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You put out a call for a lighter.

[ Never mind that this message has some great and unnoticeable encryption and that this isn't even a question. This is as close to a welcome as he's going to get. ]

This had better not be another lecture.

Find me steel wool and a 9V battery.

Once you do, I'll meet you toward the back of the Observation Deck.

[ There's an attachment with this text. It's a map. ]

Oh thank fuck, someone who understands the need for MAPS.

[ He likes this guy already!!!! ]

Yeah.

It's uploaded to the BBS, but it isn't something most would scroll through after arriving here.

[ Most people would rather panic first. And most people he spent time with as a kid hated him. ]

Woulda been nice if my buddy had told me about instead of being "oh just find the lift" like an ASS.

[ Not that he really expected Kira to be any other way. ]

Anyway, brb on a quest for a battery and some steel wool.

It's possible that they might not even know about it. It's fairly new. Though, it's surprising to me that no one else seems to keep a digital map for their own use.

[ That's because you're a nerd, Ryo. ]

With luck they'll be around. The previous crew left an assortment of things behind.

[ He isn't saying to check the unoccupied rooms, but that's also what he's absolutely saying. ]

[ One slightly prolonged search later, another message pops up. ]

Victory! Observation deck?

[ He's already up there. ]

Yeah. I'm the one with the white coat.

[ Sure enough, when Katou makes it up to the Observation Deck, there's a bright spot of a figure in a less visited corner. It is almost reminiscent of the dips in architecture behind college dorms where the undergrads would light up, the smell of smoke no matter the flavor caught between the bricks and the ivy. He doesn't look quite like he belongs, but there's something in the set of his expression that would argue otherwise. He hears the other come up and doesn't lift his hand in greeting as much as he holds it out to accept what he's found with a slight nod of his head. ]

Once I get the spark going, you want to be quick. I'll have to drop it.

[ He gestures more with the scuff of one shoe (also white) toward a small bowl of water he's got near him. He doesn't intend to start a fire, at least. ]

[ That is a lot of white. This looks like the kind of guy who might murder you for getting a speck of dirt on that white clothing, but also the kind of guy that wouldn't allow the dirt to get there in the first place.

He puts the battery and the steel wool on the table. ]

How's this shit work?

[ Even as he's asking, he's pulling his pack of cigarettes out of his jumpsuit and getting it ready. ]

[ He has a tendency to repel it, but then he has a tendency to get drenched in human blood and ichor all the same. However, you'd hope that that material would be decent considering it's the sort that promises to cost more than someone's first car.

He doesn't even bother to roll up his sleeves as he picks up the two items slid across to him. He palms the battery in one hand as he uses the pale pads of his fingers to pinch off and free a sizable piece of the finer mesh. He deposits what remains of the steel wool back on the table, passes the bundle of metal to his empty hand. ]

Like this, [ he hums. He turns the battery over in his palm and points the terminal outward. ] You'll have about three seconds.

[ He reaches out to where he anticipates the cigarette to be and touches the raised edge of the battery to the mesh. It doesn't even take a moment before it sparks, the red glow eating bright and hungry through the woven metal toward where Ryo keeps his fingers curled back. ]

[ Katou's good at moving fast, and works quickly to make sure the end of the cigarette is properly lit before the fire dies out. He takes a deep drag, letting it out with a relieved sigh. ]

Holy shit, that was cool.

[ He offers the cigarette to Ryo. ]

[ The exchange goes a little like this: Ryo discards the mesh as soon as the cherry is lit, the red tongue of embers just missing the full of his fingers. It hits the water with a satisfying hiss, and he palms the battery in one hand while he accepts the cigarette with other. Each movement chains into the next, uninterrupted, as he lifts the filter to his lips: ]

Thanks, [ he says, with the faintest glimmer of teeth. They're disguised again in the next breath as Ryo takes a longer drag, eyes flitting once to the bowl of water to make sure the embers stay dead. He doesn't wince or cough at all as he eventually extends it back, smoke spooling through the pale of his fingers as the easy roll of his wrist sheds ash. ]

I could explain why it works, but you likely just want to smoke your cigarette.

[ He doesn't seem self-depreciating at all. It just reads like a habit. ]

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