Hey, hello again! Seeing as some people were interested, and I myself am very intrigued by this as a concept, so I'm going to now make it a two-shot! Once again, if you have any ideas you want to share, or if you want this to continue, do tell me so through the reviews!

Alright, enough from me for now. Enjoy!

It's a goddamn miracle Texas hadn't collapsed and died just yet.

Bison was out with Croissant, Emperor is...somewhere, Exusiai and Sora were delivering some package to an individual on the other side of Lungmen.

Which left Texas, holding down the fort alone, and the only one to deal with all the paperwork from all the ruckus they caused several days ago. The stack of paper that just appeared this morning was taller than even Emperor's stack of collectibles, which was probably why everyone escaped the compounds.

The first hour was honestly not as bad as she thought, with her sifting through each paper and filling in what was needed, but as the hours dragged on, the experience slowly got worse. The repetitive and tiny words printed on the papers began to meld together, and her fingers were growing tired from all the checking and signing she's had to do for the past several hours.

She sighed, the itch to put a cigar in her mouth quickly returning, which she offset by chewing on another chocolate stick instead. Though alone, the smell of smoke was not something she wanted the others to smell, and she'd rather not have Kal'tsit burn her ears to not smoke again.

With her itch somewhat sated, she returned to her work, signing away the papers and slowly chipping away at the mountain of paperwork.

In that repetitive cycle, her mind began to wander, looking back at the events she and her crew had just gone through. It was...one of the few moments when she'd let her emotions run, provoked by a reminder of a past she didn't want to revisit. At least, those Siracusa deserters seemed to have been thinned out, either converted by the Rat King or slain by him.

At least she didn't appear.

She sighed again, pushing the thought away and-

"Ne, don't sigh so much." A voice suddenly says, and she immediately backs away from the table, harshly pulling out her makeshift sword from her scabbard and aiming it at the intruder, who simply smirked and raised both his hands in surrender. "Woah, woah, time out, time out! I'm not going to attack!"

"...Cu?" The man smiled, casually looking around as he whistled. "Nice place you got here, sis. Didn't think you'd go for this style."

"Emperor chose it." She said with a sigh of relief, slowly sheathing her sword back. Cu was still looking around, at the many bottles of leftover wine to be exact.

Texas chose that moment to look at him, and notice just how much he hasn't changed over the years. His hair was dark blue, with matching Lupo ears at the top of it. His eyes were yellow, though much brighter and predatorial-looking than hers. He wore the same black and white hoodie over a basic black shirt and jeans, looking far too casual and civilian for what he truly is.

And accompanying him is the red spear he'd always used, lazily held over his shoulder.

"Damn, the guy's been stocking up." He comments, before turning back to her. "By the way, where is he? Thought he'd be lazing around here like always."

"He's...somewhere." She answers uncertainly, yet he somehow understands, his eyes going wide before he smiles. He always seemed to know where Emperor was, which was understandable, as he was one of the first 'agents' Emperor got to work with. Their relationship went far back, though by how much, she didn't know. Cu had never bothered to explain it, and Emperor always deflected the question away.

Then again, Emperor was Emperor, and there was nothing she could do about that.

Satisfied, Cu takes a seat at one of the many couches in the room, placing his spear by his side before sinking into the couch, eyes drifting close as he falls asleep. How he's able to fall asleep that fast she doesn't know, but she dearly wished she could have the same talent. Would've saved her from a lot of the insanity she regularly goes through.

With him asleep, she decided to persevere onward and continue looking through all the paperwork, though now with hardly any worry of being attacked. Cu was far stronger than his lithe build would suggest, his physical strength and speed so far only matched by his rival (friend) Emiya.

His skill with his spear was outstanding, so much so that many that she knew years ago commented that his and Emiya's skills in their respective fields were far beyond those of their age, surpassing even the 'prodigies' of Siracusa. It also didn't help that they'd often get into fights, ones that would inevitably destroy the surroundings around them.

And his Arts were...diverse. He could strengthen himself, cause his spear to explode on impact, and even create a strange physical aura to both protect and attack. Though she herself had never seen it, Emiya's Arts were rather unique as well, in what way however she wasn't sure.

Cu did say that he could do more, but he rarely used his Arts in battle, so she could only speculate.

His strength in battle was often accompanied by a very jovial attitude, one that carried over to his outside life. Partying, drinking, singing, cooking, even fishing. He did them all with a smile and a loud laugh.

Sometimes she wondered if he and Emiya had somehow switched siblings, with how quiet and reserved Emiya is compared to the loud and brash Lappland.

...It was rather ironic really.

But Cu was surprisingly gentle when it came to her. Maybe it was due to the way their past came crashing down, or perhaps that was just how he is. She leaned more on the latter being the truth however. He was simply too carefree to be held back by the past.

Stopping for a moment, she looked to the desk and smiled, eyeing the small key chain attached to her phone. It was a nice reminder, of those days before they left, of when all she cared about was reading and waiting for her next mission while Cu watched, perhaps as he waited for the next fish to bite onto his line.

Then, she heard Cu sneeze in his sleep, and she sighed. With trained silence, she gently walked over and laid a blanket over the sleeping Lupo, watching as he made himself comfortable.

"Wear warmer clothing next time." She said, returning to her desk and continuing her work.

Idly, she noticed the itch at the back of her throat was no more.