𝕡𝕣𝕖𝕧𝕚𝕠𝕦𝕤𝕝𝕪...

[...]

And so it goes. It's the next day that Kaito'll find a piece of paper has been slipped through his window, requesting his presence that night, at 11 pm, at a specific room in an office complex. If he chooses to look it up, he'll find that Heiss has either had one of his "employees" renting it in plainclothes for a while, or they're straight up planning to break in and "borrow" it.

Any magician worth their name investigates a venue before their show. It's no different for a thief. Kaito has more than once wryly reflected upon the commonalities between the two professions in his work, and also wonders if his father had ever known his son would follow in his footsteps.

Perhaps not. But Touichi Kuroba would have also seen the early potential of his son's genius. Isn't that why his son's disguises are unparalleled? Why his techniques are on par with a professional?

Kaito slips into the building at two minutes past eleven o'clock. That way he keeps to the intent of the request while simultaneously driving home the point that he sets his own schedule. A small, rebellious statement to test his new 'employer's' patience.

It's dangerous, but it isn't as if his prior situation had been any different.

Kaito's dressed head-to-toe in black with a cap pulled low over his eyes. His daemon sticks to his ankle and is visibly fighting the itch to pace restlessly. The magician knocks on the door of the room they've claimed for this meeting and waits for a response.

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There's no response aloud. But moments afterward, the door creaks open, Shrike meeting Kaito's eyes. There's no expression on his face; he steps aside to let Kaito in, shoves the door closed with his foot after the magician and his daemon, and then settles on a corner of the desk in the center.

The agent stares off into a corner of the room, arms lightly crossed, not looking at anything in particular. Rinné on his shoulder is puffed up, head hunched in and rotating at every noise. She's clearly not happy to be here.

Behind the desk, on the other hand...

If Heiss is unhappy that Kaito's late, he doesn't show it. There's a faint, satisfied smile behind his folded hands. "It's good to see you again, 'Kid.' I'm glad to hear there wasn't any trouble."

The man reaches out to, of all things, stroke two fingers down Rinné's back. Both her and Shrike go deathly still, Shrike's fingers pressing deep into his crossed arms. As for Heiss's own daemon? ...there's no noise, unlike last time, but it definitely feels like there's another presence in this room. It's around.

"Now. I'd like to hear your view of your heist - help us help you."

Kaito and Kozare both went deathly still as well. This was wrong. This was so very wrong and Ko pressed against his leg with an unvoiced whimper. Kaito didn't know what Heiss' game was, taking such a liberty with another's daemon. Intimidation? Sympathy for his subordinate? Anger?

Perhaps all those things. It made him wonder what sort of power the man held over Shrike. It made him wish he could leap forward and defend them.

Fighting down his disgust, Kaito realised he had been clenching his fists. He forced himself to relax - or at least appear so.

Where the hell was this guy's daemon?

"There's nothing to say," he said curtly. "You gave me enough to work with and the theft went smoothly as you know. Forgive me for keeping my own plans so close to my chest, but I am a magician first and foremost."

"Oh no, I wouldn't dream of making you share your magic, my dear boy. Nothing so intrusive as that. But if there's any information you would have appreciated beforehand, or perhaps more warm bodies than Stocke here..." He pauses. There's a soft hiss from a dark corner of the room behind him.

Heiss lets out a faintly exaggerated sigh. "Nothing? I suppose I should ask you again if you don't pull something off as adroitly as this last time. But I still have something for you." He reaches into a drawer attached to the desk on his side, sliding a folder in Kaito's direction. An updated list of possible gems.

Rinné, meanwhile, has hopped down into Shrike's lap, evidently to get subtly out of Heiss's reach. 'Subtly' - she's always on Shrike's shoulder when she does perch on him, so it's... more obvious than not. But Heiss doesn't seem to notice anything amiss, and Shrike's expression remains the same.

What a disturbing way to put it, Kaito thought uncomfortably. 'Warm bodies' - like he could ask for cold ones. He noticed Rinne shifting in his periphery but deliberately did not draw attention with his gaze. His face remained as blank a mask as ever while he approached the table. Only at the very last moment did he allow his eyes to drop to the file, for his hand to reach down and slide the list towards him so that he could peruse its contents.

Ko perked up a little in cautious interest. Normally she would be pawing at Kaito's ankles for a look but this was neither the time nor the place. She settled for staring up at him, watching his unreadable expression as he went down the list.

"...Stocke is fine," Kaito said eventually. He shut the file and met Heiss' gaze impassively. "He's discreet and that suits me." And he was familiar.

Shrike's eyes flick sideways toward Kaito. He blinks, then looks sharply away again once he seems to realize he's done it.

The wrinkles around Heiss's mouth bend upwards. "Stocke it is. I'm glad to hear the two of you work together so well. And if there's anything else - you'll have him pass on word to me, yes?" The hiss in the back of the room falls silent.

"Now, Stocke - if you'll do me the favour of escorting him out?"

Without comment, Shrike slides off the edge of the table and heads toward the door. He holds one arm close to his chest, Rinne's claws curled deep into it. If he doesn't hear Kaito or Ko's footsteps, he'll glance back, but otherwise...

"Of course..."

Kaito feels no inclination to linger. He doesn't hasten out - that would be a sign of nerves or fear; he strides along with his back straight and posture relaxed, the very picture of self-assurance. There's something disconcerting about someone who keeps their daemon out of sight. Even poker players train themselves and their daemons so that their facial and bodily expressions show only what they wish to show. Kaito cannot trust someone who would hide so deeply in the shadows.

Once the door shuts behind them and they begin making their way towards the exit, the magician and his daemon relax marginally. Kaito can focus now, on Shrike's back, and wonder about the man he thought he knew.

"...Does he always do that?" he asks quietly. "Touch her?"

Normally this is where Rinné would say something - as strange as it is for a daemon to be talking to other daemon's humans regularly, a lesser kind of taboo, Shrike (Stocke? Shrike) and her are strange, in more than one way. And she seems to pick up most of the socializing he abstains from.

Normally. This time she's also silent, for long enough that Shrike eventually speaks up - "Not always. Often enough." His voice is somehow distant.

A shudder runs down the man's spine, visibly - he can't seem to suppress it. With the absence of Rinné's voice, and with him clutching his daemon close to his front, he adds - almost as if admitting it - "It doesn't matter what I do - he always acts like we should be close enough that it..."

His voice has been growing less distant as he talks, and by the time he trails off he's back to entirely present, even if his daemon isn't. The consequence is, of course, that he does cut himself off, shaking his head.

This is all wrong, he thinks to himself again as he watches the other young man trail off and shudder. No-one should be treated that way. Even murderers are afforded more dignity than that. Anger starts to build in him, smouldering quietly but ready and willing to fan into flame should he let it. But he can't. Not here and not now. He barely knows anything of the situation or their circumstances. Acting recklessly will do more harm than good.

"If..." He hesitates. Shares an uncertain look with Kozare. "If you ever wanna talk about it sometime... You can trust me. I won't tell anyone."

@whiteofcrime

𝕡𝕣𝕖𝕧𝕚𝕠𝕦𝕤𝕝𝕪...

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oh god I forgot this was where the thread left off (now do I remember what I intended next, wheezes)

time to improvise!