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

Rin strayed from the study only a few times: once, when the book was completed and she realized she'd skipped breakfast, and a second time, when she decided that she should do one of her rounds about the house. She wasn't as thoroughly as normal, more absently roaming than actually checking to see if everything was in order. It wasn't really like her.

Takumi, similarly skipping out of food to finish what he was doing, was mostly finished even though he hadn't spent that much time on what he was doing. When he was completely focused on something, there was no stopping him.

Rin drifted around the house like a spirit without a body, a ghost amidst her own home. There was a normalcy to that, but she forcefully chose not to dwell on it. She wasn't as alone as she was before, but something she'd done appeared to have changed how Takumi reacted around her, and that made it feel even more lonely than if no one else were there. How had Ace not gone completely mad, all those years, alone? Well, she realized, he hadn't exactly stayed sane. That was, of course, without her having any knowledge of King Jack or the monster her cousin could become. Oh, how little she really knew about him, in the end. Each passing day though brought her further from him and from the truth, further from the chance of him ever coming back. The woman was left, just the estate, the staff, and the friends she'd made, here. Takumi, actually. Really, just Takumi. She'd not left the estate except for classes, and only her duty to her cousin, the hope of his return, and her weapon kept her tethered here, rather than going back to her own home in the District of Columbia. Worry made her wonder if going back would be better. She dismissed the thought, suddenly finding that, in her wanderings, she'd stopped outside his door. How long had she been there? Rin had no idea. Well, this was embarrassing...

From within his room, at that exact time, came a few words which would explain his absence around the rest of the estate to some extent: "It's done!" He merrily announced to nobody by himself, following such with a happy sort of laughter for a few moments and then the footsteps which were darting around the room went straight for the door. Takumi really hadn't been expecting Rin to be standing there. Spooked, he fell backwards along with a something wrapped up in a bundle of material, yelping as he did so. His fingers seemed to be covered in band-aids, and his hair had some loose white threads somehow stuck in it. "R-Rin..."

The woman jolted as well, bandages unraveling and poising like snakes ready to strike as she jumped back. Hardly were they out before she reeled them back in, however, looping back around their spool and her waist. She blinked several times while all of this was going on, seemingly dumbfounded, having only barely just returned to reality from her own inner thoughts before the door opened.

"...why...?" It was probably not the most intelligent question; duh, of course Takumi was in Takumi's room, who else would be there? And duh, of course Takumi would eventually leave Takumi's room, he wasn't going to wilt away and die in there. Now, why he looked like he had a fight with a sewing machine, that was a good question.

"Huh?" He was confused over the question, for all the above reasons, and the reason that he didn't really know what the state of himself was. Picking up the bundle from the floor, he looked at it and then rather conspicuously put it behind his back. He didn't figure that that would incite curiosity rather than stifle it. Why did he have to be so unlucky? He was going to dump this somewhere where she would find in the same way he did her stuff, making sure not to be anywhere near her when she received it. But now? He couldn't give it to her now! He'd die!

Awkward silence loomed over them like a judgmental parent, the tension quickly becoming palpable the longer it remained. Clearing her throat, she looked around, actively, obviously, trying to pretend that she hadn't seen him very blatantly trying to hide something from her. It didn't even register that it could possibly be something intended for her, seeing as she was under the impression that she'd done something very, very wrong. Another attempt at clearing her throat, her voice escaping as a groveled, hoarse mess that made it sound like she was either sick or had been crying, "I was just..." The Toromaki shook her head at the sound, resigning herself to just bowing out before she made things worse. Taking another, rather large, compared to her normal stride, step back, she redirected her path towards her own room. It took more than she thought it would to force herself not to look back, and even the loose bandages were waving behind her as though they were being dragged away.

Wait. Wait wait wait. Waitwaitwaitwaitwait. That voice, that was not something he wanted to hear from Rin. No, if that was because of him, then he had done way worse than he had ever thought! Takumi thought that he had done something wrong, but not that much! Suddenly panicked, he stepped out of his room, flinging the bundle at Rin's back before ducking back into his room and hiding as best as he could. The bundle contained a bear made of white velvet with eyes a similar colour to Rin's. For all of the band-aids on his fingers, it was unmarked by any evidence of injury; apparently, a lot of care went into making it.

Her reaction time was better in the theory of her bandages than in the practice of her own reflexive limbs. The free-flying bandages snatched the bundle out of the air a split second before she turned around, moving it around so that she could grab it with her hands. She spent more time staring at it than she did paying attention, using the bandages like a blind man's cane until she got to her room. Once there, still staring at the unopened bundle, she turned the knob with a bandage, walking inside and staring. Even once she set it on her nightstand and laid belly down on her bed, she continued to just stare at it like it was some sort of impossible puzzle.

Takumi sat in a corner of his room, out of sight, while fretting over what Rin might react like whenever she opened his gift. Would she like it..? He wouldn't mind nearly as much if she ignored him for the bear he made rather than some random bear from an arcade. Though he'd much prefer she didn't ignore him, he also had a hard time speaking with her now. Damnit, why'd he have to be so awkward!

Her arcade bear, actually, much unrealized by her, was still sitting in the study. She had it propped up on the table with her open book in front of it, as though he were reading. Rin had forgotten about him some time along the way of her rounds. Now, she was just staring at the strange bundle that she still hadn't opened. It clearly wasn't anything dangerous or she'd be dead right now; if it was a snake it would have bitten her, some might say. But it was lightweight and small, squishy. What was it? For that matter, why hadn't you just opened it, Rin Toromaki? Shaking her head, she reached out to undo the ties.

The following second was met with a high-pitched, rather girlish squeal that stretched further through the house than she would ever let anyone admit.

Whatwasthat!?

Did she open it? 

Was she angry?

He hadn't heard something like that from her, ever, and was seriously, expecting the worst. Did he ruin the final tatters of their positive relationship? Internal screaming was back as he scratched at his head while trying to somehow bundle himself up into the corner even further than he already was. Well, if he was going to get killed then he'd be dead, so it'd be okay.

Scrambling sounds followed, as well as several fumbled attempts at operating a door knob --- a door knob! Stupid things! Bare feet pattered on the floor as the scrambling approached the room, followed by knocking sounds made from the bandages. Seeing as they weren't particularly hard, the sound wasn't the loudest, but the pressure was enough to make the door move.

Takumi pulled his knees further up to his chest as he heard her approach, almost jumping at the rather muffled knocking of her bandages. Well, if she was going to make him dead then this was a very polite way of doing so. Still, he didn't move from his corner, afraid both of what her reaction to him was going to be and of letting his feelings show.

The knocking persisted, the woman clearly unwilling to invade his privacy, even it was basically her own home.

Slowly getting up from his corner, he shuffled over to the door, opening it in such a way that, when it was fully open, he was fully behind it.

Rin's initial thought was as silly and nonsensical as all of her recent reactions had been; was Takumi a ghost? Did a ghost open the door? Where was Takumi? Initially only poking her head inside, she looked around in a sort of frenzy that was quickly dissolving into an irrational panic, all the while snuggling the bear against her chest even more possessively than the first one. Holding the door with a bandage, unwilling to release her new toy, she walked in and looked around, not thinking, in all of her brilliance, to check behind the bloody door.

Takumi peeked his head head out from behind his hiding spot. He found that, yes, Rin was actually incredibly adorable when the outer shell of her nobility was gone. He didn't announce where he was, though, simply watching her try and find him. He was glad to see her holding the bear like that. That meant she probably like it, right? It didn't occur to him that maybe she wasn't here to kill him. At least, not on purpose.

Several more attempts eventually had her finally using enough sense to look back at the door. Spying him, she held up the bear like it was some sort of surprise that he most assuredly knew nothing about. That was a stupid notion, however, because she knew that it was at least from him, and seeing the threads still tangled in his messy flop of hair lent truth to the fact that, yes, he had made something for her. Made something for her. By hand. Even between family, friends, and suitors, she'd never seen anyone go out of their way to hand make anything for her! Apparently, a show of money in enough of a personalized to degree to hint that, "oh, you were a thing I thought about," was enough of a sign of affection that people thought that worked. No? She could buy anything she wanted, why would someone need to buy her more things? She didn't need more things? But this! She had a plush toy! Made by hand! By a friend! A friend who saw a thing that she liked and decided, "yes, this is a thing to make," and then made the thing! Giddy, she darted over to him, bare feet padding on the floor as she went to try to hug him. Now, Rin was not really known for shows of affection, public or otherwise, nor was she one to realize, in her excited state that squeezing someone can stop their breathing. That being said, these things came into play rather suddenly when she wrapped her arms around the boy, squishing the bear between them while she spouted thanks in so many languages that it could make someone's head spin.

The thing making his head spin was not the overabundance of languages that Rin spouted her thanks to him in. He only understood a few of those, and only that one phrase in those that weren't Japanese and English. That didn't matter, he could ignore those. What he couldn't ignore was the closeness that Rin suddenly forced on him, and the fact that he was having trouble breathing meanwhile. Well, he knew he could probably stay conscious for a minute of two of not being able to breathe and longer of barely being to breathe and THAT WAS WHAT HE HAD TO FOCUS ON NOT TO GO CRAZY. He had no idea what to do with himself, simply standing in place and letting her squeeze him while he thought of his waning brain oxygen levels to keep himself from dying.

She pulled apart only once it registered that she had squished her poor baby, pulling it free of their --- her, let's be honest --- grasp to spin and dance with the plush around the room. New toy! New baby! Must love baby toy forever!

Takumi slowly slid down the wall as he regained his breath for more reasons that one, sitting on the floor while watching her dance around. "I am glad you like it..." He said, quietly. This was fine... She didn't kill him and he didn't die. Nor did she read too much into why he would give her the gift, it seemed to him. That, he figured, was also probably for the best.

She smiled at him, a look on her face that seemed to ruin the illusion of the cold, refined noblewoman that she had been groomed to be. There was a delight and earnest joy to her expression that seemed almost entirely childish, making her suddenly seem even less like her age in the other direction, rather than seeming to be older than she really was. The bear was held gently against her chest, arms crossed over it as she looked at him, wanting to say something but instead merely standing there, staring, growing slowly, slowly awkward as she stood in silence.

Takumi drew his knees up to his chest, trying to make himself smaller somehow while she watched him. Rin was certainly not the only person feeling awkward at that moment, and it wasn't happening slowly for that other person either. Really, he started out awkward and felt even more so. From above his knees and below his hair he still looked at her, but he was certainly hiding himself again.

When the prolonged silence became too much to bear, she dismissed herself in silence, darting from the room and taking off towards her own. When did things get so weird?