Dying Tigers: A Strange Love Story

Meetings - Part 6

In the end, Tareiji and Jareka weren't accepted for either of the projects. We didn't have anything scheduled for Wednesday so I decided to put my suspicions to the test and headed over to their house with a stack of project proposals and a plan in mind. I arrived unannounced around eleven.

I knocked twice before Jareka answered looking rumpled and ready to go back to bed, wearing a pair of loose khakis and a plain white shirt.

"I thought we had the day off." He mumbled, pushing tousled hair out of his face.

"I got another round of proposals this morning." I answered smoothly, which wasn't a lie, but they could have waited until tomorrow, especially since I already suspected most of them would be vehemently opposed.

Jareka just grunted in acknowledgement and walked away, leaving the door open. I stepped inside and pushed it closed behind me.

The apartment was dim, the only light filtering in through the curtained front window. Jareka clicked on a floor light and I spotted Tareiji on the bed. He'd kicked all the covers off himself and was wearing only the sleeve on his arm and a pair of boxer shorts. He was curled up in a tight ball, and at first I thought it was because he was cold, until I noticed his hands rigidly gripping the sheets like he was in pain. Jareka sat down next to him on the mattress and ruffled his hair. Tareiji's grip on the sheets loosened and after a moment he lifted his head, blinking sleepily.

"Hanaso's here. Get dressed." Tareiji gave a content hum and crawled out of the bed. He rustled around in a pile of clothes on the floor, humming a soft tune. He came up with a shirt and a pair of pants, neither of which I was sure were clean or not. Jareka was lounging back on the bed, seeming quite at ease watching Tareiji dress. I noticed a second pillow on the bed and my eyes flicked to the couch, confirming it wasn't made up like it had been slept on. So they shared a bed for more than just sex.

"More work?" Tareiji queried as he pulled on his shirt and wandered over to the kitchen, grabbing two apples out of the bag on the counter and promptly biting into one.

"Yes, they were sent out early this morning." I explained.

Tareiji flopped down on the couch.

"How many?" Jareka asked, getting up from the bed to join Tareiji on the couch.

"Fourteen." I walked over and settled myself in the chair across from them, retrieving the stack of papers from my bag while Tareiji started humming another melodic tune. He seemed to be in a relatively calm mood today, and Jareka was as stoic as always. Both were good things. It would make it easier to spot subtle reactions if I wasn't trying to sort out what was baseline and what was signal.

Tareiji nestled into Jareka's side, still humming, and Jareka held out his hand for the proposals, expecting that he and Tareiji would look them over before telling me their verdict.

I had a different plan though.

"I want to go over them one at a time." I ignored Jareka's outstretched hand and tapped the papers on the table to straighten them.

I looked up when I didn't get an immediate response. They were both giving me puzzled looks, but after a moment Jareka dropped his hand and neither protested further.

So far I had let them review the projects on their own and either accept or reject the whole project. But that didn't let me narrow down where exactly and what specifically the problem was with each project. So this time, I wanted to explain the projects one at a time, verbally, to see if they had noticeable reactions to specific aspects of the project. Emotional wounds would cause subconscious aversive reactions, whether the person suffering realized it or not. Arrogance was just arrogance, expressed consciously, without such subconscious reactions. The difference would tell me whether I was dealing with a simple case of delinquent behavior because they could get away with it, or if it was something more serious.

So I settled back in my chair and started relaying the first project, watching like a hawk for subtle changes in their behaviors.

Three hours showed me what I hoped I wouldn't see.

"...promotional flyer for a pharmacy..." Jareka's breathing became shallow.

"...conception design. Setting is a dark basement..." Tareiji rubbed his scarred left arm, frowning.

"...advertisement for a science fair focusing on electricity..."Jareka's blink looked more like a flinch.

"... to help the hungry..." Tareiji immediately went and got an apple, eating it almost viciously.

"...for a costume store. Costumes are witch, superhero, doctor..." Jareka's idly moving fingers went still.

"...will require being in a confined space..." Tareiji gave a nervous laugh.

And it went on.

Every project had at least one thing that set them off, most had multiple things. And their reactions were repetitive.

Jareka would get still and his breathing would get shallower. Sometimes he looked like he was flinching away from something. Tareiji was a stress eater. After the third time he'd gotten up to get an apple, he'd just brought the entire bag back with him. Now there was a pile of apple cores on the table. He was also a nervous noise maker, laughing and humming when something bothered him. Occasionally he rubbed his scarred arm, like it was bothering him.

In the end, they rejected all the projects, unwilling to accept them even with changes. I sighed and stacked the papers up.

"Sorry." Tareiji apologized. He was rubbing his arm again.

"It's fine. We'll just have to keep trying."

"For how long?" Jareka asked. He sounded resigned.

"Until you get work, or change careers." I stated firmly.

"Don't you get paid by commission?" Jareka asked.

"I do, but it's supplemental. I make enough on my base salary to get by just fine."

"Don't we annoy you?" Tareiji asked, biting into another apple and refusing to look at me. "You're losing money because of us."

I wasn't sure what they were getting at, but they seemed bothered.

"You do annoy me." I told them seriously. I got two pained looks in response. "But it's not because of the money. It's because I don't understand you and you won't trust me." I continued. "And you should be worrying about yourselves, not me. I'm not going anywhere. I told you, I won't give up."

They were giving me wary, but somewhat hopeful looks.

I stood up.

"I have to hunt up more projects. Relax and rest today, because we have another marathon of meetings tomorrow."

Tareiji grinned and Jareka sighed.

I left, wondering what I was going to do now.