to eat when you guys couldn't."
Without leaving his chair, he threw a room service menu to Chika- he figured he'd be the one more interested at first.
"Go wild. I'm buying."

Kuroro really didn't care about his own personal money supply. He only took a share of his Troupe's jobs so that they'd not feel awkward about it, and frankly, half of them thought he deserved more than he took anyway.

[tiedbyfate]

Though he tried to seem aloof and uncaring, Shito did crane his neck to look at the menu selections. He blinked at the prices, and then tried to focus on the descriptions of the food.

This was definitely a step above conveyor belt sushi, which was what Bekko usually took them out to eat as reward for a job well done.

Especially since he'd only let them select the cheapest pieces.

He tapped one of the items nonchalantly, telling Chika what he wanted, then took a seat near Kuroro. "Is it just going to be the three of us, then?" he asked, glancing around as if he expected to see the rest of Kuroro's gang hiding in the shadows.

[tiedbydestiny]

"Man, I can't even pronounce half of this," Chika declared, but he didn't sound unhappy about it. He wrote down the item Shito had indicated, then put his own choice below it, and passed both the notepad and the menu back to Kuroro.

Then he proceeded to prowl around the room curiously, poking at anything that caught his interest, though he left anything that clearly belonged to Kuroro alone. He paused in front of the game system, and grinned. "Sweet. Didn't peg you as a gamer, Kuroro!"

[nevergiveitback]

Again, those wide eyes of his just kept taking it all in. It would have been easier if he could hear their heartbeats, but as it was, he was just going to have to watched for little cues, like Shito's blinking. It was all data to crunch.

Kuroro kept his gentle smile going when Shito asked.
"That's right. After I got to see you two in action recently, I thought that we wouldn't need any help."
After a short phone call to order their meals, Kuroro responded to Chika's question.
"Hah-hah, yeah, I love computer games. Nothing better than the feeling of a high score, or beating that last boss."

[tiedbyfate]

"Computer game?" Shito echoed blankly, looking around again to try to figure out what they were on about. "You beat up your boss?"

He was obviously totally confused.

[tiedbydestiny]

"Oh, geez." Chika rolled his eyes at his partner. "You've seen me play video games, idiot. Hell, me'n Junpei played all the time while he was living with us. A boss is just a tough enemy."

Shito really, really bewildered him at times. How could any teenager in modern Japan not know about things like video games and chat rooms? Chika was pretty sure the asshole didn't even have a cell phone! Had he been living under a rock his whole life until he got into that bus accident?

"So, what kind of crap are we likely to be facing on this job?" he asked Kuroro, curious about the details. He hadn't really cared much up to this point, except for what the paycheque would be, but he figured that now they were actually getting into it he probably ought to know what to expect. "I mean, we're good, but we can't take a hundred monsters all at once. Though you might," he added grudgingly, remembering the easy way Kuroro had dealt with the zombies.

[nevergiveitback]

Kuroro wasn't quite as shocked as he made out, but he pulled a face which was the quintessence of 'bwuh?' His head recoiled slight and his mouth dropped open.
"You...You don't know what computer games are?"
His 'bwuh' face remained for a second or two as Chika spoke, and then was replaced with an excited school child like grin.
"That's awesome! It means I get to teach you all about it!"

In response to Chika's question, he rolled out a map onto a table, showing a five roomed temple, more or less a straight line with thin corridors connecting them.
"I only know for sure what's in the first two rooms. The first room has a 'Axe Face' and his wives in it. Twelve foot tall tree with bladed tentacles, and a four or five small birds that act as its eyes. Weird thing. The second room has the only animal that Axe Faces don't try to kill in it, a family of Pyreodillas. Basically, imagine a gorilla, with armoured plates that can breath fire. Nasty things. I'm guessing that will be it, not much would share room with them."

[tiedbyfate]

Shito might have blushed if he could have. He glared heatedly at Chika, then his red eyes darted self-consciously to Kuroro, and then back to the gaming system. "Oh, I mean, of course I know what they are!"

Now that Chika mentioned it, he remembered Junpei mentioning them a few times. He had been a bit resentful of how much time Junpei and Chika spent playing them together, and had kept himself scarce when they went on about it. Maybe he should have paid more attention.

He tugged his chair closer and focused on the map instead, hoping they would drop the subject. "I guess we don't know what's after the...the pyreodillas," he said. The fire breathing sounded bad, but he was pretty sure they could take both the tree and the gorilla things if they didn't mess around.

[tiedbydestiny]

If there was one thing Chika could be counted on to get serious about, it was a mission that was going to earn him money. And getting killed again was high on his list of Things Not To Do. Like, number one. So he figured he'd better pay attention to the discussion.

But he was so going to tease Shito about the video games later. Seriously.

"Don't suppose there's any way we can lure the pyro things into torching the tree for us?" he asked, half serious.

[nevergiveitback]

"I doubt there is anything beyond them to honest, because it'd have to be something that could get past both the Axe Face and the Pyreodillas without risk."
He really did want to teach Shito to play computer games. He honestly enjoyed them, and with some luck, Shito would enjoy being taught.

As for Chika's suggestion;
"It seems like a good idea on the surface, but the thing is, we'd have to get the Pyreodillas to come to us. And then we'd be dealing with Pyreodillas and an Axe Face at the same time. My plan right now is that Shito and I shoot down the Axe Face's wives, and you cover us from the tentacles. Once the birds are gone, it won't have any idea where we are."

[tiedbyfate]

Well, that sounded simple enough. Just two rooms of enemies, and then a straight shot to the gem. Shito wasn't optimistic enough to be certain that the other rooms would all be completely empty, but they'd cross that bridge when they came to it.

"No problem," he said, nodding his agreement with Kuroro's suggestion. "And when we reach the Pyreodillas, we should shoot them down from a distance, I think. We don't want to get burned trying to get in close." He glanced sidelong at Chika as he said this.

There was a knock at the door and Shito got to his feet automatically, answering the door and accepting the tray of room service.