Posts by ice

^{Is it seriously six in the morning already? Rei silently lamented as she slammed her hand down upon her alarm in annoyance. The rookie enforcer then yawned as she sluggishly rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. While she was used to waking up at the crack of dawn due to her years at a rehabilitation facility and its strict schedule, the woman was a night owl through and through. It didn't matter if she was usually one with a pep in her step and typically had a boatload of energy shoved into her body; she found getting up in the morning to be one of the worst parts of her day because of how trapped she felt. In fact, as Rei turned her head to look out through the small, pathetic window besides her bed, it was hard to tell that it was even dawn. Not only was her room small, but it faced a more shadowy part of the city and, as a result, let little light into her living space. All right. Don't want to be late. Don't want to get on Miyu's bad side again. Rei reminded herself as she sat up and stretched. Sensing her movement, the lights in her room automatically flickered on, and Rei couldn't help but smile wryly at this minor convenience. Technology was often annoying and overly intrusive, but she did appreciate small embellishes like these that simplified her life. She'd concede that life as an enforcer wasn't completely abhorrent.}

^{Within the next half hour, Rei got herself dressed in her suit, washed up, and wolfed down an omelette sandwich. She then hastily threw her hair into a somewhat neat ponytail, grabbed her keys, and hurried out of the dormitory door. Rei then looked down at her watch. The blue light interface lit up: it was a quarter to seven. Shit. Rei sighed and bit her lip. I'm going to be five minutes late. Omelette took too long. More concerned about getting yet another mark for tardiness instead of getting an earful at this point, Rei burst into a sprint down the headquarters’ antiseptic halls and threw herself into an elevator. It felt like hours until she reached her Division's floor. Moreover, in her haste, Rei had neglected several crumbs of bread that had gotten stuck to her collar.}

^{Rei threw the office's doors open when she arrived at her workplace. Her gaze instantly swung around the room, wearily looking out for her inspector's presence and shying away from the startled glances of her coworkers. Small beads of sweat clung to her forehead. It was the fifth time she had been late since she started her work at the MWPSB, and she wasn't keen on losing her only shot at normalcy.}

^{Rei swallowed as soon as she was met with Miyu's cold stare. What was she typing just now? A complaint against me? She could hardly think during the several seconds that had elapsed between her superior's exasperated question and wary chastising. She recognized Miyu had made a fine point: as someone who was in the same building as her own workplace, Rei really didn't have much of an excuse for being late. Even worse, she couldn't come up with a great excuse for her tardiness other than that she had taken her sweet time with cooking a scrumptious omelette. And she was only partially tempted to think that the breakfast worth it.}

^{"Um," Rei started, curling and uncurling her fists as her gaze anxiously followed Miyu's movements. She then plastered on a sheepish smile in a feeble attempt to elicit sympathy from the blonde. "Well, I realized the lock on my door was busted this morning. I had to mess around with it, and it took longer than I thought." Lying to Miyu's face, Rei was surprised by how unruffled she sounded. "It's been acting up for a while now. I'll admit, I should've requested it to be fixed earlier. So... my bad, Asano. I won't do it again." She finished, quickly. While she didn't take Miyu to be a cruel person, Rei was deeply concerned with saving her own hide in any and all ways possible, and if that meant lying, so be it. Moreover, Rei figured a somewhat plausible lie was better than admitting that she had been late because of her love for fine cuisine.}

^{Still smiling sheepishly, Rei gestured to the coffee machine. She had assumed that Miyu, looking thoroughly tired and irritable as usual, was on the hunt for coffee... which that meant now was a better time than ever to change the subject. "It doesn't look much different, but I was told that they got new machines for us. Guess you'll be the first one to find out if it's any good, huh?"}

^{That... worked better than expected. Rei had quickly blinked in surprise upon glimpsing Miyu's look of concern. As momentary as the seeming crack in her superior's composure was, it was still a first.... towards an enforcer like Rei herself, that was. Even more, Rei noted that Miyu had been quick to offer assistance in regards to her imaginary dilemma. Damn. Rei thought, her sheepish smile replaced with a furrowed brow. A sense of guilt gripped her heart. In the grand scheme of things, Rei felt that lying in this particular situation was a relatively small matter, but Miyu genuinely looked exhausted. That much was crystal clear to Rei when she had seen the inspector close her eyes only seconds before. While Rei had observed that this wasn't an unusual sight due to the recent increase in violent crimes, it still made her feel worse for taking advantage of Miyu's sympathies.}

^{Luckily, Miyu looked delighted enough with the new coffee machine. Indeed, Rei had watched in quiet anticipation as the inspector sipped at the metal cup of caffeinated goodness. Rei had also breathed a quiet sight of relief when Miyu's lips twitched up into a smile. Her evil fib had not been purged from history, no, but seeing her superior relaxed over something somewhat trivial made up for it a little. Nevertheless, Rei decided that she wouldn't spill the beans about the true cause for her tardiness. She reasoned it would simply make matters more complicated and worse. The young woman attempted a cheery smile. "Glad you like it," Rei replied, plopping down at her own desk. It was close to Miyu's, set up such that enforcement was easy should a latent criminal step out of line. "I'll try some. Looked a little more than satisfying, anyways. And don't worry about putting in a request. I... put one in yesterday. Wouldn't want to overload the system, yeah?" Her words were yet again bullshit for the time being.}

^{Her shoulders somewhat stiff from adrenaline, Rei turned away from Miyu and looked at her desktop. She was wondering as to when their next case would arrive with an almost morbid anticipation. Of course, Rei wasn't hoping for yet another homicide, but she was dying to exit the stifling and bland walls of their workspace. Getting away from the Bureau's headquarters for some fresh air was as joyful for Rei as it was for a dog going out on a walk. Rei turned around once more, this time to face her superior. "Hey, Miyu. How much would you bet that we'll get something easy today?" Rei inquired with her usual outwardly lackadaisical air, and her dark amber eyes gleamed with curiosity.}

^{((Awww, thank you! And no worries omg. I love reading your writing and more content always makes me happier, though I'm pleased with any length :) You don't need to apologize for the length at all! It's good you got a lot of rest lol. As for ideas for cases... I can't say I have something super elaborate at the moment, but I've definitely been thinking about some ideas! I was thinking maybe we should do something to drive a deeper wedge between the two, induce some kind of interpersonal drama? This is just an idea I'm throwing out, but since Miyu has a dislike for ultra-wealthy people, and since Rei really likes money (if the CID lets her send money back to her fam, she definitely would), maybe the crime they're attending to could be some sort of cyber bank heist w/ hostages. It could be something done at the hands of a larger, vigilante organization, and Rei could start considering becoming a double agent and plot to turn against the Bureau/Miyu? Please feel free to throw out your own ideas and add more as to how Miyu would react in this sit sort of situation/do or just add new things altogether lol, I'm struggling to come up as something as genius and elaborate as the writers of Psycho-Pass do lmfao))}

^{Shrugging off the initial coldness that accompanied Miyu's response to her question, Rei took a moment to contemplate her superior's words. She eventually came to acknowledge that Miyu was more than likely correct. It was true that Rei would have liked to deal with a quick and relatively easy robbery case every so often, but the previous night's double homicide almost served as a warning to manage her expectations. It was the worst case they had since she been recruited by the Bureau, and chasing down deranged criminals did not unsettle the rookie as much as the blood and the gore that had flown everywhere when Miyu pulled the trigger.}

^{Too slow to comment further, Rei's heart had instantly began to race once the area stress alarm suddenly began to blare. The suddenness of it all elated the enforcer. Once she had gulped down a swig from an old water bottle sitting on her desk, she rushed out of the office after Miyu. As she was pulled into the elevator, a small part of Rei felt quite annoyed at being yanked into the enclosed space by her superior, and it took the enforcer a great deal of self-control to hold back an irritated complaint. She already hated being ordered around, and getting physically dragged was no exception to her distaste for control.}

^{Rei leaned against the wall and crossed her arms as the elevator began its descent. After Miyu had finished speaking, a holographic map of the city flickered to life on their watches. Rei squinted and studied the blue screen's interface. There was a green, glowing dot within an aerial outline of a sprawling building. The enforcer watched with concentration as the point beeped and pulsed for several seconds before giving way to a larger, circular representation of the increasing area stress level.}

^{"...looks like you've won." Rei started. She let out a small sigh. "And that we're being told that it's a hostage situation at Mitsui Bank. Isn't that place for the rich?" She muttered the last part out, still staring at the projection. Though she was bit too proud to admit it, Rei wasn't overly familiar with the financial centers around the city. Back in her days as an athlete, the bulk of the money she made was handled by the government and routed directly to her family. Rei only knew that Mitsui Bank was a looming tower with an incredibly prestigious air, and she remembered seeing sharply dressed businessmen and the occasional idol enter and exit the gilded building when she was still an ordinary civilian.}

^{((They really are, and things are about to get a lot spicier! And ooh, yes, I like the idea of swaying Miyu against the system for sure! More internal strife, and you're definitely right about there being a lot of sides we can explore with this! :) and yes, Miyu pushing Rei's buttons all the time until Rei finally snaps is going to be so great. It'll happen soon enough. Also, I was thinking, would you be down to have some canon characters in here? I have realized that there being literally only two of them working together to tackle different crimes def isn't super realistic lmao. Either that or some more OCs also (sorry this is so all over the place lol, im very tired rn) Miyu's parents should totally be hostages here/get robbed imo, stress them hoes out))}

^{Pale as a pearl, Rei had gritted her teeth and gripped her seat as Miyu expertly weaved through the traffic. She had never seen her superior drive with such intensity before. Out of fear-induced curiosity, Rei had also briefly glanced at Miyu's expression during the drive. Her breath caught. She was moved by the depth of her superior's focus amidst the situation, for the enforcer knew for a fact that there was no way she could ever pull off such a feat. For someone whose job was to deal with potentially violent individuals, the idea of getting into a vehicular accident was far too terrifying for Rei. Impressed with her partner's professionalism and swiftness, what little irritation Rei had with Miyu's controlling personality temporarily melted away.}

^{Rei scrambled after Miyu once they arrived at the the towering bank. The scene was already chaotic. Curious, clamoring civilians and news reporters pressed as close as they could against barriers surrounding the crime scene. From where they were standing, she could see the silhouettes of frightened patrons and employees within the bank cowering behind countertops. The building itself was deceptively quiet and bereft of liveliness.}

^{Like Miyu, Rei loathed to think of the possibility of there being more hostages than the two of them could handle. That said, the sight of backup finally arriving at the scene was comforting to the enforcer. At Miyu's question, Rei looked down at her watch's projection. She chewed her lip as orange points began to dot the map of the bank. "Looks like there are four at moment. I think everyone else in there is hiding." Rei reported, quickly. "One every other floor. The first one is on the second floor. As for the criminals themselves..." She tapped the screen several times. Red points appeared on the map. "Looks like there are five. They're with the hostages." Thankfully, the precision of the information their division received was thanks to the high number of cameras in the bank, as the recording data had already been routed to the Bureau.}

^{Without another word, Rei grabbed her own Dominator and looked to Miyu. She offered a small smile. "I have to be, don't I?" She responded lightly, not intending meaning to sound sarcastic. She then looked to the bank's gilded entrance. "I'm thinking we should try negotiation first."}