No Sleep

6

Keiko Kalypso lived in a monumental estate with a dozen cats to keep her company. Xander found this out only because Keiko showed up at his door in a silky coral robe, proposed he follow her to her house and Xander complied. Why she would do such a thing? Xander was unsure, seeing that they've interacted once, but he was excited at the gesture.

He followed her with his hands in his pockets as she floated around the house. She was quiet the entire way to the kitchen unless she was smooching the cats that trailed at their feet. A certain tabby cat weaved through Xander's legs the entire way to Keiko's kitchen. It's fur absurdly soft and purrs absurdly loud.

The scent of peaches filled his nose once they got to the kitchen. She gestured towards the teapot and poured a cup for both of them.

"Um," Xander said. "Could I have some water instead, please?"

"Of course, sweetheart," she said as she pushed the teacup to the side.

"Ms. Kalypso, why am I here?"

"Cooper didn't tell you about our appointment?"

"No," Xander answered and noted that Cooper Moriah did this without his permission.

"Well, we have one. And you can call me Keiko or Kandi. Not Ms. Kalypso."

He nodded and took in all the appliances in the kitchen. All very shiny and rose gold. In fact, the entire estate was a pastel wonderland decorated with paintings of Keiko and her bandmates. This area of the city was a lot quieter than Xander was used to. The only noises were bubbling fish tank behind him and cat meows.

The tabby cat from earlier pounced on the counter and laid in front of him. Xander felt the smooth tag of its collar and read the cat's name: Dragon. Keiko snapped for Dragon to get off the counter before apologizing and wiping the spot down.

After a couple of minutes of sipping water and tea, Keiko got up and made her way upstairs. Xander drank the last few drops of water his cup before catching up to her. Keiko entered a large bedroom lit by peachy candles and sunlight streaming through the curtains. Xander hesitated before following in.

She walked over in front of the bed and turned to him. She moved her body fluidly in some sort of trance. Xander tried to figure out if there were speakers anywhere in the room that he simply couldn't hear. There were no speakers, nor any other sort of technology in the room other than the lights. Odd.

She continued this dance for a while as she slowly but surely slipped the robe down her body. Xander swayed to her dance until she stood completely naked in front of him.

"Woaahh, hey. Nah, not that." Xander covered his eyes like a kid.

Keiko paused and tilted her head, "No?"

"I'm not. That's not what . . . . Is this really what this is?"

"Yes, this is what happens."

"I don't really wanna do that."

"Are you sure?" She waited for his answer before slipping her robe sleeves back on."Then what exactly are you here for, Mr. Longshot?"

Xander shrugged, "I dunno. You showed up at my house and I went 'cause I thought it was something important."

"What important thing could I have brought?"

"You know Gennaro and Cooper, so I thought they wanted you to tell me something."

"You thought that I came to your apartment in this . . . bold attire to relay a message?"

"I mean, yeah."

She stared at Xander for a while. "Are you and Lupita friends because you're both--?"

"Oh me? Nah, I'm not. She is though! If you're interested at all, she is."

"Are you sure, sweetheart? I understand if you are. I'm not one to tell secrets."

"I'm pretty sure."

"Since you're so keen on not having sex with me, would you like to hear a secret of mine instead?"

"I don't have one to give back to you."

"That's okay. You can go home if you're uncomfortable."

Xander looked at the door, then back at Keiko, then the door, then back at Keiko. He walked towards the bed and sat on the edge. She fixed her hair in the mirror as she smiled at him in the mirror.

"It is very rare that a man does not accept my offer, Longshot. I'm truly sorry if I offended you."

"It's okay. I actually get it a lot."

"I'm very sorry still. Do you want to hear some of my secrets? How I do what I do?"

Xander nodded.

"Sometimes I lie to the men who make these appointments." She looked down and smirked to herself. "I tell them that they did a good job when they didn't. That they're handsome when they're not. And they tell me anything I want them to after that."

"What kind of secrets has Moriah told you?"

"None that I'll share with you."

"So why do you ask for them if you're not gonna share them?"

"I'm very careful with the people I talk to and the secrets I tell. There's a reason for everything. I hope you keep your eyes open, sweetheart." She gave the most genuine smile Xander ever saw before rubbing his shoulder. They sat there in the silence until a few of the candles blew out.

⺫⺫⺫

Elian barged into the apartment right when Xander opened the door. No greeting and no respect to his home. Just barged right in and headed for the kitchen

"Hello to you too, big bro," Xander greeted.

Elian opened the pantry and grabbed some chips before speaking, "I cannot believe you would embarrass me like that."

"No one is worried about you enough to try to embarrass you." He watched Elian pace around his apartment.

"Showing up to The Ternion of all places? In your fucking pajamas? My boss had to talk to me about it. You know how hard I've been working at KaiHue. You know that."

"No, I don't know. How the hell am I supposed to know anything about you now?"

"Use your context clues, simple. If I'm busy inventing the future of our military then I'm gonna miss a few calls. No one was stopping you from coming to my house."

"Yeah, it's not like I was training for Ini Corps."

"You know I could've got you the upgrade. Easy."

"I don't want your robo-limbs."

Elian slammed a cup down and huffed, "Why do you take every opportunity I give you and throw it back at me?"

"I'm sorry I don't want to be a heartless scientist turning people into cyborgs."

"That's not what I do. We could save so many lives with this initiative."

A cold silence fell between the two. Xander looked at the picture of his family on his coffee table and sighed. He furrowed his eyebrows at the four smiling faces. Elian followed the trail of his eyes before stepping towards Xander.

"Maybe if we go further with the initiative," Elian started, "we could save him too."

Xander kissed his teeth, "Don't say shit like that."

"I'm not saying right now, but it's not like he was cremated either."

"Please don't bring Pops into your stupid business proposals."

"Listen, Xander. The doors still open for a job at KaiHue or the Upgrade. You say the word, and I'll find a way. You can still be the greatest soldier you always wanted to be."

"Oh, I'm gonna be. Without your connections. Without your big company money. And without your bright and shiny 'upgrades.' Just like Pops was." Xander whipped the door open, sniffled, and refused to make eye contact with Elian as he walked by.