Toromaki, Party of Two! (Painters, Arc/Lani; E)

Settling Takumi into the house took time for the staff to adjust to. As such, Rin waited a while before even considering another hunt, focusing her attentions, instead, on the finishing touches of the estate's repairs. With luck, her cousin would be returning from wherever he'd disappeared shortly, so her optimism demanded, and she wanted things to be perfect for the arrival. The garden wouldn't be in the best of states, being that is was Nevada and that winter was approaching in whatever small measure it effected the state. Still, cacti could make rather attractive decorative markers, and she had opted to use such in errors she felt needed a bit of natural security. Roaming around the inside of the manor, she double-checked the staff's work while she made her way towards the bedroom levels, curious as to whether her partner might ever leave, seeing as he had a project he appeared to be working on.

Even as she approached, Takumi exited the room that was designated his studio, covered in the evidence that signified hi had been working with pain just recently; that same evidence was also showing that he wasn't particularly careful about it this time around. He noticed his meister down the hallway and waved to her while calling out as if he wasn't in plain sight and not particularly far away.

She smiled at the invitation, moving to follow the lead he'd presented with his voice. For obvious reasons, she knew the building and grounds by heart, thus not needing to be reminded where she'd set up Takumi's residence and studio. Rin didn't care, though. It was nice to have a friend close at hand. Even though he was fairly quite, it made the house feel less quiet and empty to have him there. "How's the piece coming?"

"It's done, just needs to dry!" Takumi told her excitedly as he stepped back into the doorway he had come out of. A canvas towards the view out of the window, and that same view on the canvas. If he had to start out with painting in a studio, it might as well be the view out of that studio, right?

She let herself smile wide at this, enthralled by the fact that he shared, or rather exceeded, her passion for art. Stepping over, she began looking over the piece like a dealer or director might, admiring the work he'd done and the textures that arose from layers of paint. "It's beautiful..." Rin informed him, as though he didn't know; then again, every artist's greatest critic was themself.

"I'm glad you think so." Takumi said first watching Rin evaluate his work and then going around to tidy the place up a little; things always seemed to end up out of place after he was done painting, and he was trying to keep it at least semi-tidy. "It came out okay, huh?"

The Toromaki nodded, moving to look at it from the side as she did so, "If my opinion counts for anything, it's perfect..." She seemed to be marveling at the work, as well as completely, or at least largely, ignoring the mess of the room.

"You think it's that good?" Takumi asked, quite surprised at Rin, looking over it himself just the way she had been doing. "You can keep it, of course. You can have any paintings I make unless they're specifically for a client or something..."

She seemed surprised, the expression changing to a furrowing of brows. "What do you keep?"

"I would usually sell most things, because I never had space for them." Takumi said. "But you have an estate to decorate and I am really thankful that you would let me stay here..."

She waved off his words in a very physical sense, straightening and looking around. "They're your pieces to do with as you wish. If you want them for yourself then keep them. If you want to decorate the manor then feel free."

"Then I leave them to you, so you can do that. You know better where you would like them." Takumi said, turning away to go back to sorting paints and brushes that he had used.

She shook her head at his apparent stubbornness, angling the piece so that it could catch light to dry fully. Moving over to one of the furniture pieces they'd left in the room, she took a seat and watched him, not daring to risk messing up whatever system he may have. "Do you want to go out, today?" She said, almost suddenly.

"Sure. I don't have much else to do now that this painting is done." He said, leaving the sort-of-kind-of-still-a-mess alone for the time being while heading for the exit to the room. He had to get out of his paint stained clothing before he could go anywhere. "Do you have anything specific in mind?" He asked, pausing in the doorway.

She followed him out of the room, hanging back when he went to his own. "Anything, honestly. I'm getting a little stir crazy."

A minute or two and some noise later, Takumi re-emerged from the room wearing the usual sort of clothing that he wears. "We hadn't hunted any souls recently. Know of anything nearby?" He asked.

She seemed surprised that he was interested in another hunt already, but shrugged before pulling out her phone, checking through files. "Maybe... I'd have to look into it more." She said, clearly distracted by the screen as she led him to the front door.

"I really want to see what else my weapon form can do." Takumi said while walking, glancing at Rin's phone screen briefly, before giving up. He didn't want to trip up while doing that, and he was just clumsy enough.

When they made it to the door, she stopped, glancing at an article on the other side of the desert. It was strange, to her, not because it was an attack, but because it mentioned a series of attacks, all of which were in Death City. The local newspapers for the city, however, had no mention of it. In silence, she handed him the article.

He read the article slowly, since he was constantly pausing to make sure there weren't any tripping hazards in front of him, or anything of that sort of nature. "I have not heard about this." He said as he handed her back the device. It was strange to him, too.

"Why would an outside newspaper make an article," she asked, putting away her phone before opening the door, "...when our local papers show absolutely nothing?"

"It is suspicious. Bait?" He guessed, not knowing what the real reason might be. Still, if Rin figured that it might be worth checking out, he was all for going along with it.

ooc: So, one of their housemates is officially back if Ema keeps her, heads up

ic:

She shrugged, unsure. "We can look into it. Do you want to look into the reporter that wrote the article or the places it mentioned first?"

"The reporter. If it is fake then they would be the one behind it if it is bait." Takumi said.

She nodded, pulling her phone to call them a taxi to take them out of the city for their investigation. When she got off the phone, she walked down the path to the house, looking around at the work that had been achieved. "I guess... here goes nothing?" She asked, realizing that they were probably definitely finding a trap, but she wasn't sure whether the reporter themself would be one.