1/24/2006
11:46 PM
Logfile from Chase.
The Berkley Apartments - 302
Sparse living at its finest, or worse. The wood flooring
actually as something of a luster to it through the careful maintenance of
leaser's past. Walls are a rather neutral beige with something of a wood border
about a third of the way up to add some character, as sparse as it is though.
There is a threadbare couch, simple table and chairs, a tiny kitchen and an
even tinier bathroom. A pair of doors seem to oppose one another down the small
hall to the bathroom, each one leading to a different bedroom. But it is the
additions that seem to give this places its character: like the expensive
stereo system just over there flanked by a couple of towers of CDs or the
dreamcatcher by the window that overlooks the fire escape and the street below.
Obvious exits:
Exit
Tomite
The slightly tousled brush of sloe-black hair tickles at
the nape of this teenager's neck just as the dark and straight fringe cascades
over his forehead to oft overshadow perceptive gaze. Irises of a glacial
grey-green are set in almond-shaped eyes and framed with lashes as dark as his
hair. Youthful features are harshly angled, the strict lines drawn with the
descendant of the same native blood that grants his skin its dusky cast. With
his pronounced features and despite the almost gaunt appearance, a lithe grace
characterizes this youth's slightly less than average height as the low swell
of toned muscles leave his wiry form distinctly svelte.
Loose cargo pants in typical khaki drop down to fold over
the top of his slightly-scuffed mountain boots, pockets littering the fabric
down the length of his legs. A short-sleeved shirt of midnight blue, marked
with the logo of Abercrombie, tops a long-sleeved one of Oxford grey. Faded
blue baseball cap that seems to have been through quite a few years of wear
often is pulled around so that the bill is to the back, if he is even wearing
it.
Would you look at that? Seems Chase has been busy,
because there is a small hoop earring in his left eyebrow.
Tomite appears to be 19 years and 11 days old.
He is awake and looks alert.
Carrying:
Jade Chalice
Pendant
Chase is here. Yep. Here. Freshly ready for the next
semester of school, whenever that is supposed to happen. Freshly showered and
freshly... here. Alas, it seems to be just him. Here. Yeah, here.
And so is Mina.
Well, not /inside/ but she aims to change that situation. Knocking on the door to announce her
presence, she waits impatiently for the Genbu to answer. And while she waits, she ponders. Chase can sense chi, ne? And he's maintained that he can sense hers. So why does she have to knock? "Next time I'm not knocking," she
yells through the door. "You're
just being rude and making me do it, even though you already know that I'm
here." And she's even come bearing
gifts for him. "Honestly," she
grumps to the seishi behind the door.
"What kind of friend are you?"
Chase glances towards the door. Huh. Well, you know how
sometimes you get that really comfortable and warm spot on the couch that you
really don't want to leave? Well, this is one of those times. With a sigh,
heave, and groan, he pushes to his feet, "Would it help if I simply gave
you a key? Or gave you an education in lock picking." He opens the door,
waving a hand to usher her in. "I'm the kind of friend... that is happy to
let you in. S'up?"
"Look what I got you," Mina grins cheerfully,
waving a bookmark in front of the other seishi's face. Poor Chase probably can't see it clearly, but
she eventually holds it still in front of him so that he can clearly see the
picture of Legolas and Gimli staring back at him. "Isn't it great! I was so happy when I found it in the thrift
store. I haven't seen a lot of Lord of
the Rings stuff around lately."
Pushing it into the Genbu's hand, she peeks over her shoulder before
ducking inside the apartment. "Ne,
Chase-kun, can I ask a favor?"
Uh-oh, those words are never good.
Chase jerks his head back and then squints at whatever
she is waving at him. And then he blinks and smirks at the bookmark. He takes
it, peers at the bookmark, at Ame, at the bookmark, at Ame, at the bookmark, at
Ame... etc... "Yeah." He blinks and then peers at her, closing the
door after her. "Uhm, what?"
"You don't like it," the Byakko pouts as she
looks at her friend. "But it
reminded me so much of you."
Sulking slightly, she plops onto Chase's couch. "Can I hang out here for a couple of
days." Maybe weeks. "You see, I... um... well, I did
something bad with Byakko-sama and now Dylan's probably heard all about it and
he's going to blame me, even though it's not my fault at all. I mean, when a god insists... what else can
you do?" Nibbling on her lower lip
worriedly, she adds, "I mean... so I led him there, but I wanted to
stop. Only Byakko-sama wouldn't listen
to me. He was very intent. I've never seen him so serious," she
confides in a hushed whisper.
Chase can look fake cheery just as well as the next guy.
He blink for a moment, and then suddenly erupts into a bright, toothy smile.
"Oh! It's great! I'll.... Oh, nothing ever can compare to it. So
awesome." He gives her a sidling glance, and then sets the mark aside.
"Eh?..." Color him confused. "Wait... is this god problems?"
"Oh good," Mina claps her hands together
happily. "I'm glad you like
it. I figure you can use it for all
those Criminal Justice books that you have to read, ne?" See what a thoughtful friend she is? Sinking back into the comfort of the Genbu's
couch, she blinks over at Chase.
"You're going to make me say it, aren't you," she asks with a
dejected sigh. Fiddling with a string on
the end of her sweater, she sighs and then just rushes out with it. "I took Byakko-sama to
Illuminations. I was trying to tell him
to stay away, but he wouldn't listen to me and then he went in and somehow
we... ended up freeing Amatsumika."
Deep breath. "But it really
wasn't my fault. And I kept him away
from the paintings! And he said that
we'd be fine anyway because he's a god.
So he wasn't in any danger really.
And so Dylan's just going to overreact so I need a place to hide out
until he forgets." Turning big,
puppy-dog eyes on the seishi, she once again begs, "So I can stay here,
right? Because you're my bestest best
friend?"
Chase flops onto the couch as all with all kinds of
boneless grace, immediately getting comfortable. He opens his mouth to say
something, some sort of response, but he is robbed of it all by what she has to
say. He blinks a few times, considers, considers again, and then looks
moderately alarmed. "Uh... Heheheheehe." You know, the nervous laugh.
"Uhm." Licks his lips. "Uhm, this sounds like a lot of trouble.
Chase is backing away from trouble? Mina peers over at the Genbu curiously, going
as far as to poke the other seishi to make sure he's not some podperson. "Since when do you run from trouble,
cowboy," the Byakko asks, pouting again.
"All right, all right, fine.
I'll go hide out somewhere else."
Maybe Rathan and Nikki would let her spend the night. Though... that might not be the best solution
since Homasubi's made an appearance.
"I wish I could transform into a cat like Toroki. It'd definitely be useful in times like
this." Going through her list of
seishi and their domiciles, she comes up blank time and time again. "Hey Chase-kun, how far away was that
campsite we went to a couple years back?
Think I could make it there by horseback?"
Chase laughs nervously, "I'm not running from
anything, you know... but when gods start getting involved..." He gets
just a little uneasy. "Hey wait, what the hell?" He grumps.
"Dammit, it's not like that. It's just... Why do you even think that he's
going to get all grumpy? So what? I mean..." He isn't really sure what he
means. In defeat, the young man slumps back, shoulders sagging, "I swear,
girl... why do you do these things? I mean, how do you manage it?"
"Speaking of gods, has Genbu appeared yet,
Chase-kun?" Mina casts a sidelong
look over towards the Genbu and then blinks.
"This is Dylan we're talking about," she reminds the other
seishi. "Dylan who loves to lecture
me and who calls me a walking statistic."
And that hurts, even if it's been more true than not, lately. "Of course 'Suki's going to be
grumpy." Somehow Mina seems to
bring out that personality trait in the other Byakko. Sitting up straighter, she turns to face
Chase and pokes again. "What do you
mean, how do I manage it. Weren't you
listening? Byakko-sama's the one who
wanted to go in. I just followed to
protect him because I'm a good seishi."
She pauses to see if lightening strikes her down. When there's no much as a thunderclap, she
sticks her tongue out at the boy.
"See."
Chase has this insane desire to grab that tongue of hers,
but resists. Barely. He sighs and then rolls his eyes, "Look, the last
thing I want to do is get between you guys. I'll..." He braces himself.
"I'll let ya stay here IF... you tell him you are here. Okay? And WHY you
are here... because I don't want him getting all pissy with me. I really don't
think you need to be here, but if you are this worried, then maybe you and he
need to talk about it. Hrm?" Oh look, Chase is being all thoughtfull and
like some kind of guidance counselor. Isn't that sweet.
Mina boggles and then frowns at her friend, sulking
slightly. "Chase-kun," she
sighs before explaining patiently.
"If I told Dylan where I was and what I did, why would I need to
hide out? I could just stay at home and
watch Teen Titans if that was the case."
Leaning back again, she blinks and asks curiously, "You think he'd
get all pissy at you?" See, Mina
thought that he saved that just for her.
"Well, I don't want to get you in trouble, Chase-kun," she
sighs, before rising. "I guess I'll
go talk to Dylan after all." See,
she can be an adult. Bah, who's she
kidding, she's going home after her failed attempt to hide out here. Pausing at the door, she blinks and then
turns back towards the other seishi.
"Oh yeah, Chase-kun. Wanna
go see Brokeback Mountain with me? It's
still playing at the E-Walk theater on 42nd Street. I hear it's really good."
Chase is suspicious. Oh yes. He frowns while watching
her. This is almost scary. He quickly scrambles to his feet, nearly falling
over the arm of the couch in his haste to grab her wrist. "Wait. Wait.
Wait... Uhm... Okay, how about this? I let you stay here, okay? Just for...a
day or so? Maybe? I mean, it'll be really fun or something. We can stay up all
night watching scary movies and you can make me food." Yeah. That works.
He likes the sound of that.
Yay, Mina can stay!
So what if it's just one night, it's one night that Dylan can't find
her. "Wai, thank you
Chase-kun," she all but squeals and wraps her arms around the seishi in a
happy hug. "Demo..." Pause.
"I don't like scary movies," she whimpers. "They give me nightmares and then I
can't sleep. Remember Poltergeist? I couldn't sleep for days. It was terrible." Especially considering the fact that she's a
Byakko and adores her catnaps. "Can
we watch... um... romantic comedies instead?" Pause.
"And umm... I can order us pizza.
That's like making dinner, ne?"
Chase totally ignored that whole Brokeback thing. Did ya
notice that? He's going to wince slightly at the romantic comedy thing.
"Uhm, we don't have any of those. How about Space Balls?" Because
that movie is all kinds of awesome. He gently pulls himself from her, taking a
deep breath because he now can take one. "As long as you pay for the
pizza, I'm all for it. With everything on it. As a matter of fact, get two."
He can eat that, easily. Wonder where it all goes.
Actually, Mina kinda forgot all about that in her
excitement. Best not remind her. "Space Balls?" Wrinkling her nose, the Byakko decides that
beggers can't be choosers. "Hai,
that sounds like fun." Only if Chase
starts reciting lines, he's so gonna be labeled a nerd in her book. As the Genbu extracts himself, she looks
slightly offended. "Of course I'm
paying, baka. I have all of," she
digs into her coat pocket and pulls out a rather crumpled twenty and some
assorted coins. See, she's rich. "Twenty dollars and eighty-five
cents. So yeah, we can get one no make
that two vegetarian supremes!"
Grinning slyly, she sidles over to the other seishi to add, "Oh,
and guess what Chase-kun? I'm
legal!"
Chase is totally going to recite lines... and even
better, it is going to be before they are said! It'll be great! Ame will love
it here! But then he cringes. Oh yuck. That's right... vegetarian. He winces
and then slowly nods his head. "Uh... yeah, that'll work." Or
something. He blinks though, and smirks at her, "Oh really? Well...
congratulations!"
Mina saw that cringe, indeed she did. "Okay, one vegetarian, one regular
supreme. Just because I adore you,
Chase-kun." Digging in her other
pocket, she pulls out her cellphone and begins dialing the 1-800 number that
automatically redirects you to the closest Pizza Hut in the area and as it's
ringing, wrinkles her nose at the seishi.
"So I guess you don't want Peach Schnapps after a- hello," she
reverts her attention to the phone and quickly places her order. Closing her phone with a satisfied snap, she
considers her friend for a moment. He's
changed, matured. Who would have thought
it? "Hey cowboy," she
teases. "I bet I can still
out-track you with my eyes closed."
"Oh, I love you," Chase nearly coos, dropping
to his knees, hands clasped before her. Yesssssssss, a real supreme pizza. With
meat! What was that about maturity? Huh. "What the hell are you doing
wandering around with booze? Turned into some kind of wino now that you've got
a shiny new license?" He follows that with a teasing wink before smiling.
"Is that the garbage that people have been letting you drink? Pathetic. We
can do better." He slowly climbs to his feet, laughing, "I swear...
you almost sound like you want to play a game of hide-and-seek like when you
were tiny. Wait... you still are short."
"I don't have it yet," Mina counters in a
huff. "I was just offering because
it tastes nice." She hasn't really
developed a taste for the harder stuff, nor for beer. "Oh, or wine coolers. Arbor Mist tastes so... who are you calling a
wino." Poking at the other seishi,
she frowns and then blink as his words sink in.
"Better? What kind of
better. Is it yummy?" Watching the Genbu rise with a rather
skeptical look, her eyes widen and her nostrils flare at the affront. "Who are you calling short? Pe/tite/," she enunciates slowly for the
boy. "I'm petite! It's cute and dainty, damn it."
Chase burst into a wide grin. He dances back a step,
waggling a finger at her, "Girly. Girly. Girly." Yep, taunting.
"But if you are into that sort of thing, then I suppose you are. Kinda
wussy, if you ask me."He drops back a step, crossing his arms over his
chest, "I'll remember that. Dainty. That usually means like wimpy and
/girly/ and weak and crap like that." He arches an eyebrow at her,
"Thanks for clearing that up for me."
What the heck?
Mina glowers at the other seishi, a frown shadowing her brow. Oh, she sees how it is. Chase is nice as pie until he gets what he
wants, i.e. pizza, and then he turns into a big meanie-head. "I'll girly you," the Byakko
growls, launching forward in hopes of tackling the Genbu to the floor. "I so am not a wuss. I'll have you know that I battled a mean spider
demon earlier today." Okay, battle
isn't really the right word for being sucked up into a vortex and dropped on
top of a Suzaku seishi. "And I
helped return a kid to his mom."
Who happened to be the same demon that sucked her up into the
vortex. "That's not wimpy at
all. Wimpy is not being able to see a
movie where two men kiss!" Ah, so
now Mina remembers the boy's lack of a response to her movie invitation.
Chase quickly ducks and spins to the side to be able to
avoid her launch. He dances back away from her, arms and hand outstretched
before Mina as if to ward her off. "All you need is a Hello Kitty wardrobe
and sparkles, then it'll all be complete." But then he is stalling,
staring at her, "Awh, are you kidding me? Spider demons? Why do you get
all the fun? Why can't I ever get to mess with spider demons and oni and things
I can shoot stuff at. That'd be fun." He scowls, "Why the hell would
I want to see that? Why can't it be two girls?"
The bad thing about all-out tackle attacks is that they're hard to recover from. Stumbling, Mina faceplants in a rather inelegant fashion and just sputters for a moment or two. "You're not supposed to dodge, cowboy," she growls. Rising up and gathering her bearings, she narrows her eyes and hisses. "Thems fightin' words, cowboy. Hello Kitty and sparkles this..." Oh, it's not the regular tackle Chase to the ground type attack. No, it's more of a feint to the left and then an attempt at a quick and merciless tickle to the exposed flesh on the right. "I didn't shoot her, per se," she admits ruefully. "Byakko-sama was with me. He's the god of children and demons, you know. Kinda keeps me from attacking right away." Bah, excuses, excuses. Mina was running out her door like a yellow-bellied, lily-livered rabbit during hunting season. Not that she'd tell Chase that. "Because it's supposed to be good and poignant and open our eyes to the gay rights movement, silly." Pause. "You know, with 'Suna as a fellow seishi, I'd have thought you'd want to see it."