ED: Kippei and Tori

[shattermelt]

Kippei was trying not to work too hard, he really was, but there was just so much to do, and he felt a bit guilty about his schedule at times, so he tried to make up for it when he was there. Tonight it was almost nine, and he was still here, putting in new light fixtures in the kitchen. The electricians had gotten most of the downstairs done, so he was ready for business. He wanted to get them all in for this room at least before he left tonight.

Comments

[moonlit-lycan.livejournal.com]

Ohtori sighed as he rolled out of bed, disturbed from his light, nightmare riddles sleep, and quietly yanked on his clothing in the dark. He still wore black clothing to the construction site, and pulled them on quickly before grabbing a sandwich he bought earlier for a midnight snack. He was ready for work. Yawning lazily, he walked to the familiar looking house, tilting his head curiously at the glimpse of movement in a window. Quickly approaching, he roudned the corner, half expecting it to be those troublesome kids back since last time. Instead, he blinked at his boss and somewhat friend.

"Hi." He didn't want to bother the older male, so he quietly leaned on the wall and didn't say another word.

[shattermelt.livejournal.com]

Kippei had almost forgotten Ohtori was coming, and blinked in surprise, sitting back on his heels and checking the time. Yeah, it was almost nine. Huh.

"Hi," he said bemusedly, scrubbing a hand over his short cropped hair and debating with himself whether to finish or go home now. But he was sort of almost done... "How's it going?"

[momo-kun.livejournal.com]

He smiled weakly and managed to cover his yawn with an odd expression. "I'm- it's going well. How have you been?" He was used to some of the later crewmen being around, though they hardly spoke with him and lately he was not intersted in putting forth the effort to be his normally upbeat self.

[shattermelt.livejournal.com]

Kippei blinked at him again, taking a closer look at him. He kind of...looked like shit.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked, a little concerned. He mentally checked the date, wondering if it was almost the full moon or something. "I said you can have a day off if you need it."

[momo-kun.livejournal.com]

Frowning a little, he shrugged. "Haven't been sleeping too well lately- and the full moon was just Sunday." That was a weak excuse, he'd been falling apart well before the full moon, but he didn't want to risk losing a job he was actually pretty good at.

[shattermelt.livejournal.com]

Kippei studied him closely, a little concerned. "You sure, man? You don't look too good...." That was an understatement, really. Kid looked like someone ran over him several times and roughed him up for good measure. "You gonna be able to stay awake?"

[moonlit-lycan.livejournal.com]

"Can't sleep to begin with, so staying awake is actually the easy part. Besides, since the last few kids got chased out, it's been pretty quiet lately." He backed into the shadows, attempting to hide dark circled eyes.

[shattermelt.livejournal.com]

"Mmmm," Kippei answered, eyeing him dubiously but getting back to work. If he said he was okay, then Kippei would take his word for it until he had evidence to the contrary.

"You're not sick or anything, are you?" he asked, glancing over his shoulder as he unpacked another light fixture and assembled it, getting ready to install it.

[moonlit-lycan.livejournal.com]

"Healthy as a horse, really." He couldn't help smiling and itching forward a little more so he could see what Kippei was doing, his natural curiousity getting the better of him.

"What are you doing, anyway?"

[shattermelt.livejournal.com]

"Hmmm," Kippei muttered, not believing him for a minute, but also not thinking it was worth it to argue the point at this point.

"Putting in the lights," he answered, pointing to the ones he'd already done - rather delicate cut glass that would catch the morning light from the east windows rather nicely, or so the theory went.

[moonlit-lycan.livejournal.com]

"Promise not to think I'm totally insane? I sleep okay, it's just I've been having a recurring nightmare, it's too real not to have happened..." He blinked again at the lights a bit and imagined how the whole kitchen would look before settling in to toy with the cross his former housemate and friend had given him.

"They're really pretty."

[shattermelt.livejournal.com]

Kippei gave him a puzzled look. "Why would I think you're insane?" he asked bluntly. "Why do you think that?" he added, scratching his chin bemusedly. "Everybody has nightmares, even recurring ones. Nothing that strange about it." He shrugged, not really getting it.

[momo-kun.livejournal.com]

"Yeah- I guess you're right..." Even though he doubted that being accurate, especially after he had been committed years ago and was only free because he broke out. "No point worrying then..."

[shattermelt.livejournal.com]

That really didn't sound convincing. Kippei went back to work, but he wondered if there was more cause for concern than was obvious.

"What's the dream about?" he asked absently, thinking there might be clues.

[momo-kun.livejournal.com]

"I dunno...just like- scary things. Getting run over...this weird looking guy, I'm sure I've never seen him anywhere before. But he like tied me up and cut me up a lot. There was a lot of blood and stuff." He was rambling, and cut himself off at the last statement, frowning wearily before moving to sti beside the other and assist with the lights.

[shattermelt.livejournal.com]

Kippei shook his head and decided it was none of his business. Kid needed therapy, or something.

"Here," he told Ohtori gruffly. "Take these out of the boxes and unwrap them, be careful." If the kid wanted to help, he could help, but Kippei was going to have to do the installation himself. He watched a bit warily, wondering if something was going to get broken, these damn things were expensive and a pain in the ass besides, but so far so good. He shrugged and climbed back onto the ladder he was using to put the next one in.

[younger-copy.livejournal.com]

"Yeah- okay." Smiling calmly as he could, the tall boy with a penchant for nervousness carefully unwrapped the next glass piece, handing the delicate item up to the other. "Don't fall or anything."

[shattermelt.livejournal.com]

Kippei looked amused. "I won't fall," he answered, shaking his head a little. He had to stretch a bit to reach the next one, and decided to move his ladder before he did another.

"So, how long have you been having these dreams?" he asked after a minute.

[ice-emperor.livejournal.com]

"Okay- good. My medical knowledge goes as far as licking wounds." He smiled and waited patiently for the ladder to be moved before handing over the next glass segment.

"A little under a month. But it happens every time I close my eyes. The same guy, and he always says the same thing before cutting me up:

After I’m done, you won’t feel a thing.”

[shattermelt.livejournal.com]

Kippei blinked down at him, a little unnerved by the extra details he hadn't asked for. That sounded like a horror movie or something...weird.

"Does it hurt?" he asked, which was a stupid question, but dreams didn't always follow natural laws. "Maybe you should go to a doctor or something..." But that was kind of a stupid thing to say, too; he was like Annie, wasn't he? Doctors generally were a bad idea.

[momo-kun.livejournal.com]

"The dreams? No- not really. It just sort of scares me." He chuckled a little at the mention of doctors and shook his head, "and that is most definitely not a possibility, unless I was trying to become a sceince experiment."

[shattermelt.livejournal.com]

Kippei nodded absently, frowning at the screws he was tightening. "Sounds bad," he said finally. "Hope you're doing okay. Let me know if you can't work anymore, okay?"

[moonlit-lycan.livejournal.com]

That was exactly what he was afraid of, frowning a bit, he nodded his hesitant agreement. Should he become too weak or jittery, he wouldn't be able to do his job right and Kippei would be paying him for nothing. "...I understand."

[shattermelt.livejournal.com]

Kippei gave him a sympathetic look. "I'll leave it up to your judgement," he told the kid reassuringly, "but I don't want you here if you're so sleep deprived that you'll start hallucinating or something..." Which sounded like a real possibility. "You ain't had much trouble with the ghosts yet but they like to take advantage of things like that. I ain't gonna have you end up injured or dead on my watch."

[moonlit-lycan.livejournal.com]

"I'll be careful. I guess I could buy some sleeping pills or something." Things were still a bit tight, but he was slowly carving out his own life on his own, not relying on another soul ever again. "They don't seem to like me too much when I roam around as a wolf."

[shattermelt.livejournal.com]

"As a wolf?" Kippei stared at him, that not having occurred to him whatsoever. "Do you...do that often?" he asked, not sure if he approved of that or not. On the one hand, usually there was no one here, but on the other...it seemed a little risky, and the last thing he wanted was for weird rumors to start about this house again. It had enough history of that, he didn't need the new owner backing out because newly weird stuff was still going on.

[moonlit-lycan.livejournal.com]

"Only once or twice when the ghosts kept going after me..." He'd admittedly been scared into it the first time, but the second, he knew the ghosts didn't want to bother with him anymore.

[shattermelt.livejournal.com]

"Hmmm," Kippei answered, thinking about that as he finished working on the light and got down to move the ladder again. "Guess that's okay then," he grunted, setting it in place with a little shake to stabilize it and climbing back up, waiting for Ohtori to hand him another of the fragile pieces of glass.

[momo-kun.livejournal.com]

"But they've been pretty quiet lately, which is good. The kids still try to come though...they had a Ouija board last time." He shook his head, who would want to summon up a spirit, nothing about any of the things he felt there should be disturbed. Handing up the next light, he smiled and shrugged thinly.

[shattermelt.livejournal.com]

Kippei sighed. "Well, that's what you're here for," he muttered, not at all happy with the idea of the Ouija board himself. That was just asking for trouble. Stupid kids.

"Haven't had to call the police on any of them yet, have you?"

[momo-kun.livejournal.com]

"Didn't need to. those kids though I was what they summoned- apparently I am a bit creepy looking." He smiled and tilted his head, holding the ladder steady for Kippei. "At least to them."

[shattermelt.livejournal.com]

Kippei blinked at him, craning his neck to look down and get a better look at his face. "As a human or a wolf?" he asked, slightly bewildered. He'd never thought there was anything particularly creepy about Ohtori in either case... kid was like an overgrown wolf pup in either form. Hardly scary.

[momo-kun.livejournal.com]

"As a human...I never let anyone living on the job site see me in that shape." He blinked in return, looking all the more confused.

[shattermelt.livejournal.com]

Kippei looked relieved, but shook his head, wondering what kind of kids were brave enough to come out spirit hunting in an empty house in the middle of the night, and yet spooked so easily they thought Ohtori was a ghost. Yeah, the kid didn't look so good, but he didn't look that bad.... then again, those kids had probably never seen a real ghost.

"One more," he told the kid absently, reaching down for the next light. He was almost done, and then he could go home and take a shower and get a nap before Shinji got home.

[moonlit-lycan.livejournal.com]

Passing up the light, the silvery haired boy nodded. "Got big plans for the night?" He just wanted to make small talk. He knew why he scared the kids. He wore black, needed no light sources to see around the house, and was awfully pale. He probably appeared to be a floating head.

[flamesword.livejournal.com]

Kippei shrugged as he carefully placed the light and tightened the screws that held it in place. "Not really," he answered, though he threw a smirk at the kid anyway. He planned to spend the night in bed with Shinji, and get laid and generally enjoy himself, but it wasn't like that was anything unusual. It was almost scary how normal it was.

The taller of the pair looked almost confused by the smirk, but probably did not want to think any more about it. He stepped aside and cleaned up the boxes a little, watching Kippei work to finish the light. "Either way, be safe. This town has a tendancy to ruin plans- or lack thereof."

Kippei frowned as he finished up the light and began to descend the ladder. "This town," he replied, "had better not mess with me. I leave it alone, it can damn well leave me alone too." And if anything interfered with him and Shinji - other than Shinji himself, who did a fine enough job of confusing the hell out of things on his own - there was going to be serious consequences.

[pause-with-paws.livejournal.com]

"...I guess so. Either way, be safe." He offered a small smile as he set the last box in the trashbag nearby and leaned on the countertop. "It looks like this place is shaping up really well..." He wondered if he'd be needed when a new house was started on.

[flamesword.livejournal.com]

Kippei shrugged, looking around at the room and those visible beyond it in various stages of restoration, considering it as he dusted off his hands.

"Guess so," he agreed with a casual nod, but yeah, it was looking pretty good and he was proud of his crew. "Got a few months to go yet, but we'll be done by end of the year."

[moonlit-lycan.livejournal.com]

"That's wonderful. It's really looking great. It's a pity Savannah is so haunted and creepy." And full of vampires and hunters, he added bitterly to himself before he perked up at the sounds of sneakered footfalls on the lower terrace. "Guess I better get to work." With a small nod, he was off and running, hopping out an open window, landing and dashing after the intruders, he could smell spray paint a mile off.

[shattermelt.livejournal.com]

Kippei shook his head, smiling faintly, and went to put the ladder away before he headed home. Yeah, a good night's work.