(Untitled)

[dutyandjustice]

Characters: alphaspider and dutyandjustice
Location: Eventually Kuroro's place?
Rating: Prob. G
Time: Morning, 29 Nov.
Description: Knightly concern and moping spiders oh my?

Comments

[alphaspider]

China's return the day before had brought something like new life into Kuroro, but even his favorite (maybe even father) figure in Death City couldn't entirely knock him out of his lethargy. China's disappearance had only been the last step to a process that had been building up for a few months, Kuroro the sort of person to get bored easily despite efforts to counter it and then be crippled by it to the extreme. The worst would pass in another few days (it always did, no matter how life-threatening being bored became), and then Kuroro would get bored of being bored, and would find a way to get something done (even if it wasn't a raid, or meeting the Ryodan, or some other adequately large operation

[dutyandjustice]

"Okay! Be right over!"

She could probably have paused to ask if he wanted her to be right over. But he sounded tired, maybe a little unwell, and she wasn't hesitating for silly unnecessary things like clarifying the situation when she had a friend in need. Of course a knight trained her body for every possible situation, especially running to the aid of anyone in want, so it was only a matter of minutes before she was thundering up to his doorstep and pounding on the door, a little out of breath.

"It's me!"

[alphaspider]

He thought she was going to come over -- people who hung up on him so suddenly upon finding a location usually did that, yes -- but he managed to sink into a stupor between now and then. Long habit and instincts brought him back to some sort of alertness when he heard the thundering outside his door, though. Had she actually climbed all eleven floors...? Kuroro hoped not. That would be kind of silly.

But now Sora was asking him to get up and walk to the door. He considered it, and then poked at his communicator instead. "Just come in," he said, sending Sora the post.

[dutyandjustice]

Sora was waiting with growing mild concern (was he too sick to get up? shouldn't there be someone else watching him?) before the message hit her communicator. Well, at least it wasn't getting in the way of her coming in, even if it was even more worrying in some ways. She let herself inside and politely shed her shoes by the door, glancing around a little curiously. It seemed a little rude to just start poking around, but he had told her to come in, so she headed tentatively towards the main area, looking around for him.

He wasn't hard to spot on the couch, though that assuaged exactly none of her worries.

"I thought maybe you were feeling kind of sick... Are you okay?"

[alphaspider]

Was he all right? Technically, he actually was all right. Bored out of wits to the extreme, but also thoughtful because of the other day's encounter with Kurapika. Neither were very inspiring when it came to doing things outside of being on the couch forever like a particularly old dog.

"I'm fine," he said, blinking up at her with some curiosity, which diminished when his mind finally made out the soup and the question. He hadn't been to training in over a week; Sora was feasibly the most cavalier person Kuroro had ever met; Sora viewed him as a friend and Kuroro viewed her as a sort of student. It was natural enough to conclude why she was here. "Were you worried? I've just been lethargic. Have a seat," he added, gesturing blindly at the armchair nearby.

[dutyandjustice]

"I figured I'd bring some soup by, if you were sick..."

She trailed off, setting the soup down by the couch anyway in almost hopeful offering and curling herself up in the armchair. He didn't look sick after all, but he looked really tired, anyway. She wasn't sure that really counted as "fine," either. Maybe something was bothering him, or he just wasn't happy here. Either way, she was more likely to get the answer out of him by staying and watching. At least she could make sure he ate a little.

"Um, but don't worry! I didn't make it myself or anything."

[alphaspider]

Kuroro glanced at her, and then at the soup, and at her. Kurapika hadn't gotten him extra eggs, this morning, and he'd been too lazy to eat anything else. It wouldn't hurt to have some...

"I'm not sick," he repeated instead, eyeing the soup with intensity. "I'm bored." And then, with herculean effort, Kuroro pushed himself up an elbow and reached for the soup, nimbly flicking off the top and bringing it to himself for inspection. If he could get away with eating it without a spoon, he certainly would.

[dutyandjustice]

Sora frowned a little, weighing that. Staying inside because he was bored didn't really make any sense to her. What could be more boring than that? But Mister Kuroro was a more complicated person than she was, so he probably had a good reason she just couldn't understand.

"Then I'll keep you company!" she offered instead, smiling again. "That's the least I could do for someone who's helped me out so much."

The soup was more broth than anything, some kind of vegetable concoction that had struck Sora as healthy. Her logic hadn't gone much deeper than "vegetables are good for you, and this has vegetables!" but it was easy to swallow, at least.

She is so adorable lmfao.

[alphaspider]

It was a vicious cycle. He was too bored to muster enough energy to do anything, but it also bored him somewhere. Oh, lethargy, if only there was an auction to raid or something noteworthy like that...

Well, maybe not.

Kuroro did brighten up a little in between sipping at the soup at her offer, and he looked at Sora with eyebrows raised. It was supposed to mean that he was pleased, even if his eyebrows are somewhat on the short side to be overly expressive. Chew a particularly large chunk of string bean, swallow. "I haven't helped you all that much."

taking the world by moe shonen heroing, one step at a time.

[dutyandjustice]

"You trained with me and told me what my Meister ability was and everything," she pointed out, perking up a little at the memory. "Even if I don't have a weapon anymore after all... Just getting to practice again was really good."

She shrugged a little and smiled back at him, almost sheepishly. She wasn't so worried anymore about not having a partner, really. Even though she'd wanted to help everyone fight, being in the Watch was important too. As long as she was helping keep people safe, maybe it suited a knight more to stay close and keep watch over the civilians than to go running out on missions. Either way, she still remembered how much training that time had cheered her up.

"I think of all the people I've met here, you've been my friend the longest. A lot of the others went home already."

And vegetable soup.

[alphaspider]

Not for the first time, Kuroro wondered where these kids got their endless, selfless optimism. Sora wasn't the first he'd met, but she was by far the most gullible. It almost made him feel bad for being liked by the girl, especially when he was eating actual food that came from the goodness of her sweet, naive heart.

"That just means you need to find more friends," Kuroro pointed out, though not unkindly. Practical to have Sora's devotion or not, he always did find it odd when people didn't branch out in contacts and people they associated with, for whatever reason. Besides, he didn't want her to be lonely. "And we can go back to training when I get bored of being bored."

yes, and that >D

[dutyandjustice]

"I've met lots of new friends! But you're still the person I met first. Well, you and Arisato-ku--um, Minato. And Miss Von Karma, I think..."

Sora trailed off, blinking and looking a little bit alarmed at the recollection. She hadn't really been making that much progress in studying. First she thought she'd go through the library books and write down all the parts she couldn't understand, but that turned out to be almost all of it. Maybe she needed a new strategy.

"...But training again would be great!" she agreed, happy to divert herself from the thought of her futile, endless textbook reading.

Lord, I love this girl.

[alphaspider]

Von Karma. The young woman who liked bossing people around. She amused Kuroro, especially when she slammed into the simple-minded ones like Sora. That reminds him...

"Minato's a nice guy," he said agreeably. Kuroro liked the kid and his unique sense. "But isn't von Karma the one who's making you study law? You should bring your books here. I could use the distraction."

A thick copy of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms in Chinese was on the coffee table in front of him, a stack of used paper next to it. He'd been painstakingly trying to translate the damn thing for two months now and he was barely a fifth through, despite China's lessons. Vaguely, the similarity between his relationship with China and Sora's relationship with him sparked some interest, but he waved that aside for now.

asfkjalsfasfd this cr is one of the major reasons i love having her

[dutyandjustice]

Sora glanced between the large book and Kuroro, wheels in her head turning almost audibly. 'Large books' equaled 'likes to read' equaled 'bookworm type' equaled 'good at studying'...!

"Really? I need the help, I don't get any of it at all," she admitted with a short, honest laugh. She'd never been good at studying even back home, and she thought maybe studying law was even one step harder than a private high school... At least she still remembered "inveigle," though.

"But you're not a defense attorney, right?" She still remembered the rule, even if she'd broken it once by accident already. He didn't seem like one, but she wanted to make sure first.

Let's throw her a confusing question.

[alphaspider]

"I'm not," he said with a blink, which turned into a smile at the ridiculous idea. She still had no idea what he was, it seems like. He considered it, considered their friendship, considered her personality, and decided to take a step in that direction.

"Actually, I was the one who'd probably need defending a lot, in my world."

apparently it was so confusing i had to think for two weeks

[dutyandjustice]

Sora blinked back at him, considering that for a few moments. It sounded like it has something to do with whatever Mister Kurapika was saying, back then. Something about how he couldn't like Mister Kuroro on principle. Actually, now that she'd thought of that, she wondered if he ever had settled on a present...

Even so, Mister Kuroro had never felt like a bad man to her. Not especially. Even if he wasn't a knight of justice, either.

"Were you? I didn't think you'd like that kind of defending! You seem like you take care of yourself," she noted.