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No one really went into Faust’s room. If they needed something from her, she would usually just give it to them outright. If they had to discuss something confidential, they could just step outside or talk about it in their own room. As it stood, there was simply no reason to enter the elusive sinner’s personal space.
Until a sense of overwhelming boredom sparked an idea in Rodya. The bus was in a state of limbo where the sinners were technically on the clock, but had no work assigned. Staring out of the window and occasionally teasing Gregor had grown stale rather quickly, so she leaned back in her seat and looked at Outis with a grin, who gave her a piercing glare in response.
“Hey Ou-”, she was immediately cut off.
“Whatever you’re going to say to me, I don’t care.”
Rodya pouted, “But I just had a question! Don’t be so grouchy!”
Outis said nothing and kept glaring. This of course backfired, as Rodya simply turned it into a staring match. Exasperated, she sighed. “Fine. Ask.”
Rodya adjusted herself to lean a bit closer, at which Outis instinctively pulled back. “Have you ever been in Faust’s room?”
For a split second, Outis’ face dropped before shifting back into an even more severe glare. Snatching the collar of the other woman’s shirt, she hissed. “Why are you asking this?”
Sensing that she may have just unintentionally pried into something she shouldn’t have, Rodya waved her hands placatingly in hopes that she could avoid getting sliced in half. “I was just wondering if you knew what it looked like in there, nothing else, promise!”
A few stressful seconds later, Outis removed one hand from her holster and the other from Rodya’s collar. Her embarrassment over the misunderstanding pacified her slightly. Clearing her throat, she answered, “It isn’t my place to discuss my colleague’s personal space with someone else.” Her tone carried the same professionalism it did when she spoke to Dante. If she didn’t know how to tear her to bits in a million different ways, Rodya would have made a quip at her expense.
With that lead lost, there was no choice but to go straight to the source. It felt kind of weird just asking directly. Faust didn’t talk with the sinners often, and whenever she did, it was usually just to remind them all of how stupid they were in comparison. That wasn’t enough to deter her curiosity, though.
Rodya strode towards Faust’s seat with a wave, and she could have sworn she heard the quietest sigh come out of the other woman at the sight of her. “Heyyy Faustie~!”
“Faust would prefer it if you did not refer to her with that title. What do you need, Rodion?”
Now that she was actually in front of her, it felt a lot more awkward. Who just asks someone if they can go into their room unprompted? “Well, uh. I was wondering if I could take a look at your room?” She let out a hollow chuckle to try and smooth out the awkwardness. It didn’t help.
“Okay.”
Rodya was a bit bewildered at the response. Was it really that easy? Faust, probably the second most mysterious person on the bus, was just going to let her in her room? No questions asked?
She didn’t really get to think about it too hard before Faust stood up and gestured for her to follow her into the back. She opened the door to her room with little fanfare, and its interior was honestly about what anyone would expect from her.
It was barren with four white walls, save for one that was covered in a bunch of math equations beyond anything Rodya had ever learned in school. There were some drawers, and her bed sat at the center of the room next to a desk that had documents, folders, and stationary neatly stacked on one end. The only thing of note was the small, black model train on a display shelf at the opposite side. It actually looked pretty expensive, no doubt it could have paid for a month of food in the Backstreets.
Rodya couldn’t get any closer before Faust snipped, “Please do not touch any of Faust’s belongings.”
“Ah, sorry. Cute train though~! Didn’t think you would’ve kept something like this around, did you make it yourself?”
Faust looked away, but not in the way she usually did whenever she was debriefing the sinners. She looked embarrassed. It was a bit jarring.
“Yes. It is merely a remnant of a hobby Faust used to enjoy.”
“Ohhh! Is that why the bus is shaped like a train? I always wondered why it looked like that!”
Faust turned around and opened the door. “It’s about time that we regroup with the others. Let us not keep them waiting.”
As tempted as she was to ask more, Rodya let herself out. It probably wasn’t a good idea to test Faust’s patience after she willingly let her snoop around her bedroom. Though, on her way out, she could have sworn she saw the slightest tinge of pink on her cheeks.