[center][h1][color=C0C0C0]Blank, P.I.[/color][/h1][/center]

A loud screech permeated through Blank’s heavy skull as Trinity opened the front door, rocking his eyeballs and jolting him out of his drunken sleep. Long ago, he had rigged the simple security system, which triggered a short but piercing alarm through a speaker embedded into his pillow. He had never told anyone how to circumvent it, nor did he have any plans to. The price of this vigilance, however, was the feeling that someone had cracked his head open with a sledgehammer. His mouth was dry, his bladder was full, and his stomach growled with nauseating discontent at the amount of poison that had passed through it the night before. This was usually how Blank started his days.

He heaved himself off the couch in his room. The blackout curtains shut out any source of natural light, which he was extremely grateful for. The only source of light at all was the dim blue light coming from the monitor of his laptop, which sat open on his desk. It was more than enough for him to slowly walk into the attached bathroom, and relieve himself. He glanced around hazily and noted that he should clean it sometime soon. Ever since he let her move in, Blank had left the guest bathroom for her use and limited himself to this one. That way she could keep her bathroom up to her feminine standards, while he could do whatever he wanted in his. Normally, he would tell her “put up with it or find somewhere else to live,” but even he was not so tyrannical as to force her to put up with his piss stains and pubic hair.

Blank found and slipped on the pants he wore the previous night, tucked his gun into his waistband behind him, and pushed himself out his bedroom door. He heard Trinity putting away groceries in the kitchen, so he stumbled down the hallway and through the living room, onto the neat white tile of the kitchen. [b][color=C0C0C0]“Hey,”[/color][/b] he grumbled at her, holding out his hand expectedly. [b][color=C0C0C0]“Receipt and change.”[/color][/b]

Every time they needed groceries, Blank left the money and a list on the counter. He always gave her more money than was needed and always demanded a receipt. He claimed it was for business purposes, but really he was checking to see if she was taking any for herself. If she was, then he would kick her out. He didn’t give a shit about the money, but he wouldn’t tolerate anyone stealing from him. It was never anything he had explicitly told her, but he wondered if she had figured it out yet. Was it cruel to test a former addict? Regardless, these were his terms. Trust had to be earned slowly and steadily, and everybody started with not just zero, but negative trust, as far as he was concerned.