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Post by Sharei on Feb 23, 2020 20:19:06 GMT -6
Moving Nagi into Koji's house had been easy enough. Nagi had next to nothing in the way of possessions after the fire that had claimed his own dwelling and good behavior on his part had shown the WDSA officials that he was capable of co-habitation. That part had been easy.
Showing Nagi around was another beast entirely. It wasn't even because the kirin was blind, but that Dust was nervous. This was the first time he'd had anyone inside the house that hadn't been Sara or Aaron and he was painfully aware of how dull it was. As he walked around 'showing' Nagi the kitchen, the downstairs bathroom, and the living room to familiarize him with the area, he kept staring at the scattering of plants and fragrant flowers that lined his furniture. They were the only real accents to speak of. People normally had more, didn't they?
"I put your things in the bedroom upstairs," Koji said, gesturing with one hand. "You have the room with the en suite bathroom, do you think you'll be okay with it?"
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Post by Marshmallow on Feb 23, 2020 20:38:48 GMT -6
Koji wasn't the only one with jittery nerves. In spite of the other's calm insistence, Nagi still couldn't completely shake off the feeling of being an inconvenience rather than invited guest. It needled at some of his deepest insecurities, though he kept his worries quiet, for Koji's sake. He didn't want to seem ungrateful, for he did truly appreciate the Genasi's hospitality.
If the relatively bare atmosphere of the home bothered the kirin at all, it didn't show in his face. In fact, the light fragrence of flowers closeby brought a smile to his face that eased away some of his discomfort.
Nagi lightly ran the pads of his fingers along the wall as Koji directed him around the various rooms, familiarizing himself with textures and distances. No doubt he would be in for a week or two of stumbles and stubbed toes while he adjusted.
"Wait, you're giving me the en suite?" Nagi blurted as they reached the stairs. "I mean, I appreciate it, but is that not your room?"
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Post by Sharei on Feb 23, 2020 20:43:52 GMT -6
"No," Koji said with a small, uncomfortable hesitation. "I took the smaller bedroom when I moved in."
That had been chiefly because he'd never felt totally comfortable in a room that had its own bathroom. When first he'd been an asset newly come to the WDSA it had seemed like the ultimate decadence, and the sentiment hadn't much changed. Besides, the thought of a tub or shower so close to where he slept gave him the heebies. Some habits, he supposed, were harder to shake than others.
"Wasn't comfortable with it."
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Post by Marshmallow on Feb 23, 2020 20:58:03 GMT -6
Right. Fire elemental. Made sense.
"You know, fair enough," Nagi replied. "Good to know I'm not kicking you out of your bed! Not that I would..." He flashed Koji a smile, and turned to climb the stairs. A clumsy process, one of feeling first with the cane and then carefully climbing. A process he would apologize for no less than three times before making it to the top. Okudo winged up and away, to perch on the banister at the top of the stairway. From there the bird counted and called out the number of steps to his blind master.
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Post by Sharei on Feb 23, 2020 21:04:44 GMT -6
Koji traveled behind the kirin to make sure that he didn't fall in a stumble, and if he was impatient about how long it took he did not show it. Nagi's continued apologies were met with mild it's fines, and nothing else until they reached the top. It really was fine.
"The stairs come out into a small landing area, with a hallway that goes to the right. Your room is the door across from the stairs, straight ahead. mine is to the right."
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Post by Marshmallow on Feb 23, 2020 21:22:56 GMT -6
His door straight ahead from the stairs, Koji's to the right. While he commited to directions to memory, Nagi couldn't quite help imagining comically exaggerated scenarios of stepping out of the bedroom and tipping head-over-foot right down the stairs. Hopefully that would remain in his imagination.
"This seems like so much space for just one person," the kirin mused as he made his way into the bedroom, listening to the sound of his own footsteps over the hardwood.
"So," he chimed after a beat, as he made his way around the room to gauge its dimensions and distances. "What are the ground rules? I'm happy to pitch in toward utilities, or groceries or the like while I'm here."
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Post by Sharei on Feb 23, 2020 21:30:09 GMT -6
Koji didn't immediately respond to Nagi's question which prompted a look from the kirin's companion bird. The Genasi was considering his words carefully, trying to find the best way to present them, but he wasn't very good at articulating.
"This is a WDSA safe house, so the utilities are covered already," he explained slowly. Would Nagi accept that? He seemed to be having trouble with a lot of this moving business - had Koji pushed this a little hard?
"That's why it's bigger, too, it was meant to hold multiple people." Another hesitant pause. "What are the normal ground rules for a house? I've never... done this before? I am not sure how to answer that question."
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Post by Marshmallow on Feb 23, 2020 21:55:36 GMT -6
Nagi looked bewildered for a moment - moreso at this being a WDSA safehouse than at Koji never having had roommates before. It didn't seem to bother him per se, rather he just found it unexpected. "Huh," was all he really had to say to that. "Do you think if I registered as an Endangered Species, I'd get my own place like this?" A jester's smirk crossed his face, obviously he was joking.
"Okay, so ground rules." Nagi leant his cane against one wall and clapped his hands together. He often liked to have his hands free to gesture as he spoke. "I mean, they aren't always necessary. Some people get by without just fine. I ask because, for some people, it helps to set boundaries. Knowing what is or isn't expected of us makes it easier to get along in a shared space, you know? Like... I wouldn't bring a kettle of water into your room, for example. Or, I would ask you take off your shoes before coming into mine. Things like that."
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Post by Sharei on Feb 23, 2020 22:00:17 GMT -6
"Oh."
Koji tipped his head and rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"Don't bring water into my room? Don't try to wake me up, I may accidentally try to hurt you if you startle me awake. I apologize in advance if that happens."
Those sounded more like trigger warnings than ground rules, though. He didn't really have any considerations about personal space, largely because he'd never had personal space.
"That's... it? Don't touch me without asking, I guess. Have you read my file? That might be easier."
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Post by Marshmallow on Feb 23, 2020 22:15:47 GMT -6
"No, no- I mean, well, yes, I have! But that's not quite what I meant." Nagi laughed, a sweet, slightly melodic sound. He was just tickled by the way Koji took things so straight-faced and matter-of-fact sometimes.
Though, speaking of his file...
"Well here, I have an important one to start with. Bedroom doors," the kirin began, gesturing in the direction of his own. "Generally I have an open-door policy. If the door's ajar and I'm here, walk right in. But if it's closed, knock first. I don't - and can't - spend all my time in my human shape. My aura is stronger in my natural form, but it's based on line of sight. So knock first, just in case you catch me on four hooves instead of two feet."
He smiled gently. "But we don't have to come up with it all on the spot. Things might crop up as we go, so we'll just cross those bridges as we reach them. Sound good?"
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Post by Sharei on Feb 23, 2020 22:29:35 GMT -6
"Knocking - I can do that." Seemed easy enough, Koji thought. He was accustomed to waiting at doorways to be given permission to enter anyway, which had been a Zramek thing for most of his young adult life, and this was not a very far stretch from that.
The next thing that Nagi said caught him completely blind, however.
"...Aura?" he repeated and frowned in confusion. "What aura?"
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Post by Marshmallow on Feb 23, 2020 22:51:37 GMT -6
The smile briefly faltered. "My Kirin aura," he stated. But when that didn't produce a response, Nagi felt insecurity creep down the back of his neck. He idly rubbed at the spot with one hand. He could have sworn he'd mentioned it before now ... But then again, he went through it with every new client, sometimes two or three times in a day depending. Obviously the memories had run together somehow and had turned into a major misstep.
"My kind produces a natural aura in the immediate area around ourselves. It induces feelings of calm in others. People, animals... Though the effect is more pronounced in some than in others," he explained, feeling more self-conscious by the second. If Koji threw him out on the street now, he could hardly blame the man. "It's a defense mechanism. Kind of like psychic camouflage. Makes our predators feel calm and happy so we can avoid conflict. Though I use it for some of my clients too, if they ask."
Nagi shifted his weight anxiously. "I'm sorry Koji, I honestly thought I'd mentioned it to you before. I guess my memory isn't what it used to be, huh?"
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Post by Sharei on Feb 23, 2020 23:23:11 GMT -6
For long seconds Koji did not move, did not even dare to breathe, as the realization of what Nagi had - what the Genasi had allowed himself to bring into his home - sank in. He felt himself recoil and he backed up to the door, almost without thinking about it. His heart thundered so hard that he felt sick. Psychic tampering, emotional manipulation, pacification-
He needed to get out. Koji retreated into the hallway and pressed his back against the wall next to Nagi's door. It was alright - it was fine - it was going to be okay. Aaron had said so many times that the WDSA wouldn't do something like that to him, and this was Nagi, wasn't it? Nagi wouldn't - would he? No, no, of course not. Right?
"That's... a ground-rule," he said from the hallway. He couldn't bring himself to go back into the room yet, not while his hands were shaking. "No aura on me. No exception. Alright?"
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Post by Marshmallow on Feb 23, 2020 23:42:16 GMT -6
Nagi didn't have to see the look on Koji's face or the rigid lines in his body to sense the abrupt change in the room. He could hear it in the held breath, the hurried footsteps. He could feel it. And it twisted a knife in his heart to think that, however unintended, he had betrayed a good friend's trust.
He withheld the urge to follow after Koji into the hallway. That wouldn't do any good. He was left just standing awkwardly in the silence of an unfamiliar room, wondering if he had the funds for a motel tonight, or if he should just go back to the office, or-
"No aura on me. No exception. Alright?"
"You aren't throwing me out?" was the first thing to fall out of the dumbstruck kirin's mouth.
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Post by Sharei on Feb 24, 2020 0:20:31 GMT -6
"No."
Throwing Nagi out had never been a thought in his mind. He knew the situation and how little the kirin actually had, and to do so would have been a cruelty Koji did not think himself capable of. To strangers? Certainly. Not to friends.
"I just... You've read my file, you know how... you know what they did. I can't - I don't mind knowing it's there-" he minded a lot but he wouldn't say as much, "-as long as you don't use it. I'll flip out."
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