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Rodolfo ran an idle hand through the fur of an adorable tabby feline curled up against his side. A book just as comfortably nestled in his calloused hands. It was officially fall, and with fall came new recruits. He'd been so busy lately dealing with paperwork and occasionally leaving his office for drilling, he'd made the mistake before of getting too swamped in higher duties so schooling the rookies was always a breath of fresh air.
Amongst the recruit housing though was a strange foreign man. Originally Rodolfo thought Ghost had been massive but this new guy was on a whole other level being an entire foot taller than Rodolfo. Alejandro said his name was König.
Apparently, Alejandro had welcomed König through a private military contractor. Lately the recruits they've gotten have been far from Alejandro's hopeful expectations and it was starting to worry him so he took to tugging his connections to find a suitable military contracting group to pull from for vital missions. Amongst his research, Alejandro found out König in particular had a run-in with Al Qatala back in Berlin. Although the issue with Hassan and the missiles had been resolved, the idea of Al Qatala members coming back to bother anyone with 141 affiliations worried Alejandro. They were already so swamped dealing with the Las Almas cartel again now that Valeria had escaped. She was clearly poking a fire under their asses for her captivity and the stress was getting to the Vaqueros’ heads.
Rodolfo wasn't quite sure what to make of König though, his height alone made him intimidating but he was missing a lot of the eerie energy Ghost possessed. If anything he seemed a little awkward and anxious which threw Rodolfo's mind for a loop. Everytime Rodolfo spared König a glance, or quite literally any higher up, the Austrian would shy away from their looks, almost like a turtle reclining into its shell.
Considering their line of work Rodolfo couldn't help his confusion towards the man's behavior, was he hiding something? Perhaps he’s shy, or maybe he's just putting up some front so people underestimate him!
Either way Rodolfo wanted to know more, and never having seen König in action kept him from understanding the odd man any better, outside of their usual encounters of course.
Prrrt!
Canela, the tabby sidled up next to him, had gotten up to paw beneath his curtained window. The cloth gently billowed inwards from the half-open window sill.
"Want me to check who's out there chica?”
Mrrow.
"Mandona, you're just like your dad.." Rudolfo muttered, heaving a sigh as he lifted himself up from the mattress. Pulling aside the curtain he was greeted with what could only be described as a jumpscare.
"¡Santa mierda! "
Right in front of his window stood the terrifyingly tall Austrian. (Looking just as startled might I add.)
He yanked the curtain closed, heart beating at a speed it certainly shouldn't due to his soul jumping around halfway out of his chest.
Prrrrar,
Rodolfo glared down at Canela.
“I bet you think this is funny, huh."
Canela meowled in response, kneading at his toes.
Scowling, Rodolfo ripped the curtains back open to confront the man only to be met with nothing but the usual base grounds.
"Oh fuck that."
Closing, locking, and double-checking the window, Rodolfo scooped Canela up and plopped her down on the bed. He slipped into sweatpants and tucked his hoodie in. Canela immediately jumped back down to rub against his leg.
"Sorry chica, I'll let you out later.”
He scratched the fur behind Canela’s ear, wondering if König was like one of those animal-mutilating serial killers Gaz would always rant about.
Usually, he would take matters like this to Alejandro but since König decided to be a creep towards him, then exercising his own authority might just fare better for everyone.
Firm on his resolve, Rodolfo left his sleeping quarters, deciding to confront the man right away.
----
It was almost uncanny how König managed to avoid him for three hours straight. You'd think a tree-sized man wouldn't be so hard to find but clearly, Rodolfo was wrong. Rodolfo didn't even have any active duties at the moment so it almost pissed him off that a slippery tree trunk was somehow staying out of sight.
Finally one of the rookies managed to inform him that they last saw König heading to his room a few minutes ago. Although König had been housed with the rookies he was given his own room so the recruits knew he was a special case amongst Los Vaqueros. Not only that but König had requested his own quarters, although that wasn't exactly strange for someone on a military contract Rodolfo’s overthinking everything at the moment. You try thinking someone isn’t a total creep after catching them snooping outside your window!
As he stopped in front of König's door his mind helpfully supplied him with the fact that König happens to be a few inches taller than the very door he’s in front of. Raising a fist Rodolfo took a deep breath, letting his hand fall against the door in a rhythmic three-knock pattern.
The sound of hurried shuffling and someone bumping against a bed frame came from inside the room.
Now Rodolfo isn’t in any way cruel but he did enjoy banging on the door again in a more aggressive manner, just so he could relish in the rushed scuffling that followed. An ounce of payback for scaring the daylights out of him, if you will.
Another few seconds passed and the door was jerked open by the giant himself, looking somewhat out of sorts adjusting his hood.
"Ahm, hallo, do you need somethi-?"
Finishing adjusting his hood, König seemed to register at length exactly who was talking to him in the way he froze.
"That's what I've come to ask you.” Rodolfo quirked one eyebrow up as if he were expecting König to challenge him.
Rodolfo didn't miss the way König messed with his pant seams, sheepishly staring down at the floor rather than Rodolfo. It almost seemed like all his idle movements were forcing his body to curl in on itself.
An awkward silence fell over the two, König clearly not taking the initiative to explain himself which does not help Rodolfo's mild irritation, but being a patient man, he tries to keep an open mind.
"How about you invite me inside so we can talk?"
König took a second to understand Rodolfo's words before shuffling backward to allow him in.
The Austrian had only touched down in Las Almas around a week or so ago yet his room already looked a lot nicer than some of the rookies trying to make their new base feel like home. One of the two bunk beds in the room had a blackout curtain covering the bottom bunk which reached all the way towards the floor. The other bunk beds bottom bunk seemed to be made into what looked like a makeshift couch with fluffed pillows, the mattress above had been removed along with the netting that was supposed to hold it in, allowing a man as domineering as König to sit comfortably. A polaroid of a white bunny sat on the tiny nightstand beneath a small window, seemingly staring back at him with its beady red eyes.
Rodolfo stayed standing as König set himself down on the not-really couch.
"Why were you outside my window earlier?"
König repeatedly wrung his fingers together, left leg bouncing in a sporadic manner. Rodolfo allowed the silence to drag on for a minute.
"I really don't like making assumptions but I do like honest answers. I'm sure you wouldn't appreciate me making assumptions either."
Finally freeing the invisible restraint on his tongue König spoke.
"I'm sorry, it is simply a misunderstanding."
"A misunderstanding? Well, then what were you doing?"
More fidgeting.
"I was.. I just thought.. I thought your room was for something else sir."
"What did you think my room was for?"
König shifted around in his seat.
"It's stupid.."
Rodolfo leaned back against the wall, frustration starting to give away into mild curiosity.
“Honestly, I prefer thinking you’re a bit stupid over thinking you’re a creeper.”
Rodolfo watched König’s eyes widen through the veil, snapping onto him in a panicked look. Just like a river dam breaking under pressure, out came a hasty jumble of words.
“A- a creeper?! Oh gott! I’m so, so, so sorry if it appeared that way, I mean, I just wanted to investigate the meowing, with so many cats here I wondered where they all stayed, be- before me, that is, I mean, they couldn’t have just stuck around sleeping on the concrete before, perhaps they had a caretaker, then- then I heard meowing and thought maybe the base had a kitty room! So maybe if I just- just took a peek and well…”
König’s spew of words faded out into light mumbling, looking all guilty in the way he clutched his hands so close to his chest and how his eyes darted from Rodolfo to other objects around the room in an anxious manner.
For Rodolfo’s part, he had to push himself off the wall and pace a little to process what had just been said.
“Wait.. what do you mean you “ wondered where they all stayed before me? ”
König itched the back of his head and with a pained look, he made a short “ pspsps ” sound.
From behind König’s blackout curtain came a multitude of cats, slinking beneath or around the cloth confines to reach the two men. Rodolfo couldn’t help the raw shock and amazement at seeing cats pour from behind the heavy-laden cloth.
“ W h a t . “ is all Rodolfo managed to get out.
His awe was met with many meows, all differing in tone and personality. What the actual fuck.
“Heh.. surprise sir?”
König, for all his nervousness, sounded just a teensy bit amused by Rodolfo’s reaction.
Rodolfo heaved a deep sigh and plopped down, immediately getting swarmed by cats.
“…You’re lucky I’m the first to find out about your cat stash. I’ve been feeding these guys for a while, was wondering why Frijol seemed a little bigger than usual..”
Half muttering to himself, Rodolfo subtly checked over each cat to see if they had in any way been hurt. König simply hummed in acknowledgment, deciding to slide down onto the floor too. König’s sheer size was always evident but watching him sit cross-legged and still take up an immeasurable amount of space put it further into perspective.
For the next few minutes, a strangely comfortable quiet settled between them as cats weaved around and through the two men.
Every minute that went by, Rodolfo’s assumptions became more and more undone, his mind once again being swaddled in thought. König certainly was not some sort of “ animal mutilating serial killer”, (though he could only confirm the first part really) in fact he seemed to be quite the opposite, clearly, the base cats had taken a liking to him and all seemed healthy. König’s current body language also read that he was comfortable, all wrapped up in kitty affections and rumbling purrs yet just like before König’s body still seemed to eat in on itself. It must be natural then, even with his guard so delicately chipped away he appeared to be hyper-aware of Rodolfo’s movements.
It was oddly tranquil, sitting on the floor surrounded by a ton of cats next to what he originally viewed as a scary stranger. Though perhaps scary no longer fit, and maybe stranger didn’t need to either.
“Do you know what happened?”
“Hm?” Rodolfo was pulled from his thoughts, looking up and over at König.
“To Apfelsine..”
He gestured towards the orange cat laid out across Rodolfo’s lap. Its back right leg was completely twisted, resembling a chicken leg more than a cat's.
Rodolfo delicately ran a finger across the marred skin, frowning.
“She was injured by some.. disgusting person.”
König stayed quiet, staring at Rodolfo as if to urge him to continue. Rodolfo sighed and began to chew at his lip in contemplation.
“It was a while back, seven years at most. We’d recruited some real young men, at the time I had just recently been promoted to second in command of Los Vaqueros. One of those recruits in particular thought it’d be funny to throw stones at the cats.”
He bit down a little too hard, tasting iron on his tongue but made no move to clean it from his mouth.
“Poor thing was only a year or so old at the time, and that pendejo happened to get a few good hits in.”
Rodolfo gently moved his hand further up, rubbing at the cat's belly. The corner of his lips quirked up slightly at the loud purring he got in response.
“I earned some respect that day. Grabbed him by his collar during morning drill and told him off. I don’t like using violence unless necessary but.. my hand may have slipped and I managed to break a certain rookie's nose during a demonstrative sparring example.”
Although his smile was rueful Rodolfo’s eyes said otherwise, shining with pride.
König couldn’t help smiling too with the gratification Rodolfo emanated.
“That’s.. good. Is that guy still here?”
Rodolfo shook his head. “Oh no, he was transferred ages ago. Got into some squabble with another hermano. His ego was too beat down after that for him to stay here.”
König clicked his tongue in satisfaction. Glad to know karma really did deliver.
“Also.. Apfelsine? Does that mean something? I call her Fuerte.”
“Ah, it just means orange.”
Rodolfo couldn’t help chuckling.
“Very original.”
König, despite the cloth over his face and all, seemed almost endearingly bashful. The sudden crinkle of his eyes and the light shaking of his body informed Rodolfo he might just be laughing too.