Match of the Millennium

Description: Two men waiting in line for food before they embark upon Christmas shopping in Times Square. No not that one... The one in Hong Kong. Confusion and miscommunication ensue. Oddly enough, nothing particularly violent occurs.

[QUON]
Times Square Hong Kong. It's a multi-level complex with a multitude of international stores, sit down restaurants and a movie theatre. Diverting from a Western model of flatter malls it is a nine story building that also houses office spaces. With it being just before Christmas, it was just where he wanted to be. He could get shopping done for his family and friends (especially for his brother from another mother, Antoine), go to the movie theatre to catch up on the latest Hong Kong cinema that he missed out on while he was at Southtown University. First things first. Eating.

Quon was headed towards one of those sit down restaurants to eat. Getting overcharged for theatre food and shopping on an empty stomach both looked like bad ideas. Unfortunately for him, with the holiday in full swing and a lot of last minute shopping being done, the line to get a seat was painfully long.

Quon steps in line, fully prepared to suffer. Unfortunately, his stomach isn't and protests loudly the fact he's going to be waiting a while.

[DUO LON]
It would be impossible to miss the guy that steps into the line behind Quon. Except for the fact that most people do. He wasn't there, and in the next moment... he is. The astute could have picked up the incredibly quiet footsteps, near-silent even with hard-soled shoes. And how the hell did someone that TALL get there without most people noticing?

Well, to be perfectly honest, he's not incredibly tall for a fighter. In fact he's probably amongst the shorter in that category. But amongst a country whose man tend to be considered 'tall' at 5'8", his 6'2" frame practically towers over the average person.

He's dressed in loose pants, a Chinese styled 'long shirt' (both black), and aforementioned hard-soled shoes. And his hair's in a long braid down his back, with a giant white bead on the end that looks like it's really hard on his neck.

The bead on his hair is not all that's unusual from a normal person's perspective. His nails are long, and painted a dusty reddish brown color. And his face is feminine. Incredibly so, in fact. If it wasn't for his build, it would be very possible to mistake him for a woman. That aside? He looks dangerous. For a man to walk around looking like that, he's got to be either stupid or confident.

For those who know? It's Duo Lon. Apparently he's hungry too, and is prepared to wait for his food. Aside from sliding what could be an amused glance to Quon at the grumbling of the other's stomach -- and it's hard to tell if he's that's amused or not, his face doesn't have much in the way of emotion -- he doesn't offer much in the way of reaction.

[QUON]
Quon's ears probably would've picked up on the near quiet footsteps if he was fresh out of the temple, but city living, campus life(parties and all), and lack of need have somewhat dulled his senses significantly and so he doesn't quite realise that Duo Lon is right behind him until he looks around sheepishly after his stomach let out the growl heard around the mall.

Standing at 5'7", himself, he finds himself casting a glance upwards at the man who might be amused at his stomach's attempt at conversation.

"Don't worry... Your meal is coming soon."

He's trying to deal with this somewhat embarrassing situation by making fun of it even though humor wasn't exactly his forte. And where Duo Lon doesn't have much in the way of emotion, Quon is practically wearing his embarrassment on his sleeve.

[DUO LON]
Perhaps Duo realizes this, since the hard look on his face softens just a hair. It's not quite a smile, but it looks like it's an attempt... by someone who had heard about this strange 'smile' thing in books and was pretty sure it couldn't be that hard. And then he says a single word.

"...Borborygmi."

...What?

Fortunately he appears to understand that's a weird word, and kind of lacks anything resembling context. Because after a moment he supplies, "...That sound. It's your stomach cleaning up food that was missed earlier. Being hungry is a side effect. When there's food in your stomach it muffles the sounds." Scientific chat about weird stomach noises. Ash would be proud to see hm having small talk.

...Actually no, he'd probably be appalled at the subject matter. But hey. Baby steps.

[QUON]
Of all the things, Quon was expecting, scientific chat about stomach noises was not one of them. On the upside, the act of talking was distracting him from his hunger even if the topic of conversation was the fact that his stomach was making hunger noises.

"I had no idea that was what it was called."

At the very least, he can see the dangerous looking man is attempting to make things less awkward. That should count for something. He shrugs and looks up at the other Asian man.

"Out of curiosity, what made you decide to seek out that bit of information?"

[DUO LON]
The act of talking might also distract Quon from the length of the line, too. Moreover, it distracts Duo from the fact that there is roughly one and three-quarters of a metric crapton of people in this damn place and he's not allowed to teleport away and sneak around.

This is probably Ash's fault, somewhere down the line. Yeah.

Anyway. The question gets... well, silence initially. Because 'anatomical studies for the art of sticking a pointy thing in the place to kill more immediately' is... not a socially-acceptable answer. So instead? "...Idle curiosity." Because he does tend to learn a lot of weird stuff in his trade. Even if his trade isn't very nice.

[QUON]
The initial silence tells Quon a bit more than actual response does. It makes him wonder if the guy next to is actually as dangerous as he looks. Well... As long as he doesn't give him a reason to be dangerous things should be all good, right? When the actual answer comes, it is indeed an acceptable answer and Quon is not exactly inclined to pursue the subject past that point.

"Fair enough. It probably should be something I should remember. Never know when some unusual knowledge could come in handy for a role."

Unfortunately, the length of line isn't something that he's being distracted from. Thankfully, with a large party going in to be seated, the line moves significantly before it comes to yet another dead stop. It's around this moment, the aspiring action star entertains the idea of just getting his particular order to go and find food court seating somewhere.

"Are you here for holiday shopping or just a fan of this place?"

[DUO LON]
To be fair, the tall guy with the braid is pretty casual about all this. Kind of. He has a weird way of standing perfectly still, with a practiced sort of in-between state -- he doesn't fidget, no. But he's too tense to be completely casual, though not tense enough to seem as though he's ready to snap into action at a moment's notice. Hard to describe. It's kind of weird.

Duo does however raise an eyebrow. "A role?" Of course for Duo, the first thing he thinks is having to pretend to be someone else to get close to a target. Because being an actor isn't the first thing that comes to mind. That whole 'being an assassin' thing. But he does answer the question. "I had... a few things to buy for Christmas, yes. Small things."

[QUON]
"I just have his fascination with being someone I'm not. To put on a figurative mask and to see how people react to it," he explains without completely explaining. Maybe it's just Quon running on the assumption that Duo Lon is not expecting him to be an aspiring actor.

That being said, that weird motionless thing is... Well the Chongquan fighter wouldn't describe it as off-putting or disturbing but it wasn't anything that would pass for normal in most parts. Quon wasn't the type to condemn a person for being weird. It made life interesting and could yield inspiration for a future role with enough of his own twist on it.

"I do hope your loved ones enjoy the gifts."

[DUO LON]
Duo tilts his head. "...Is that so." Hard to tell if it's actually a question or not; the delivery is flat and lacking in inflection. His eyes narrow slightly, an appraising look. Could he be looking at a rival assassin? Or perhaps someone sent after HIM?

Either way, whether one of those or he's just misunderstanding (which he probably is; let's face it, he's not exactly the best at People), there's no sense tipping his own hand until the knives come out.

However, he nods to the well-wishing. "I hope so too," he adds. Because he really wasn't sure what to get for Ash. Shenwoo was easy -- a year subscription to that 'steaks by mail' place. Ash, not so much.

[QUON]
The flat delivery in conjunction with the stare makes him wonder if he might've said something worng or perhaps maybe this man just has a thing against actors? Either way, that stare makes a shudder run through him and his hairs stand on end.

Meanwhile, the line ahead starts moving once more and Quon moves forward in turn, no longer engaging the assassin in conversation. In the process he moves about a centimeter closer to the person in front of him than he originally was before the line moved. There's only so far you can move when in line.

The rest of the wait for food occurs in silence except for an occasional grumbling from his stomach. Whether that's good thing is up for debate.

Log created on 21:40:24 12/25/2017 by Quon, and last modified on 08:13:32 12/26/2017.