Description: A meeting in a dark warehouse in the middle of the night, this could only mean.. an interview. Though like any important document one must read between the lines to totally see what is going on. What might slip past and slip out as Naerose continues to do her chi research with tonight's canidate, Riko. find out.
It's a cliché. If there's illegitimate business to be done, if there's something shady involving the seedier underbelly of human society...it's always in a warehouse. An old warehouse, dilapidated and disused, preferably near the local docks. It's true even in cities that are honest-to-God landlocked. Or at least, that's what Hollywood and cheap thriller novelists have been saying for years.
Of course, for every bit of fiction, there's some truth.
There's no magic appeal to a warehouse building, no special X factor that makes it /the/ site for criminals. No. It's just that such places are large...and located well away from residential areas - in parts of the city where coming and goings are less likely to be remarked upon.
This building...happens to be a factory. Light industrial, near the Southtown harbour. Built back in the day when Japan's economy was still rooted firmly in simple manufacturing as its mainstay, before the rise of true financial power and clout in world markets. Little use for such things now, not when the real export money is in high-end finished goods. No. There's little need for this old building of brick and timber. It's an empty shell, weeds overgrowing the site, windows yellowed with disuse.
Which is why it's strange, then, that there's a light on inside the building, filtering faintly out into the street.
Not that there's any neighbours to notice, though. While this /is/ reasonably prime real estate, the creeping gentrification of urban renewal hasn't yet caught up with this part of town. And so it's a quiet, deserted street in the dark of night, far after business hours.
Inside the abandoned factory, a lone figure sits quietly atop a tarpaulin-covered piece of rusting machinery. In the illumination provided by a standing lamp, she carefully dabs a brush across her fingernail...then turns it carefully towards the light.
Riko Koganei purses her lips, making a small sound.
On the street outside where darkness runs as black as pitch, thanks to the towering structures obscuring the moon and the smog taking out the stars - street lamps find themselves sparsely working, giving long stretches of blackness to hide the filthy puddles and trash in shadows. This was the sort of situation someone might get mugged in as the police might rarely patrol areas without residential interest. The warehouse owners were expected to look after their goods on their own, hire security, use advanced locking systems or purchase an expansive insurance policy. These things made for a haven for criminals, as cliche as it maybe and yet some felt relatively no fear.
It could be the tapping of heels on cement might be from a clueless woman whom didn't know what wrong turns she made, indeed the woman in a red dress and a witches hat with dark shades on in the middle of the night stood out. . a lot. It could be she knew something that her lack of fear was fueled by certainty - but from the few eyes that do happen to populate these streets it wouldn't appear she was recognized as any underworld boss.
Naerose Delphine had spent her time amongst them, as a member of mad gear, a member of blackjack, has having been contracted out to help Shadaloo in Thailand, but all of this mattered not. To the thugs here she might as well be a walking purse. It was by sheer chance then this night that the pairs of eyes were only the rats and mice whom weren't about to attempt to mug her or cause her any trouble.
The warehouse door creeked opened. She must of had amazing night vision not to run into too many things, or maybe she did run into them, but as she navigates the warehouse toward the solitary lights there is only the clicking of heeled boots against the floor. She approaches Riko.. this wasn't a surprise. It took a little while asking around to find the kunoichi but eventually someone had delivered a cryptic message to be here.. and here she was.
"Ah hi," Naerose says, pleasantly enough, "Riko isn't it?" as if they hadn't ever met before.
The girl looks up, lifting her head at the sound of footsteps. Lidded eyes settle on the witch in the red dress...just as the woman speaks.
A moment passes, as the teen seems to consider the words.
"Haiiii," Riko responds. She draws the last vowel out, giving it a musical lilt.
"That -is- what they tell me, ne?"
She turns her head fully, midnight-blue highlights glinting in the glow cast by the electric lamp - matching the hue of the nail polish being gently dabbed on her hand.
Riko waves the tip of the brush in Naerose's direction, then gestures to their surroundings. The ninja girl herself is perched atop the most prominent object in the lit area, her bright yellow raincoat contrasting sharply with the dull canvas of the tarpaulin-covered machinery...but there are ample worktables, crates, and dusty detritus that could, in a moment of sheer desperation, pass for furniture.
"Have a seat, if you want," Riko offers, "if you expect this to take long."
There is neither confirmation nor denial of the length this might take, only that the moment is taken to find something ... anything to sit on. A work table will have to do. The witch, whose stark red contrasts just about everything in the building, collects some of the dust easily, but this doesn't seem to bother the woman at all. She crosses her legs at the ankle and looks over at Riko before fishing out a yellow notebook from the only thing she wears with pockets, the inside of her hat. Her broom, which she carried here, is set to lean on the bench she is sitting on, and a pen is then pulled next, probably with red ink, though this isn't something she bothers to make notice of before finally speaking.
"I'm Naerose, I was looking for you and sort of hoped you wouldn't mind answering some questions. I'm doing research for a book on behalf of an author named Alceide, I'm not sure if you've heard of her work, I certainly havnt'y. Oh sorry thats Sato, Alceide Sato. Anyway, this isn't an interview so much as research.. I don't think it will take terribly long, but I would really like tottally thank you for any time you have to spare."
Naerose swings her feet under the bench and watches Riko over the top rim of her shades, still as though they had never met before.
"Saaaa," Riko murmurs, blinking once, "I have not heard of this author..."
She smiles. It's a slow smile, her lips pressing together, the corners of her mouth curving upwards, her cheeks dimpling. Nothing unusual, there. A smile like any other. Except for the fact it's stretched out over a full second, measured and languid. A /deliberate/ expression, then.
"...but that...doesn't mean anything, hm?"
Riko holds that look, staring straight at Naerose, her gaze piercing. Then she carefully screws the cap and brush back onto their bottle, then sets the glass container aside, placing it beside her. She blows on her nails - then brings her hands together.
She claps. Just a single time.
"Well then," Riko says brightly, "Miss Naerose Delphine, who is working for Miss Alceide Sato the author, what may I do for you?"
"Well!" exclaims Naerose, happily settling down into business and uncapping her pen, starting to take a few notes on the page which it turns out that yes, the ink is red, so far though the words, written quickly in a shorthand that is almost entirely unreadable - would appear to be just a introduction on what she's about to do, then she looks back at Riko, having broken eye contact.
There is a smile on Naerose' lips usually, but right now she has a fairly plain expression, normal, neutral.
"So you're fairly talented with using the effects of chi energy. I have in my research discovered that you used something referred to as a 'chi bomb'? I'm not here to ask you about specific techniques or how tos, I'm more intersted in the theory behind what you do, how you do it. I want to build a practical understanding of the foundations, if you don't mind."
Naerose adjusts her shades, as if they were reading glasses,
"So I would first like to ask, what is chi manipulation mean to you ? Exactly? Please give your thoughts, I don't care if you arn't an expert on the subject - I'm not convinced such a thing can even truly exist."
The smile on Riko's face doesn't change. Her face is still, perfectly and utterly still, for a good long moment...until the skin around her eyes creases, her lashes fluttering. She laughs in apparent bemusement, as if Naerose had told the greatest joke of all.
Perhaps she has.
"Ah, you have done -research-, Miss Delphine."
Riko puts particular stress and emphasis on that word. She speaks it with great weight - the sort of reverence used by postgraduates spawned from the deepest pits of academia. Not the kind one would expect from a girl barely into her mid-teens.
"Research, research, maaaa..."
She laughs again.
"Some would consider that anathema, yes? Because matters of the spirit are of the spirit, and the spirit world cannot be inscribed in books of learning."
Riko's eyes glint as she leans forward. She peers over the edge of her precarious seat, her legs swinging against the tarp-covered machinery, her heels rapping against the canvas. The girl snakes one hand to her side, and comes up carrying the small glass bottle she was painting her nails with earlier.
"So," she asks, suddenly, "tell me - what is /this/?"
She waves the polish, the contents sloshing inside.
Oh oh, Naerose knows this one, she leans forward and fixes her shades up on her nose while peering at the bottle before leaning back, having a perfectly simple answer,
"Nail polish," Naerose replies, then considers a moment and decides to give a longer one,
"but it's actually the composition of many things which are the composition of many smaller, there may well be no limit to how small the pieces become, though I'm really like not into science or anything." And truthfully Naerose had a rather faint grasp on that.
"Well I think that is what it is anyway." There is some doubt with Naerose but even so she soldiers on, taking notes, about the rather mundane details. There might of been a point to what Riko was saying, but then while a book might be pointless, there was the first hand gathering of the information. Just who was this reasearch being done for really, if such a statement didn't phase her at all. Naerose, the woman dressed as a witch, continues to give a rather neutral face to Riko with what appears to be actual curiousity and only the barest of side long grins on her lips at the edges.
"Exactly! Wonderful, Miss Delphine, wonderful!"
Riko almost squeaks in delight, her eyes wide, a big smile on her face. She beams brightly at the witch, nodding vigorously.
Then she stops.
"You're quite correct," Riko continues, cradling the little bottle of nail polish in her palm, "molecularly speaking...it is primarily nitrocellulose dissolved in a solvent of butyl acetate. Adhesive polymers ensure it sticks to the nail, plasticizers make it flexible so the layer doesn't break after drying. In our line of work..."
She quite purposefully uses the inclusive plural.
"...that's quite useful. There's all sorts of other things that can be added to such a mixture, ensuring that certain substances are always close to...hand, so to speak."
Riko lifts one finger, turning it to and fro.
"And of course it matches my eyes and hair - which is all that most people would notice. To most, nail polish...is just nail polish."
At first this is all met with a stunned look of incomprehension. Naerose just stares over her shades and clearly doesn't get at all what Riko is saying to her. Then after a while dawning comprehension begins to peak out over her features like the sun rising in the morning and by the end she's nodding quickly and smiling.
"I see I see, that makes a lot of sense, and it totally does match, though I personally prefer a different color," the last part is probably a jest as Naerose has her lips, finger nails and just about anywhere else she can put red.. well not everywhere, black shades, brown leather boots.. but the picture is still easy enough to grasp, perhaps too easy if Naerose thought she was being clever. Or perhaps she just didn't want to truly distract from the actual content at hand with something pointlessly witty.
"So I think I see where you are going with this.." Naerose begins and all the while scribbles away. Soon the page actually has a fair bit of content on it and she has to turn it over to start on the back. Not one to waste paper it seems, at least not at the moment, eventually though she does recall that she was speaking,
"But please go on."
It's clear that perhaps for once Riko has her undivided attention, or maybe she had it before and it just wasn't evident. . At the very least her personality isn't a mirrored con, or if it is, it's a more clever one this time.
"No assumptions, eh, Miss Delphine?"
Riko's tone is sweet, a high and cheerful soprano.
"Mm, mm," Riko nods, bowing her head in acknowledgement.
"Saa, no, this shade wouldn't suit your complexion at all."
She weighs the bottle in her hand, fingers wrapping round the contoured glass.
"Though I'm sure you'd find its special properties interesting...but I digress, I'm sorry."
Riko looks away for a moment, letting her eyes roam round the old factory floor - what little of it is lit by the single working lamp, at any event. Finally, she looks straight up, studying the lattice of rafters holding up the roof above.
"For most people, then, this is just...a cosmetic. An item of everyday fashion, to simply be used and worn. They don't -think- about what it is. Or what it could be used as, what it could be used for. That's what many fighters think of chi, isn't it? They don't dwell on what it /is/...they simply use it. And for so many, it matters not what the nature of chi is...the end result is the same."
Riko smiles thinly, still looking upwards.
"Just a pretty flash of colour. Just a special effect."
She glances back at Naerose, then - her eyes very obviously roving over the witch's pure red ensemble.
"I've considered that a little, the subtle approach might require more understanding but then there is the brute force approach, attempting to will something to your command, I guess though it's possible neither extreme need bother learning the basic foundation to achieve an effect, perhaps that is the difference between a 'master' and everyone else," Naerose considers for a moment, tapping the un-writing end on her lip before taking a few more notes. Her attention is not as wandering-seeming as Riko's is, which is a flip from the way Naerose typically seems to act, though in watching so intently the ninja before her there seems to be a moment of further consideration.
"Can I ask are you aware then of the things around you on such a level, do you examine what you look at for the components, could that be what you are doing when you look around?" Naerose notices this because well she's watching Riko,
"Oh hey, I'm totally not that interestesting!" she exclaims, waving a hand in front of herself for a moment and then crossing her legs a little higher at the knees,
"Though I do probably look good, I mean, with the best color and all.." Another attempt at humor that is probably off the mark and possibly intentionally so.
"So may I also ask if you beileve in something so elemental.. then woudl you consider what you do chi manipulation at all? Or something much more basic where as the end product isn't the effect for you, but chi manipulation itself and the road you take there being quite different than someone else." It was a question.
"Maaa, maaa," Riko complains, with a touch of put-upon faux ire, "you make me feel like -I- should be taking notes too. That's not fair."
The words are just as false as the tone, just as fake as her dark pout of dismay.
"Of course," Riko murmurs, "the fact I'm not writing anything...is hardly an indication, what with modern electronic devices."
She plays with the bottle of nail polish, before sliding it into an interior pocket of her yellow raincoat. As she slips her hand beneath the lapel, the coat falls open just enough, for an instant, to reveal /many/ compartments sewn into the garment's interior.
"Really," Riko continues, "I'm not even certain -you're- taking notes. For all I know, you're actually composing poetry in Swahili, ne?"
She eyes the lines of red-inked shorthand in a dubious manner, her face scrunching up with theatrical suspicion.
"But," Riko says, after a pause, "I can only assume you -are- writing what I say, presumably with your own observations. That is the nature of an interview. That is the expected form. And social interactions -must- have frameworks, structures that are commonly agreed upon - otherwise we would not be able to function."
The ninja girl lifts her now-empty hands.
"Higher level chi manipulation needs a framework, yes. Some can do it instinctively, but for most, there must be /some/ paradigm. There are a few who can create, say, elemental fire...without needing any system. The Kusanagi bloodline, for instance, first and foremost. For a Kusanagi, it is easy as breathing. For anyone /else/..."
Riko gives a small shrug.
"To create chi that is truly /heat/, that is truly /flame/, that can actually /burn/, and not merely shine as a bright light...there must be a conceptual lens, a process, a focus. Maybe the fire symbolises anger. Maybe it is the touch of justice, or the breath of God above."
Riko narrows her eyes, her voice growing softer, harder to hear.
"But...a paradigm is just a paradigm. It isn't the only one. And no single paradigm is the truth."
Well that answered some of the question and certainly puts Naerose to work with what looks little more than writing in some language she doesn't know and probably pracically no one in the world even speaks anymore. Still that does lead to some questions.
"That is interesting, " Naerose replies, but preses some more anyway.
"But you didn't answer one part of the question, let me change it though, do you think, in your words it is possible to work on say the paradigm, so that the ultimate goal is creating the recipe to which chi will naturally fall into place rather than the effect.. I guess I would compare it to cooks. Many people cook to make a meal.. mmm.. but some people treat every ingrediant like they are special.. not really looking at the whole until they get there.. mmmm.." This is clearly a distracting topic for Naerose.
"You know I've never been a good cook, but I thought it made a lot of sense at the time."
Apparently Naerose isn't the one who cameup with that comparison, she must of been watching food network or something. The witch scoots forward alittle and taps her foot on the ground. The tapping starts to make a rhythem, but it is soft, at most slightly distracting, while her eyes, chocolate brown, peek out over the top rims of her shades onto Riko. The page forgotten for the time, she has nothing to add to it just now, but the pen remains poised while some time might pass.
"Aaaaaa, nice metaphor," Riko agrees, returning Naerose's gaze. She meets the witch's eyes, her own dark pupils focused straight at the woman in red.
"But why are you a bad cook, Miss Delphine? Do you have difficulty following the instructions? Maybe you get all the ingredients right, but don't have the technique to actually -cook- them properly? Maybe you shouldn't be trying to follow the recipe - some cooks don't, obviously, and still get results, ne?"
Riko mulls over the problem for an instant, before making a small gesture - she flicks her wrist and fingers, as if wadding up an imaginary piece of paper and then throwing it away.
"Mmm, no matter, it's a nice metaphor, but metaphor can only be taken so far. A metaphor's just a way of framing the issue, after all, a way to illustrate it, to make it easier to understand. Like a recipe's...just a way to make a particular dish. There can be other recipes for the same thing."
Riko grins.
"Assuming you know what it is you're supposed to be cooking. Even -that- isn't a given, ne? Nothing is. One of the eternal questions of human existence - what shall I have for lunch?"
And Riko dives farther and farther into one of Naeroes's favorite topic. Not that it was an especially hard question for her, she had an answer and it was a good thing her gluttony didn't extend beyond the medaphor, because to her, anything and everything was for lunch, but using chi that way.. might have unintended consequences. Tapping her pen on the page for a moment she considers then nods a little to Riko and begins to contemplate things. This allows a moment of silence as she doesn't say anything while doing so.
Drip drip drip. Water finds a crack in the building and drums a beat. The scurrying of rats might be heard, perhaps even a squeek from time to time, though in reality rats are not very noisy creatures. Finally.
"I suppose in a way this does answer my questions then.. And one comes up with these recipes so to speak from trial and error, learning, similar to how anything is learned I guess." The witch scratches her cheek, "but while anyone could do something marginally, there are those who are pioneers and have either a greater understanding or a greater interest in experiementing." She still might have some questions about what Riko specifically does, but then specifics of an individual was something that might never be fully understood by another.
"this is very good material, I'm not sure I have any other specific questions just now, but if you have anything to add, please go ahead."
Riko stretches, reclining on her makeshift seat. There's not a lot of room at the very top of the canvas-covered heap, but she manages to do quite a convincing imitation of a lazy feline, easing her arms out and extending her legs, crossed at the ankles. Finally, she falls back to a more secure seating position, resting on the edge and dangling her legs over the side.
Indeed, Riko hasn't said much about her own use of chi. That's not by accident. She often refers to herself as the chaotic answer to Seishirou's order...but modern Chaos Theory insists that what appears random is merely the end result of deeper processes beneath the surface.
As they say, always look underneath the underneath.
"Anything to add, hm?"
Riko looks at Naerose speculatively.
"You do realise...food too /can be/ a way of manipulating chi? Diet affects the body, a change in the body can alter energy flows...
Instead, Riko grins, once more. The light from that sole electric lamp casts her facial features into stark relief as she leans forward just a little, angling her head down.
"...is that chemistry? Biology? Something more 'spiritual'?"
The quote-marks around the last word are nearly audible.
"Yet the effects can be quantified, measured, and as you say..."
Riko points a finger.
".../experimented/ with. So it is a science. Formulation of hypothesis, rigorous empirical testing, verifiable and repeatable results. All part of the quest for knowledge, understanding...and ways of /putting that knowledge to use/."
"You want to know what my method is, Miss Delphine? Well," Riko says, "that is it. That is what I do, what my teacher does."
She winks.
"Of course, in the end, science too is...just another philosophy, ne?"
"That does make sense and is a fitting premise to what I'm trying to say, learn and sort of undersrtand.." Naerose begins and then taps herself with the pen on the lip, looking thoughtful,
"You are.. what you eat what you do.. My that is a wholistic response, that in a sense if you step back that sort of takes an everything is connected.. I mean you take what your teacher taught you who was taught likely and then say maybe that person taught two people who might of taught someone else something different.. Then there is the food you eat farmed from somewhere or the place you habitate.." Naerose feels her head swimming and is forced to take a moment to consider it before continuing,
"Which all leads back to life itself, science or philosphy being just an attempt to understand life. If chi is the breath of life then chi manipulation is really just the same as any sort of change.. perhaps living is a better description in some ways.. This is very circular and interesting." Now Naerose seems to be talking to herself but outloud and maybe to Riko. Finally though she allows something of a conclusion, stating that well,
"This was great really. I must thank you for your time and understanding in talking to me tonight." Very polite.
"This material will help a lot."
"Nonono," Riko replies quickly, lifting her hands in a placating gesture, waving them at Naerose, "I should thank you, Miss Delphine."
With a fluid motion, she drops off her perch, the tarp ruffling faintly with the movement. Her yellow raincoat fans behind her as she lands gracefully on the floor, her feet soundless against the concrete.
"You have given me much...food...for thought, as well."
Riko looks positively impish at her choice of words. She takes a step forward, gliding across to where Naerose is seated. She lifts a hand, extending it - either offering to shake Naerose's, or offering to help the witch stand up.
Though there's always the third possibility.
Betrayl wouldn't register in the mind of Naerose in this case, or maybe she just wouldn't let it show, for she reaches out without a care in the world to shake the hand as presented, smiling brightly as she does so with her shades sliding down her nose a bit and dipping her head. So assuming the offer is to stand... Naerose reaches to tuck her notepad and pen away, into her hat, where it came from, uses her other hand to pick up her broom. She gives Riko her hand and starts to move her weight forward to get to her feet.. Meanwhile she's speaking. .
"Well I'm glad, er, cause I can't pay you or anything, so I just hope you get something worthwile out of this whole exchange, whatever it is you know that you could get because I feel like I've been the one doing all the brain picking-"
Of course with her guard COMPLETELY lowered, this is the moment of truth.
"--please, no," Riko interjects, smoothly, "I truly did enjoy the conversation."
She doesn't call it an interview.
"You have given -me- much to think about as well, Miss Delphine," Riko assures Naerose, "you're /very/ insightful. Very observant."
She grasps Naerose's hand, her fingers locking with the witch's, their palms pressing together, skin against skin. True to her offer, Riko helps Naerose get her balance.
"I do wonder, though...do you really trust me?"
Riko lifts one eyebrow, giving Naerose's hand a subtle squeeze - not hard, not painful, just enough for emphasis.
"Or did you forget about my nail polish?"
"Huh? What havn't I got to trust?" Naerose asks, looking cluelessly at Riko and then it becomes something else, as Naerose sinks deeper into her protective shell of seemingly complete incomeptence. Surely she knows who she is dealing with and it would be crazy to say she could trust her and yet, she doesn't protest at all, she just looks confused while holding the hand shake.
"What could nail polish have to do with anything.. I mean what couuld it possibly do to me?" asks Naerose, sounding really oblivious. If she didn't trust Riko well, she is clever at hiding it ... but walking directly into what could be a trap.. Then again if it isn't, how can one ever say for sure she was tricked? Naerose only takes a brief glance at her hand and Riko's and then back to Riko's face, and then smiles,
"Pretty shade." The witch yawns a little there, probably from it being the middle of the night.
Riko smiles back. She lifts a finger, tapping the point of her nail lightly against the skin of Naerose's hand. Then she releases her grip, stepping back in the process.
"Hai, thank you," Riko says, a faint blush coming to her cheeks. She lifts her hand to her face - the light once again catching the glossy nails in the process - and covers her mouth as she yawns, herself.
"Ooh," Riko murmurs, "contagious."
Presumably she's talking about the yawn.
Presumably.
"Jaaaaaa...I suppose we'd better call it an evening, ne?"
She addresses the witch differently, then.
"Cheers...Naerose-senpai."
Log created on 11:50:14 09/18/2008 by Naerose, and last modified on 16:44:34 09/18/2008.