2/9/2003

12:42 AM

Logfile from Ichijin.

 

Royal Elizabeth-Penthouse 1

It is a penthouse, a swanky penthouse at that. Plenty of windows, wood flooring, elegant lines and a modern look. You've got your sunken living area, long and dark dining table close to the windows that overlook a balcony decorated with topiary and such. Off to some side is the way towards the bedroom, double-doors left open just enough to get a hint of a large bed and more expensive furniture. All in all, it looks like a place that could use a far better description.

Akurei is here.

Obvious exits:

Exit

 

"Honey, I'm home!" Yes, Seb has returns, via traditional methods such as the door. Of course, the second he does so, the dogs on the terrace start up in their barking. "QUIET!" he bellows. "I swear, one of these days I'm going to make a hole straight to the middle of the ocean and toss you all through."

 

The second after he yells, the dogs silent - something about moving corpses tends to freak the living out. Or maybe it's just Bob II forcibly clamping down on a rottweiler's jaw. "Welcome back," Reese says, standing in the kitchen with a kerchief binding her bangs back. Her hands, wrapped in latex gloves, are covered with half-congealed blood, and the boning knife in her hand is looking just a bit menacing. Welcome back. Want some filet au human?

 

Sebastian takes two steps further within, blinks at Reese's current clothing choice, and winces. "You didn't kill him did you? I was kind of hoping to keep the boy around because... well, we needed him. Sure, he seems to be lacking something of a backbone, but really... it would make things far easier if I didn't have to go looking for another." Figure that one out.

 

"What?" Reese demands quietly, straining, then breathing in relief as another ball and socket joint releases. "What boy, and what are you talking about?" Someone's just a bit tense. Parts of the arm are released, and she opens up a plastic baggie, ushering some of the flesh inside. Red chunks float into the bags, and she zips the promptly, popping them into the freezer with a sigh.

 

"As in the dark-haired young man I left in here. With that rather quaint southern accent. I don't doubt that Dylan will be taking quite a shine to him when he sets eyes on Rathan. He has that whole waifish, quiet image down pat." Seb eyes Reese's work with a speculative gaze. This could be a problem. "Please say that isn't him that you are currently baggin up."

 

Reese shakes her head silently, peeling the gloves off clean as ever, and deposits them on the side of the table. "Rathan? No, this one was a blonde." At least she doesn't offer to show the man. Instead, she slips the knife into a sheath, slipping it into her backpack quickly. "How was your day?" Even tone, even face, even Reese. Let's just hope the fridge doesn't start attacking anything soon.

 

Uhm, probably best to make her happy. Or at least try to. "No? Then I suppose the young man must have decided to leave before we could get better acquainted." Seb sighs before dropping indolently onto the couch, lounging back in a corner to watch her. "He is one of /ours/." Yes, emphasis on that last part.

 

As angry or upset as Reese might be or get, her weakness is in family, and Sebastian has hit a fine note. "Are you serious? Rathan, was his name? And he was here?" She dashes up to the edge of the couch, eyes wide and bright. "Oh, thank god. Homasubi is merciful to us. Maybe I should leave a note in case he comes back or something." Do not look for munchies in the freezer. "What's he look like? What does he do? When can I meet him?" A flood of questions, overanxious and bright, and she slips onto her knees on the couch, gazing at Sebastian all smiles.

 

Sebastian lifts both hands up to try to calm her. "Hush. Hush now." But he can't help but chuckle at her actions, nodding his head slowly, with that smile of his rather apparent. "I do not know what his oni name is, dear. And I'm not all that sure that he does either. My symbol reacted when I touched him. It did take a moment to open the young man up, but he admitted to having one as well -in our colors. He is... naive. And doesn't understand anything. We must go softly with this Rathan. Very softly."

 

Reese cringes at the words but nods her head enthused, reminding herself to definitely leave a note. "No worries - I'll be gentle, I promise. But if he is really one of us, he'll be fitting in in no time. I'll take him drinking or something." She grins, delighted, tipping herself over onto her back and looking upwards at Sebastian. "Would you have done it?" the girl asks suddenly, peering at her senshi with a curious sedated look in her eyes, dramatically changed from her hyperactivity only moments before. Tone now gentle, small, she eyes the man. "With the other girl? Kourin?"

 

Sebastian grins softly, "He might be able to be led along rather well, once he understands what everything is about. We just need to keep an eye on him, make sure he doesn't get led astray by other members, and hopefully all will go well." At Reese's second query, his gaze draws back down to her, sobering slightly. "Yes, I would have. If it gets us what we want, yes. I would imagine the same of you, dear."

 

Reese rolls her eyes mildly and sticks her tongue out. "Or the seishi. I can't imagine that they're too happy with us either," she murmurs. "Does he have our numbers and such, for a call if he gets into trouble?" In one smooth movement, she curls onto her side, focusing her eyes on the couch's back. "And if it wouldn't have gotten anything?" is her next question, lips pursed. "Would you have done it just for kicks?"

 

Sebastian shakes his head from side to side, "Just mine, as far as I know. Tossed him through a portal into here, but he didn't seem too broken up about it. But, I was called away -unfortunately, he still isn't here." The kitchen is eyed warily. "For kicks, you say? How would you prefer I respond to that, dear?"

 

Reese draws her fingers to her collarbones gently, persistantly eyeing the couch as she fall silent. She pulls herself up, determined, shoulders hunched and fingers laced tightly in her lap. "Look," she says, finally raising her eyes to Sebastian's face. "You and I both know that we could tear eachother apart, and maybe a good chunk of New York to boot. Stop avoiding the question - I won't do anything too drastic." The keyword there being 'too'.

 

Sebastian simply watches Reese with that cool, almost unemotional stare of his for a long moment, apparently processing what she is saying. "You and I are marked by the same god, Reese. What I do, I do for him, for the rest of you, and myself. You are my family now, and with that you will be a priority. A priority that I will do my best to keep." A breath. "Let me put it this way. What do you expect from me?" He shifts slightly, moving forward with the intention to draw one finger over the line of her cheek.

 

Quickly, the girl makes her move, whirling before Sebastian and straddling his lap, kneeling around his legs and placing her hands on the sides of his face, glaring into his eyes and searching passionately for something. "You are not human." The words are said bluntly and articulated cleanly. "You say the words, but do you believe in any of them? Does the job precede everything in life? And do I precede everything else solely because I'm tied to that god?" Disappointment raw on her face, she holds her eyes steady, brows furrowing at Sebastian. "I expect nothing from you. It's what I want that's the problem."

 

Sebastian is straddled, kneed, and grasped. Now, normally... this would be rather arousing. Well, actually it is, but he isn't about to admit it at this point, nope. He looks back up to her, steady in his breathing and watching. "I do what I must. I do what is best. So, what is best here? What is it that you want, Akurei?"

 

Reese eyes the man for a long moment, running her tongue nervously over her lips. Now that she's here, now that she's in charge, she hasn't a clue as to what she really does want. Blushing, her expression becomes unsure, but she blurts out what first comes to her mind. "I want you to lose control. I want you to strip off that face, so I can see how you really feel, and, unreined, do something that comes naturally. Not Homasubi, not Ichijin, but something that's left of Sebastian Davis."

 

Sebastian doesn't quite frown in confusion, but it is a very close thing. Sure, there is a bit of a wrinkle between his brows, maybe a down-turn at the corner of his lips, but that is about it. "Reese? There really isn't much to Sebastian Davis. And I'm not sure I understand what you mean..?" A breath, "And you do not want me to loose control. Truly. That would be... bad." It came close to happening at the museum. Very close.

 

Reese, on the other hand, does frown, something akin to despair in her eyes. "Surely there's something left. You haven't been consumed so much by duty and work - you must have some spark of joy left in you." She draws herself close and clings to the man, arms wrapped around his neck. "I don't want you to be merely body with the spirit of a warrior inside. They have to be united, else there is nothing, just a shell that can fall and melt away." She shakes her head, closing her eyes tightly. "So would you die if you let the spirit inside you free?"

 

Joy? Now /that/ is as foreign a concept as any to him. Seb blinks at her actions before sighing and drawing one arm up so that fingers can draw through her hair. "No. It isn't like that. Loosing control. That just... " His eyes drift shut as he lays there, breathing in her scent and nothing else.

 

Reese slips her hands to the man's braid, loosing it carefully and drawing apart the hairs, running her fingers through the softness there and letting hands climb slowly upwards, working delicately. "Just what?" she cues gently, the careful, delicate touch of a mother untwining ashen locks and letting them fall, softly, around his shoulders. Her own hair is released with less ado - something about the cells gives her free reign over them, and they tumble down with the barest use of her magic. "There's nothing to be afraid of," she assures softly, quiet.

 

A shiver drifts down Seb's form at her touching, causing him to open his eyes once more, gaze searching her almost frantically. "Reese," he warns, the slightest of edges to his voice. "This really isn't something that needs discussion. Something I'd rather not discuss." His hands come up, drawing over to frame her cheeks as he watches her.

 

Reese, to a larger extent, ignores the man, brushing aside the forelock from his face and letting her hands curl down his cheeks, beneath the jaw. Her eyes, for the moment, have left his, concentrating solely on where she touches his flesh, and returns to his face only after she rests her fingertips on Sebastian's shoulders. "Why?" she asks of him softly, punctuating her question by pulling near, letting her breath graze the man's cheek. "It's done something to you, I can feel it." She lowers a single hand, slipping it next to his heart and holding it there. "Why won't you tell me?"

 

Sebastian slowly draws in a breath, and then another. "It has done nothing more than give me an outlet. Give me a way to... to release what is inside of me. And as such, I have become a slave to it. It is me, Reese, and it is something that I cannot be parted from... or yes, I will not know how to function." No nonsense in his tone, despite the slight tremor that seems to tickle its way along one word and another. "This is not easy for me. Please, don't ask of me any more." He watches her having no other place for his eyes to look. But, eventually, they close, unable to watch any longer.

 

Reese goes lax for a moment, slouching as she peers at Sebastian with ultimate despair. "I'm sorry," she says quickly, this one rather obviously for her intrusion into the man's life. Her second apology is more tender, quiet, and she brushes lips over the man's eyelids and curls up against him, pressing her cheek to his chest. "I'm sorry you live this way," she murmurs, squeezing her own eyes shut and frowning. Everything is relinquished now, save her concentration on the pulse of the heart, the breaths, the warmth of her fellow senshi.

 

Sebastian opens his eyes once more at her touch, confusion briefly littering his expression along with that of appreciation. An arm shifts, freeing it from his side so that he can move his hand up to slowly comb fingers through her hair once more, keeping a tensile touch on her head. "Don't be." His other arm curls tightly around her as well, briefly squeezing, and then loosening once more.