Framed in Fortune (Arc/Lani, Painters)(NSFW)

Weeks had passed since their awkward encounters previously, and with the return of two of the other Toromakis, including the true Death City head, things had not become any less tense. Still, the fact that they remained students under the Academy drove Rin ever more towards wanting to complete Takumi's progress towards Death Scythe. A hunt was more than overdue. It offered a distraction from the chaos at home, from the fact that the others had, in fact, simply disappeared without bothering to explain, beforehand, why. It kept her away from the reality that there were still so many others missing. It allowed her to take a break and let off steam.

And, if nothing else, it gave her and Takumi time away from the mansion, from everything and one else that reminded them of her station. The fact that it allowed them to advance more in power became, thus, more of a bonus than the primary intent.

For Takumi, the prospect of going off and doing a mission was a prospect which was rather welcome. He felt awkward at the estate and Rin was only one of a multitude of reasons for that. Though she was a reason. He tried not to think about it too hard, though, considering that thinking about it just made him feel bad and was not productive in any way. He decided that forgetting the things that happened between then some weeks past would be best for their partnership and friendship both, so that was exactly what he would do; however difficult actually doing that actually was in practice. He, at the very least, made progress in learning to pretend that he had forgotten. He just hoped that they could both focus on the mission and gaining souls rather than doing anything that might make forgetting or pretending to have forgotten more difficult.

As she was accustomed to doing, Rin made the arrangements for their transportation without asking Takumi for his input. Perhaps it was her assuming what was best for them both, or her not wanting him to feel pressured by the price. Maybe, in the end, she just couldn't bring herself to speak to him more than seemed absolutely necessary. Whatever the reason may be, she chose not to let him know of any of the plans until they were set. Even then, she merely sent him a message on his phone, impersonal as it was. Rin was waiting for him by the cab when it was about time for them to go, her bags already packed and loaded.

Takumi had learned at this point to never expect Rin to tell him about transport or accommodation. She never would, so Takumi gave up in trying to get her to. Instead, having simply been informed of the time when he should be out front, he arrived at that time. He had a single bag with him, and not a large one either. He didn't exactly need a lot of stuff. He also decided to just keep it by his feet inside of the cab, into which he got in after giving Rin a simple and quick greeting.

Rin offered him a nod in return, taking her own spot in the cab and directing the man to the airport. The trip would, hopefully, be a shorter one than Siberia's had been, and this one was also far less expected to be freezing. After all, this trip would see them in Mexico, taking out people who had opted to try their hand at human trafficking... in addition to their Kishin habits. It was an appalling notion, but it gave them people to go after without concern for morals.

While in the car, Takumi would opt to not speak unless he was spoken to, as well as to look out the window at the city that rolled past. He had nothing to say either way, though if Rin didn't either and stayed silent as he did then travelling would probably end up being even more boring than it usually was. At least at their destination there was a clear goal consisting of something that would help people. That made the boredom more bearable.

The taxi ride, for its own part, went by uneventfully. Rin chose not to speak for its duration, whatever the reason may be. Once at the airport, however, she seemed to relax a bit, taking her bag and looking around before heaving a sigh of relief. The tension in her shoulders visibly began to melt away, and her focus became less concerned for implications of her family name and more directed towards the simple task at hand. They had a hunt to do, and that meant that they were away from the limelight and free to just be. Holding a hand out weakly towards him, without really thinking about it in its entirety, walking off to make sure that they had their tickets to board the plane.

So much for forgetting. He was beginning to wonder if that was becoming a habit of Rin's, to hold her hand out for him without even thinking about it. Well, he had to think about it instead! In the bustle of the airport, the quiet tut that came from him was almost imperceptible. A quiet sigh followed that and he ignored Rin's offer, instead choosing to walk a step or two behind her as he always did before anything happened between them.

Some part of her might have heard the sound, but she was too lost in something else to actually speak on it. Instead, she merely left her arm mostly out to him, without fully bringing her hand back to her side. In silence, she walked them through the ticket counter and TSA, enjoying the pass that both money and their status as DWMA students brought them. Soon enough, they were on the plane, in First Class simply because Rin had felt the need for it. Sitting in their side row alone, with four seats to share between the two of them. Since they had all four at their disposal, she stepped aside and let him decide whether he sat more towards the window or the aisle.

Takumi always wondered how more people with less-than-good intentions didn't go to the DWMA simply to get themselves an ID to use with bypassing law enforcement anywhere. He remembered well getting into the US when he joined the DWMA himself and the difference was astounding; even if Rin's status probably also had to do with it. Both of them could have been carrying anything and especially he himself with his coat. Still, he didn't comment on any of it. He followed silently, until they were on the plane and in the inevitably first class seating. Once again, Takumi didn't argue about it. When he was given the choice of where to sit, he chose the window. He was getting quite used to looking out of windows to avoid certain things as of late.

Rin seemed pleased with the development, pushing their bags into the overhead bin with her bandages. She didn't care one way or another how anyone reacted to the mystical display, bandages otherwise woven at the spool on her hip. It wasn't their business. She wasn't their business. With him in the seat, she left the two between them empty as she reclined her own, right against the aisle. Laying it down flat, she curled, back to the walkway and blanket wrapped around her. She left one hand out almost thoughtlessly, stretched so that it didn't cut circulation. Rin was asleep before the plane took off.

If there was one thing he was glad of, it was that Rin was making use of the entire row of seats rather than, say, taking the one next to him and making the whole journey awkward. That was good. What wasn't good, was that she was asleep almost instantly. At least on one hand. So he wouldn't have to feel like things were awkward if neither of them talked. Great! But then, Rin was right there, asleep, again with the damn hand that he just couldn't help but not overlook. It was so tempting, so very tempting to spend some time not looking out of the window but at her. But he was trying to forget, damn it, forget about all of that! 

He ended up being almost angry at the view out of the window, but nevertheless kept his eyes glued to it.

The Toromaki slept soundly, unmoving throughout the duration of her nap save the subtle rise and fall of her chest. Occasionally, she'd make a sort of coo and shift a bit, though only slightly and just enough to ensure continued circulation. Eventually, she awoke, slowly and almost groggily, though she seemed rested enough, for whatever that was worth. Looking around, she sought someone with drinks, suddenly parched for water upon waking. She glanced over at Takumi a moment, to see if anyone had come by and if he'd gotten anything for himself. Surely someone had, though she didn't seem particularly eager for verbal communication with him. Not yet.

Well, by the time that Rin woke up, Takumi must have really looked like something outside of the window irked him greatly; even if what made him angry was that he had forgotten to pack a pair of headphones so he couldn't hear anything. Not seeing didn't help at all if you couldn't hear! Takumi hadn't thought this through enough. The fact that he was adamant to keep looking out the window annoyed him, but the feeling that welled in his chest each time he heard something from her direction well and truly made him angry at himself. Forget, damn it!

Apart from that, the only thing which was different from when Rin had gone to sleep and now was that there was a half-drank bottle of water on the tray to the front of Takumi's seat. Clearly, he had gotten it for himself somewhere along the way.

Assuming, then, that the last thing that he wanted was to be bothered by her, she set her focus on flagging someone down for a drink. She didn't ask for anything besides it, but the lady brought her a water and a pack of cookies for each of them. It made her feel like a child, but she delighted in the cookies, nonetheless, reaching over to set one of the packs on his tray without a word. Not having her phone felt weird to her, in a way, in part because it meant that she had nothing with which to distract her from the passing time. Talking was clearly out of the question between the two of them, afterall.

Seeing from the corner of his eye Rin placing something on his tray, he looked over, his expression softening almost instantly into one much less angry-at-the-world. He thanked her, surprisingly, verbally for a change. "Domo," he said, finding it easier at the moment to just use this particular Japanese word. He said nothing more, though, instead taking the packet and nibbling on one of the treats he then pulled from inside slowly. He went back to looking out the window, except looking much less like he was about to punch the damn thing.

If she'd thought that such was his intention, she probably would have panicked; breaking the window would surely bring about their demise. At least, she thought as much. Rin didn't know enough about plane mechanics to know for sure if he would, in fact, get them killed by breaking the window. She much preferred not to find out. Offering simply a peaceful nod in response to his thanks, she set about nibbling at her own cookies, using them as her only means of distraction. Eventually, with the cookies done, she had her wrapping tossed in the paper barf bag, which was now her trash can. She seemed to be playing around with her water bottle on her tray.

After his own treat was done with, and with the sound of her water bottle rattling, Takumi finally turned around. Not completely, but only momentarily glancing in her direction. Then to her hands, for another moment. Then, back to the window. Something akin to a sigh, though it was more just a higher of volume of air blown out of his nose more quickly than usual, sounded from him. Perhaps a huff? He didn't know what to do with himself. It was also quite clear that Rin didn't either.

There was a slight bit of tension with the sound escaped him, a temporary pass of nerves tightening muscles along her spine. It went as fast as it came, however, and it was hardly likely that he noticed the change, at all. Still, the water bottle offered little entertainment and she was soon looking through old catalogs and magazines found in the seat pocket in front of her. Why, of all times, had she not bothered to pack a book, now?

From the bottle to crappy magazines and catalogs full of overpriced tat. Well, she could afford all of them just fine, but it still wasn't entertainment either way. With a sigh, Takumi got up out of his seat and shuffled his way to the aisle; he was very careful on his way past Rin, very clearly. He walked off down the aforementioned aisle, coming back a minute or two later. Whether he actually went for a reason or just to seem like the only reason he got out of his seat wasn't to get at his bag was unclear. After he did get at it, and after he rummaged within it for a few moments. He soon put the bag back in the overhead containers sans two sets items: A sketch pad along with some pencils and a handheld console, the latter of which he handed to Rin as he went back to sit in his own seat.

She looked at it curiously, somehow surprised that he'd thought to bring the device on their trip. Really, she shouldn't have been and should have actually been surprised at herself for not doing exactly that. However, such was not the case, and she merely nodded, mumbling her thanks in one language or another, too quietly to be legibly heard. Turning on the console and scrolling it's volume down, she took a look at the game in question, oblivious to whatever her partner might have in mind for an art piece. The boy could find art and beauty in anything, and with the sky view, there was no telling what his subject matter might be.

The sky was certainly not the subject of his drawing. He had been staring at it for way too long to want to capture it in any way, at this point. Neither was his subject going to be Rin, like the last time that they were alone and silent. Well, at least relatively alone. Instead, he decided to just doodle, designs for graffiti, some creatures, whatever came to mind. At least it kept him from thinking of the girl to the side, which was really the whole point of exercise.

As for the console, it was almost as if he only brought it along just in case. Pokemon, of course. She gave him way more than enough reason to figure that's what she usually played.

The young woman spent far more time than she'd ever admit just sitting on the title screen, unwilling to start a new game in fear of deleting a save, and perhaps more unwilling to play on someone else's profile. Staring at it, she twiddled the joystick around several times, indecisive and unsure of what she was supposed to do. If nothing else, the sound was almost comforting.

Takumi glanced over at her momentarily, when he realised that he wasn't hearing what the buttons might sound like when normally playing the game. Whatever. He handed her the console, though it was his, but he couldn't tell her how she should use it. He went back to doodling. It's not as if the sound was as grating as the rattling of a tray and a plastic bottle.

"You... Have an active save." She said finally, the words almost timid. No question followed them. Instead, she merely left the statement to hang in the air about as awkwardly as their silence had. The words did speak for themselves, right?