#its going off with just a few min in between bc ren can't shut the fuck up

[yingren]

aventurine has connected the dots. ren cannot foil his ceaseless gift-giving if he doesn’t even know he’s been gifted til it’s too late. he waits until their time spent together comes to an end one day before he distracts: “have i cleared much of my debt?” he asks, and hopes the answer is ‘no’. a deft hand slips a finely-crafted watch into ren’s pocket, wrapped in a hand-written note. he did promise he’d write, after all, and the note contains a handful of playful complaints about ren’s refusal to accept his money. assured of his victory, he turns smugly to depart.

“ few hours off the debt, sure. though i should really take one off from the time it looked like you were falling asleep behind those shades. ” sending aventurine off with a jest feels easier than actually saying goodbye. ren, as is clear, has never been good at goodbyes — especially the kind that linger in the doorway, those that seem almost unnatural in their heaviness. solitude isn’t foreign to him. in fact, he often prefers it over anything else. but the overwhelming stillness that fills the room once his company leaves is something he’ll never quite grow accustomed to. it isn’t just aventurine. the same happens after spending extended time with kafka or any of the other hunters. the silence hangs in the air, almost oppressive for a moment, before it gradually settles into something more familiar. ren knows it will feel comforting again soon, but in those fleeting moments, it always feels haunting.

with his feet propped up on the round coffee table, ren stares at the blank, lifeless screen of the tv, a thin layer of dust settled on top of it. he invites the silence to envelop him, letting it fill the space. the worn walls of the safehouse now hold more than just old paintings and trinkets from its past, they carry the weight of conversations and the lingering presence of aventurine. there’s something warm about it, a trace that ren can’t help but be drawn to, even if he refuses to acknowledge it outright.

from the floor, infra decides to join him, gracefully stepping over the hunter’s legs as ren remains half-laying on the old couch. at least this one doesn’t have springs poking into his back. the feline doesn’t do much, though ren remembers how, when aventurine was still around, infra seemed more interested in him than in ren, which wasn’t surprising in the least. to call aventurine charming wouldn’t be untrue, but it feels like a hollow description — shallow, almost. in ren's opinion, aventurine is charming when he stumbles. though it is a rarity. when he takes an extra moment to think through his next words, when he isn’t showcasing the effortless persona he’s carefully crafted. ren has seen it before — once, maybe twice — or at least, glimpses of it. it’s not always in what aventurine says, but in the way he moves, or how he carefully reclines when things start to get too personal. to be honest, ren is thinking mostly of the time aventurine appeared at his door, a man near death yet somehow still able to find humor in his predicament. his thoughts are interrupted when infra steps carelessly over his pocket, and ren feels the presence of something else there — something he knows he didn’t place himself.

yingxing was the one who truly enjoyed crafting. more accurately, he couldn’t keep his hands off anything that caught his interest — anything that could be taken apart or fixed, especially if it was broken. ren isn’t all that different though he can never craft another weapon again. after all, he will never be able to craft a lifelike mechanical lion from scrap metal and discarded ingenium parts. his former self, apparently, could — at least, if you believe the stories about his legacy. 

still, it doesn’t take ren more than a single night to fully disassemble the gifted watch. the note that came with it has been read over and over before he finally folded it in half and tucked it into his wallet. the watch itself now sits on the kitchen counter, hours after he found it in his pocket, completely taken apart. each tiny piece is laid out on individual napkins, alongside barely legible notes he jotted down in the heat of the moment. he’s not sure yet what he’s doing with it, or if he’s even doing anything at all. but for now, it’s enough work to occupy his otherwise restless and idle hands.

[ 📱 16 : 02 ] img attached. [ 📱 16 : 02 ] i think i’ve lost one of the screws [ 📱 16 : 04 ] it was just for the bridge though [ 📱 16 : 04 ] and just one out of three [ 📱 16 : 20 ] you’ll be happy to hear that the cock is fine [ 📱 16 : 20 ] and you only need to screw it once to make sure [ 📱 16 : 22 ] i'll show you [ 📱 16 : 22 ] :)