#*{ starter }

"I'm about to order food, so you can sit here and sulk or eat with me." It's a non-negotiable. After four hours hunched over the back piece, if she didn't get some kind of food into her, the rest of the day was going to be some kind of hellish. For both her, and her client. "And honestly, I'm not giving you too much of a choice. You're looking a little pale." Cracking open a can of soda, she held another out for current company, "You pass out and I'm not responsible for who hears about it. No secrets here." A falsity in and of itself - the studio held many secrets for the club - but, very rarely did any of those in charming come for fresh ink, pass out - and ever live it down. "Come on, get up. Walk around. It'll help."

The two rottweilers signaled the newcomers with little more than a pause in their step mid-run on their path back to him, one carrying a rather worn-through tennis ball and the other trailing upon his heels. A whistle, sharp and precise, Adam barked out a single command, a work spoken in pashto that brought them back to heel. "They don't bite," unless he said so. The majority of their training had been for their own protection rather than his - people could be quick to judge their size and assume the worst, but in truth, Adam merely wanted to note the demeanor of any new dogs approaching before he released the pair at his feet, "I just don't want them startling your pooch".

“Damn, this shit sucks,” he said to no one in particular, holding some dusty album that never should have seen the light of day.

It has been weeks since the Ei graced the Narukami Shrine with her presence. Other matters, likely dealing with troubles in the west that Saiguu doesn’t share with Miko taking her time. Miko waits, rather impatiently as the days pass. 

Not that she truly should be complaining, after all. While she whines and groans about how long and tedious Saiguu’s lessons are, they are rather resourceful. Even if she lacks the means of putting them into play. What Miko can live without, is the relentless teasing that accompanies such teachings. 

While Makoto grants more frequent visits, the young kitsune can’t help but yearn for her twin sister. 

That’s why, in the midst of her cleansing practice, when Miko senses the very kagemusha ascending the steps to the shrine, she drops what she’s doing at once to meet her by the gate. If, she disregards her childness excitement to see her, she can simply excuse the action as a familiar greeting their master. 

As golden hour began to settle across the city, casting a warmth across stone that indicated the incoming fall of darkness. The realm that Zephyr had so often thrived within and a place that he felt most comfortable. Ease of shadows had always drawn itself like a second skin over the eldest of the Vronsky clan, and it seemed that all that followed in the passing hours of the night would extend across the city in the wake of the attack on his own flesh and blood. The wrought iron gate that stood before him not nearly enough to bar a family such as theirs from atrocities, though neither was it enough to keep them in - to keep those that dared try, safe. “Everything should be ready.” He spoke quietly, the solid sound of footsteps on the cobbled stone warning him of his incoming company well before they sought to place themselves beside him, “Question is, are you?”