evillurks | Sake owed

Current Location: Rettigue Apartment, Manhattan, NY

Entry tags:

Sake owed

The Rettigue apartment has sat empty for a few days, as The Shadow worked out of the Sanctum and another apartment across town, closer to the area he's been watching. With another drug ring at least temporarily stifled, he is ready to migrate back to this place that is the closest thing to a home he has.

He is also likely to arrive late to his own arranged meeting, leaving Ichi to jump at the opening of the door. The muted sounds beyond indicate a quiet hall rather than the outdoors, and the rattling cough that accompanies the entrance should reassure him to who is entering there.

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"Well, not bad, just tight." Ichi stops one hand and uses it to gently urge The Shadow to sit up. "Sit up, please." He speaks in a gentle, professional tone, one significantly different from his usual inflections. "Thank you." He resumes, pausing when The Shadow coughs, but continuing after the fits pass. "So they call you an Old Tiger, eh?"

The Shadow straightens with a grunt, forcing himself awake. "Hmh. She came up with it. In China, the oldest tigers are respected for their cunning... of course, realistically, those are the ones most likely to become manhunters..." That particular morbid truth is one that strikes a chord with his recent violent urges.

"Women have an interesting way with words..." He works with more vigor that should infuse a little more energy into The Shadow, now that he's managed to relax him a little bit. "This lady-agent sounds very clever." Being of a simpler mindset, Ichi usually tries to steer clear of such women in general. It might be a result of his culture, but he's not particularly fond of women who are always a step ahead of him.

"Hmh." This time there is a hint of amusement in the sound. "Clever, and masochistic enough to work for both myself and my alternate." There is much that he thinks of Myra, but this at least gives nothing of what he might feel away. Under the massage he stretches subtly, aiding the process of easing tension out of his muscles.

"Two Shadows?" For a brief moment, Ichi's hands stop at the thought, and then resume as he gives an amused chuckle. "One wasn't enough?" There's many ways that comment could be taken, and he knows it, but it's also meant as a compliment towards her in the same turn.

The massage gets a little more energetic as Ichi works to return The Shadow from the lethargic state he'd nearly brought him, into a more aware and ready one.

"He's more of an earlier version... Myra's from his world. The one that lived in mine is gone." He frowns, shivers, and rolls his shoulders carefully. "Most of my original agents are. It's a terrible thing to outlive the people you knew..." Ichi's work is making his back feel better, but his state of mind is still on the gloomy side.

Ichi's only thirty, and he's already familiar with the sentiment, even if many of the people he's cared about have met an untimely end. He's finishing the massage and once he's done, he lifts his hands from The Shadow's shoulders.

"They fought beside you." He gives a solemn nod as he reaches out to the coffee table, carefully finding the sake bottle and cups. He pours a small amount into each, hardly more than a swallow, and holds one out to The Shadow.

The Shadow gives another shiver and stretches, reveling in the unfamiliar absence of knots along his spine. "They did. That's how most of them died, and I'm sorry for it..." He half-turns, and raises an eyebrow, but one drink will hardly impact his cold. "Thank you..." Whether he's grateful for the sake, the massage, or both, is left to Ichi to decide. The contents of the small cup go down in a single warming swallow.

Ichi tosses his drink back, pursing his lips as he swallows. He sighs quietly, reflecting on his own losses, but refrains from mentioning them. The Shadow's mood is gloomy enough, Ichi's personal issues don't need to be addressed.

"Another? Or is it not a good time?" He wiggles the sake bottle carefully at The Shadow, it's contents sloshing gently inside.

"You're a bad influence." He coughs a few times, pressing the cup gently back into Ichi's hand so he can pull the sweater back on. "One more, but the sake was supposed to be for you."

The Shadow shifts on the couch to face front, and does not settle back into the cushions this time. "I'm not sure when I got this..." He waves a hand vaguely in the air. "It just seems like the world is falling apart, and I've outlived my place in it."

"I get that a lot." Ichi deadpans back and takes the cup, filling it. "I appreciate it, but sake is better with friends. I get grumpy when I drink alone." He presses the filled cup back towards The Shadow and then fills his own once its taken.

Ichi has the cup at his lips when he hears The Shadow's words, and pauses, tilting his ear toward The Shadow and giving a thoughtful lowering of his eyebrows.

"Men like us, I'm not sure we have a place." He takes a sip of the sake.

It was meant as a joke, but his tone is sometimes difficult to interpret. "I don't normally drink, at all. Not unless I'm playing a role in front of others, and then I have to keep my wits about me even if I don't seem to..."

He accepts the cup back and holds it up, savouring the heat through the fine china. "I carved out a place for myself, once, but times change."

"You're a very successful person then, Shadow-san. Even though things are changing." The smile he gives is somehow wry, yet encouraging. He just might be trying to hide the twinge of jealousy he feels at The Shadow's statement. He tosses back the remainder of his cup and refills it.

The Shadow watches him over his cup, taking a slow sip. "I'm good at what I do, yes. You asked me, I think, if it's made me happy..." He frowns into the sake thoughtfully.

"...if you'd found what you're looking for." Ichi stifles a cough, having downed the last cup a little fast.

"I don't look for much." He raises an eyebrow, and reaches over to give Ichi a solid thump on the shoulder in an attempt to be helpful. "It's better if you don't inhale it."

The whack helps, and Ichi clears his throat, his ears red from choking, and embarrassment.

"Thank you." He croaks, taking a conservative sip and setting the bottle down. "Sorry." He clears his throat again, his voice clearing. "Well, you've heard my thoughts about what I'm looking for."

While he waits for Ichi to recover, The Shadow drains his sake cup and sets it aside. "I have, and I wish you luck..." Now that his hands are free, he falls to toying with the ring on his left hand. "If I allowed myself to recruit Nexus agents, I would have recruited you already, you know. You should be grateful I don't... that would be a hindrance to what you really want."

Ichi laughs dryly and shakes his head, before sipping down some more sake.

"Perhaps you should have. The odds of finding a good wife without buying some poor girl's contract are about as slim as they can get for me." That's not to say he's given up, but he is beginning to see the futility of his dream.

There's a thoughtful pause, with only the very soft sounds of his absent fidgeting. "You'd have to be trained to fit in with my world, here. I imagine the modern sounds would take some getting used to, but I could certainly see good uses for you. Of course then you might find some pretty young thing here or through the Nexus..." He gives a rattling sigh. Having seen a glimpse of some of the odd, but happy relationships other people form through the Nexus, he thinks better of Ichi's chances than Ichi does.

"Hmm." The sound is bass-like as he muses, scratching his head. "Perhaps...we give it some time before we consider that road. But that doesn't mean I'm not available." He smiles, giving a chuckle. "If I can't find a lady, Shadow-san, then I'll come work for you, full time. Hell of a lot better chance to make things right, knowing I got a boss like you, instead of guessing if I'm on the right side of things."

"Of course, then you'd have my enemies to deal with." There's a trace of a smirk, there. "Just consider it an option. Mm... perhaps in the meantime I could start training you to a new trick?" For all Ichi's flaws, The Shadow can see where he could become a highly useful agent, if he can just be taught to fit into modern society. A change of clothes would be in order, of course, as would a crash course in English.

"Heh, if you want to teach me something new, Shadow-san, I'm happy to learn." He tosses back the last of his cup of sake and sets the bottle down. The Shadow's spirits seem to be improving slightly, and Ichi likes to see he's doing some good.

Instead of answering directly, The Shadow shifts on the couch and rummages in a pocket. There is the soft thud of his wallet being tossed lightly onto the coffee table, and a jingling of change. Pulling out a handful of coins, he sorts them in his palm, and drops the majority back into his pocket. One coin, smaller than the sort Ichi is used to, is pressed lightly into his hand. "This one's a penny, worth one cent." The next is larger and thicker, the difference easily noticeable. "This is a nickel, worth five..." He's extracted one coin of each denomination, knowing Ichi can easily learn the distinct feel and sounds of them, and later tell the monetary amount of a dropped handful of change. It strikes him as a useful skill, and one he's never quite mastered himself.

Ichi's eyebrows raise high on his forehead as he lowers his ear towards the coins, the names of them completely alien to him. Once all of them are in his hand, he cups his fingers lightly, and gives them a jingle. For now, he'll settle with naming them by their value in his native tongue.

"One, five, ten and twenty-five." He explores the coins with both hands, noting the distinguished ridges, and the faint relief of the faces. "The one and the ten, are close in size." His brows knit together as he holds the loose fist up to his ear and gives it a good rattle. "They don't sound like gold, these are smaller coins, like the mon. Right?"

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