Drinking to memory

[evillurks]

It is nearly a week after The Shadow's sobering visit to the Nexus before he invites Ichi for a drink. The coordinates he attaches are the same he has sent before, whether Ichi has a way to tell that or not. He will land in the living room of the Rettigue apartment, which may be slightly familiar by scent and the sense of a grand space. The furniture is rarely moved, and the smell of coffee seems to linger any time of day or night. Knowing Ichi's own schedule is little dictated by time of day, he's invited him for a very early morning drinking session. When the earliest of risers wake to greet the dawn is roughly when The Shadow's workday ends. He is still in his work suit, smelling faintly of the streets, the late paperwork is stacked now, and whatever is left in the pile can wait for the afternoon. He does not bother to get up as his guest arrives.

Comments

[blind-masseur.livejournal.com]

Ichi is cleaned and dressed in his more modern garb. He's becoming adjusted to the ways of The Shadow's world, and makes it a point to try and practice what he's been taught.

Arriving, Ichi is smiling warmly as he takes a moment to orient himself by smell and what little sound he has to go off of. He sets his cane down with a gentle tap that helps him sound out the familiar room.

"Shadow." He speaks in English, his tone is polite and respectful. With the company, it's almost more of an inquiry as to the man's location in the room. He is so damnably difficult to find, Ichi would rather just let the man reveal his own position in the room at this point.

[evillurks.livejournal.com]

He uncrosses stretched-out legs and shifts to better sit up, and the rustle of cloth and stirring of street scents reveals his position before his voice does. "You didn't have to wear that, it's only me." He sounds a little tired, and the smells of pavement and car exhaust reveal he's come recently from his work, but his tone is lighter than it was when they spoke last. He's satisfied with a night's work, and that puts him in a fairly good mood.

[blind-masseur.livejournal.com]

"When I come, I try to practice." There's still the slightly stilted sound of a new English speaker to his words, but time talking to Chaz has certainly improved his rhythm. "Won't get better if I don't." The smells easily reach his nose, particularly now that The Shadow has stirred. "Busy night?" Mostly oblivious to the passing of day and night, he's made it a point to know what time of day it is regardless.

[evillurks.livejournal.com]

"You're doing well. Maybe we should start teaching you braille now." He notes the mild accent and the pacing of his speech. Ichi has come a long way very quickly, but of course he expected that.

"No busier than usual. It's done now." He pulls himself to the edge of the sofa, and then up with a quiet wheeze. A night stalking and fighting on the streets can make anyone feel old. "I have a few things from Cranston's personal stock. I don't think he'd mind." The death has bothered him in a way no others ever have, but he is a firm believer in moving on. There is only a touch of sorrow in his tone.

[blind-masseur.livejournal.com]

"Braille. I know some, but not English." Ichi's ear turns as he follows the subtle sounds of The Shadow, but he doesn't point it directly at him.

"If you're okay with it." Ichi's of the belief dead men don't much mind what you do with their alcohol, so long as it doesn't go to waste.

[evillurks.livejournal.com]

"I impersonated him off and on for decades. It's hardly the first time I've been into his liquor cabinet." His voice makes him easy to track across the room, and through the kitchen doorway.A few bottles and glasses clink as he gathers them up into a single armful, and returns to the living room with it all. It's slightly awkward setting things down on the table, but he manages it without accident. "Brandy was his favourite."

[blind-masseur.livejournal.com]

"You were drinking Brandy last time?" Since The Shadow had never formally introduced Ichi to Brandy, and he had tasted something new when they were talking about this man The Shadow had pretended to be, it seemed a logical conclusion.

He waits for The Shadow to finish setting down the items before giving a nearby seat a gentle tap with the end of his cane, reaffirming it's location, but he doesn't sit yet.

"Mm, Cranston, right?"

[evillurks.livejournal.com]

"Lamont Cranston, yes." Once the bottles and glasses are set out, he sinks back onto the couch and loosens his necktie. The cloak and hat were abandoned over one arm of the sofa when he came in an hour so ago, but he went straight to paperwork after that.

"It was brandy, and I didn't finish the bottle, if you wanted more of that."

[blind-masseur.livejournal.com]

"You choose. It was just new to me." He shrugs, settling into the chair as he hears The Shadow sit.

"You have others..." He pauses, uncertain of the English and defaulting to Japanese. "Agents?" He makes a musing sound, returning to English. "Do they know each other. Like Chaz and me?"

[evillurks.livejournal.com]

"Might as well finish it..." He pulls the glasses over, and the two-thirds-empty bottle. He may not have finished it, but he made quite a dent that day. The liquid sloshes quietly into the glasses, as he tries to make sure they're even.

"Agents. I have..." It is a brief pause, while his weary mind makes rapid calculations. "More part-time agents than full time. Walters, for instance, is still in school and therefore part-time. It's more useful to have agents with another day job, and all the social connections that come with it. In the city of New York, I have slightly under one-hundred." He nudges one glass toward Ichi gently, across the table. "One agent might know a few others. Only my contact agent, Burbank, knows them all. Mmm," He frowns. "Burbanks, plural." With a wheezing sigh he takes a small gulp of the brandy and falls silent, savoring the slow heat down his throat.

[blind-masseur.livejournal.com]

Ichi leans the cane off to the side, and reaches out, plucking the glass from the table. He takes an inspecting sniff of the drink, simply to get a better idea of what he's drinking. Last time, he'd been polite and hadn't sampled it. He takes a small drink.

"One-hundred agents." He rubs the back of his head. "You could run a town."

[evillurks.livejournal.com]

"New York is a big city, and crime here moves fast. I have to have a lot of eyes and ears on the street just to keep up. More than half of my agents are... young, and in it partly for the thrills. I keep them largely in the dark because I can't be certain of their loyalty. It used to be different, when I had fewer..." He swirls the brandy in the glass gently. "It's supposed to breathe a little. These aren't really the right glasses for it, but I don't keep that kind on hand." The brandy sifter he used before has already been washed and returned to the proper cabinet in the Cranston Mansion.

[blind-masseur.livejournal.com]

He gives the glass a small swirl himself, and shrugs.

"I wouldn't know what glass is right." Ichi holds the glass to the side, as he tilts his head slightly. "They sound like Yakuza. Looking for fun in bad places. It's good they have you."

[evillurks.livejournal.com]

The Shadow settles back in his seat, slouching. "I'm aware it's a very thin line that separates them from the people they gather information on. That's what makes them fit in so well with the drug crowd, but it's also a terrible liability. In the past decade or so I've gotten used to losing most of the younger agents after just a few years. They move on. They quit." There is a certain amount of annoyance and disapproval in that word. He hasn't truly gotten used to it, merely grown resigned to the fact.

[blind-masseur.livejournal.com]

While he is not opposed to being kept in one's station, Ichi sees little wrong with the freedom to move on when it's time. He tilts his head, uncertain how to reply.

"Do they make trouble after? Or do good things?"

[evillurks.livejournal.com]

The Shadow values loyalty, and there was a time when every agent was willing to throw in their lives for him. While he was very careful not to take advantage of that, it's difficult to adjust to such a drastic change. His younger agents see the work as a form of entertainment, instead of a moral cause.

"Some of both. Some simply... go on. I've reached a point where it's hard to keep tabs on them after, and that's dangerous for me and the rest of my agents. I can't have people who don't work for me out there with information that could be used against us, so it calls for frequent changes in codes and phone numbers... That's why I don't let the younger agents know who any of the more permanent ones are."

((Going to try sleep again!))

[blind-masseur.livejournal.com]

And now he understands why it's such an issue for The Shadow, his face darkening as he starts to get an idea of the difficulties it presents to him.

"The idea, loyalty, they see it different than us." Even Ichi, as much as he has put his Yakuza ways behind, still has a sense of loyalty to them that gets in the way of his permanent departure from their ways. He was raised in the Yakuza, and it became his family. "It's not right. How do they trust each other?"

[evillurks.livejournal.com]

"...They don't." He frowns across his brandy, making a conscious effort not to let himself drop into a dark mood. "The modern world... at least in this country, has gradually changed in ways that teach people not to trust. The government conceals things it shouldn't, people grow distant and detached from each other... and having an emotional distance from people makes violence so, so much easier." He scowls, then, and takes a swallow of brandy. "I should know." The Shadow makes an effort to curb his own impulses and redirect them, but he is aware of what a very dark world it would be if his own mode of thinking were not a rarity.

[blind-masseur.livejournal.com]

He grows somber, holding the glass in both hands as he gently shakes his head.

"A dark place, here." He frowns, before lifting his glass toward The Shadow. "But they have a man in black working to fix it; one who knows the dark in people." He points a finger at The Shadow, even as he holds his glass. "You are better man, Shadow."

"A man once tried to impersonate me." He drops back to Japanese, to make his story easier to tell. "There are, very few people who would get away with something like that. I think, Cranston saw a chance to do good by helping you."

[evillurks.livejournal.com]

"Mmm... The Shadow knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men." He murmurs cryptically, a wry, humourless smile twisting his lips.

Then he gives a whispery, chilling chuckle. "He did, yes, but I first began impersonating him without his knowledge. We shared a similar physiognomy and he had the social connections I needed, such as a casual friendship with the Police Commissioner. I take it your impersonator didn't have as harmless an excuse?" The Shadow's easy dismissal of his own actions hints at a certain attitude of being above the law, but he has his own strict standards of morality.

[blind-masseur.livejournal.com]

Ichi gives a small, almost nervous smile at that chilling laugh.

"Still, he worked with you after. And it seems from what you've said, you both gained something good from it." He shook his head with a more relaxed smile, sipping at his glass.

"He was tricked into it. Someone he thought was a friend passed him off as Zatoichi. We knew each other, back when we were both learning to live as blind men. He didn't know he was impersonating me, specifically. He's lucky I came when I did, the boss he was leeching from nearly took his head when his lady-friend betrayed them both."

[evillurks.livejournal.com]

"He did, although he never took the work as seriously." Few people take the work as seriously as The Shadow does, so that's not much of a criticism.

"Not so much disguise, then, and at least it wasn't malicious on his part." He makes a mental note of just how widespread Ichi's reputation seems to be.

There is a quiet swirl of brandy, a swallow, and a thoughtful pause. "I've impersonated many men, and I always have half a dozen aliases handy, but... he was the only agent I've ever impersonated. We had... a rapport, I suppose..." He hesitates, very much with the air of one who is struggling to choose his words. "I never thought of him as a friend simply because by the time I met him, I knew my chosen career might not permit me any."

[blind-masseur.livejournal.com]

"Friends can be made in strange ways, when you least expect it." One of Ichi's closest friends had been made by being on opposite sides of a gang war.

[evillurks.livejournal.com]

The intense blue eyes regard Ichi thoughtfully over the brandy glass. "I stopped looking for friends a very long time ago. But... I feel the fool if I've made some and not realized. Perhaps I'm not the genius I thought I was." He smirks faintly at that, as he still has confidence in his intellect outside personal relationships.

[blind-masseur.livejournal.com]

"Every smart man I've met, has missed something, or learned something new. We're only human. God is the only one who sees all, as much as we try to do the same." Ichi smiles broadly as he speaks. "You shouldn't feel foolish, Shadow. Any friends you've made, they know you and don't expect you to be anything less than the man that you are. They wouldn't be your friend otherwise."

[evillurks.livejournal.com]

"Hmm. You forgot to add 'san' that time." He takes a swallow of brandy, nearly finishing the glass, and feeling the warmth of it now. Despite the scolding Ichi will hear in his tone that he's smiling.

[blind-masseur.livejournal.com]

Ichi chuckles, ducking his head as he plays along, and also sincerely means the apology.

"I didn't know we were having a formal conversation, Boss."

[evillurks.livejournal.com]

"We weren't, but I'm not sure I've ever heard you drop it before." He is sobering slightly, hoping the lack of formality is itself a sign of friendship.

What do you want after the brandy? I bought some good sake, in case, and there's scotch." Three bottles seemed plenty, even if the brandy was mostly finished. The Shadow's tolerance is high, but he also is unwilling to dull his wits too far, in case any emergency of work should arise. He is never truly off duty, even when perhaps he should be.

[blind-masseur.livejournal.com]

"Mm, perhaps the sake could be next." He tosses a swallow of the brandy, feeling it burn warmly all the way down. He smiles at the feeling, sighing. "Your friend had good tastes."

[evillurks.livejournal.com]

"Very. If you could just visit the mansion he left behind... full of fine furniture and books and paintings... hunting trophies. I was glad when he took the animal heads down." He savours the last of the brandy thoughtfully, before leaning forward again for the sake bottle. "I played at being him, and it spoiled me, but I could never quite get used to being surrounded by so many... so much." Ichi's sense of reflected sound and his few visits have probably clued him in that this apartment is large, but has very little in it. The hard walls and floor make slight echoes, since there is only one rug and a few pieces of furniture to absorb the sound.

[blind-masseur.livejournal.com]

"I don't get having a lot of things. Too many worries for tripping." He gives a smile, his feet mimicking the motion of getting tangled in something. "I've always preferred to eat my money, I really can't appreciate nice things like trophies and paintings, but I love music. I'd buy flutes and shamisens by the dozen if I were a rich man. I could live in rags with that much money, and I wouldn't care."

[evillurks.livejournal.com]

"This is a highly consumerist culture, but I don't like having many things either. I try to be ready to drop anything and leave at any given moment." There have been a few times he has had to do just that, but even the first time he was already prepared. Ichi will have certainly noticed the spartan state of his apartment before, not only from a lack of obstacles but from the way sound echoes faintly in the large empty space and off bare, hard walls.

"Mmm... music is different here, too, you know. Although I shudder to think what kind of rot Walters has exposed you to." Already forward in his seat, he pours the sake, but then stands and crosses over to the sleek stereo system to peer at his meager collection of cassette tapes.

[blind-masseur.livejournal.com]

At that, Ichi just laughs heartily.

"She brought a tape once. There was so much screaming, I didn't know what they said." Ichi reaches out, picking up the sake and smelling the pleasant aroma.

[evillurks.livejournal.com]

The Shadow allows himself a slim smile. "It's what all the younger agents seem to listen to, and what they play in the clubs. You'd better avoid it if you want to keep your sharp hearing." There are the quiet shuffling sounds and a few clicks as he selects one of his older records, instead. Despite his comment about not getting attached to material possessions, he has a few things around that could sell as antiques now, although they were new when he bought them. There is a strange soft sound of the needles on the surface of the record, then an unfamiliar music drifts from speakers at either corner of the bookcase. The instruments and style are unfamiliar to Ichi, but it's much softer and slower, and then a woman's voice joins in melodically.

With a very quiet sigh the old man returns to his seat on the coach and settles in with his sake. It's not often he has the time to listen to old jazz albums.

[blind-masseur.livejournal.com]

He perks to the soft sounds of the jazz, eyebrows raising up his forehead. He holds his sake in hand, but seems to be completely ignoring it in favor of the music.

"The scale is different..." He tilts his head, taking in the music. "But it's nice. What's this called?"

[evillurks.livejournal.com]

"It is, the Western world follows a very different system for music. This is jazz, Ella Fitzgerald. There's not as much of a following these days, but I'm an old man so I'm allowed to have old-fashioned tastes." There is the trace of a smile in his voice, as if the music and drink have let him relax from his usual brusque and businesslike manner.

"I have some music from China, but none from Japan..." He sips the sake thoughtfully, legs stretched out comfortably.

[blind-masseur.livejournal.com]

"I haven't heard Chinese music either." He shrugs, listening a bit more to the jazz before taking a sip from the sake. "Do you know what music Cranston liked?"

[evillurks.livejournal.com]

"You'd find it much more familiar, stylistically." He makes no move to change the record, however, letting the woman's voice wash over him. "...He liked swing, but I don't think he listened to it much outside the dance halls. He listened to classical concerts and opera..." The Shadow frowns faintly. There was a time he made it a habit to know every small idiosyncrasy of Lamont Cranston's habits, but music fell fairly low on the list. "He was a very wealthy man, with important connections, and he had a certain level of social status to keep up. He listened to the music that went with that, but if he ever found something he liked in his retirement years I wouldn't know. We fell out of touch. For a long time."

[blind-masseur.livejournal.com]

"It's hard to keep in touch with people over time. Especially when you're so busy." He sips at he sake again, then pauses, taking a moment to hum with the unfamiliar song. Impressively, he keeps in tune, even though he's unfamiliar with the kind of music. His note changes are delayed, of course, but he has an impressive sense of pitch. "Ella Fitzgerald." He sounds out the name with a smile.

[evillurks.livejournal.com]

"Hmm. That's a wonderful excuse. I didn't know what to say to him, once work was no longer a shared interest." He is frowning faintly at himself, and it is possible something of his mood creeps into his tone. Perhaps the reason he was previously so unaware that he had friends is in part because he is not a good one himself. Only now is he truly realizing that, and he feels some guilt and self-reproach for it.

"I have plenty of music you could borrow, if you want to hear more of it. I have casette tapes..." Teaching him the record player and moving it to his apartment is more than he feels like bothering with, for now. Some of those albums are antiques, now.

[blind-masseur.livejournal.com]

"Ah, thank you, but I believe..." He pauses a moment, obviously trying to think of the word. "A radio?" He's uncertain if he's even right with the English term, and his eyebrows lower in severe concentration. "Chaz told me I should get one. She said it has music too, like her tape. I don't know what she meant by stations, but she said New York had many."

[evillurks.livejournal.com]

"I'll get you a radio. It works by picking up signals out of the air, that carry music. Those signals are broadcast by radio stations, with big antennas..." He pauses there to study Ichi's expression, trying to gauge how much of this he's getting, or if he's merely confusing him further. He finishes off his glass of sake as if to fortify himself for whatever explanations are to come.

[blind-masseur.livejournal.com]

Ichi responds to what he would consider techno-babble, with raised eyebrows and his version of a confused expression. Realizing just how far things seem to have gone over his head, he gives a nervous chuckle and ducks his head. He's been doing rather well, being able to just accept things at face value, but even how the record player works is beyond him. He looks almost embarrassed to reply.

"I can hardly understand how the tape player works, all those tiny parts..." Someone might have been carefully poking his fingers somewhere he probably shouldn't have, but sometimes his curiosity gets the better of him. He was careful at least, and it still works fine. He didn't touch the tape at least. "Radios, stations, antennas." Another nervous laugh. "Speak Greek. I might do better." Apparently Chaz has also been teaching him some other phrases as well, even if Ichi has no idea what Greek is.

[evillurks.livejournal.com]

The Shadow gives a sigh, but his expression is mildly amused. "Nevermind, we'll have to start with the basics of electricity, sometime. I'll still get you a radio, just don't take it apart." That Ichi has been prodding at the works of his tape player is news, but The Shadow can hardly fault him for it, since it's precisely what he would have done himself.

He leans forward to refill his glass. "What else has Walters left you confused about?"

[blind-masseur.livejournal.com]

"Don't worry, I won't." He raises his head, tossing back the remains of his glass and sighs happily.

"Mmm, she mentions a subway often, and something about...ripping?" He thinks about the term for a moment before correcting himself. "Shredding, that's what she called it, which I think is not what it sounds like." Sometimes, things get lost in translation.

[evillurks.livejournal.com]

"The subway you'll have to learn about firsthand, sooner or later. It's a kind of vehicle, very large, that runs through underground tunnels to keep from cluttering up the surface roads. The rest... mm... skateboarding terms, I believe, but I couldn't tell you what they mean beyond that." The Shadow's knowledge is vast and has more or less kept up with modern times, but he can't know everything.

[blind-masseur.livejournal.com]

"I might have to ask her about skateboarding. She seems to enjoy it." But the prospect of a vehicle underground not only confuses him further, it makes him nervous. Sounds echo strangely underground, and makes it difficult to find his bearings. It's likely he'll be surprised how open the spaces are in the subway system.