Description: Plausibility calls in sick as, through sheer coincidence, Kyo Kusanagi and Whip - sufferer of a tragic surname deficiency - encounter one another in a dimly-lit pub in Southtown. Whip, curious to learn more about the man from whom her brother's power derives, puts her investigative skills to use; Kyo, on the other hand, just wants to mooch some hot wings.
So, hypothetically, say you were a highschool student and it was a Monday night. Do you really have anything better to do with your time than hang out at a pub?
Sure, okay, technically highschool students are usually underage... But most of them aren't twenty years old without having graduated, either. Kyo Kusanagi is a special case, you see; normal rules and schedules simply don't apply to the Kusanagi heir, and that's just the way he likes it. Actually finishing school is too much of a bother, so he might as well milk it while he can.
And sure, technically twenty is STILL underage in Japan, but when you're a freakin' celebrity who could take the whole establishment down without cracking a sweat, what sort of sensible bartender would actually ask you for I.D.? What sort of a man would have the cojones, the stones, to stand up to a former King of Fighters champion, the reigning World Warrior and an all-around living legend, a young man who is to normal people as gods are?
Apparently, the bartender at this particular establishment.
"Geez, fine," Kyo says, throwing up his hands. "Just give me a frickin' Coke then." What use is being a worldwide celebrity and a vertiable living titan if you can't engage in underaged drinking without the interference of pesky adults? No use. No use at all.
With a week like she's been having, Whip needed to get out of the house. Her mood was finally on an upturn, and it was about time she took advantage of her newly-healed body. So she slipped out of the apartment when no one else was home, leaving behind a note that she planned to spend the day on the town.
True to her word, Whip has been enjoying her day to the best of her ability, indulging in the simple gifts of a little fresh air, a brisk stroll on a chilly day. She spent her day taking in Southtown by sidewalk, her hands stuffed in her coat pockets as she window-shopped clothes at her own, slow pace.
Soon enough, the afternoon began to darken, and reluctant to end the peaceful day she's been having, Whip decided to begin her evening by stepping foot in her favourite neighbourhood pub. Her cellphone beeps when she's about two steps in, and juggling her handbag and folding up her sunglasses to hook on her shirt. Pulling out a glossy phone, Whip flips it up to squint at the text. Her eyes hood. Solemnly, she punches 'SOON' on the keys and hits send. The phone goes back into her coat.
A moment later, Whip is milling at the end of the bar, waiting patiently for the 'tender to notice her there. When he does, she tosses him a wide smile and a pleasant wave. He returns it, and sets to work fixing her a pint of her favourite lager. She doesn't look any older than Kyo. It's nice when you're a neighbourhood regular. And you also have fake I.D cards issued by about fifteen or so countries.
Oh man, that is so much bullcrap. Indignant outrage is writ large on Kyo's expression as Whip, who is /clearly/ not old enough to be drinking here, is served her beverage of choice without a hint of fuss or a whisper of bother. The World Warrior's gaze moves from the bartender, to Whip, then back again, his mouth opened and sure to unleash some tirade of hostile invective that would make him look like a complete jackass.
Er... More than usual, anyway.
But instead, Kyo takes his Coke and moves the short distance down the bar to bring himself level with Whip, who upon closer inspection is probably /younger/ than he is. The Kusanagi heir visibly sizes Whip up, and his eyes narrow slightly, his mouth pulling into a faint frown of irritation. He looks like somebody about to start a fight, and in most parts of the world, Kyo Kusanagi looking like that is considered a bad omen.
But rather than issue a challenge to battle from Whip, who honestly he has no idea about, neither her identity nor her connections nor even the fact that she's a /fighter/, what he says is: "Don't you feel guilty, endangerin' that guy's license like that?"
Kyo doesn't understand the concept of 'hypocrisy', no.
And isn't it weird to see the very cause of so much of your family's woes walk right up to you out of the blue? What an astounding coincidence!
Whip certainly looks the opposite of world-weary. While she holds herself with a certain air of maturity, and has the bearing of old war vets rather than that of girls her age, definitely looks wide-eyed and young. Her face is still softly-featured and looks terminally unworried -- as such is the gift of youth. But with an infinite patience of tired old men, she stuffs a hand into her jeans pocket and waits on her beer.
She's busy reading the bar menu, looking intrigued by tonight's special on hot wings when someone speaks to her.
Rather, someone is a /jerk/ at her.
Without even looking up, Whip starts smirking down at the menu items she was reading. She's in that sort of mood. "What's up your ass?" she's replying just as briskly, her voice wry. "Mad they didn't accept a dog licence here--?"
Whip arches a glance up on Kyo. She stops, all traces of playful meanness snuffed out of her face, her features creasing with immediate recognition. Kyo is a world-famous celebrity, and even those acquainted on the fringes of the fighting circuits would know his face. But what about that, and being an Ikari soldier, and on top of that, having an estranged blood brother who happens to carry his bloodline fire?
"Kusanagi?" Whip inquires, looking more than a little surprised.
Oh, good, snark! Kyo can deal with that, it's sort of his 'thing'. The wielder of the divine Kusanagi flames's expression grows more amused than anything at Whip's response, his brows raising and his frown pulling into a smirk, but when she looks at his face and suddenly cuts herself off, he gets briefly confused. And then, she says his name, which explains everything.
She /recognises/ him.
"Hey, good for you, got it in one," Kyo says. He'd clap, but he's currently holding his drink with one hand, so screw that. "Usually this is the part where people either ask for an autograph or try to kick my ass." He puts a bit of emphasis on 'try', because that's how he rolls. "What about you? Can't say I have the foggiest idea who you are, but that's never stopped people from wanting to fight me. If you want the autograph though, I should warn you; my girlfriend told me to stop signing boobs. She felt it was..." He trails off and looks thoughtful for a second, as though searching for the right words. "'Demeaning to women and to myself'," Kyo quotes.
He's a real charmer.
As Kusanagi starts on again, and doesn't seem too inclined to stop, Whip's interested expression starts to go stale. This guy can't be for real. But, he in fact is, and he feels very familiar to her in the strangest of ways. She's starting to get the inkling that her brother may have inherited more than this guy's fire. What a potential pair of douches.
The mention of boobs, and/or their potential signing startles her back into full attention, her own sarcastic thoughts forgotten. Whip looks short of blushing. Instead, she looks vaguely irritated. As the conversation progresses, Whip is becoming more and more sure that, whoever Kyo's girlfriend is, she definitely feels sorry for her.
But if anything the past few months have taught her, it's how to share space with one of the moodiest, crankiest, smartassed S.O.B's she's ever met. And if Whip can handle K', she's sure she can handle the guy who gave him his fire. Where most people would be recoiling their right fist about now, Whip just flares Kyo one of her best good-natured smiles. She fights fire with timeless, infinitely hospitable patience. "Let's save the possible autographs for next time. Listen, I bought a lot of beer, and I'm just about to order way too many wings for one person. My name's Whip, and I think we need to talk."
Hey, whoa. Hey. Kyo is not moody or cranky.
M... Most of the time.
When Whip responds to his usual lack of anything which might be confused for tact or decorum with a /smile/ of all things, the World Warrior tilts his head to one side, considering her with one brow raised. The effect is that Kyo looks like someone staring at a strange creature the likes of which they have never seen before, and trying to decide just what to do with it.
So, pop quiz, hotshot: What do you do when some chick is offering you hot wings? WHAT DO YOU DO?
"Sure," Kyo says, with a blithe smile (this is popularly referred to as a WARNING SIGN) and a shrug of his shoulders. He doesn't even stop to make a remark about her name being 'Whip', of all things. "Lead the way."
Nothing good can come of this.
With infinite harmlessness, Whip replies Kyo's acceptance with a friendly wink and a playfully-tossed two-finger salute. With that, she turns briefly back to the bar to collect on her pint and a couple of frosted glasses, even putting in an order for an appetizer plate of hot wings. The bartender gladly takes her order, looking on with an indulgent, paternal smile. He even tells her to go sit and he'll have it delivered to her table.
He gives Kyo one last, disapproving look before he goes back to work.
Leading the way as intended, Whip carries the lager to some private, cozily-atmospheric booth at one corner of the pub, a tea candle even lit intimately on the table. It almost looks romantic.
It's a good thing Whip is terminally oblivious. And that Kyo is a huge jerk anyway!
Setting her things down, she settles on one end of the booth, planting the chilly pint handle-first to Kyo so that he can get first pickings. She's polite like that! Whip just waits ever so cheerfully, her dark eyes kind and her pleasant smile dominating her face. She pulls out of her suede coat, patient to let Kyo get all comfortable and caught unawares.
When Whip finally looks back up, her face is grafted in sudden seriousness. It's a trap! She asks out of nowhere, "Now, considering your reputation, can I be certain that you're aware of the recent activity of the NESTS Cartel within Southtown?"
Honestly, Kyo hasn't the foggiest idea what's going on here, and for all his legendary arrogance, he's shrewd enough to be able to tell that this isn't some sort of come-on on the part of Whip, even if her attitude DID turn around pretty fast once she recognised him. But, Kyo's an old hand at the fame game, and he knows a fame-chaser or a fangirl when he sees them; this 'Whip' doesn't seem the type.
Still, he plays along, y'know? All the better to see where this is going. Besides, free wings.
The disapproving look from the bartender is met with a cheeky one from the Kusanagi heir, before he follows Whip to a secluded booth. Oh man, right now, somewhere, Benimaru Nikaido is crying himself to sleep and he doesn't even know why.
Sitting himself across from Whip, Kyo doesn't bother to take off his leather jacket or anything, instead contenting himself with first finishing off his Coke, since he already paid for the damn thing. He does this, naturally, in one long gulp because he is a MAN.
Of course, he's only halfway through the drink when Whip asks her question, resulting in a surprised sputter from the World Warrior champ, and a loud FFFFFFFT as frothy, sugary cola sprays everywhere.
Sorry, Whip!
Having gone from pleasant young woman to stern-faced soldier in under six millis, Whip lids her eyes and waits for an answer to her very serious question.
Then she falls right into the projected path of Hurricane Kyo.
Her eyes immediately squeeze shut at the first wave. Soon enough, Whip opens them again, utilizing all that patience to survey just how soaked she got in under one second. There's cola on her shirt. Cola in her hair. Cola on her coat.
Her left brow twitching, the young woman uses a forefinger to wipe a projected drip from the corner of her very frowny mouth.
"...I'll take that as a yes." Whip gravels.
Coughing and sputtering, Kyo sets his now mostly empty glass on he table and lightly hits himself in the chest, trying to get the ol' breathing passage clear. Oy.
"Damn, you don't know much about easing people into things, do you?" Kyo wonders, once he's gotten things on his end back under control. Ugh, he can feel the carbonation in his sinuses. That is super nasty. "Y'know, usually people lead up to stuff like that, instead of just dropping it like somebody's cat brought home a dead bird. You've got all the subtlety of one of them Ikari dorks, you know that?" Ha ha, irony.
Finally, though, Kyo reaches out... To snatch up a wing, before he leans back into his side of the booth, which in a strong argument against the existence of a just and loving God, remains spilled cola free. "Anyway, what about 'em? Buncha low-life punks that don't have any power of their own, so they've got to steal other people's. Leader's a girly freak who thinks he's a god or something. What, did they crawl out of whatever hole they were hiding in, or something?" In fact, Kyo had no idea NESTS had been active lately. Go figure.
Whip looks anything but concerned as Kyo tries to hack up the South Pacific's worth of soda from his lungs, spending the time pulling a handful of napkins to clean off her half of the table. Somewhat meticulously, she wipes at the spots on her suede coat, her mood souring the longer she examines it. Looks like it's going to need drycleaning.
Soon enough, when her 'date' speaks up, she levels a steady, watchful eye on him. His particular choice of words concerning the Ikari crook her mouth up into a wry slant. "I'll take that as a compliment," she replies dryly, but with some good-humour.
Eventually, and very begrudgingly, Whip sets her suede coat down and forgets about it, never one to let business wait for very long. It's always been on the back of her mind to track down Kyo Kusanagi and corner him with what /should/ be concerning him. She's been very fortunate to have fate deliver him right on her very lap, and she's not about to take this coincidence for granted. "You can say that," she responds at length to his strangely-accurate description of the Cartel, sounding like she's not too sure where to place him on the great intelligence ladder. How much does he know? Probably not as much as he /should./
Whip leans forward to finally pour herself a beer. "Lately, they've been the masterminds behind numerous strikes all over Southtown, the last of which was the YFCC. I'm curious as to the lengths you've taken to investigate them, and if you'd be willing to share anything you've learned." She takes a long, casual drink. "I'm expecting you have some invested interest in them. After all, they have your DNA."
In the meantime, Kyo has moved on to loftier concerns, those which are relevant to superior individuals such as himself: He's eating hot wings.
"Last time I saw that god-wannabe punk was during the World Warrior tournament," Kyo says, gesturing with a half-eaten wing, with a bit of sauce at the corner of his mouth. "He mouthed off about his new world and how life was better under the sea, and some other crap I don't really remember," because it was over a year ago, gosh! "Can't really see why him and his would be going after the community center. What does he think he is, the villain in an episode of the A-Team?"
Kyo ravages the rest of that particular wing, as he considers the actual questions Whip has actually asked him. "Er... I haven't really bothered to 'investigate' them, as such," Kyo says, finally. By which he means 'he largely put them out of his mind because he's a lazy asshole who expects stuff to come to him, probably because it usually does'. "Why, what's your interest in 'em? Did they get you teen pregnant?"
Teen pregnant.
Whip just spends a moment staring at Kyo. With great discipline, she abstains from the urge to pinch the bridge of her nose. He's got to be kidding her. For an instant, she doesn't seem inclined to tell him anything. Her own past isn't a fact she's usually -- or ever -- wont to share. Not to mention, he doesn't seem like he gives the first flying crap about any of this. But she decides it's too early to give up now. She's always been that incessantly hopeful sort.
Doesn't mean she won't be sarcastic about it.
"Nothing much," she replies casually, shrugging one shoulder as though they were discussing the weather. "Just the usual treatment." Whip leans back, rolling up her eyes and biting her bottom lip in brief thought. She decides it's probably best to just count it off on her fingers. "Well they kidnapped me god knows when." Thumb. "Separated me from my family." Index finger. "Grew me up to be a killer." Middle finger. "Erased all my memories." Ring finger.
Whip thinks for a second more. Then her face lights up. "Oh!" she amends, faking surprise that she had forgotten this. "Oh yeah, and they put your fire in my brother." Pinky.
Yeah, hot wings are pretty awesome, but you have to wash them down with something. Clearly by this point, Whip is out of surprises which could faze Kyo Kusanagi, so it should be safe to finish off his Coke, and then he can get started on the beer. It's a perfect plan, with no flaws in it at all. So it's with only half his attention that the Kusanagi heir listens to what Whip says, about her being kidnapped and trained as an assassin and having her past erased. It's a very tragic story, and if Kyo weren't, well, Kyo, he'd probably be demonstrably sympathetic.
Unfortunately, well...
What does catch Kyo's attention, as he has a mouthful of sweet, sweet cola - seriously, the stuff is like eight thousand percent sugar - is the mention of his bloodline's flames being bestowed upon her brother. Such is his shock that, for a second time, Kyo ends up snarfing, sputtering and spraying his cola, repeating the earlier FFFFFT and sugary fountain.
Whoopsie.
Coughing and again, Kyo manages to collect himself more quickly this time. "W... What? You mean you and K' are...
Looks like the eye to Hurricane Kyo has passed, and Whip gets hit by the other half of this caffeinated storm. "Jesus Christ!" she snaps, her patience finally cut into, raising her voice the first time since he's met her. With only a short scowl as warning, she reaches out one hand to try to wrench that drink out of his hand and confiscate it to her side of the table. Kyo Kusanagi has just lost his soda pop privileges.
Looking back up, her temperate nature affirmed by the way her temper is already cooling, Whip fixes Kyo's response with a less irritated, more business-like glance. "Yes," she confirms, her tone brooking little argument or the threat that this is all some big hidden camera televised joke. Here she is, little, calm, patient, long-suffering Whip, through the grace of some very darkly-humoured god, sharing blood with the infamous K'.
"He's my --" She pauses, only seeming to realize this now. "Wait, you know him?"
To be fair, the cola was pretty much all gone anyway... And Kyo's a bit too busy coughing to actually make a grab for the glass even if it weren't. "Uh, yeah I know him," Kyo says, looking dubiously at Whip. "He keeps trying to kick my ass - emphasis on 'trying', I should note - because he blames me for everything that's wrong in his life." And you know what? There's a surprisingly long list of people who blame Kyo like that, and he doesn't really appreciate K' constantly trying to butt his way to the front of the line.
"Didn't... Didn't you know about all that?" Kyo wonders, tilting his head back a bit as he watches Whip's reactions. "I mean, he's done it on TV and everything. Flipped out like he needed to take his Ritalin or something. It's a good thing I have such a mild nature, otherwise I might've taken offense."
A mild what? In truth, Kyo's just used to it. Iori Yagami has been trying to kill him for HOW long now?
Now it's Whip's turn to look a little like a deer in the headlights. It's a good thing she doesn't have a mouthful of beverage. Her practised Soldierly Frown of Disapproval falters, and she returns to looking like that gentle, naive-looking girl who walked into this joint. "Uh," she answers eloquently, rubbing at the back of her neck, "he... hasn't." In the months she's been reunited with him, even shared a home with him, K' has never outright mentioned Kyo Kusanagi to her. Whip isn't sure how she wants to take that. She adds, a little sheepishly. "...I don't watch a lot of T.V."
Yet, ruminating over Kyo's words finally revisits Whip with her frowning. She tapes her thumb on the rim of her half-emptied beer glass, thinking. K' blames Kyo for what happened to him? She always thought the brunt of her brother's anger rested solely on the Cartel. Given, from what little she's met of Kusanagi, he's not exactly /difficult/ to get angry at, but... "Why does he blame you?" she eventually asks, curious and bemused and a little pained. She pauses briefly, and then asks of Kyo rather suddenly, "--You do care, right? That they're playing god with your DNA like that? Experimenting on people with it?"
Yeah, truth be told, Whip doesn't seem like much of a television person, to Kyo. Still, it's a bit surprising to him that K', as moody and secretive as the kid clearly is, wouldn't share this sort of information with his own /sister/. The look Kyo gives her is somewhat dubious, but either she's a really good actor or she's being quite sincere about her lack of information on that front. "Huh," the Kusanagi heir muses to himself, not giving any explicit evidence as to what he thinks of this little development.
"Well, 'cause they were trying to improve on me, weren't they?" Kyo says, as though this were self-evident. "And I guess they kicked your brother to the curb 'cause he didn't measure up. No fault of his own, though, it takes more than the Kusanagi flames to be as good as me." He's a humble young man, you see. "Guess I'm just a visible reminder of what he's not. How they took all that away from him, like a sister," he gestures at Whip with a chicken wing. "For nothing."
Wow, that's like the longest serious conversation anyone's ever gotten out of Kyo.
"Do I /care/? Of course I /care/, geez. It's not like I signed up to sponsor their little science experiment, y'know." And in truth, Kyo IS bothered by the way NESTS is ruining the lives of others, he just can't say so. He's got an image to maintain.
Listening intently, Whip's expression becomes slowly weighed down by Kyo's explanation the longer it goes. Eyes averted, her frown just grows deeper and deeper, and she becomes oddly distracted with sliding her beer glass around in circles. She doesn't even seem to acknowledge his random, arrogant injections, not even meeting them with their necessary eye roll. She's too busy worrying about her brother.
If that's not a good reason for K' to dislike Kyo, nothing is. No wonder he's never brought up the guy to her. Instant receipe for a bad mood.
Finally, she looks back up, seriousness sharpening her usually so gentled, dark eyes. "I hope you care," she replies him steadily, her voice sounding just short of a warning. "Contrary to what my brother thinks, I know you're not responsible. Not directly. But," she continues, "whether you like it or not, you're involved. And if all this recent activity means something, and they've got something planned, you should be on the front lines with the rest of us."
Of course, most of Whip's figdeting and stuff doesn't really register to Kyo anyway, because he's just that kind of a guy; plus, he's eating more chicken wings at the moment, which is bound to preoccupy anybody. "Yeah, yeah," Kyo says, shrugging his shoulders a little. "Look, I already feel kinda responsible, okay? I'm the next head of the Kusanagi clan, and since he's got our flames, that makes him my problem." K' is like the Little Orphan Annie of the Kusanagi family.
And yes, that means Kyo feels entirely justified in beating him like a redheaded stepchild, if you were curious.
"As for NESTS, tch... You want my help, fine. I've owed the whole bunch of 'em a good assbeating for a while." Notice how Kyo makes it all seem like it's his own choice despite Whip's insistence that he's already involved! That's because he's not the sort of person to enjoy feeling forced into anything, AND he possesses the remarkable ability to distort facts and make things look the way he wants them to.
He should be a politician! Or a lawyer!
Whip: ex-assassin, Ikari mercenary, dutiful sister, guilt-inducer.
She grins for the first time in minutes when Kyo offers his allegiance, all that heavy, frowny serious melting a good ten years immediately from the young woman's face. Smiling brightly, she finally reaches out to swipe a hot wing from the platter before Kusanagi has them finished, picking it apart and eating it cheerfully. It tastes like victory. "Good," she chirps. "Glad to have you aboard."
Of course, the thought that comes immediately after that proclamation gives Whip immediate pause. How is she going to break all of this to K'?
She continues eating. Maybe she conveniently forget to.
Yeah, that's a pretty sudden turnaround in demeanor, isn't it? One might almost suspect that Kyo was herded into making this particular decision! Except for Kyo, because he was kind of on the verge of doing something like this anyway, if it wasn't too much trouble. You know, if NESTS suddenly showed up in front of him or something, he'd probably have done something about it.
He's kind of lazy.
"Don't expect me to take orders and play nice, though," Kyo sees fit to inform Whip, as though anyone would expect anything else from the likes of him. I mean, come on, seriously. "Not like I'm going to go pick fights with your brother or anything, I'm just not very good at following other people's lead." At least he's... Honest about it?
"Hmf," Whip replies as she watches Kyo steadily, watching him the way a mandator would size up next week's el toro. Her brown eyes are kind and good-humoured, but her mouth crooks with something decidedly wry. He doesn't expect to take orders? She's got that familiar look on her face that's replying: we'll see about that.
She's going to be one of /those./
"I'll expect you to be a duteous ally," she says briskly after another bite of hot wing, deigning to finish her glass of beer before continuing on with the conversation. Lager is always more important. "We'll trade information and I'll make sure to forward any intelligence I've collected to this day, as well as profiles I've personally scribed of any major operatives that would be working inside Southtown or found in certain fighting rings. If you haven't, I think you should personally acquaint yourself to some of them."
Whip frowns at a chicken wing. "They're quite a bunch. But if you manage to overhear anything, I want to know. I'll do the same." And not tell K'.
Speaking of. She pauses momentarily, looking suddenly burdened, trying to figure out what would be the right decision to make. "And, concerning my brother... and more importantly, concerning how he feels about you... it might be best if you don't mention to him us meeting." Poor Whip, expecting Kyo Kusanagi to be a decent guy and all that.
Oh yeah, Kyo can already see where this is going. Don't worry, though, he has ways of disabusing people of silly notions like their ability to control what he does or does not do. Oh yes. He has his ways.
"Heh," Kyo chuckles, finding the idea of him being a dutiful anything to be pretty funny. Of course, by now he's actually able to get a glass of beer for himself, because hopefully there won't be any more startling surprises. He's already made enough of a mess of Whip! "Hey, if I learn anything, you'll be the first to know," Kyo says. And he means it! Of course, one wonders just what sort of information he's going to /find/... Though if Whip puts him on the trail of various NESTS agents, there's bound to be some sort of results.
Possibly hilarious ones.
Looking at Whip for a long moment, Kyo lets out another amused noise. "Sure, hey, whatever you want. If it gets around to him that we were seen together, I'll just tell him we were on a date," the Kusanagi heir says, smirking and generally looking pretty pleased with himself. Would he really do that though? His girlfriend would kill him faster and more efficiently than K' ever would.
"Good," Whip says, starting to feel of pretty high spirits from this exchange. She's of the book that the bigger the army, the better the fight. And considering the size and strength of the Cartel, if it's K''s intention to want to take them down... he's going to need all the help he can get.
Even from certain Kusanagis.
"I'm glad that we -- what?!" Whip chokes on her hot wing, and it's not because of the cayenne. Coughing harshly and raggedly, she startles visibly and audibly when Kyo dares say the d-word. Breathing hard, she gives him a wide-eyed look, looking as dead serious as dead serious gets. She starts emphatically shaking her head no far long before her voice can work again. "/Don't./ Tell him that. Whatever you do. Really good idea if you don't."
Oh man, that was totally worth it. "Ha ha ha ha!" laughs Kyo, highly entertained by the expression on Whip's face as she reacts to his supposed cover story, with her startling and her wide-eyed head shaking. "You should see the look on your face!" the amused Kusanagi heir says, still laughing quietly, his day just totally made by Whip's priceless reaction. Sighing contentedly, he takes a long pull of his beer, safe in the knowledge that he won't go coughing and sputtering it everywhere.
"Anyway, that was what professionals like myself call a 'joke', it's not like I'd actually tell him that," Kyo says, wryly. Though now he might, just to push K''s buttons. He might have to flip a coin on it when he finally runs into the genetically altered fighter once again.
Whip merely stares, rather dumbfoundedly, into Kyo's riotous laughter for a good measure and a half. Then her left eye starts to tic at the corner. She gives both her brown eyes a very long-suffering roll, leaning back to the consoling friendship of her beer. She takes an annoyed swig.
Hardy har har har. Southtown is going to near give her an ulcer.
"Yeah, yeah," Whip grunts, trying to settle her own nerves and erase the mental image of an angry brother descending upon her like the hand of God. "I forgot you were also the King of Comedy."
What a jerk.
Her cell phone beeps demandingly again from her handbag, and she turns her attention off Kyo momentarily to dig it out of her handbag. Whip glimpses at the screen, looks inclined to roll her eyes again, and simply tosses it into her coat pocket. She checks her watch briefly, then regaining a mote of her usual politeness, is even sure to inquire, "So, was there anything you wanted to ask me? Other than thanking me for the free beer."
See, Whip just stresses out too much. You've got to learn to roll with the extreme personalities you come in contact with every day, if you're going to survive in Southtown. Gotta learn to take life as it comes!
It's probably easier to do that when you're someone like Kyo, though.
"Man, you're uptight," the World Warrior chooses to inform Whip at this point, leaning back into his side of the booth and lifting his hands in a long-suffering shrug. "I can see the family resemblance now." Oh snap, that was cold, Kusanagi! But hey, even Kyo has enough manners to remain quiet while Whip checks her cellphone, mostly because he either doesn't care or isn't in a position to snoop, instead enjoying more beer, and snagging another hot wing.
"Gotta go play babysitter, huh?" Kyo guesses, around a mouthful of spicy chicken. "My condolences. But yeah, just one question: Supposing I do find out something useful, how exactly do I get in touch with you?"
"--I am /not/ uptight," Whip is countering frownily to Kyo, looking ironically uptight that he would even conclude such a thing. She's always gone great lengths to consider herself rather laid-back, even among a notoriously informal, familial group like the upper ranks of the Ikari. The presumption makes her frown. Maybe K' is starting to rub off on her. That's all what she needs; his rampant paranoia.
Quickly, almost in a necessary way, she finishes her beer, finding alcohol to be the best buffer against Kyo Kusanagi. If she gets a little tipsy, maybe he'll becoming actually amusing. Hmmf.
Running a hand through her bangs thoughtfully, Whip looks up in time for Kyo's question, her dark eyes involving themselves into another dismissive roll when he implies babysitting. She smirks back, though there's a barb of tired irritation in the mostly good-humoured gesture. Then he finally gets serious. "Oh," Whip replies, sounding far more interested now, and she glances away briefly to dig through her handbag. She pulls out a pocket-sized notepad. "I'll give you my cell number and my personal e-mail address, all right? You send me anything, and only I'll be reading it."
She pens down her information and then rips the piece of paper free, handing it politely across the table. If he signs her up for spam or on porn message boards, she swears to God.
Now, why would anyone need, or want, a buffer against Kyo Kusanagi? He's such a friendly, affable, charming young man. Humble, too. Can't forget humble. And considerate of others' feelings. He does tend to be a lot more enjoyable for others when they're drunk though, yes; or in the small cadre of people he treats with a bit more care and respect. A tiny, tiny, little bit. He does have actual friends, you know!
As the paper is handed over, Kyo takes it and pockets it; he should probably return the favour though, right? Except he's not one of those people who are prepared for various possible situations, like having to write stuff down. So instead, he says, "Hey, can I borrow your pen?" and holds out his hand.
Presuming he gets the pen, he writes his own phone number on a napkin, before sliding both paper napkin and writing implement over the table to Whip. So now she can go home with a guy's phone number written rather incriminatingly on a bar napkin! Let's hope K' doesn't find that.
Testament to Whip's terminal case of obliviousness, she doesn't even seem to register the implication of a phone number on a bar napkin. Rather professionally, she merely accepts it, folds it up, and sticks it into her coat pocket.
And, no, K' is never going to find it.
"Thanks," she replies, amiably enough, able to keep her etiquette even around the likes of errant Kusanagis. Pulling on her soda-stained suede jacket and closing her handbag, she even extends her final olive branch through the gesture of leaving the remaining beer and hot wings for her newest ally. Whip even extends her hand over the table for him to shake, and rather visibly she has the hand of a seasoned fighter. Calluses everywhere, particularly on the knuckles and up and down the sides of her fingers. "It's good to have met you, Kyo," she says, and who knows if she means it. If she does, well... there's a first for everything, right?
She pauses momentarily, and then, after a short sigh, relents to say, "And my brother..." Whip looks briefly pained. "He isn't... he's really a great guy when he's not stressed out."
Oh, but imagine the look on K''s face when he finds his sister has someone's PHONE NUMBER on a BAR NAPKIN. C'mon, that's totally worth the price of admission. Especially if she tells him whose number it is.
Of course, Kyo's response to the thanks, however rhetorical it might be, is a wordless shrug. Yes, think nothing of it, having received of the boundless consideration of the great Kyo Kusanagi, puny mortal. After all, those in a superior position such as himself have a responsibility - nay, a /duty/, to show such treatment to their lessers.
So, Kyo takes the offered hand to shake it, his own hands gloveless since he's not in the middle of a fight here; lucky him, as a rightful inheritor of the divine power of the Ever Burning Flames, only needing his special gloves to aid in their control when he's /actually trying to use them/, rather than all the time. "'course it was," Kyo replies, quite sincerely. Yes, everyone should be so lucky as to meet Kyo. He's pretty amazing. But when Whip stops like that, Kyo's expression turns mildly bemused; just what's up with her now?
She's not going to declare her sudden love for him or something, is she? Because Kyo would find that awkward.
"There are times when he's not stressed out?" Kyo asks, once Whip's made her somewhat defensive statement about her brother. As though Kyo would let something like that pass without making some kind of a dig on K'! "It's not like I have a problem with him, or anything. I just don't react well when people blame me for everything wrong in their lives. Ask Iori Yagami." He pauses, for a beat. "Actually, that'd be a really dumb idea, asking him about me. Don't... Don't do that."
Whip looks a little distracted, almost curious when Kyo insinuates surveying Iori Yagami about his own benevolent person; the look on her face is almost like she's close to considering it.
Then Kusanagi makes possibly his first serious statement since their first introductions, and the young woman looks surprised enough to easily consent. Warming a little, she exhales a noisy sound of amusement and just passes him a short wink of her left eye. "Gotcha," Whip replies rather tellingly, in a tone that professes a deep understanding for how someone could possess a deep and poisonous hatred for Kyo Kusanagi. It's not like he makes it hard.
"As for my brother," she adds as she stands, busily collecting her things and shouldering on her heavy handbag. Its contents rattle strangely. "I'm not saying that you gotta have the patience of nuns. Just cut him a bit of slack? He's got some stuff to work out, and I'm trying to help him along with it. And... however it may seem, I doubt that he actually hates you." Her head tilts to one side, and she pauses her line of thought to bite briefly on her bottom lip. "You sound like a good guy; not the type that warrants it." Whip pauses, and a smirk cuts up along her mouth. She walks off, adding casually: "Though you are a bit of a dick."
As a fun fact, 'strangely' is probably the most commonly used adverb in Southtown. The oddly rattling handbag only gets a tiny portion of Kyo's attention, because from what intelligence he's been able to gather on the subject, women keep all sorts of bizarre things in their bags. Seriously, Whip could have like, a coffee maker in there, or Ralf Jones, and Kyo wouldn't bat an eyelash.
Chicks are whack.
No, what really, truly perplexes Kyo is the assertion on the young woman's part that he... Seems like a good guy. Is she being sarcastic? Is she already drunk? These and other possibilities flit across the Kusanagi heir's consciousness in the space of a few heartbeats. "Hey, I'm an easy going kinda guy," Kyo says, to the departing Whip, which is not entirely untrue. But, whatever, if Whip wants to intercede on behalf of her brother, who is Kyo to argue? Especially since she bought him drinks and food.
Kyo doesn't actually /respond/ to the last, parting remark, but he does watch Whip go as he continues drinking. A canny observer would probably notice that Kyo's attention is focused as the young woman walks away.
Basically, he's staring at her ass.
Log created on 19:36:24 09/08/2008 by Kyo, and last modified on 00:16:22 09/24/2008.