Match of the Millennium

Description: In the grand courtroom of the Library, Craig Marduk faces reassignment and disciplinary action presided over by Major Jin Kisaragi. While he does raise valid concerns regarding NOL's handling of the wanted criminal Ragna the Bloodedge, his accusations against the leadership's obsession with Ragna and their incompetence do not make for a good first impression. Jin's patience wanes, and he challenges Marduk to a showdown of willpower and strength to settle the matter, which the other man gladly accepts. (FtB)

[JIN KISARAGI]
A space both magnificent and imposing, the first courtroom of the Library is a veritable shrine to marble, obsidian, and granite. Many have said that it's a subtle reflection of the dark hearts that comprise the judges, the grand jury, and executioners...

But what do they know?

Nothing.

They know nothing.

Not anymore.

For how long has it been, one might wonder, since a trial was last held here?

Rumours are like fire, and to remove a means required to thrive is to see to its end. Whether in acknowledgement of this or pure indifference, the hall has gone to waste on disciplinary meetings and other insignificant affairs, literally insulting each hand involved in its construction. Maybe, just maybe, 'justice' was no longer necessary...

Two men enter. Their strides mismatched, the blackened walls throw back the echoes of their off-beat footfalls, blending the noise together into a single long note. Carrying a Japanese court sword in his left hand, the first fellow is fair of hair, thin, and gradually falling behind. His companion would be best described as massive, and yet that still doesn't quite fit his expansive frame. As he leads the way to a desk positioned right at the foot of a monolith, he gazes at it stretching onwards and upwards to infinity, or so the optical illusion seems to suggest. Papers hit the lacquered surface of polished mahogany.

It's a lot. It's every infraction down to the smallest detail, every achievement no matter how miniscule. Words upon words upon WORDS of idiocy, lunacy, dumb luck, witness accounts, and financial impact statements...

And it's about one person.

The giant snaps to salute his superior officer, the initial half of his escort fulfilled. His movements are quite fluid despite his impressive size.

Major Jin Kisaragi takes the seat of authority, easing into the high-backed chair with creaks of protest from the leather. It smells new. "Hmph." His verdant stare alights upon the empty stretch before him, where a dejected podium is left to host a single 'defendant'. How dull. "Let's get this over with." Crisp and sharp, Jin's soft voice has a harsh crack like a whip. The temperature of the courtroom dips in degrees significant enough to be noticeable, and doesn't recover.

Compliance is immediate. Once Marduk has been shown to the location of his hearing, he is left to proceed alone, to meet this individual of rank that he may not know by sight, but by title and tales. Yukianesa, the Nox Nyctores known to be in Jin's possession, chills in its saya as he leans it beside him.

At the halfway point, the blonde interrupts silence or blithering explanation with frosty intonation, "Regarding the following..." He begins to list directly from the report summary.

That drags on.

Forever on.

When Jin would be forced to look up, he doesn't. Nothing deters him from commanding control of the conversation until he has given the other permission to speak. Even as the shadow of a hulk is cast upon the stand, he expounds on some of the stupider antics of the life and lies of Craig Marduk. A settling rustle. Slender fingers weave together, and he rests his clasped hands in his lap, the picture of calm before a storm.

A beautiful, cruel storm, whose head lifts with agonizing slowness, those piercing eyes shining through featherlight strands of his fringe, affixed as if to drill a hole into Marduk's frontal lobe. "I hope you understand that this kind of misconduct is..." Jin pauses to deliver his last with the sort of levity that would suggest to a wiser man something beyond what he is actually saying, "Intolerable."

"Private Craig Marduk, you will be reassigned to my command effective immediately. An animal unfit for garbage disposal is in need of domestication. Do you have anything to say?"

[MARDUK]
"THis is bullshit."

Marduk mutters to himself as he finally allowed in. He's had reprimands before, sure. But nothing that made him have to take time OFF. Nothing that FORCE him to do paperwork. The massive titan of a man was dressed in his NOL blues, the uniform never quite fitting the towering man right. He had been sitting in discomfort -waiting- for some Gin guy in a room under lock and key. He had a briefcase. Marduk didn't even like martinis. It's a girls drink. But, as he is escorted to the entrance, he can't help feel a chill of nervousness. THis isn't the first time he's been on trial.

He learned his lesson that time.

As he strides down before the man, the list begins to go on and on. Infraction after infaction, the mistakes of Marduk being poured out before him. He wants to yell. Especially about the Terry Rogers stuff. ESPECIALLY about that. He keeps his mouth shut, reaching the stand. Writhing uncomfortably, Marduk purses his lips, choking on his words. Until the Ragna mistakes, the latest ones, come up. He actually sputters a gruff groan at that. When the sentence is carried out, though, he actually blurts out.

"That's not right!"

Whatever hesitation Marduk was bringing before, it explodes out with outrage. "That's bullshit! This isn't a trial! It's an execution! Don't I have any say or defense on it? The Ragna thing- look, it wasn't even my fault! This is all about the Ragna thing, and it's stupid, but it's not my fault!" Marduk states with a husky groan, placing the briefcase up on the stand. Flipping it open, he pulls out a single piece of paper. "I mean, I didn't want to complain about this, but if I am getting put into animal duty and shit, I need to make something clear!" Marduk carefully considers his angle of attack. He finally decides on it, the best course of action.

"My bosses are all idiots!"


This could be a simple affair. Quick and easy, from acceptance to complaisance. It's not that Major Kisaragi is a difficult man to serve under, he's just unsympathetic, aloof, and will cut straight to the chase to avoid personal inconvenience. He doesn't have the motivation or interest in smoke shows and ass-pats, but here is Marduk, a product of all that which the stunning man despises. The goliath tests what would be the very limits of Jin's patience.

Instead of apologies, or a reasonable defence...

He has the audacity to complain, to whine.

Jin considers what small measure of satisfaction he would feel in cutting out Marduk's tongue.

I mean, if all the Major cared about was having the entirety of NOL forever in his debt, that's definitely a good start.

Marduk should be recognised for his legendary ability to shift even the most imposing of glaciers, and it shows on Jin's face. To say that he's irritated is an understatement; a very terrifying one. The more the enormous behemoth of a fighter wishes to discuss Ragna, the chill in the air swells in response, seemingly to coalesce around his commanding officer. Knuckles pop from how hard Kisaragi twines his fingers together, holding them crushingly still.

Is it done?

Can the pursed line of Jin's lips become any thinner?

Abusing the opportunity to speak, Marduk turns his incompetence on Tsubaki.

That's when something snaps.

Despite the dim light of the courtroom, pupils narrow to pinpricks, drowning in the emerald pools. The Hero of Ikaruga's fierce glare has triggered full-on breakdowns and nightmares in his enemies, but clearly the walking sack of brawn hasn't yet figured out how to keep that muscle in his mouth immobile. Does he even care?

Or could it be, Marduk just isn't afraid of Jin?

The breath that he vents flares his nostrils, taking corporeal form, however briefly. Reaching to gather his Event Weapon, the sword hums in Jin's grip as though it had orchestrated this entire occurrence. A fresh wave of bloodlust surges through him, Yukianesa thrilled at the prospect of a bite of real flesh.

Annihilating simulations in the training centre hardly sates its voracious appetite.

Using the kojiri of Yukianesa's saya as a means to balance his movements, Jin's rise from his seat is smooth, sinuous, even beautiful... "That you would insult them attests to the failure of their leadership. Allowed to carry on as you pleased, you have no pride in the work you do. First Lieutenant Yayoi and her immediate superior will be held accountable for their inability to discipline the children in their charge." His voice is like ice, and what lies beneath are turbulent waters.


Marduk didn't actually -feel- that afraid of Jin.

He could feel the pressure, sure. Intellectually, he could understand that Jin could flash freeze his balls, and he might get fired. Or whatever punishment he was going to do here. But at this point, Marduk didn't really see how it could be worse, and he sure didn't feel scared at Jin directly now. Maybe because he was so seasoned as a fighter, or so -dense-, he felt that Jin was too pretty to be scary. But when he comes at him, even -Marduk- figures out that he doesn't have a lot of time to explain away everything, so everything will be okay and better. Sputtering a bit, he wipes his face, trying to get his composure and brain and thoughts together. Squinting his eyes, he slaps a palm on the stand. "Well it's not just Lieutenant Yayoi! Here, look at this."

Marduk turns over the paper.

It's a wanted poster. WANTED. 90.000.000.00 RAGNA THE BLOODEDGE. It shows a figure with white hair, eyes shadowed by his hair. Its face is twisted into a hideous grimace, like something was crawling up the behind of Ragna, and it was kind of cold and slimy. Or maybe because his smile was photoshopped to be upside down. Marduk flattens out the crinkles on the paper, and presents it to Jin Kisaragi. "I mean, look at this shit sir. How the fuck is this supposed to be Ragna the Bloodedge. The Ragna I fought looked nothing like this asshole. And did they forgot to do commas? I mean, I'm here right now because of this Ragna screw up, when I gosh darn found the guy, and it was supposed to him? Oh he is the guy with the Azure Grimoire. Do I know how whatever an Azure Grimoire looks like? Nope, it's outside my clearance. The words means Blue Book for fuck's sake!" He shrugs.

"I thought it meant like a used ice car thing!"

Marduk continues to speak, his words coming out unbroken. He makes a flashing gesture with one hand at his head. "Like, it blows my fucking mind. I look at all this stuff about the NOL being a real legitimate, official place that takes stuff like Ragna super seriously, it's all Ragna Ragna Ragna all the time. But we got like some real sloppy, amateur execution on this stuff. Like we both really care, and don't care about this guy at the same time? And if anybody complains, people are terrified of speaking out cause, like, there is a lot of weird creepy energy going around? Like if you say the wrong thing at the wrong time to the wrong person, you'll just disappear, or worse! And at this point, I'd think half the leadership has a boyish crush on the guy or something, cause nothing makes sense with how stupid and obsessed this is except a bunch of people having a crush on this guy and killing anybody that steals his attention or some stupid shit like that!" Marduk holds for a moment. He looks away, covering his mouth.

"I mean not you, though, sir, you're a *cough* pretty butch guy yourself."

[JIN KISARAGI]
It is clear that upon waking this morning, Craig Marduk elected to choose pain and suffering. Why else would he open that yawning chasm of ignorance in the presence of Jin Kisaragi, and expect things to go any conceivable way but poorly?

Gloved fingers tighten around the cerulean scabbard of Yukianesa, the unyielding wood serving as a sad substitute for the neck he might wish to throttle. Perfect rows of white teeth grind mandible and mandible. When a picture of Ragna the Bloodedge is figuratively thrown down between them like the gauntlet of challenge, floating haphazardly onto the desk, Jin's eyes cannot help but be drawn to...

A blink.

Wait, what the hell?

Loathe though he is to agree, the young head of the Kisaragi family very well could, but under threat of death. The longer his imperious stare scrutinises the malignant art tumour, the less Jin recognises. With no image of his brother preserved in memory, only fuzzy recollections of photographs from countless reports, nothing about this brushes up against him instinctually. Just a general idea communicating some very basics, but surely even an... idiot... wouldn't...

...

"We've reached the event horizon of stupidity, clearly," Jin sasses his subordinate in humourless deadpan, the severity of his expression unchanged. Thin blonde brows draw close over the startling orbs of green.

Ragna, Ragna, Ragna. Like a button that dispenses gumdrops, candy, and rainbows, Marduk won't stop searching for excuses. He accuses leadership of incompetence and infatuation with the Grim Reaper, and there's a part of Jin that howls. It rattles at the confines of its cage inside him. Slowly, his lips start to peel back to sneer. "Ragna the Bloodedge cares for little else but the destruction of NOL, and frequently attacks facilities around the world, murdering or maiming countless operatives. There is no pattern of predictability, meaning that he has managed to evade capture. As he is able to travel from one location to another instantaneously, it was necessary for the Library to make use of archaic means of tracking by cooperating with those outside. All information beyond such remains classified at your current rank. You would know this, had you the urge to read..."

"Or pay attention during the numerous briefings, calls, and even at the very moment before you stood up to announce yourself to the entire Lincoln Tunnel during rush hour," he drawls softly, almost sounding bored.

"Now," Jin tires of the eyesore that is this horrendous rendition of his beloved older brother, reaching out to crumple it in his fist before continuing, "spare me your prosaic simpering, as if it could conceal what you truly think of me." A leg hauls back swiftly, his boot SLAMMING against the edge of the mahogany desk. It give a threatening tilt, colliding with the podium in its travels, Marduk's briefcase ejected like the jilted lover after an unsatisfying tryst, possibly throwing contents to the four corners of the room, or breaking them.

The heavy pieces of furniture crash back mostly into place with a deafening BANG, Jin's own countless details of infractions flung past him, the rush of air disturbing featherlight strands of silky hair. He straightens leisurely on the spot, having not moved an inch. This is so very familiar to him, like the trials of his teenage years that saw him judged for a pretty face and his fey frame. From the adopted siblings who sought to assassinate him to the ninjas of the Ikaruga Civil War... "If you require a lesson in obedience, it is imperative that I know where you must be corrected." Provided that he's forced to do so, Major Kisaragi doesn't educate with fear, for while it helps initially, fear is fleeting. Able to sense the impertinence that wafts off Marduk like a foul stench with vapour trails, there is respect for his position, but not the man himself.

He can hear the insults, the doubt of his strength...

Fortunately, if violence is the best teacher, the Hero of Ikaruga, hailed as a living weapon and force unto his own, is considered a master of the craft.

[MARDUK]
"-Exactly!-"

Marduk seems to have the idea that Jin Kisaragi is in his intellectual equal, the commander having understood the situation with the poster. Marduk never felt like the NOL -really- understood him, until this moment. "And the guy -was- an asshole! Wouldn't stop talking, just gab gab gab!" Marduk explains. He felt comfortable, like he was gonna get through this whole trial without a hitch.

But then the mention of those meetings.

Those debriefs, those things that Marduk definately did not read. Marduk starts sweating a bit. "Well uh." He explains eloquently. "Uh. That. Uh..." Before he can come up with a perfectly articulated rebuttal on why he really liked those cat videos, Jin pops the question. And Marduk is shocked, stunned more so than ever. Eyes wide, jaw slack, he almost falls backwards. "Holy shit." Marduk growls, a dawning shock in his voice. "Is this like a promotion and shit? Are you asking me to..."

"Let you ride the Marduk Express?"

Marduk blushes as he rubs his palms together. "Oh, man, okay, so like, you look kind of a girlie man, but holy shit, are you just inviting me to fight you?" Marduk already was scrambling to unbutton his uniform. "But I thought you weren't supposed to do this with officers and shit, but holy shit, you are just- I won't get in trouble for it, right? This is strictly a secret between us?" He pauses, his pants down to his knees.

"You won't tell Lt. Tsubaki about this, will you?"


That this fool would consider the likes of Jin Kisaragi to be his equal in any way is beyond insult, but it is permitted to slide. He exercises the utmost control, enough to prevent even the most subtle shift of expression, or irritated tic of the eye...

He contents himself throughout the erroneous recounting of the encounter with his brother, just imagining relieving Marduk of his head.

By this point, a less experienced soldier would be exuding bloodlust, but Jin stays frosty, impossible to read until it's necessary for him to respond.

It's a really nice smile.

The way the expression warms his beautiful face belies the threat he poses. Something truly terrible is in store for Craig Marduk, who...

Drops trou.

Major Kisaragi's limited patience for unfathomable stupidity has reached its breaking point. First order once he has put his subordinate in his place will be to have this man a uniform tailored to fit. Multiple uniforms. There is no excuse as to why he has not been provided with outfitting that will accommodate full range of motion. Stripping should be unnecessary for someone in his position, as lowly as Private may be.

"You wouldn't be punished for your active participation in reformatory matters. In fact, it's expected. Understand that I have no need for an officer who ignores command, and regards me with contempt." The detached sleeves of the regulation jacket flutter dramatically as his hand hovers near the haft of Yukianesa. A master of the quickdraw, his style is one strike, one kill. "Perhaps you did not hear me the first time. Effective immediately, you no longer serve under First Lieutenant Yayoi." That's the last time he'll repeat himself.

Now, the desk is in the way.

Silently slithering from its scabbard, the cold blade of Yukianesa is revealed with pearly luminescence. He holds the court sword parallel to the sheath, then swings them in unison, together so that both SMASH into the side of the mahogany obstruction... and send it and the podium flying with surprisingly little effort.

A sound like a gunshot rends the air, because upon impact with the stone rows of the public gallery, how could two pieces of wood furniture hope to compete? They shatter into splinters, hardly any bit large enough that someone uninvolved would be able to identify what they once were.

Yukianesa flicks around, slid into the saya until the koiguchi and tsuba almost click audibly. All of Jin's movements flow like water, blending seamlessly, graceful, and guided with precision. His stance is unconventional, as he doesn't much bend at the knee, but his fingers itch for the grip of the Arch Enemy in his possession.

"Come," Jin orders him softly, "and experience the power of a Nox Nyctores firsthand!"

Log created on 14:10:01 05/25/2021 by Jin Kisaragi, and last modified on 05:38:37 10/16/2023.