The Moving Castle (Kurapika x Reader AU)

Chapter 4: New Job

               The room was very extravagant. The ceiling hung high and was decorated by crystal chandeliers that must have cost more than Kurapika's little log cabin. The room was wide enough to host a ballroom dance, and the furniture around the room was emerald green with golden frames. The windows were long and quite textured with religious hieroglyphs in nearly every single one. There were silky white curtains framed around the windows to give it some added detail, but it did not cover it so much that light could not enter. There was also a big piano situated in the middle of the room, underneath it lied a huge dark sea-blue rug. To say it was overkill, was an overstatement to Kurapika. It wasn't necessary to require stuff this expensive, and there wasn't any reason that he could think of that would lead someone to buy this other than to show off.
              Kurapika had never in his life seen a more mismatched group in his life. Everyone had a different demeanor, and he could tell that everyone there had meant business, but with different motives. Even the woman with pink hair, who was slouched over the red love seat in the room, had a certain glint in her eyes that was more telling than what her appearance had may allude. Kurapika was nervous, but he forced himself to swallow his fear and walked over to one of the unoccupied seats. One of the gruff-looking men sat on one of the other couches across from his. His legs were sprawled apart, taking up a lot of space. His eyes were closed and his face was relaxed, but his body was radiating confidence enough to smolder someone who was very feeble. He was not wearing much clothing on his upper body, just a small vest, which hardly covered up anything. Not that Kurapika minded, it wasn't something he'd wear, but if it was that man's style then that was that. He had a bit of body hair and a mustache that connect one side of his face to another. Overall, he was quite intimidating.
              On Kurapika's left, there was Melody, the woman who rode up the elevator with him. Her presence was calming, like a fresh spring field early in the morning before the sun began to rise. She had sat down at the piano and played a soft melody that wasn't too distracting but eased up the atmosphere that was created by the tense silence. Her fingers glided against the just-polished keys, creating beautiful melodies. She was very short, if someone walked into the room in front of the piano, they would not be able to see but the top of her hat. Despite that fact, however, she seemingly did not have any trouble gliding over the keys.
             On Kurapika's right, sat a very tall woman. She was above average in terms of looks, Kurapika supposed. She laid comfortably on the love seat, however, the gleam in her eyes was very predatory. Her eyes were like a cat staring down a frightened mouse that it had cornered, cool and calculating. Her skin was quite radiant like she had applied lotion just then.
Her vibrant red hair was styled in a way Kurapika had never seen before. It was pulled up, aside from a few strays, but instead of it being a bun, it was wrapped in a golden ribbon that let it stick up in a rectangular way. She wore a smirk on her face that exuded a very commanding spirit that could give even the most confident models a run for their money. The woman was dressed pretty modestly, and very comfortable too, it almost reminded Kurapika of his own everyday clothes, which he would have rather been in instead of what he was wearing right now. However, he wanted to leave an impression of a hard worker, so he dressed to fit the occasion. After all, this was a big job that could potentially pay for all his necessities for the next few months.
             In front of Kurapika sat two men. The one on the left had beautiful dark skin. The man also had long hair that was tied behind him by a green hairband. His face was expressionless, but still on edge like everyone else. He was wearing a long-sleeved pink shirt, that seemed a bit too big for his frame as the sleeves went past his writs and laid comfortably on his hands. The man wore some jeans as well, a bit loose so that they would be comfortable to wear. His shoes were dark red and appeared to be converse, the little logo giving it away. One of his legs was laid up loosely over the other, and his right arm sprawled out over the top of the couch. He had quite an authoritative aura, that of someone who was down to business. The one on the right was a bit different. He was shorter than the man beside him. His outfit was more muted, the two shirts he wore were both dark greens, the undershirt being lighter than his vest. He wore tight grey pants, and his boots were a dull brown. Out of the whole cast of people here, his energy was the most different. Instead of being confident, predatory, or nonchalant, he reeked of fear and anxiety. Kurapika could relate in a way, he got nervous around a lot of people too, but he saw no reason to comfort the man.
              Kurapika was so engrossed in his surroundings that he nearly missed the faint buzz of the t.v. flickering on. A man appeared up there, looking to be in his late twenties-early thirties. He had some markings on his face, and he was quite serious. "The minimum requirement for this job is to be tough. Or at least tough enough to get out of this mansion alive," he spoke, "This is all. Good luck to all of you," he finished. The television buzzed off leaving a blank screen. With that they were left in silence, only each other to keep company. A timer appeared on the wall, counting down from four minutes. The man in the vest continued to sit on the couch and relax, like everyone else in the room beside the two men on the couch in front of Kurapika. "Why are you guys just resting?! We need to escape this place?" shouted the one in the green vest. "What's the point?" the tall woman situated on the right of Kurapika, "We're trapped here anyway, might as well wait it out and see what they throw at us," she continued. This comment seemed to appall the man that was wearing the pink shirt. "That type of confidence is just arrogance. It's stupid to just wait around here," he said. "It's clear that they're trying to test our abilities," Melody chimed in, "They're probably waiting to ambush us in any part of the mansion." "Then let's stick together!" he rebutted.
              Kurapika finally joined in, "That is not a good idea, there's a lack of trust in all of us because we just meant. The paranoia would just drive us apart due to everyone suspecting one another. Our best bet is to prepare individually, where we are at our strongest." He mentally thanked himself that his voice did not crack. Both the men that were nervous seemed to back down and waited like the rest of the group was. Once the timer hit below two minutes, they could hear a thunder of footsteps running towards one of the doors leading to the room everyone was in. This caused their heads to snap towards the door as everyone leaped into action. Once the door was broken down, they became swarmed with figures dressed in completely black clothing.