(Disclaimer: This story contains depictions of small unlawful activities, mentions of hardship, and unfunny cringe attempts at humor throughout.)
It's been a long day for Stelle. A full day of Trailblazing and helping other people out across multiple worlds exhausted her greatly. She felt relieved once she returned to the Astral Express at the end of it all. She exchanged some playful banter with March 7th before proceeding to let out a yawn and starting to head towards her room, the drowsiness finally setting in. At last, she could get some good and well-deserved rest, then drift off to dream about her lovely trash can fantasies…
She approached her cabin door and opened it with a slow gesture, signifying her sleepy mood. She stepped inside and noticed that the lights were off. This was odd, since they were usually kept on… But she was too tired to care, as she was about to hop into her bed anyway. She took another step and shut the door behind her, plunging the small room into pitch-black darkness. In the darkness, she face-palmed herself, realizing that she needed to see in order to prepare for bed. And so, she silently groped for the light switch for a moment, her left hand banging against the wall a few times. After a few seconds, her fingers felt the switch and she then flicked it on without a word escaping her mouth. As the lights overhead briefly blinded her, she shielded her face for a short moment. Once her eyes adjusted, she lowered her hands and looked directly in front of her, right at her messy bed. That's when she saw her…
There, on the bed, sat Kafka, who had her trademark grin on her face while her hands remained elegantly placed on top of her lap. Before Stelle could even react, the bewitching Stellaron Hunter repositioned her right hand and arched it, giving off an intimidating wave, her face and general demeanor remaining unchanged. "Hi, Stelle.", she greeted succinctly, as if her trespassing in her room wasn't some out of the ordinary crime.
Due to being fatigued, Stelle didn't react for a few seconds. She rubbed her eyes and shook her head as she stared at her trespasser. She felt a mixture of surprise and confusion, but most of it was drowned out by her slipping consciousness. She couldn't say anything at all, not even a gasp escaped her mouth. But she wasn't scared, having already helped Kafka out on the Luofu recently. Still smiling, Kafka adjusted her gloves while saying, "Surprised to see me? I don't blame you. I would've used a more… ordinary entrance, but I had a feeling your fellow Express crew members wouldn't have taken too kindly to me being here. So, here I am.", in a casual tone after seeing her lowkey silence.
Her answer only served to confuse Stelle more, who finally had enough energy from her own intrigue to ask her: "W-Why are you here…? And in my room?" This made Kafka chuckle in her entrancing but mature voice. "Heh… Isn't it obvious?", she replied, "To check on you, of course. I always think about you when you're Trailblazing." This strange answer made Stelle scratch her head and become more interested in her motivations behind this situation. She stared blankly for a moment (her usual look) before thinking of a response in her head, debating her feelings, and proceeding to respond. "You do? Then again, I guess I could say the same about you…", she said.
Kafka seemed very pleased by her comment, since she smiled wider after hearing it, her face seeming more friendly as a result (as friendly as something like Kafka's face could possibly be). She then stood up from the mattress and elegantly walked away from the bed, going to the side of the room towards Stelle's various trinkets that were displayed on her shelves that showed off the Nameless' varying destinations. She kept her back turned at her (a sign of trust for her) while gazing at the rows and rows of Belobog and Luofu merchandise while saying: "That's quite nice to hear… I see that your journeys have kept you busy. It must be quite entertaining, being a Nameless." Finishing her little monologue, she swiveled around to face Stelle, her heels turning with the grace of a ballerina yet also with the efficiency of a powerful machine. Never losing her rock-solid composure, she then decided to open up about her intentions more and stop with the icebreakers.
She brushed some dust off her coat as she continued on with, "There's something I want to talk to you about… Is anything bothering you? I know it's not easy, given everything that happened on the Luofu. Since I deal with all sorts of obstacles as a Stellaron Hunter, I figured I could assist you with working through your problems. So, what's on your mind?", while she smiled more softly than usual. Stelle was taken aback by this sudden but strangely kind gesture. She briefly turned over whether she should take up Kafka's offer in her mind, but she always felt a sort of familial connection to her, even before she was awakened by her on Herta Space Station.
"Well, I… Um…", she stated nervously as she stepped closer to Kafka, moving to the center of the room, "On the Luofu, one of my companions that I traveled with, a merchant, is… gone, forever… She didn't deserve to die, and I feel responsible… …If we had noticed her odd behavior sooner, she might still be with us…" Tingyun the Foxian flashed in her mind, sending a wave of regret and melancholy through her memories. She sighed and looked down at the ground before she spoke about her other worry, trusting the odd woman with her venting. "That, and… When me and the rest of the crew go and help these worlds from the Stellaron crisis, I feel like we… don't do enough to save them. I mean, can people REALLY solve their worlds' issues on their own? I ask myself: Are we good enough, as Nameless…?", she finished.
As this was happening, Stelle was too anxious to look up and see how Kafka reacted to these concerns. Once an uncomfortably long moment of awkward silence passed, she worked up the courage to look at Kafka's wine-colored and intense eyes. She stood there with her arms crossed and staring intently at her. Her face was the biggest shocker, with a look of what appears to be… concern for her. And at a near microscopic level, the galaxy's most subtle frown was there as well. Since she was so stoic with her confident smiles, seeing her in any other state was almost more unnerving than how she usually is.
Kafka's smile returned as she proceeded to walk towards her, integrity in her strides. Stelle was unsure what she was going to do, so she stood as still as a statue. She trusted her enough to know that she wouldn't harm her, but was still on edge from everything going on and her drowsiness. She also caught a whiff of a very unconventional smell, with it smelling like a mix of men's cologne and gunpowder. This was interesting, though she went back to focusing on her approach. Upon standing right in front of her, Kafka then rubbed her head softly and with the grace of stroking a cat. Stelle became instantly relaxed once she realized what was happening, all of her worries fading away. A good ten seconds of this passed before Kafka stopped and addressed her problems verbally. "It's a pity you had to go through with that. With dangerous missions like these, there's no guarantee everything will turn out alright…", she said consolingly, "But don't take it too hard. The Foxian's demise was the work of that Lord Ravager, it was too late to change her destiny by then… As for your other obstacle, it's out of your hands. For each and every person, it's ultimately up to them and them alone to reach their final fate. With the aid you received from those people, they demonstrated their strength to you. I think they shall be fine, going by that aforementioned strength."
This almost motherly like tone put Stelle in a trance and made all of her mistrust and worries fade away. She smiled and ran her fingers through her gray-colored hair, saying, "Thanks… You're actually helping me out. I never thought you cared about me this much… Your comforting has helped, and I feel better about my regrets now!", with relief in her voice. This led to Kafka smiling even wider and patting her shoulder briefly while commenting: "Hmm… Good to know. You have to remember me, after all." Stelle chuckled at this, remembering the encounter with her after being awakened by the Stellaron.
Then, Kafka cracked her knuckles and stretched, somehow groaning elegantly in the process. "Well, this has been a good conversation. However, it's time for me to depart. You're tired and need to sleep, and I have a mission coming up. Elio keeps us really busy, you know.", she explained. Stelle got slightly caught off guard with this, even though she knew it was coming. She tilted her head to the side and followed up with: "Oh… Yeah, it's… been good to speak with you… We'll see each other in the future at some point, I'm sure." "I know we will, it's our destiny…", she answered, "And, who knows? Maybe Silver Wolf will drop by here in the future. She wants to see you as well." Stelle giggled at the thought, worrying about what kind of trouble the little hacker would cause.
In an unexpected turn, Kafka then began to tidy and make up Stelle's messy bed, repositioning the sheets and clearing it off. And she did it so quickly, with her only saying, "Here. Let me make this more comfortable for you.", neutrally while doing it. Within two minutes, it was done and Stelle was so silently grateful that she couldn't say or do anything. It was like she was a professional and did it with her eyes closed. Stelle wanted to pay her back somehow, but she felt that Kafka wouldn't accept any and did it because she wanted to.
After that, Kafka turned back to look at her once more. "Now, if you will excuse me.", was all that she said before covering her eyes with her sunglasses and pulling out her submachine gun. She then proceeded to walk past her and exit out of her room without another word. It all happened so fast, with Stelle not being sure how to react. She heard her light footsteps in the hallway for a few seconds before they disappeared completely, with her seemingly no longer on the Astral Express. This made her question how she even got in to begin with while being unnoticed. She thought about telling the other crew members what happened, but her gut told her not to. She couldn't betray her trust in Kafka, or risk having the others downplay the interaction they had out of genuine goodwill.
"Huh… That was weird. Then again, she's ALWAYS weird, that skibidi…", she stated while shaking her head, "Oh well, it doesn't matter! I'm going to bed." She turned toward her nicely made bed and yelled, "Trash kingdom, here I come!", loudly before flopping onto her mattress. She was so tired, she just laid there on top of the bed and fell asleep like that, not being under the covers/pillows or anything. And she forgot to change her clothes and turn off the lights after all that, it was her original goal before Kafka showed up. Still, at least she had a nice interaction with her, and finally was able to cast off her skepticism of her character for good…
[Writer's Commentary: I just had this idea one day that wondered what it would be like if Kafka showed up at Trailblazer's home one day to check up on her. The way she did it is where I took inspiration from Silver Wolf mentioning how she would react if someone turned on the lights while she was there. Plus, I wanted to show a softer side to her, which is what I like about her so much, when she has that nice dynamic with Trailblazer. Overall, this was a cute little idea I had that I wanted to expand upon, nothing more. I'm glad I got to finally finish this and continue with my writing… It's good to be back!]