Let's try that again...
Oct. 12th, 2009 03:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Now that he's growing accustomed to having her as a true agent again, Myra's recovery in her own world puts The Shadow slightly short-handed. He finds his own wheezing a severe liability whenever stealth is needed, forcing him to rely on other agents for quiet investigations. The alternate solution, and one he struggles to uphold, is to be supremely diligent in taking care of himself except when he truly needs to take to the streets firsthand. The restriction grates on his nerves, and coordinating agents to do some of the footwork takes up more time.
He is careful, following the unexpected incident in ancient Japan, and he is also busy. The drug market has gone fairly quiet, but there is a definite gradual increase in violent crime. Arresting the individuals involved seems to have no impact on this slow crescendo. The network is spread wide and thin, scratching the ground for clues. After a matter of days, The Shadow has done all he can do about the matter. Once again he must wait, sift the city through his agents, and hope some vital puzzle piece comes to light. On this break from work he recalls a social obligation. A morning outing has him arriving at the Rettigue apartment with sake and scotch. The place has been abandoned the past few days, but that means there's no paperwork to tidy. The grand spaces and spartan furnishings should make it a comfortable place for a blind man to visit.
When the sake is warm and the cups set out, he sends off an invitation, and then laughs quietly at his own unfamiliar attempt at hospitality.
He is careful, following the unexpected incident in ancient Japan, and he is also busy. The drug market has gone fairly quiet, but there is a definite gradual increase in violent crime. Arresting the individuals involved seems to have no impact on this slow crescendo. The network is spread wide and thin, scratching the ground for clues. After a matter of days, The Shadow has done all he can do about the matter. Once again he must wait, sift the city through his agents, and hope some vital puzzle piece comes to light. On this break from work he recalls a social obligation. A morning outing has him arriving at the Rettigue apartment with sake and scotch. The place has been abandoned the past few days, but that means there's no paperwork to tidy. The grand spaces and spartan furnishings should make it a comfortable place for a blind man to visit.
When the sake is warm and the cups set out, he sends off an invitation, and then laughs quietly at his own unfamiliar attempt at hospitality.
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Date: 2009-10-12 09:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-13 01:11 am (UTC)"I'll keep that in mind." Ichi's distrustful of physicians, mostly because they expect him to tolerate their poking and smelly remedies. He sips the sake, uttering a low sound of approval and thoroughly impressed with the quality. "Wow, this is good." He chuckles. "Not that I'm surprised you have good tastes, Shadow."
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Date: 2009-10-13 01:20 am (UTC)"I have expensive tastes. I spent a long time impersonating a very wealthy man, and it ruined me." He smiles faintly, but ruefully, the expression coming through the words. "He always preferred bourbon, though." The past tense is not for Lamont Cranston's current state of being, although he has no illusions about his former agent's failing health. The past tense is because due to health complications, Cranston was restricted from drinking quite a few years ago.
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Date: 2009-10-13 01:31 am (UTC)"Not necessarily a bad thing to enjoy the finer things. Just an occasional inconvenience." Technically, Ichi lives well outside his means, but his gambling tricks help fund those habits...
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Date: 2009-10-13 01:41 am (UTC)"I prefer scotch, and that's no better, but I bought some so you could try it." He sips his sake, and glances around his own apartment. Spartan though the place may be, it is by far the most expensive of his apartments, and that he keeps several for the purpose of his various aliases says much about the wealth he's made playing with investments.
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Date: 2009-10-13 01:57 am (UTC)At this point, Ichi's senses have adjusted to the new location and finds himself rather intrigued with the plush flooring beneath him. The room has a unique smell, but he can identify the scent of teas and The Shadow's own unique signature, a type of scent that works itself into any place that is lived in for a while.
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Date: 2009-10-13 02:04 am (UTC)There is an oriental rug beneath him, and hardwood floor beneath that, but the rug itself is so large that he has yet to feel the bare floor yet. The large space echoes from hard surfaces and high ceilings.
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Date: 2009-10-13 02:13 am (UTC)"Heh, Shadow-san. I thought you might be amused at this: I ran into a couple thugs a few days ago. They asked me what I was doing working with a ninja. Seems you really put quite a scare into 'em."
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Date: 2009-10-13 02:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-13 02:34 am (UTC)"No one questions a man in black at night. Even yakuza try to keep away from the ninja if they can." Absently, Ichi scratches at the spot where his bandage is. He winces briefly, but ignores the apparent moment of pain and rubs at it instead. "If they even think they see one, they usually try to run."
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Date: 2009-10-13 02:39 am (UTC)"I could give you a tube of- some salve, to keep that from getting infected." An education into antibiotics and the mechanics of such things on a microbial level can wait for another day.
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Date: 2009-10-13 02:54 am (UTC)"The doc put something on it. Stank and stung, but cleaned it up." He set his hand on the bandaged wound now, trying to will away the itch. "I'm just not a very good patient, so I keep irritating it."
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Date: 2009-10-13 03:01 am (UTC)"It's a physician conspiracy that if it smells, hurts, or tastes terrible we'll be all the more convinced it works. Doctors are a necessary evil, but don't tell mine I said so." He is thinking of nurse Branigan, who would probably simply roll her eyes. "I suppose I'm not a very good patient, either. If you ever do go to the nexus Clinics, don't tell them I'm the one who recommended you there."
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Date: 2009-10-13 03:22 am (UTC)"You know, your timing is impeccable." He works at the uninjured arm first. "Not only was I alone on the road, I just cleaned up earlier today."
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Date: 2009-10-13 03:28 am (UTC)"It's luck. I've always been blessed with extraordinary luck..." Settling back on the couch and feeling more Cranston-like than he has in a long time, The Shadow swirls the remaining scotch in his glass and watches the arm wrappings come off.
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Date: 2009-10-13 03:38 am (UTC)"That luck was very helpful last time we met up." The clothing is set to the side neatly, next to his sandals. Ichi settles back into a crossed-leg position and picks up the cup again. "I don't think I properly thanked you before you disappeared."
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Date: 2009-10-13 03:49 am (UTC)"It comes in handy. I have luck to thank for my still being here. There's been more than one deathtrap I escaped only by sheer chance." His casual tone hints at just how many deathtraps he's been in. "Your gratitude was apparent." A trace of amusement enters his voice. "I'm just sorry my luck didn't extend to helping you dodge them altogether."
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Date: 2009-10-13 04:00 am (UTC)"I got out alive in the end." Ichi frowned and took a larger sip of the scotch. He was getting used to the burn. "That's enough for me." Better than he could say for the men they cut down. "But I still owe you."
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Date: 2009-10-13 04:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-13 04:14 am (UTC)Ichi's very clearly flustered at this riddle he's been posed. Between talking to The Shadow, and now spending time in his rich living area, he knows money isn't the answer, and it's not like he can help solve any of the man's problems. He'd become one if he tried. Ichi had never had this happen before.
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Date: 2009-10-13 04:25 am (UTC)"I don't like debts. I could have walked away from the fight." PINpointed away, at any rate, but he assumes he will not be called on this technicality. "If you had asked me to stay and fight, I might feel obligated, but you did not. When I saw a fight coming, I threw myself into it not just for your sake. However morally maladjusted it may be, I like to fight. I chose to take part, knowing you were probably capable of defending yourself, because the rush of battle called to me." His voice drops slightly, in both tone and volume, but it gains a bitter edge. "What I fight these days isn't so black and white anymore. It was almost a relief to know who was in the wrong and strike a killing blow without doubt and regrets."
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Date: 2009-10-13 04:39 am (UTC)"If it truly meant that much to you..." His hands explore the texture of the tumbler as he speaks. "Then I guess I don't have much choice but to consider it paid." He doesn't sound particularly happy about it, but he can think of no alternative.
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Date: 2009-10-13 04:45 am (UTC)"It would mean a great deal to me not to have you feel beholden." While he has not lied, his speech was deliberately intended to turn the situation to an angle where Ichi will not feel there's a debt to be paid. From the swordsman's expression he knows he was not entirely successful in that.
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Date: 2009-10-13 04:56 am (UTC)"Thank you." The words are quiet as he gives a bow from where he sits. His head gets close to the table top, but never touches it as he sits upright again. He's not entirely certain what to say now, all other chatter that he usually resorts to seems a bit secondary after essentially being absolved of the debt.
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Date: 2009-10-13 05:01 am (UTC)"You're in my world now, and at a disadvantage. For me, your world is in the past, and knowledge of history gives me a footing there. Here, we're half the world away and centuries into the future. You must have questions...?" Being a man of insatiable curiosity, he tends to expect that trait in others.
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