tenipuri_xp | RP log: Ohtori and Kippei

Date: currentish
Rating: G
Summary: Kippei takes a break and runs into a familiar face.

Kippei was working, halfway through his day and dirty and hot as usual, and relieved that it was finally time for a break. This was the first time he'd ever done real hard labor on a regular basis, and while he wasn't unfit, it had taken some getting used to.

He went to find his water bottle and stood drinking it as he surveyed the work they'd gotten done and how long it would likely take to finish, when his eye was caught by a stray head of hair passing by; an unusual color, and somehow familiar. He crossed the street to get a better look.

"Hey," he said, waiting for the guy to turn, and yeah, that was Bolt. Way too tall and freaky colored silver hair. "Ohtori, right? How's it going?" he offered a smile and refrained from using the kid's code name, because jeez, the last thing he needed was him freaking out in the middle of the street.

The tall mutant blinked as he heard his name. This seemed to be happening more and more lately, and while it was normally nice to be known, it was also a bit unnerving when in a mutant's situation. Slowly turning to see who had spoken to him, he frowned and tilted his head.

The man looked familiar. Really familiar...like he should know his face immediately. Wracking his brain to make sense of it, he finally sighed and tried smiling, hoping the name would eventually come back to him.

"Uhm- hey...how are things?"

Kippei shrugged, taking another drink of his water. "Good enough. Shinji misses you. How's your idiot boyfriend?" He meant that affectionately, he really did. Shishido was a birdbrain but he was still a teammate, more or less, in Kippei's mind.

And by waiting, the answer was given to him. "Hi Tachibana-san. You'll have to tell Shinji-san I miss him too. What have you both been up to?" A beat, "and Ryou and I are both fine-so we can't complain."

Kippei tilted his head, curiously. "You didn't know who I was," he said slowly, realising. His eyes darkened a little, remembering the job Shinji had done on his memories.

"You okay?" he asked awkwardly. "You should...um...come see Shinji sometime, he'd like that." What the hell was he doing, inviting someone to find them? No one knew where they were, and wasn't that better, safer? But Shinji would be happy...

He smiled a little more and shook his head before raking his fingers through silvery hair. "Mm- I'm fine. It just took me a moment- sorry about that."

It was awkward though, he really thought he should remember more about the other boy- but nothing was coming to mind. "I'd like that...I think I owe him ice-cream...though not alone- I'm sure neither of us want to be taken again..." He could remember that much, being used at that lab, then thrown away once they were worthless. "Here I'll give you my cellphone number."

"Okay, I'll give it to Shinji," Kippei told him, nodding. He couldn't imagine what he would have to call Ohtori about, but no doubt Shinji would think of something. And he wouldn't mind going along with them for ice cream. It might be fun.

Quickly scribbling his number onto a piece of paper, the tall mutant smiled and handed it over. "I'll look forward to hearing from you both, I was just wondering the other day what happened to Shinji." But oddly, he had a harder time recalling Tachibana, something that perplexed him.

Kippei smiled, a slightly tired smile. "He's fine," he answered again, taking the piece of paper and tucking it away. "Been a rough couple of months, though. We've had to move several times. Trying to stay out of sight until I can build him a quiet room."

"It's never easy, is it?" He smiled slightly more and rubbed his arm awkwardly, something still nagging him in the back of his mind. "Did you finally find him someplace to be comfortable?" He shivered, recalling the feel of Shinji's powers- and that night he had something done- how badly it hurt. He couldn't help frowning just slightly.

"Yeah, we're doing okay now." Kippei hesitated, just a little bit. But Ohtori and Shishido had been the closest thing to friends they had had, the only outsiders Kippei came close to trusting. "You should come see us. And we'll, do the ice cream thing." Shinji needed people, Kippei knew. He could be happy indefinitely with no one but Shinji, but Shinji wasn't like him.

"Definitely! Just give me a call, okay? I'll tell Ryou I saw you."

"Sure thing," Kippei told him, looking over his shoulder. "I should get back to work." He gestured with his water bottle, waving a little as he backed away. "I'll give Shinji your number!" And he turned away, hurrying back across the street, back to work.