Description: A man of his word, (for the most part) Benimaru's forced to do some detective work and hunt down the man he believes to be the source of his team problem: Drake Vyril. He finds the younger model, and obviously the conversation isn't full of rainbows and sunshine, but results in his departing believing that Drake's '#1 Fangirl' will settle down.
The weather's getting cooler, and even though Autumn hasn't ended yet, winter fashion is already making it's presence through magazines, catalogs, and billboards. Pretty soon there'll be a high demand for model work, but for the time being the halloween festivites are still in full swing. With kids running around like maniac about the mall and their parents having to go full swing to catch up with them, the area is obviously quite bustling and candy sales are making an all-time high. Unfortunatly for them the place will have to be cleared out and cleaned up for some SNF action soon..
None of those things really concern Benimaru Nikaido, however, who has troubles of his own, but really what else is new? Due to a rather troubling matter, he's been pretty much forced to leave Strolheim and head to Southtown where, with a little detective work, he found out Drake would be having a match.. That made things really simple, he hated going out of his way to find people after all. So there he is at the mall, just sitting on a bench and keeping a relatively low profile in a brown trenchcoat, blue jeans and a turtleneck. His long hair is worn down, black, thin-rim sunglasses over his eyes. Because black sunglasses magically turn you from a superstar to an average joe, you see.
Man, does Drake ever hate the cold season. Sure, he's modeled plenty of lines for Winter fashion, but when it comes to his own preferred style, it's anything but. Typically, the teen would take off to somewhere like Hawaii and hide away until work called for him. But the days of being spoiled are over, more or less. He has work to do here in Japan - both in Southtown and in a little village called Fukui.
But if he has to put up with the season, Drake's decided to deal with it with the bright disposition people have come to expect from him outside the ring. He'll... hand out candy. His SNF might prevent him from this, scheduling in consideration, but even if it does? Bah, he'll nom the damn candy himself.
..Okay, he wouldn't. A chunky Domino is a seriously lame Domino. He'd most likely donate it. Besides, sugar makes him unreasonably hyper.
All thoughts for a time still to come! But in a case like this, these thoughts prevent the be-shaded, trenched male from noticing Benimaru as he makes his way to a costume store on the opposite side. With a generic yellow and black shopping bag in hand and a contented smile on his face, Drake meanders through the crowd towards his destination.
Handing out candy.. Is most certainly not Benimaru's thing. But whatever it is he does on days like this is a complete secret.. Unless Kyo rats him out, the jerk that he is. While it is pretty crowded, Drake does seem to have an apperance unique enough for Benimaru to pick him out- he's pretty tall. "Thank god," he finally mumbles to himself as he gets to his feet, straightens his collar a bit and rather quickly makes his way toward Drake. It's sort of ominous in a way, really, like he would pull out a gun at any moment but that's hardly the case here thankfully.
"Ahem!" Benimaru starts, and right away already feels like a bit of an idiot chasing another man down. But now most certainly wasn't the time for pride, the moment after he clears his throat he reaches out to slap his his hand down on Drake's shoulder (assuming he doesn't slip aside), "Hey, you're Drake Vyril, right?"
This almost happens. Drake slipping away, that is. It's not due to some strange sixth sense, but rather because he's about to dodge a fairly.. wide, shall we say, individual. The hand, however, finds its mark first, which is sufficient enough in getting him to turn around. When he spies the individual in question, the reaction Benimaru gets is.. a quirked eyebrow.
"Uh..," starts the younger of the two uncertainly. "..Yeah, that'd be me. What's up?"
Judging by voice and expression alone, it might seem that Drake doesn't immediately recognize Benimaru. But in his defense, the blond looks rather different from his normal look.
That.. Went a lot smoother than Benimaru had anticipated. There's actually a relieved sigh following Drake's response, and her draws his hand back to settle in his pockets. He doesn't answer the other man right away, rather his look is somewhat intense, playing out a few possible scenario's in his mind here. He realized what the main reaction is about though, and that actually makes him smirk a bit and relax a touch. "I thought as much. I'm Benimaru Nikaido.. Alexis has told me a bit about you, so I figured you would be the man I would speak to concerning her. You.. Do know who she is, right?"
Not that he doubted the gymnast, but she did seem very.. Fangirlish. It wouldn't surprise him if it turned out the other model had no idea who the fanatic was. The name, when given, gets an instant reaction from Drake: a brief facial twitch.
"Oh, yeah, I know you. And your remarks in the magazines," Drake replies, voice still polite, but with a discernible edge to them. "I know Lexi, yeah. What about her?"
Despite holding a very non-manly bag of candy in one hand, Drake jams his hands into his pockets to attain a more 'cool' and stoic stance. His expression has, at least, turned more emotionless and withdrawn.
When Drake mentions the magazines, Benimaru can't help but grin even wider, and then chuckles. It doesn't seem like he's bothered by the other now that he seems to be more annoyed, apparently this much more the blonde's atmosphere. "Yes, and to think that you had a girlfriend after all, that was a shocker, let me tell you. I assure you my face is quite red after learning." he says.
But then he shakes his head, followed by a wave of his hand, "Well anyway that's all in the past, listen, I've been having a bit of trouble lately with the girl.. I suppose you haven't heard yet that she and another student have been selected to be my partners in the Teacher-Student tournament up in Strolheim.." brief pause. "She seemed pretty devestated. I suppose you would already know why that's the case."
"Sorry I'm not on the menu for you," replies Drake, tone no longer edged but simply irritable. "And count your blessings that I'm not tacky or threatened enough to rip at someone over an article like that, myself."
The somewhat-question, however, breaks what stoicism Drake's managed to maintain. "It's called loyalty. The whole magazine thing? Not cool. Didn't earn any points with me for it, so it's a pretty reasonable guess that you got on her bad side, too, don'cha think?" A bit more at ease, himself, the model bobs his shoulders in a shrug. "Enjoy reaping what you sew, I guess?"
The blond model's lips twist a bit to the side, and raises his hand to lift his sunglasses up to the top of his head. It was clear what direction this was headed if he didn't talk more carefully, but subtlety in these circumstances just isn't his strongsuit. So with a dashing smile he replies to Drake, "Well, the bad news is I really don't care if you thought it wasn't cool, that's why I said it in the first place. I don't even mind that Alexis doesn't like me, but that isn't the issue here.."
"The problem is that she's upset because she's frightened about what your reaction to this is going to be when you hear about it. I want to make it clear I'm not going to treat her bad just because you two are close or because she hates my guts. I will do my job even if she bites and claws me every match.. But here's what I need you to do," Benimaru says, his expression getting more serious. "I need you to call her or get in touch with her in some way, and tell her things are going to be all right between you two."
An eyebrow quirks again, and Drake's free hand lifts to pinch the edge of his own shades to tug them down to the tip of his nose. Amethyst eyes peer over the top of the sunglasses, giving Benimaru an incredulous look. "Get used to being told 'screw off', then. My business with Lexi is my business. You say you're gonna do your job, then do it. She'll do what she wants. Your decision to make bad blood 'tween us. Your own fault for your situation," Drake replies, the annoyed tone back in his voice.
The sunglasses are then slid back into place. "So. If you do as you say, I'm sure she'll do her best despite you. Is that all?"
There's a brief moment of silence from Benimaru as he looks the wrestler up and down.. Possibly sizing him up? It's tough to tell since he still appears to be in a pretty good mood, almost as if oblivious to the annoyance he's bringing upon the other. "Nope, you're wrong, not that that surprises me.. You need to cool down and listen to what it is I'm saying, tough guy."
"The issue here isn't because of just me, it's my problem and it's your problem. And really, the way that it's your problem kind of pisses me off, but like you said, that's your two's business. .. Or rather, it will be -my- business to if you don't do your part, get it?" Benimaru explains, running a hand through his hair. "She won't do her best because she thinks you'll be pissed off if she does her best. So.. I'm going to put things in a very not nice way: If you don't get her to calm down and we lose, I'm going to kick your ass."
"I'd be more than happy to see you try," Drake challenges immediately, body tensing. "And the fact that you're questionin' me ain't really helping you. I told you she'd do her best. That's how she is. Don't go assuming you know her better than I do. That'd be a tragic mistake. So go make the most of your time. If you guys lose, it won't be her fault, or mine by any proxy or another."
Drake's head inclines then, regarding Benimaru evenly. "Now, I've got stuff to d
o, and I'm sure you do, too. So unless there's something else..."
Benimaru quirks a brow, seeming a bit caught off-guard by Drake's first response. Was Drake serious? Or was he just bluffing? Well either way he wasn't going to find out today, since he was here to talk. Even if he was being an ass about it the whole time, "You make a good point, you /do/ know her better than me. But I also know what kind of behavior is unnatural. You know, like when a kid walks to school with a black eye and says they fell down the stairs for instance. There's room for doubt.. There's always room for doubt."
Benimaru lowers his sunglasses over his eyes again, there's a grin, but it lacks that Kim-style *ping*. "I hope you're right, though, Drake. I hope to god you're right, because there's little I hate more than seeing girls cry. Thanks for your time, and it was nice finally getting to meet you by the way. You're taller than the photos suggest." He clicks his tongue, winks, (not that it can be seen behind those lens) and with that, turns and walks off seeming to be in a somewhat better mood.
Drake holds steady for a few seconds, then frowns a little. Damn it. Benimaru gets his heckles raised, then leaves on a -diplomatic- note? That's behavior Drake isn't necessarily used to. But it warrants at least a faint effort from the dark-haired model in passing:
"If nothing else, I want her to do well for -her-." Pause. "So good luck." 'Nother pause. "For her sake!"
Benimaru does that. He can run his mouth, he can make threats, but he isn't violent by nature.. With the exception of getting his temper getting blown, and the other model doesn't seem to know how to push the blond's buttons, and even further incapable of throwing the first punch according to Benimaru's assessment.
Still though, he pauses after his third step and smirks a little. "I'll be sure to pass that along to her.."
He takes another few steps, pauses again, and raises his pointer finger, "Though, for the record, I was being sarcastic when I said it was nice to finally meet you.. If you're going to try to make good with me, at least learn the difference between being a good guy and being a sucker."
"Just keep walking, Barbie," Drake says in resignation. He cocks his left fist to his hip and give Benimaru a look more akin to weariness than frustration or anger. That's as far as he's willing to push things tonight. He has plenty of other things to occupy himself, he rationalizes.
Log created on 02:19:32 11/02/2008 by Benimaru, and last modified on 14:17:31 11/11/2008.