Identity V Comic Dump

Boastful Laughter Leads the Quiet Night

Written: January 5th, 2024

[I wrote this part one: because I felt bad about having such a large gap between the original first two parts, and two: I missed writing about Jose and Kurt. They bring so much happiness into my life. I enjoy writing about the two of them and I hope you guys enjoy this recent part.]

pov: Resident of F402 - Jose Baden
"... And here is your room!" Kurt had swung the door open with excessive force causing the hollow furniture to rattle as it slammed against the wall. He began to chuckle nervously as he looked over to Naib, whose tired frown remained dormant before he ushered the two of us inside.
It was as you'd expect from a normal room: a large bed, empty dresser and closet, a body-length mirror beside the nightstand, a single window with the sunset tucked behind lengthy brown curtains, and a door leading to the bathroom. To my surprise, however, there wasn't a speck of dust in the room. It was almost as if they had cleaned them out regularly as the slight smell of pine began to settle in my nose.
Naib, who stood by the door, cleared his throat as I inspected the room further. Kurt was doing the same, illuminating the room as he opened the curtains all the way. I noticed his eyes strain as he looked further into the distance, his smile brighter than the sharp light of the sunset, before turning back at Naib. "We'll let you get settled in for the night. You can find any nightly routine items in the bathroom." He gestured towards the other door before reaching for the door handle. Kurt took this as a sign to stand beside Naib at the door, rushing past me from one side of the room to the next, and continued smiling.
"If you need anything else- Oh! Like your pajamas! I'll go get you some when we go back down!" He laughed as he was already halfway out the door.
"Actually," Speaking louder than I expected, I cleared my throat seeing as Kurt had already turned back around to face me with a curious expression. "I was wondering if you could stay, Mr. Frank. I, uh.." my voice trailed off as I attempted to speak firmly, "...I have something I'd like to ask you. If that's alright?" I awkwardly turned to Naib, his face still yet to change, waiting for either of the two men to answer.
Kurt's smile widened slightly as he began to remove the straps of his backpack. Naib had shuffled behind him and quickly whispered something harshly into his ear before allowing Kurt further into the room. Kurt simply brushed him off, unfazed and even laughing as he set his backpack down beside the drawer.
I took this opportunity to thank Kurt before turning back to Naib, "Thank you too, Mr. Subedar-"
"Just Naib is fine. I no longer serve the military." He spoke up.
"Yes, thank you Naib." I bowed slightly in his direction, "Your immense help has my sincere gratitude." I smiled. His lips held a ghost of a smile for a split second before developing into a small smile, nodding his head.
Kurt had begun to giggle as he held his hand up to his face, his palm facing my direction to "hide" what he was saying from me. "He did the same thing when he found me," his giggle growing gradually before putting his hand behind his back, straightening his posture to mimic mine. "I'll get his clothes later Naib. You don't have to worry about it, okay?" He said, more of an exclamation than a question.
Naib nodded once again before he began walking out of the room, Kurt waving to him excitedly, and closing the door.
The 'tick' of the door's lock hung in the air, echoing within my ears as I struggled to remember what I'd wanted to ask.
'Was it about the collars or something else? Should I ask about the umbrella now or-' I hadn't noticed him staring at me until he waved his hand in front of my face.
"The umbrella," he brought his hand back to his side before sitting at the edge of the bed, "do you want to look for it now?" Kurt patted the bed while smiling in my direction.
Hadn't realized that I'd been muttering out loud, my face flushed as I ran my fingers through my hair, pushing it out of my eyes and sitting myself beside Kurt.
"I, uh-" sighing out of embarrassment, I spoke again, "-no. I don't want to look for it. Not now, or, tonight, anyway." I turned towards my feet, boots caked with hardened mud that, I hadn't realized either, left a trail of cracked mud across the carpet. I let out a longer, drawn out sigh, my face uncontrollably growing heavy and into a sour expression.
Kurt simply looked at me, his smile small and soft, not saying a word as silence filled the air around us. I wanted to bring my knees up to my face and hide myself from him as the silence continued but, 'that's impolite,' I thought to myself. 'I don't want to stain my fresh bedsheets either,' and my feet stayed planted to the ground.
"It's okay. He just told me to be careful incase you tried something." Kurt spoke up cheerfully. I turned to face him, confused as a barely audible 'huh?' escaped my lips. "Naib. He just wanted to make sure you didn't try and hurt me or something." He smiled and began to laugh. "As if he even had to worry- I've slain mighty beasts in the past so really, I'm plenty capable of handling anything myself." Kurt exclaimed happily as he gestured to himself, unaware he was boasting, "He worries too much." Saying that, he looked in my direction before trailing his brown eyes back up the grey ceiling.
I felt myself frown for a moment, quickly fixing my expression into a neutral one before he noticed. "That's not what I was thinking about," I cleared my throat, "and you don't have to worry about-"
"I'm not." He smiled. "I'm not worried about you hurting me, Mr. Baden. Lighten up." His smiled softened as he placed a hand on my shoulder, warm to the touch. "I know! How about I tell you one of my stories! Is there anything that interests you?" His whole body had turned in my direction, I hadn't realized he already took his shoes off when he crossed his legs and leaned closer, waiting for my response.
Pressing a finger to my chin, I thought to myself for a moment. "Do you happen to have any supernatural stories? Or anything about the occult?"
For a split second I could see him thinking before his face lit up, exclaiming "I got it!" before hopping off the bed and hurriedly retrieving his book from his backpack. Jumping back on the bed, causing me to rock slightly as I reached down to unbuckle my boots, he flipped a little under halfway through the book and tapped on a page with a large symbol, "Have you ever heard of the Outer God of Cthulhu Mythos?" His face illuminating as his eyes followed me to the dresser. Though the name wasn't new to me, I still held a confused look as I turned back at him, candle in hand. "Yidhra?" He questioned again, an aloof smile playing on his lips.
I felt myself naturally give in, chuckling as I carefully made my way back to sit across the bed from him. "I'm interested. Tell me about it, Mr. Frank."
"Trust me, I'll tell you everything I know." He motioned me closer as he began to whisper, "some of us even had a run in with her here. She left this type of pentagram on us," he gestured to the back of his hand, "it was insane!" He'd forgotten to continue whispering and muttered an 'oops' after seeing my tight expression. I softly laughed as I relaxed my face, him doing the same out of nervousness before straightening out his back.
"I want to hear all about this 'Yidhra.' Please, do tell me, Mr. Frank." I said looking back at him. His eyes only continued to light up as his smile grew.
His eyes on his book, he paused, "You can call me Kurt." He looked back up, meeting my eyes. Brown and wondrous, they were pools full of adventure. I wanted to listen to his stories, experience each one with him.
I smiled softly, "Then you can call me Jose."
Kurt's smile grew wider, still holding the same soft feeling. "Okay, Jose." He slowly peeled his eyes off of mine before lifting the book off the bed. Clearing his throat, he began to recount his encounter with the Outer God deep into the night.