"So, what're we doing with all Junichi's stuff?" Xaawo asked as she entered the apartment. It was a pretty nice place, that they managed to get for the low price of killing some actor and taking it for themselves. But it was a guy who slept with a sixteen year old, so it was at least more justified than taking out some rando. And what little stuff Junichi bought during his time here was placed in the living room in front of the huge TV. There were only four bedrooms within the apartment, and Junichi had to sleep on the couch.
"We can leave it in my room." Kwaku replied. Junichi didn't have much in general to dispose of anyway, so it could go in a corner and be forgotten about.
"Cool, cool." Xaawo replied, picking a few bags up and dumping them by his door. When that was done, she turned the TV on. The first thing that came on was the news. Some guy called Eustace promising to clean up the city and restore it to it's former glory. The speech was boring and she didn't like his vibes, so she began channel surfing. Eventually she settled on some old cartoon. Some guy who could summon aliens to fight supervillains.
"This looks somewhat below our age range." Kwaku commented.
"Well, you're just gonna start meditating halfway through, so your opinion doesn't matter." Xaawo replied with a dismissive hand wave.
"I see."
The episode was more compelling than Xaawo cared to admit. There was clearly history between the hero and the guy he was fighting, so she'd have to watch this series from the beginning to know the whole story. Hopefully the apartments owner's streaming services had this show on it. And worst case scenario, Junichi could find some shady website hosting the…shit.
"Yo, Kwaku. Kwaku? Kwaku!"
"Yes?" He said, followed by a brief sigh. In Kwaku terms, that meant he was pissed.
"Be honest with me. You gonna miss Junichi?"
"We did lose an ally today, and that will disrupt our-"
"Yeah, cut it with the business talk. Are you sad we can't hang out with Junichi anymore?"
Kwaku stayed silent for a moment. Xaawo almost thought he began meditating again to ignore him.
"We never did talk one on one that much." Kwaku finally replied. "So outside of having to reorganize things going forward, I don't think I'll miss him."
"Yeah. I mean, the guy was good at holding my bags and finding old movies, but I'll admit, he was really annoying."
"I did hear him talk through movies a lot."
"Don't get me started on that." Xaawo sighed. "And I guess Halford is a better shopping partner. Guy can make a small barrier and use it as a big bowl. And apparently it doesn't weigh anything, it's nuts. But like…I dunno, he tried to hang with me a little. It was nice. I was gonna buy him a better suit tomorrow."
"He had an underwhelming suit." Kwaku agreed.
"Yeah." Xaawo nodded, watching a few more minutes of the show.
"Uh…Kwaku?"
"Yes?" He asked, sighing for a little longer. He was getting sick of her pestering, clearly.
"How sad would you be if I died next?"
"Somewhat." He replied. "Not to mention, being left with three members would be a concern."
Only somewhat, huh? Xaawo thought to herself.
"Screw it, we're getting smoothies."
"Excuse me?" Kwaku asked.
"Smoothies? You know what they are, right?"
"Yes, I am aware of what smoothies are."
"Cool. I gotta burn all of Junichi's suit money, so we're getting smoothies."
"I don't think they appeal to me."
"Smoothies have a million different flavours and they can all be combined. You're gonna like at least one. Now change your clothes, we're going."
Kwaku silently walked by the sidewalk, observing Ritzrub as Xaawo went from storefront to storefront. He was decked out in a plain grey hoodie and jeans. No need to draw attention to himself, Xaawo's expensive suit was already doing that. The city was very bright, almost hurt to look at. People hustled around. Some leaving work, some walking past, completely drunk, stumbling around the place. One set of girls passed him. Despite him moving right against the wall in an attempt to be polite, one of the girls managed to trip on his shoe, and would have hit the ground had he not caught her.
"Woah, thaaanks." She said, slurring her words the whole time.
"You're welcome." Kwaku said as he helped her back up.
"You're so hot." She said, rubbing her hands on his chest to an amused chorus of her friends.
"Thank you." Kawku replied in the same tone, returning her to her friends.
"Wait, can I call you tomorrow?"
"I don't have a phone."
"Woah, you're like…dephoning, or whatever? Breaking the algorithms?"
"I never had one."
"Woah. Well, you can call me on your home phone…shit, I'm out of paper. Wait, I'll write it on my bra! Trish, get me a marker!"
She was given a marker after a second hollering from her friends. She wrote a number on her bra, forcing it into his hands. She blew him a kiss, and then the friend group left to do whatever they were doing pre-tripping.
"Hey Kwaku, I found a…why are you holding a bra?" Xaawo asked.
"A drunk woman gave it to me after I stopped her from falling."
"Damn, you're good." She said. "But uh, I can take that."
Kwaku gave her the bra, which she stuffed in her pocket. "Anyway, smoothies?"
The smoothie bar was clearly new, seeing as the only décor besides the counter and a few chairs and tables was a few pictures of jungles along the walls, probably with the intent of providing a more natural feeling environment in the heart of the city. Xaawo didn't think it worked, but caught Kwaku looking at it out of the corner of her eye, so perhaps it did.
"What would you like?" The middle aged lady asked, her accent clearly portraying that she was a recent inclusion to the mass of people that made up this city.
"Yeah, I'll take a strawberry blueberry combo, and he'll have a…hey Kwaku, what you want?"
"I don't know."
"Strawberry blueberry combo for him, too."
Xaawo paid with the dead guy's credit card. Luckily, one tap and the payment went through. She didn't even know the code, or what the numbers on the card even meant. But one tap and a couple minutes later, she had two smoothies in her hand, sat at a table to test just how good it was. Luckily, it was extremely good.
"Oh hell yeah, that's the stuff." She whispered to herself as she took a second sip. "Kwaku, what you think?"
"It's refreshing." He nodded, taking another sip, before once again focusing his gaze on the jungle picture.
"You from a jungle?" Xaawo asked.
"A forest, but I haven't seen something close since I got here." Kwaku replied. "It made a good hideout when my opponents attacked."
"Who'd your opponent work for?"
"She worked for Hades, if I remember right. Had the power to create a vortex that trapped anyone within. Once she knew the layout, it was only a matter of time until she beat me."
"With a gun, or what?"
"No, a well crafted spear."
"You lost in a spear battle?" She asked, squinting her eyes. "She drug you or something?"
"She knew where I'd try to ambush her. Once I was trapped, she just needed to attack from behind. Although even in that state, she lost a few fingers."
"Okay, that part checks out." Xaawo replied as she took another sip.
"You hang out in the Jungle often?" He asked.
"I wish. But no, it was pretty much a city like this. Was actually a decent stronghold against my enemy, but he was able to convince everyone to wage war on the country the city was part of, and then we got bombed. I died in the first bombing, so I don't know how it played out. Can't imagine it was good."
"I'm sorry to hear that."
"Eh, I'm over it." Xaawo said as she lay her hand on the table and rested her chin on it. "We just follow the boss and build an army, and hopefully it'll all work out from there."
"You have faith in her plan?"
"As my followers used to say, faiths all I have left."