4/24/2003

10:17 PM

Logfile from Chase.

 

The Berkley Apartments - 202

Really nothing more than a college dorm come to life in an apartment building, 202 has a distinct hand done feel about nearly everything in the room - from the blue-and-white walls to the reupholstery on the couch and armchair. The perfect example of working on a budget. Electronics are limited to the computer propped on the desk, a small radio, and a tiny televison, while the kitchen is little more than a niche in the wall. A second doorway leads to the bedroom, even smaller than a dorm room because it has to share space with the bathroom as well. Posters and photgraphs decorate the walls, and books are scattered on every surface imaginable, often three or four deep, and all on sujects that do not typically involve numbers: history, philosophy, psychology, world religions, literature, politics and various languages - even some /in/ a couple of those languages.

Hikitsu is here.

Obvious exits:

Exit

 

Chase is actually going to seek out aniki. Yep. And so, there he is, first going to try the doorknob to see if it is unlocked before knocking on the door. Hopefully nobody is there, or just Ash, but... Yes, there he is.

 

And apparently also on the phone. "Yes, I'm- No, I haven't-" Brice is striding as well as he can about the small apartment, obviously working off restless energy by picking stuff up. "Amie, would you just stop for a second an-" Yes, it's the sister. Apparently she's the only one who can out-talk Brice - with quite amusing results. "Look, /Amie/, I'm telling the truth, I swear I don't-" About this time Brice spots the otouto lurking in the doorway, and he jumps forward to haul Chase in by the front of his shirt and shut the door behind him. "I gotta go, Chase just came- Yes /that/ Chase, he's down here now and- Chase, /yes/, Chase, /that one/! Look, I'll explain it all to you later I gotta go bye." *CLACK* "Good lord she can talk." He still hasn't let go of Chase.

 

Chase is drug into the apartment. Again. He should be rather used to this by now. Actually, he was wondering if a black eye would be his greeting, but this'll do as well. "Hey, Brice, I...." Okay, he'll just shut up while the other man talks upon the phone. "Got anything in the fridge to eat, that I- Okay, I'll just stay here then." Because apparently any half-hearted struggle to get free won't work here. So, he remains, and then when Brice hangs up, he responds with a bright smile, "That was the sister? You told her about me?"

 

"Yes, that was the sister, yes I told her about you, and Ash, and the patch, and the whole complicated situation - she thinks I'm mental now, thank you very much. But I didn't tell her everything." Brice's look turns to an incredibly stone sculpture, showing no emotion - something a hell of a lot more frightening than even his yelling. The yelling is mostly just a release of nerves; this... plainly isn't. This is Hikitsu at his emotionless-disapproving best, where there doesn't really seem to be hope for redemption for the one he's looking at. He releases Chase's shirt and drops his load of junk on the desk, going to sit on his favorite end of the couch. "Take what you want." This time, though, there's no emotion behind it - his voice is perfectly flat and expressionless. This is not going to be happy.

 

"Oh, hey, yeah... Hopefully she just needs to sleep on it or something. Talk to her again tomorrow. Or give her a couple of days. I'm sure you know her best..." And now Chase will just trail off as he watches Brice. Ohhhhhh shi- He draws in one breath, and then another before moving over to perch on the other end of the couch, foregoing any trips to the fridge. And so, he'll stare across to the other man. And frown, and he doesn't do all that well in silence, especially Hikitsu silence. "So..."

 

This is Hikitsu. The man is more expert at being silent than any seishi out there; when he's like this, it defies nearly /anyone/ to be comfortable in the silence he projects. "So..." He picks up Chase's word, still emotionless-yet-flatlly-disapproving. "I received a phone call from Dylan and Setsuna." The fact that he used Uruki's full name is /not/ a good sign. "Apparently you and Kenny have decided that certain extracurricular activities are a good way to make a living." ...Hell yeah, this is not good.

 

Chase shifts for a moment, clearing his throat, "Yeah... I'll bet you did." And clearly his time out and away from the city didn't make any tempers wane some. "It... it was just a thing, you know? I didn't want him to go out alone. Hell, we just found him. And, Kenny just sort of jumped Dylan before I could say anything. And, it was for a good cause, to pay for a new ID for Kenny. He needed one." And now his voice will just trail off. "And yeah, I shouldn't have gone out with him to do that. Yeah."

 

"No, you shouldn't have." Brice's voice isn't quite emotionless - and not to the point of 'I'm gonna kill you' - but it definitely has the 'I'm disappointed in you' sound not mitigated by sadness. He sounds /cold/, is what he sounds. "This 'just a thing' could have gotten you killed." It's true - seishi powers don't really stop a bullet or quickly-thrown knife. Brice doesn't ask why Chase didn't stop Kenny, or why Kenny wanted to do it. Instead he goes for something else. "Why did you do it, Chase?" It's the first time off the phone that Brice's said the otouto's name, and on /that/ word a bit of sadness and disappointment comes into his voice.

 

Chase can handle Setsuna yelling at him, he even managed to look somewhat steady when Travis threatened him with death, but he is simply going to melt into the sofa when Hikitsu acts like this. As opposed to the other man's relative stoicism, the teenager watches him with an almost frightened stare. "Because he asked me if I wanted to. Because I wanted to."

 

Brice will never, ever seriously raise a hand against Chase - though that could be part of the problem: the reaction he gives is purely emotional, or non-emotional as the case may be, there's no release or end in sight. "And why did you want to do it?" The sadness has gone again, but the coldness has retreated also - though the non-emotion that remains is, in it own way, just as bad as either previous emotion.

 

Chase drags his fingers through his hair, showing just how uneasy he is. He draws in a breath, flickers a glance away, and then finally looks back to the other man. "I don't know, Hikitsu. I just... I just wanted to do it. Because Kenny was going to. Because it was something I've never done before. Because it sounded exciting. And maybe... maybe because there was a chance that I could be killed. I don't know."

 

"You wanted excitement." Ouch. Hikitsu's voice was extra-flat on that. Oh this is not good. "You wanted the thrill of the chase, the hunt, the chance that you could get away with something on the edge. You idolize Kenny and don't want to have him think you're a wimp. You want the rush of adrenaline and the thought that you can be independent even if you've regressed." Brice's mouth closes again, pressing into a narrow line. He's not looking at Chase - and hasn't looked at him the entire time. The places they're sitting also prevent Chase from seeing his one eye, finding any clues it might have. "That's why you wanted to do it, isn't it?"

 

Okay, so maybe Hikitsu knows Tomite better then even he does. He frowns across to the other man, but it is a telling sort of frown that is a pretty good hint that Chase is worried as anything about this. He licks his lips before nodding, "That could be it. Possibly," he eases slowly, just a little recalcitrant. And then the addition, "Actually, that is pretty much all of it, I'm sure."

 

Hikitsu and Tomite; they're brothers. Brothers tend to know a lot about each other, and Tomite is even easier for Hikitsu to read then Takiko. "I don't suppose I have to tell you how worried I was when you disappeared." That time Chase was in Lexie's for days on end still rings in his head; he spent most of the time after Anana called alternately blaming himself for the disappearance, watching the news to hear of any bodies found, or out on the streets prowling for him. Even Ash was shocked. "Or when I heard you took that car." That time, visions of mutilated wrecks in a variety of places danced through his head. "Or when I heard you were involved with Lexie." Then it was pictures of Chase - or pieces of him - being tortured by various oni and brought back to life by Reese. "Or now." And then it was pictures of Chase being shot. Happy train of thoughts, ain't they? "I don't suppose I have to say how disappointed I am in you now." Doesn't he realize that Brice can arrest him for assault with a weapon? Kenny too. He's not because he's his brother, and he cares about him, even if it doesn't exactly seem that way now.

 

Chase continues to watch Brice, a frown tending along the line of his eyebrows 'til they knit. "Hikitsu? The last thing that I wanted was for you to be worried. You or any of the others. I mean... damn, it's just that...." He scowls, apparently unable to come up with just the right thing to say at this point. "I don't want you to worry. And I can tell you are disappointed. And I know why that is. I just don't know what else to say..." His eyes squeeze shut and he slumps back into the sofa, feeling awfully low at this point. And that isn't even the half of it. "I'm sorry."

 

"I have to worry about you, because you don't seem to worry about yourself." Shades of the past life - Hatsui said something eerily similar to Hikitsu about caring, once. "I worry because you disappearing would drive me over the edge, just like it... nearly did... last time." Yeah, Hikitsu died too before he could really lose it. But he would have, oh, he would have. "Anana worries about you too, and Ash, and all the rest, even if they threaten you." It's twisted, but why else would they do it if not at least to partially keep him safe? "We don't want to lose you. /I/ don't want to lose you. And you doing those types of things just makes it more likely. I know you, you won't be satisfied with muggings and joy-riding cars after a little. I don't know where you'd go after that - probably to liquor stores or minimarts, and then on to something else when that edge wore off. I don't want to have to arrest you later in life, and I damn sure as hell don't want you to die." Brice turns to face Chase for the first time since he sat; it's fairly hard to tell exactly what his expression means, but it's plain he isn't frowning fit to split a brick any more. Perhaps there's even a little bit of entreaty there? "So if you want to do something hair-brained, tell me. I'll take time off and we'll go bungee-jumping or something. Find some place to give you flying lessons in a Cessna. Just don't, /don't/ go out and commit crimes for a lark. All right?"

 

Chase finally looks back up to Brice as he begins talking again, watching the other man with barely restrained ache. "Hikitsu, I..." No, suppose they never did discuss that before. "The last thing I wanted was for you to follow me then." And the guilt at that as well nearly eats him alive. But his voice stills once more, listening to the man continue to speak. He shifts a bit where he sits, looking almost as though he is about ready to leap off of the couch. "You know you'll be the first one I'll ask.... and as soon as I got back, I was going to ask you..." He trails off though, frowning, almost not quite sure if he should continue. "There is something though that I need to do on my own first. I have to do it. On my own. It's important that I do it."

 

"I followed you of my own choice; I just happened to be killed as I did it." Brice has long gotten over dying last time - his guilt, instead, is not realizing what Takiko meant to him and not being able to protect Tomite. But both Brice and Hikitsu have had so much guilt in their lives that it's almost routine; he can function through it, although it leaves him emotionless. And where would he leap off the couch to? The room's tiny. "Going to ask me what?" he asks in the pause of Chase's speech. "What do you have to do?" Leave the 'alone' bit out of it until you know what it is, Brice.

 

Chase frowns across to Brice, shaking his head slightly, but he doesn't comment further, knowing that it is pretty useless to do so. "I was going to ask you to go oni hunting with me as soon as I got back. I fully intended to. Mina wouldn't let me go and I promised her that I wouldn't just leave, but now that I'm back here, I was going to ask you to come with me and kill some, but now..." He hesitates, shaking his head from side to side. "I've got something else I have to do. Hikitsu, nobody trusts me now. They don't think that I'm with the rest of you. And as much as that hurts, I have to do something to fix that. On my own, to prove myself."

 

Brice blinks, emotion plainly showing on his face again - though it's surprise. "Oni hunting?" He takes that in for a second, then shakes his head. "I can't do it. I have to be the responsible one here for all of us-" he's the eldest now after all "-and with the job and all..." He doesn't have the time now to go traipsing around the city, and he doesn't have the protection of job security if he does indeed manage to kill one. "If they attack, I'd be more than happy to help of course." Morals don't stop him from that. "I trust you, you know that, though I can't and won't deny that certain recent actions of yours have been... pretty strange. But Chase..." Brice pauses, not sure if he'll like the answer. "What do you have to do?" There goes that worry again. It's setting off massive alarm bells in his head.

 

Chase nods his head slowly, "Lexie is dead. Their gods killed her. First they forsake her and then they killed her. When I found that out I had every intention to come back here and kill more of them. If they so wanted to kill their own, I'd be happy to help them along. And I wanted you to come with me." He swallows before continuing, flickering a glance back to him. "Hikitsu... if I tell you, you have to promise to leave me to do it. You won't argue, you won't try to stop me, you won't say anything to anyone else about it. You won't tell a soul. I have to do this. I /have/ to."

 

"/What/? Lexie's /dead/?" He never much liked the woman (or at all), but... that's no reason to want somebody dead. They're on opposite sides and he thinks her opinions are bad (to put it diplomatically), but dead? "Oh my god..." That floors him. Initially leaning forward to make his point to Chase, Brice sinks back against the couch, dazed. "Good lord... Genbu above, killed by her own gods?" He could never, never picture any of the Yang gods, even Seiryuu, doing that. But then Chase is getting emphatic again, and Brice snaps to attention, liking the sound of this even less. "... Tell me. I won't tell anyone." He wants to know where to look for Chase if something goes wrong.

 

Chase nods his head in silent affirmation to Brice's outburst. He has already wrestled with that demon quite a bit since learning of it. "Yeah. Mina told me out there. And... she stopped me before I could come back and... well, you know." He sighs for a moment, eyes aniki, and then adds. "I'm to hunt down and kill Reese." Sounds simple, doesn't it. "And soon."

 

"She stopped you before you could come back and go on a rampage." Chase would have done that. Just a fact. He's... impetuous - which is pretty much what got him in this mess to start with. But Brice can't blame him this time; if something happened to Ash... gods no. "You're going to kill Reese." It's not a question. He'd ask why, but he knows. "When is soon, and where will this be happening? I won't follow, but... in case something goes wrong, I want to know where to go." To save his life or... something else.