Description: Shihong Mao is paid a visit from a dead man, who offers her a new opportunity -- and an invitation to a particularly prestigious event.
It was good to be back home.
Shihong Mao had quite the adventure in the middle of Seishirou's "Jinchuu" tournament-war-whatever the hell you'd call it. It left her tired, sore and with several broken ribs, among other things. But hey, she came out of it with /something/; a newfound respect for several people--a certain puppeteer included--as well as a nice bit of cash. It went toward getting herself a new penthouse, since her last one was burnt to the ground (proverbially speaking) by Yamazaki.
Sinking into a plush barstool in the Eventide lounge, the Chinese enforcer just exhales contentedly as the bartender slips a bourbon and coke her way.
"Long day?" he asks of the woman. Shihong grins slyly.
"Just a bit--"
MONTAGE
Shihong is driving 100 mph down the highways at 11:12pm. Cop cars are in pursuit.
12:30 am. Shihong's borrowed car sinks into the Southtown river on fire. Shihong is hiding under the bridge as cop cars and officers scramble toward the rapidly-sinking wreckage.
1:52 am. Shihong beats up several armed men and takes a package.
3:13 am. A package is delivered to a local goon, who thanks her for her generosity.
4:23 am. With a fat wad of cash in hand, Shihong is whistling all the way toward her parked beauty and personal treasure, a sleek black Jaguar XJ220 parked securely in a lavish-looking apartment complex.
5:12 am. Shihong goes to bed.
NOW
"Just a bit," the Chinese woman adds, taking a sip. The bartender moves on, leaving the woman to enjoy her drink in the atmospherically-lit bar among soft blues.
Southtown. Technically speaking, he should not be here. From a business point of view, being in this city is an unacceptable risk. The pull he had here is practically non-existent now. Prudence would tell him to simply cut all his losses here and move on.
But there are some assets worth securing here still.
And Geese Howard knows the value of risk-taking.
The Eventide lounge. It's a nice place. It's also one of the few places where people won't ask questions. Loyalty isn't completely dead in Southtown -- some people still respect old titles like 'King.'
It's why, when Shihong starts to enjoy her drink, a man sits beside her. He is impeccably dressed in a white suit and a blue button-up shirt and a red tie, and white slacks.
"Scotch on the rocks," he says, not looking at Shihong. "From the old stash." The bartender is silent for a few seconds, before.
"... Sure thing."
Silence. And then: a glass is slid his way, taking a deep sip of his drink.
"Aaah. This place always had the best scotch." Geese Howard smiles, looking for all the world like he owned this place -- like he still owned this place.
"Hello, Shihong. I hear you had a nice vacation."
Shihong Mao was enjoying her drink when the dead came back to life.
Blinking twice, the voice sounds /awfully/ familiar. It's the voice of someone for whom the Chinese enforcer has incredible amounts of respect for. It's the voice of a man to whom Shihong looks up to, aspires to someday be like. He's like some kind of incredible being that transcends most, if not everyone she has ever known--herself included.
But he died. At least that's what everyone believed.
It's rather ungraceful when Shihong suddenly spits her drink, red eyes widening as she snaps her attentions aside. There, in the seat near her, is the impeccably-dressed Howard, fallen King of Southtown. The Chinese woman drops her jaw. Her face goes white. Is she seeing the dead.
"You're totally alive..?" Wait a second, that was really lame, she thinks.
"I-I mean, what the hell, how are you alive?" There, that's a little better.
Shaking her head a bit, the woman's voice drops, conspiratorial tones employed as she just gawks at Howard. "Seriously, /how are you alive/? Everyone said you were dead. I thought you were dead! Uh, don't get me wrong." Leaning back, Shihong shakes her hands dismissively.
"I'm /glad/ you are, but...
"/How/? And why are you here? This isn't safe."
How is he alive?
"Shihong, let me tell you a story," Geese begins calmly -- but doesn't continue until he's had another sip of his drink. Despite how calm and composed he is, there is still an extra, almost imperceptible edge of caution to him. He knows very well where he is.
But appearances are everything.
"A long time ago, some homeless punk thought he'd make a name for himself by pursuing some sort of worthless 'revenge quest' on me for some imagined slight," he finally continues, setting down his drink with a clink of ice. "So he thought he had the right to barge into my tower and shove me off the rooftop." A pause. Ice-blue eyes look back at Shihong, as if to demonstrably say 'and yet I'm still here.'
"He tried it again, too, a couple years later. I got better. And this city was still mine." Another sip. Geese savors the taste.
"The point of the story is, no amount of neanderthals are ever going to kill me when they try to use /my/ tower in /my/ city to do it."
It's as simple as that.
For all his mild caution, though, Howard hardly looks frightened or even worried to be where he is. Instead, he smirks. "I'm a little disappointed you didn't have more faith in me. But I understand you've been having your own set of obstacles. How was that quaint little ninja's tournament?"
But... this doesn't address the more relevant issue. Why is he here?
"Are you telling me it's not safe to be in my own city? Come now, I think you know better than that. Not every person in this city is some loser who can't remember simple virtues like 'loyalty.'" He glances back toward the bartender, ambivalently cleaning his workspace. Why is he here, though...?
"Why? I think you know why," he says. But... he's never been one to dance around the point.
"I'm here to recruit you for a new job."
As Geese Howard tells his story, Shihong listens with rapt attention. It amazes her to hear the infamous tale from the man who experienced it's mouth, the very /thought/ of someone surviving being thrown out of a tower countless stories tall /twice/. It's fairly obvious she's intrigued by the way her red eyes widen just so, the way her mouth remains only slightly agape.
When all is said and done, Shihong glances aside, almost shamefully. She shouldn't have doubted him.
"The ninja's tou--oh, right, that," Casting aside her embarrassment, Shihong glances briefly to her glass of bourbon before grinning. "It was 'interesting' to say the least. I got to push myself more than usual. Got the shit beat out of me several times, but hey, what doesn't kill, right?"
Half-heartedly giving a shrug, the woman quiets a bit as he speaks once more. However, when he states he's sure she knows why he's here, the woman hoods her gaze discreetly. Does she? Sure, she's glad to see him, but with her paling around with the Ninja and his cadre, would he /want/ her back?
Then he says as much. The Chinese woman's face practically lights up.
"Oh, is that so?" is her response, though her enthusiasm is more than evident on her cool tone. Shifting her weight, she props an elbow on the bar as she asks, "What sort of job is it?"
"Making an entire city into a warzone - he has more guts than I gave him credit for," Geese muses to Shihong's explanation of Jinchuu. Or maybe 'had' might be more appropriate.
'What doesn't kill,' she says. Howard smirks.
"That's the building blocks of making anything worthwhile," he says simply before he drinks his scotch again.
Geese seems not to register that enthusiastic light to Shihong's face and words; if he does, he doesn't say anything. Instead, the former King of Southtown merely leans back, straightening his posture out as he levels those pale blue eyes on the transporter.
'What sort of job is it?'
"You could call it construction," he says.
"I am going to build up everything I lost. And I would like you to join me."
He lets his words linger here, before he continues smoothly. "When my empire started to crumble around me, all sorts of miscreants began to crawl out of the woodwork. Fools and jackasses who thought they could pretend to be brave and defy me by riding on the coattails of someone else's fluke twist of luck." Kain...
"But not you. Out of all those, you are one of the handful that protected everything I created even as my tower crumbled." Her. Billy. Yamazaki wasn't loyal but he was loyal to violence and money. Mr. Big... could be trusted insomuch as he had his own problems he needed to recover from.
"Loyalty should be rewarded. Any good businessman knows that. And right now, you must not be leading a very rewarding life, shuffling about at some deranged ninja's whims, taking up meager transport jobs again. This isn't a good reward for your dedication, is it?"
He stops here. Lets the words settle in. And then:
"They took down everything I owned in Southtown. It was their mistake to assume that was the only thing I have. I've been establishing a power base in Metro City for quite some time now, in the event the spineless losers who laughably call themselves my 'enemies' tried some sort of pot shot like this.
"I am going to rebuild everything from there out." Rebuild his legacy, brick by brick, practically from its foundation. It isn't like he hasn't done it before, though.
"And you'll be joining me. With a new executive position." Loyalty, after all, should be rewarded.
To ensure more loyalty in the future.
/That/ is how to work a business.
Construction, Howard says. Shihong knows exactly what he means. He wants his empire back.
Smirking, the woman lifts her glass to her lips, taking a patient sip from the liquor. "Well, I'm very flattered, sir," is Shihong's response to his invitation, her hand slowly lowering as she sets it down upon the bar. "I will admit, doing errands for ninjas and random odd-jobs isn't what appeals to me. I've been lacking in what you could call 'stable work' the past several months."
Rolling her shoulders, the woman exhales slightly and continues to listen. She hasn't replied /yet/.
Then it comes. The /flattery/.
Shihong Mao is the sort of person who does well to hide any tell-tale emotion and giveaway tics of her demeanor or personality. So, while she simply grins and nods her head in response, inwardly the woman is buzzing like some incredibly eager schoolgirl who just had the school's number one football player ask her to prom. It's the biggest compliment in the /world/ to Shihong that he would consider her a valuable asset, along with the likes of Mister Big and Billy Kane.
"W-well," the woman begins, her excitement /barely/ contained. "I am incredibly flattered and honored." Lifting her glass, the woman sips from it, her demeanor the epitome of patience and calm. However, the observant would likely note the subtle tink-tink and shifting of the ice cubes in her glass of bourbon. She's way too excited.
"Since you're extending such an incredibly /generous/ offer, I am obliged to take it."
Setting the glass down, the Chinese woman offers a smile as she turns to face Howard. "Metro, you say? I worked out there, years ago. I'd gladly help you retake your empire. Whatever you need, I'll help you out. Lord knows the work here is driving me crazy in boredom."
Pausing briefly, she lets her response sit momentarily before she then inquires,
"When are you going to get started?"
Flattery and rewards. Geese Howard is nothing if not a skilled businessman. Loyalty is something he knows how to acquire.
And knows the value of not lending it out easily.
Swirling his scotch glass in his hand, pale blue eyes focus back on the selections of drinks lining the back wall; he notices the vague differences in Shihong's behavior, in her movements, in her demeanor. The clink of ice, the edge of excitement so many others might miss. He smirks, because he knows what her answer will be.
Of course, he always knew /that./
"Then we can use your knowledge of the city to our advantage." Admittedly, Geese has never cared about Metro City. Like a B-List city to the grandeur that was his Southtown. /His/ Southtown. But... it'll do just fine. He smiles here, turning in his seat to let his back face the counter, slipping a hand inside his pocket leisurely as he does.
"I have a few more special guests to pick up. Some of them might have a harder time accepting a good offer when they hear it. I know at least one is going to require a little supplementary instruction just as a policy." Because you don't convince Ryuji Yamazaki with pretty words. But...
"After that, we'll move our operation. I've already set things up there." That city will know who its boss is soon enough. But...
"In the meantime..." Geese says, before he takes something out of his pocket, sliding it across to Shihong. A white envelope, sealed in dark red wax with the initials 'K.E.'.
"... how do you feel about training for a /real/ tournament?"
"My knowledge? Heh," Shihong replies, lifting her glass to her lips. "It's been quite a while since I've been there. I know a few contacts around and about that still haunt Metro, if you're interested." Having since 'calmed' her girlish excitement, Shihong is as cool as ever, grinning lazily to the blue-eyed businessman at her side. "But I'll help where I can."
A few guests? "Very well. I wouldn't expect you to leave your other colleagues behind," she casually replies, despite the faintest of venom on her lips. Yamazaki. She /hates/ that man. She wants to /kill/ him. She will someday. She wil--
Shaking her head lightly, Shihong moves on with a smile. "Just give me a head's up--" Lifting her phone from her blazer jacket, she gives it a light shaking to emphasize, "...when you're moving operations. I'll book a flight. ..eh?"
The envelope is glanced toward. K.E.? Lifting a well-manicured hand, the woman picks it up and just looks at its outsides. "Training for a real tournament? Hm." Another sip of her glass is taken, followed by a long, pensive pause.
"Well, it /has/ been a while," she mulls. "I am a little rusty from the stagnation after Jinchuu...
Shrugging, she draws her eyes shut and smirks.
"Sure. Sign me up." The envelope is slid back to Howard.
It's important to know your environments. It's as important in business as it is in nature. The second Geese Howard knows Metro City like the back of his hand, it doesn't matter who wants to oppose him this time around.
It'll be his.
But for now, there are other things to focus on. Like the envelope put into Shihong's line of sight. "There's no other tournament like it," Geese explains. "Jinchuu is kids playing in the sand." Creating a messy and incomprehensible pile of dirt and calling it a tournament-- "This... is where a person carves out their name as a champion."
Geese Howard smiles. He takes the envelope, and pockets it, lifting out of his seat.
"I ought to know. I made it."
Sliding his empty glass of scotch forward on the countertop, Howard nods once to the tender. "I'll be in contact with you soon. Once we've moved locations, we'll start securing our hold there. And... we'll get you ready for the tournament, hm?"
He starts to walk here. Fallen and defeated though he has become, he still has the powerful and confident gait of a king as he makes his exit as if this place were his.
"We'll need you prepared. This is your first time joining the King of Fighters after all, isn't it?"
"I'm not surprised," is Shihong's nigh-immediate response to Howard as he compares Jinchuu and King of Fighters. However, she is intrigued to say the least; her attention on the businessman, Shihong grins even more so as he compliments the tournament--and then admits the obvious. He started it?
"Well, by all means I'll be there then, sir," the woman smoothly replies. She watches as he slides the empty glass forward and rises, to take his leave of the bar and of Shihong's company. She is a bit disappointed; he's back and then gone so soon!
"Understood. My number's still the same, so give me a ring when you need something--anything," the Chinese enforcer insists. "And...it is. I haven't fought in any /real/ tournament before. I look forward to it- -and the training. I can't stop improving myself, after all."
Especially if she wants to kill Yamazaki.
Lifting a hand, she offers a wide grin. "Later, sir. Be in touch. Be careful out there, yeah?"
She winks.
Log created on 20:19:44 10/17/2010 by Geese, and last modified on 11:12:49 10/21/2010.