Kanda Yuu hated a lot of things. Too many to be named, in fact- it was easier just to ask what he does like and work backwards (though the list of things he's mostly indifferent to is pretty big, too, so that might not actually be that fast either). Right now, though, the thing he hates the most in this world is very easily Lavi. In fact, while Lavi doesn't sit very high overall, every time Kanda's in the other man's presence he seems to shoot up that list, right to the top spot (while Allen just ranked high in general).

Right now, for instance, Kanda could say in all honesty that he hated the red-headed bookman more than anything. And not even for any particular reason- he was just being an ass. Like usual.

"My goodness, you certainly are a tall woman, aren't you?" The girl who was supposed to be showing them around (whose name escaped Kanda) stated needlessly.

"I try." Lavi shot back with a crooked grin.

"Yes, I can tell- but those heels don't look very comfortable, why do you need to wear them?"

Lavi's grin got impossibly wide. "I like how they make my ass look."

"Jesus Christ, Lavi, if you ever say anything like that again I swear to God I will run you through." Kanda bit out sharply.

"With what, Yuuko, your umbrella?" Lavi teased.

Kanda's eyes gleamed, "Yes. With my umbrella. You know that being stabbed by a dull object is more painful than being stabbed by something sharp and clean, don't you?"

Allen waved his hands in a non-threatening gesture, "Come on now, Yuuko, you know she's just kidding. Let's not overreact, okay?"

Kanda glared at Allen, but seemed to let it drop, internally deciding that no, he didn't hate Lavi most of the time- only when he talked. At all. Which was most of the time. He bit back a curse and turned to the girl who had taken them to what would serve as their private quarters, he asked "So, what can we expect in terms of how much we'll be working?"

She cocked her head a little, and looked as thoughtful as one could look when they they gave off the impression of having the personality and approximate intelligence of a small bird. "Um, well... Not many people have been coming lately 'cuz they think this place is cursed, but Lady Cho said that having you guys will probably bring more people in, so... Well, I know I won't be busy! I don't know about you though. Depends on how many people are more interested in you than superstition, I guess, but probably only a couple a night at best. Maybe more if you go out and like, show off, I guess, and you get to charge more when you're working the streets, but with the rain and the cold no one's really been working the streets anymore, so if you go I bet you'll get a lot of business from guys who only pick up girls and not come here, but that's only if you don't get killed and turn into dust anyway, so I really don't know. Does that help?"

She had a light and airy voice; probably due to having all that air in her head, Kanda thought, deciding that comparing her to a bird was an insult to the intelligence of avian creatures everywhere. "Quite helpful. Thank you."

"Really? I'm so glad! No one ever says I'm helpful! You're name's Yuuko, right? Let's be like, best friends! I can show you around then place, and we can have girl talk, because it's so boring here when there aren't any guys, you know? Guys always make things more fun, I think. Oh! But that doesn't mean we can't have fun with just us girls, of course! I'm Ling Lo Mei, by the way, but everyone just calls me Lo Mein."

Kanda thought that this was an apt nickname for a girl who clearly had noodles for brains. He hoped that by not saying anything, she would lose interest and wander off, and thusly ignored her.

Apparently, though, Lavi disagreed with his tactic, and saw fit to once again remind Kanda of why he hated the man. "Oh, you don't want to make friends with Yuuko, she's so quiet and boring and whenever she says anything it's always mean. But I'll be your friend! I'm Lavi!"

Lo Mein looked absolutely elated to have apparently made a new friend. "Nice to meet you, Lavi! I'm Ling Lo Mei, but you can call me Lo Mein!" She had that almost-thoughtful look on her face again, "Is she really that mean? She seemed so nice to me, though!"

By this time, Lavi had slung an arm around her shoulder, and Kanda realized that they could be chatting it up for a very long time. He felt a headache coming. "Oh, trust me, she's mean all right. Didn't you hear her threatening me with her umbrella?! She's terrible! Me and Ellen here are real nice, though, and I think we should get to know each other!"

"Oh, you're right, I remember that! That was an awful thing to say! She'd ruin her pretty umbrella!"

"That would be a terrible shame, wouldn't it?" Lavi agreed, nodding sagely.

Allen joined in the chatter (Kanda could bring himself to call this a conversation), "But Lavi's right, we should get to know each other, Lo Mein, it would be great if we could be friends. The three of us are still all so new to this place, it would be nice to know someone with more experience. How long have you been here?"

Lo Mein beamed at Allen, "Oh, about a year now. I used to play around with the boys in the neighborhood a lot, so Father said I'd never end up married. But he was wrong, 'cuz one day he caught me and Jing together and he forced him to marry me! Wasn't that nice of Daddy? But I didn't get pregnant and after that my husband said I was useless as I wife because I can't cook and I always break things, so he sold me here. Oh, didn't get that look on your faces, I'm really glad he did! This is a lot more fun than tottering around some house all day with a guy yelling at you every time you do something wrong, right? Besides, I'm good at this!"

Allen nodded. "I see. So you've been here kind of a while, then? When did this 'curse' happen?"

"Oh, I dunno, a while after it started raining and wouldn't stop, which was about... I dunno, a while ago? But the people started dying left and right about a month or something after that, so the rain might not actually have anything to do with anyone dying. Well, except for the ones who die because of the rain, but they aren't the ones who turn into dust, anyway, and people die from the rain all over the place, not just here. Well, people die from the Curse-Plague all over the place too, just y'know, mostly around here, you know? But I still don't think that we have anything to do with that!"

Allen nodded patiently, "Right, okay, but how long ago was it that the Curse-Plague started, then?"

Kanda was really started to hate that stupid ditzy look on Lo Mein's face, the one where she looked like she was trying to see if she was actually capable of coherent thought. "Um..." She trailed off, and everyone immediately knew that she was not a good place to find decent information. There would be information, yes, and lots of it, but lord help them if they actually got anything useful.

"Nevermind, Lo Mein, it's not really that important anyway, I just wanted to know how long business has been this poor, anyway, and it's not like that actually matters anymore, right? So, why don't you show us around some more?" Allen cut her off quickly, preempting what could have been a very long and useless statement. Something unusual, as in his experience Allen usually only proved to goad annoying people into further talking. Like with Lavi. Who never shut up to begin with.

"Right, right! Let's go back downstairs, then. You can meet some of the other girls! Well, more like all of them, 'cuz there's only four of us anymore, unless you count Lady Cho, then there's five. Oh! Plus you guys are here, too, so now that makes seven!"

"Eight," Lavi corrected quickly.

Lo Mein blinked. "Eight what?"

"Eight people."

"Eight people? What eight people? Are eight more coming?"

All three boys stared at her, as if trying to figure out if it was really possible for someone to be this stupid. Lavi sighed and shook his head. "Never mind. Where are the others, then?"

She smiled brightly yet again, and led them back downstairs. As they were led, they almost passed right by one of the other occupants of the House, who was arguing quietly with a young man in front of the door.

"Who's that?"

Lo Mein looked at the pair, and sighed dramatically. "Looks like Nan'uei's back again. He always comes here to talk to his sister, that's her there, by the way, Chi-Lin. Anyway, he comes here to try to talk to her a lot, but he's not a customer, so Lady Cho doesn't really like having him around. Looks like I'll have to wait to introduce you to her, it's pretty rude to interrupt, and it always seems to make them fight more next time he comes when they don't finish. Anyway, that still leaves Ranfan and Kou Loun, and I bet I even know where they are! We can come back later."

As the group wandered off, Kanda stayed behind, deciding that if he had to listen to Lo Mein any more today he really would kill someone.

He hadn't wanted to eavesdrop until he remembered that that was one of the best ways to get information in a situation like this, and resigned himself that it was better than trying to interact with anyone else directly. That clearly hadn't ended well last time.

"Look, Chi-Lin, Xian'Ou has gotten a job on a ship now, so he can bring more money back- not to mention that that means while he's away there's one less mouth to feed. And you know I've gotten a job in town, so we really can buy you out of here. Please, just come back home already!"

She shook her head slowly. "I'm sorry, but I already told you, I'm staying here. I don't want to live off of my brothers for the rest of my life, and you know I'm not getting remarried. I may not be suited for most jobs, but at least here I can provide for myself! It's not like I'm out on the streets, I'm perfectly safe here."

"Don't be ridiculous! You know better than anyone it's not safe here! For God's sake, look around you, everyone is dying! As if having to watch my sister sell herself wasn't bad enough, I have to worry constantly about whether or not you'll be killed, too! Please, Chi-Lin, for once in your life listen to reason!"

"I'm sorry, but you know I've made up my mind." She smiled sadly at him, "Besides, you shouldn't be worrying about me anyway, and you certainly shouldn't be trying to bring me home. You have to think of yourself, now- you should find a wife, have children. It's good that you love your family, but it's time you start one of your own, don't you think? You said yourself you've got the money now."

He looked frustrated, but apparently he bit back his tongue and just shook his head. "You know I won't do that. I can't start worrying about myself until I know you're safe."

She sighed. "We've had this argument a thousand times before, Nan'Uei, you should know by now that you won't win."

He smiled sadly at her. "That won't stop me from trying, even if we have to have it a thousand more times." He looked up out the open doorway they were standing in, into the rain. "Well, I know that as the cue that you won't listen anymore, so I guess I'll go now. I'll be back tomorrow."

"I know you will."

Nan'Uei apparently didn't hear the footsteps softly gliding towards him, as he looked quite stunned when a large umbrella opened over his head. He looked over to see Kanda standing not a foot away from him, and made the intelligent observation, "Huh?"

Kanda glanced at him. "I'll walk with you. For a while."

Nan'Uei blinked. "But... Why?"

"You... Could get sick." Was Kanda's reply, deciding it to be a perfectly reasonable excuse for following someone to try to leak information out of them.

"Oh. Uh, thanks. You know, all I would really need is the uh, umbrella. So you shouldn't bother yourself."

Kanda tried not to glare at him. "Then I wouldn't have the umbrella. Besides, I was going out anyway- it's not like I'm actually going out of my way."

Nan'Uei blinked dumbly. "Oh. Okay. Should I at least carry it for you? It looks kind of heavy..."

"You touch it and I'll break your hand, you bast- Uh... I mean, No. That's alright. I'd rather carry it myself."

"Uh, okay, then. So, who are you?"

As Chi-Lin watched them walk out, she heard behind a freshly closed door the muffled reply after a brief silence. The single quiet word, "Yuuko," was the last thing she heard before turning back inside.

Chi-Lin smiled to herself.

...Oops. It seems as though I have accidentally introduced three OC's in one chapter. I meant to keep it down to, like... One. Maybe two. Maybe. And Lo Mein is the sweetest, stupidest girl ever. Oh, Christ, what have I done...? The story can't progress without them, though, so I'll just have to hope for the best, yeah? Yeah. Shit. I like them too much. I'd better not introduce anyone other than these four, huh? Otherwise things could get messy...