Description: Rumors have spread within the Syndicate that Geese has taken under his proverbial wing a new 'student.' By chance the Shanghai-born Enforcer Shihong Mao happens across the former NESTS experiment at Geese Tower, rumors are put to rest, and new light is shed. But can the two ever really get along..?
It's two minutes to eight o'clock, and the warmth of the day is finally starting to seep out of the stone of Geese Tower. The late summer evening may have stilled the perpetual activity that transpires within Geese Tower's lobby, most of the staff save for a couple bored-looking security having gone home for the night, but it doesn't stop certain kinds of business from continuing on apace.
Few businessmen (of any repute) come to the Tower at these hours, when the setting sun streaks red light in looming patterns across the marble floor; this time is when Geese's other contacts come knocking. The lean, long-legged, boy draped negligently between a pair of cushy chairs twisted to face one another doesn't seem to merit such a serious title as 'contact'-- especially given his battered leather jacket and dark, dusty jeans, an insult to the finery against which they're juxtaposed-- but then again, despite his total irreverence, he IS being left alone. K' is apparently waiting for Geese to make enough time in his busy schedule to see him about his little 'assignment'; idly, he wonders what Geese's reaction concerning Chun-Li will be.
He's in full-on lounge mode, slumped lazily with his legs slung carelessly across the seat and chair back. One knee crooks up to support a lounging elbow. His earphones are in, the barest hints of a frenetic 4/4 time pulse leaking audibly from his vicinity. Sounds like he turned it up, likely in order to avoid having to talk to anyone he doesn't want to talk to.
Perhaps it's unwise of K' to be so brazen about his presence in Geese Tower... but to be frank, he doesn't give a shit if the media wants to speculate about why he's hanging out in Geese Tower. Besides, if word gets out he's under Geese's aegis, it might make NESTS think twice about being aggressive in their pursuit. He doesn't care if they want to fight Geese, though; the way he sees it, NESTS and Southsynd killing one another in a dominance battle is a win-win for everybody else in the world anyway.
Though the hustle of the business day may die out with the sun's last, shining breath across the city, there is still business to be had. When the sun goes down, men and women of Southtown Syndicate keep working for the big man upstairs in his cushy high rise castle. Some may loathe it--others don't mind it.
Others like Shihong Mao.
Entering Geese Tower after hours is nothing new to the Chinese enforcer. It's become commonplace for the woman, a regular routine of sorts to address the man himself when the rest of the Tower has long since closed itself off for the day. And like many times before, she finds herself doing precisely that.
Stepping through the large row of glass doors leading out as well as into the Tower, the leggy Asian woman strides in with a ghost of a smile haunting her pale face. Despite the darkness creeping down on the city she wears a pair of sunglasses, black eyes hidden behind the inky black lenses perched on her nose. Her steps pause, steel stiletto heels ceasing to click against rich marble as she holds her ground, her eyes wandering across the foyer. No real familiar faces present, save for a few security staff, she notes privately. An absent wave is thrown their way before she resumes walking.
But just as the woman nearly passes the 'infamous' K' in favor of the elevator, seemingly unaware of his presence...
She stops and turns to face him.
Looking down at the former NESTS assassin with a tiny, demure grin and black eyes veiled by her shades, the Chinese woman silently regards the man comfortably lounging in wait. A breathy sigh escapes her lips as her head tips, long, spider-like digits reaching up peel the shades from her face before she tucks them a way with a coy grin. Black eyes hood lightly as she quietly inquires, "So the rumors of you being under the 'tutelage' of mister Howard are true, then?"
Shihong seems to ignore K'... and K' completely ignores her. The boy doesn't even look up from his mp3 player when the staccato sound of heels abruptly manages to intrude even past whatever it is he's listening to. Placidly, he simply turns the sound down-- just a little-- and keeps on idly scrolling through his mysterious list of music, reading the entries with half-lidded eyes and tracking the progress of those heels.
Then they stop next to him. A frown starts to tug at the corner of his mouth.
Eventually, K' slants his gaze upwards and askance to regard Shihong, not bothering to actually lift his head. He regards her levelly as she makes that inquiry of him, and he continues to just look at her with those unreadable, wolfish yellow eyes for a while after she stops talking: letting the silence spool on and on. K' is certainly not one to have problems with making people uncomfortable, and in fact half the time he almost seems to do it just for fun.
She's familiar. Hasn't he fought her once before? Her, and the beastman Blanka? His eyes narrow briefly at the recollection, and recognition glints in his eyes for a moment before he can hide it under his usual mask of indifference. A few more moments pass-- and then incredibly, K' actually deigns to reply.
"Maybe," he grins infuriatingly up at Shihong. He smirks widely a moment, his gaze raking over her appraisingly, and then his smile goes out like a thrown light switch. "Maybe not." His head lifts at a self-possessed tilt, slightly cocked with that characteristic arrogance of his-- half real, and half an act-- and he presently continues, "Who are you to care why I'm here...? You work for him?"
The silence between them would likely unnerve most people. Fortunately for Shihong, working for someone as intimidating and powerful as Geese Howard has more or less hardened her spine. She meets the wolf-like gaze of K' with little more than a tiny and pleasant smile, black eyes half-lidded in amusement. She seems far from uncomfortable in the presence of the former NESTS assassin.
If anything, his presence amuses her.
"Maybe?" the woman echoes, a thin black brow lofting in mild curiosity. Lifting her hands, the woman rests them comfortably on her hips, regardless of his eyes' wanderings. Hardly the sort to mind such looks, she only continues to grin, even as his smile fades a bit.
"I care," the woman begins, the smile on her rouge lips fading only a touch as she paces a few steps away. Lifting her gaze, black eyes wander about the room, fingers absently drumming on her thin hip as she continues. "Because I am genuinely curious. Mister Howard does not seem the sort to take up studies, especially with his 'busy' schedule and his many endeavors on a daily basis."
Pausing, her lips idly purse, eyes hooding a bit as her eyes fix on the vaulted ceiling.
"Maybe a little bit jealous. He had offered to train me, and rumor has it he's training you as well...I guess that means he sees something of worth in you. Not surprising, anyway. The last time we fought, you were quite the handful." Clearly she remembers as well.
Turning to face him once more, Shihong drops her arms, the smile on her lips widening. "Nonetheless, if he's training you, then I suppose you owe him in turn? Does this mean you are employed by Howard, or..?"
As for K'? Silence is his preferred state of being. It's when the silence stops that he begins to look uncomfortable, his eyes narrowing as if in defensive reflex and his lazy, sprawling lounge tensing up and pulling together a little. He hasn't failed to notice that he doesn't seem able to phase or intimidate her. In fact, she seems to find him funny; and that starts to unnerve -him-.
He hears her out to the end of her words in silence. His eyes, having long since finished their assessment of her, rest a steady gaze on her even when she turns away. For a time, he considers what she has to say, musing to himself over how much he wants to reply: or if he even wants to at all. His left arm shifts, lifting to loll on the rest; fingers drum once, with a sort of ruminative energy, and then his hand shuts with a creak of the fingerless leather glove sheathing it.
"If you want to know where he found the time," he eventually starts in a low, cool tone, "or why he did what he did..." His hand wanders. It reaches into a pocket. "Maybe you should ask him." Casting a sharp sort of glance up at her askance, he eventually fishes a cigarette out, and sets it in his lips.
"...cause I dunno why exactly he took me on," he slowly continues around the cigarette. The little cylinder bobs with his words. "Figured he wanted to use me, just like everybody else has." Ironically enough, he soon unwittingly demonstrates the exact reason Geese is so interested in him; there's a click of metal-sheathed fingers snapping, a flare of firelight, and sacred Kusanagi fire is warming the air in their vicinity, the flickering flames dancing from his hand in order to... light the cigarette. K' seems unrepentant about this frivolous use of the holy fire.
He muses momentarily, gaze fixed forward, his dark mood potentially contagious. Idly, he reaches up to paw one earphone out: the little object drops onto his chest and slithers down to a stop on his stomach. The boy cracks half a grin, no room around all the self-deprecation for any humor in the expression. "And he does use me. That's what I owe him." A shrug lifts one lean shoulder. "But... I'm fine with it cause I get to use him back."
And all the while Shihong continues to smile, however unnerving it may be to the former experiment. Eyeing him closely, she watches carefully every nuance and every slight gesture or motion. Distantly she knows he's a dangerous man, however relaxed and calm he may very well appear. And if he's in Howard's employ, that makes him even more dangerous.
The silence he wears begins to take its toll, as K' deigns to mull over his response. The woman's expression remains the same, the corners of her rouge lips edging into a discreet but crafty smile. So calm and seemingly care-less; she can see why he piqued the interests of her insane colleague.
His response earns him a broad smirk, black depths flickering a faint hint or red before she lightly chuckles. "Mister Howard's business is his own--it is not my place or station to pry directly into matters which are his," Shihong casually explains as she shift her weight from one heel to the other, arms folding neatly over her chest. She continues.
"But, I'm sure he has his reasons, be they to 'use you' as you stated or otherwise." Eyes narrow sharply as K' ignites his hand, crimson fire sparking from metallic fingertips without any real effort. The intensity alone causes her to unconsciously recoil a fraction of an inch before it's snuffed out. The reason for Howard's interest are a touch clearer thereafter.
The woman decides it's wise to keep it to herself.
"Use Howard in turn?" A light chime of a laugh slips past her red lips, black eyes half-lidding before she simply casts a hand up, tossing errant black locks from her shoulder. "I suppose then you and I have a few things in common. If you stick with Howard, I suspect you'll find yourself at an advantage of sorts to most, assuming you have 'nefarious' reasons for 'using' mister Howard in kind."
Turning to face him squarely, the woman lets her smile grow. "How is your training with the boss, if I may inquire?"
It's not her place or station to pry with him, she says. The response is quick, so impeccably prompt as to possess some dry wit to it: "So you're gonna pry with me." Emotionless reigns on his face briefly, the sheer unpredictability of his moods rendering the blankness of his expression intimidating. And then, finally, K'... smiles. The expression bares too many teeth. "What makes you think it's any safer to ask me instead?"
He lets that question linger in the air, answered or unanswered; then, his eyes flick away dismissively, as K' simply takes a luxuriant few moments to lean back in his doubled-up chair arrangement, lounge along one seat's chair back, and smoke in peace. He may not be able to go back to the normal stuff, after having had these cigarettes. If he notices how Shihong reacts to his fire, he doesn't show it: failing even to comment about it, as the seconds wear on. "Yeah... I bet he's got his reasons," he says instead. "Nobody takes anybody else on for nothing."
Shihong speculates on how K' could possibly use Howard. His eyes darken, the wolf-yellow of them dimming slightly as his lashes cast their shadows. "Protection," he finally states, out of nowhere, not specifying what part of Shihong's words he's even responding to. It doesn't get much clearer until he slowly continues, Being close to him means being far from somebody else. "Besides. There's something he could teach me that I need to know." His right hand twitches tighter, drawing into a fist at his side.
The woman turns back to face him, and K' virtually pulls back like a cobra. Wary eyes study her as she speaks. "Training with your boss," he replies presently, the lightly-emphasized 'your' a quiet but pointed word chosen in order to divorce himself from the idea of servitude, "is a fuckin' pain in the ass." Smoke coils from around his cigarette, streaming from the corner of his mouth as he lets a low chuckle slip. "Not like I don't learn shit from it, I wouldn't be here if I didn't." His imprisoned right hand flinches briefly in its metal shell, an everpresent reminder of why it is he's let himself get into this situation in the first place.
A swift smile edges across the woman's lips immediately as K' responds, his words precisely what she anticipated. Grinning like a cat that caught the canary, the Chinese woman tilts her head lightly and offers a discreet nod. "That was the gist of it, yes," the woman replies with utter disregards for K''s intimidating darkness. It's probably foolish, but the Chinese enforcer doesn't seem to care.
His smile, however, earns him a bolder grin from the woman before her lips part and she offers a breathy laugh. "I ask you because somehow I think it'd be safer than prying into Howard's business. I've been hit by him before, and that's when he LIKED me. I suspect it's a lot worse when he doesn't like you..." The thought alone makes her body ache with phantom pains.
They're only exacerbated when K' lights his cigarette with his given flames. Damned if Shihong doesn't hate that chi stuff. How can manipulated fire hurt like that? Or Geese's icy blue and violet energy? Or just about everyone else's?
The thoughts are dismissed as K' speaks, and immediately the woman's black eyes drift onto the younger man, lips curling into a demure smile. "Perhaps. It would be a lie for me to sit here and insist that mister Howard has a heart of gold and only wants you under his wing for good and noble intentions." Half-turning once more, Shihong looks elsewhere for the moment, still grinning to herself.
"That's not how the world works in most cases." Most. She pauses, glancing back towards the dark-skinned fighter with a ghost of a smile, black eyes half-lidded in amusement hinted with interest. Protection?
"Protection, you say? ...well, that seems like a good enough reason. If you've enemies, it'd be foolish of them to mess with you if you're in Howard's favor, as far as I am aware. He may come off as a cold and callous man, and probably is, but he tends to like to take good care of what's 'his.'"
At mention of what he could be taught, however, the woman's interests are thoroughly piqued. "Is that so? Well, we are more alike than I really did wager. I'm in it essentially for the same reasons. He's been a help thus far, so I can assure you won't be disappointed." She pauses again, her expression humored.
"And yes, it's pretty terrible. He generally pulls no punches, as I'm sure you're aware." A brief glance is spared, the woman's eyes glancing over the former experiment from head to toe. "But...you look like you manage. Good, good." She then smiles.
"It's good to see he's got someone like you under his wing. Though, I admit you should take caution around here." Pausing, the woman's eyes flicker from side to side before she leans forward slightly, murmuring,
"Cherise Bouchard is in his employ as well. As I am aware, she has /quite/ a fancy for you..."
Sent into a bit of a sulk when Shihong just takes all his posturing in stride, K' straightens up into a more conventional seat in his chair: properly gathering himself up. The other one, no longer needed, gets a good shove from his heel, and it skids away with a loud grind of wood against marble. "...Howard hits OK,"he eventually grumps, very irritatedly and perhaps just a little facetiously: a hint of boyish reluctance to admit to how much it can hurt in his tone.
Remembering that pain very vividly, he rubs absently at the back of his neck, starting to frown again. His frown only deepens as Shihong continues to talk. He never really did care much about hearing the opinions and advice of others, being fairly stubborn, individualistic, and opinionated-- and above all, determined not to let other people govern him ever again. Thus, he really doesn't have much interest in the pointers and experience Shihong has to share. He figures he'll just experience things for himself rather than rely on-- or be guided by-- somebody else.
Naturally, this means he -does- have a very hard time, most of the time, dealing with his arrangement with Howard. It's only the promise of improvement-- of maybe being able to take off that glove-- that keeps him here. Well, maybe that and the fact that he'd rather get punched by Howard (who he knows wouldn't permanently damage or permit to be damaged any investment of his) and improve because of it... than be subject to the whim of killer NESTS clones, who'd as soon try to murder him as look at him.
"Doesn't matter if I'm disappointed," he says suddenly-- perhaps a bit unexpectedly-- his yellow gaze slanting up at Shihong sharply. "I haven't been yet," he starts, thinking of his encounter with Chun-Li-- of how he's fared just a little better in his other fights as of late-- "but when I am, I'm just gonna leave." There's an OBVIOUS problem with that reasoning, and K' knows it; he addresses it instantly, annoyance stamping his voice. "I'm used enough to being on the run." Noticing her looking him over, deducing the reason for it, he adds dryly, "Used enough to getting roughed up. Don't think there's been a single week in the past year where I haven't bled."
And then, Shihong brings up one of the reasons K' can just never catch a break.
Were K' not so dark-skinned, he might have paled. As it is, he manages to rein in his expression before it alters any more than a slight narrowing of the eyes. That crazy bitch is around here? "...Fucked if I know why," is his annoyed opinion on Cherise's fancy for him, as he leans back in the chair, sulks, and completely fails to notice that he does have an weird and depressing sort of charisma at times.
He hits okay? Shihong chuckles lightly to herself, K''s reluctance drawing a light grin across the woman's red lips. "There's no shame in admitting someone hits really damn hard," the Chinese woman replies, lifting a hand and absently tossing it about before it folds neatly across her bosom.
"But then, maybe it's a guy thing?" Delicate shoulders absently shrug. Men!
At his sudden declaration, however, Shihong's expression falters lightly, black eyes widening a fraction of an inch before she simply relaxes, pale features easing into a familiar expression of general contentment. There IS obvious problem with his logic and reasoning, but damned if the Chinese enforcer will admit anything; it's his problem, he's a grown man, and he'll deal with it as necessary.
So, instead, Shihong just smiles demurely.
"Well, I hope you'll stick around for a while, at least," the woman offers with a shocking polite smile. "It'd be a shame to see you go so soon. From what I remember of our fight a while back, you are a pretty talented fellow." Pausing, the black-eyed woman glances aside, to K', with a half-eyed expression of amusement and odd friendliness. "Besides, who knows? Maybe we'll get to know each other better in time?" She offers a casual shrug, eyes shutting as her smile grows.
"Well, as I said...Howard finds uses in people who are talented and takes hold. Apparently, a while back, he thought she and I were useful enough to take in his employ. And, well...here we are." A faux-helpless shrug follows, the woman's lips easing into another playful smile.
"As for WHY she fancies you, well. It's not hard to see, now that I think on it."
The smile grows...before the woman simply turns her back and shrugs again.
"Besides, it might work out in your favor! Howard might want to pit you against an opponent to test you, and who better than a woman who delights in enduring pain?" They really are a cute couple, she decides to herself.
Apparently K' felt he wasn't meeting his Asshole Quota in this conversation enough, because Shihong's advisory that admission is not a sin just gets replied with a short laugh, a nasty smirk, and this: "That's what I tell everybody I've hit." And with that, an arrogant cast enters his smile briefly as he leans back, probably just having strengthened Shihong's bemused exasperation with the male sex. K' really is a peculiar creature, though, even more strange than most other men; outwardly insufferably arrogant, but inwardly crippled by a whole lot of doubt and pessimism about his own ability.
But one thing he definitely doesn't seem to be is naive or foolish... and he appears perfectly aware of the difficulties and consequences of trying to get out from Howard's shadow. It doesn't stop him from a little bluster, however. I'll leave if I don't like it. Such words exemplify what K' is all about: self-aggrandization through aggressive words, even if sometimes he isn't sure himself he can back them up.
And so, just as Shihong simply smiles past them, K' just shrugs away the obvious problems that loom in the background of their connections with Geese Howard. He just shrugs a little-- a diffident little lift of one shoulder-- when Shihong gets friendly and tries to compliment him. He almost recedes from the words, as if unsure how to take them or suspicious of their sincerity. "...I'll be here as long as I'm meant to be here," he eventually says slowly, voice rife with the rootless fatalism of a boy who's never really known any life but that of a runaway: a life liable to uproot and change at any given moment.
And Shihong just continues to be friendly, moving on briskly to talk about Cherise. Only half-listening, K' narrows his eyes suspiciously at all Shihong's friendliness and smiles, viscerally unable to help but find the woman attractive-- but simultaneously finding her behavior infuriating and confusing. It doesn't help when Shihong just goes into vagaries about it not 'being hard to see' why Cherise would like him; that answer doesn't elucidate things for him at all.
Aggravated, K' grasps at the one thing he can intelligently comment on, and he does so in his typical tactful fashion: "I don't get off hurting people, and I'm not interested in helping other people get off. If he wants to find me an opponent, he'd do better finding one that can stand up to me."
That's what he tells everyone, K' admits.
"Have you told that to Howard?" she asks, her words light and a touch playful before she simply shrugs her shoulders and casts it off with a light chuckle. "No matter, no matter. In any case, I'm glad to see it wasn't just rumor you were haunting Howard's employ from time to time." Shifting her weight from one heel to the next, Shihong's lips edge into another demure smile, her posture casual at best.
"It's good to have someone else around here that is doubtlessly capable of holding his own." Exhaling lightly, the Chinese woman shakes her head in mild disappointment. "Some of the 'big guys' upstairs are a bit preoccupied with...whatever." Lifting her gaze, the woman offers a fleeting glance as she adds, "Even if your time here may or may not be 'temporary.' If you leave, well. You leave." It's that simple.
But she suspects he'll wind up staying. There's more than he's letting on to.
At the suspicious narrow of his wolfish gaze, the woman's hands lift, palms facing the youth as she lightly chuckles. "Please, please. Don't look at me so angrily. As long as you're here and in Howard's employ I consider you a coworker and, as such, I'll do what I can to help, if you should need it." Bowing her head lightly, she adds with a faint smirk. "It's the least I can do, though I suspect you'll tell me you don't need my help--and that's more than fine."
Exhaling lightly, the woman's heels stir, her body turning and her back facing the dark-skinned fighter as she eyes the rest of the lobby. "As for Cherise, it was a joke. I figured I was doing you a possible 'favor' of sorts by warning you about her. I was just making it a little 'fun,' that's all." Her head cants, black eyes gazing back at the rogue NESTS agent with a playful smirk.
"Besides, I'm SURE Howard will find you suitable people to test yourself against, Howard aside, that is." Another light shrug follows, before long arms stretch high and overhead.
"In any case, I had a prior engagement to attend to, but chatting with you was more interesting. Really though, I shouldn't press my luck." A soft laugh follows, black eyes drawing shut as she begins to pace away.
"I'm sure I'll be seeing you again sometime. I hope, anyway. If you ever need help--not that I expect you to--feel free to ring. You're an interesting one." Lifting an arm, she offers a casually dismissive wave in parting as she marches for the elevator, a smile on her pale face.
"Ciao~"
Log created on 19:28:03 06/05/2008 by Shihong, and last modified on 23:18:16 06/18/2008.