9/6/2003
12:38
AM
Logfile
from Gabriel.
Gabriel's
Opening
from the front facade is a rather simple plate-glass door, banded on one side
by a showroom front window giving hint as to what is currently available and
trendy at this moment in time for the fashion conscious. Once within, the smell
of new fabric and leather mingles with that of jasmine and tea rose.
The
flooring is old wood varnished to new glory, but the entryway is set with a
stone mosaic in the form of a starburst, both relics from the original building
and diligently revived. Pale blue, nearly white, adorns the walls where brick
and mortar do not just as the lighting is warm, hopefully inviting patrons to
spend some time within. Clothing racks are set here and there along the floor just
as the walls as well, a handful of clothing articles to each setting to dismiss
any cluttered appearance.
Trendy
desires are in evidence, along with that which might be considered more
understated and simple in design -or as the proprietor would say: more able to
enhance the person wearing the clothing, not the clothing itself. Along the
back wall are a trio of changing rooms, and off to the left side is a long
counter where transactions can be made.
Obvious
exits:
Exit Stairs
The
interior of the store is somewhat dim, but that can only be attributed to the
fact that about half of the lights within are off. Possibly discouraging anyone
from entering, even if the door is still left unlocked. Gabe is back at a
counter, patiently ticking through an inventory sheet, and comparing it with
another.
Okay,
it took a bit, but Malachai managed to get himself away from the penthouse for
a few hours. That took a lot more effort than he'd imagined, but once he felt
like he could stand up without having his knees go weak and all, he got dressed
and excused himself out to run a few errands. Not to mention finding some food
to eat, catch up on local news, that sort of thing. His wanderings take him
through the Village again, but it is the sort of place an artist would find
home, so it's no surprise. Ah, his brother's store... it brings another impish
grin to his face as he eyes the dimmed lights for a moment before trying the
door anyway. "Oh Gabriel..."
Gabriel
scratches off another item on the list with the flick of the pencil against the
paper, running a finger along until finding something else to mark off. At the
sound of the door opening, his head lifts with the hopefulness that it is one
person, only to blink as instead is it someone else. This requires another
blink as well at the voice. He straightens some in his seat, body leaning to
the side to catch full sight of... "Malachai?" Obviously.
Malachai
steps in and closes the door behind him, leaning against it as he takes a quick
look around the store but doesn't spy anyone else other than Gabriel.
"Yes, it's me. Just thought I'd drop by, was in the neighborhood and
all." Not a difficult thing since Manhattan is just a 5 mile island.
"I take it you're restocking after the first day of School rushes?"
All those NYU students going nutso and all.
Nope,
everyone else is gone. Just him. And as Malachai well knows, there are perks in living in the same building that
you work at. Home is just up a flight of stairs for him. With a nod of his
head, he actually waves the other in closer, "Come on in then." He
sighs slightly though, "Yes. I didn't plan on so many, but if I'm still
here next year, I'll have to remember to have more selections on hand."
Malachai
is mildly surprised at the invitation, but then again their last encounter in
here was at least polite, strained but not disastrous. "Plan on it being
busy around Halloween too then. Big party season for the college crowd around
then and your selections look like they might attract certain crowds." He
does a quick glance at the racks, but looses interest quickly since probably
the best items have been picked clean already. The oni doesn't comment about
next /year/ though, even he can't predict what will be going on by then..
Gabriel
is just the good brother like that. He nods his head in understanding,
considers, and then actually jots down something upon the paper he was making
notes upon before. "Maybe I should actually try to hire someone that does
know a thing or two about actually running a small clothing store, instead of
still bumbling my way through this." Yep, he admits that much. He can run
a country, but not a business. Figures.
Tell
that to Mayor Bloomberg too, before he screws up the City's economy. The
businessman is treating the city as if it were a business and it's effects on
small stores and local franchises is likely going to undo all the good the
previous Mayor had managed. "Don't look at me, I'm just speaking from what
I've witnessed, that's all. My own local business doesn't quite have the same
clientele that you do." He pushes away from the door and moves slowly
towards the counter rather than continuing to try and speak across the store.
"I'm curious though, why a clothing store?"
Gabriel
sets down the pencil onto the paper, tapping it once with his finger. He looks
back up and over to Malachai. "You arn't the first person to ask me that,
actually. Why? because it was better than waiting tables again. I've a couple
of connections in the industry and has money to invest. I'll try to make a go
of it. If not..." And he shrugs his shoulders negligently.
Malachai
quite imagines that Gabriel would have gotten some very interesting tips if he
were a waiter still. There are enough fan girls in the city have made life
rather interesting. Heck there are a few restaurants in Little Italy who's
waiters are real eye candy and... Pulling his thoughts back into place,
Malachai shakes his head. "Waiting on tables? Yes, I'd imagine that owning
your business has a certain satisfaction to it. Though I think if you can
afford it, I'd recommend that you hire some help. I mean, the city has cleaned
up a bit in the last decade, but now that all the students are back and the
crowds get bigger, you're going to get shop lifters and grifters. You'd need at
least a second set of eyes to watch your back while you're helping
customers."
Gabriel
nods his head in the affirmative, "I do have an assistant though that does
come in on most days." Same assistant tends to bring in her friends so
they can stand off in a corner to gawk and giggle. He looks back over to
Malachai with a soft glance, "Satisfaction? Yes. It certainly does."
There
are probably a few 'art admirers' that come along to Malachai's gallery for the
same reason, on the off chance that the artist is around. "Oh good,
probably will make it easier for you. Glad to see that you're doing okay here
then." For a moment, there is a flicker of something that crosses the
oni's face, a disturbed look that makes him look like he's hesitating on the
verge of maybe offering more than he aught. "Say.. Gabe.. Have you heard,
I mean spoken with the others? I mean the other Suzaku?"
Gabriel
leans back in his seat, the chair creaking in protest at his movement.
"Well enough. But, if I manage to go under... well, there is the waiting
tables." Doesn't hurt to fall back on that. Heck, he probably would make
more in tips doing that then running this store. He blinks back at the other in
confusion for a moment and then replies, "Do you mean as in lately? Or
simply in general? Yes, I know of all of them. Why do you ask?"
Malachai
briefly considers offering Gabe some sort of job if the situation arises, but
then stops. It probably wouldn't be accepted anyway. Though if he ended up
serving at say Lin's Dumpling House, would it be wrong to call him Dumpling
Boy? "Yeah, I mean lately. I don't exactly want to worry you..." He
growls slightly in frustration. "Actually this is probably more like a tip
off, though I'm sure that kid, what's his name, Chiriko probably has some idea,
but I wouldn't exactly... count on next year."
Gabriel
would probably not take kindly to being called Dumpling Boy. Then again, it is
probably doubtful he would even work in such a place. He straightens right back
up in his seat, actually moving to stand next with a smooth movement.
"Hiroshi? You have spoken to him?" He frowns for a moment in
consideration, and possibly a little bit of confusion, "No? Then there's
something that you seem to know about the future? Is this for certain?"
Malachai
leans on the counter, giving a slightly hesitant shrug. It's not a gesture that
seems to go well with the usually spirited and not to mention quite overly
confident mien he usually carries. "Yeah, that one. Oh, yes I've spoken to
him. On an unrelated issue actually, needed him to find..someone for me."
And his expression goes dark for a moment, lips tightening into a grim line.
"It's not that I know the future precisely, just that there are... events
in motion and things are likely to change very soon."
Gabriel's
eyes cloud as well in near mimicry of the other, only for a different reason.
This doesn't sound pleasant at all. "Change for the worse you mean?"
Gabe asks, looking for clarification. "Or for the benefit of your god and
the others?" He shakes his head from side to side, a wealth of hair
falling over his shoulder.
Malachai
pauses for a moment before giving a short nod. "Yeah, there are going to
be changes alright. It's not all going to happen right away of course." He
leans closer across the counter, voice dropping low. "Keep an eye on the
news alright? You'll see what I mean when it happens." It'll probably
something spectacular, not subtle at all. "I don't exactly want them to
happen, I mean I've got it pretty cushy with what I have now. But when a god
speaks... you have to listen."
Gabriel
frowns once more, watching Malachai quietly. "While I respect the Yin
gods, I don't exactly like their means, or their ends that much either."
And then that brings Gabriel to something else along that same line, interest
evident, "Why, Malachai? Why are you one of theirs?"
Malachai
goes still, looking away from the man that in another life was his brother.
"It... started a long time ago... brother." he says softly, flicking
that auburn hair back over his shoulders. Mitama was never sure which of the
gods it was that chose to remind him of who he was by turning his hair back
into the shade it belonged. Was it Suzaku who did it as a sign that he was once
one of his? Or was it Amatsumika to mark him with what he once was? "I
lost everything. Everyone I knew, everyone I loved, and it seemed to me at the
time that it was all your fault. I'm pretty sure it was Amatsumika who came to
me even then. I didn't want to die, Hotohori... I was bitterly resentful of
that."
Gabriel
doesn't bow his head with guilt, doesn't look away in embarrassment. No, the
man instead keeps his gaze steady upon the other. "What happened then was
completely out of my hands. If it was within my power to change things, I would
have, but everything was already in motion." He frowns then, sighing,
"So becoming one of them was the only choice you thought could make at the
time?"
Malachai's
expression is bitter for a moment, but then changes after a moment's
reflection. "I was very very angry at the time, but would you be surprised
that a Yin god would catch me at my weakest? It wasn't offered at first, no
first came that attempt to get back at you. That didn't...turn out well."
History nearly repeated itself there. "Then as I laid dying, he offered me
another chance. What would you have done then?" He turns back to look at
Gabriel, calm enough on the outside, but oddly serene. "I wonder what
things would have been like if I hadn't made that choice. I don't regret it
though. Don't think that I do, but it's probably not the reason you imagine.
See, if I hadn't come back.. I would have never met... the others." His
lovers he means, but it's not something he'd shove in Gabriel's face.
"No.
When you say it that way, I suppose I am not all that surprised at all,"
Gabe responds, shaking his head from side to side. He rests a hand lightly upon
the back of the chair, frowning for a moment. "I don't know what I would
have done then, and I am glad that I wasn't faced with such a choice. I might have
chose differently, but you are a different person than me. So..." He
shrugs his shoulders.
Malachai
gives Gabriel a rather wry expression. "You were the seishi, not I. Not
that I was aware that you would be reincarnated precisely, but there was definitely
no option like that for Tendou." He shrugs as well. "I did what I
thought I had to do at the time and it has brought me here. Strange isn't it? I
think we've actually managed to spend more time together in this lifetime than
last."
Gabriel
actually chuckles, "And that would include the quality brotherly bonding
as we impaled each other on our swords? Yes, I suppose that could be a part of
it." Hand removes from the back of the seat to instead push the chair out
of the way and against the wall.
Malachai
laughs back, rueful but amused too. "We always hurt the ones we
love." he mutters under his breath before he nods back at Gabriel. "I
suppose that skewering each other might have been a little extreme, but we both
survived this time? I'd imagine it was still better than trying to beat each
other into pulp with our fists or something equally base and barbaric."
"I
don't think you would have gotten me into a fist fight. Sparring with the
swords, yes... but not some brawl." Come on, at least some seishi need
standards. And he'll have to make up for quite a few of the others out there.
But he simply can't allow one thing to go, "Love?" Definitely eyebrow
quirk there.
"I'd
have to agree there, there's a certain finesse to sword fighting, but I have a
certain aversion to having to chance breaking my hands unless I've no
recourse." Most artists do have that reluctance. Malachai blinks at
Gabriel for a second. "Hmm? Oh did I say that outloud?" he replies
with a fluster, pushing away from the counter. "I think I'd best be going,
did plan on being home for dinner and all."
Gabriel
is left to simply blinking at Malachai for the longest moment. "That's
very true." After all, one simply cannot have split open and bloody
knuckles. Nothing at all pretty about that. "Thank you for stopping by
though. It was a pleasant surprise." Especially when swords aren't being
brandished. "Good night."