jigokulogs | [ OPEN ] trust in me

[ ryouma can live with that. ~~she would hate the person helping him with that problem anyway.~~ ]

Something that pays well, mostly. That's more important than being too picky, I suppose.

[ famous last words. ]

( ~~It's true, it's very true.~~

She pulls out her phone at that comment, pulling things up while he finishes off whatever he's doing. Apparently hell also has glassdoor and indeed. )

Uh... Massage parlour? ( Look, you're asking about Tamamo district. Shit's gonna be like that. Definitely not that clothing shop. Hm... )

...There's a club with good commission.

( Here, she's sending you the link to a vacancy for hosts and hostesses. )

[ ryouma winces a little at the suggestion of massage parlour, even if he gets it. the next link he at least scrolls through a little. ]

Ah, about what I figured...

[ but he probably never would have found these if he hadn't asked, so it's a start! ]

I'll have to look at these more later. To pass them on.

[ ~~and nothing else.~~ ]

Let's go get that pizza now, huh?

( Squint. Smth is weird in the state of Jigokucho. But Kate says nothing for the moment. Not risking the free food. )

Sure. Where we going?

( She hops off the windowsill and closes the window as she does, very conscientious, and crosses over to his office door.

She's... assuming he doesn't want to take the route she used to get here, after all. )

Well, that's the thing about chains; we sorta have 'em all over the place!

[ using the door properly is just fine with ryouma, and he gets up after buttoning up his jacket again and collecting his hat. when he's here on his own time, he doesn't exactly need to look presentable. ]

It's nice you decided to come around. I've been so busy lately I forget about lunch most of the time.

[ he continues to be a great example of how not to do proper self-care. ]

( Oh, Pie Hard again, huh? Well, it was good so she's into it.

And while she is hardly a shining example of self-care, either, the good thing about being a brat is that you just have the straight up balls to be a hypocrite at any given time. )

That's stupid. ( Also, y'know, she works in a restaurant so she can at least pilfer food from the chefs if she wants to. ) Pack lunch.

( Have you ever had a two word lecture from a teenager who makes you buy her food )

Eh?

[ no. no, he has not had a lecture from a teenager who makes him buy her food, so this is a first. that's embarrassing!! ]

Ya never just lost track of time entirely? Start doin' something, and before ya know it, it's dark out? That happens a lot...

( It is but if you want to avoid it, cultivate good habits. ~~And don't look behind the curtain and judge her own thanks.~~

But it isn't stopping, even as they walk. )

That's what phone alarms are for.

( That said, she does find that method to work. )

Can't promise to stick with it, but at least you make actual suggestions.

[ it's one part joke and one part serious. ]

Most of the time people just tell me to stop.

[ which ryouma doesn't really mind because it's inevitable, but lately things that never bother him have a bad habit of sticking around in his head anyway. ]

( Well, that's because you're a ridiculous man, Ryouma. )

... ( Kate glances away for a moment, watching a group of yokai kids chase a ball down an alleyway, screeching and laughing as they do. ) Happens t' me sometimes.

( A shrug. She does a lot of stuff, and has only been building that habit further since settling into Jigokucho proper. Alarms are good sometimes. )

It'd be better if I were just less busy, but the way things are lately, that ain't likely t' be the case for a while. But I did say I was gonna do somethin' 'bout the war and I proved it, so y' know, missin' lunch once in a while is worth it if less people are gettin' hurt 'round here for no good reason!

[ yes, that means kate and her formerly injured ribs. ryouma'a excuse is that the work is important. that's always his excuse, whether he's missing lunch or walking willingly into danger because he thinks he needs to. he's happy to try, but he's also been like this for a very long time... ]

I prefer takin' ya t' get pizza over droppin' ya at the clinic any day!

( You can say all of that, but Kate is still going to poke a finger into his side, a sharp jab because... )

Happened once 'cause of a dumbass bird.

( Put the guy you're in love with on a leash and she won't be in the clinic again.

But hey, that looks like another branch of the pizza place they went to before. )

[ hold up. "bird" can mean any number of things, it's true, but ryouma generally keeps tabs on whose doing what in the city as best he can — it's his faction's business to know these things, after all — and he knows kate got into it with a shuten.

so, naturally, the venn diagram that includes "bird" and "shuten" is a lot smaller pool of possible individuals. ]

When ya say "bird"... what d' ya mean exactly..?

[ it also explains the delay in realising she was even poking him. ]

( That's... an interesting reaction. No yelp, no focus on anything other than the word bird.

But, luckily for Ryouma's information gathering, Kate has no problem complaining about the jerk who broke her rib. )

Some fluffy haired dumbass who can't keep his clothes on. ( ... Come to think of it. ) Accent's a bit like yours.

Ah.

[ it's a small world here in hell after all. that's easily the most loaded sound ever, seeing as he fairly clearly has connected some dots. ]

An' I s'pose y' told Emily that too?

... Aye.

( Why wouldn't she? Squint. That first noise, though. )

Y'know 'im, don't you?

Sure, I do. Izō an' I are—... I mean, we grew up in the same place...

[ which she can tell given she's noticed the accent. boy, he's awkward right now. ]

Sorry..?

[ why is he apologising?? izō won't so he feels like he should. ]

( Izō will never, but look, her ribs are fixed and she hasn't had to see him since. That might be as close to an apology as we get. )

... What? You're family?

( The annoying, ready to pick a fight guy and the cheerful, generally responsible one? That sounds oddly familiar for some reason. )

We might as well be 'cause we go way back! I know how he might seem, but he's not like that all the time, I swear!

[ he doesn't expect to convince her but it's worth a shot. ]

( Squint. Well, while they sit down at their table... )

Aye? What's he like with you, then?

( d i s h. She probably won't change her mind but she deserves some embarrassing Izō goss beyond his terrible fashion sense. )

[ ryouma laughs nervously a little, less because of the idea of having to answer the question and more because the answer to that question a lot of the time is... izō also gives him a hard time. ]

Well, that depends. Izō is always Izō, no matter what. That's somethin' I really admire about 'im. Even when he's bein' nice, he's still who he is.

[ which is to say, izō will never let him live if there's an opportunity to give him a hard time instead, but ryouma is fine with this. ]

Besides, ya gotta be a real stand-up guy t' stay friends with someone after they shot ya.

[ izō tells everyone, so it's not like it's a great big secret. laugh until it doesn't hurt anymore or something like that. this is probably not what kate was hoping for at all... ]

( Honestly, if they ever stopped sniping at one another, they'd probably be great friends. ~~And in another timeline they were.~~

But um. Wait what. )

Y'shot 'im?

( She's trying to resist the urge to say he deserved it, honestly. )

Yeah, I did, durin' that whole curse business. I didn't mean t' do it, but I didn't mean for anything else I ever did t' hurt more'n they helped either. I figured he'd be real justified in decidin' t' write me off after that...

[ so... it's complicated. and he would have her believe izō is too. he continues, as if he knows what she's thinking. he doesn't, but it's an easy guess. ]

He was tryin' t' save me. Didn't wanna leave me there and that's how he got repaid for it. That's the kinda person he is. Izō's real rough around the edges but the guy ya want on your side in a pinch.

( ... Here she was, hoping for something silly and stupid, but instead Ryouma paints a different portrait of the man.

Sigh. Dammit. Now the man is more than just a cackling bird villain in her mind. How rude. )

... Tell 'im to buy me coffee and I'll forgive 'im.

Yeah?

[ ryouma beams brightly. look how happy you've made him, kate!!! izō will probably not ever buy her a coffee but it's the willingness on her part to entertain the idea of peace (??) that counts! ]

Then I'll tell him so! Hehe, I bet ya don't get along 'cause you're sorta alike. Nicer than ya both let on...

[ once again, he perceives. ]

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