Valencia So who's on Rainbow Dash?

<- Ya boi sans hat and glasses.

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No, for sure he'd picked up the stand too. And there was a real temptation to have the thing set the fuck up on the coffee table right by Kyo's "bed" when she got home. Strong argument for that. But he also wanted to watch his boy open the whole thing up start to finish. So, you know, that won out.

The box was totally nondescript, unless you found that default brown cardboard color sus as hell. The stand was actually set up on the coffee table, but Chidi and the box were in the kitchen. Throwing together a little something while it chilled out on the counter.

Honestly he still wasn't a hundred percent on this. If there was gonna feel like some cultural significance or the whole thing would just be cringe as fuck. Hopefully not that second one. But it did have him nervous enough to be putting together a cocktail. Nothing fancy, little g & t. Easy. Gave it the ol' golden glow and took to sipping, leaving the Hendrick's and Fever Tree out in case Kyo wanted to get in on this.

It took Kyo closer to twenty-five minutes to get home cause they rushed their pace a little. Magically, of course! Managed to get just outside the apartment door too before they paused.

Didn't immediately enter though. Thought about trying to teleport inside? Couldn't see the room though. They'd never tried teleporting somewhere they didn't have their eyeballs on. They could sort of picture the couch. The living room. Couldn't quite get there though.

With huff, Kyo opened the door and stepped inside the boring way. Heard Chidi in the kitchen and sped as quickly as they could to get there.

Didn't immediately see the box yet. Her eyes were glued to her roommate.

"Guess what I did the other day?" Big grin. Hello, yes they were home, how was your day, what did you get us, etc., etc. >:]]]]

Yeah, those couple sips were good. Once upon a time Chidi'd have been startled into a spill at the sudden little gust and appearance, Kyo moving so fast that as far as his eyes were concerned, they had teleported in. But now it was just vibes. This was the entrance. Not always, but for sure when they were excited about something.

"Girl," he tsked, turning to her with that terribly Chidiesque grin. "You know better than to gimme an opening like that. You know exactly where this brain goes." Daring him to be fast enough to stop him before he could finish saying, "You finally broke Crystal of her pillow princess tendencies?"

I forgot to upload their look (without mask)

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This fucking guy!

Kyo laughed and shook their head.

"No, no, no- Chidi!" AHHH!!!

They still hadn't reached out to Crystal to hang out again. Meant too. Oops. Kept in contact though of course. Just lives were busy or whatever. They'd get to it, they weren't nervous!

What? They weren't!

"I raced a werewolf at the zoo, and guess what?!" A light slap against his bicep. "I WON!"

Eyebrows. Like, this wasn't surprising in the sense that, no shit, Kyo ran a race and won. Shocking. But the werewolf news was pretty crazy. Not because they were crazy fast. Or like, maybe they were, he didn't fuckin' know. But just two werewolf things more or less concurrently?

Wild!

"Yooo! That's dope as fuck!" Yeah, he didn't know if that was an accomplishment, especially not for this lunatic. But dude wasn't gonna rain on a parade out of ignorance. Kyo was stoked, and that was more than reason enough for him to hype up anything.

"Friendly race, yeah? Drink to celebrate?" He lifted his own, gestured to the counter bottles. Had those out, but he was happy to pour whatever. Per always.

The box could stay unnoticed for now; not like swords went bad. Or, well, if they ignored it long enough for rust to set in, they had bigger problems.

She could always count on Chidi to be there for her. It meant a lot, and they beamed up at him and nodded their head.

"Yeah, it was friendly. And hell yeah. I'll have whatever you're having." He looked away then to take in the rest of the kitchen, where he finally did zero in on a box.

"Is that what you got?" She nodded at it.

Pinky and index fingers out, fist near his chest before he turned to put together the complicated and esoteric concoction of one part gin, two parts tonic water. More than enough given everything else.

"Most of it, yeah," he confirmed over his shoulder after a glance. The stand was the other part, but he wasn't looking to give that away just yet. Plus it was whatever next to the blade.

Turning back with the fresh drink, he let them eyes shimmer once more before passing it over.

"It's for you, actually. Not, like, something you had on your wishlist or anything. I dunno. I just thought it was cool and since you're also cool..." Big exaggerated shrug before a fresh sip. Please don't think it's lame.

Most of it. But wait!

"Chidiiiii, you got me something?!" Aw man, they were going to choke up over this! He obviously didn't need to get them a damn thing but the gesture was sweet and it didn't really matter what was actually inside the box. They were just thrilled to be able to have somewhere safe to crash for a bit while they figured out their own shit.

"Shit. That's really sweet, dude. Thank you." He said all before opening it. "Should I open it here?"

There were a few friends in Kyo's life that felt more like found family. Chidi was one of those people for sure.

"For sure, for sure," he nodded, both to the thanks and as answer for opening it. The box wasn't sealed or taped or anything. It was like, one of those kinda treasure chest style cardboard boxes, where the lid was just one piece attached all along the back edge. This box was only a few inches high and a couple more deep, but almost five feet wide. 'Cause, you know, spoiler alert, it was for a sword. And then the lid also covered the front side of the box with little flappy tabs that slid into slits along the sides. So pretty easy to open up the front and lift the lid.

Inside the box

was that big ol' block of foam with a long indent, in which sat a light black—like that off-black, you know? Charcoal grey or whatever—silken bag. Maybe silk, maybe just, like, really finely woven cotton. He didn't know; it wasn't really part of the pamphlet or whatever. Had a nice soft, smooth feel. At one end was an attached, like, double stitched strip of the same material, which had been loosely tied around to close the opening. While the bag somewhat obscured the shape of what lay within, picking it up would give a pretty good indication.

Inside the bag,

hilt toward the opening, rested a sheathed katana. While most of the hilt was black, including the wrapped cords of dark-stained suede, the leather beneath was a pale beige, nearly white. The few ornamentations, both under the wrap and around the blackened steel tsuba, gleamed a polished gold. Maybe brass. Ya boi didn't super know the difference. The scabbard itself was a dark lacquered burgundy, while the ornately tied straps near the scabbard's base were that same suede as wrapped the grip.

Visual

Bro wanted to comment at various stages, disclaimers and thought processes that led to this absurdity. Stream of consciousness noise. But he filled his mouth with tiny bits of super gin at a time to make sure none of that happened.

Kyo had a look at the box, getting their hands on it to figure out how to open it first. Thought about grabbing a knife and just slitting the side of it open but they also didn't want to ruin what was inside? Figured it out after a moment though, opened up the front of the box and lifted the lid. Saw the foam inside and just... a silk bag? A long silk bag. Chidi, what in the world...?

"Is this what I think it is?" They asked as they gently picked up the object still inside the bag. Carefully removed it to reveal a...

"CHIDI YOU GOT ME A KATANA?!" Loud - sorry neighbours - but like !!!!

A big ol' grin was thrown his way before they unsheathed the sword just a little bit to look at the blade and holy fuck.

"This is crazy!" Like in a good way! Sheathed the blade again and pulled her friend in for an awkward one-armed hug full of feeling.

Big open palmed shrug for the question when they first got the box open, drink balanced in one hand and face pulling a helpless half smile. No idea what you thought it was, Turbo!

But the follow-up big reaction was priceless. Like, yeah for sure, Chidi was kinda used to getting big reactions outta Kyo. But the great majority of the time it was agonized shrieks of his name for whatever gross-ass joke he'd made or a punch in the shoulder for waggling his eyebrows at inappropriate times. This was, like, straight magnitudes better. Maybe the moment of greatest satisfaction he'd felt in...

I dunno. A while.

So yeah, he matched their grin, but kept uncharacteristically quiet as they examined the blade, just kinda basking in the moment. Met the hug full on, keeping to the one arm trend to not risk spilling on the sword. But Kyo was pretty easy to envelop even with the one. Loved this guy. So much.

"Dude behind the counter said it was," one handed air quote, "battle ready. Said it was sharp and stuff, I dunno. I mighta swung it around a little. Feels pretty solid." Little shrug. "Prolly not gonna bisect a mech, but you know." Free thumb gestured over toward the living room. "There's a stand on the coffee table if you ever wanna drop it there. But also, like, it's chill if you wanna lug it around town yojimbo style."

The werewolf cop had said so!

BATTLE READY? HOLY SHIT!

Kyo grinned wider for it as they released Chidi from the hug and held the sword delicately in their palms. It felt precious! Which was a silly thing to think about a sharp sword but the gesture was just so sweet!

"This is the coolest thing anyone has ever surprised me with. Thank you." For real. Didn't know if they'd work up the courage to lug it around town - felt a bit too intimidating - but placing it on a stand felt pretty dang cool for now.

"Let's check out that stand," He said with a grin and gestured for Chidi to lead the way to the coffee table.

Yeah dude, feeling a lotta heat. Lotta warmth. And not just from the booze burn in his belly. This was good, better than he'd banked on. Chidi hadn't really thought it'd land flat, just... I dunno. Felt risky, you know? But so worth it, oh my god.

Still holding his glass in one hand, the other fist was tucked beneath an elbow at his side, kinda one-armed arm fold. Grinning into the cup, he started swaying lightly side to side.

"For sure, dude," for the thanks, watching her evenly. "You're worth it. You're amazing."

Untangling his free arm, the hand pointed obediently toward the living room as he headed that way. The stand, dark stained wood (as pictured), sat on the coffee table near the couch, unwrapped, assembled, and waiting.