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Landing strategies are all well and good, but when you have a parasol to ease your descent, it becomes a moot point. Still, hurtling through the skies at the mercy of the wind wasn't exactly part of Neo's exit strategy. And that begged the question, what happened to Roman? If Neo's plans had been forcibly changed, had Roman's been as well?
Should she go look for him? It wasn't exactly hard to spot the ship going down – she could make her way there and ensure his plan hadn't faltered. But what if he did escape, and was waiting for her at the meet-up point? Then she was the one who wasn't there, and he would be the one waiting.
He wouldn't want her to go looking. Not in the middle of the chaos, dodging Grimm and authorities both. She could deal with them easily enough, sure, but he'd expect her to be waiting when he returned to the meet-point. And he would return. And she would be waiting.
*
It was dark when she got to the warehouse. Not altogether unusual – light attracted attention. Hiding in shadows was easier. The only light was from the full moon shining down, and it was all Neo needed to get inside. A quick glance around revealed the place to be filthy, which reassured Neo that no one had been back in some time – not the White Fang, and not Cinder or her 'apprentices'. They could rest easy here, knowing they were unlikely to be discovered.
The filth, however, wouldn't do for Roman's return. Not after he'd spent the last several months in a tiny cubicle of a prison cell on Ironwood's ship. The warehouse may not have been terribly homey, but it was home, or as much of one as either of them had, and Neo held it to a certain standard.
A couple hours later the warehouse was cleaner than it'd been in months. No messages lit up Neo's scroll, so she took another look around and considered what else she should do. A tiny rumble of her stomach set her to her next objective; acquiring food. Unfortunately, the city was crawling with Grimm, so getting food wouldn't be easy. And there was little in the warehouse that hadn't spoiled – Neo had already thrown out almost everything in her cleaning.
They weren't really worried about keeping a well-stocked kitchen most of the time. The warehouse didn't even have a proper kitchen – it was a warehouse, after all – but when they spent more time there, they made sure to have something on hand. But now?
Neo did another sweep of the warehouse and managed to scrounge together a few odds and ends. A tub of ice cream in the freezer that wasn't too badly freezer-burned, a few cereal bars, and some bags of cashews. It wasn't exactly a feast, but it would keep them going until they figured out their next move and got out of the city.
*
Three days. That’s how long Neo waited. She’d eaten through most of the bags of cashews and half the tub of ice cream, and was beginning to think she’d need to venture out into the city to find more food. Where was Roman?
It was just as she was planning for a trip out that her scroll lit up, two long buzzes indicating a message had come through.
Out of smokes. Need to pick some up.
Roman. Finally. Neo set Hush against the side of the chair she’d perched on and tapped out a quick response:Got your lighter back. And waited a beat for his response.
Knew you would. Gonna need it soon.
Coded messages, of course. Roman never ran out of cigars, and he’d only lost his lighter once - the day Emerald stole it (and Neo had stolen it back).
There wouldn’t be another message after that. The next communication would be in person, when Roman arrived at the warehouse. Neo glanced around and considered their meager food stores. She wasn’t sure how soon Roman would be there, but it would be long enough that he sent word first. She had time to do a quick sweep of the surrounding area, digging through the nearby warehouses to find any other food that might’ve been stashed and forgotten.
In a blink she was at the door, Hush tucked at her side as always. She’d be back before Roman arrived.