tampered | Log; Complete

Log; Complete

When; April 2
Rating; G
Characters; Spitfire [

finetuner]
Summary; After her arrival in the City, Spitfire tries to comfort and explain things to Kururu.
Log;

A small frown wormed it's way across Spitfire's face, as he tried to figure out how exactly to comfort the young tuner. Although he was trying to help her calm down, he couldn't help but feel that to some degree, he was making her increasingly nervous. Especially what he had mentioned about not being able to leave. She had gone quiet ever since, and it worried him.

As he opened the door to his apartment, he paused for a moment.

"Is there anything you'd like to drink? I can make you some tea if you'd like."

He mulled over in his mind just how he could even attempt to explain things to her. Especially when he didn't quite understand everything here himself.

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She followed him obediently into his apartment, not even thinking to look around. Her lower lip was raw from being chewed so fiercely; every block they'd passed on the way had brought her to new throes of anxiety. At his drink offer, she shook her head hastily. Kururu wasn't very thirsty, and she doubted that she'd be able to do more than hold onto the cup for dear life.

Kururu stood awkwardly in the middle of his apartment, taking up as little space as possible and not daring to sit without permission, though she was feeling a bit faint. Her arms were rigid at her sides and her legs were clamped together; all in all, she was as tightly wound as a well-maintained AT part.

"Ah, you're more than welcome to sit down somewhere....it'll probably do you good..."

The poor thing! If he didn't do something to calm her down, she was going to chew her bottom lip straight off! He disappeared into the kitchen area momentarily, but returned as quickly as he could with a pitcher of water and two glasses. Even if she said she wasn't thirsty, it probably wouldn't hurt to have something ready in case she needed it.

"How are you feeling?" His top priority right now wasn't explaining things to her, but trying to calm her down. If he could at least do that, he would be satisfied, even if he didn't get the chance to warn her about the curses or people to avoid.

She ran through a list of adjectives. Frazzled was a nice word. Shocked. Terrified. Absolutely, ridiculously, unbelievably confused. Kururu sat down, again taking up the smallest amount of room possible - not a hard task for someone so very tiny. From her list of adjectives, she chose the least accurate and the least likely to offend.

"Fine." She replied shakily, wrapping her hands around her knees. "I'm fine."

"Fine." Came her response. If anything, it threw him off for a bit. He looked at her with a blank stare for a moment.

She was far from fine, that much was apparent from her body language. It was like she was trying to find some way to hide her existence from reality.

.....So much like that person, but not. Could he do it this time? Unlike that time before when that beautiful girl had been crying...

Slowly, he reached out a hand and placed it softly on her head, looking carefully for signs of shock or surprise. That was the least of what she needed.

"Kururu....it's alright."

It was a simple gesture, but it was enough to stop her quivering lower lip. Her shoulders, which previously had been tensed, sunk and she peered up at him. Palming away the beginnings of tears that had collected in the corners of her eyes, she nodded and offered him a tiny smile.

"Y-yes. I know."

Kururu didn't know. But she was accustomed to taking confidence from others. Fear was not something she liked to display often, as it usually caused worry. And there was nothing Kururu liked to do less than to worry others.

It wasn't much, but it was progress. It finally looked like she had calmed down a bit. A small itch in the back of Spitfire's mind told him to ask about how things were back home.....but he had a feeling that wasn't the right thing to talk about at the moment.

Should he mention that Ikki and Kazu had been there before? Perhaps it was still early.

"Are you feeling a little better now?"

He gave her head a small rub, a small, but comforting smile slowly appearing on his face.

For her to be so distraught....had something major happened? He didn't want to make her think about her home so suddenly, not when homesickness would hit her hardest.....but maybe...

"Kururu, do you remember what you were doing before you showed up here?"

"I'm feeling a little better." Kururu confirmed, apparently not bothered by the fact that she was being pet very much like a puppy at that moment. Then again, she was just as skittish. She tried a comforting smile of her own and this time, it was a bit more sincere.

At his second question, Kururu had to pause and think. From the very beginning, she had known that she hadn't been in a dream. People didn't usually wake up into a dream, did they? Since she'd landed, past events had become something of a blur.

"Umm...I was.... Oh! I was working on Ikki-kun's regalia and then I fell asleep." She rubbed the back of her head a bit in embarassment. "I woke up here."

The regalia.......Spitfire straightened up in shock a bit. If he had remembered correctly.....

It was impossible. There was no way she could possibly be referring to Bagram.....

His entire body simply froze...that small smile that had been there only seconds ago gone completely. He had wanted to avoid talking about their home so badly...but.....as of now, it seemed as though the topic he had wanted to hold back on had become inevitable.

"You can't possibly mean.....just...just what regalia are you talking about?! Kururu....just what exactly has happened since my supposed 'death'?"

His shock shocked her, but she settled down relatively fast. Of course he would be dying to hear news from home. She would have been as well if she had been put in that very same situation. Hastily, she tried to collect her thoughts, threading her fingers together.

"Ummm...I-Ikki-kun found out about the Takeuchi brothers from Sleeping Forest.... And, um, Ikki-kun became the Storm King and he asked me to make him a regalia. Then, Kogarasumaru left to train with Buccha-san's father and...." Kururu paused, remembering the last text message Yayoi had sent her. She almost feared to see Spitfire's reaction. Though so much had happened, she knew this particular piece of news would be the worst. "Aeon Clock survived and he stole the flame regalia."

It was like everything was falling apart around him. So many things just went through his mind....but that last bit......it was, if anything, the ultimate betrayal. Even the fact that Ikki had meant Kilik didn't bother him at all. Just...how could Aeon....

He clenched his jaw tightly, holding back his anger as much as possible. Ine's words slowly floated back to his mind...

"Aeon Clock will be ecstatic about the news. He's been aiming to become your successor."

He drew a hand through his hair. He would have time to mull over this later. Right now, he still needed to get Kururu acquainted with the city...It took awhile before he was able to recollect himself to respond.

"I see.....well....the most important thing to warn you about right now are the curses.....they're completely random...and whether or not you're affected is random as well....."

He paused for a bit, trying to keep his mind clear.

"Also, you're more than welcome to stay here with me if you'd like."

She bit her thumb, gaging his reaction. Kururu felt an honest sympathy for him, one that rattled her very bones. He had sacrificed so much - so much that the world thought him dead - and now everything he had strove for was for naught. But she believed with ever fiber of her being that Kazu-san would retrieve the regalia if it was the last thing he did.

Thinking of the regalia stung a bit, especially as the reality of the situation was setting in. Who would finish Ikki's regalia? What would happen to her own? Could Kogarasumaru cope without a tuner? Just as she'd gotten Ikki-kun to understand the importance of a good tuning.... But that would be something to ruminate on later, when she couldn't sleep. Right now, it looked as if Spitfire could use some comfort.

Kururu nodded, listening very carefully to what he said. Curses? She didn't quite understand, but nothing called a curse could be very good. Anxiety rose anew, but she swallowed it down.

"Thank you, Spitfire-san!" She stood and immediately did a little bow of gratitude. "I-I promise I'll help out around here! And I won't stay long, I don't want to impose." Never mind that she still knew nothing about this city or its customs. With a gentle smile, she lightly placed her hand on his shoulder. "I'm sure everything at home will be fine without us for a little bit, yes?"

It was amazing what a smile could do for people. Seeing Kururu smile with such genuine joy....for just a little bit, it seemed like everything really would be alright.

"You can stay here as long as you'd like, really. It's not a trouble at all.....though...ah. We can discuss other things later, but I should warn you. The neighbor next door....he's not fond of noise...so it's best to try and keep quiet-especially at night-he's a light sleeper."

Standing up and stretching a bit, he let out a sigh of relief. The immediate issue, which had been Kururu's state of mind, seemed to have been resolved for the time being. Seeing her in a much more relaxed state of being put him at ease as well, despite what she had told him.

"Hmm....anything you want in particular for dinner tonight?"

The elevated mood was contagious and suddenly, Kururu found herself worrying just a bit less about the current state of affairs. Her deeper thoughts could be pushed aside for now. Nothing like living in the present...for a bit. Her eyes widened a bit at the mention of the next door neighbour. Kururu was naturally quiet, but she did have a habit of clinking wherever she went - the side effect of carrying tools wherever she went.

"He sounds...very grumpy." She muttered quietly, watching Spitfire stretch. She sucked in her lower lip, which had begun to jut out again. "I'll try my best not to be any trouble for you!"

She paused.

"Dinner? Um, I...I'll cook! It's the least I can do!" Never mind that she had absolutely no idea how to fry an egg, much less cook. It couldn't be that hard, could it?

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