Reunion of the (used-to-be) Partners

Luci shrugged, signaling that it was no big deal. Skyler had often done the same when she slept. 

"It's good!" She grinned upon swallowing the piece she'd been chewing, "Thanks, again." She shoveled another spoonful into her mouth.

Leo: Always welcome, Luci. Now, I'll be right back, I have to make a phone call.

He got up and disappeared to his room, pulling out his phone to dial a number. He closed the door, then listened to the phone ring.

"Um, okay." Luci said in response, confusion touching her. She shrugged and continued eating her pasta, but continued wondering who he was calling. Who could it be? She pursed her lips, then set the box down on the table, little over half full.

Leo came back down, grabbing another coat.

Leo: I'll be right back again. I'm sorry, but this is pretty important. This will take like ten minutes, max. If you need to shower, you can. I have some shirts if you want to wear them as a night gown, or some pajama pants, though they may be to big. Just stay here, okay?

He opened the door, then left, leaving her alone before she could answer.

"Um, okay?" Luci said in confusion, watching Leo leave. "Wait but, where are you going?" But he was already gone, her words stopped by the door. She frowned, her brows furrowing. Where is he rushing off to all of a sudden? She bit the inside of her lip, standing up slowly. He said she could take a shower if she wanted...so it was okay right?

She figured she may as well, she'd been living on the streets for so long, it'd been a while since she'd had a good cleaning. So she walked out of the room and towards the bathroom. She closed the door and locked it-just in case-before she slipped out of her dress. She turned the water on and stepped into the shower, letting the hot water run over her skin.

Leo came back and heard the shower running the moment he entered. He set down a small bottle of pills on the table, then picked up the left over food and empty plates. He put the remaining food in the fridge and threw away the garbage, then sat down on the couch.

Luci washed all the dirt and grub that her skin had retained from the streets, and cleaned her mane of hair. Once she was finished, she just stood under the water for a while. She smiled, enjoying the hot water-she was normally so cold. She thought about how nice Leo was being, mostly that he remembered her at all. After all, she had been away for a year, and she wasn't exactly noticeable. But Leo, he was one of the rare, good ones.

After a little while, she sighed and turned the water off. Carefully, the little girl stepped out of the shower and took the towel from the bar. She dried herself swiftly,bthen wrapped the towel around her body, tucking the corner in so it wouldn't fall off. She looked around and spotted a hair brush. How she longed to get all the tangles out of her hair, but she wasn't sure if it would be okay with Leo...so instead she used her fingers to comb the rugged hair. That took a while, as her hair was very long and very bushy. When she finally finished, she picked up her dress and opened the door. She wondered if Leo was back, and decided to check. She walked back to the room, and saw him.

"Oh!" She exclaimed, holding her arm across her body as extra insurance for the towel. A light blush brushed her cheeks, which she quickly hid with her hair. "I didn't think you'd be back so soon. But sincr you are, um, earlier you said I could borrow one of your shirts for a night gown....?"

Leo: Yeah, I don't mind. If you need anything else, just let me know.

He was laying on the couch, reading an old brown book of sorts.

Leo: Also, when you come back with a more proper attire, I'll tell you where I was just at. It'll be okay, I promise. Also, it's the bottom most drawer of my dresser, just so you don't go looking for it yourself.

"Right, th-thanks." Luci laughed nervously before slipping out of sight. She walked to Leo's bedroom and turned until she found the dresser. She closed the door and pulled open the bottom most drawer. She sifted through the shirts until she found one she liked, and thought would cover everything up well. She let the towel drop, then pulled the shirt on. 

The shirt was light blue with a picture of something on the front, but Luci couldn't quite tell what it was. She didn't mind, she like the blue, it was most similar to what she normally wore. She picked up the towel and walked out of the room, put the towel back in the bathroom and walked back to Leo. 

"Um, what should I do with my dress?" She asked quietly.

Leo: You can leave it in the guest room. Anyway, I do want to talk to you about the phone call. Long story short, it was my dad, and he prescribed me some sleeping pills, and I went to get them. They are in the bottle right there. Just basic stuff, nothing to powerful. Hopefully, they will help.

Luci nodded, about to turn and leave to put her clothes in the guest room, but was stopped again by Leo. She frowned at first, but felt a smile tugging at her lips when she heard "sleeping pills." She wasn't usually one for pills, she didn't really trust such things, but if they would help him sleep.....Well that was good enough for her. 

"That's great Leo!" She beamed, "I hope they help. I'll be right back." With that, she walked quickly to the guest room and tossed her dress on the bed, before skipping back to Leo. That shower really helped her, she was feeling a lot better now! She plopped down on the couch next to him, drawing her legs up to sit criss-cross-applesauce. (yes, I am that childish)

Leo patted Luci's head, then rested his hand on her shoulder.

Leo: So, you want to do anything then? Play a game, talk, or something else.

He was mainly saying because he himself was bored. He also didn't want to read when she was there, since it would be pretty rude.

"Oh, um I don't know." Luci stuttered, leaning her head back against the couch. "Anything you want to do? I've just been sleeping in my spare time so I have no ideas." She shrugged, opening her eyes slightly to glance at Leo's reaction.

Leo: Fair enough. Hmm. . . Hey, why don't you tell me some of your experiences of Europe. Unless you really don't want to, of course?

Luci smiled at his question, sitting up a little straighter to tell a story. 

"Well, if you want to hear about it..." she started, "After we got off the plane, Skyler got us a cab to our new home. It was kind of....well not the best place, but it was better than staying on the streets. We started training the next day, and Sky did not go lightly on me. She was tough on me! She made me eat so much and work really hard on controlling my transforming. She pushed herself too though, so I wasn't alone. But that's just the beginning. It wasn't long till we fought our first Kishiin. We...didn't exactly.....win the first time. But after that it was all uphill!
Sky was amazing. She started to work all day after a while, to get us enough money to live off of. I felt terrible about it though, 'cause I wasn't old enough to help out, not that she would have let me anyways. She set me to training while she was gone though, it was like homework, but not really. She would fight with me and against when she got back though, so now I can fight really well with her and by myself now! It's actually pretty cool." Luci stopped for a moment, glancing at Leo to gauge his reaction to this onslaught of information.

Leo: Alright, got a house, not the best but good enough, trained a lot, fought kishin's there and did good, you are attominous which means you don't need a meister, Sky is to, and you came here then. And she can use you well enough if needed. I'm glad you girls were able to do that. Now, if we can get Sky here sooner, then you can have your best friend back.

Luci grinned, nodding along with what Leo said. 

"Yeah, I can't wait till Sky comes back, She's misses you, by the way." Luci smiled lightly, "I wonder what she's doing right now. Actually, after a while, we were able to afford a nicer apartment because of all the work Sky was doing. Maybe she's bought something even nicer now! What if she never comes back?" Luci's smile suddenly fell, and she stared at the ground, wondering about Sky now.

Leo: Oh, she'll come back. Probably to make sure that we aren't getting intro trouble. Also that we are eating and sleeping. Respective person, of course. . . *Chuckles* Wow, I thought of the fact that if we were the same person, we would so be dead by now given our problems.

Luci smiled at this, even though it was such a grim joke. She sniffed, then yawned again. 

"Yeah, probably. Good thing I like my sleep!" She giggled, having learned to appreciate sleep much more after her year with Sky. She'd been forced to get up at 6 nearly every morning to train before Sky went to work, she rarely got any sleep! If she didn't eat or sleep....yeesh, that would be a problem. "Either way, I'm getting over my problem. I want to help you with yours." She cast a quick glance at Leo, "You need to sleep too, and you can't rely on sleeping pills forever." She laughed, trying to take the edge off the conversation, but a flicker of concern crossed her eyes.

Leo: You know, maybe I could bang my head on a book and fall asleep that way. That would be really helpful, and less expensive. Or maybe find a hypnotist as a roommate. That could also help.

Luci let out another giggle at this, smiling widely. 

"Maybe I should start studying hypnotism," She joked lightly, another laugh bursting from her lips.

Leo: I don't know, now that I think about it. Make me give away all of my secrets. Though, to be fair, they aren't that special. Unless you want to know, heaven forbid you know about my past.

He held his hand up to his head, making a dramatic "woe is me" pose.

Luci scrunched up her face in mock disapproval, shaking her head to emphasize. She moved around so that she was sitting on her knees facing Leo, and making a noise of annoyance. 

"Of course, as usual," She teased, sticking her tongue out childishly. She then suddenly laid back on the couch, resting the back of her hand on her forehead just like Leo, similar to a damsel in distress, "How horrible a situation!" she cried with a hint of laughter.

Leo: Yes, so true. Anyway, what was the most interesting thing that happened to you back in Europe. Just to dig into your secrets a bit, Luci. Maybe I'll tell you some things about my secrets then. What do you think?

Luci pursed her lips, but nodded once. "Fine." She muttered, sticking her tongue out again. She touched her pointer finger to her lips, taking a moment to think about the most interesting occurrence in Europe. 

"Well, Skyler made us travel around a lot. We kept a small apartment in London but she took me all over, France, Italy, Germany, and more! It was amazing. There was this one time in France when we were tracking down a Kishiin named Cerus. Sky was right next to me one second, but the next she was gone! And at that moment, Cerus whipped around and stalked toward me. I didn't have time for more than a quick glance around to look for her, before he was upon me.  

I managed to slip out of his grasp and run a ways away, but I couldn't just leave him to hunt. So I transformed my arm into a crossbow and loaded it with a soul wavelength. See, Skyler was mostly making me work on aim, so it was pretty good by now. So I took my time, aimed, and fired. It was so cool! I took a Kishiin down all by myself, in one hit! It was so amazing! After that, Sky reappeared. She'd done that on purpose, I was mad at her, of course. But it turned out alright. Top that story!" Luci giggled, laying back on the couch.