Match of the Millennium

Description: After Juri's departure and headline-hitting act of violence, Daisuke has come to turn in his resignation as Team Frost's intern with the intent to go chase after after her. Abigail, however, has some other ideas.

[ABIGAIL]
With NFG entering its final moments and Team Frost out of the running, it's time for business as usual to start to rear its bull doggish, death metal make up, streaked face here in the Bay Area. It's time for terror. It's time for broken bodies. It's time for Death Metal.

It's time for CHRISTMAS!!!

Yes, like all good businesses, it's time to adopt a Christmas theme to attract customers and with Abigall's Scrap Metal riding high on notoriety due to his involvement in NFG (and also review bombings due to Buford's affiliation and Juri's murder rampage...) it's time to get those books balanced.

Chrstimas lights twinkle and sparkle, drapped between the lamposts and curled around the railings of the area. Piles of fake snow sit upon the ground with a small christmas tree in the midstd and a set of fake gifts under it and the great neon sign of Abigail's Scrap Metal has oversized, brightly glowing, signage of more gifts next to it. Topping this all off is an absolutely massive balloon figure of Abigail himself, in christmas colors complete with a red fur lined hat, holding a massive 'Welcome' sign with his grinning visage overlooking it all. Truly the embodiment of tack..

A roaring raging verison of 'Deck The Halls' is exploding from the depths of the shop itself where the sound of metal wrenching and grinding tools can be heard accompanying it. At least -that- much is normal.

[DAISUKE]
All in all, it's a rather impressive thing for anyone to walk in on. Or walk by. Or see from a couple blocks away.

"... I mean..."

It's certainly a hell of a thing to be walking inside of, that's for sure. The kind of thing that is making a certain redheaded japanese youth to reconsider his decision to even come by this way again, and leaving the poor guy to peer from underneath his brown hoodie's hood, flipped up from underneath the collars of his heavier dark-grey jacket.

"... This is probably gonna be fine, right...?" The youth mutters to himself, fingers moving to idly fidget with the scarlet scarf coiled around his neck underneath the covering of the hood, going through those few neurotic tics before steeling himself to walking through the yard, finally.

And to the shop. To the dreadful noise up ahead that almost seems like a warning klaxon inside of his brain, warning him away from getting closer as it gets louder with every step.

But finally, he makes it all the way up to the large door of the main garage the music is echoing out from within. And there, Daisuke's fist comes bearing down upon the heavyweight doorframe, knocking into it several times over with a sharp, jostling sound he can only *hope* will be heard through all the other noise.

"Ah-- Abigail-san!" He tries yelling, too, in hopes that his voice might help him be heard. "It's Kubo!"

[ABIGAIL]
By this point, Daisuke should be well familair with the sights, sounds and noises of Abigail's Scrap Metal as even during the height of the tournament, when the yard was used to both train and house NFG participants and had been shaped to do so, work went on with the chorus of haulers, crushers, shredders, magnetic pulley;s and other pieces of loud over the top machines dedicated to the destruction, recycling, compacting and of vehicles and whatever else needs doing away with. , Abigail's Scrap Yard has these devices but they're currently switched off as he's te only one here on the job right now and the yard feels strangely empty, like all the children have left the roost.

Abigail, however, does count for at least three or four people at least so there is that and Daisuke would come across the behemoth at work. A loud wrenching sound of metal occurs as Abigail, welders mask down now, reaches under a van and heaves, flipping it over and then slamming it vertically into the ground with violent force.

"Hrrrooooom!" Abigail thunders as he reaches up, stretching his body high and splaying his fingers like the legs of a tarantula. He slaps down, smashing into the rear of the van, as it points up at the ceiling and a few seconds later, a horrible sound of metal wrenching and glass shattering and groaning fills the air. With a single arm, Abigail begins to literally compress the poor thing like an accordion. This disturbing display of brute strength is the sight that greets Daisuke.

And yet, despite the roaring noise, the young mans call of his name causes the giant to pause and his ears to twitch. Somehow hearing him in the middle of all...well..that.

"Hrrn?" he grunts, turning away from the distorted mass of metal and looking in Daisuke's direction. He then reaches up and with a huge finger, flicks the welding mask on his face up and peers at Daisuke before shouting, "VROOOOOM! C'mon in!"

[DAISUKE]
What is someone like Daisuke to do when witnessing a truly, completely absurd display like that?

Not a lot more than stare, honestly. In awe? Maybe. Shock? A little. Be overtaken by a sense of dread that just makes the boy hope that Abigail's hands will never be directed around his body that is absolutely, positively, much frailer than the integrity of the van that just got crushed like paper carton? Yes, definitely that.

"...O-okay."

The redhead does come padding closer with that while his hands remain in the pockets of his jacket, though there is a certain 'pressure' about Abigail that makes the young man think better of getting... well, *very* close, you know?

"So, uhhhh..." He came with a purpose here, truth be told. But after that display of brute strength he is, for *some reason*, not entirely sure if he should actually just jump straight ot business. So instead, he wavers.

"...C-chilly weather today, huh...?"

Daisuke isn't exactly great with small talk even under better circumstances, let's be brutally honest here.

[ABIGAIL]
It's kind of like being on a firs tname basis with an earthquake isn't it. Abigail casually wipes his hands onto his tee shirt, staining more grease and oil there and smearing it across his skull print garb, before finally reaching up to completely pull the mask off.

"Eh?" he rumbles to the question as he tromps over towards the radio blasting the music. "Ooh. Yeah maybe a little! I usually don't notice." he gives Daisuke a big grin. A slasher fic grin.

"My internal engine is usually runnin' towards the red line!"

That being, uh, said, he reaches over and flicks a thick finger over the speakers controls to cut them off just as a Death Metal cover of 'All I Want For Christmas Is You' begins roaring out of it. So a timely save.

"Hey, uh, you weren't followed were you? I've scared off most of the paparazzi but they won't stop showin' up now and again to try and get some shots of the place or me. Still lookin' fer Juri I guess.." his voice trails off somewhat there but then picks up as he looks at Daisuke, his smile gone now and set into a deep frown. "You aint bein' harassed are ya?" he rumbles, menace rising up in his voice now. "I aint got kid gloves for these morons anymore. Who been buggin' ya??"

[DAISUKE]
"You... don't...?" Daisuke would probably sound more disbelieving than surprised by this if it wasn't for the fact that there is an obvious, very visible contrast between how the two of them are dressed up. It's more the kind of confusion that a kid has about how birds are able to fly and humans are not.

The explanation, such as it is, then just gets a polite smile from the redhead. You know, the kind that shows none of the internal questions inside his head were really answered, but he has very promptly decided he's better off just nodding along and pretending it all makes sense. "R-right..."

The surprise that comes then, after the music has been cut off? That one's more a genuine sort, and not at all versed in the idle sense of dread that comes from standing in close proximity to an earthquake that has taken human form. "Huh?" Daisuke actually blinks several times over at the question.

"No, no, I-- I'm not." His voice is suddenly much more level and calmer this time around while he shakes his head, and one of his hands have even pulled out from the sheath of his pockets to wave it dismissively in front of him for further emphasis. "I'm fine. And I made sure I'm not getting followed, relax."

HE really sounds weirdly confident about that. Just like how he seemed to be, somehow, perfectly aware of the fact that he *was* tailed by would-be muggers back in Sunshine.

[ABIGAIL]
"Oh good!"

Just like that, Abigail's mood seems t lift. On the one instant he looked ready to go tearing off into the Bay Area like a death metal makeup wearing kaiju, and now his slasher fic grin has returned and all is well.

The confidence in the answer is not lost on him either and he says rather simply, "I shoulda known you would be able to take care of that yourself anyway." he notes and then adds, "Just make sure that nobody find the bodies and they can't be traced back t'me, eh?"

That's probably best left not questioned to closely.

"Anyway, what's going on then, eh? You're the first one that's wandered back here since things started getting messy. I haven't even seen Buford, come t'think of it." He taps his chin, "Chevy was by the other day.. That was nice. Actually, I should probably make a trip to check on Coco again..." his voice trails off as he slips off his tool belts and turns away from Daisuke once more. The tools clatter loudly upon slamming onto a table with an idle toss from him. "Then I gotta pick a match to go show myself at. I might do Chevy, yeah. That'd be nice. Still t'bad I didnt' get a hold of 'er for the team..."

[DAISUKE]
"... What."

Daisuke blinks. Very, very slowly.

"...N-no, I didn't mean like..." No, Daisuke definitely would not be actually straight up kill anyone who might be trying to follow him. But he lets that go instead of finishing his senstence. Maybe it really is best not to question that too closely.

He stays standing where he is, anyway, while Abigail's turning to get rid of his tools (did he really even need those though if he was doing actual scrapping...?), and lets his hand return into his jacket pocket all over again.

"Mmm... Yeah, about that," he does mutter, glancing away just for a few seconds before he manages to bring himself to continue:

"I'm resigning. You know, from the whole intern thing."

Not that the position would be kept going for much longer anyway with NFG nearing it's end, but...

[ABIGAIL]
The massive monster mechanic stops moving.

His back is to Daisuke right now so his impression impossible to read but from his body language it's clear that this has caused him to hit the brakes and bring everything to a crashing pause.

With the music off now and the machinary cold and lacking power, it's just the outside wind and the sound of Abigail's creaking fiberous body for...long...long...uncomfortably long seconds.

Then he finally moves again, reaching for a towel to begin wiping his hands of the oil and grease more properly, back still to Daisuke.

"Yeah I figured thats why you were here.." he rumbles, voice mildly deflated but also not sounding very surprised. "I guess I shouldn't be bothered by it. You were here because of Juri anyway, not me. I guess it's just saying this whole NFG thing is really over with now, aint it. That's too bad..."

He affords Daisuke a glance over his shoudler, "Though..I gotta ask...why'd you feel the need t'come tell me this? It's not like you were doin' stuff just for me after all. You coulda just headed back to Southtown without a word..."

There is another long pause and then he asks, "Is it cause o'what Juri did?"

[DAISUKE]
Daisuke might not have been entirely sure what to expect for Abigail's potential reaction. He hasn't really had much of a chance to get a good read on Abigail before despite all this time, but...

He does let out a little breath of relief when that first reaction is fairly subdued, all things considered. But that question that comes at the end makes him frown faintly, glancing away again when the colossal mechanic peeks back over his shoulder to the smaller redhead.

"... I mean. Just felt proper, you know? You're basically the guy trying to hold this whole thing together, afterall."

And also, you know, threatening a whole new gang war over one of his teamsters getting brutalized during a match. Things like that.

"... But yeah. Also because of what Han-san did."

His shoulders slump a little with that, enough for it to be visible even with the thick jacket.

"...She didn't say anything to you, did she?"

[ABIGAIL]
There -is- that yeah, though he's not followed through on that threat.

Of course, nothing saying he still won't....

"No.." he says finally and then turns fully to face Daisuke. He saw that shoulder sag but his expression is neutral at the moment. Huge arms fold, wrestling for space on his massive torso as he looks over the young man and then looks away again, peering out of his garage to eye the holiday lit streets beyond.

"I uh...dont' know much about how you know Juri but like..uh.." he scrathes the back of his head and then finally shrugs his shoulders and unfolds his arms to brace them against a support beam.

"Like...y'know she's some sorta hired killer or somethin' yeah? I don't got all the details but the folk she deals with and have dealt with..it's some serious dark stuff and believe me, I know dark. Mad Gear wasn't always the upstandin' citizens they are today.."

Upstanding Citizens... This brings to mind just what they were like before...

"Her her whole thing with bein' involved had to do with helpin' folk like Coco and Genie and keepin' them out of the wrong hands. Maybe she feel some kinda way because of what happened to Coco? Maybe she got fed up with the system. Maybe she was defendin' herself or taking matters about a probelm into her own hands? I dunno. But you probably don' need to be lettin' up on yer own gas pedal over it."

[DAISUKE]
Honestly, Daisuke probably expected the answer to be 'no' in the first place. But there was a part of him that was still hoping for the slightest miniscule chance that there might be a clue left here that Abigail could convey to him, so he's still a little disappointed when the 'no' does come.

"...Yeah, I know what she is," he murmurs then, scuffing his foot down along the light snow-coating along the ground. "Kinda how she introduced herself to me, you know. She's... A lot of things."

Daisuke's teeth worry briefly at his lower lip, hesitating for just a moment on wether he should say what comes to mind next.

"Folk like Coco and Genie... yeah. Kinda why I was here with her, you know?"

That decision's been made now. He was sure there weren't any eavesdroppers here -- be they paparazzi or... something even worse than that. His hand slips up, tugging his hood back from his head to reveal the full mess of his red hair while his eyes close. Just for a few seconds.

But when they open again, one of them *glows*. Abigail might have picked up on a faint bit of unnatural brightness in the boy's eyes back in Sunshine, maybe not. But now it's unashamedly obvious.

"...Because I'm folk like Coco and Genie, too. I was supposed to help. But, well..."

The glow fades away from his eye and he shrugs his shoulders in the same motion he uses to slip his hands back into his pockets while he wistfully looks off into the side and to the distance... or as far into the distance as he can, anyway, before the outer walls of the scrapyard block sight. "Now she's gone off and done that."

[ABIGAIL]
"Huh. No foolin'..."

Abigail seems rather surprised at this revelation but then, after some reflection, seems to piece things together and he nods his head thoughtfully, "Huh. I guess she's been about this thing for awhile then. Listen.."

He waves his hands a few times, "I don't get all that..psycho this and sadou and hadou that and all that stuff. It's abit out of my league, y'know? Not I ever needed and I met too many folk who went on and on about how great it was and how it made 'em superior and all that crap...and in the end, they just didn't have the horse power. But Juri? I fought 'er a few times in the past and she was a huge headache and pain in th'ass. But when we paired up for NFG I could see she wanted to...make somethin' else out of 'erself. So I agreed to help 'er and support it cause...well..I been there, eh?"

Abigail rests a hand on his waist and then shrugs, "The way I see it, her runnin' around killin' aint good but I gotta admit that there's a part o'me that thinks maybe she did it to thumb her nose at the folk she's fussin' and fightin' with and just doesn't give a damn who sees it and what folk think of her. I aint sayin' it's good to be a murderer don't get me wrong but...I gotta consider, based on the stuff I seen and know ..that there's more to it then her snappin' on some random guy but it's all just guessin' until someone catches up with her. Just hope it's the right folk who do...."

[DAISUKE]
"...Yeah."

It's really hard not to agree with more or less everything Abigail is saying. A lot of it is more or less what Daisuke is thinking too, afterall.

Especially the part about Juri trying to make something else out of herself.

"... I think that's why I kept sticking around too, you know," the redhead admits. "Even after the whole kidnapping deal."

Daisuke was very much ready to run out on her after all of that had gone down. But that also ended up being the same night he ended up at least thinking he saw something else in that woman. The woman notorious for being... well, a lot of things. A murderer. Terrorist.

"... I dunno. Maybe I'm naive or whatever, but... I guess I still wanna believe."

He finally looks up, then, to at least try and vaguely look towards Abigail's own gaze. Even if establishing eye contact might result in some ache in the joints of his neck due to an uncomfortable amount of craning with someone as monstrously tall.

"...You know, I dunno if she ever said as much to you, but I'm pretty sure she trusted you. I mean, I guess you had some idea at least about what kind of people she was expecting to get up to, too, so maybe you figured that much out too. ... Truth be told, I think she was expecting something to happen already. You know... anything at all. But..." He shrugs. "Nothing ever did. Might be she's feeling insulted. No one ever brought the war to her, so..." He pauses for just a second. Maybe it's for dramatic impact, but he does also take that little moment to run through everything in his head the last time. That footage released to the public he viewed several times over in trying to make sense of everything. "...So she went and declared it herself."

[ABIGAIL]
"Hrrnnn...."

At the comment about trust, Abigail emits a low rumnbling sound like an idling engine. His expression isn't necessarily easy to read but he ends up looking away from Daisuke to consider that before nodding his head, "Eh. I had her back." he finally admits.

He listens and then looks back over towards the young man and then notes, "You might have a point. Maybe she got restless. Maybe she knew somethin' we didn't. It's all guess work. It's hard t'say... Who knows what somma the sponsors they got roped into this thing really had going through they minds after all. There's some full on idiots but I don't know all the names. They all aint pro fighters, that's for sure. You got a whole company involved, Ultratech. Whose to say that there wasn't some intention on the fighters, y' know? Thats why I got so mad at Chevy and 'em for getting dragged into the whole mess with Coco. It's just drama and dollar signs. That crazy Carly made that clear 'erself. They don't -really- care about what happens so who knows if there's somethin' Juri got tired of waitin' on."

He shrugs lightly and then finally pushes up from the support beam and slings his towel over his shoulder as he starts approaching Daisuke slowly.

"You -sure- about resigning?" he asks abruptly.

[DAISUKE]
"...Huh?"

Daisuke would be lying if he thought there wouldn't be some kind of resistance at some level for his decision to leave his internship behind. But still. Maybe he didn't expect Abigail, specifically, to actually question that decision.

It leaves him to stare at the giant for a good moment, kind of taken aback by it, before he manages to shake at least some of the surprise away with... well, a literal shake of his head.

"Yeah, I-- kinda," he offers in answer then, finally. "I honestly don't know if there's that much I can offer here anymore. And besides... I gotta find her."

[ABIGAIL]
"Well that's kinda my point.." continues Abigail, shrugging slightly as he walks past Daisuke, taking a few bored, lazy steps, back towards the wreckage of the van from earlier.

"I mean, if yer resigning and all I can't very well put y'to work on finding her and reachin' out to her about what went down and what's happenin'. You kinda walkin' away from a job and gettin' all the dirty details about askin' questions and gettin' information about stuff goin' on that maybe normal methods wouldnt' give you results of. But I mean.."

He pauses and then says, back to Daisuke, both hands on his waist now, "I mean.." he repeats, "If you just wanna walk away from all that and go home and not bother t'find out anythin' or learn about what's goin' on I guess we can close the books on the whole thing...."

[DAISUKE]
Daisuke's gaze follows Abigail the whole time. He does take an instinctive step over to the other side when the massive man does move past him, as if he's expecting just being in too close vicinity to the hulking vision to be like standing just besides where a speeding truck has gone by; wind pressure's a hell of a thing with that kind of mass.

"...I wasn't planning on going home yet, no," he mutters, while russet brows push together uncertainly. "I don't... really understand. The company behind the league disavowed Han-san, right? How would still holding the job help me there, exactly...?"

[ABIGAIL]
It was a good move on his account as for a man so strong one of his attacks involves hitting you with a middle finger flick strong enough to knock even the likes of Zangief away, being brushed by him casually if he's not bothering to hold back or restrain himself can be....a bad time.

"Cause yer workin' fer me. Not fer Professional Fighting Worldwide." explains Abigail, deep voice patient as if waiting for Daisuke to clue in on what he's offering.

"Screw 'em. We can find 'er ourselves without their help and then you can ask 'er all the questions you need."

He turns now, facing Daisuke again, "Whaddya say? You wanna walk out of here and do it on yer own that's up to you. But if you wanna add a little nitro to yer engine and speed the process up a bit then maybe you think about your job prospects... So what's it gonna be?"

[DAISUKE]
"Nnnhhh..." Daisuke groans faintly while rubbing his hand along the side of his head. "You know, I don't... really know anything about cars and all that stuff, so I dunno if I'm really keeping proper track of all these analogies..."

His hand drops from his head then, and sticks down into his pocket, lips curling slightly with his deepening frown while he considers Abigail for a good moment, still.

"... I guess you have your reasons too," he eventually concedes, with a heavy sigh.

"I don't really care for getting my name out anywhere, you know? It's why I kept a tight lid on what I could do even after I came here. But besides that... Alright. I'm down. Let's do it."

His smile *does* turn a tad bit nervous right after saying that though.

"...And then I can go and probably get kicked by Han-san so hard my soul leaves my body. It'll be great."

[ABIGAIL]
"Alright!" bellows Abigail, "Vrooooom!!! That's the spirit! B'sides if you dont' knwo what nitro is..you probably -need- t'be my apprentice for awhlie so you can get some real culture!"

By the time he's finished speaking, he's looming right over Daisuke and he reaches down to clasp a huge hand on the young man's back with, well it's not crushing force at least, but it is Abigail.

"Now then, don't you worry. We'll find Juri and she can kick the crap outta you to yer hearts content...and if she tries it with me, well, I missed out on World Warrior due to wantin' to focus on NFG so I could use loosenin' up before I go for my old belt again."

He grins down at Daisuke once more, "Let's see if we can catch us an nutso psychic killer."

There's a pause as his grin grows even bigger, "It'll be fun..."

[DAISUKE]
"I... don't even have a driving license..." That's probably not really the important part of this whole conversation, really, but Daisuke somehow feels it necessary to point it out anyhow.

And for the record? Abigail might be holding back, but it is *still* Abigail we are talking about here, so even that ends up making the younger man yelp out and be left writhing faintly there.

"I'm not saying that because I *want* to get my ass kicked!" He does protest with a huff, trying his very best not to get *too* concerned over how kind of worrying that smile on the bigger man is right now. "R-right... I mean, I was kinda hoping to just talk to her first..."

[ABIGAIL]
"No drivers license?!"

Everything else has suddenly become a minor issue.

"Well we gotta fix that up right away! How th'hell... No..no. That can't be allowed t'stand. Yer gettin' a permit and a license!"

He releases Daisuke and steps away and then seems to pull back as he realizes the entire point of this exercise once again.

"Well, yeah, Juri. We'll find her. Yeah, yeah, getting kicked by her aint no fun. I'm just stayin', be prepared for it. Sometimes that's the only language somebody like that understands."

His grin returns, "Anyway, good talkin' with ya. I'll consider yer resignation off the table for now. and we'll get t'work on tracking her down. Don't you worry. Everrrrrything's gonna be fine.."

He turns and starts tromping towards the back office, already making plans in his head as he goes, "Feel free t'hang out as long as y'want! There's stuff in the fridge!" he calls out while thundering slowly towards the back of the shop.

[DAISUKE]
"H-huh?!"

Not a whole lot else the redhead manages to let out before he is let go of (which in turn is much more of a relief, too, really). But still, he is left *reeling*. It's a right proper whiplash with how the intent of this whole conversation had completely turned around.

And yet he can't find the guts to really contest Abigail's notion taht him getting imprompty driver's ed isn't a priority.

"Right, well..." Comes his sigh when Juri comes up again, though. "... A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do sometimes, right? ...Even if it's trying to talk down a hired murderer sometimes." That's probably not really something that most people have to worry about, though.

"R-right..." He coughs out then while Abigail's making his way towards the back. "THe fridge, right..." His hand move up to rub his fingers along the bridge of his nose now, and he goes on to mutter, "What have I gotten myself into this time..."

Log created on 15:05:09 12/02/2023 by Daisuke, and last modified on 22:03:55 12/02/2023.