daidoukayas asked:
* ‘You’re staring’ -> For Heat
@daidoukayas || send ‘You’re staring’ for my muse to get caught gazing at yours || Accepting
“Am not,” the Asura retorted with a huff and eyes rolling in annoyance. He wasn’t staring, not at all. Or so he would claim. In reality, Heat had been passively watching the girl off and on for a while now, at first merely to observe, but after some time, Heat had found himself sating curiosity. The summoner’s girlfriend looked so much like his own surrogate daughter - could he call Sera that? His daughter? - from a glance that sometimes her presence caused a faint well of anxiety to bloom in the pit of his stomach. They still didn’t know where Sera was, but Serph was confident they would find her. Heat was less confident, less inclined to wait, but things in this world were not as they were in the Junkyard. They had to be patient. They had to trust.
The Shock Trooper was good at neither of those things. He hadn’t the patience nor trust in anyone but himself and his Leader to just sit back and wait for anyone else. Just one more reason why he had made Serph the Leader when they had reestablished Lupa’s tribe all that time ago.
Nevertheless, Kaya wasn’t going to get much out of him besides childish antics today, the Asura perfectly happy to frown and keep to himself while letting his mind wander. Of course, as it did, his eyes tended to drift towards the small, dark haired girl. It wasn’t her fault that she resembled the one he worried over. Serph thought it was sweet how his Second-In-Command fussed over the people they had come to know here, in this world. Naive Serph who thought everything would be fine if he put his faith in others, but Heat knew the truth. Serph was also worried. It was for this reason the two of them searched the city at night, under the cover of darkness.
Heat wouldn’t say aloud that his motivations were split; half on finding Sera, half on acquiring sustenance for the both of them that didn’t rely on the detective sourcing damaged or discarded pieces of anatomy salvaged from various medical establishments. No one questioned why there were a few less miscreants around the Capital, why the local Yakuza were in a quiet tizzy. Not outright, at least.
They didn’t speak of those nightly hunts, himself nor Serph. Right now, for once, Heat didn’t want to think of them, either. He merely let himself relax and tried to find his words, something to voice an explanation. Kaya was watching him still, observant and expectant. She was what Narumi would call an ‘odd bird’. A young woman of privileged upbringing, a darling caste in a gilded cage. She and they were worlds apart, wholly different people by nature and experience alone. But she, too, was a cursed child. It was this truth, along with her resemblance to the Techno Shaman, that drew a certain feeling from Heat. He was slowly beginning to understand it as empathy.
Eventually, he spoke. “You resemble our daughter - Serph’s and mine.” It felt like an odd thing coming from those lips, but it felt like the most relatable explanation. Something Kaya could understand. Heat himself was still coming to terms with the idea, but it wasn’t a falsehood to describe his attachment as paternal. Yet another word he didn’t know. “We’re still looking for Sera.” He didn’t say any more, but the inference was more than enough. Heat was aloof and confrontational, yet Kaya had understood his heart from the moment they first met. He raged and loved in equal measure, and just like Serph, he could become lonely easily when those he loved were missing.
Unlike the angelic Asura, Heat didn’t become depressed with his loneliness. He only got colder, more aggressive. He could lash out. He’d already had a few arguments with the summoner. But he never once said a cruel word to Kaya. Funny how that worked. He really was a gentle beast.
