June 28th, 2013

Sitting in a favored armchair in Martyr and Val's living room, the Asian stared forlornly out the window. She was waiting for Katan to return from a mission that she had sent him on. It was easier to think of it as a mission and not an actual favor. Minoko felt like she already owed Katan plenty for what happened in Sama, though she hadn't actually told him to talk with Emlen that night. Her head tilted to the side. She took in the afternoon sunlight and cradled her bottle of brandy. It was all she had left at this point. Its weight was what kept her from floating away.

A noise came from the entryway. Her head quickly turned, and she peered out from under dark bangs at the door. There was Katan, sandwich bag in hand. "Martyr, I'm putting your BLT in the fridge!" No words came from Minoko, as she was too nervous to verbalize any of her wretched thoughts. The woman simply waved in his direction. Blue-grays widened slightly. He handed the sandwich off to a passing Martyr and stepped into the living room. "Hey."

Her eyes narrowed. Only Katan could greet her so plainly after what had happened earlier. Fighting of both the verbal and physical variety had occurred, not to mention the part where Emlen had basically dumped her. Not that they were together, but she imagined that was what it felt like to be broken up with. Minoko had never had a relationship end in such a typical way. "Well, what happened?"

"Ugh, where to start...?" Katan slumped over on the nearest couch. "Okay. First off, before I forget and butcher the words into something ridiculous, Emlen says that he's leaving, but he loves you, and he would have loved you even if you were crazier than Martyr on that damned bear. No idea why he has to take it out on the bear, but whatever. He says it's too hard being here. There was something else too..." The blonde appeared to be deep in thought. There was that comment about the sluts, but he had already chosen to omit that part. "Oh! He hates people. That was it."

Minoko gaped at the American. He had said everything in a far too casual manner for her liking. His tone seemed to mock her for caring so much about the immortal. Apparently Emlen cared for her as well, but she found that extremely hard to believe. Emlen had told Minoko that he was done with her not two hours ago. "You were gone for a while....Why would he say those things" What did you say?"

The man shifted into a reclining position. His boots were kicked off, and he stretched his legs over the couch's arm. "All I told him was that he was a baby for saying how he was going to leave again and that both of you are stupid. Also...remember what you told me, about that thing he said in his sleep?" Now was the perfect opportunity for Katan to grin like an idiot. It really was amazing that he was the one, out of himself, Emlen and Valcroix, that had avoided getting punched in the face. "I mentioned that. And I said you felt the same way."

Her gape grew. If Minoko's jaw could have detached itself and fallen to the fine wooden floor then it would have. "You told him that I love him?"

"Yeah. Is that bad or something?" He stared at Minoko with the most innocent of expressions. Katan was fully aware of what he had done. Maybe it seemed bad now, but he knew she would be thanking him by the end of the conversation.

At this point Minoko was fuming. "Yes, it's bad! I never said such a thing!" Her voice had climbed in pitch to great heights.

From the other room Martyr yelled out, "Shut the f-fudge up!" It was obvious that she had a mouthful of bacon.

"Sorry..." Lips fell flat against each other, and she looked back to Katan.

Thank God for black blooded Martyr. "Can I continue now?" Minoko nodded. Her dark eyes burnt holes in his smirk. "Alright. No, you never said that you loved him, but you didn't have to. It's practically painted on your f*cking forehead whenever you're around him or whenever you talk about it. "Oh, Emlen said that he loved me in his sleep! I don't know how I feel about it!" Yeah, you do, Min. You know exactly how you feel about it. Stop dicking the guy around."

A swig of brandy was taken as Minoko thought over the man's words. "I'm not dicking him around....But you really think that I love him?"

An exasperated sigh was his initial response to that stupid, stupid question. Katan was really finding it difficult to not treat Minoko like he would treat a three-year-old. A regular three-year-old, not Max. "I know. He seems to think so, though. I tried to explain that you're hesitating because of the memory thing, and I'm pretty sure that's why he threw in that crazy as Martyr on the bear comment. And yeah, I do. This is probably a pretty sh*tty thing to say, but in all the time that you were with Olanis you didn't seem that crazy for him." He shrugged. The kid had been dead for six years now. A little honesty wouldn't double kill him.

"Thank you." Minoko picked her feet up off the ground and crossed her legs. She ignored the smile that indicated Katan was entirely pleased to be receiving his first thanks. "I know I loved Olanis, at least for a while, but it didn't feel like this. Everything got so intense so quickly. I guess, um....Do you think that's because of the sex?"

Blue-grays rolled in their sockets. Minoko's mouth opened, but Katan made sure to start speaking before she could start bitching. "Uh, probably' You gave the guy your virginity, Min. What did you think was going to happen?"

She pouted and defensively folded her arms over her chest. "I don't know! But you have sex with people all the time, and I don't see you in any stupid love situations!"

Katan chuckled at her ignorance. Stupid love situation was a very good way to sum it up. "That's different. I have one night stands with random girls. I never sleep with the same person continuously, and rarely do I like the girls that I f*ck....They call it making love for a reason, y"know. If you're spending all that time with the same person and you actually enjoy being around them then you're bound to feel something."

"Oh..." There was a moment of silence as Minoko realized she had been going about all of this the wrong way. "I think I get it now."

The American groaned and sank further into the couch. "Took you long enough. This better be it. I'm really sick of talking to that guy on your behalf."

In an instant Minoko was up and wrapping her arms around Katan's neck from behind. "You don't mean that! You and Em are going to be best friends."

He scoffed and leaned back against Minoko's chest. "Yeah, sure. Emlen can be my best friend after Spencer and Martyr and BeeDee. This is assuming that he doesn't skip town, of course."

A sigh was let out into Katan's messy blonde hair. "Do you think he really meant it?"

Katan thought back to the immortal's parting words. "...Yeah. I do. You should probably get out of here." His head tilted back, and stormy orbs peered up at Minoko. The black hair that surrounded him made it nigh impossible to look at anything that wasn't his old friend's face.

"I will. Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you." A fleeting kiss was placed on Katan's forehead before Minoko darted back over to the armchair. Her bottle of brandy was grabbed, and then she was looking around the room for her discarded sandals.

"Hey, Min?" Katan sat up and ran a hand back through his hair.

Dark eyes glanced up from her feet as she stepped into her flimsy shoes. "Yeah?"

The left side of his mouth curved up into a lazy smile. "You're going to give him hell, aren't you?"

A single digit poked into Minoko's left cheek as she pretended to ponder. When Katan smiled, she grinned. "I don't know what else I'd give."