that's the price we pay when we living on the otherside

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After months in Darrow with no sign at all of a way back - no sudden revelations of insight, no Mephisto appearing, no Yukio - nobody to whisk Rin out of a problem he has no hope of solving himself ... he feels like he's going stir crazy. Like he just wants to scratch until his skin comes off and he can crawl out of it. That jittery feeling of edging hopelessness is enough to take him out on the streets without eating supper. The frown on his face is enough to send him away from the crowds.

e finds himself where he's only been before briefly, the abandoned boardwalk. Normally it might be a sign of a boom economy slowly deflating like a flan in a cupboard, but in Darrow ... he doesn't know. It just makes him wonder.

It makes him jumpy, too. Which is why he turns, hand still outreached for the door to a large building that looks like it might have been an arcade, to scan the street behind him. Despite himself and mental assurances that it's probably his imagination, he cn't shake the feeling someone else is out there. And it has him wound tiht as a startled cat.

"Hello?" he calls, the word in English smoother than it might have been on first arrival. He's made good use of it in Darrow.

Comments

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"You really think so?" he asks, scrubbing at the nape of his neck with a small, gentle smile that's nearly timid.

"I like cats a lot. At home, I have a familiar who's a cat. His name's Blackie. But ... he didn't come here with me. Still, I bet he's doing okay for himself. Cats are like that."

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Aggie nods very immediately. "You're not the same as others. And they can't ignore it." Well, maybe they can, but they're fools.

"I've never had a cat. I think I'd like one someday."

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He's definitely not the same, although he isn't about to tell Aggie exactly why, not yet -- if anyone in Darrow would even believe him. If they did, they probably would never speak to him again.

"Who are you living with?" Rin asks. "Maybe they'll let you have a cat. I'm sure you'll pick out a good one."

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"Her name's Barbara and she's a librarian." Aggie's never thought to ask. Certainly her allowance from the city would allow it, but she tries not to spend too much. She's seen Barbara worrying about money.

"Do you live with someone?"

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"A librarian," he declares, "that's super-cool. I bet she loves cats, if she works in a library"

His brow knits a little as he considers how to answer Aggie. Rin scratches at the tip of his nose. "I don't live with anyone here. But it doesn't matter. The guy who raised me died a little over a year ago. It's just me and my little brother since then, and we do okay. I miss my brother sometimes, but it's better that he's not here."

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"Is it lonely?" Aggie asks. She's never been alone since she got here, not really. She's had friends to watch over her and Barbara to share supper with.

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"Well ... yeah," he admits. "A little. But it doesn't bother me all the time. I can always leave and go looking for a friend. I found you, didn't I? Although I guess you really found me, more like it."

He hopes that Barbara won't mind that, whoever she is. He knows the impression that he can give people.

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If asked, Aggie would point out to Rin that Barbara has guardianship over an undead girl with terrifying powers of her own. She rarely worries about impression.

"Sometimes I think this city helps me find people like me."

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"That's ... " Rin hesitate, turning her words over in his head. There ren't many of them, but somehow they make him more optimistic than anything he's heard yet in Darrow. And maybe Aggie is exactly what he needs in his life.

"That's a really nice way of looking at things, Aggie. I like it."

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Aggie nods, just as pleased as he is. "Before I came here. I was all alone."

And now...It's so, so different and she never wants to go back to a time without all of her companions.