dec and jan catch all [closed]

[shikomizue]

Who: Takasugi Shinsuke (shikomizue) & various
What: Catch-all for December / January
When: Throughout December / January
Where: Thesa, will edit as necessary
Warning(s): Alcohol use, Drug use, probably some PTSD/vivid war flashbacks, graphic violence

[Individual starters in the comments!]

Comments

[shikomizue]

[Blood spills from Cain's shoulder, the most severe concern for a wound like that. Takasugi casts a glance to the injury; the white of the thin, yellowing linen spread between weapons reminds him of bandages.

He's not in the habit of patching up the holes he carves.]

I'm here to complete the delivery.

Though to a different buyer. [Honesty, even if its vague, twists Takasugi's lips into a sneer.]

What about you? [Moving on to the next crate, Takasugi cracks its lid off with one pry of the knife. He bunches fabric in his hands, protecting his fingers from sharpened blades as he moves several from one container to the other.

Lightening Cain's load - he won't nurse the wound, but he'll bear the burdens he's wrought for himself.]

[baguablade]

[ Cain hesitates, considering his words. He watches Takasugi pry off the lid of a crate, watches the glint of moonlight off the sharp, shining blades as Takasugi sorts them. Should he tell Takasugi why he was here? That he was given a task for Cree, and came to see if he could warn the merchants instead, subtly divert them from Cree's intended theft?

Fat lot of good that's done when someone (Takasugi?) has found them first. When they've lost their lives to the city's machinations, and Cain, hoping for information, for a chance to dip his fingers into the city's pulsing lifeblood to present exactly this sort of thing, has only enabled it.

But if he doesn't complete this task, everything's been for nought. He can't save these men anymore, and he doesn't trust Takasugi. The best choice, as sickening as it is, is to play along, pretend he's truly one of Cree's dogs, seeking payment for his own self-satisfaction rather than any nobler cause.

(A nobler cause. Ha. As if he can make any such claim when he has men's blood staining his boots.)

Finally, Cain grimaces, taking a step to put himself at Takasugi's side. A version of the truth, but not the whole truth. No, Takasugi can't be trusted with the entirety of Cain's purpose. ]

The same as you. Though I intended to complete the transaction [ his lips twist as he glares at the weapons; so much death, just for greed, and he couldn't do anything to stop it ] with less bloodshed.

[shikomizue]

[People in the trade of making weapons shouldn't bemoan their use, even if it brings about their end. What lay in those crates are tools of murder, beautiful sometimes in craft, but still meant for killing nonetheless.

These men may not have intended to die here, tonight, but they've given the means for the slaughter of so many others. Each blade could take countless lives.

No one is innocent.

Takasugi spares Cain his logic - not for his throbbing jaw, nor to spare his companion another slice taken.

The night is moving on without them, and they'll need the cover of darkness to slip into the city.]

Aa.

We'll have to split the profit, then. [Almost disappointed, if he sounded at all genuine. He considers dividing their payout in the proportion of weapons, more for him than for Cain.

But this has never been about money.

And he doubts Cain has his sights on silver, either.]

Take this one, and follow me. [Takasugi drags his hand across the edge of the crate he'd been lightening, peeling his fingers from it to toss the lid back on top. He lifts the other, a swath of linen placed over the top to obscure the contents in lieu of the shattered cover.

He drops the blade in the mud. The crate is lifted without duress, but it's certainly a job that requires two hands, and careful footing in the muck and blood; he traverses the corpses with more regard than he'd paid for their lives.]

[baguablade]

[ No, this has never been about money. Not since the moment they met, not since they started trading favors — since Cain started owing Takasugi, and thought, briefly, that for all Takasugi's acrid personality, he might be someone Cain would be glad to have at his back. As he hefts the crate, gritting his teeth against the pull of his shoulder, Cain wants to laugh. What foolish hopes. Takasugi is the last person he wants behind him, ready to put another dagger right between his shoulders.

Cain lags, purposefully keeping Takasugi in front of him, making no attempt to disguise what he's doing. ]

You can keep it all. [ The words spit out through his pain and the low burn of bitter anger. ] I don't want pay that came at the cost of someone else's life.

[ He's sure Takasugi will call him stupidly naive. Cain knows himself that it's not the right choice, that the deed is done, that he shouldn't turn his nose up now. But without someone else pushing him past that, he's not going to take the silver for the job, not when it's stained with blood. ]

[shikomizue]

[Leading suits Takasugi well enough; he's already scouted a route that weaves through the outskirts of the roadside forest up to a lesser fortified entrance to the city. The ground is as treacherous as the mud they leave behind, the first challenge a ditch that slopes sharply into trees and brush.

He doesn't look behind him to see how Cain fared with the endeavor.

Once in the bramble, making noise is unavoidable, but with dusk about to break - and with Cain's uneven gait - they'd sound more like scattered animals than anything else.

Apt.]

Mmn. [He could keep it all, but he won't.

Even when he'd cast his bet, back among the din of the fight club, money had been the furthest from both of their minds.]

I don't plan on using one of my favors here. If you don't want your cut, throw it in some beggar's hand.

They won't care where it came from. [Rebuttal given in hushed pitch, he bends at the knee to pass under a felled tree.]