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Winter Puppets Chapter Four : Warm Night by Bottou-chan |
"Listen to that wind!" exclaimed Joker, pulling the curtain back a bit. On the other side of the glass, the snow had resumed its falling. A harsh wind gusted the flakes, whipping them into flurrying clouds of white specks. "And look at that snow fall. We're going to have a heckuva time digging the car out tomorrow."
"Forget the car and close the curtain. You're chilling the rest of the room," said Neon, her teeth chattering.
"But the window's closed," reasoned Joker, allowing the curtain to drop back into place.
"The cold comes through more easily when the curtain's open. I can feel it," insisted Neon.
She was dressed in a flannel nightgown of Chii's. The other woman wasn't quite as tall as Neon, but it would do. With a few quick hops she bounded across the floor and jumped into bed, burrowing under the quilt and pulling it up to her chin, making shivery-cold noises as she did so.
"Oi, Neon-han. You want me to turn the heat up?" inquired Joker solicitously, but there was an impish gleam in his eye. Between the bangs and the dark, Neon couldn't see it, but she assumed it was there.
"Change the thermostat, yes. Anything else, I'll pass."
Joker padded across the floor in his sock-clad feet, adjusted a small dial on the wall, and then slid into the bed.
"I cranked it up a notch," he assured her.
She responded with an incoherent mumble. The words themselves were muffled by the pillow under which she had buried her head.
He lay there in silence for a while, contemplating the pattern of the shadows cast on the wall by some outdoor lamp. Presently, he broke the silence.
"Neon?"
"Mmmf."
"What's your impression of Chii-han?"
"Mmmf."
"No, really. What do you think?" His voice had an uncharacteristic thoughtful tone to it.
Neon raised her head from the warm cave she had created. "She's a decent person," she admitted. "We'd probably be suffering from severe frostbite or worse if she hadn't tended to us. She has good taste in pajamas, bad taste in perfume. Could stand to lose about five pounds, and is very concerned about the well-being of her guests. That's what I think about her." Neon paused before adding, "You?"
"I think Chii-han is a very... intriguing woman. She has been... trained not to ask questions," said Joker, choosing his words carefully. "She's a very capable woman, and it's difficult to faze her. It rather makes me suspicious."
"Does it now?" inquired Neon, burrowing back under the pillow. Her next words were faint but distinguishable. "So what do you propose to do?"
"I merely propose that we take care of this job here, and get a move-on. Kurei-han should send someone by to pick us up tomorrow. Three o'clock, sharp, at the door. He suggested we time ourselves accordingly."
"I hope the snow doesn't prevent them from getting through," answered Neon drowsily.
"It won't," answered Joker, shaking his head. "A little thing like snow won't throw off Kurei's plans."
There was no answer.
He spent the next hour staring at the patterns on the wall before sleep finally overtook him, too.