Commuting

[darknight-ren.livejournal.com]

[There was a very shaky grey curtain materializing...well, actually several feet away from the Hikari Studio, but close enough to use it as an anchor point. It took about a minute or two to stabilize before Ren walked out, taking a quick look around before letting it disappear behind him.

Ren looked a little tired, but there was also a lack of tenseness about him. Wherever he'd been, he seemed to have gotten some rest.]

Comments

[crystal-energy.livejournal.com]

"WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF!"

[This is probably not what a relaxed Ren wants to see. Kaze was apparently quite happy to see Ren, and was able to pull Arika off her feet and drag her along by the leash toward him. Note that she's supposed to be resting, thanks to her bruised ribs.]

[darknight-ren.livejournal.com]

[And there went that sense of relaxation. Even while pulling Arika, Kaze started trying to jump up onto Ren's knees, forcing him to step back. But he did take the chance to give Arika a probing look.]

Are you supposed to be walking him? [Or was he going to have to get on Tsukasa's case for not taking Kaze? Or just make Shinji do it.]

[crystal-energy.livejournal.com]

[Arika's got a sheepish look on her face]

Hi Ren!

[She sweatdropped]

I was taking him for a walk... but then he suddenly got excited and pulled me along!

WOOF!

[darknight-ren.livejournal.com]

[Ren really couldn't help giving her a look of disbelief now. And this meant he had to kneel down next to Kaze and unhook the leash. This meant that the puppy was now jumping on top of him. He was getting a face full of puppy kisses whether he liked it or not.]

[crystal-energy.livejournal.com]

[Arika sighed and leaned against the wall, holding her chest slightly]

He's been pretty hyperactive. I think he's missed you. Where'd you go?

[darknight-ren.livejournal.com]

[Ren managed to get Kaze off of him and stood up. All right, so maybe he deserved that a little bit.]

I had to head home for a little bit. I'm trying to travel back and forth now. I would have before, but it's not easy.

[crystal-energy.livejournal.com]

Do you have people back home waiting for you?

[Arika called Kaze back over to her, and he climbed into her lap]

[darknight-ren.livejournal.com]

[Ren nodded, twisting a ring on his left hand.]

My wife. It's getting close to our first anniversary, and I spent almost half of it away.

[crystal-energy.livejournal.com]

You're married?! Is she pretty?!

[Arika may have gotten over her childish crush on Shoutaro, and dedicated herself to being an Otome, but that didn't mean she wasn't interested in other peoples' romance]

[darknight-ren.livejournal.com]

[Ren didn't answer, but he was smiling. Was that answer enough?]

[crystal-energy.livejournal.com]

Awww, c'mon, tell me!!!

WOOF!

[darknight-ren.livejournal.com]

Yeah. She's probably the most important person to me.

[crystal-energy.livejournal.com]

That sounds really cool!

[darknight-ren.livejournal.com]

[There was a very faint laugh from Ren.]

I guess so.

[crystal-energy.livejournal.com]

I wonder if my Mom and Dad were happy with each other?

[darknight-ren.livejournal.com]

I'm sure they were.

[crystal-energy.livejournal.com]

I hope so. Grandma never talked about them much.

[aceshighhealer.livejournal.com]

Hi, Ren~!

(Yoshika was approaching the Hikari Studio herself, carrying a familiar bowl Ren might not be too pleased to see; it had the word KAZE across the bottom.)

[darknight-ren.livejournal.com]

[Ren nodded to her, just holding back a look of annoyance at the bowl.]

Found Kaze before, if you're looking for him.

[aceshighhealer.livejournal.com]

(Yoshika nodded; she had been looking for the dog, but bringing Kaze food wasn't the only thing on her agenda.)

I wanted to see what you were up to, how you were doing? We haven't talked much since...before the Adventus thing.

[darknight-ren.livejournal.com]

[He shrugged slightly. To be honest, he felt bad if he'd worried her, but...he just wasn't good at talking to people.]

I just needed a little time off. Couldn't take all the time away from my wife, so I'm going back and forth now.

[aceshighhealer.livejournal.com]

Ohh! How is she doing? Have you told her about...most of us?

(Yoshika does recall that Ren was married, but figures he'd keep some of what happened to himself.)

[darknight-ren.livejournal.com]

Some. Enough so she knows why I'm here, but not enough to make her worry.

[Though he knew very well that he wasn't doing a good enough job at keeping her from worrying, which was part of the reason he was trying to commute in the first place.]

[aceshighhealer.livejournal.com]

Mmn.

(Yoshika could easily understand that; she'd done the same when it came to sending her family some of her money she made on her sorties-making sure to tell them enough but not so much as to worry them.)

Have you told her about me or anyone else you've met? (She was curious if his wife knew about the 'girls who wear no pants as uniforms' and that a few had befriended him.)

[darknight-ren.livejournal.com]

Mostly. [Though the lack of pants thing had been omitted; it was awkward to explain that some of your friends frequently lost their pants.]

I also told her about Kaze. [And from the look on his face, she'd had no sympathy for him.]

[aceshighhealer.livejournal.com]

Hehe, at least you told her you got a pet~ (Yoshika's way of sympathy for Ren, to provide Kaze food.

That was probably why he'd grown to be his current size.)

Oh, I met your friend a while back! He's pretty nice. Kinda clumsy in the kitchen, though~

[darknight-ren.livejournal.com]

[Yeah, that wasn't helping, Yoshika. Ren might be able to stand being in the same room as Kaze now, but he was still a long way away from considering him anything resembling man's best friend.]

...What did he break? [With Shinji, it was a necessary question. What broke, who got ticked off, and how much money was Ren going to have to charge him for bailing him out this time?]

[aceshighhealer.livejournal.com]

(...Okay, now that the subSUBconscious bout of laughter is diminished, she can laugh sheepishly while answering.)

Nothing big, he just knocked over some cups on a tray...that he was taking to some customers...which didn't cost much. I'd say about 500 yen each?

(Said number of cups totaled to about 7 per order. And he doesn't have to get bailed out, he just has to work overtime...

THIS time.)

[darknight-ren.livejournal.com]

[Ren sighed. It was starting now.]

And an extra 1000 for the trouble he caused. I actually feel bad for Kadoya for having to put up with him. [On top of that, the Power Rangers had dumped their resident klutz in the kitchen too, and it couldn't be pretty.]

[aceshighhealer.livejournal.com]

Eh-heh, but I think he really means well! Tsukasa probably wanted to watch out for him. And he did try and clean things up...

(Which only caused things to escalate a bit more. Yoshika had seen the Power Rangers' resident klutz around a few times as well. She only vaguely wondered what might happen if the two ever had the same shift...)

[darknight-ren.livejournal.com]

[But the look on Ren's face clearly says that he's not convinced a disaster won't happen.]

[aceshighhealer.livejournal.com]

(Here comes Kaze, Yoshika putting the bowl down for him to get to as she stands back up!)

Is he really that bad~?

(New motto: 'with great kindness comes great clumsiness and a knack for disaster.')

[darknight-ren.livejournal.com]

Yes.

[Absolutely no sympathy.]