recolle | down to the wire

down to the wire

WHO: Kiryu + other people!
WHERE: all around the city
WHEN: all month long
WHAT: last week to do bingos, time to gun it
WARNINGS: none

I. Hanging out at Towers, Like You Do

[ After his little run-in with Nisha and his stuffed-tiger wrestling adventure a few weeks back, Kiryu was in no real hurry to get back to Towers. Then again, it's a huge enough store that no one bats an eye when he returns. Hopefully. (That is, unless your character happened to catch the whole thing, feel free to bring that up or try to hang out with him.)

Otherwise Kiryu is waiting in line with what appears to be some kind of fancy bamboo bowl. ]

I'm buying this for a friend... It should be on his registry, under "Halloway?"

[ smh ]

II. No One Said It Had to Be Sung Well

[ Does it count if he's singing at a karaoke bar? And he's... probably had a little to drink? Because that's about the only way Kaz will have enough guts to sing in front of a bunch of strangers, but at least he's up here, mic in hand, ready to belt it out. How ridiculously un-Kazlike of him.

The things one does for bingo, man. He points at you, yes you, stranger, and speaks into the mic. ]

You got any requests?

III. Wildcard for something else?

[ Lemme know if I owe you anything or you wanna do something, pm me or hit me up on plurk! ]

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[Tatsuo laughs]

I remember seeing that post, but I didn't read any of the comments. Do you know if it was for a bingo, or did the guy actually really like the Macarena?

[Because let's be real, that dance does not need to be revived.]

Yeah, it was for bingo. I figured, since it seemed kind of cruel for a pro to bring up something like that.

[ Jim is obviously into dramatic irony here. ]

True. Make a dance instructor talk about a dance that was cool for about five minutes over twenty years ago. The center square I got was a tad too on the nose for my liking as well.

[and if by 'dramatic irony' you mean 'being a dick' then yes, yes he is]

Right. Mine was related to something I remembered, too. I'm glad it was just the tiger one and not something bad.

[ Oh, hey, did Kaz just admit to having bad memories? ]

[Tatsuo pauses midsway with his mannequin]

Okay... the whole fighting a tiger is kind of an awesome things to remember, but at the same time the thought of that happening is mildly terrifying.

But... 'bad'. Kaz. Are you alright?

[ Kaz slows down his dancing... nbd, it's just retrospec things, right? ]

I'm fine. [ He shakes his head. ] I told you I remembered my apartment burning down too, right?

[ Did he do that...? :|a He tells Majima everything but basically tells no one else. ]

I have my suspicions about why that happened, that's all.

[ They don't really count as suspicions when you're 99% sure they were caused by being involved with the Yakuza. ]

Yeah, I remember that. So... like, someone was out to get other-you?

[Because Tatsuo knows what that feels like.]

Yeah, they were looking for me.

[ "They" being a rival yakuza family, he's pretty sure. He says this like he understands, though. It doesn't scare him? He's had time to deal with it by now, it seems. ]

[Tatsuo shakes his head]

Guess both our other selves were in it deep.

Yeah, it must be.

[ lbr he stopped dancing. ]

Tatsuo... Do you really think those memories we get are someone else's? Not like, a past life or something?

[Tatsuo sighs and steps back from the mannequin so he can have this conversation without feeling like a dumbass.]

I don't know. I don't like things I can't find a proper scientific explanation for. And this--

[he motions at his head, meaning the memories]

-- I can't explain with the science I know. How do you prove something like a past life? Or another dimension?

[Seriously. How do you prove any of it. And yet whatever is happening is happening.]

I suppose I do believe in past lives, which is rather unscientific in and of itself. But I can't let go of the stories my mom told me when I was a a kid.

But if this is a past life... it didn't happen here, on this Earth. The memories I'm getting are too contemporary. They'd overlap with the life I'm living now.

[He pauses... and his voice goes quiet.]

But if he is a past life of mine, somehow... maybe that's why things in my life have happened the way they have. I'm being affected by his bad karma.

I don't know that it's about proving it or not. When we all shrunk, or the fact that colors are gone... there's no explanation, but it happened. It was real.

[ He can see where Tatsuo's coming from, though. He won't argue with him, they could both be wrong, after all. ]

I guess mine start in the 80s so it feels older to me. [ Which is fair, too. ] These memories feel real to me, the way I feel when I'm with Majima feels like a mix of something old and something new.

[ A past life, in an alternate dimension, maybe? Who's to say. ]

Why would the other you give you bad karma?

The priests were always telling us 'judge not lest ye be judged' when we were kids, but from where I'm standing, dude earned himself some bad karma and now I'm having to work it off.

[... he's actually kind of mixing up a couple different concepts here, from a couple different theologies, oops. and his understanding of karma is from 20+ years ago and all that catholic church stuff is slightly more recent. slightly.

Tatsuo sighs]

I really envy you two.

[just... going to leave that there, no qualifying it]

I guess that's fair. Did the you in your memories do a lot of bad stuff?

[ Like, he won't judge. He's a criminal in a past life.

But ah, that makes him blush. He looks away, mostly hiding how obvious he is... ]

Ah... We're... [ Nope, he's fumbling. He can't lie. ] Actually, it's pretty great.

He keeps placing himself outside of the law. If he was a criminal, I could deal with that. But he's a cop. He took a vow to uphold the law and he's not.

[Tatsuo sighs and drags a hand down his face.]

Sorry, he makes me almost as angry as Retrospec. I'd rather talk about you and Goro. Because that makes me happy.

So he was a dirty cop?

[ Kiryu's not judging, actually he almost sounds relieved? That's weird, right? ]

Ah, that's probably... You don't really have to tell me if you'd rather not.

[ Kiryu's not broadcasting his former-criminal status but... Well, Majima is definitely a better subject, yeah. ]

I'm glad you approve. [ Kiryu nods. He's still blushing of course. ] I know that sounds kind of weird, but you're really important to Majima.

[ Maybe it's not the same as getting permission to date his son or anything, but it's like, kind of close? ]

I'm starting to think that. I just... I'm sorting some things out.

[Honestly, Tatsuo's kind of glad he can't detect any judgement in Kiryu's voice. Majima as well when Tatsuo last talked with him about this. The more memories he gets of his other self, the more confused he feels. He doesn't seem like a bad guy... a pretty decent guy even at times... except those few memories...

Tatsuo mentally shakes off the thought. Thinking about his other-self right now will put him in a bad mood. And he's rather just not.]

It doesn't sound weird at all. Majima's family to me. And I have never seen him so happy as when he's talking about you.

[It's permission to date his younger brother. Which is close enough.]

I get it. Sometimes it's complicated.

[ Right and wrong don't always means cops vs. criminals, at least that's the sense Kiryu gets. ]

Thanks, Tatsuo. I'm glad you think so.

[ It's official, Kiryu can be part of the family now. He's invited for Thanksgiving and everything. ]

[So complicated. More complicated than Tatsuo ever wanted for his life. So it's nice to have uncomplicated things to think about, like his younger brother getting a boyfriend.

But maybe they should also change venue. The mannequins are starting to get creepy.]

What do you say we blow this joint? The people here are all stiff and unfunny. Go get some drinks at Sunshine and make faces at Goro while he works.

[ One day Kiryu is going to remember the plot of Yakuza 3 and then he'll be like "jesus christ why is everything complicated" too.

But in the meantime, yeah. This place is creepy. ]

Yeah, we've probably danced enough for the bingo, anyway.

[ Kiryu smiles. Both at the thought of getting to see Majima at work and also, well, it's nice to hit it off with Majima's family. Going to Majima's club sounds great. ]

That sounds good. Let's go.

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down to the wire

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