nysalogs | dec and jan catch all [closed]

... You're kidding.

[... Maybe?]

[A placid smile and blank stare in reply.

He's not.

But he hasn't been entirely clear with his intentions, either.]

I don't plan on asking them to share - I don't care for sweets. [Like that's the only reason-]

We'll just make ourselves at home while they partake.

[Oh. A new bit of understanding lights up her face. She gives a shrug then, trying to look nonchalant about it.]

Sure, I don't mind doing a little observing.

[He forgives her the outburst, though he'll hardly forget the shock she'd worn on her face. Maybe he'd suggest something more outrageous in earnest next time. Would she go along with it?

Takasugi nods, settling into silence until they arrive at their next delivery site.

He slips into the run down bar like he belongs there, grazing a drunken man with his shoulder as he weaves to the bar. He'll let Mai follow how she pleases. His satchel is set on the counter, pushed forward without question of wheher the man he's giving it to is the proper recipient.

Silver slides towards him in turn.

He counts out a portion to send back.] A discount, to keep your spirits high.

I hear you get quite the crowd for these. [The man behind the bar fumbles, quietly, to scoop up his coin and agree with an over eager nod. Not too hard to buy, this one...]

[Takasugi's pretty relaxed with the exchange, isn't he. She's not been a shy violet about making the deliveries themselves and she's not when it comes to following straight along behind the man himself. She doesn't graze shoulders but she does give a few of the more sodden patrons a sharp look, just to let them know she's not there to be messed with. She relaxes a hand casually atop her own satchel, cautious even if she looks relaxed.

The man behind the bar gives the pair a look, first from Takasugi and then to Mai, in an attempting to be casual way that smacks of nervousness at the same time. Mai waves a hand lightly, unarmed and apparently disinterested by the tone of her voice.]

We just want to take a moment to relax between errands. You know how it is.

[She's quick to follow his lead, more forward than he'd been with the bartender. Takasugi offers a smile, none too weary, and leans his hip into the counter. They're hardly acting imposing, but their casual demeanor seems to have stricken a chord with the proprietor.

Maybe he's just a nervous person.

Or maybe he's a little strung out.

Either way, he rubs his hands together before dragging Takasugi's satchel from the counter top. 'Yes, of course. This way- Please...'

With a nod, Takasugi follows - they're led to a room obscured by draped fabric, even more poorly lit than the main room of the establishment. Several people sit, chatting quietly, in the corner. Upon seeing the man enter with a box they recognize, their eyes light up.

They're quick to dig in, only sparing the interlopers a few brief, cautious glances.] Bring me a drink. [Takasugi ushers their escort out with an order.]

Doesn't take long, I've heard. [Rather than make himself comfortable on the dilapidated pillows lining the floor, he leans against the wall, comfortably out of the more illuminated portion of the room.]

[Mai has no desire to sit either. Lounging around isn't really on her list of desires at the moment and it's much easier to keep an eye on everything if one is standing and alert.]

Let's hope not. This isn't the kind of place I'd want to hang around at.

[She was a rich girl after all. She grew up a world away from these kinds of places. Then again she also grew up a world away from working these sorts of jobs as well.

And he's right, it doesn't take them long. Before long there's a general lightening of the atmosphere in the room. Those present were tentative before, even cautious with each other. Now they seem more relaxed, the tension leaving their shoulders and bodies one by one.]

[He can't agree, the cracked walls and dusty lights all usher in a crowd Takasugi drifts among. Drunkards, angry at the world. Men, eager to prove themselves. Criminals, lurking in the shadows just as they are now.

All more pleasant to talk to than the more civilized crowds at bars that aren't hiding a drug ring in their back storage room.]

Seems like they're all feeling a little friendlier. [A smile grows on his face, though more likely because his drink has arrived. Takasugi takes it without a glance spared to the bartender.

After a sip, he departs his space on the wall to approach one of the smaller circles of loquacious patrons.] Yo. How's the batch?

[He's met with immediate, enthusiastic, praise. No hesitation, no suspicion. Only unbridled compliments, and a suggestion to try some himself.

Which he turns down with a raise of his drink.]

[After making connections at Shades Darker and the Gilded Cage, this sort of world is slowly becoming more familiar to Mai. Not that Shades Darker is an unsavory place or the Gilded Cage is either but it seems to be a natural consequence of dabbling your toes in the bare edges of a town's underworld. And to be honest, Mai isn't sure how much she likes the dabbling she's been doing. Sure, she's doing it of her own free will but it's chiefly with an eye toward advancement and securing additional safety for those still sleeping from her world.

This room is another example of the dabbling and Mai can't help but give a healthy, deep frown at everything going on. The bartender approaches her to ask if she wants a drink or even any of the batch itself and she waves a hand dismissively as she asks for something warm if they have it. There's a chill in the pit of her stomach as she remains near the wall like some sort of very grumpy look bodyguard.

The atmosphere in the room is lighter at least. Those gathered and partaking talk animatedly and Mai can't help but somewhat admire how easy Takasugi seems to be with them. Maybe she's a little too straightlaced to be too easy with these sorts of crowds.

When the bartender returns with her drink, she accepts it with barely a nod and then sighs some before she mutters into her drink:]

I wonder if they take this stuff to relax or they can't relax until they take it.

[Their conversation drifts, most of it passing over Takasugi in favor of well-mannered banter about a man's wife, a teen's cutting his job, and a woman's make up, the question eventually arises. Who is that woman on the wall, and why does she look so unhappy?

Is she too poor to afford her own snack?

Takasugi chuckles. He offers clarification; she's here with him, and she's wary to partake.

No comment made as to her affluence.

The man, balding and wearing only simple workman's attire, rises, and crosses the room, and Takasugi trails close behind. Though his new 'friend' is too addled to understand her, Takaasugi catches the gist of her question.] The later as a result of the former, I think.

[He slips to the side, between Mai and the friendly man, eyeing her drink briefly. The man takes the silence as an opportunity, and extends his hand, holding a piece of pastry. Seems he's certain his point's been made by the gesture; he doesn't speak. Or maybe he's just forgotten to.]

[At least Mai herself doesn't seem quite so spooked by the man's advancement. She sips her drink, eyeballing him as he closes up on her while she completely neglects to even glance at Takasugi. The drugged man is a bit more important at the second. The arm not employed in holding her drink lays curled around her waist as she leans against the wall behind her by her shoulders.

When he offers pastry rather than weaponry or even reaching for her, Mai gives him a tired look that could double for something like relief. She had heavily doubted anything like violence would happen, given how addled he seemed, but she wasn't all that keen on taking chances either.

She considers just waving the hand against her waist - once she had discreetly tucked away the knife she had just slipped out of course - but considered. He'd probably keep trying to pressure the pastry into her hand and she's not in the mood to argue with someone thoroughly out of their minds. So instead she plucks up the pastry between forefinger and thumb.]

Thanks.

[Boy does she sound thrilled to have a pastry! Is that enough to wave the man off? Because if it is, she's just going to hold the food out to Takasugi himself.]

Have fun with that.

[Mai's disinterest is one-sided. Takasugi watches her expression grow cautious and then tired, like the threads of nerves being slackened. He leans into the wall with one shoulder, eyes caught by movement near her waist.

She's not too trusting.

Pastry accepted, the man beams. He reaches out to pat her shoulder, an encouraging gesture and some garbled mix between 'you'll love it' and 'enjoy, my dear' bellowed before he stumbles back to his companions.

Takasugi anticipated her just dropping the treat to the floor, or more awkwardly, simply holding it until they leave.

When it's offered to him, he chuckles.] Too sweet for my taste.

[A hand held up, and he's turning to leave, his drink finished.

He's not one pace towards the door frame when a crash disrupts the amiable chatter, wood shattering and feet scrambling. Takasugi stops, turning to look over his shoulder at the disruption - an argument that's growing out of proportion, by the looks of it.

The small side-table crumpled on the ground, a young man stands heaving breaths, red in the face with a small glisten of drool on his lips. His target, an older man dressed more finely than anyone else, stares in shock.

Takasugi doesn't care to intervene.]

[... What a weird guy. Both of them. She cocks a brow at Takasugi, looks down at the pastry in her hand and sort of awkwardly looks around for a hand to shove it into. She's still peering around when the argument starts - she herself has just come out of the back room and so catches more of the finely dressed older man's back than anything.

The whole mess is right where she has to walk too to get to the front door. She's a little more used to bar room brawls by now, having worked in Shades Darker for a number of months. It never got that rowdy in there beyond a few guys who couldn't take a hint that not everyone was a worker but it was still a learning experience.

She continues advancing after the brief pause, tossing the pastry idly in her hand. Once she gets to where the pair is blocking traffic, she states with a bland expression:]

If the two of you are going to argue, do it outside. You're in my way.

[The older gentleman almost looks grateful for the interruption but boy the younger man doesn't. He swears a bit, still as incensed as before, and tells Mai to mind her own business. She gives him a tighter look in reply.]

I would if you weren't standing in my way.

Edited 2018-01-24 18:13 (UTC)

[Usually, Takasugi watches rowdy disagreements perched on a bar stool, well aside from the action. That this confrontation is in his way doesn't necessarily require much of a change in his habits. He's content to stand and watch, lingering near the archway between rooms.

Seems like he's going to be alone in his aloof approach.

A three-way fight?

He chuckles to himself, not unnoticed by the bartender, who had nearly interceded himself, stopping the moment he was spared his task.

The enraged man isn't swayed by a stern look - it only upsets him more. With a more pointed swear, he kicks a chair towards her. His 'attack' does more damage to his foot than the chair.

Mr. Well-To-Do manages to slip aside and out the door, parting with a sympathetic yet thankful to the heroine who spared him a rough encounter.

'Don't think you're going to get away with talking to me like that!', the disheveled youth wears a sheen of sweat, hair a quickly clumping mess. And on the table left unflipped, a box of pastries remains half-eaten.]

[Okay, so not everyone who eats those chills out. Or maybe this guy hadn't at all. Whichever it is, the chair isn't much a slight sidestep won't solve, given the kick.]

You may want to start running after your guy there.

[Apparently the well-to-do guy doesn't matter so much anymore now that this guy has a new object for his angry. His kick as bad enough and Mai decides he must be more than a little drunk as well. Was he stiffed for a job or something? The well-to-do guy isn't a totally innocent party she imagines but her aim isn't exactly to go around solving mysteries.

He finally goes to throw a punch and Mai ducks. It's not as if the punch would have done much good, the man far too inebriated for that. He's close though thanks to stumbling forward and Mai takes the time to pop back up and shove that pastry in her hand into his gaping, yelling mouth.

It makes for an appropriate moment of stunned silence. Mai herself looks more annoyed than upset or anything else.]

Edited 2018-01-27 16:52 (UTC)

[Whether the well-off man has gotten away with a con, or skirted the consequences of a conversation peppered with annoyances and nothing more, he's gone by now. Takasugi glances to the door, but there's nothing there but a dumbfounded customer, just entered to witness the brawl.

A few heads poke out behind Takasugi as well, familiar faces from the den in the back. They heard the crashing, though, they're either satisfied or bored, as they don't linger long.

Takasugi doubts they'll be here much longer, either. Mai has taken care of the raving idiot with efficiency. Maybe that bite will help him calm down.

The angry man stumbles back, trying to yell only to choke, his aggression impeded for the moment.] Ready to go? [Obstruction removed, Takasugi heads to the door.

Maybe it'd be a favor to the bartender to throw this guy out entirely, but Takasugi didn't come here to do a public service. He's seen what he wanted - watching the woman handle the situation with measured force.]

Yes. Definitely.

[And it seems Mai doesn't care enough either to help throw him out of anything. Instead she skirts around the choking man, rolling her shoulders as she blows out a breath once she exits out the front door.]

What a mess.

What part of it?

[Once they've exited, leaving the sputtering man behind to his incomprehensible cursing, Takasugi falls in step at Mai's side.

He'd given up the rest of his product at the bar, so there's nothing left but idle chatter keeping them together.

Which suits him well enough, for now.]

[Mai turns a deadpan look on the man.]

What do you mean 'what part'.

The bartender. The pathetic excuse for secrecy. The group of people yammering on and on.

[He reaches into his yukata to fetch his pipe, going about the process of lighting it - pausing his list only to place the mouthpiece between his lips.]

The man who didn't seem too happy about his snack.

[It was all a mess, to him.]

All of them. The whole thing.

[She says it like it's the most obvious thing in the world.]

Heh.

[A fair appraisal.]

Worth the money?

[For him it is, benefit reaped not only in silver but in information. About the darker economy of the city, and about the refugees he cohabits it with.]

... I guess. It was an easy enough job anyhow.

Easy enough to come back for more...

I'll see you around, then.

[In the Guilded Cage, or in the city streets. Though he's not likely to approach her in the later.

As for the former, Takasugi would work with the woman again.

His path splits from hers, a half-hearted wave all the goodbye he gives.]

Edited 2018-02-07 02:49 (UTC)

dec and jan catch all [closed]

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