aerialassault | Appointments

I'm so glad you like it. I was worried you were about to chase me around the village.

[Because this is a thing that has happened, albeit not to him because he would never let himself get caught pulling the type of prank that resulted in being chased around the village. He left such things to other people, like his friends.

With the present delivered and Cliff laughing, Souji seemed to relax a little. He smiled a little more easily and put his hands behind his back again.]

I thought about hiding it in your house, but I wasn't sure if you would find it.

Why would anyone--?

[He burst out laughing.]

That must've been one helluva prank to get that kinda reaction. Seriously.

[He ran a hand through his hair, feeling much calmer than he had just moments before. Souji would always be Souji-- someone who was dangerous with a blade but had lots of fun in his heart.]

You're right about me not finding it in this place too easily. It's all this. [He gestured at the remains of a small box fan that was spread out on his desk,] It's kind of a mess...not that your present was much better.

How'd you manage the wind anyway?

He reeeeeally doesn't like it when I take his haiku.

[Didn't. Souji didn't think he'd ever see Hijikata in Luceti again, and while that made him sad, he knew that they'd see each other again. It would be a bittersweet reunion, but he wouldn't remember why and that somehow made it more bearable.

When asked about the wind, he motioned over his shoulder to the slightly open window.] It must have been that.

And my present is sooo much better. Look~ It sparkles.

The wind, huh?

[Cliff wasn't convinced. The spiraling glitter in his room was too organized to be a random gust, but he wasn't going to argue it at this point.

He had a hunch that Souji hadn't just shown up to glitterbomb him.]

Well. It made things more interesting, that's for sure. Why did you take someone's haiku anyway?

Another friend was upset.

[Because that was a good enough reason for him. Souji shrugged a little and patted his hands against his legs, trying to get the last of the dust and glitter off him. There was hardly any left at all, but his habits made him want to check again, just to be sure.]

His elder brother and I thought it would be a good idea to help re-energize him.

[Well, he thought it would be a good idea and the elder brother had just been dragged into it.]

Well, that's one way to do that...

[It sounded like something that would happen on the Diplo, for sure. For a slim and delicate looking Earthling, Souji could definitely hit close to Klausian levels of shenanigans.]

He scratched his head, returning to the original topic.]

Anyway, you wanted to do something today? I'm completely free...what's up?

It was a lot of fun.

[His glee was practically tangible at that.]

Oh.

Ohhhh, right. I did come here to ask something. .... [He paused.] ...but now I can't remember what.

...

You can't remember what.

[He didn't want to believe that this entire demonstration was just for a whim. Or that Souji was really that flakey.]

Mm.......

[He took a slow, deliberate step forward toward the room door, peering inside it. Perhaps looking at his handiwork would help jog his memory. He had come here for something, and while he hadn't actually forgotten, he wasn't willing to delve into it yet.]

Wow. It really did get everywhere.

It wasn't nearly this messy when I imagined a sparkle zoo in my head.

[He could respect taking time to get to a topic, but Cliff found that he was tiring of the distractions.]

What did you expect, Souji? It's glitter!

[He sighed and relaxed his stance. There was totally something different at hand.]

...You didn't come just to bug me about ping pong or something, did you? Wanna go get breakfast while you try to jog your memory?

...I would have to know ping pong to bug you about it. [Yet another distraction was born! Souji smiled at the suggestion and stepped back from the doorway, swivelling around on one foot to face Cliff.]

But breakfast sounds wonderful. What do you usually eat in the mornings?

Edited 2013-06-04 03:19 (UTC)

[He was going to need to fix the ping pong problem, and he would give Souji as much time as he needed before he cut to the chase.]

Uh. Coffee. Maybe eggs, or whatever's around. Nothing too special. What do you do?

[Ew, coffee. Souji almost makes a face, but he restrains himself. Lots of people here like coffee, it seems. Smoker likes it, too, but he's grumpy so that doesn't count.]

Mm....it depends. Usually I cook fish and rice in the mornings and cut some pickles for it, or take a pickled plum out from the pantry. Ayumu-san used to make wonderful breakfasts, but since she went home, I'm afraid the cooking quality at home has gone down.

[He laughs, shrugging a little.]

Is it not custom in your-- [pause] --planet? Ship? Ship. To eat breakfast?

[Fish and pickled plum was one of the more unique breakfasts that he had heard of, but it wasn't entirely unknown. It was traditional, somehow. But, that was interplanetary history from almost a millenium ago. There's only so much that a man can care about on that level.]

Nah, we still eat breakfast. It's just not a production unless something special's going on, but we're more likely to eat lunch or dinner together in that situation. I just tend to keep odd hours when I'm on the move, so normally I end up eating breakfast alone anyway. If nothing big is happening, I don't really care about what I'm eating. Just as long as it's not bland like, say, buttered grits.

Were you on the move often?

[He understood that idea - on the road, he rarely ate more than a bit of rice or vegetables at the most. He hadn't travelled out of Kyoto in some time, but he remembered the trek from Edo and that the excitement had helped alleviate the empty stomachs.]

--Oh, I suppose you would be. Living on a ship, yes?

Well, there's also my job.

[He grinned. Although he had things that he kept quiet too, he was fine with skirting close to the details.]

It's kinda hard to have a quiet life when the group you work for's gotten pretty popular. I don't mind it, though. It keeps life interesting.

Popular in a good way, I hope?

[Because Souji knew what it was like to be popular in the other way and that wasn't something he would wish on other people. It bothering Hijikata enough that he refused to call himself a wolf anymore, and Yamanami stopped carrying a sword entirely because of it.]

It kinda goes both ways.

[There was a reason he didn't mention that Quark was seen as a terrorist organization by the Federation, or that he was the founder. The organization only earned it's notoriety after the destruction of the Invisible, but Cliff already had a reputation long before that point.]

Mm, I can understand that.

[Souji spun away, pivoting on the ball of one foot, and started for the living room. He'd seen a table in here earlier, pushed just slightly out of the way, and he went toward it,]

We were renowned in Kyoto - the protectors of the Shogun, his private army and the enforcers of his law, protectors of the city. Young men wanting to uphold samurai values would often join our ranks and I would help teach them.

[Once at the table, he turned his back to Cliff and pulled a small pouch out from where it hung at his obi. The bag made a soft thud on the table when he set it down, but Souji's hands paused as he pulled the strings to open it and his voice darkened.]

But, we were also hated. They called us wolves and murderers - demons, they said. Mothers would pull their children away from us when we walked down the street. We had to hide our names and pretend to be ronin when not in uniform.

[He finished opening the bag and then turned around, keeping the bag hidden behind him. When he faced Cliff, he was smiling and his voice was lighter, more like his usual self.]

Is that sort of what you mean?

[Cliff watched the entire affair solemnly, all of the teasing and the jokes that always lingered around him completely gone. Souji stood before him as the Captain of the First Squad for just a few moments before the smile dropped back into place. It was only right that Cliff do the same.

Wolves, murderers, and demons were far more dramatic than anything the Federation called them, but he had a suspicion that there wasn't a single word for 'terrorist' in Souji's era. The rest of his explanation fit into an echo that had become far too familiar to him.]

Yeah, actually. The words have gotten less fanciful and more streamlined over the years, but it amounts to the same. I see no reason to hide, but I can't travel freely as easy as I used to. Stuff happens, and it's not always good. We just try to do our thing and clean the messes that we can.

[He folded his arms and glanced away from Souji.]

You know, if there's one thing I do regret its not being able to let her have a normal life. But, we had no choice. There's a lot of things like that anymore.

Her?

[The mention of a girl has him searching back through his memory. Cliff rarely seemed to mention women and when he did, it was usually about his partner.]

I'm sure she didn't mind. When following someone who has a vision of the future, normal lives are an easy sacrifice.

[She didn't. She was steadfast and strong, even in her uncertainty.]

She's my boss, and a tough girl. She's younger than you, but really? I haven't met another person I'd be more willing to follow.

[There was a little pride in his voice as well when he spoke of her. She was both his Captain and Quark's little girl.]

[He laughed a little, glad to see Cliff's determination back.]

Cliff-san seems to make a habit of hanging around younger people, doesn't he?

[He suddenly dropped his fist into his palm, as if the discussion had jogged his memory.]

Oh! That reminds me!

You said before you wouldn't mind a friendly spar every so often, yes?

'Cliff-san' makes a habit of hanging out with tough babes.

[He grinned, unafraid of subtly teasing Souji about his manner of addressing people. Cliff would never get the '-san' thing. It was one of those wierd quirks of Japanese people, just like Souji's playful evasions were a special 'quirk' of his. The Klausian chuckled at Souji's question.]

Yea, I do like having a sparring partner. What's on your mind?

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