@paramythas:
He couldn't really be entirely sure what went wrong or where, no matter how many times he turned it over in his head. One moment, he and Neo had been talking, the next, she'd chosen to pull a vanishing act. Not just from the cafe and their conversation, but also from the apartment the Port Mafia had provided for her.
It... wasn't a great sign, admittedly. It wasn't the end of the world, either.
She wasn't 'at home', but she was still in Yokohama. He knew that for a fact. They had their ways of tracking her whereabouts.
Put simply, the possible risk she posed was too great not to have measures in place, and he and Mori were nothing if not meticulous about threat management.
But she wasn't causing problems. She wasn't skipping town or leaving the country. She wasn't acting, as far as they could tell, in any way that went against the interests of the Port Mafia, so there was no reason to act on that knowledge, and she wasn't officially a Port Mafia member, so it wasn't -- strictly speaking -- desertion or insubordination.
For now, it was a game of space and wait-and-see, and despite Chuuya's apologies for somehow managing to fuck it up and worries that he'd caused a rift that might arise into future problems, Mori seemed confident enough that it would all work out with time and patience, one way or another.
In the meantime, it was back to light duty work, catching up on things once he was back in his office. Paperwork, mostly, which was always harder to focus on when something was nagging at the back of his mind.
Admittedly, he wasn't great at the whole interpersonal thing. The mafia had its own culture and a lot of his good relations stood on the basis that he was someone else's (secondary) boss and they were his subordinates, a working relationship on the basis of rank and the obligation that other people had to listen to him. He made a point not to abuse that obligation, so much as leverage it. Reward good work and loyalty proportionally, be grateful to those that served well, be firm but not oppressive. It worked well for him, and it worked well for the people that worked under him, for the most part (not counting moles and traitors).
But outside of that, he struggled more. The option was there for him to reach out if he really wanted to. Text was still a thing, but when he didn't have something work-related to call on her for, and had no idea exactly what he'd done to piss her off, the prospect was daunting enough that he refrained, even if the agitation of not knowing itched under his skin rather persistently.
And even on the basis of jobs, most of what he had were rather mundane affairs. Supply runs, smuggling exchanges, all things that were operating without any sort of hitch that required pulling in Neo's skillsets. He really doubted she'd want to be called in right now for what amounted to quietly driving from point A to point B or standing around waiting for contacts to show up, just to exchange some money for illegal munitions and call it a day.
Still, he couldn't let too long creep by either, much less too long with a side of radio silence, so he'd have to come up with something else. Something both worth their time and productive, and something that would help break down whatever wall had suddenly gone up.
He had... one idea, maybe. Whether she would go for it was really up to her, but it was worth a try. If nothing else, it was a place to start talking again, which was better than this awkward silence and accompanying, paranoid what ifs.
[TXT: Hey, I need you for something. You busy right now?]
