insurmountable | i'm dragging a heart that weighs a ton / holding out for not just anyone

[His thumb comes up to his chin, to consider it. She's right, she probably would be the one to benefit the most from Aether's disappearance. Even though they both know that's far from the reality there, but the police are always quick to find a suspect and get a warrant for their arrest, whether or not if they have the right person.]

I genuinely hope you're able to clear yourself of any suspicion. If they could have it their way, you wouldn't walk out of that station today.

[He hopes their lawyer is intelligent enough to do that.]

Either way, good luck down there. Call me if anything comes up. I know you don't prefer to use the connections you've gained through our strange circumstances, but don't be afraid to use them if you get into a pickle. The last thing we need is you getting thrown in a cell for something you didn't do.

[Ajax brushes her hair to the side with the back of his hand, giving her a confident smile that reflects all the way into the depths of his eyes. The police will have a hell of a time getting Lumine to admit to anything or incriminate herself, even if she didn't have a lawyer.]

But, you're a lot smarter than them- I'm sure you'll be fine.

[ it's a chilling reality, truth be told, to be accused falsely of her brother's disappearance. everyone who knows her knows how important aether is to her, how close they are with each other. but this is the police, and they don't know her at all. all they know is that she's his twin sister, the one person who stands to gain everything without her brother. ajax is right that she had to prove them wrong. ]

Mm, thanks, [ she says with a slight nod, closing her eyes when she feels the brush of his hand. ] I'll try my best not to get arrested.

[ lumine sighs yet again1 before she pads out of the kitchen and towards the bathroom for a quick shower. she gets dressed in no time too, grabbing her purse and phone and texting her assistant to reschedule the meetings just in case she takes a while at the station. who knows how long that interrogation will last, anyway.

on her way out, adjusting her watch on her wrist, she gives ajax a quick kiss on the cheek before walking out the door. ]

Let's have dinner when I get back.

[Watching her go, he finds his spot back on the couch and flips his computer open to begin work. Police records, news reports, messages back and forth between some of the guys that were watching known places of operation for their enemies. Nothing has come back yet, but it's still early enough in the day. He pings a few people who work in the hacking business, to get them working on rifling through Dufont records. Now, only time will tell.

He glances up as she comes out to get her purse and phone, sitting up when she comes over and gives him a kiss, surprised at the gesture but appreciative nonetheless.]

Sounds great. It's a date then, [he replies, watching her go out the door. As it closes behind her, he sits there, staring at the door. Ajax can still feel the tingle of her lips where she'd kissed him, wishing she'd walk back in and stay with him instead of having to leave. It's a selfish wish, he knows, but he wants it all the same.

When he became so smitten with her, he's not sure. Continuing work presents itself as a difficult task, when his mind wanders back to her every few minutes or so. The work is fruitless anyway- nothing comes up, and all Ajax can do is wait for Lumine to return home.]

[ if he asks her about it, lumine will just say it's instinctive and she's done the same to aether so many times. though she does feel a faint warmth on her cheeks when she's finally settled in her car. still, she pushes it all away, deciding to focus on the day ahead.

not that it goes well for her, much of it spent in the precinct answering questions. lumine even had to cancel her meetings, rescheduling them on a different day. at the end of it all, however, they found her alibi strong and sent her back home, much to her relief.

it's already past nine when she finally unlocks the door to her apartment, toeing off her shoes at the entranceway. peering down the dimly lit hallway, she wonders if ajax has already had dinner and gone to bed. she would've preferred that, really. he didn't have to wait for her to come back, even if she did say that they'll have dinner together. ]

I'm back, [ she quietly calls out, padding towards the kitchen. she's starving, and she'll eat anything, even cereal. ]

[Ajax had figured when she didn't show up around dinner time that they'd kept her late. That's how it goes, they'll keep you there for hours on end until they finally get what they want or realize they aren't getting what they need. At some point in the day, he'd finally taken a shower and changed into some proper pajamas, and had cooked dinner for himself in her kitchen. There's no sign of his cooking, having already cleaned the kitchen up long before she arrived home, save for the plate of food inside of the fridge he'd made for her when she got back to reheat for dinner. A note sits on the kitchen counter:

Lumine-

I hope you don't mind that I made dinner without you. I've left a plate of it for you when you return home. I figured you'd be hungry after what they put you through down at the station. There's some dill sauce in a bowl if you want to put it on your chicken next to the food.

-Ajax

In the fridge, a plate with chicken, potatoes, and steamed carrots along with the aforementioned bowl sit inside. Ajax is passed out on the couch, having worked all day, hair still looking like the normal mess it is when he doesn't style it. The laptop is in his lap, still on, as if he'd fallen asleep in the middle of working while laying down. He snores softly, head on the arm of the couch, mouth open ever so slightly.]

[ ah, of course he's already asleep. not surprising, since he's also working hard.

with a snort and a roll of her eyes, lumine reaches over to take his laptop and close its lid, carefully setting it down on the table. idiot, falling asleep with that still on his lap. if it breaks, it'll hold him back longer on his investigation. she then grabs a blanket from the closet, tucking it around him. see? she's totally right about the sofa being super comfy.

only when she's sure that everything's all good on that end that lumine finally pads into the kitchen, reheats and carries her dinner into her bedroom to pick on while she works on her laptop. it's rather late, but she's set aside pretty much all her tasks for today, so she needs to get those started.

looks like she'll just have to skip work tomorrow if she wants to finish all of this. ]

[Sunlight breaks through the windows, and Ajax's eyes slowly open from the light the floods into the living room. He doesn't remember when he fell asleep, only that he felt really tired after eating. He groggily wipes the sleep from his eyes, vision blurry but slowly focusing as he wakes up. A blanket had been tucked around him, and he wonders where that came from until his logic catches back up with him and he realizes that Lumine had tucked him in when she'd gotten home.

Grabbing his phone, he checks it immediately before he does anything else, with no messages or updates that are worth getting excited about. What a failure, he thinks, getting up to stumble into the bathroom. Ajax debates on seeing if Lumine is awake, before he realizes it's way too early for her to be up yet if she'd come home late, so he decides to park himself back on the couch. Maybe he'd make breakfast in a few hours or so for the both of them, when it's more of a decent hour to get her up.

He's sure that she's got work today, so she'll have to be up sometime soon. When she does finally get up, he's in the kitchen again, making breakfast, the smell of bacon and eggs wafting through and permeating all rooms in the apartment.]

[ lumine wakes up a little earlier this time, having slept just past midnight. she didn't even realise she's fallen asleep, her laptop sitting next to her on the bed, paperwork scattered over the sheets. she simply assumes that she was that exhausted, and why wouldn't she be? she was placed on a hot seat, pressured to confess something she didn't do.

in any case, she pads out of the bedroom, wanting a cup of coffee to wake her up, yawning and shuffling past ajax as he busies himself in front of the stove. lumine adjusts the collar of her nightshirt, the article of clothing falling off of her shoulder. another casualty of her past trysts, clearly. ]

Morning ...

[ the cool surface of the fridge feels nice against her skin, especially when she leans her head against it for a minute, opening the fridge door after and taking out the milk. ]

What are you cooking?

[He glances over as she passes by, eyes lighting up with amusement as she presses her head to the fridge. Someone hasn't had enough time to wake up yet it seems, but thankfully he'd prepared for that.]

Haha, morning. You look bright eyed and bushy tailed.

[His attention turns back to the food in front of him, flipping an egg over quickly before it burns.]

I'm not making anything special, just some bacon and eggs. I was planning on putting it all together as a sandwich, if you'd like that. Oh, and I brewed some coffee already, it just finished a few minutes before you came in.

[ oh, there's coffee already.

lumine wanders over towards the coffee pot, pouring herself a mug full and inhaling its scent. she needs a few more minutes to completely wake up, taking a sip of the dark liquid before wrinkling her nose, realising that she's left the milk on the other end of the kitchen counter. ]

Sure, that's fine.

[ she supposes that she can always pick at her food until she wakes up, give or take in an hour or so. a moment later, she's moving towards the dining table, settling on a chair, pulling her feet up and tucking her legs and knees under her shirt. ]

I'm skipping work today, anyway.

Oh?

[He turns to look at her as she sits, laughing inwardly at the upright fetal position she's put herself into. He quickly pops some toast in the toaster for the both of them, before returning to watching over the bacon. Everything is almost done, finally adding some cheese to the tops of the eggs.]

That's not like you. The image I had is that your hobby was burying yourself in your work.

[His tone changes from teasing to soft, knowing that she probably had a bad day yesterday.]

They really put your through the wringer, didn't they. I trust that everything went well regardless?

[ lumine just mumbles quietly, half of her face buried against her knee. her hand cradles the cup of coffee, cold fingertips soothed by the warmth of the china.

she supposes things went well. she's not in jail, after all. no warrant of arrest for her, nothing. she had a solid alibi, and everyone can test her closeness with her twin brother. but it still stings that she's treated like a suspect, as if hurting her brother is something that would cross her mind. ]

I just haven't finished my work from yesterday.

[ so she's taking the time off today to do that. her assistant should be able to shuffle her schedule around for the rest of the week. ]

What about you? Anything from your end about Aether?

[The toast pops, and Ajax quickly plates all their food before carrying it over to the table. He sets his plate down, and then comes over to place hers in front of her, planting a small kiss to the top of her head.]

No. Not a word. They've scoured every place we know about and even managed to find new strongholds of theirs in our search, but nothing's led us to Aether yet.

[It wasn't the news he wanted to give her, his voice reflecting how he feels. This wasn't what he was expecting, given how informed the Volkov network is. Ajax sits heavily down next to her, idly taking a piece of bacon and taking a bite. Thinking about it almost makes him lose his appetite.]

To think that they could disappear without a trace, it's unheard of. Everyone leaves tracks. [He sighs. Thinking out loud like that surely isn't helping.] Sorry. We're still looking, and we'll find him.

[ it's only been a day. that's what lumine tells herself as she picks up her fork, pushing the bacon around on her plate. it's possible that ajax and his men are still looking for information, still gathering more clues. perhaps she's being impatient.

but then again, she's read somewhere that the longer a person remains missing, the lower the chance that they're alive. would celestia keep her brother alive indefinitely, if they're truly out for vengeance? ]

Mm, [ she replies with a slight nod. ] I suppose it's not that easy to find him, given who might have taken him ...

[ lumine leans over to pick up her sandwich, taking a small bite from its corner and chewing thoughtfully. it's the most she could have at the moment, finding her appetite slowly dissipating. ]

[It's not hard to tell that the idea of going another moment longer without the ensured safety of her brother weighed heavily on her mind as it did the day before. Ajax reaches out to rub her back, as little comfort as he sure that gives, but it's the only thing he can do for her now outside of what he'd already been doing.]

Hey. Let's just take it one day at a time. Something will turn up, sooner or later. Try to finish your breakfast, even if you aren't that hungry.

[He takes a bite of his own sandwich, as if to prompt her to eat more of her own. Ajax finds it difficult to keep the worry off of his own expression, but he smiles warmly to her just the same.]

We have to take care of ourselves too. Eat up.

[ a part of her dreads her brother's corpse surfacing after a few days. that's something too, isn't it?

her hand momentarily shakes at the thought, almost dropping her sandwich back on the plate, before lumine composes herself once more. perhaps she shouldn't skip work today, after all, if only to distract herself from more morbid thoughts regarding her brother's disappearance. ]

I'm sorry that your dad had to get involved in this mess, too.

[ she glances at ajax, remembering the way his expression shifted yesterday. not that she can blame him, his family getting dragged further and further into their own issue. ]

Again, would you let me try to compensate your family for what happened?

Heh, [he laughs, thinking on whether or not they'd even take any compensation. What could she possibly give to them that would matter to a man who can have anything he wants with no restraint?]

Sure, if my father would even accept such a thing. It's as I said, the Dufont family has been a thorn in our side for a long time. Do you remember the USB I had Aether make for me? That was tracking and location data so we could find their men who had been main culprits in the deaths of some of our own. They've been killing our guys long before you and Aether ever had to get involved. The data helped us keep innocent civilians out of the picture. I'd always wondered how they'd managed to pull off some of the hits they did on us. Now I know why.

[Ajax gives her an apologetic look- he's sure it's not information that she wants to hear, given the nature of the dark side of his family. But he feels that it's a necessary explanation. It bothers him that this whole time, they'd been facing off against gods backing their enemies. Everything was starting to fall into place, making more sense.]

But, the point is that my father has finally lost his patience with them after what happened in Inazuma and again with your brother's kidnapping. He's a very patient man, so I was a little surprised that he didn't leave it all to Tatiana. To him, this has become more personal than he's willing to sit by and let others handle it for. Hah, if anything, I wouldn't be surprised if he offers you more aid than what I've provided so far. So don't worry about it. He's looking out for you, too.

[Ajax lets his hand fall from her back to give her arm a squeeze, before he begins eating his breakfast again. He's not sure how hungry he really is either anymore, but he forces himself to eat.]

Edited 2022-06-29 23:30 (UTC)

[ she almost asks him what role his sister plays in the family, but then, that would be delving deep into the business. aether has made sure her hands are squeaky clean, keeping her and the company out of his project, taking it on as a personal undertaking. but in the end, they had no choice, do they? not when what they're fighting for is beyond what they're capable of.

lumine takes another small bite of her sandwich, chewing slowly. it tastes fine, but right now, it feels like eating sandpaper. still, like what ajax said, they have to eat. ]

I don't know if I should be flattered that a mob boss is looking out for me.

[ she's pretty sure that's more terrifying than anything. ]

[Ajax laughs, taking another bite of his sandwich. He supposes he can see her point of view, having lived a life that's been without getting her hands dirty in such areas such as murder. Well, at least until recently, but he's yet to ask her about that. Not something to address now, but maybe after they rescue Aether.]

Maybe it's better to just think of him as my father instead of a mob boss. Perhaps once you meet him, you'll be able to see him in a different light. He's actually a very kind person, once you get to know him. I just wouldn't get in the way of his business prospects, is all.

[ does she have to meet him, though? like, how would she even face the guy whose men she got killed? lumine realises that they're there for her and her brother's protected; she even demanded it from ajax after dragging his brother into their secrets. but even so, she didn't think it would actually get them killed. ]

Your father, who is the supposed criminal overlord of the underground scene in Fontaine ... [ she doesn't mean that sarcastically, at least. she's heard enough stories about his family. ] Sure.

[ and she's sitting next to his heir, having an egg and bacon sandwich for breakfast. if she were told several months ago that this is going to be her future, she would've laughed at it. it's not so funny right now. ]

And his son who just kissed my brother over a week ago ...

Hey, c'mon....

[He know she's teasing him, but it's still not a memory he wants to keep around. Ajax will truly never live it down, even if the reason was to save her from bodily injury. And that video...he sighs, defeated, letting his face rest against an open palm.]

Enough about that, now. [He waves one hand in dismissal of the subject.] See, it's not so strange, is it? You met me, and I'm sure I don't exactly fit the bill of your movie-esque mafia boss, now do I?

[Though, he feels like it's a movie, sometimes. With all the extraordinary things that have happened to them in these past months. And it's far from over. If he thinks on it too hard, he can feel the weight of their circumstances pressing down on him.

But if he's with Lumine, it should be no obstacle. There's something deep within him that tells him that, that the two of them are unstoppable together. Perhaps it's Childe, perhaps it's his own feelings on the matter.]

[ nope, she's never going to let him live it down. at least, not while that infernal video is still on her phone. so far, even her twin brother has yet to convince her to delete it. and if aether has been unsuccessful, then chances are, ajax too is going to be. ]

I don't know.

[ lumine throws him a sideways glance, taking another bite of her sandwich and seemingly giving him a once-over. a moment later, she's gesturing with her hands. ]

You know how those mafia guys in movies dress up? [ sure, right now, he looks like a dork in her kitchen, but bear with her. ] With the shirt unbuttoned, sleeves rolled up, really terrible style? All you're missing are those giant, gold necklaces that look like chains.

[Ajax knows a direct attack on his style when he sees it, and he throws her a face of faux abjection before shrugging at her and crossing his arms. Please, he knows he looks good in what he wears and how he wears it, and he's not letting that ding his ego whatsoever.]

I happen to think I look pretty good in my choice and style of clothing, thank you very much. I can see what you're up to here, thinking you can knock me down a peg.

[He huffs at her, sitting back into his seat a little more as he finishes off his breakfast, satisfied with his own cooking.]

I like to be comfortable in what I wear. It doesn't matter to me what others think of it.

[ shrugging, as she too finishes her sandwich: ] If that's true, then what I think shouldn't matter.

[ look, lumine never said he didn't look good. she's just saying that in terms of style, he's not that different from the mafia characters in movies. of course, who knows if that's really how the mafia styles themselves; she, for one, isn't too keen to find out. ]

Then again, no wonder some of your men have a crush on you.

[ aaaaand that's all she says, getting up from her seat to carry her plate and mug to the sink, a smile playing on her lips. see, maybe it's for the best that his men could stay incognito while protecting her. ]

[He nearly chokes on his own coffee when she brings that fact right to his face, swallowing it down hard before turning to look incredulously at her.]

What's that supposed to mean?

[When did she ever take the time to talk to any of them? If he didn't know any better, he was sure she was just making it up- or referring to Luke.]

If you're referrecing that Fatui soldier from our vision-

[He swears, going that far just to tease him. He'll think of a way to repay her for her kindness here right now.]

-he's not one of my men. Subordinates from a thousand years ago don't count.

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