collateraldamaging | Duplicity Inbox

Hello, Kazu.
I heard about Akihiro's disappearance, so I wanted to check in on you. Please let me know if there's anything you need. These things are never easy.

Thank you, Kurt.

Would you like to come by? If you can spare any time, I'm sure Logan could also use your company right now.

Ja, that will be fine.
Shall I bring anything? A comfort or an errand?

No errands. And the comfort is your presence, which you're already bringing.

Low maintenance, hm? It is easy in the face of everything else.
All right, then. I will be along shortly. Whenever you're ready.

I wouldn't go that far... not in general. But for today, about this, perhaps you're right.

Now is fine, I won't startle.

All right, then. Just a moment.

[ And, in just a moment, there is Kurt. He appears inside of Kazu's front door in his usual puff of smoke and noise, posture bent and expression concerned. He doesn't know what to say, really. He has very little that feels useful. ]

I am here.

[ Good enough, hopefully. ]

[ Kazu glances up at the sound of Kurt's teleportation, his lips quirking at the other man's announcement. Yeah, buddy. He noticed. ]

Come sit with me. Maybe we'll find something for you.

[ His voice is a bit rough and certainly less enthusiastic than usual, but nothing he couldn't wave away as being tired if Kurt didn't know better. Up close, though, he'll see that Kazu's eyes are reddened and glossy, his normally imposing posture... drooping. There are a few books, a stack of loose papers, and some folders spread out on the coffee table in front of him, along with some post-its, a craft knife, and straightedge.

It's all Akihiro's art. Kazu hasn't cut anything out of the filled books he rescued from Aki's apartment yet, he's still sorting through the loose sketches he pulled off the refrigerator and bedroom wall, but he's clearly prepared to at least mark specific works for people. ]

I went over to break in before they cleared his place out... might've called you if I couldn't get the door open, but since it was actually illegal this time I figured I'd at least try by myself. [ He picks up the next sketch, but it's no one he recognizes so it goes in the folder with the question marks on its tab. And on to the next. ] His sister had beaten me there. Laura. We'd never met before.

[ Kurt does as suggested, sliding a hand across the span of Kazu's slumped shoulders and he comes around to sit. He observes the works and the organizational efforts, and thinks that he could comment on a few things, Akihiro's talent or the fortune of being able to claim his things, but... ]

Ah. [ Kazu speaks first, and Kurt hopes the meeting wasn't as volatile as it might have been. ] Well, you seem well enough, physically, so I suppose it wasn't a dreadful sort of meeting.

[ Kazu leans into Kurt's passing casual touch like he doesn't even realize he's doing it, but some part of him is desperate for the affection. For comfort. The comment about his physical state does earn Kurt a low chuckle, though, as he takes a little break from studying the artwork to stretch and look at his friend properly. ]

No... I think she was actually kind of disappointed to recognize me and realize I wasn't a robber she could kick the shit out of.

[ He taps his nose in explanation of how someone he'd never met could recognize him. Which is still weird to him when it's anyone but Aki, but in the same vein he'd recognized Laura as a relative by the bone claws that shot from her hands when he opened the door. Wolverine traits. ]

There were still groceries in his fridge, so I made us dinner before we packed up his things. I just-- didn't want it all being thrown away.

Reasonable. I'm glad you were able to save things.

[ This and more, if applicable. Kurt's not even sure what Akihiro's accumulated in his time here, whether much outside of his work would hold value beyond the material.

He leans forward for a look at the drawings spread over the table, peering over what's visible on the surface. He's hesitant to begin touching and fiddling with them himself, though he does ultimately reach out to dislodge one. It's not too far past gesture, but it's recognizably Logan, smoking out on the loft's fire escape. ]

He's very good, isn't he? It's lovely to see his work, to understand his observation and his enjoyment in documenting things.

[ They did take more than just the artwork, though Kazu doesn't elaborate unprompted. It might come off as kind of invasive, the way he and Laura went through the whole apartment just in case, but he's glad they did. He'd had the feeling there might have been certain (important) items Aki tucked away for whatever reason... and he was right. Besides that, he'd wanted to claim specific pieces of clothing and jewelry, the cologne Aki tended to wear for nights in, those things. Not because they were objectively valuable, just because he's a complete sap.

Kurt comments on the sketch he's pulled from the pile, and Kazu smiles quietly. ]

He brushes off those compliments, you know. I'd be impressed and he'd say they were just doodles. Look.

[ A bit of rummaging through one specific folder, and he pulls out the art he'd taken off the side of the fridge to prove to Laura who he was -- before realizing she'd already recognized his scent as one that was on Aki all the time. It's him and Val, and far more detailed than the sketch of Logan. You can see actual emotion in their expressions, in the drawing. ]

That one is our favorite.

It is warm. It shows his care for you.

[ Kurt hopes is doesn't sound too much like a platitude. It is, in a way, but it's also true. Even if the tendency would be to refuse compliments, there is something remarkable in being able to express emotion in this way. ]

I am glad to know of his happiness. He was dealt an unfair hand. He deserves every inch of love the world might afford him.

I am sure you know it already, and so you gave what was needed.

[ He's not sure what else to say for it, save for 'sorry,' because things here can be short and that can be sad. To punctuate the conversation with that feels like an omen, though. There's still time. There's still room for a miracle.

He swallows and looks over the spread of drawings again. ]

May I take one for Logan? Or... If you are willing to give up such a thing, perhaps you would like to deliver it yourself.

[ It doesn't sound like a platitude at all, but even if it did Kazu has a certain affection for that sort of thing. Cammie used to tell him he sounded like a fortune cookie sometimes, the fact of the matter being he actually brainstormed proverb-esque remarks to be able to sound profound when the opportunity struck.

...that's someone else he'll never see again, so yes. Kazu knows better than most people that time with your loved ones can be abruptly short. His eyes well up again as Kurt goes on and he nods, because the other man is right.

Aki deserved better from the very beginning, and as ashamed as he was of his past Kazu endeavored to be twice as adamant that the person in those stories wasn't the man in front of him. That was the part he'd said out loud as often as it was necessary. They'd never said 'I love you' because Aki would've run for the hills, but he knew.

He sniffs, reaching for a specific folder. The mark on the tab is just a small symbol, if Kurt can't read Japanese: 父 ]

These are for him. Not all of him, but if I recognize-- these are for him. [ Go on, Kurt, take it. Or better yet, help him finish sorting first? ] None of this is mine, Kurt, like Aki wasn't. I'm just the one who robbed his apartment.

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Text, un: Nightcrawler (slightly backdated! huzzah!)

A FUZZY DUDE!!

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