5/3/2003

10:15 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 might knock a couple of times to announce his presence, but then he is going to actually try the doorknob as well to see if it just might be open. Settled in one hand is a pizza box, the remains of the evening previous. Hey, he is bringing food for once.

 

The door is, indeed, locked. And chained. And deadbolted. Seems like Brice finally learned the hard lessons of city living - though more likely than not it's to discourage pink-haired chibis from just walking in and taking more potential blackmail photos. Much more likely. But at the knock, since Chase obviously won't find the door open, Brice glances quickly through the peephole in the door, then undoes all the security and opens the door with a surprised expression. "You're bringing /me/ food for once?" Yes, it's an utter shock.

 

"Kenny didn't eat any of it, and I had plenty leftover from last night. It's cold." But everyone knows that pizza is even better the next day. Chase smirks at him for a long moment, and then smirks some more on principle. "Well, hell, don't look too surprised. Mom's sending me some frozen steaks through the mail in a couple of weeks and we can have ourself a barbeque out on the fire escape. I grill a mean steak. Going to let me in or just stand there in awe.. and what's with all of the locks?"

 

NYC=multiple locks on the door, even on Park Avenue. /Especially/ there. "Least not while I was home. I got tired of people walking in while I was asleep." *coughcoughANANAcough* Brice steps back to let Chase in the apartment, closing the door again but not locking it. "What kind is this?" he asks before flipping up the box lid to see for himself. "So, what brought on the selfless, altruistic gesture?"

 

"Vegetarian," Chase responds, giving over the pizza remains to Brice. About half of it is still there in the box. He continues right on along to find the couch and simply plop upon it, draping himself in the corner. "Because I'm always snooping in your fridge and that pizza isn't going to eat itself? And when I do walk in while you are asleep, it is usually so that I can crash on this couch here -/and/ I'm always quiet about it. So, how is the cop thing going? Catch any bad guys lately?"

 

"Vegetarian? Eh, not bad." And true to college guy-metabolism, Brice pulls one piece away from the rest and out of the box, setting the box on the coffee table and beginning to eat without the benefit of microwaving while sitting down on the opposite end of the couch. "Not you, others." He's not naming names, it could remind Chase of the incident he has in mind, although Chase might figure it out on his own. "And anyway, you know where the spare key is hidden, so your ability to get in applies in all situations." He has to roll his eye at the bad guy thing. "No, they've just finished with introducing me to all the other people there and some of the instruction I have to have. Kind of boring, although I finally get to learn to fire a guy correctly." Not to mention have one. But first he has to learn.

 

"Are they really going to give you a sidearm? Because... well... last time I checked, you couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. Uhm, I could take you out to the shooting range and try to at least get you pointed in the right direction? How to clean it and all of that stuff?" Chase adds, looking across to Brice rather skeptically. "I've only met Lee once, and he seemed alright at the time."

 

Wrong answer, Chase: at that, Brice literally balls up the crust of the pizza and fires it at Chase, pegging the otouto in the forehead. "Losing an eye hasn't made my aim /that/ bad. I played baseball, remember?" [Need to get him Athletic abils next time...] "I just can't hit you great in a fight yet. Give me a little longer on that. But yes, they are, they kind of have to - I don't have a way to take guys down without one, unlike Lee. Can't just go around freezing their feet to the ground." Though he'll do it to Travis no prob. But really, policemen get guns, it's a fact of the job. "They're going to teach me all that. It's probably just a regular handgun or something, not an UZI or anything like that." Brice blinks. "Oh, Lee's fine, it's the endless paperwork that's boring. He's actually not as stupid as a lot of people think he is." Admittedly, the man can make dumb decisions, but he's human. "Pretty bright in some situations, actually."

 

Chase picks up the crust in his lap and tosses it into the open pizza box. "Yeah, but aiming with a gun is a wee bit more different then throwing a ball around, aniki. Heh... you know what'd really be funny, seeing you chase down some robber and yelling 'Freeze!'" *snicker* Irony. "No, really though... I mean it. If you need help with that, I'll help you with the gun stuff. No problem. It'll be fun dragging you out to the range." He nods his head thoughtfully at Brice's assessment of Lee, smiling, "Sure. Granted, I don't know the guy... but if he works well as a partner or whatever, that's fine."

 

"I know, but now /you/ know that I can hit the broad side of a barn. Did, actually, back in the town." Yes, they have barns down there. Half the town was made of farmers. Brice folds his arms and sits back on the couch, shaking his head in an expression of his feelings on Chase's hypothetical situation. "I paraphrase myself from a talk with Cat - 'Irony is equiped with a frying pan and keeps whacking me in the head'. Hopefully it won't happen, he might just end up freezing." If Brice can't keep control of his power in the heat of the moment (no pun intended), it just might. His instinct is to use his powers after all. May not be able to stop himself that easily. "He's a good cop. I've just found that a bunch of guys seem to... kind of view him in a lower light, so I've gotten into the habit of sticking up for him." Because if there's one thing Brice really hates, it's unfairness.

 

Chase chuckles in response. "Okay, Okay. But I'll believe it when I see it. So... is that even a yes for shooting help? I mean it, I'll help you with that." His body seems to conform to that corner of the couch, head lolling back to rest in the cushions. "Oh? Well, I hope it works out. I know you can handle yourself in that sort of thing, being a cop and all. Hopefully Lee is a good cop too and he'll watch your back." Okay, so maybe there is still a teeny-weeny touch of worry there, that he'll not quite trust some other guy at Brice's partner in this sort of thing, but he is at least going to be good about it. Supportive younger brother, or something.

 

"I have pretty good aim when I can stand relatively still, or my target is. And guys don't have as much chance to dodge bullets as punches. If I need help, then yeah - don't know how good or bad I'll be yet." Brice suddenly grins. "It's incredibly backwards - the little brother offering to teach the elder all the physical defenses. It's like people believe I can't do anything." He ends with a bit of a laugh. "True, I'm not as good as you or Namame or Inami, but I'm not entirely defenseless." Otherwise he'd be dead now. Random observation. "It'll work out. And hell, he's probably the best for getting anyone out of trouble - he's a teleporter." Brice has a couple friends that are /definitely/ good to have on call - a teleporter and a healer. And the healer can cook as well! "What, worried about me?"

 

Chase smirks across to Brice, "So you have been leading a typical and sheltered life? And haven't had near as much fun as some of the rest of us." 'Us' being the 'hoodlums' of the family. "Worried about you? Well... Yeah, and I'm jealous.  You hanging out with some Byakko now as a partner. That is all kinds of messed up. If I start catching him hanging out around here, I might take it personal."

 

"Not really 'typical and sheltered,' just not with /your/ kind of excitement. I've actually almost been arrested a couple times." 'Almost' being the key word. It would've been a lot harder to get the job if he had a record, even just one for disturbing the peace. And because of the worried thing, Brice just /has/ to lean over and ruffle Chase's hair. Because Chase is a little sibling, and that's what you do to younger siblings. "Don't worry, it takes an awful lot to hurt me." Remember? It's somewhat like punching marble. "You don't have to be jealous, you're still my brother. And actually I hang out with another Byakko too, but what have you got against them?" And why is Chase degenerating into Ghetto-speak? O.o

 

Chase shakes his head from side to side as his hair is ruffled. Far, far too many people have done that ever since he stopped wearing a ballcap on his head. Now he actually sympathizes with Anana. "I don't have anything against the Byakko. I just... Okay, I'm jealous and that's about it. But I'll get over it. Just... don't start up crap with oni or if something here to happen and call him first and not me, okay?" Because he actually does worry a bit about these sorts of things. "And if you do manage to get shot or something, I'm blaming Lee. You always watch your partner's back."

Brice is the aniki, he gets priority on the hair-ruffling. Sorry Chase, fact of life. "I find that surprisingly easy to believe - but trust me, you're still my number-one trouble connection. You attract chaos worse than Anana." Then again, the imouto attracts trouble worse than Chase. It's a good trade-off. "I doubt we're going to get in many fights on the job - mostly show up after, look for evidence, and try to figure out which of them did it. And I'm calling you first, you know it. And hey, they're going to finance a cell phone for me, I'll no longer be unreachable more than half the day." And that's a good thing. Brice is tempted to ruffle the boy's hair again, but he won't antagonize Chase that much in that short a time. "Don't blame him, blame me for not paying attention. Besides, Cat could fix me up easily." And Lee could get him to her. Nice system. "Anyway, why'd you come down, other than to deliver a boon of day-old pizza?"

 

Chase seems to be doing quite a bit of smirking lately, and even a moment of rolling his eyes. But, he'll quip lightly, "But chaos is so fun.. and I've got to even things out. You know, to make up for you." He draws a leg up onto the couch, digging his foot in the spot between the cushions. "To talk, of course. And stuff... and I think I need some advice on something too." He frowns, scowling at the pizza for no reason in particular. "What do you think about Mina? And I'm not talking about her always bumbling into trouble, because everyone knows about that -and it annoys her that people always jump to that conclusion."

 

"You do a very good job at evening out for me, and managing to give me a migraine in the process." Yes, Brice is joking, his voice has that joking laugh in it. "Advice on what?" And then comes the question about Mina, and he frowns a bit. What's going on here...? "I know she does get into trouble, but most of the time she doesn't mean to, like Anana. I guess... She's a good girl, she just can't help making bad decisions sometimes." Brice shrugs. "When I first found her after she got her powers and memories back, she was in really bad shape. Kind of made the big-brother impression on me. She's a good person, with a good heart, who just gets caught up in some messed-up stuff." It's hard to articulate, ain't it?

 

Chase chuckles initially at Brice's first words, smile growing wide for a moment. But he sobers with a sigh, slumping back even more. "Do you think that if she got involved with me, she'd be getting involved in 'some messed-up stuff'? I mean... I've got to be better than some oni, right? Some guy who she even told me doesn't love her, who she stays with and jeopardizes her relationship with the rest of the Byakko. Sure... admittedly, I'm a little rough around the edges, but I'm not someone a girl would run from, right? Especially right after he tells her that just maybe I could give her what /he/ can't, and kisses her and..." He scowls. A fierce scowl.

 

What is it with Chase and older women? Ah well. As Chase rambles, Brice listens carefully, frown getting slightly more pronounced. Okay, this is complicated... He chooses his words /very/ carefully. "You're a little rough around the edges, but your heart's in the right place in just about everything you do." And especially now that he won't randomly go out and try criminal activities. "I don't think you're someone a girl would run from, but I'm not the most qualified person to make that judgement." Being both a sibling and male. "I think that if she went with you, there would be much less potential for 'some messed up stuff'." And he has to say this. "Mina cares - she gives her caring very easily, so I don't think there's any way to completely keep her out of 'messed up stuff'. But..." He knows that he probably hasn't had any effect on Chase yet, but he had to get stuff out in the open immediately. "I think you could make her happy, if she'd let herself accept it." Mina seems to have a thing for self-punishment - first Kai, then Rathan (who Hikitsu doesn't know). He takes the 'do you like her that way?' and 'yes' as given, and skips straight to "Do you think she likes you the way you like her?" Irony really does love the turtle people - Brice predicted this before he even introduced them.

 

Chase brings his hands around, placing them over his eyes as if to try to rub some sense into his head, and then drag fingers back through his hair. And she isn't exactly older. He /was/ eighteen once upon a time. Still has lived for eighteen years as Mr. William Chase Isard. He can't help it if the gods are screwed up, and drag him along for the ride on their whim. "She loves him, and she doesn't want to screw things up with Rathan," he mutters, a touch of hardness in his tone. "Mina even admitted that she's attracted to me, but just wants to stay friends. Dammit, Hikitsu. I am her friend, but why can't she just let it be something else too? She doesn't want complication or some other such crap. And then she ran off on me. What in the hell am I supposed to do now?"

"Chase, I'm saying this because it's the truth: Mina is a masochist. She's a good girl, but she repeatedly hurts herself because she settles on men who don't return her feelings. I don't know if she intentionally means to be like that, but that's how she turned out." Brice performs a smilar gesture to Chase, pushing his hair out of his face by raking his fingers back through it from his forehead. "I'd say, if you feel this strongly, go after her. Try to show her that you really /can/ do this stuff for her. It's like an addiction; even though it hurts her, she can't break the cycle. She needs someone to help her, and maybe it can be you." In his own mind, Brice is determined to call her as soon as possible and have his own talk with her - not about the fact that she's seeing an oni, but that she's seeing someone who won't give her anything back. She needs help, and his aniki complex is kicked into overgear when he hears about stuff like this.

 

Chase quietly listens to Brice, watching him throughout the man's moment of advice giving. He frowns slightly, confusion meeting annoyance in his gaze, only to be trumped by an almost hopeful look to his eyes. Gee, can you tell that the kid is fairly clinging to Brice's words? "I wasn't planning on this happening the way it did. But she had to go and bring up me kissing her before last night, and it all went downhill from there. Kept telling me to stop pushing her, but I fucking know her being with that Rathan guy is wrong, and there is no way I'm just going to sit back and let this just..." He sighs, shaking his head from side to side, "Bet you anything she is going to try to avoid me now. What do I do? Just keep pushing or what?  I'm no good at this stuff." Yes, he is asking for more advice.

 

Brice winces; this is not a good situation. Not at all. "I don't have much experience at this, Chase. I can see so many things coming from this... And a lot of it's bad. We hope for the good, but if any one thing goes wrong..." Brice sighs heavily, shaking his head a couple times. "I don't think you should push her. You may know that being with Rathan is wrong, and hell, maybe even she does, but she hasn't accepted it yet. Be there for her and be her friend, but don't push things either physically or emotionally... I don't think that the way she is now, she'll go with you. It'll just push her away if you do." Once again he sighs. "Chase, I've never had to go through this. I have no idea what I'd do in a similar situation, I have no idea if I'm giving you the wrong advice or not. But... Mina definitely needs to see that she's heading down the wrong path. Or accept it, if she already sees it." Which is going to be very, very, VERY hard.

 

Chase is like the proverbial sponge, soaking up every little bit that Brice has to offer him, and all while watching him with curious eyes. "This sucks. This really, really sucks," he mutters, finally glancing away from Brice with a sigh. "I really wish she'd just wise up and... Dammit." And so, his head will loll back once more, arms draping to either side while he apparently finds the ceiling enthralling. "She is too stubborn for her own good. And I don't know what else to do... I suppose I told her how I felt, and it is up to her now. If she just ignores it and stays with him... then so be it, but I'll be damned before I see her get hurt by some oni."

 

"You're right." For once, Brice isn't arguing with Chase's view of the situation. Because in a lot of respects, it does. "I don't know how she can 'wise up'. She's too compassionate for her own good." Which may be the problem in the end. "She wants to help people, and then feelings develop..." He's thinking of the situation with Kai here, as he doesn't know anything about Rathan. But it's applicable in both situations. "Unless you get severely injured and refused to be healed by Cat or someone, she probably wouldn't have a reason to get those same protective urges... No that's /not/ an invitation to go out and get yourself beaten up. I don't know what you can do any more than you do, Chase." Note that Brice doesn't say 'I don't know what to do'. Because's he's /determined/ to have that talk with Mina.

 

"Not unless I manage to get Rathan on my case..." Chase eases slowly, looking thoughtful for a moment. But in the next breath he is sighing, shaking his head from side to side. "But I'm not going to try to manipulate some situation, and her, just so that I can get the fucking sympathy vote from Mina. That is even more messed up then any other way, and I am /not/ going to prey on that side of her." He mutters a couple of choice phrases under his breath, and then manages a coherent, "I just wish this would actually turn out... this time."

 

"Good, because brother or not, I won't let you do that. I won't let /anyone/ do that. It'd just hurt everyone too much in the end." At least Hikitsu wasn't like /this/ in the past. And stuff got fixed now, and things are good for them. "Hey, Tomite, I'm sorry about that... I was being an ass, and everything went to hell..." He really /is/ sorry for how the situation turned out. Not sorry to the point of giving Ash up (hell no), but sorry that Tomite had to go through it. "But no, you shouldn't prey on Mina like that. You're better than that; you need to help heal her, not hurt her more. I think you can do it, if she'll let you in." That's the key.

 

"I'll figure something out. I always do. I'll just... be my old, lovable self and simply let my boyish charm do all of the work. I mean... it has to work /some/ time," Chase sighs with mock exasperation. Okay, maybe there is a touch of real exasperation as well. But he is then shaking his head from side to side, "Don't worry about it. Okay? It's fine. I'm happy for you and her, really." He offers Brice a faint grin, as crooked as ever though. "I'm trying with Mina, Hikitsu... I am. And I'm not going to stop."

 

"Huh..." Brice looks at Chase again with a small, contemplative frown. "Maybe /that's/ part of the problem. You're smart Chase, and you care, but people rarely see it." The aniki isn't teasing - it's fact. "Maybe if you act as mature as I've seen you sometimes, not goofing off as much, it'd make her see you in a different light." Because really, it makes people feel good to be taken care of, and someone who's not acting mature isn't exactly confidence-inspiring in that area. "You shouldn't stop trying." Brice says that very firmly - that's the one thing he's sure of. "You just shouldn't try and make it go faster than she can take."

 

Chase is bringing his hands up to rub at his forehead once again, a yawn escaping as well. "So you're saying I should start acting my /other/ age?" He doesn't exactly sound annoyed or anything, simply asking in a normal tone of voice. Drawing back in the sofa, his eyes drift closed as he murmurs, "There is no way I'm going to stop, Hikitsu. No way. I care too much about her to simply let it go. All I'm asking for is one chance..."

 

"Yeah, it can't hurt. Maybe it'd help convince Travis and 'Suna that you /haven't/ gone over as well. If you start taking things more seriously than you have been lately, you might get a lot of pleasant surprises." You never know, it could work. "Not being so irreverent could at the very least mean people trust you more, which is always a good thing." Brice figures he's said enough on that topic and glances at Chase, noting the yawn. Looks like the otouto's going out like a light... But he /has/ to ask. "You're completely serious about her? Not like Lexie?" Because if it's the same, he's stopping it here and now. That's just a bad idea.

 

Chase's eyes blink back open for a moment as he focuses upon Brice once more. There is a flicker of a wince there, and something else, almost indecision but not for the man's question. Must remember to tell Brice that tomorrow morning, but he really hasn't the desire now to speak of it. "I was serious about Lexie too, Brice. I cared a lot about her. She was fun and exciting, but I'm not going to say that this is the same thing. I knew nothing could ever have came from being with Lexie, but it still eats me up inside that she is gone, especially like that..." Gradually, the insistence in his voice lightens, and eyes are drifting shut once more. "But you know that Mina is different. I was never in love with Lexie, but I know I can be that way with Mina. I can feel it. I even told her so." And then he kissed her, and she ran off. Ahhhh, rejection. It is also on that note that the boy begins to finally snooze off.

 

Brice sighs as Chase drifts off, nodding a bit to himself. "Good." And he stands, sticking a couple of pillows at his end of the couch, then carefully pushing Chase down so he's lying correctly on the couch before disappearing into the bedroom. He returns a moment later with a folded quilt, plainly of the southern tradition of quilt-making, and quickly spreads it over the sleeping boy. "I'll help you if I can." And then he disappears back into the bedroom, staying there this time.