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Thane had pulled down his hood to allow Noir to stretch a little once they were in the privacy of Rei's home. Not to say he wasn't comfortable with the hood on, but Noir seemed to like being out more than being in. At least this way, even as she remained cuddled against Thane, she was comfortable.

He saw the couch unoccupied and sat there while waiting for Rei to finish cooking. The aromas coming from the kitchen were making Noir twitchy, and when Rei came close, smelling like food, it wasn't a surprise she was willing to cozy up to him and let him pet and scratch her.

Thane gave a small smile of his own in return. He didn't quite know how to express himself in response to that comment, but he was happy know that he had someone---something---else happy with what he did. It was a stark contrast to the morbidity of his job.

"...Thank you," was his soft reply as he looked up at Rei. It was considerably easier than before to add a little inflection in his voice to help show the feelings running through him. Thanks to Rei's persistence in helping him learn and understand the ways of humanity.

"I have just the thing for Noir..." told Rei before reaching down on the grill under the coffee table in the living room. He pulled out a metal box (presumably a container of biscuits judging from it's label). He opened the lid before producing a ball of yarn. "Here... Cats love to play with these..." smiled Rei, tossing the ball over to Thane.

He stood up from his seat in the sofa before making his way back to the kitchen.

"I'll just finish up on dinner before we get started on our lessons tonight." told Rei before vanishing on the other room.

The sizzling sounds on the kitchen soon faded, marked by the click of the stove. Rei returned to the living room a few minutes later with a plate of pasta with some sauce and a small plate of shredded fish. One could smell the meat loaf he has cooked yesterday in the dish.

"No use wasting leftovers." smiled Rei as he entwined some pasta in a fork and placed it inside his mouth. "Mmm... Still tasty." he chirped. "Oh! And here's Noir's meal." said Rei, placing the plate in the coffee table in case Thane wanted to feed Noir now.

Thane caught the ball, staring down at it. It only took a moment later for Noir to jump from his shoulders and pounce it. The ball rolled across the couch and she leapt after it, only to make the yarn bounce away. Again and again she chased after it, until it slipped off the couch. Then she went again, determined to catch it.

When her foot got caught, Thane sat down on the floor and untangled it from the yarn. Noir gave a meow of thanks, then went back to chasing the yarn. Around him, then over his leg, then out by the coffee table, then back, then around him again, then the table.

By the time Rei was done eating and coming over to bring Noir her portion of the food, Thane himself was tangled up in the yarn. He hadn't moved, merely watched, as the yarn was unraveled by the cat. Thane looked up at Rei, then back down at Noir who suddenly pause to look up at the table where the aroma of fish was coming from.

Yes, the cat was hungry and immediately abandoned the much smaller ball of yarn to climb up onto the coffee table and nip at the food laid out for her.

"...I'm stuck," Thane noted rather belatedly as he looked down at himself. Yarn around his legs, his arms, his torso, the cat had really done a number on him. But Thane wasn't the least bit angered. He was just... stuck. And more than likely needed help getting out of it.

Rei snickered, seeing the red yarn entwined around the other man. It seems that Noir was a force to be reckoned with if she had yarn in her possession. Rei placed down the plate of food he was consuming before leaning over to help Thane with the yarn that had trapped him.

"Haha... Here let me help you with that.

Undoing the yarn proved to be more of a challenge than Rei thought. The yarn was spaghetti-like at best and either ends of the string were visible.

"Wow... Noir got you hard..." said Rei as he continued to try and undo the mess that Noir had enveloped Thane into.

However, a piece of food had managed to roll out of the plate that Noir was eating on. The cat followed the food down to the floor and was looking for it amongst Rei's leg.

"N-Noir! Be careful with... WHOAH!" gasped Rei before his foot got tangled as it evaded the cat.

Rei ended falling on Thane, his body colliding with the other's.

"Oww..." groaned Rei as he lifted his head up to stare at Thane's eyes.

Noir skittered out of the way of the falling man, giving a short yowl in surprise. Thane couldn't do anything as Rei suddenly toppled over and landed on him, pushing him down to the floor. He grunted softly when he realized he was even more trapped than before; not just by string but by another person lying on top of him too.

Thane couldn't even lift his arms to catch the man. ...Well, he probably could, but for whatever reason didn't want to break the string in order to do so. So he just laid there and looked up at Rei as the man recovered.

"...Are you okay?" he asked, the hint of concern in his red gaze. Their faces were a little close, but Thane wasn't all that bothered by it. Granted, this was the first time a human got this close to him before, but he wasn't all that bothered as he probably would've been had someone else done it.

"Yeah, I'm fine." replied Rei with a hint of redness on his cheek. "S-Sorry about that..." uttered Rei as he tried to pull away from Thane but couldn't. He was stuck on the string as well. "Devious little kitty." pouted Rei as he looked at the eating feline. "Hold on... I think I've got some scissors in here..." told Rei as he reached for the metal box from which he had obtained the ball of yarn.

Rei produced a scissor from the box and began cutting off the thread that entrapped him together with Thane. For some unexplained reason, being this close to Thane was causing Rei to act a little jumpy. The bespectacled man had no idea why he was feeling like this because of being this close to Thane. Rei eventually got to the last strand of yarn snipped from Thane's body.

"There... All done." said Rei, finally being able to rise from the floor.

He extended a hard to Thane to help him up to his feet. He then returned to the other side of the coffee table to consume the food that he had left.

Thane smiled. It was a little amusing to know that Noir had managed to fool the both of them. He held still as Rei pulled out scissors and began to snip at the string. While Thane found the string valuable enough to keep it around---he didn't want to break it---Rei seemed to think otherwise. Apparently yarn wasn't so valuable to him.

"Perhaps if the tangling doesn't happen again, Noir can have more yarn?" he mused, looked at Rei as he brushed the string off him and took Rei's hand. He allowed the man to help him up, still picking off the pieces of string from his person.

With a glance at Noir, he noticed a rather feline grin on her face. Either she was being devious, or sheepish. Perhaps both. Bending down, he gave her nose a light, reprimanding flick, earning him a nip on the glove. He shook her off and sat down to watch her eat. Occasionally his gaze would wander over to Rei to watch him as well.

When something caught his eye, he leaned forward and reached out to pick off a small snip of string that somehow clung to the man's hair. Thane wasn't sure how that happened, but it might've been when they were moving about. Thane drew back and placed the string down on the table, then looked back at Noir who was smacking her lips and licking her paws in satisfaction.

Rei resumed his meal, preferring to not linger his gaze too much on Thane. But his eyes couldn't help but look at the other man every now and then. The reason behind it? Well... Not even Rei knew that answer. But all of a sudden, the man rose from his seat on the other side of the couch and make his way towards him.

"Is something wrong Thane?" asked Rei.

The other man slowly leaned towards him and Rei's heart began to race again. His eyes focused on Thane's hand which was reaching out to him. But then, he found out why Thane was doing so. The other man retreated his hand, a snip of the red yarn in his hand.

"Oh... uhh... Thanks!" said Rei with a shaky smile.

Last time he recalled, he had only felt this way when he had met Aubrey for the first time. Wait... What?

"I should probably get something for Noir to drink. Don't want her choking on tuna..." told Rei, rising from his seat and brushing up against Thane as he did. He quickly made haste to the kitchen to get some milk as well as a glass of watr for himself.

Thane gave a smile in return. "You're welcome," he replied. It didn't bother him in the least to help the man out. Lowering his gaze again, he didn't comment, only nod in return at the comment about getting Noir something to drink.

He looked at the cat and idly scratched the tuft of fur on the side of her face. When he felt Rei brush by him, he hand suddenly froze. No, his whole body froze, but he didn't know what it meant. After a glance behind him in the man's direction, he watched a moment as Rei disappeared into the kitchen, then turned back around.

He stared down at his arm, where the man had touched him. Not sure what to make of it, he looked at Noir who nipped at his finger for more petting. He complied and gave her another scratch before retracting his hand and letting her continue to nibble at the last of her meal.

How strange it was... to react the way he did... He wondered why it happened. With a small shake of his head, he just watched the cat eat, not really wanting to think about it.

"Here we go Noir. Fresh bowl of cream for you and a glass of water for me." smiled Rei, setting the platter down for the cat to lap on.

He sat on the sofa, reaching for the remote and switching on the television. Rei had decided on adapting the more effective way of teaching Thane through the television as he had plenty of example to work with. What better way to teach human nature than by showing it in front of death?

"Alright, let's get started." nodded Rei.

The lessons went on until midnight. Unfortunately for Rei, he had fallen asleep again in the middle of a lesson. Rei was teaching Thane about wars and such whilst a news coverage of the ever-going battle in the Middle East was being shown on the television. However, the flat voice of the news anchor had driven Rei into a slumber. His head was resting on the back of the sofa he was sitting on, snoring ever so lightly.

War. Yes, he knew well about war. Though he had no particular opinion about whether it was right or wrong, whether certain politics were better than others, the did know that it was the busiest season for him. In that sense, he didn't like it in the least. Not to say he was lazy, but so many lives were gone in a single day and Thane was pressed to deliver them all to their rightful place. To have so many people die in a single place... yes, it was a tragedy.

The Battle of Plataea was particularly hectic for him. Thereabouts 200,000 deaths. Give or take several thousand. The Battle of Berezina; 60,000 deaths. The Battle of Antietam; 26,200 deaths---also known as the single most bloodiest day in all of Northern American history. Possibly in all the world, too, though that could probably be challenged. The Battle of Sedan; 200,900 deaths.

...Yes, he knew of war quite well. Their names were all different and probably not all that significant to a person like him, but he knew of them. He knew of the damage. He knew of the pain and suffering and how the casualties piled up. He knew how loudly his workers groaned because of the foolishness of men to slaughter each other endlessly. It seemed humans had something to prove by murdering each other in the name of "justice" and other things that meant nothing to Thane.

With a soft but heavy sigh, Thane wasn't too happy with the subject matter. It made him think ill of humans in general. He didn't want to do that. Glancing over at Rei who had fallen asleep, he noted that the man was in habit of sleeping in the middle of their lessons. Thane found it peculiar yet amusing. He couldn't figure out why.

He scooped the man up and took him to his bed as he had done last time, tucking him in. He laid his glasses on the nightstand before moving off and back to the couch. He turned off the television and sat down. He saw Noir jump up and curl into a ball. She gave him a little meow and thumped the cushion next to her as if to beckon.

Thane smiled softly and laid down on his side, drawing his legs up onto the couch. He let Noir slink closer to him and snuggle near his chest. He curled in a little to fit properly on the couch and blanket the cat in warmth. Noir purred in appreciation before falling asleep. Thane remained awake for a while longer before closing his eyes, returning his consciousness to the immortal plane where he would commence in what now was a daily ritual of checking up on the trafficking of souls to their proper place. To the outside, mortal world, he appeared asleep, just like all the other humans on this side of the planet.

Rei's sleep was peaceful this time, not a single dream gracing his subconscious. Or... maybe just no dream he could remember once he woke up. He was sure that he had dreamed of something as the remnants of the feelings of satisfaction and bliss were felt by Rei the moment he opened his eyes. The cause of such feeling was blurry at best for Rei but he did remember something... a little sliver of info to work on. He remembered seeing something crimson looming over him. Two of them actually, right in front of his eyes and growing bigger as his dream went on.

Rei headed for the living room to see if Thane was there and found that the other man was sleeping on the couch with his feline friend. A smile curved on his lips at the sight of the man peacefully slumbering away. He tip-toed silently towards the bathroom, deciding on taking a bath first since it was much more quiet than fixing breakfast.

[The numbers have increased.]

By how much?

[Three percent?]

...Alright.

[How much longer until you come back?]

I don't know.

[...Are you having fun? Do you like it down there?]

.............perhaps.

Thane opened his eyes and saw it was morning the next day. He looked down at his chest and saw Noir to be curled there. The soft buzzing against his chest could only be her purring. Looking around, he didn't see Rei, but he heard a sound somewhere from inside the apartment. Perhaps he was awake already.

Noir suddenly shifted and gave a lazy meow. She licked the side of her mouth. ...She was probably hungry. Thane sat up and went to the kitchen to see if there was anything she could drink. Perhaps just some simple water for now would suffice. Getting down a small bowl, he filling it with water and set it on the ground.

"Noir."

The cat gave a lazy stretch on the couch before ambling to him. Thane crouched and watched her lap up the water, petting her along her back as he did. He wasn't really aware at the time, but he had grown attached to that black cat.

Rei went out of the bathroom a few minutes later, a towel wrapped around his waist and another being used to dry his bushy hair. As he passed the kitchen, he saw Thane crouched on the ground, watching Noir drink from a platter. It was really a simple thing to look on but one that was so rewarding for Rei. The fruits of his labor were as visible as a brick wall.

"Good morning Thane!" greeted Rei with a bubbly tone.

He had to get dressed first however before he can continue his conversation with the man. Quickly making his way to the bedroom, Rei slipped on his usual office attire before stepping out of the bedroom and combing his hair in the mirror in the living room.

"Were you up early?" asked Rei, trying to strike a conversation with Thane.

Thane had responded, much to Rei's delight and soon the simple conversation turned into a long one.

"Alright... I'll get breakfast for me and Noir in a bit..." smiled Rei before an idea struck. "Hey! I know!" grinned Rei before looking at Thane. "Why don't you try to prepare Noir's meal?" suggested Rei.

Thane looked up to see Rei standing there. "Good morning," he replied. He saw the man had dressed and gotten ready for another day of work. Perhaps Thane didn't notice it before because he wasn't paying attention, but looking at him now made him realize that Rei looked... rather sharp in his suit. It made him attractive.

At the question thrown his way, Thane shook his head. "Not really. But I have to check in at home to make sure the souls of the dead are well taken care of while I'm not there. It's only been a recent habit of mine to communicate in this manner."

As they continued to talk, and Thane explained about how he didn't really sleep, though he looked it. The shift of consciousness was all that he did, and because he was leaving behind his body (so to speak) in order to communicate with the other immortals residing in his home, he took on the image of peaceful slumber. After all, he couldn't stop working. And since he said that he would remain in Rei's company until their deal was done or otherwise, he couldn't pop out of existence every time he wanted to.

Should Rei need him, all he needed to do was shake him "awake" and he would return.

On that note, Thane looked back down at Noir. He watched her clean herself, licking her paws and rubbing it across her head. When Rei suddenly suggested he make her meal, he looked up at him, a little surprised. "...I don't know how," he said, standing up. "...But I can try." He hoped the man would teach him. He'd never cooked or prepared anything food related in all his life.

"It's easy, but I'll help you with it just in case." smiled Rei before taking Thane's hand leading him into the kitchen. "You just have to fry this can of tuna here." said Rei as he placed a can of the ground fish on the counter. He opened it for Thane before placing the can in his gloved hand. "Alright... Now just toss the tuna in this pan and cook it until it's slightly brown." instructed Rei.

Menawhile, Rei got started on his own meal. Grabbing another skillet and a bowl, Rei broke a couple of eggs and began whipping them on a bowl. He added some milk and a few other stuff on the concoction before pouring it over the skillet. He began frying the batter until it was solid before flipping it over. He looked over at Thane's side of the stove to see how the other man was doing with his cooking.

Following Rei to the counter, he looked down at the can placed in his hand. He stared at it... it didn't look like tuna. It didn't look like a fish at all... Humans were so strange for liking their fish to be chopped into little, indiscernible pieces instead of eating it in a manner that allowed it to still somewhat resemble the animal it once was.

Shrugging inwardly, he looked at the pan and turned over the can, shaking the contents out. He didn't really know how to cook so he just stared at the tuna bits as it lay there in the pan. He was probably supposed to be doing something other than just staring at it, but he didn't know what to do. He just continued to look at it, then gave the pan an experimental shake before leaving it alone again.

The difference between raw and cooked and burnt were somewhat beyond his comprehension. Glancing at Rei as he stood on the other side of the stove, he blinked at him. "...Am I doing this correctly? How do I know if it's ready?" he asked.

"Here, this might help." chuckled Rei before handing Thane a wooden spoon. "You use this to stir it so that it doesnt get burned." smiled Rei.

After the man started to follow his previous instruction, he looked over his own pan which was coming along pretty well. He switched his view back to Thane's pan.

"Alright... It should be done when it starts to change from white to light brown. I guess it's burned when it starts to turn black." told Rei.

After seeing that his own dish was done, he switched off the heat from his skillet and plated the omelet that he was working on. He made one last look at Thane's pan and saw the tuna was done.

"That looks done. Just turn the knob in front of you counter-clockwise like I did to switch off the heat and put it on this plate here." said Thane, providing a medium-sized platter for Thane. It WAS his first time in doing this. Rei was sure that Thane didn't want the tiled kitchen surface to be the first to taste his work.

Cooking was a little more difficult than he originally thought it to be. Though Rei's directions had been simple enough, the mechanics weren't quite like he expected. Some parts cooked quicker than others and Thane wasn't sure if it was okay if some brown parts weren't quite so brown as other brown parts, or if it was okay if some parts just weren't brown at all.

There were a few black flecks here and there, but for the most part he managed to save a majority of it from burning. Spying the platter laid out for him, Thane assumed he would have to transfer the food from the pan to the plate and did so, until it all sat there in a neat pile in the middle.

He turned the knob on the stove that Rei pointed to in order to turn if off, then looked down at Noir who was looking up at him expectantly. Almost as if she knew he had something for her, she began to rub against his legs, twining in and out. Thane carefully side-stepped her and put the platter down next to the bowl of water she had.

He noticed she might need more and refilled it before putting it back. Noir approached the plate and looked at it cautiously. She didn't touch it right away, as if knowing it was still hot, so Thane crouched down and moved his hand back and forth as if to fan it and aid in the cooling process. Once it seemed cool enough for her to eat without harming herself, Noir took a couple small nips in experiment.

Thane looked at her, wondering if cats could express their opinion about cooking. He heard a meow and saw Noir continue to eat, so he assumed that was a good sign. Turning his gaze up to Rei, he gave the man a smile, his one needed expression to tell the man how appreciative he was for the teaching, as well as how happy he was that his first try wasn't a total failure.

(OOC: This is still GK061490. My first account was on the fritz so I had to make a backup one so that I could post. I'll post again on my old account after it's fixed ><)

"I've done worse on my first try. Don't worry." chuckled Rei before placing his breakfast on the counter, grabbing a fork, and beginning to work on his meal. He grabbed a carton of orange juice on the way and filled up a glass.

As he continued to eat, his eyes wandered every now and then to Thane. All of a sudden, they came upon the smile that was flashed to him by the other man. Again, that heart-stopping reaction that the man inflicts on him with that expression. He still could not make ends of this feeling... or perhaps he knew of it, he just didn't want to accept it.

"No need to thank me. I was just there to guide you. It was all you Thane." smiled Rei.

He swallowed the ball of food in his mouth and pushed it down with a swig of citrus before continuing to talk.

"Hey Thane... Thanks for... uhh... you know... carrying me to bed last night." uttered Rei. "it's a little embarrassing for a grown man to be carried to bed by his friend..." said Rei but was quick to correct himself in fear of being misinterpreted. "B-But that doesn't mean that I hate it! N-No, on the contrary! I like it... Err... Okay that's not right..." blabbered Rei before finally composing himself. "Not so good under pressure. Anyway... Bottom line is, thanks." smiled Rei.