overjoyed_logs | People Who Make Good First Impressions Usually Suck

[Loud music and bright lights provided excellent cover, but nothing could surpass an alcohol vendor when it came to keeping a low profile. Takasugi gave the man in the booth his money and a polite facsimile of a smile when some hokk spilled on his fingers as his purchase was handed to him. Departing the throng of people gathering to fill their bellies and empty their minds, he transferred his drink to his other hand and flicked the dirtied hand at his side.

A kiosk with its front face shut for the night was his destination. Takasugi slipped through a thinning crowd, to lean against the coarse wood and sip his cheap booze. This wasn't his first glass, but the only benefit of drinking several was that they'd stopped tasting so horrible.

As he drank, families, partners, and drunks alike passed him by. Some smiled, some staggered, and some looked glum as they wandered the street alone. He cast his gaze upwards, drinking his hokk slowly as the stars grew sharper in the sky with the gradual extinguishing of lanterns as shops closed for the night.

In just a short while, they would be dulled by the flames of rebellion, rather than the dull glow of vendors attracting people like moths to the light.]

[ Among those dispersing crowds includes an adolescent boy, long-limbs awkwardly proportioned for his age. He stops abruptly and without warning, almost causing his playmate to crash into his back.

The boy turns, grinning and waving the other child on. ]

Go on, I'll catch up later!

[ But he won't. He's unlikely to ever see them again, and if he does--he probably wouldn't be the same person. Even today he is a different character than the days past, a different person. Today, he is Aki, an overly willful and exuberant child.

A child that has wandered from the shepherd that would keep him under care, his mentoring bookman. It's not immediately apparent to Aki why he's stopped, but he's learned to listen to his instincts and act on them without question, and so he watches the silhouette of the other boy fade, letting some of the childish innocence wash from his face.

Slowly he turns, surveying the area around him with a critical eye that belies his age. A young man catches his attention, evokes a frown to his lips.

There's something very...wrong about him. Out of place. Like he's part of the puzzle that is Sugar Point, but not in the section where he belongs.

Brows knitting together, Aki touches his eye patch curiously, noting the shared quality between them. Though, why hasn't the other had it fixed? Or at least, something sturdier to protect it?

Set upon a question that demands answers, Aki shrugs and recklessly decides to just ask the way that only children ever do. He slips off to the side (never a direct approach, a bookman observes the underbelly, not the forefront), and slinks his way towards the kiosk before unceremoniously plopping down on one of the emptied crates left behind by the absent shopkeeper. Chin placed between his hands, the one-eyed man gets the one-eyed boy's full attention. ]

Hey Mister. What are you doing?

[A Heavy lidded eye passed over the bobbing heads of the crowd, dwelling on no one. Each dip in the procession of festival-goers faded into the night quickly, soon replaced by more of the same swaying parade.

With every sip, the black of the sky overtook more and more his vision.

Until a flash of red interrupted his view with a scamper of hushed steps and a 'thud'. Takasugi lowered his drink, but didn't turn to see more of who had joined him.]

Enjoying the festivities. Aren't you? [With that he'd raise his glass, a silent toast to the sky, and take a drink.]

No, you're not.

[ It's said with the earnestness that can only belong to a child, but the sharpness of someone much further in their years than the adolescent form Aki inhabits would suggest.

He covers with a laugh, but it's forced, not quite practiced and natural yet.

Still staring intently at the strange man, Aki tilts his head this way and that way, making no effort to hide his obvious study of the other. ]

I'm not either. Why don't you use an eyepatch?

[Such a bold declaration turned Takasugi's head, mouth gouged into a thin smirk.

An astute observation followed by a laugh that wasn't entirely sincere - the sign of a child who'd already learned the value of truth and lies. But with a tendency towards the truth.

Dangerous.]

Perhaps there's more to hide than a missing eye. [Scarring extended over his face - but that wasn't his meaning, as they'd both understand.]

[ There’s always more to hide than what meets the eye. If there wasn’t, Aki wouldn’t be who is today, who he’ll be tomorrow.

The childish part of him thinks that would be a better world. The pieces of him already growing bitter know that path fruitless to consider. ]

That’s dumb, though.

[ He doesn’t follow this with any laughter, but a yawn, evidently awake somewhat past his bedtime. ]

Enemies seek out weak points first. If you had a cool eye patch, you’d be better protected. Gramps probably has an extra one, but mine might be too small for you..

You assume I have enemies? [A question so radically misplaced it would stick out like a thorn.

Sharp. A warning.

Children out past their bedtime always did get into trouble - and children who thrived in mischief under a dark sky, looking at adults like walls to scale (or to knock down), were the most interesting sort.

They always had enemies of their own.]

That's dumb, too.

[ Aki rolls his eye, evidently not aware or just indifferent to the threat implied in that tone of voice, turning to shift on the box so he can lay flat on his back and stare at the sky. Whoever this guy is, he's a poor read in the dark, and Aki hasn't yet learned the patience to wait it out.

Mistakes of youth. ]

Everyone has enemies. Everyone is an enemy to someone, at some point.

Geeze, didn't you ever go to school?

[ Not that Aki has gone to school himself, strictly speaking, having a more.. hands-on education in war, as it were, but he's aware this isn't the normal. ]

[School?

Takasugi laughed, his chuckle high and clipped. School wasn't for learning about enemies and allies -

It was where you learned your place. Whether you stayed there or broke away rested on the will of the individual, not on any teachings.]

And whose enemy are you? [Takasugi didn't particularly enjoy being called 'dumb' by a child. Repeatedly. But someone so boldly approaching, so confidently speaking of conflict, could hold his interest as he passed the lingering moments of the night.]

[ This guy is good at never answering questions.

Aki didn't notice it before, but replaying the conversation in his head, he hasn't gotten a direct answer out of anything--just evasion and returned questions.

Idly, Aki stows that information away, notes it as a technique. Some day, he's going to use with pristine skill himself, but that's not today. ]

Don't know yet. I'm too new.

[ An implied "give it time" left there, Aki cranes his head to look at the laughing man again, one eyebrow raised. His next words are surprisingly bright for a child declaring himself a nemesis, if a little overly matter-of-fact.

Kids can be so annoying. ]

So I guess that makes you the first, Old Man. I'm Aki. Who are you?

[An important skill to have - Aki does himself well to recognize that.

Making enemies was an equally valuable ability, and one the child seemed to possess no shortage of desire to learn. Takasugi's laughter repeated - though this time it was a breathy huff that sounded from his chest rather than his throat.]

Your enemy, apparently. [He tilts his head, finger running idly over the smooth length of his pipe.] Are you sure you're ready for such a commitment? [He shifts, not a meaningless motion, turning to face the child more completely while bringing the sword on his hip come into view.

It wasn't a threat, simply an addition to the atmosphere.]

[ For someone considerably smaller and definitely less prepared for battle, Aki doesn't flinch at the sight of the sword. He just regards it like another aspect of the environment around him: a detail to notice.

A man who is careful not to answer questions isn't someone who will in turn slice him down in public. For all this stranger knows, Aki has a dedicated family looking for him, and there have already been witnesses to their interactions.

So he just smiles a little more, fingers locking behind his head in a careless show of nonchalance before his gaze turns back to the bandaged man. ]

I think I can handle it, ya. Appreciate the concern, No-Name.

[A dedicated family who will soon go up in smoke, as might this child, should he chose to continue partaking in the festivities. Assumptions of safety shouldn't be so easily made - had Takasugi seen the need, he may have cut the child down.

And the potential for consequences would burn, engulfed in the coming repercussions of reducing tenuous peace to embers.]

Aaa, then I look forward to our strife. [A voice that echoed the boy's display of nonchalance. Though, for all of the dullness in his tone, the man's eye is alight - distant - with a voracious gleam.

It's a flicker, gone as quickly as it came when he turns his head back to the passers-by.]

[ well excuse him for not being as bitter and jaded as you are, takasugi. he hasn't had the same amount of time.

But he has been alive long enough to watch people with a keener understanding than he lets on, chin canting faintly again with that razor-quick shadow dancing over the man's face.

Aki suddenly has the sense that he's in the presence of a very, very dangerous man.

Springing up, Aki is careful to keep his movements casual, stifling a yawn behind a hand as he swings his legs over the crate. ]

Me too. [ Cheery enough. ] But I should probably go find my grandpa. It was nice to meetcha, No-Name.

[Either the light would fade from the child's eye in time, or he wouldn't live long enough to feel his joy seep from his bones. The future was cruel, without exception.

The dangerous man tilted his head, a sidelong glance all that was spared to the child's abrupt leave. Aware beyond his years Aki may have been, but his subtlety had not quite caught up.

But Takasugi gave a one sided twitch of a smirk and a nod in acknowledgement of the child's inconsequential plan.] Enjoy the night. [A knowing remark, as Takasugi watched the child depart towards the festival's center - the first of the night's targets.

It seemed the boy was drawn to the flames.]

People Who Make Good First Impressions Usually Suck

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