[closed] two separate meetings

[livingimpaired]

WHO: Kei & Leon, Kei & Heigo.
WHERE: Tea Kettle. Bar.
WHEN: Between 4/1-4/5.
WHAT: Visiting friends for various reasons.
WARNINGS: Kei being a shitbird, probably.

[ CLOSED: LEON. TEA KETTLE. ]

[ The sound of the bell on the door cause him to involuntarily look up as he enters. He scans over the cafe even though he has visited many times before. There is a sense of comfort in everything; a sense of warmth that he can only assume comes from the owner himself. Kei thinks of his own restaurant -- the very air is thick with spices and heavy. While there is no hostility ever felt, it doesn't surprise him that some people leave a little more tired than when they entered. ]

Leon? [ He calls out, as he steps further into the shop. Kei actually does not smell as heavily of mapo tofu due to him having gone to Mass earlier in the morning. That meant that he was still in his suit -- a navy two-piece. As for why he still had the smell of his shop on him, he was carrying a tupperware that had the dish resting (waiting) in it. ]

[ CLOSED: HEIGO. UNNAMED BAR. ]

[ The bar to him is unremarkable and could very well go without a name. It isn't any place that he frequents and so, but he hardly likens it to every establishment like it. While he gives such a cold response to the business, he acknowledges that pieces of the owner exists within the space. What has been chosen to be hung up to view. What music is playing. What state the bar itself is in. He picks out all the parts of it that are "human" and comes back with saying that it is still unremarkable. The person that owned it may have desired to stand out in some way, but sadly, the atmosphere and shape of the bar is like any other versus "special." ]

Good evening, Heigo Miyake. [ Kei greets him with a small wave and already laying his jacket on a chair before he takes a seat. ] It's good that your schedule allowed for us to meet while I can still profit. [ He chuckles to himself, crossing one leg over the other. Of course, he speaks how Heigo had decided to pay for the next drinks. ]

Well. How was your day? [ He offers his usual half-smile to Heigo. ]

Comments

it's me, leon

[ascatic]

[ it's a quiet day. there are always slow business days, and this happens to be one of them--- but that's fine! leon is more than happy to take in the peace and tranquility of said crawling business. especially if it means someone comes in with a recognizable smelling dish. ]

Hello? Ah, Kei? Hold on for a moment. I will be there in a moment. I'm... taking care of something.

[ quietly, he makes himself seen. those black ears are alert, but not alarmed. ]

precious cat

[livingimpaired]

[ How odd it must be to bring food to a cafe. He drums his fingers on the top of the tupperware before setting it down on a table. Pushing it toward the empty seat, he attempts to make it even more obvious that the spicy meal is for Leon. ]

Tea, cakes, and mapo tofu. [ Interlacing his fingers, he muses aloud on the different flavors that would come to blend together. His neutral expression shifts briefly to one of bright amusement before turning to calm as soon as Leon appears. ]

My... how are you doing?

[ascatic]

[ two mugs and a small plate are held up high as leon pulls it through the doorway behind him before trying to close the door. it's a futile attempt that, upon the door nearly shutting, Leon's eyes go wide and he grits his teeth, swallowing down every curse word imaginable. the tray is placed down so he can turn, grab the knob, and shut it angrily. ]

... could be better.

[ he's all smiles when he turns around, once again picking the tray up and bringing it around the counter so that he can easily put it down on the table that Kei chose. a good table, where he eyes the mapo tofu.

his tail rises. just slightly. ]

[livingimpaired]

So it seems?

[ An incredulous stare as he wonders what would cause Leon to respond in such a way. But his confusion lasts for not too much longer as he notes the movement (slight as it is) out of the corner of his eye. Did something fall?

Kei leans slightly in his chair and catches sight of the tail. ]

If I wait too long to visit, are you going to be a cat next time I see you? [ His head drops as he realizes that is not sounding supportive. ] I apologize. The quip was unnecessary. But I do see what you mean. I hope no one is pulling on your tail as they did your ears...

[ Which are also being given a side-gaze. ]

[ascatic]

Not used to having a tail.

[ and shutting a door on it certainly would lower ANYONE'S mood, if they knew what having a tail was like. but Leon does, and a shaky laugh does enough to get him to relax as he takes a seat, adjusting so he could be as comfortable as possible. ]

I don't think so. This is far as I go. [ he gestures to himself, shrugging his shoulders. ] Ears and a tail. I suppose there could be more, like claws and fangs, but for the most part...

[ rubbing his nose, Leon's ears fold. ]

... this is me.

[livingimpaired]

What is it like, then?

[ He wonders aloud, and also muses over if Leon thinks of himself as becoming a monster. His eyes close as he shakes his head to dismiss the thought. Surely not. Such a change is almost endearing rather than frightening. Kei decides to keep this to himself, as it sounds dismissive. Indeed, simply because people find it endearing, it does not make the change any less difficult to accept or manage. ]

So it is. [ A small nod. Oh, that is right. He reaches out across the table to rest his hand on top of Leon's head. At first, it seems he might give some sort of pat, but he instead pets the hair and slides his fingers over the lowered ears. ]

Indeed, you are still yourself.

[ascatic]

[ he's about to respond, but the touch to his ears silences him. they bend to the touch, and the fold isn't as tight against his hair as it once was--- no, it's more relaxed, as they spring up slightly once the fingers pass. Leon himself has to choke back a sound out of his throat, a laugh? no, a sigh. no. it's some other sound. the sensations are very odd, like a tickle but not.

and then he finds his voice. ]

I am. My body is still my own, I suppose. Just... different.

[ his tail twitches as he sinks lower into his chair. ]

Do they feel odd? Different than an actual cat's ears would?

[livingimpaired]

[ Kei decides not to joke about if Leon is going to purr or not. His head turns and he can't quite hide the fact that he is chuckling. Pulling his hand back, he looks at his hand -- rubbing his thumb against his fingertips in thought. ]

There is no suppose to it. Your body is yours. Unless you're saying that you've been possessed without me noticing.

[ He brings his hand down, taking the cup of tea finally in hand. ]

I'm afraid I don't pet enough cats to know if it is different than an actual cat's. The last time I pet a cat was... weeks, if not months ago. I'm afraid they don't really like me. [ Another smile as he seems almost pleased that they hold such grudges against him. ] But they feel quite soft.

[ascatic]

Possessed? [ that earns Kei a chuckle. ] I suppose that could be a possibility, but what kind of ghost or demon would want to inhabit a body like this?

[ only a crazy would want the cat ears and tail, or at least, this is what Leon has to convince himself. heck, not even he is sure he wants them? they've been more of a hindrance than anything as of late. ]

Have you done something to a cat that might've earned you the ire of every cat? Because, if you have, I haven't heard of any such thing.

[ because Leon totally talks to all the neighborhood strays??? not really. ]

Or is it something I should be worried about, as the new delegate for cat-kind?

[livingimpaired]

A nekomata, maybe?

[ His eyebrows lift before he lets his eyes slide away as he takes another sip of tea. ]

But at the very least, I can think of something that would want to possess you. So don't think of your body as so uninhabitable. [ This sort of comfort. What is it? ]

I'm glad they're not gossiping about me, then. [ Another chuckle. ]

It's nothing that you need be worried about as the representative of cats, Leon. It is more... my general presence tends to make them feel a little anxious. [ He holds a hand out as a means to indicate the very aura that he has. ] I have something of a dead space that surrounds me.

Most animals hate it.

[ascatic]

That is... quite the relief.

[ and he laughs, a nice and polite sound as he leans back and crosses a leg over in his seat. one hand resting below his chin, the other in his lap. Kei certainly has a... sort of dry sense of humor, or at least, one that didn't always resonate with others. but it certainly made Leon smile. ]

If they did, I would defend your honor. I said I would do this, even to cats.

[ though... he's a little more skeptical about this aura. reaching out, he places his hand on Kei's with that same soft, polite look. ]

...

Well, I'm no animal. So I suppose I am immune to its effects?

[livingimpaired]

Right?

[ Tilting his head, he holds his chin as he looks him over. ] Still, does anyone notice your physical changes? That is, you mention people pulling on your ears... did you mean those outside of the app?

[ There is only so much that would be considered normal, right? Of course, even if they do notice it as truly odd, people may very well think that Leon is cosplaying. His shoulders drop as he allows a sympathetic expression to rise past his neutral. ]

Defend my honor to the cats? I wonder if cats even take the opinions of other felines well. [ But his eyebrows lift as Leon places his hand over his own. ] So it would seem. You've become stronger than most beasts and in such a short amount of time.

[ascatic]

I believe if they do, they don't see it as being odd. Perhaps they adjust better than we do, or they don't see it as something that is... unusual. It's a weird feeling, when you feel like a ghost at times.

[ with a dry huff of a laugh, Leon allows himself to take one nice and long cleansing breath. ]

It was a friend of mine who did it. A young adult who comes by often, who tells me to rest often. He didn't mean to hurt me, though I can still feel the ache like it was yesterday.

[ and then he rubs his own ears, at the base, where it brought him way less comfort compared to when others do it. ]

Stronger than most beasts... I suppose this is true, as an aberration.

u rang

[informantic]

[Heigo's always preferred little hole-in-the-wall bars with a hint of personality to larger spaces or ones with stifling themes. It's made him a regular at a handful of them, including the one where he meets Kei, although only by appearance and order because he also prefers not to deal with chatty barkeeps; when he gets oversharing drunk without any familiar company, he takes that a sign that it's time to go home, not open up to employees.

Or other patrons, most of the time, which still makes his first meeting with Kei unusual. It was predicated on their never seeing each other again, yet here they are sitting together at one of Heigo's solitary drinking establishments, breaking multiple rules at once. Heigo doesn't know what he's doing or why it's diverged so wildly from his usual social standards, but he's also not inclined to fight the current dragging him further in.]

Just Heigo is fine. [He gestures to the barkeep and lets them know Kei's drinks will be on his tab, then turns his attention to said company.] I'm glad we were able to make this happen, too. Usually I avoid drinking with other people because they can get so exhausting, but...

[Well. They've both expressed how different they find interacting with the other already.]

My day was a terrible way to start any conversation, as always. Yours?

(holds hands) i did

[livingimpaired]

[ His head tilts just a little as he muses over what he should order. He smiles as he asks for the same that he had when he first met Hiego -- a scotch on the rocks.

Kei also had the expectation that they would never see one another again. The city is too large; they did not exchange numbers. It was to be a passing meeting that they would think on later and eventually let go as "an interesting conversation."

And now the two of them are friends. ]

Very well. [ He relents and agrees to call him only by his first name. ] It seems as though you've had an exhausting time already. [ More observation than anything else. A little more exhausted than he usually is, or maybe that is his imagination. ]

It was an acceptable kind of day. Nothing to note happened. Nothing to note was said. Everything came to end without anything really having felt like it was done. [ A day living as a vegetable. His eyes soften as he recalls being told that he would probably be content living as a plant, and he had dismissed it, but it seems like it would actually be true. ]

dances in a circle

[informantic]

[He lets out a huff of laughter at the comment about how he looks, which is just the sort of thing that would annoy him from someone else but reads as neutral from Kei's mouth. Heigo still struggles with the idea of someone being so non-judgmental, just experiencing life without having to rank everything on some personal scale from best to worst, but it never seems dishonest on Kei's part.]

Things haven't gone full-blown disastrous yet, from what I've heard of life after being chosen by Retrospec, but they're changing. And not the sorts of changes that improve my sleep any. [Heigo's nursing hard liquor as well this time, a different whiskey blend but also on the rocks.] What would you consider a noteworthy difference in your day? Out of curiosity.

dances with you~

[livingimpaired]

Is your sleep so bad? [ A rhetorical-sounding question. He turns slightly in his chair as his drink is set before him. There is a warm smile that comes and goes -- a retail smile. It is one that never reaches the eyes and only appeases those that give it a brief glance rather than really look and sees how empty it is. ]

But it is good that it has been easing you into the strangeness. [ Back in February, he felt as though he was suddenly combusting with memories and poor decisions. The decisions based purely on his deranged drive to help others, and only causing more misery in the process. His head gives a tilt as he frowns in an exaggerated fashion, remembering it all.

A sip of scotch before he answers: ]

Jumping out from a eight-story window would be relatively different. [ A beat. ] I regained a memory. It's not quite as glamorous as it sounds.

[informantic]

[Heigo catches the rhetorical feel of Kei's question and lets it slide past unanswered for that reason - yes, his sleep is as bad as everything else in his life that requires relaxation for even a second, and he doesn't help that by living mostly on caffeine and cigarettes, but it's not all that interesting of an issue. Not when it's far enough down the list of aggravations in his life that he's not actively complaining about it right at the moment.

On the other hand, that very specific non-sequitur about jumping out a window gets Heigo's attention immediately, and the bit of explanation Kei offers is nowhere near enough to close the topic for him.]

It sounds insane to me, not glamorous. [Well, in movies and even his own books... yes, he can see the glamour. But still!] Did you regain any idea of why you did such a thing?

[livingimpaired]

I did.

[ A sharp nod. Of course, it only adds to the mystery of who Kirei Kotomine actually is to Kei. He decides that he need not get into that mess of information, and instead answer the question. ]

It's a bit complicated, and I am piecing together what has happened. But a young girl was being held captive. A young man and myself both came to her rescue, but we were dallying too much. [ At least, that is what he can come to understand with the memory of him hopping through the window to ask what is taking so long for them to make their escape. He recalls the young man holding the girl's hands and it looks like they had come to some end to a heartfelt talk. But such warm-hearted words could have probably waited until they were safety away. ]

I made it clear that the captors were about to become assailants if we continued to stand around. In short, the reason I jumped out of the window was because I had no other choice. I picked up the young girl and jumped without hesitation. [ His eyes close, painfully. ] Let me tell you, Heigo, while it was just a memory I was reliving... jumping from that height is something you can feel in the back of your teeth.

But if we had stayed, I'm certain that death would follow. And it would have been an extremely violent end. [ As insane an action it was, if it wasn't done, Kei understands that something worse would happen. ] Still... jumping from such a height... and without any supernatural ability to brace my fall, what sort of person does those things?

[informantic]

[Thus far, Heigo's only regained memory has taken the form of a concept, or maybe just an impression of his other self. Rather than remember something in what he thinks of as the standard way, he suddenly knew a sliver of something about himself that made little sense with no context.

This memory doesn't come to him in the same way.

This memory feeds off the sensory details in Kei's story and intensifies them, even adding some of its own - the bite and burn of rope chafing Heigo's skin, the useless weight of his limbs after being restrained for so long, the hard hit of adrenaline to his veins when he understands what he has to do, the sensation of being picked up and thrown by a shock wave - in lieu of any facts about how and why it happened. Rope burn means that he was the captive, but also that he was freed. A shock wave means that a massive explosion occurred right behind him as he jumped from the window.

All Heigo can do with this memory now present in his mind is turn to Kei with all the colour gone from his face, his eyes wide and frightened.]

I know. [His voice is little more than a whisper, far from the dramatics that usually come with Heigo's fear or panic.] I know how it feels. I remember.

[livingimpaired]

... are you all right?

[ The wide and frightened looked that Heigo stares at him with gives him enough pause to ask such an obvious question. His head drops a little like he is attempting to look him over carefully -- was his story that scary? ]

Eh? [ He blinks, surprised. Remember? Covering his mouth, he realizes that he has accidentally caused his friend regain something traumatic. His gaze drifts away and he can feel a smile against his palm rather than a frown. Indeed, I only cause people to remember awful events in their life. I've started to accept that about myself. But I won't accept my response.

His jaw tightens as he forces a frown and drops his hand away. ]

... I'm sorry. Such a memory when we're supposed to have drinks to ease our worries... [ A beat. ] ... I'll ask again, however, are you all right?

[informantic]

[Is he alright? He's not actually sure. The experience was so vivid that he has to touch his arms, his legs, his torso, to make sure he's still in one piece. Kei's reaction goes a long way toward grounding him in the present again, thankfully - of course, this must be how it feels to regain a larger memory. What a nightmare.]

Fine, I'm fine. [His ice cubes shiver when he picks up his drink, sending ripples right across the alcohol's surface, but he's fine. Just a little tremor in his hands, which too much caffeine can cause on a bad day.] I was restrained in a chair, with ropes... and the entire building blew to kingdom come a split-second after we jumped... that must have been an attempt on my life, right? Someone must have planned for me to disappear in the explosion.

[It all sounds like something from one of his novels or short stories, not an event in his actual life, but his logic is sound. He can't think of any other reason the scene would have been set that way. Someone created a fiery death trap and planted him right in the center of it.

He's fine. The thousand-yard stare he's got pointed just over Kei's shoulder is nothing. He's totally fine.]

[livingimpaired]

It sounds like it might have been, yes.

[ There certainly is no reason to sugarcoat it. He rests his elbow on the counter, chin on his hand, as he goes over the information. But isn't that odd? They told someone where he would be? Why? His eyes drift off to the side, narrowing at the glass of scotch he has. The ice drifts a little in the glass to click against its side. ]

That sounds quite a dramatic lifestyle that you had, Heigo. But it also means that you were a very important person. [ He looks away from the glass back to the man with a half-smile. Kei has a look of understanding to him that such knowledge wouldn't make anyone happy. Indeed, people like the idea of being important, but not necessarily the kind that placed them into danger. ]

People generally don't do that for an average person. So I can only assume that means that you were someone essential to someone or something. Essential enough that they wanted to make a show of your capture and ... [ Trailing off, he doesn't finish. ] But congratulations. You survived in that past life. You beat the odds against you.

[informantic]

[Kei's right about one thing: Heigo can't think of a single positive side to having that kind of importance. He's not even willing to claim his status as a reasonably successful author, so the idea of shouldering any responsibility for which people would want to silence him? Unappealing at best.

It does fit with what he's already come to know about that self, though... and just the fact that he can make one sensible connection is enough to soothe Heigo's building panic a little.]

I know that some part of my living involved handling information that wasn't mine to take. I didn't want to jump to conclusions with no other evidence, since that could mean I was a census-taker or researcher, but now - [He has to laugh at the image of himself as a real, hardened criminal informant. Surely that's not the case. He's not exactly too loyal to be a snitch, but definitely much too nervous to live with that hanging over his head.] - dramatic is the word, isn't it?

[He finishes off his drink, then considers Kei's words even more closely: "Essential to someone or something." There's part of the memory he hasn't considered.]

I wonder how I got free...?

[livingimpaired]

A spy, maybe?

[ He cocks his head to the side as he looks Heigo over carefully, holding his chin as he analyzes the man before him. Kei offers a calm smile as he is aware that the appearance of a person can change, but -- ]

You could be. [ Ah. ] And who is to say that you did not get free by yourself? [ Kei wonders if his companion is able to follow his logic about how he could be a spy, or something equally "dramatic."

Resting his index finger on the rim of his scotch glass, he traces around the glass as he muses aloud: ]

I don't claim to know much about spies, myself. But if you want to be someone that steals information, you should be both assuming and unassuming at the same time. And also clever. If that is the case, then, again, you probably escaped by your own merits and even made the decision on how to survive an unfortunate end with quick wits.

Admirable, really.

[ A warmer smile. Kei realizes that consoling Heigo normally would be foolish (saying that it is nothing to worry about when more memories may come to him), so he attempts to console in a different manner. The one he chooses on is flattery, but he can't say he is fantastic at it. Oh well. ]