[RP] tell me where the puzzle pieces fit, where to start and when to quit

[scorchtheground]

[A continuation of this thread from the Conrad's destruction post]

Hiroto's frowning at the contents of his fridge. There's enough in it, sure, but he doesn't know what the fuck this little thing that's asleep on his couch actually eats. That and he's still not entirely sure how he's going to take care of the demon. Wanderer. Demon. She

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[crashiscoming]

Scout's asleep for a long, long time--she rarely if ever sleeps this long. If Hiroto knew, however, that she spent upwards of four or five hours throwing herself at rocks, clawing at walls until her nails bled and smashing her head against splinters of foundation, he might forgive her her exhaustion. Then again, maybe not.

She finally does begin to stir, caught up in one dream or another of bright lights shined directly into her eyes, soft whispers of cold breath straight into her ear and water, all the water poured down her throat, soaking her until she was shivering and could barely breathe from the cold. She twitches once or twice, strikes out at nothing and then bolts awake with a hiss.

At first there's panic. She has no idea where she is, and she turns her head, craning to see her surroundings and to assess any threats that might be in the room. Lord only knows where the coldbloods might have dragged her off to, to 'fix' her or something similar.

But then she sees Hiroto and she relaxes a little, everything coming back to her. He helped her--he carried her, like Mattie carried her home so long ago. She makes a soft cooing sound somewhere in the back of her throat to let him know she's awake, unsure of where to move. She's just going to sit here on the couch until you give her further instruction, Hiroto.

[scorchtheground]

Hiroto looks up when she snarls herself awake. He'd been aware of the dreams, but, well, he didn't really care. It's not like any of his family didn't have nightmares and he knows how dangerous it is to wake up someone in the middle of them. He's almost got the katana itself clean by this point, if not the sheath. That will take a bit more work.

So they get to stare at each other for a bit, while he figures out what to do now that it'sshe's awake. The pizza's not done yet, so he can't just tell her to eat something. He glances over at the rest of his weapons, then back at her. Maybe she could help him with those. ...after she cleans herself up. That'll work.

"There is," he gestures toward the bathroom with the katana, "a shower. Food soon."

[crashiscoming]

Scout takes a good minute and a half to look at him. She's still a little bit out of it all, so comprehending it all takes a little more time than normal. She does get it, though. She nods and climbs to the floor, taking a moment to make sure she can stand.

She goes into the bathroom and spends a few minutes just staring at the shower. Scout doesn't like showers. They remind her too much of being held under freezing, drippy water, the words she needed to say repeated into her ear again and again, held in place by arms that couldn't feel how cold it was. So instead she peels off the large shirt she was wearing and turns on the faucet to the sink, clawing at large hunks of dried blood under the flow until she can see her own skin again.

Her stomach rumbles. She can't wait for food.

[scorchtheground]

Hiroto had been fighting with cleaning the sheath for a bit, and is perfectly glad to put the stupid thing down when Scout comes back out of the bathroom. She hardly looks better, but at least her arms aren't smeared with blood anymore -- her shirt, however, is a different matter entirely.

He puts both the sheath and the katana on the island separating the kitchenette area from the rest of the studio, and goes over to his dresser. He doesn't own a lot of clothing -- never needed to, really -- so it's mostly empty, but he pulls out a shirt and tosses it to her. Hopefully she'll know what to do with it.

Then he goes to the kitchen to check on the pizza. It's making the apartment smell good, and he's also starving. Probably not as starving as her. But that's of no consequence, really.

"What is your name?" he asks. If she has one, he'll call her by it. Unless it's stupid. If she doesn't, he'll give her one.

[crashiscoming]

Scout blinks at him and then picks up the shirt and takes off the dirty one she's wearing, turning her back to him for no reason other than some kind of basic training that has stuck with her despite the crazy and the broken. She pulls the new one on quickly, sliding her arms into its sleeves and adjusting it carefully.

There are words here that she should say, but they're all mixed up in her head, so instead she focuses on the question at hand.

"Scout," she says, her voice rough from having just woken up. It's easier to speak in single word answers, and if that's enough for him, it works for her. They'll build to more complex statements eventually, maybe. For right now she's going to look intensely at her feet and repeat the name that Mattie gave her.

"Scout."

[scorchtheground]

Scout. Okay. It's not a bad name, he supposes, and he doesn't know her enough or care enough to change that. "Scout," he repeats with a nod, closing the oven. Pizza's not done yet. "I'm Hiroto." He doesn't bother with his last name. It doesn't have the same impact here as it did at home, a fact which infinitely annoys him.

Instead, he plonks down on the stools surrounding the island counter and starts working on the sheath again. "There is water," he says, gesturing to the clean cups drying on a towl near the sink. (Dishracks are for losers.) "Food soon."

[crashiscoming]

Scout nods, watching him carefully. She's done this before--it was a little different with Mattie, she was younger and crazier, but the dance around each other is essentially the same. It was a long time ago, but she thinks she remembers how it works. He's not the same as Mattie--not addicted to pain, not the same, but he's close enough.

"Hiroto," she repeats, then watches him as he concentrates on the sheath. She looks at the cups, taking one and filling it with water from the sink. She places it on the island counter, within reach but out of his workspace so it doesn't get inadvertently knocked over. Then she gets a cup for herself and clambers onto a counter across the room, watching him while she grips the cup with both hands and takes careful sips.

Her stomach growls, but she doesn't notice, focusing instead on watching him.

"Sword for--for fun?" she asks finally.

[scorchtheground]

Hiroto looks almost startled when she sets the cup down for him, blinking at it as though he's never seen it before. Weird, this one tries to take care of him, too. Or at least pre-empt what he wants. Akane did that, on occasion, when she was younger, but stopped when she made too many mistakes and he reacted violently.

...huh.

He turns to look at her on the counter, mostly because it's habit to not have his back to anyone ever, but also because you're supposed to look at someone when you're talking to them. All these little societal rules that he's had ground into him that don't actually make much sense to him, and half of which he barely pays attention to anyway.

The sword is easier to think about. He grins at it, turning the grin on her for a split second before saying, "For hunting." The grin becomes a rather annoyed smirk. "Here, no proper hunting. No fun."

He glances up again, then reaches over for the water glass. It's there, might as well drink it. "You hunt? Back home?"

[crashiscoming]

It worked for Mattie, helping out--then again, it worked because it had to. Because otherwise he would have been dead a long time ago. Maybe Hiroto can take care of himself better than Mattie could, but Scout's going to do what she knows how to do in the meantime.

She nods, takes a sip. "Was for fun, then," she says. "Back." She shrugs, draining her cup and looking into it for a moment.

But then he asks the question and her face splits into that huge grin, the one that stretches her mouth so he can see all her teeth. "Hunt?" she asks, then snaps at the air. "Hunt, yeah. Fun. Fun fun fun fun out 'n about run run run teeth an' fists an' that's it, yeah?"

[scorchtheground]

He blinks at the sudden enthusiasm and the broken syntax. It was easier to understand her when she was only speaking in one or two word sentences; now he has to parse everything again, and it still sounds like gibberish.

Well, he can pick out words, at least. It's a start.

"Fun, yes," he says with a quick nod. It wasn't so much fun as a way of life, for him. "Use weapons, though. Knives. Guns." He gestures over the island, toward the place by the door where most of his weaponry is still stashed. "Have you?"

This is important to know. She will learn if she hasn't.

[crashiscoming]

Scout nods furiously. "Knives, knives know the knives--lost now, dark and crumbly black 'n white but know."

Sorry, Hiroto. The broken syntax is going to continue. Hopefully she got across that she left her knives in the Conrad.

She swings her legs excitedly in the air, practically swimming in the prospect of a hunt. Somewhere in the back of her head she knows she's promised not to, but that's long forgotten now. The game has changed.

She shrugs a little at the comment of guns. "Use, yeah but." She makes a face that one might make when faced with eating brussel sprouts and brains. "Ick. Not fun." Because with Scout, it's all about the fun. The hunt itself is fun, and she likes fun.

[scorchtheground]

She totally didn't -- well, he got the lost, but the 'in the Conrad' part is missed completely. Not that it matters. He has a shitton of them, between the copious amount he had on him when he fell through the Rift as well as the number he's picked off the people he's mugged or killed since coming through. They're not all terribly good, but he's gaining quite a collection. There are more weapons in his dresser than clothes.

He grunts at her face about the guns. "They are fun," he says, setting the sheath down again. "If you use right."

He's about to say more, that he'll teach her or something, but then the oven dings. Food! Hiroto slides off his counter stool, crouching down in front of the oven for a moment before opening it and pulling the pizza out. He snuffs at it for a minute, then looks over at Scout. "You like pizza?"

[crashiscoming]

Scout shrugs. "Piece, pie, boat rock shake shake shake."

Hi incoherency. You're a fun thing.

She slides off the counter and sniffs the pizza as well, then looks up at Hiroto with wide eyes. "Eat?" she asks, then gestures for him to go first. He's probably hungrier than her--though her stomach is growling pretty intensely at the moment. She turns back to look at the pizza almost longingly. Almost subconsciously, in answer to his question, she nods. She could eat just about anything at the moment.