morning after | outsiders canon | ryusei and kengo

[mathemagician]

The night had been rather uneventful. While Ryusei slept, Kengo had quietly worked at his desk on his latest project. There were no Foodroids to do any kind of reconnaissance work, which had made him feel even more useless during the adjutant attack. He would have felt bad for sending Burgermeal into danger, but that was what they were for -- to handle jobs that he couldn't risk his life with. Tracking the adjutants would have been useful.

Aside from that, he'd talked with Daisen, the salarian who owned Ariake Technologies (or at least the branch he worked at) about alternatives. There were combat drones that could be created and compatible with the omni-tool. It wasn't good for tracking, but it would be a handy defensive tool when Kengo had few options. There was the option of depending on others, but Kengo didn't want to be defenseless for the rest of his life.

During the night, Kengo occasionally got up from his work to clear his head, quietly pacing around the room and checking on Ryusei. Some part of him expected the other would suddenly die or disappear now that someone familiar had finally shown up, though he wondered if he should have been more worried about the potential that Ryusei would try to kill him while he was distracted.

After a number of hours had passed, Kengo had put his head down on his desk to rest his eyes for awhile, but had ended up falling asleep instead. The last three weeks, he'd barely slept at all thanks to different factors. It would have surprised him, though, that he had managed to fall asleep in the same room as Ryusei.

Comments

[asteroidbelt]

So, yes, then? Did that response mean Kengo wanted Ryusei here for longer than Ryusei's question implied? Ryusei didn't want to ask. He had to remember that Kengo didn't—had said he didn't—trust anyone. Maybe he just wanted to keep Ryusei close to monitor him.

Did Ryusei really want to think that way? This was getting dangerously close to distrusting Kengo. Ryusei was getting confused. He needed to stiffen into someone who could handle all of this, but— But he couldn't stiffen so much that he'd be easy to break. He had to remember that. It was adapting that he had to do, not—

"I won't get in your way," he said, head down. "I'll just... be around," he finished lamely.

[mathemagician]

"I don't have a way right now. All I'm doing is trying to survive. ... that should be your focus, too." There was that conflict of interest again, but Kengo really didn't want to see anything happen to Ryusei now that he was here. Maybe it was some crazy psychological issue where he was overly attached to Ryusei now that the other was the only familiar thing in this world.

Lifting his head, Kengo motioned at the other's food packet. "You should eat. Stay here and rest for awhile if you have to. I'll give you coordinates for the shop that I work at, once you get out for the day."

[asteroidbelt]

There were so many things that he needed to get used to. This room that didn't look like anything back home. This stuff which was allegedly food. He wasn't hungry, but he started eating anyway. He had to keep his energy up. If it really was morning—and that was another thing; how was he supposed to get used to the lack of time of day like this? He had to. He could get used to anything. But. But—he would have eaten something, back home, before he left for school.

School. No, don't think of that now. That was in the past.

Now. Now he needed to familiarize himself with the place he'd found himself in as soon as possible. There was no time for resting. "I'll follow you around for the day," he said. "If... that would be okay by you," he continued hesitantly. He'd follow Kengo anyway, but there was no reason to make Kengo suspicious. "I'll be able to handle myself by... tomorrow. Please bear with me for now...."

[mathemagician]

"That's fine. You can learn your way around and it's probably better than being in here all day." Kengo continued eating, occasionally focusing his attention on Ryusei in an attempt to judge how he was handling things. It had to be easier to have someone else around, right? Kengo could still remember how lost he'd felt when he'd first arrived and how scared he'd been. Even though Ryusei was here now, enough of a sign to prove that his life before had really happened, he could still feel the pangs that he was completely alone.

"Take your time with adjusting. It's... difficult. I'm still not entirely used to it yet, but it gets easier." Kengo didn't know how well Ryusei would adjust to a new environment -- if he would adapt better or worse than Kengo had, but grudges really did have to be pushed aside for now. He couldn't just leave Ryusei to fend for himself. Not when he was acting like this, even if it was some sort of trap.