#cherres

kafka’s eyes remain on the chessboard before her, seemingly contemplating her next move. in actuality it was to avoid the look on himeko’s face when she posed her question. she wasn’t even sure if it was a rhetorical one or not, but given she could feel the other woman’s stare on her like a brand she supposed himeko wanted an actual answer. she leans back against the chair and takes a long sip of her wine only so she could stall further. “i don’t know, maybe? you do a pretty convincing act of hating me it’s hard to believe you’re struggling at all. not to mention, you and your crew have no problem working with the hunters except for me.” finally her eyes lift to look at himeko, her voice turning melancholic. “i can’t help but think you may actually hate me enough to be completely fine with never having to see or speak to me again.” with a gloved finger she pushes a chess piece onto the next space. “your turn navigator.”

she couldn’t help but give a slight laugh. they claim they never cared about impressing anyone and yet albedo does so effortlessly with anybody they come into contact with. even her own master. it was as if anyone that ever spoke to them was immediately charmed by them. it was perhaps the one thing mona was envious of. it would be nice for people to feel that way about her rather than think she’s cruel and cold. “albedo, i think it’s impossible for you to not impress me. or anyone for that matter. but, i’m curious, why me specifically? i’m no one special.”

not even within five seconds of stepping foot into the living room and caelus was greeting her like an excited puppy. she didn’t fight the grin that grew on her face as she ruffled his hair, “you’re an eager little thing, aren’t you.” as she strode over to the couch, her grin remained knowing he most likely waited for her in the living room while she had her meeting with elio. on missions where he wasn’t joining her he usually saw her off, especially for the ones that would require her to be away for a longer period of time. the latest mission was a solo one until an hour ago when elio called for a last minute script change. kafka lounged in her seat, “change of plans darling, it’s not just me going. you’re now joining me, we leave in three system hours. should i give you the rundown of the usual rules or do you think you’ll be able to behave this time without me reminding you?”

the two were in comfortable silence for some time now, march was too engrossed in the new scrapbook she was making to know what dan heng has been doing. her teeth tugged on her bottom lip as she moved the photos back and forth on the page to decide where she wanted to glue them. she had been so used to the silence that dan heng’s voice, despite it being gentle, startled her. her eyebrows knitted together in confusion at the sudden question, but knowing him there had to be a reason. “yeah, but none of them are great. i don’t know if they would even be considered dreams, they’re more like nightmares.” usually those nightmares consisted of her or one of the crew members dying. “why?”

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ❝ ... I'd been fearful you would, perhaps, not want to see me ... ❞