Are we Hunters or Partners??? I'm Confused! (Nana & Foster/Smith Partnership; So much chaos)

Jasmine settled into silence then, with Joseph already nearly asleep, leaning against his door, across the room. Overall, the apartment was almost eerily quiet without anyone talking, but Jazz didn't seem phased.

Darius finally decided to lay down on the couch and close his eyes. Only then he realized how much he needed proper rest. He closed his eyes and let out a relaxed sigh. He scheduled his computer to do some scanning and cleaning task to make sure everything was working properly and to make sure the hacker didn't have access to his systems anymore. Then he finally allowed himself to take a long nap.

Jasmine stood watch without question or sound, watching the door while keeping her other senses keyed on the rest of the house. Occasionally, she'd spend a few minutes browsing through her phone, but those were few and far between, with her focus on the task at hand, and randomly counting whatever she could, until her shift was up. At that point, she walked over to Joe, carefully shaking her shoulder, slowly. His eyes opened easily and he looked up at her, nodding. Mouthing a "good night," he stood and started walking around and rubbing at his aching muscles while his sister went to lay down to rest.

Well, during their shift change Darius woke up and sat up on the couch. His eyes were glowing weakly as his system managed to activate his own cyber lenses. Actually, that was what woke him up; the accidental activation of his lenses. They were almost the same as Nana's but the main reason was the color of the HUD system. Nana's was blue while Darius' was orange with blue elements. The younger clone started rubbing his eyes.

"There are eyedrops in the bathroom," Joseph told him offhandedly when he noticed the rubbing. "I do not know how they affect you two, with the lenses but I thought they might help so I bought some last week. I keep forgetting to tell Nunally." Absently, he made his way to the coffee machine to make himself a cup. Staring at it for a long while, he eventually grumbled and put it away again, seeking hot tea instead.

For just a second Darius found himself glaring at Joseph. How could he just keep forgetting to tell Nunally about something so important?! A sudden wave of irritation went through his body. When he felt that his eye twitched, he simply closed his eyes and leaned on the couch before letting out a quiet sigh. With his eyes closed, he started analyzing what Nunally had learned about the lenses. Perhaps the itching effect was just caused by how bright it was compared to the darkness of the night. Perhaps his eyes only needed to adjust.

"Do you drink tea?" He asked, brewing himself a single cup but scanning through their options if Darius needed something to help him fall back asleep. It didn't occur to him to explain to him just why it was that he'd held back on telling Nana, the real reason. After all, that would seem more cruel.

"Tea... I have never had tea, actually. According to the data, Nunally has sent me... it is very, quote, "delicious 'n' aaawsum with sugar". It is also listed as one of her favorite things to drink... Hm... now I am curious about its taste." Darius said quietly, trying to find more info about tea. Basically, he became curious why she liked tea so much.

Joseph laughed a bit at this, a chuckle as he started looking through the decaf options for him. "Have you tasted anything that you liked? I don't imagine you have had much on your palette."

"Hah, my programming would not allow me to "like" or "dislike". If I recall correctly, the same was the case with Nunally... Hm... however... now that I think about it... Before Nunally's found me, our creator's assistant, the one who released me from the glass tube, offered me a bowl of noodles. He called it "ramen". I can actually remember its taste to this day." Darius said with all honesty as he stood up to walk around a bit. For some reason, he wasn't tired nor he wanted to take another nap.

There was a pause before Joe burst into laughter, the sound jolting enough to wake Jazz, who looked at him incredulously, wondering what in the name of Death triggered such a thing. "Your sister was living off of cup of noodles, and here you are, liking ramen." Maybe he just found it funnier because he was tired.

With his eyes closed, Darius once again went through Nana's data. "Hm... It appears so. She even made a note about noodles. Let me quote it: "Noodles. Noodles... A love-hate relationship... I hate them so much yet they've saved me from starving... (I wanna forget the dark ages where one cup of noodles was the only food for two days... plz do, brain. I cri everytim.) "" That note she'd left in her data about the noodles made Darius scratch the back of his head. "That is indeed an unfortunate coincidence." The close said as he looked at Joseph.

"We don't buy any because of it. That, and they're not particularly healthy. There are some good noodle shops in the city, though." Joe assured him, looking through teas before selecting Nana's favorite. At the worst, he could make a cup tailored to how she would like it and hope for the best from Darius.

"I assume Nunally avoids them like fire." Darius commented, smirking. Well, he wasn't really too surprised by the fact that Nunally would rather not touch noodles anymore in her life. Too bad. Darius certainly wasn't going to stop liking ramen because of that. At least he knew that eating ramen in Nana's presence wouldn't be a good idea.

"We have not tried taking her to any of them." Joseph said, shrugging as he made the second cup of tea. "There is a big difference between something that costs pocket change and something that has the value of a proper meal." He paused after checking the tea to make sure the sugar was dissolved, walking over to bring the cup to Darius, "It's hot," he warned before continuing. "If you want, we can stop by a noodle place or oriental restaurant, tomorrow. There are enough options that you can both find something."

"I cannot argue with that. Though I still would be reluctant to take Nunally to such place. Who knows what would her reaction be." The younger clone commented shrugging. When he was approached by Joseph, he took a closer look at him, as if he was discretely learn something new about him. He certainly was curious about him because of Nana's feelings and what Jasmine said. "Thank you." Darius said, carefully taking the cup into his hand and then took a sip. It was hot indeed, but Darius didn's complain. The taste was actually quite nice. "I think you should ask Nunally first. What if she doesn't like oriental food? Besides, I do not wish to cause any more trouble than I have already caused." Darius told him calmly. It's not like he planned to stay with them for too long. In the morning he was going to thank for their generosity and leave to finally start the process of enrolling the DWMA. He concluded that with the school's help he'd find a new purpose for himself as well as a proper place to sleep. He certainly didn't want to waste such opportunity.

"She has never had it to know," Joseph explained, sounding somewhat like he was defending or justifying himself, though that wasn't his intention. He gestured towards the table in front of the couch, and the little coasters that were on top of it, "Please use one of those if you want to set the cup down." With that, he made his way back to the kitchen, debating on what piece of fruit to wake himself up with. He eventually settled on an apple.

Darius nodded and then walked to over to the couch and sat on it. He didn't place his cup on the table, instead, he kept holding it in his hand, taking a sip from time to time. The younger clone started thinking- on one hand, Joseph seemed to be a rather caring, generous young man, but he still couldn't forget Jasmine's words which showed the male demon weapon in a completely different light. Darius really wasn't sure what to think about him.

Joseph opted not to bother with further conversation unless Darius chose to initiate it. Still, he was far more of a morning person that his sister was, which allowed him to function so well and easily despite it being somewhere around two in the morning. He really wasn't sure; he hadn't checked.

Darius kept drinking his tea until he finished it. After that, he placed the cup on one of the coasters, as Joseph asked, and decided to take another nap, simply because there wasn't anything else for him to do. Getting some rest was definitely a good idea too.

With everyone else asleep, Joe thought it would be best to just get some work and reading in. Darius seemed well enough behaved that he didn't feel the need to just stare at him for the next several hours, and no one had bothered to try to break into the apartment itself. As such, he retrieved his laptop and stand, bringing it into the living room along with some of his paperwork and a novel he had for pleasure reading. Getting up only to change positions, use the bathroom, or refresh his tea, Joseph remained busy until Lily woke up several hours later. It was still decently early --- she'd grown accustomed to school schedules long ago --- but not so much so that he would have considered his shift still going, otherwise. Quiet though she was, she tapped Joe's shoulder before raising a brow and pointing at Darius. To explain, he brought up a text document and typed out:

Code:

Nunally's brother. We will explain when everyone wakes up.

She merely nodded at this, smiling a bit, though groggily, and set about the process of making breakfast for everyone. Five mouths to feed was a good bit more than the usual three, especially when she had no idea what sort of food Darius would eat. Well, if he was anything like Nana then she doubted he'd be picky. Soon enough, she had breakfast going, plates and silverware set aside for everyone once things were done, and at least three different cookbooks open, as well as a link showing on her phone.

Nunally woke up not much later than Lily did. In her pajamas and with her hair in a messy state she left her room and looked around as if she was afraid that something had happened during the night. Luckily nothing weird or bad had happened during the night. So with relief, she approached Joseph and with a really happy smile on her face she tapped him on the shoulder. "Good morning." She said quietly. For a moment she had a feeling that her heart skipped a beat just because she greeted her partner. Her attention shifted to Darius. He was still sleeping at that time. Nunally didn't even try to wake him up. "Did anything weird happen while I was asleep?" The girl asked, whispering before she noticed a cup of tea. That fact made her curious- were they talking about something interesting while she was sleeping?

"Hmmm?" He murmured initially, a pen in his mouth when she'd tapped on his shoulder. Taking it out, he cast her a pleasant smile before shrugging, "Goodmorning --- no, he woke up after Jasmine went to sleep." Joseph gestured to the cup in question, which he'd not yet retrieved to take to the kitchen. That was an oversight, on his part. "I made him some decaffeinated tea the way that you like it, to help him fall back asleep. Also, apparently he likes ramen." There was an amused grin on his face as he relayed that information to the clone's sister, an interest there that said he wanted to see her reaction to being told such. Still, he seemed in a nice enough mood; work was apparently not as stressful as it was known to be.

From the kitchen, Lily simply waved, pointing to the fridge before making a drinking motion, asking if Nana was thirsty.

A number of emotions went through Nana's mind and soul when she heard the word "ramen". She got sudden and violent flashbacks to days when instant noodles were her only food. Her eye twitched and then a shiver went down her spine. "R-Ramen... h-huh..? I... I'll go get something to drink..." The girl said as she disappeared into the kitchen to pour herself a glass of water, which she quickly drank in one go. After that, she went into her room to pick clothes she'd be wearing that day. She decided to wear the funny nerdy t-shirt she'd chosen during her first shopping trip after having her a.i disabled and jeans. It didn't take her too long and once she had everything prepared, she took everything into the bathroom. A part of her everyday morning routine was a short shower. So, once she was in the bathroom, she closed and locked the door, undressed and got under the shower.

When Nana was taking a shower, Darius finally woke up. He sat on the couch and rubbed his eyes. The younger clone let out a quiet groan at how bright the light was. At first, he seemed slightly confused as the apartment looked slightly different in the morning light. Soon he remembered everything- how he'd gotten there and what happened during the night. Once he had everything sorted out in his head he stood up and looked at Joseph. Well, he wasn't sure what to say and so he ended up staring at him for a moment before he finally remembered what people should say to greet each other in the morning. "Uhm... Good morning..."

"Hello," Joseph said, deciding that, with everyone but Jazz up, he might as well pack away his work. Gathering everything together, he moved to stand, proceeding to his room and returning shortly after. "Nunally is awake and getting ready. Lily's working on breakfast." He double checked his seat to make sure that none of his work was still in place, fluffed the pillows, and went to see how Lily was doing. "Be careful about Jasmine, though. She gets grouchy in the morning. Lily, did you start the coffee?" She shook her head and he proceeded to go through the process for her, mumbling under his breath about, "filthy bean water."