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

[enjoythe_ride]

"Cheers," she said with a nod, lifting her glass as well.

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He smiled a little, clinking his against hers, then leaned back and drained his.

[enjoythe_ride]

She took a large glup of hers before sitting back in her seat, crossing her legs. "So what else have you been up to? Had any other -- messy business arrangements?" The last part was said with a smirk and an eyebrow raise, the tone of her voice more playful than it had been.

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

He gave her a wry grin and shook his head. "Not business arrangements, no." Things with Hiro were never business and always messy, though. But that wasn't at all matching her tone. His lips curved in an answering smirk. "How about you?"

[enjoythe_ride]

"Came close -- but no," she said with a shrug. "It wouldn't have ended well, anyway. He's a bit too -- dependent for my taste."

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"Oh dear, that's no good," he said disapprovingly. "They should be avoided, the dependent ones..."

[enjoythe_ride]

"He would be if he wasn't damn good at what he did," Bela sighed before smirking slightly, "and so easy to get one over on all at the same time."

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Adam grinned at that. "Well, that makes him the perfect tool then, I'd think."

[enjoythe_ride]

"And what makes it even more fun, is that he knows that I do it, too," she grinned. "And he still can't seem to stop me."

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"Oh that is brilliant," he murmured approvingly. "I am impressed indeed."

[enjoythe_ride]

She shrugged. "It's just a matter of playing nice enough to let him get his guard down, then reminding him why he shouldn't play nice with me to begin with."

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"And it works every time?"

[enjoythe_ride]

"Like clockwork," she nodded. "Although -- he's still not to pleased with me about the whole almost-getting-him-killed thing."

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

"Well, to be fair, you can't really blame him for that," Adam said arching an eyebrow, amused.

[enjoythe_ride]

"It was more of his brother's neck that he was worried about than his own," Bela sighed, pouring herself another glass of whiskey as she felt it starting to work on her, making her ramble on a bit more than she felt she should. "From the rumors I've heard, this particular client of mine is on a very short leash."

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"Oh?" he asked, leaning forward, intrigued. "On a short leash from whom?"



((ooc: I never got this notif! I'm so sorry! Poke me about these things if you want. lol))

[enjoythe_ride]

"My guess is that he made a deal with the devil," she said with a small smirk, leaning back in her chair with her glass in her hand. "And he got the bum end of it, so it seems."



OOC: No worries! I had forgotten about this one, actually, lol.

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

"Ahh..." Adam frowned a bit, looking troubled, then considering. "Is it possible to actually do, then? Not just a figure of speech?" His upbringing, of course, conditioned him to believe magic and deals with devils were very real, but his life since then had failed to prove the Puritan ministers of his youth right in a lot of things.

[enjoythe_ride]

"Oh yes," she said with a nod. "Ten years is the usual allowance, nowadays, though, doing what he does, he was narrowed down to one year before he dies, and his soul heads down to hell."

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"Why was his reduced so drastically?" Adam asked, fascinated.

[enjoythe_ride]

"Well, he hunts them first of all," Bela said, taking another sip of her whiskey. "So naturally they're not too big a fan of playing fair with him. Second of all, his father already did the same thing, from the rumors I've heard."

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"For a family of demon hunters, you'd think they'd know better than to bargain with them," Adam said with a frown.

[enjoythe_ride]

"They do, usually. But when a person is pushed too far -- " She licked her lips slightly, before taking another swallow of her whiskey. "Rumor is that he did it to bring his brother back to life."

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Something flickered in Adam's eyes, dark and desperate and fleeting then gone.

"I suppose I can understand that, then."

[enjoythe_ride]

"Anyone could really," she said slowly, noticing the look in his eyes, but deciding not to push it. "I sympathize, I do, but -- it wouldn't be the choice I'd make."