Lights Out

"Vash, I lost the key I stole to your house. iMarcus is making me another one."

"Not now Maddox," Vash responded. Maddox looked no different and so Vash could not tell if Maddox really cared or not that he was busy.

"Maddox," Kiku bowed to him. Maddox did so in return. Vash waited for them to be finished with their Asian customs. He knew they both were very different, but it never seemed to stop Maddox from trying to integrate the Japanese ones with his Chinese customs just to bother Yao. And Kiku. To bother everyone, really.

"If we could," Vash reminded Kiku as to why he was here. Kiku nodded, walking up and into the house as Vash heard iMarcus greeting him.

"Am I getting replaced with another Asian? Am I too tall for you?"

Vash stared at him for a few moments, struggling against the smile which threatened to split his face. Thankfully he won, because he would never get in the house if Maddox thought he had the drop on him. "He is hopefully going to solve some of my household problems at the moment. If you were a programmer, I would have asked you."

"If I had known you wanted a programmer, it probably wouldn't have changed my plans."

"Glad we have that settled," Vash nodded curtly. He was about to step in when it hit him. "Do you know where Heidi is?"

"No. I'm not the one who likes keeping tabs on her."

That struck Vash as a rather odd thing for Maddox to say. It also struck him that, even if his sister did like Maddox, he had forgotten that his friend probably would not feel the same way. But never mind that. His path was just to keep an open mind. And give Heidi any and all opportunities to at least speak her mind. Yes, that was it.

The fact that he was very relieved at the prospect that Maddox did not feel that way for his sister went right over his head, much like a fossil thrown by Lewis Black around someone who does not believe in evolution.

"I will speak with you later, Maddox."

"...you are not concerned that I've done anything illegal lately?"

Vash stopped right in place as he had nearly walked through the empty door. Great. Now that Maddox said it, he was concerned.

"Maybe later."

"Oh. I will write everything down for you then."

Slightly hoping that Maddox would actually do that, Vash went inside. Kiku had already set up his laptop and was typing away at a speed which almost seemed inhuman. Not certain what he would be needed to do, Vash stood in front of the table and waited.

"Oh... don't do that!" iMarcus was complaining. Kiku looked up at Vash.

"I am making it so that his... 'parental' controls make his actions a little more limited, unless you give him permission to do otherwise." Vash nodded and Kiku went back to his screen.

"What did I do wrong?"

"You are out of place," Vash responded simply. Though why he was disciplining a house he had no idea. It had not worked before. Simply making it impossible for the program to do what he was not allowed to do would be good enough. "Would you like some tea or coffee?"

"Tea, please," Kiku responded, quiet either because he was usually so or because he was distracted by what he was doing.

"If I make the tea, can you not mess with my wiring?" iMarcus asked. Vash went to the kitchen and ignored his house's attempts to help. It was as he was turning on the stove to heat the kettle that the power went off.

"What happened?"

"I... I do not know!" Kiku responded from the other room, tapping away. Vash wondered if Kiku had a battery ready or whether the Japanese man was doing that because he was used to that answering his problems. The problems that he did not believe could be solved by agreeing with Alfred, anyway. The power was on in a few moments however and Vash turned on the stove.

Something was wrong, but he could not put his finger on it. He brought out the tea later and something seemed even worse. It was only when Vash sat down did he realize what was bothering him. iMarcus was quiet.

"iMarcus?" Kiku was saying. Vash was not really listening to him, because he was too busy paying attention to the fact that the house was quiet. And that there was still no response. Kiku seemed unable to do anything, the shock on his face quiet apparent as he tried to tap on his keyboard to no avail. Vash listened to the quiet and waited.

"No."

Vash's denial did nothing. iMarcus did not respond.


Notes:

Maddox does not mess with any Korean traditions, probably because he is scared that Yong Soo might think he wants to be his friend. Even though they are. Nice try, Maddox.