043

--TheirWorld--

Several officers in uniforms that were similar to, if much more simply styled than, that of Grim and Sai’s, held back a legion of fans circled around the Silver Hound’s back. Guin gaped at just how remarkably disheveled he looked, brushing off dirt from his jacket as he broke away, pulling out small note cards from his pockets, with his silvery hair poking up in all sorts of odd directions. She kind of hated the fact that he still looked good even through all of that.

And where is Stella? Guin would bet money that she was somewhere in that crowd.

Silver Hound paused as he met Grim’s eyes. Flashing a brilliant smile as an answer to the earar’s deathly stare, he exclaimed, quite over-dramatically, “Grim! My dear, dear partner! How I have missed you!” With a quick pace and open arms, Sai went over and embraced the frozen earar. The crowd behind him gasped and groaned in envy. “I know this was my idea,” the famous valkyrian said in low dark voice as they parted, “But if you could just kill me now, that'd be great.” Just like the interviews Guin had seen, the sharpness in the officer’s eyes did not match the smile on his face.

“We have an audience, masochist,” Grim said in an equally dark voice and a twitch in his eyes. “Be careful, or that mask of yours will wilt away to dust.”

“Hmm,” Sai went. “Yes, that would be a waste. You wouldn’t like me if I wasn’t so beautiful.”

Grim snorted. “I wasn’t aware that I liked you at all.”

“If you are so annoyed, maybe you should protect me from the masses instead of wandering off and leaving me all by myself, hmm?” the silver haired man said.

“I’m not a babysitter.”

“This is why you don’t get along with Shen.”

“Screw off.”

“Nah. You like me too much for me to leave you.”

“It’s quite the opposite, I assure you.”

“You are my island of sanctuary!”

“I don’t know you.”

Guin burst out laughing. “You are the Silver Hound’s new partner?” she said. “What wonderful karma you have.”

Grim glared at her with a firm, “No.”

“I find it quite fitting,” Guin nodded in approval. “I think you two could balance out nicely.”

“At least you can sleep better knowing that if I really were a serial killer, he’d be the first to go,” Grim pointed at Sai.

“‘Least I know who did kill him if he’s killed anytime soon.”

“And the world would be better for it,” Grim grunted.

Sai smirked and put his arms around Grim’s shoulders. “What’s this?” he mused, his bright blue eyes flashing awful close to Grim’s face as as he hung off his shoulder. “Grim, have you actually made a friend?”

Ears going flat against his head, Grim shrugged him off and went, “Parasite. Are you going to continue to hang on me? I am working, unlike someone.”

“Taking statements?”

“Before you interrupted,” Grim said, then nodded to the crowd, who was abuzz with excitement as they watched in awe. “Go play with your squealing spawn and leave me to work. That, or apologise for the zoo you’ve turned their space into before you speak to me again.”

Frowning, Sai looked around the table. As if he was noticing Katsu and the others for the first time, he stood a little straighter and bowed his head slightly. “I am sorry, genuinely,” Sai said, and offered his hand to Hammerhead. “I know that I can cause a bit of a ruckus, but I assure you, the VCU is doing it’s very best —”

Ham smacked his hand away. “We know all about your ‘intentions’,” Ham told him. “We don’t give a shit about your assurances. Especially not yours, damn glory hound. We want to know that our friend didn’t die for nothing. We want the VCU to go out and catch the guy who did this. Not… This.” Ham waved over at people who were held up making the barricade.

“I understand —”

“Do you?” Katsu asked in a far more reasonable voice than Ham had taken. “What, exactly, was your point in coming here, knowing that this would be the result?”

Guin watched with great interest as Sai’s face shifted in various, hard to read, ways. “I understand your point of view,” he answered. A smile was stretched across his face, but his voice was quite disciplinary — a tone which did not go unnoticed by the rest of the group sitting at the table. “Our job — my job, if you must have someone to blame — is more about my presence here than the investigation.” Ham opened his mouth to say something, but Sai silenced him with a glance, and continued: “Whoever did this, knows we are watching. That I am watching. And so now, do you. You may hate me for it. You may think that I am lazy. You may not want me here, attracting all these people to this place — but don’t think they it’s not on purpose. Don’t think that all the other officers here are lamps shedding light on me in the name of glory. Each and every one of us has a job to do, and you may not see us doing it, but —”

“Vex,” Grim warned, pulling him back away from the table. “Time to take a chill pill. You’ve been out of your cage too long. They cooperated just fine with me.”

The Silver Hound gave his partner an indignant look, but took a deep breath, and, bowing again, said, “I am sorry for your loss.” He stood and scratched the back of his head. Waving at them all with a half hearted smile he said, “They cooperated, did they? Thanks to what threat?”

“I don’t threaten witnesses,” Grim told him flatly.

“Did you at least get what we needed?”

“Enough,” Grim said. “By the way, which one of those idiots is Officer Blackfoot?”

“No idea. Why?”

“I’ll tell you later,” Grim crossed his arms and nodded at Guin. “Hey,” he went. “Can I talk to you for a second?”

Guin tilted her head. “Why me?” But his glare told her that she shouldn’t be expecting such a pointless question to be answered. “What?”

“Over here,” he motioned, turning to Sai and muttering, “Don’t cause any problems while I’m gone.”

“Who is she?” Guin heard Sai ask. “Why do you need to talk to her?”

Curious about the same thing, Guin tried to focus on the conversation, but Grim just shook his head. Instead, the earar walked a bit away from him and waved Guin over.

“Whats up?”

“You stopping by the coffee shop anytime soon?”

“Why?” She asked, eyeing Sai who was looking at her with an uncomfortable amount of curiosity.

Grim shrugged. “Just curious as to when I should be expecting the next wave of invasions,” he said, and looked her over. “You know, as a VCU GM, I have your full character profile.”

“What about it?” Guin twitched, assuming that that meant he knew about her increased senses if nothing else.

“Has anyone mentioned to you anything about the Tenmath?” he asked her.

Furrowing her brow, Guin said, “Yeah. A few times. Something to do with the Fate Quest I have.”

“What exactly did they say to you?”

“Nothing that unusual,” Guin shrugged. “They just told me who they were, and that I was a candidate to become one of them.” She paused. “There was one really weird instance with the High Priest…”

Grim tilted his head. “Here? In Miala De Ri?”

“Yeah,” she nodded. “I don’t remember exactly what he said, but…” Racking her brain, she tired to at least put the gist of it into words. “He said something about the Tenmath seeking the Heart, but even though I am a Candidate, I should hide from them. It was pretty creepy.”

“The Tenmath are on the move...”

Peering up at his face as he rubbed his chin, Guin asked, “Grim? Should I be worried about something?”

But he shook his head. “No,” he said. “I don’t think so. Not now, at least. If you hear anything else about the Tenmath, let me know.”

“Alright.”

“Also, before I forget, anything and everything you head Vex say to me is private. Keep it to yourself.”

“Okay…”

Grim turned to head toward where Silver Hound stood, but the looked back and leaned over to her, saying in a quiet voice, “Also, keep in mind what I told you this morning. And if a man in a Jackal mask ever speaks to you, come to me immediately.” With that, he returned to his partner’s side.

What was that about? she wanted to ask, but his glare as she walked back over herself told her that she should say nothing. The Silver Hound, with his cool, icy blue eyes, looked between them with a slight frown and a raised eyebrow, but kept his thoughts to himself. Grim nodded again to Katsu and the others, and thanked them again for their time before telling Sai it was time to switch locations, and they faded away to the chorus of unhappy groans.