Peace and Quiet is an Illusion (Rikutsu)

[Rikutsu Hakumishi]

Rikutsu yawned again while she scrubbed their dishes, handing each bowl over for Loki to dry. She hadn't even asked him to do so, but he was very helpful. She was actually glad for it, too. "Ahaha...I don't hunt for any of those reasons, honestly. It's an instinct. If I don't hunt, I get restless and irritable." Not to mention that hunting was her way of survival. She couldn't actually live off of human food or cooked food. Without the natural food source of a coyote, she would become sick and weaker. "Ohh, cat toys, eh?" A devious grin curled her lips as she cast a sly glance at the shifter beside her. "I'll remember that." Being a prankster by nature, she would most certainly have a lot of fun with that little piece of information. She bet his reactions were adorable!

Her tail flickered when he spoke of her workplace; the only sign that she probably wasn't as okay with it as she portrayed herself to be. "It's alright. The pay is great and there really aren't any other jobs that I could take on. I don't pay much mind to my coworkers, anyway. Most of them are too afraid to partner up with me, and I refuse anyone my superiors recommend. I can do my job just fine alone." she shrugged, keeping her gaze on the window over the sink, speaking as if she was trying to convince herself as much as she was him. She figured that Loki didn't need to know all the details about why she continued to work with the PIDA. He was very caring and seemed to have decided that he would help her where he was able to. If he knew the truth, she could possibly drag him into something that could get him hurt. And she didn't want that. Turning to face him, she plastered a sheepish smile on her features at his question of her involvement with the collapsed pillar. "Oh, yeah. That was all me. I kinda got a little carried away during a mission to take some criminal supernatural into custody." She didn't mention that she had almost killed the guy, having been uncaring if he lived or died. He was a criminal. Why did it matter? And why did the PIDA care so much about humans? So what if a few of them were killed in the crossfire? They reproduced like rabbits, so there wasn't really that much of a loss.

"So, um...thanks again." she scratched at her cheek with a single claw, unsure of what to say or do next. Interacting with others wasn't exactly her strong point, and she'd never actually encountered anyone that she could consider a friend. Loki was different. But why? What made this different from any other she had met? She'd have to puzzle it out later. Right now, she was still too tired; another yawn revealed this.

[Loki]

((Sorry for the delay in this post, but I swear to god there must've been some kind of weird conspiracy going on trying to prevent this from even being made. This was literally my third attempt making this. If its shit I apologize, it was better the second time around but I just lost all motivation to bring it back to the same quality it was before.))

Now that the two were done eating it was time to clean up. Naturally when Rikutsu started washing up Loki had to help her out somehow, while she washed he dried the dishes she had finished. It was only fair that he did. He was the one who made the biggest when he was cooking, back home with Azazel he was so used to cleaning up after himself that he did so out of habit. Besides, Riku was still tired, her hearty yawn was a good sign of that so he wanted to help take some of the work load off of her. While he was helping out the two continued to talk. It was interesting to hear about hunting habits from a fellow animal. Beyond his work mates Loki was surrounded by too many people that did not understand the need to hunt. Loki looked and could act human but he was still an animal. When he saw his natural prey about, or anything that mimicked his prey, it was incredibly hard for him not to not go into hunting mode. It sounded silly for others but for him it was a way of life. Just like Riku said it was all about instinct.

“If it wasn't hardwired into our nature neither of us would do it.” Loki agreed. The little shifter always tried to put some reason behind his predatory side but at the end of the day the true nature of why he still hunted even when he didn't need to was because it was his instinct to do so. Loki was fine with that, but it did come with downsides. One of those downsides he admitted to. That...was probably a big mistake to do with an inukami. He knew he was in for trouble when he saw that devious smirk on the female's face. “Don't even think about it. If you play around with me too much I won't hesitate to do the same to you.” The boy's mischievous smirk mirrored her own. Riku wasn't the only trickster in the room, while it wasn't something ingrained in his species nature, Loki had always been a mischevious kitten. He was named after the infamous trickster god of his world because of it. Apparently even this world had a trickster god under the same name, though he was different from the one he was used to.

The conversation eventually came back to Riku's line of work. The more that Loki saw of the PIDA the more he began to wonder about the nature of the organization. The PIDA's main goal seemed to be policing the supernatural community. The organization was comprised of both supernaturals and humans, on the surface one might think that with other supernaturals working alongside humans that they didn't mean much harm. But how were the supernaturals amongst them treated? How did they come to work there? He had only his first hand experience dealing with some of the organization's agents to go by and that was not too promising. The first agent he had ever met was Guillotine. Gil had to be the worse representation for the PIDA he had ever seen. The hound was a stupid, violent, creepy, and no doubt perverted mutt who only thought of himself. It wouldn't surprise Loki if he abused his power with normal citizens to get what he wanted. Then there was that human guy Jesse. Loki had been really surprised to see the human agent the one time he helped save Gil's luck (against his better judgment), he didn't seem to be a bad guy even with Gil as a partner.

There might be hope yet for PIDA if they had more guys like that. But now that he was seeing things from Riku's perspective his doubts came back with a vengeance. She tried to spin it like it was no big deal but Loki could tell she was lying. Her flickering tail gave her away. “It is pretty difficult to find work in this world when you aren't human.” Loki agreed. “I don't have noticeable animal ears and a tail like you do, but I didn't do so well myself when I woke up in this place...The money I had with me at the time was not adequte currency so I more or less had nothing on me. I wasn't raised to practice a certain trade back in my own world so I had little job experience. When I did try looking for work I got no where. No one wants to hire some homeless teenager who can't even give them any ID or a resume. I had to find other ways to get by, none of which were safe...or legal.” Those days were hard. “Things have changed now, thanks to a bit of help I don't have to live on the streets anymore. There might be a better opportunity for you too that you just don't know about yet.”

For a split second he thought about offering her a job but thought better of it. He liked Riku but he didn't know her well enough to pull her into his information business. He wasn't even sure how she would take it if he told her what he was doing for a living now. Being an information broker was not really illegal but he was still technically working in the underground. His freelancing work did bring him dangerously close to illegal activities from time to time and were more dangerous than pickpocketing. No, he couldn't bring that up with a PIDA agent friend or not. He wasn't reckless enough to do that, unlike Riku. He looked genuinely surprised to hear her say she was the cause of a major incident in the city not too long ago. “Wow...seriously? And that was just you getting a little carried away? I would hate to see what happens if you get really carried away.” the boy teased despite the seriousness of the problem. The werewolves were not kidding when they said that Riku was powerful. But treating her like a constant threat wasn't the right way to deal with her. If the PIDA was using her only for her powers he would have to find a way to help get her out of there.

He definitely had to learn more about this group when he had the time and better resources to take that risk. Now was not the time to worry about them though. A brief period of silence passed between them before Riku spoke up again, evidently feeling awkward about what to do next. “I should be the one saying thank you.” the boy smiled back at her. “You still seemed tired, you should go rest in your bed some more for the rest of the day. Would you like me to stay to keep guard in case your lovely co-workers decide to visit again after all?”

[Rikutsu Hakumishi]

Once the dishes were washed, dried and put away, Rikutsu shuffled back toward the table and sank into a chair with another yawn. Apparently, she was still very tired. She had thought that she'd gotten enough rest, but now with a full stomach, sleep began to creep up in her again. It wasn't as bad as before, though. This time, she merely felt drowsy. She was glad that Loki had stuck around. If those werewolf coworkers of hers had gotten into the house...pushing that thought aside, she refocused her attention on the shifter. "Hah, perhaps. I actually enjoy hunting." Even if the instinct was hardwired into her, it was something she loved to do. Would that hold true if she had been another species? Or a human? Ew. No. She never wanted to be human. Humans were weak individually and they polluted the world, overrunning it with their destruction.

"Oh, is that so?" she practically purred when Loki warned her that messing with him would result in him messing with her. He could try. While she knew one of his weaknesses for cat toys, he had yet to learn of anything to use against her. And she would keep it that way for as long as she could. Her grin grew, revealing tiny fangs. It would be worth it, she assumed.

Back to the previous topic at hand. Rikutsu dropped her chin into one palm, listening to him speak with pricked ears. So he had had just as difficult a time, huh? At least he seemed to be doing well now. And he had adapted much more quickly than she had. Despite being from the coyote line, as an Inukami, Rikutsu really disliked change. All Inukami were like that. Stubborn, prideful creatures. The elders were stuck in their ways, too. "It is good that someone assisted you." she offered a small smile. Was that a bit of jealousy that she was feeling? No none had offered to help her until she started destroying things and killing people. And even then, only one genuinely had tried to help her. The rest sought to use her. After all, it wasn't every day that a mortal goddess dropped into the mortal realm. At least, where she was from, the Inukami were considered gods. Mortal as they were, they were powerful and lived long. "Perhaps there is." Was all she said in response to his comment about other possible job opportunities. What else could she do? She was only good at fighting and destroying things. "Haha, yeah that was me." she grinned sheepishly again when he appeared surprised that she had been the cause of the fallen bridge pillar. "You don't want to see me get really carried away. Trust me." She was smiling, but underneath that lurked something else. Fear? Sometimes, she even feared herself. Especially when she lost her temper.

"Mhn..I am still tired." she admitted, leaning back in her seat and stretching her arms over her head. Guess a little more rest wouldn't be so bad. Her smile softened at Loki's offer. "If you wish, but I doubt they will return so soon. They were foiled when I was completely vulnerable. Now that I've had some rest, the opportunity has passed." she smirked. "I may not be at my best, but I am well enough that they will be no match against me." And those werewolves knew this, too.

(It's okay! I think we're almost done here, yes?)