Open 'verse RP [Open -- Separate threads fine]

[changehistory]

He'd come home out of some weird need to find his roots, again. Or something. At the current moment he couldn't remember. Souvenir shops lined the streets he roamed too long ago. The house had burned over three centuries before and even the alleys were swept now. There had been nothing to bury, and no money for more than a mass grave had there been, so there were no markers, nothing to see, nothing to kneel at.

Wandering into the new St. Paul's, built after he left, after the fire that took them, he nonetheless felt something settle. He sat in a pew for hours, trying to remember what it had felt like when he came home, saw this, sat here the first time, a different man. Not Matthew. Not Takezo Kensei. Something else, someone else. A man without country, time, family.

For a time, he'd thought to find it again, but now the dream seemed farther away than it had even when trapped in that cell, and he was cold.

It was well after dusk when he left. He found a pub, a table in a corner, and with a wry smile that cursed all the years in between, he ordered a whiskey and asked the bartender to leave the bottle, working to bury himself in the one thing left that had any familiarity or link to the old.

Comments

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

"Is the job confidential?" he asked, curious. "I mean, I assume the buyer is, but the job itself?"

He smiled, just a little, letting her distract him from his own thoughts. "I do, yes. More than ever, really." Considering how badly things had gone since last they met.

[enjoythe_ride]

"Nothing out of the ordinary really," she said with a shrug. "He wanted me to pick up an amulet for him. Nothing special."

She smiled more widely at the comment before nodding. "The deal goes through tomorrow night, but after that, I can be on the next plane to Tokyo."

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

He nodded and let her current job go, pouring himself more whiskey.

"That sounds like a marvelous plan. I'm finding myself interested in anything that relates to the Nakamura clan, specifically, though that doesn't negate any other items of power that might be around."

[enjoythe_ride]

"Nakamura," she said with a slow nod, taking another sip of her own. "I'll keep that in mind. I'll do a bit of research before I go, see if there's anything of interest."

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

"There may not be," he said with a slight smile. "But they are greatly tied to many legends of feudal Japan. I'd be interested if they are somewhat further in the past as well." Before Hiro came. Before they met.

[enjoythe_ride]

"Old families are always worth looking into," she said with a nod, balancing the glass in their hand. "The further back you go, the less faith people placed in science."

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

"Even better," he said with a slight smile. "Science is too easy an explanation for some things."

[enjoythe_ride]

"I agree," she said with a nod. "That's why these objects are so old and rare -- people don't believe in them much these days."

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

Adam considered that for a long moment, then nodded. "Good. I'd rather they didn't believe. It will make it that much more interesting when the time comes to use them."

[enjoythe_ride]

"Just be careful who you use them in front of," Bela said with a sigh. "There are some people who -- would rather this knowledge not be used for personal gain."

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

Adam smirked just a bit. "Oh, really?"

[enjoythe_ride]

"Hunters are everywhere, and they're paranoid as hell," she said with a sigh. "If they see a cursed object, they won't let it go until it's been either destroyed or placed somewhere where they feel it can't hurt anyone."

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

"Good god, how annoying," he half-drawled, feeling the whiskey kick in a bit. "What can one do to stop them?"

[enjoythe_ride]

"Shoot them?" Bela said with a slight laugh. "Slip under their radar? Manipulate them to your advantage? Luckily for people like me, some are smarter than others, and the ones that aren't so smart are easy to mess with."

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

"I like that idea," he said with a slight smile. "More than I can say. Messing with people used to be my hobby."

[enjoythe_ride]

"Scamming the unwary lost it's sparkle?" she asked. "Or was it replaced with more important matters?"

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

"It's just too easy," Adam said with a slight smile. "I need a challenge."

[enjoythe_ride]

"I see," she said with a nod. "That makes sense. Sounds like you need a harder mark, then."

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

"I suppose so," he said, a bit dispirited. It was easy enough to keep his hope up on occasion, but other times it waned and he felt lost.

He hated feeling lost.

[enjoythe_ride]

She reached for the bottle before going to pour herself another glass of whiskey. "Surely you must have fallen on sunnier times since we last saw each other?"

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

Adam's smile twisted a bit. "Sadly, no. Everything I had planned went rapidly downhill; I ended up tossed in a very deep grave; and what I was planning on using is destroyed without a backup." He drained his glass. "Time for a plan B, only I don't have one yet."

[enjoythe_ride]

"I'm sorry," she said softly. "If it makes you feel any better, things aren't going so great for me either. Though -- the things that worry you aren't necessarily the ones that worry me."

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

He leaned back in the chair again, arching an inquiring eyebrow. "What's going on for you?"

[enjoythe_ride]

"That job I told you I had to work in Sea Pines? I wound up being the target of a very angry, undead seamen, and had to turn to the two people I loathe more than anything to get them out of it. Then afterward, I was held at gunpoint for information by a very dangerous, and pissed of a contact I consider just as dangerous, who, when last we spoke, threatened to kill me."

She took a long swallow of her whiskey, "It hasn't been a good month for me, to say the least."

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

Adam sighed and poured her more whiskey. "No, I imagine not." Lifting his glass he offered her a smile. "To a better month for us both next month?"