bratherine |

(it feels like a victory, he can't help the smugness overtaking his expression. her sounds are just so nice to hear, he feels a little denied of it, but it's okay. if after all this, she still wants to share her bed with him, he'll take it out of her.

fine, fine. hands up, as to prove there are no weapons, even if the damage comes from his tongue.)

You're a very nice person.

( Well, that's a lie. But the compliment hits home anyway. That warmth builds inside her, removing any last traces of lingering sadness for the moment. )

... Your compliments can make people feel good.

( You would think that was an obvious thing, but she doesn't know how else to phrase it. )

... For free?

(SORRY, HIS MIND STILL WORKS LIKE THAT. SHOULD HE START CHARGING FOR BEING NICE?

but wait. she said to be careful...)

Can I try the other way around?

( SHE WOULD TBH.

And... )

Wait... Like insults?

( Uh. )

Sure.

... Your socks don't look good with those shoes.

(HE'S NOT EVEN TRYING.)

( ... Her socks? She's just about to look down, shifting her foot to get a better look when there's a twinge of pain in her ankle. )

...Ah! ( Jeez, rude much? She needs those. But it's little more than a twinge, thankfully. )

... Guess tha' works too.

(SO THAT'S WHAT THE BOSS MEANT.

...

...

time to go back to the restaurant, on a very nice note:)

We're all doomed.

( Oh, they very much are. Between her kisses messing with people's senses and his razor-sharp tongue, Tamamo has given the brats too much power. )

This food better be good, then.

( She doesn't want to walk into doom on a bad meal, tyvm. )

Don't diss.

(please, he was so excited, and once the aroma hits his nostrils, he takes her wrist to rush them to the table.

it's just a little colder, but it shouldn't be that much of a problem. he eats with a huge grin on his face, like it'll be his last meal until the end of the week.

hahaha.)

Edited 2022-07-20 23:14 (UTC)

( She wasn't gonna, as long as it's good.

Which... it is. As you would hope, really, when you're at an actual restaurant. Kate's a slower eater, nibbling and picking at things between drinks of her beer and pieces of idle conversation, but she makes it through a good portion of what she's been given.

Hm. )

You think they pack this stuff up?

( If she takes it home, she doesn't have to cook tomorrow. )

Well, probably. I myself can't eat all this.

(he totally went ham on the menu, anyway. he could, technically, endure it, and he wouldn't be sick of it, but man. nope.)

Wanna get going?

Edited 2022-07-20 23:29 (UTC)

Aye.

( She's full for now, so the last of the drink is drank, the food is sent to be packaged, and the bill is asked for.

Working off all that food sounds like a plan. )

Y'wanna go anywhere?

(he's going to pay for what he's eaten, and two of kate's beers, because she earned it. not him getting her to punch walls and cry at mirrors.

once it's paid, he grabs his guitar to hang from his shoulder again, offering her a hand to stand up. he knows kate doesn't need it, but it is nonetheless a thoughtful gesture, he reckons.)

Up to you to decide where, though.

( That's fair. And though she doesn't take his hand when she stands up, once they make their way outside and the idea hits her, Kate's little finger winds around Shin's. )

... I know.

( Follow her. Not that it's very far. They're just going to her apartment building. A quick detour to her flat, because that's not the destination in mind, they're simply going to drop the food off before they head up to the roof.

It's her favourite way to see the city, after all. )

(small victories. his heart is well-guarded, a fence that can't be torn down so easily, so fast, but this is nice. he can appreciate their dynamic, as kate's own walls come crumbling brick by brick. she puts up an act so deep that he is sure she doesn't see how lovely she can be, under her tough exterior... a pity, really.

his own pinky hooks with her own, and he follows without complaint until the breeze of the nightsky floods his lungs at the roof, elbows at the security half-wall so he can take a long look down. maybe she can tell how little he cares about his own mortality, climbing on it to sit, perched, as he takes a cigarette to his lips, fingers caressing the lighter before he burns the tip.

she might notice how his hand remains on the sphere.)

It's nice. Can you pass me my guitar?

( It can be dangerous to be lovely. To be soft. She has other roles to play before she plays those.

But, she supposes it isn't so bad to not keep all of that front on at 100 all the time. Being on the roof comes with that hit of cold night air, an itching to move and explore, but that's not the point of being up here this time.

So, she hands Shin his guitar, joining him on the edge of the wall with an easy hop and the kind of balance that comes with having practiced that motion plenty already. The sky is clear, starless under the lights coming from the city, but she looks up anyway, because sometimes the endlessness of it all has its own kind of anchoring presence. )

(quite a weird night. powers, affection, volcanic explosions, red knuckles. he might as well end it in a good light. he hasn't really played for anyone so far, aside from jack - and only so he could understand what a bass does, in the first place. his fingers are effortless as they glide and slide around the chords, a happy melody that he just hums the lyrics to himself.

it fills him with wonder, and excitement for the town below, and even deeper he falls in the tune.)

( It's sort of familiar? The kind of song she thinks she heard when she was younger, but not enough to recognise it, not enough to trigger memories of that time. Perhaps that's for the best. Instead, as Shin works his way through the notes, something else comes to life, flickering into the air in front of them in a way that takes the owner of the memories aback.

Bright sunlight, and the red bricks of home. Kate, a couple of years younger, with her head in her phone. A video flickering across the screen until she sets it to one side and nods to herself. Running, forward, to the wall waiting in front of her, and placing her foot on the bricks, pushing herself upwards and grabbing the lip of the wall itself to pull herself up.

That particular rush of success which only comes the very first time you try something new. Giddy and excited, filled with possibility. Forgetting things which came before.

It's easy, from there, to pick out the other good memories: the first time she stuck a landing, flipping off the roof of someone's garage and immediately scarpering from the pissed off owner. Competing with herself on the highest building she could climb up to. Sitting on the safety wall of the multi-storey car park, much like they're doing now.

Bouncing from rooftop to rooftop here in Jigokucho, hands covered in stardust. )

(if he exists where she's from at all, he'd be so much older than he is right now, he thinks to himself with a laugh. he can't even imagine what he would be like, can't imagine how his life would turn out to be... but he touches her, and her emotions are so clear to him as they waltz before his eyes, he can even smell the clay, feel her emotions on her own achievement and the jitters of a new unlocked skill - one he didn't even know she had. he's mesmerized as he sees her, but her own competitiveness pulses a bit in his brain, the images flickering and failing for seconds, but he can still make them out should the image cut for longer.

they're snippets, anyway. too weak to paint the whole rooftop from her own mind, but enough to make him put his hands on top of his guitar, a beaming smile on his lips as he watches the horizon.)

... So, this power thing isn't so bad, right? I think I should be able to control it better... With time.

( It's nice to watch these memories, though Kate would have never expected to think such. After years of practicing, it's easy to forget how far shes come teaching herself parkour. Even if there are scars aplenty on her body from the times which were far less successful, these are the moments that make those scars worth it.

She's smiling when they finally stop. Snippets and flicks though they may be, the effect is almost as potent as actually running a circuit itself. )

You will.

( Of that she has no doubt. That's how most powers work, after all.

And, because happiness lingers, and there's still the echo of a smile on Kate's lips, she adds; )

Looks best up here at sunrise.

( But she may be biased with that one. It's always been her favourite time of day. )

(he definitely is stealing a kiss from the corner of her lips, to keep a bit of that smile to himself, selfishly so. a sober kiss out of everything they've been through today is a victory, after all.)

Of course it does.

(he keeps the rest of his sentence contained in his throat - a question of whether he'll be here in the morning to see it.)

Oi-

( Cheeky.

And, well, she thought that was a given. It is the closest place to go at this point.

But if Shin is going to be cheeky, so is Kate. She leans in, lips brushing his earlobe, and asks the question he keeps silent. )

Wanna see?

(like she reads his damn mind.

his lips show his smile, and he is really going into a kiss before he halts for a second.)

... Wait. After all this... You still want me in your bed?

( Shin, even if she hasn't explained it aloud, she's made worse choices and you know it. )

Doesn't have to be in bed.

( KATHERINE. That is not what he means and you know it. )

(... interesting, from someone so frightened. anywhere else would require him to use force to keep her steady, but that's not what he is going to dwell on today.)

Kate, I'm serious... I'm not good for people. I'm good for nothing. I'm probably going to disappoint you down the line, you know.

(he isn't even thinking of romance. it's not what this is. it feels more comforting than loving, to him. nevermind his own words affecting him with a hit of nausea, his insult turned against him.)

I've lied to you constantly. Doesn't that bother you in the slightest?

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