Description: Following her SNF against Whip*, Hotaru Futaba finds herself reunited with the most unexpected person EVER. Admittedly, K''s presence might be less unexpected if he had mentioned his sister to Hotaru before! Times are recounted, plans forged, while feelings and hurdles are neatly evaded! (Rated M for Mushy) <*Back in issue #7693, 'Party On', True Believers!>
His hand will find a firm grip as the fallen girl takes hold. He'll have to do most of the pulling to get the exhausted fighter on her feet, and even when she's standing, she'll maintain that hold on his hand for a moment longer just to make sure that her balance is there. The immediate expression on her face is one of confusion. Something weird just happened - someone said she looked terrible, which, well, is a pretty rude thing to say! But it wasn't the words but the voice behind it. It's been a long time since she's heard that sardonic tone, the dry teasing that can easily mask the relationships that lie beneath.
Indeed, a number of people close enough to have heard the remark are giving the young man a dirty look. How dare he say that to the young Southtown heroine. Hotaru, for her part, is still looking too oblivous to put the pieces together for a moment, but the gears are turning in her head. Her arm lifts, wiping across her brow, then she looks up into the face of the one that helped her to her feet.
Her azure eyes reflect a moment of uncertainty. Is she seeing things? She might not even actually be conscious at the moment. The smile that tugs at her lips makes it clear that she's either accepting that the person standing in front of her is K' or that maybe she's just dreaming and that she'll be content to just go with it either way. "You..." She sucks in a breath. That fight was one of the most demanding she's been in for a long time. "You sure know how to flatter a girl." Her voice suggests she'd have laughed if she had the breath for it.
She slips her hand from his. She's steady now. Her other hand touches some of the welts on her forearm gingerly. The girl is being swarmed now - SNF staff on hand applying some kind of ointment to the lashmarks, disurpting the girl's train of thought for a moment. It HAS been a long time. Since the Southtown Siege came to an end...
Her home had been a staging ground for the resistence at one point. And she had been their leader - a pocket of young fighters and civilians that refused to be crushed beneath the foot of the occupiers. When they fought back and the invaders were forced out, she had had to focus a lot of her attentions back on her home. Her neighborhood needed her. As much as she wanted to join the fight abroad, the demands of the YFCC were greater than they had ever been before. No... throughout all that time K' has spent away from Southtown, Hotaru has never left it.
The cursory attention is completed and Hotaru waves off any more administrations from the SNF staff handlers. While Whip's attacks took their toll, the injuries are the sort that will heal quickly. It's not like she was getting /shot/ or something. She knows she looks a little ridiculous. Dressed in pink, her tights are tattered from the fight, and her side ponytail is looking a bit less spunky as some of the scrunchies that were keeping it in place were knocked loose at some point. Let alone the dust and perspiration.
"I can't believe you're-" she starts to reply again only to be interrupted as a kid of about ten or twelve years of age runs up to Hotaru, "Sensei, you were amazing!" the boy chirps, reaching up to try and awkwardly drape a clean white towel over the girl's shoulders. "Thank you, Shibata-kun," she smiles, taking hold of the towel in the end. "Now run along. Looks like there's a lot of fun to be had here tonight." The boy offers a snappy bow of respect and then turns to charge off, leaving Hotaru to turn her focus to K' again. Maybe she won't get interrupted this time.
"I'm glad to see you. I wasn't going to stick around for the party and..." She has that knowing look. "something tells me you you weren't either. Want to walk with me a while?" She nods off toward the front entrance of the amusement park, perhaps intending to hoof it a ways toward home.
Rude indeed. Yet he gallantly helps Hotaru rise, lending the strength of that decidedly lethal arm to the fallen young woman in surprisingly smooth, gentle fashion. Familiar, even. It's a fairly clear paradox, at least at a glance. After all, he makes a point to be flippant, unfettered, completely irreverent and inappropriate for about 3/4 of possible situations. He's lived the hard knocks and come out on top every time! A sure bet, a top of the line, billion and a half euro prototype weapon that's never been fucking /matched/.
At least, that's the image that K' portrays to approximately 99.93% of the world, demonstrated in subtler form by the cross-armed, stern-faced gruff detachment he expresses, mostly ignoring the staff. More buy it than don't, and the Beast of Flame, at this point, is half myth and half terror in the intelligence community, in overseas networks that fund terror and terrible experiments of their own. There is indeed a vast dichotomy to the paths they took after war tore the only home either had really known, or at least remembered, to bloody pieces.
Hotaru nurtured Southtown, trained and advised another generation to do it better, this time. The little fan's arrival tells that story as clearly as Futaba's nature would, to the rogue bioweapon. He lifts a black gloved hand and scratches at the back of his own rather tousled white mane, grinning a slight half-smile off to the opposite side as the kid runs off, before looking back to Hotaru. Yea, where does he even start? She's been steady, even-handed, he's been a globetrotting, death-defying moving target. Oh sure, for a little while, K' was satisfied with the relief going on the lam provided.
Underground, off the grid, between himself and Maxima they were virtually untraceable and untouchable. Any possible recon was liable to fail or give itself away, in the best case scenario. Then Maxima started to do a little more research, reminded the rogue prototype -why- he was a rogue in the first place. Grotesque human trafficking rings, endless human experiments... pharmaceuticals, augmentation on mechanical and cellular levels... anything to find another weapon. Endless drug tests, endless lists of missing people... K' found a new path in an old, and they set fire to an institution.
Just how arrogant the Beast of Flame may be is arguable; but he hasn't been stupid. Hit, and fade. The recon has been thorough, the liberation and firebombings, fucking awesome if he does say so himself. If only they had the firepower to do it more often, and thoroughly. Still, it's safe to say that NESTS remains more than a little wary and weary of its errant WMD. It's also safe to say that where and how he -begins- to express the crazy shit that pointing a loaded gun - that is, /HIMSELF/ - at a whole mess of new and worthy targets has made him think and face over the last few years is harder than all of those struggles, right this minute.
Contrary to many occasions, K' does not aggressively interject his own dialogue overtop of Hotaru's efforts to express herself. One might even call him patient, amber eyes just watching her, waiting as she finds her bearings more fully. Or maybe, as the renegade finds his own. "You read my mind." K' offers up simply, at first, nodding in agreement and falling in step beside Hotaru. One hand darts out, seeking to deftly (and again, K' being gentle, no wonder he's ditching Whip in 35 seconds flat) remove another scrunchie holding back the bulwark, turning it over in his fingers and eyeing Hotaru via sideglance, his pace unslowed.
"Hope you're not replacing the ribbons." Sure, he knows it's the fight theme. If you think he didn't mock /Whip's/ costume a lot worse, well. Futaba's hardly that naive! It draws a wry smile to his face for several more strides, cutting through the closed stands and rides to avert interactions with departing 80's night fight fans with early curfews. There's a slight nod, affirmation, his mind apparently backpedaling a moment as he notes, "Yea. Good to see you too. You fought like crazy, haven't lost your touch."
It's high praise, and easily the most relaxed topic to lead with, for the enigmatic bioweapon. "You... the YFCC..." This brings an almost tentative tone to his voice, for a moment, "How've things been?" 'How many people have been thrown through the front door lately', etc, etc.
Her pace is comfortable. She's in no hurry and is probably hiding some aches from muscles pushed to their limits with her steady steps. The postcards he sent when he could risk it said little beyond confirming his continued survival. It was enough to know he would bother. She had oft wondered what he was doing out there. It had been K' that opened her eyes to the dangers in Southtown. Through words and actions, he gave her a glimpse of the life he knew. The dark, hidden world that lurked beneath the carefully polished veneer laid by powerful men.
She had been so naive before then... To think that the world renown corporate tycoon, Geese Howard, was behind so much of the crime in Southtown was such a shock to learn from the well connected rebel. When K' filled her in on the details of the Syndicate, she began to learn the truth. And to think, all long she thought Kain was the only monster local to the city. When Geese Tower collapsed, she thought it the end of one of the powerful cartels but not the ONLY one that K' had business with. She can only guess at what fights he's had out on his travels. Part of her wished to share in whatever adventures he might be having out there. But the sane side of her knew that just wasn't to be.
The stage for the match was not far from the entrance, it doesn't take long to reach the gate and slip out onto the beach-walk sidestreets. He steals one of the purple scrunches and her sidetail flops down a little more, provoking a side glance at him to see what he might be doing with it. At his words, however, she laughs. "I don't know. I really thought I could start a returning trend for legwarmers!" she answers. She would pull the rest out and let her hair fall loose. But it feels good to let the cool night air blow against the back of her neck, helping her continue to cool off after the intense match.
"Thanks," she states with regards to her tenacious fighting. "Been busy. Haven't really taken time out to get back into the public arena." She falls quiet then. The topic is more solem to her than it may have seemed at first glance. She's looking forward then, hands clasped behind her back. "It was just kind of weird, you know? For all those years, I was showing up for Saturday Night Fights, not knowing who's pockets all those proceeds were filling. Even when Masters took it over, it was just hard to shake that feeling for me..." To think Howard Industries did more to put the sport of fighting before the public eye than anyone else had stirred up all kinds of conflicts for the girl once K' clued her in on Geese's nature.
"Made me think about all of it - the competative fighting, the theatrics of it. I've heard rumors that there's some killer loose in the circuit now. Maybe more than one. Is it all just for publicity? And if so, isn't it going way too far?" She sounds troubled by the train of thoughts he brought to the surface of her mind. "And what if it's even worse? What if it isn't just a publicity stunt?" She shakes her head and exhales slowly. "Ah, sorry..." she sounds a touch sheepish. Life might have been easier being naive, but knowing the truth... she's glad he told her.
She considers quietly how things have been. "I have more students now for my dojo," she remarks. Likely kids. K' has encountered the spunky, peppery Kentou before, Hotaru's first student. It sounds like she's taken on others. "And the YFCC... it's still there. Things have been..." She shrugs a little, "It's different without Alma around." The young charismatic that had started it all had moved on, it seemed. He had done it before - vanishing to wander the globe, to discover a truth about himself, leaving others to try to make up for his absence. But he had always come back. This time it's been... very long. "We keep it going. Money's a little tight. But we get by. Probably about time for another fund raiser tournament," she laughs lightly at that. Alma had orchestrated the last one. It had done fairly well.
It's her turn to ask. Probing into the mysteries that drive the young man was always tenuous territory. She only barely understands he has ties to NESTS. He confided little beyond that. It seemed easier for him that way. She never pushed to betray that comfort zone. "I saw the post marks." she notes. "You... really got a round." Almost every continent. "I wish I could hope that you were staying out of trouble, but I know better." Her brow furrows. "How'd you end up at the fight?" she asks.
K', again in contrast, can't be out of the park soon enough. The bass beats thrum duller and duller behind them, but the firebrand has to slow his step several times to fall back in line with the notably smaller girl. It's probably amusing to watch, but it's doubtful anyone is paying attention.. unless Whip happens to catch he brother's hasty Hotaru-napping in progress. Either way, slipping out into the seaside streets conveys a modicum of ease to the renegade prototype's stance, along with his pace. More relaxed, less on guard - though amber eyes are /ever/ alert, panning this way and that.
Once or twice he twists a graceful turn back and then front again, never missing a step even when inverting his orientation to scan the streets behind them. It is unlikely to do anything to ease Hotaru's suspicions, but will it make the enigmatic bioweapon any more conversational? As far as the corruption and ridiculousness of theatrical fighting? Oh /hell/ yes.
"Ken Masters may not be the head of a criminal conspiracy..." K' has seen no evidence to confirm or deny this allegation. ".. but he's still lining his pockets with the blood of anyone that'll get ratings. I was dumb enough to get involved, needed a one-off check, make sure I have a place to crash and yogurt for the month..." just how full of shit he may be is, as ever, arguable. K' seems quite sincere, and as anticipated, growingly ticked off as he explains further, "So Barbie's" he probably means Ken. "people set me up to ban this killer from SNF for - get this - two weeks. Bitch is -killing- whole crews, trashing equipment. This other fucker there is hopping himself up on designer drugs and cumming in his pants from the whole thing..."
K' pauses a beat here, as if (gasp) tempted to dial it back due to company. Whether he does or not is, again, arguable. "Meanwhile there's this crew on the roof filming the whole thing. I'm just glad I had enough in me to keep the crazy bitch from slitting my throat as her encore." K' spits to the side. "Maxima says she's some elite operative of a weapons cartel." Which K' doesn't name without prompting. "I say holy shit, at least line up the cast of Jersey Shore for her. Which is to say, what the hell? Sometimes it's too easy to forget that's how /most/ people make their living."
Not literally. Probably, he doesn't mean that; but on the blood of others, without concern for the consequences. The rogue WMD seems rather wound up about it, all told. One thing is for sure: Hotaru certainly needn't have apologized for bringing it up! It takes K' a minute to even wind back and realize she started telling him about more personal topics, that aren't quite as maddening to the firebrand.. to say the least. He draws a deep, shoulder heaving breath, and releases it in a huff, nodding once to Hotaru as he turns to look her in the eye and pause a moment, weighing it. He starts with the YFCC.
"Yea, I wanted to... help." Stick around, probably. "Seemed like a big liability at the time, though, and a lot of... unfinished business." This prompts a frown. What's changed, now, K'? Approximately little. The world still looks pretty fucked, from where he's standing. Maybe he's just tired of running. "Don't know, you'd think we'd have learned about tournaments by now." The Beast of Flame snarks, appending "If you need help, though.." the thought trails off, before the rogue gets around to the secondary inquiry.
This is sure to irk Hotaru, at least a little, right K'? Not only did he not ride out of the evening on his white horse to see her, he didn't tell her this when she had abundant opportunity to meet and greet the person in question. Still, maybe he gets credit for remaining steadfastly straight with her, "You were fighting my sister. Didn't see how I could miss it."
She's well aware of his scans of the streets behind them. A behavior like that... that has to be learned; a byproduct of the life he's experienced up until now. How many times did he have to get caught off guard before he picked up that habit? Once? She wonders. She counts herself fortunate that she's never had to become so paranoid. He mentions that he got involved in a match and she makes a mental note to catch the On-Demand version of it later. Then wonders if maybe she should grab the torrent as opposed to put money back in Master's hands for it.
But he confirms something rather apalling. K' has found the killer and speaks openly of the murders she's committed. Hotaru frows at that, the revelation clearly provoking concern in the girl. With the aquisition of SNF, Masters owns all three of the major fighting leagues for the world popular sport. The NDP feeder league, the Neo League 1v1 league, and the weekly showcase matches, SNF. There's really nothing an aspiring fighter can hope participate in that isn't part of that monopoly on the leagues. "Cartel, huh." She shakes her head. It seems no legitimate league exists then. His language doesn't get a blink from her. She's heard as much from him and more in the past.
"I mean, it's not like I didn't know killers were in the circuits..." She wasn't /that/ naive. Besides. She's always suspected K' had killed someone before. When he exploded the rabid Yamazaki from her home, he thought he had killed the man and Hotaru had been grateful for it. That the monster continued to live on was unpleasant, but didn't change the fact that the flameshaper had almost taken another's life to protect her. Certainly, he has gone beyond 'almost' on other occasions. "But it's different when they go killing the production crew and keep getting invited back again!" the girl exclaims, sounding rather upset about that. Hosting matches between dangerous people is one thing... Turning matches into some kind of murderporn is stepping way out of line. "Someone needs to do something about that," she grunts. The whole thing was rather upsetting.
She breaths in then exhales, winding down with K' on the subject. It has given her plenty to think about though. "Yeah..." He talks about feeling like liability. There had been a time when Geese Howard had promised to destroy anyone K' associated with. Would that have included the YFCC? The very organization Howard Industries had /donated/ to just a year prior? Maybe... He couldn't take the risk and she understood that. He teases her about the idea of a tournament and she smiles, taking in more of the cool night air.
That is until she gets an answer to her direct question and Hotaru comes to a stop, turning on K'. "What? She is your /sister/?" She looks a combination of upset and bewildered. He never mentioned a sister before! "And you didn't introduce us!?" She is less upset that he didn't end up at that park for her sake. On some level, she would have been surprised if he had. She would have been /glad/ if he had, of course, but K' had always kept a certain distance. "I can't belive you sometimes!" she rolls her eyes. But now that door is opened and she presses a little, just to see how far she can get. "Is that really her name? If she's your sister, then..." The gears of her mind are turning. "Does she have to worry about the same things as you?" In other words: Does every cartel seem to want her dead too?? She turns to start walking forward then, her brief moment of ire subsiding quickly.
Whatever number of times K' has been ambushed, tricked, caught unprepared during his time with NESTS... and in the years of running and fighting since... one thing is certain. It was too many times. Nothing he should have learned, but the lessons were deeply etched in the Beast of Flame's brain, learned very well; now, those tools, that focused acuity, K' takes it back from them, turns it to his own ends. Even if that sometimes amounts to little more than 'NOT theirs'. Sometimes, it's tyrants like Geese Howard. Lunatics like Igniz. The important part, to the rogue prototype, is that he's never giving ground to their shit again.
"Out of control. Like a goddamn ratings stunt. Any sane man would've put a stop to it right then and there." There's several levels of bitterness undercutting that. It wouldn't be a leap to assume that K' might have sought to do /just that/ if Vice and DamnD hadn't gotten the better of him, in the end. "Way out of line." He finally agrees with a quiet little huff.
What's interesting in their exchange on the state of personal missions and old haunts is what's left unspoken. Hotaru wondering where the crazy path out of Southtown with the renegade bioweapon might have led. K' wondering what would have happened if he stayed. It's not just about the girl, not just about the places, but some combination of that and all the times their lives have hung in the balance within the web woven between all of the above. None of which changes where they are now. K' facepalms, momentarily, with the anticipated response. He half-glares at Hotaru a minute, then frowns and looks down at the road, falling back into step beside her a moment.
"In order? You fought my sister. Yes, my sister. No, I didn't introduce you. Sort of. Yes, there are people after her, too." Beat. Less sardonic, and more patient, K' adds on quickly. "If I'd told you back at the stage, there would've been a scene at the stage. I'd have told you before, but... it's complicated. It's not like either of us had much of a normal childhood." That they remember fully. "As for tonight, you asked if I wanted to walk with you. I wanted to walk with you. Not deal with my dumb sister getting to know you at a shit party." It should have been perfectly obvious, really.
The words about his own experiences in recent SNFs confirmed what Hotaru was already worried about. Playing off the murderous rampage of a psycopath for viewership ratings was a disturbing thought. Her attitude on the Saturday Night Fight franchise was already in question after learning the true nature of Geese Howard. But... she isn't even sure if the kind of publicity nightmare that SHOULD be happening with Vice's antics would even be allowed under the tight fist of the ex Southtown Tyrant. But the topic is tabled for now, the girl left to muse on it.
Of course she's not surprised at his facepalm at her mixture of accusations and questions. She glances up at him long enough to catch the glare before looking forward again. She knows the difference between annoyed and angry, and that his response is more of the former than the latter. She can let him answer her outburst in his own time and his own pace.
So the whip using young woman is his sister. And she's in danger as well... No wonder she doesn't have a public fight image. It still doesn't explain where she learned that very unusual fighting style, but she suspects trying to get to the heart of that would require asking more questions than she feels comfortable with yet. Especially when he hints that just having a scene about it at the crowded amusement park would be undesireable.
It's the rest of his words that get her to go from smiling wryly to provoking a short laugh from the girl. "Okay, okay, that's fair enough." she allows, raising her hands, palms up, as if willing to yield on the matter. But she hopes she will have a chance to meet his sister under less chaotic circumstances sometime.
"But she's not dumb!" she protests, though her tone suggests she's just hassling him. She falls quiet then, thinking about the two of them. Brother and sister, troubled childhood, but at least they /talk/ to each other. "Do you two ever... you know... hang out and stuff?" It wouldn't be hard to expect that her train of thought has her thinking about her own wayward brother. That he showed up to see Whip fight already puts their relationship on about 50 levels better than her ties to her own brother.
She thinks back to the fight itself - that moment she knew, on some level, that there was a darkness behind those eyes of her opponent's. Troubled childhoods indeed. The thought of having met another wonderful person damaged by the likes of NESTS makes her frown a little. It's unpleasant being reminded of just how awful certain groups around the world can be, not that she's any stranger to their nature by now. The time spent captured by Shadaloo during the siege may have been a blur after the fact, but she's well aware of the effects their chi-experiments had, and even she made it out better than the Taiyo High athlete. "Have you been... fighting them out there?" She sweeps her hand to the side, toward the beach and the ocean beyond. Someone has to. That it would be K', of all people, may seem ironic until one gets to understand him better.
It's a missed opportunity for outreach, that K''s experiences with the kinder, gentler, less criminal SNF did not yield a renewed and hopeful respect for authority and the power structure. Obviously, this is a tremendous understatement - exposure to Vice and DamnD, and confirmation of what's been going on -outside- that brutal bout, kind of sent K' spiralling further in the opposite direction. What's he going to do about it? He's got his damned hands full. Knowing K', the issue unchecked WILL likely bubble over into action, sooner or later.
If the renegade prototype ever /were/ angry at Hotaru, it fades quickly, along with any annoyance. Particularly once she concedes his /very valid/ points. That even earns a rather rogueish smile, openly pleased, if only for a moment. "Oh, she's dumb." K' assures Hotaru, nodding emphatically. "Too often, at least." It's likely K' would say the same about himself, though, if he were sizably less stubborn. As if that could happen. "But yea, I... try to look out for her." He's not hesitant because it's hard to explain, it's awareness of Hotaru's own asshat of a brother. Everybody has their shit to deal with, though.
"She's with the Ikari Warriors now. Didn't trust them, but..." K' just shrugs. It probably speaks volumes, to this girl. It's funny, in a sense one can argue that both of their lives have been defined by the experiments and hardships pressed upon them; the paradox therein remaining the sheer chaos in the choices and outcomes of that tampering. Certainly, NESTS did not intend for K' to be here, any more than SIN would have predicted Hotaru's course. Sometimes, success only compounds failure. Instead of going into how he's found no basis for his paranoia on the Ikaris, though, K' offers a sympathetic arm to Hotaru, hand slipping lightly to her back, as he turns to the indicated ocean.
"Family's more than blood." Hell, how much of his is even his own, anymore? It makes a decent close to the thought, even if it's a completely different direction. The sympathetic undertone is subtler, as the situation /probably/ wouldn't be helped by a tirade about Gato being an ass. "But yea, we've been fighting them. Where we can find them, and where we find them vulnerable." He's not just running forward on a deathwish, at least. Or at least, not entirely.
"NESTS, their biogenetics... all of it's bad shit, shit I didn't want to see in the first place." K' frowns, looking from Hotaru to the ocean, to the sand. "Guess the one advantage we have is that it's still such a crapshoot, even for them." If NESTS could crank out assembly line Kulas or K-Primes, god help the world. It sounds horrible to say, even to K'; these are people he's talking about, in the end. "I'm sure they're still looking for me, figuring out new ways to 'deal' with me, too." K' seems simultaneously tired of this, amused, eager, and maybe even, to Hotaru, a little bit scared. That last one is REALLY minor though, as ever.
'It must be nice.' The thought flickers through Hotaru's mind when K' mentions looking out for his sister. But it isn't a flash of envy, rather disappointment. She's moved past her obsession over her brother but that doesn't make the comparison any less poignant to the young fighter. Trying to draw out a single word of praise that would never come WAS her primary motivation for years, after all. Now she would settle for just token acknowledgement if she could get it. So far, that continues to be expecting too much from her absentee brother.
He mentions the Ikari's that Whip is a part of and Hotaru nods slowly. That makes sense. She doesn't know much about them beyond the rumor mill, but at the least, they are known for being a severe, but highly effective mercenary outfit, with a track record that has thus far, at least, never put them on the 'wrong' side of any global conflicts. That explains a lot about her last opponent though. She had the kind of grit she would associate with being among their number. But it's no picnic either, she bets. That girl knew how to fight like someone who's fought for her life before. Hotaru would know.
He rests his hand on her back and Hotaru chances a glance up with a smile before looking forward again. Moments like this are excruciatingly rare. K' getting a few seconds where he doesn't have to fight for his life, Hotaru getting to spend time with a kindrid spirit who understands what it means to carve out one's own existence in this oftimes cruel world. She'll appreciate it while it lasts. But life's circumstances will keep it from lasting long. He has too much to fear in letting any wouldbe tail knowing who he does or doesn't associate with in Southtown.
"Yeah." she replies when he comments about family. Her response may be simple, but her tone is rich with feeling. She had already replaced Gato with siblings far more real than he would ever be. Alma was her brother now even if his wanderings seemed to take him as far as Gato's.
K' talks about fighting back and the girl nods her head, staying quiet for the moment. Sometimes that's all you can do - chip away at obstacles too big to shatter all at once. Eventually they'll crumble or eventually they'll consume you. But no matter what happens, you have to fight, or you've already lost. "They'll never stop looking, will they." Not as long as they exist. For some reason, finding K' is worth a phenomenal investment on the part of NESTS. How many millions have they squandered trying to recapture him? She wonders what he is the key to. She knows about the fire... that he wasn't born with that... but why does it matter so much? It's probably better if she doesn't know.
"Speaking of tournaments." It's a sudden topic shift but for the best, she decided. K' has had a lifetime to dwell on his circumstances, he didn't need to think about them more now. "There's a charity event over in that Sunshine City that was just recently announced." K' had mused when they would ever learn their lesson when it came to tournaments. It seems Hotaru is still trying to give them a go. "I registered for it. It seems to be for a good cause!" So naive.
Whip might disagree, sometimes. That it's 'nice' to have K' looking out for her. After all, the Ikari's brother isn't the easiest person to explain to her friends; or the best thing for their personal well-being. Still, they've pulled each other's bacon out of the fire (when the fire K' brought with him wasn't enough, for instance) more than once. Even so, there may be some minor truth to rumours that K' is overprotective and a bit erratic himself. Perish the thought.
Fighting for their lives is definitely one element the trio have in common. Having been faced with do-or-die enough to nickname one's reaper, K' and Hotaru, and maybe even dumb Whip already know how fight or flight plays out, when all options are taken away. While the rogue firebrand -had- been looking at Hotaru when he moved closer to her, when she smiles up at him, it's almost perfectly synched to come as K' looks back out to sea, seemingly unaware of the girl's attention.
It's about as at ease as K' gets, or at least, has in many years. He's relatively sure they weren't followed, relatively sure no one even knows he hitched a ride on the Ikari transport to get here tonight. It does, however, yield only moments before old questions are sure to return to the fore, and the same decisions that split their journey back in Southtown will be right around the next bend. There's a sort of solemnity to that unspoken undercurrent, an almost small talk nature to the conversation, as intense and important as some of the topics may actually be; it's just the nature of what's still not passing the flame-infused rogue's lips. They do address one important facet of the puzzle, however.
"I don't think so, no." Brows knit a bit, "Not until they can't, anyway." Because that's realistically within his reach. Which is sort of the problem he's always had, isn't it? It's clear this train of thought is indeed a dark road, that the girl stumbled into a fairly core element to many of the firebrand's own decisions. She all but realizes it, and Hotaru's smooth feint is probably all that saves it from being a bigger issue than ominous words and that intent, faraway, angry glimmer in K''s eyes, lit as if by the fire in his blood.
It takes the renegade a moment to shift gears, even with a deep breath, then he laughs and thuds sidelong into Hotaru. It's not enough hard enough to move her, bruised as she is. "Yea, this time it's for a good cause. I bet." He manages to sound like he believes it. Almost. Sort of. "Sunshine City, huh?" His mood softens with drifting thoughts, the firebrand, unsurprisingly, sometimes quite easy to redirect. "How many swimsuits you packing?" Apparently, the mental picture is enough, at the moment, to preclude a fiery scene about the inevitability of his fate and NEEEEESTS again; for now.
Hotaru isn't sure if Whip has had the misfortune to find out what it's like NOT having her brother in her life. But she's quite sure if she had, then she would know it would be worse off than having him around, however intrusive or meddlesome he might be. Or how little he gets along with her 'extended Ikari family'. In the end, it's still better than him not being in her life, Hotaru is quite certain. Her life improved when she adopted an older brother in Alma and kid brother in the form of Kentou. As K' so eloquently put in his succinct way, family IS more than blood.
She knew the conversation was delving into matters K' often kept suppressed, hidden from others. And while she wished talking about it would make everything okay, she knew better than that. For right now, at least, talking about the likes of NESTS would only stoke embers that need very little encouragment to ignite dangerously. Better to speak on hopefully lighter subjects, like Sunshine City. "Yeah, supposed to help with restoring it. You'd never think a place with a name like that, in such a nice climate to live, would have such a gang problem." She exhales.
Everywhere has its problems. She doesn't question whether he was being serious about the tournament being on the up and up. She knows the truth lies somewhere inbetween anyway, so there is no point in belaboring it. At his question, however, Hotaru lets out a surprised laugh. "Wouldn't you like to know! But yeah, I do intend to stay there for the duration of it. Maybe see if I can help out in other ways. If the place is having gang problems, maybe it just needs a little application of kicking to improve things. And if not that, maybe there's some other ways to stay productively busy." Give her time and she'll be running a shelter there given her track record.
She turns to resume walking forward then. She knows K' doesn't like to stay put for long. "I know you have your battles to fight." she's treading away from safe topics again, but it has to be said. "But if you or those with you ever need help, you better know that I would be happy to. You don't have to go chastize blatent murderers on TV to cover a rent check, you know," she chides him a touch teasingly.
Look, it's not the sentient WMD's /fault/. Leona is just a bitch. Plus, the Ikari might have been using his sister. It's important to be sure. At least, that's what life experience tells K', time and time again. "Gang problem, huh?" Yea, the tournament scene may not really be K''s number one pasttime. He seems to be hearing most of this from Hotaru, for the first time, right now. From Sunshine, to charity tournament, to a beleaguered inner city. "Shit. People hate each other in all kinds of climates, for all kinds of stupidass reasons." K' observes, jaded bastard that he is. Not that he's wrong, here.
"'ell-oh-ell my way is so much better and righter' is enough for most scrotumless, cockwaggling jackasses." Some or all of the preceding compound words may not actually exist outside K''s perfect little world. The rogue firebrand falls into step beside Hotaru when she starts off, two steps behind for a moment. It's a pause occupied by a lingering look out to sea, towards the shrouded horizon. He catches up fairly quickly, but stays just behind Hotaru, along her right side, hooking thumbs in his pants pockets as he walks.. listens.. and thinks, intently.
"You've been through enough bullshit. You get involved in my fight, you'll just make yourself a target, again." Which may not be quite what she meant, but also needed to be said. There's a harder edge to the tone than needs to be there, implemented for what any good psychologist would probably refer to as a plethora, a multitude, or perhaps an entire menagerie of deep-seeded reasons. "..." The pause is pregnant enough to bear notation, as K' rolls it all over in his admittedly impressive but impulsive brain.
K' still cuts back in to interject prior to the retorts Hotaru herself likely has, however, with a rather sudden direction turn of his own. "What if I went with you, this time. For a little while." He's gotten good at staying out of sight, and with his 'leads' in investigating his sister's paramilitary buddies leading to... exactly what the Ikari Warriors appear to be (wtf?), K' isn't going to say it but he's kind of treading water until he and Maxima hook a fresh lead.
Not to mention making friends and influencing people in a merc barracks is -not- his preferred arrangement. They may not be evil conspirators and NESTS-sympathizers, but those people are freaky, man.
"That's what the guy was saying, yeah. The one I think was sponsoring it. I think he was the mayor or something? Someone important, anyway. Said the city was on pretty rough times. That's what the tournament is supposed to help with. But if I can chip in some more while I'm there... well, can't make it any worse, right?" she finishes with a bit of a shrug, grinning up at the taller man at her side. Obviously she isn't going to go on a one-girl gang busting crusade. She's not crazy. But maybe if she can chip in with anyone else who gives a damn, then maybe a difference can be made.
His remarks about the way everyone finds a reason to fight each other somewhere get him a quiet nod of acknowledgement, but not complete agreement. "Sure... a lot do. But there's a lot of good people to be found everywhere too. When this city came under siege... a lot of good people came out of the woodwork to help out, putting their lives, their futures at risk. It was..." She shrugs a little. It was inspiring. She may have run a resistance camp out of her house, but it was hardly the only pocket of people working together to help each other survive. "Lotta good people in this city. I bet they can be found in Sunshine City too."
She isn't surprised that he wants to keep his distance with regards to her offer of help in trying to make life not so hard for him to get by. Some of it is pride, she's sure. But some of it is concern for her as well. It's nice to know that that's part of the reason. But at the same time... She opens her mouth to protest that she can be discrete too, but his timing is flawless to cut her off from getting a word out before he speaks. And what he says is enough of a surprise to derail her previous line of thought all together.
"Really? Are you going to join it too? Or just tag along?" She holds up her arm, hand clenched in a fist, "I won't go easy on you if you're in the tournament, you know!" She's teasing, of course. Though she's given him a good fight on multiple occasions, she knows full well the fiery young man is her better when it comes to combat. "That would be nice. You might even make new friends." she's still hassling him. K' is slow to befriend, really. For the first several weeks at the YFCC, all the kids were terrified of him, while Maxima was an immediate favorite, to be sure.
"Heh." K' can't help but mouth off a bit, "Probably the one supplying weapons and motive to all of the gangs in the first place. Wear down their numbers, swoop in, buy out all the old neighborhoods. Then it turns out it's a series of super space lasers designed to blast the moon out of orbit and send the Earth crashing into the Sun." K' seems to enjoy the random assessment, clearly offered to rib Hotaru more than out of any legitimate suspicion.. at least where the details are concerned. The most ludicrous part may be that it would only arguably be the craziest thing the rogue prototype had ever seen.
Still, even if there's not some globe-shattering plot at the core of this week's charity event, Hotaru's willingness to go one-girl gangbusting if the chips are down is /probably/ a solid part of the reason she suddenly has a travel partner. At least, that is K''s story, and he is sticking to it, "Right. You find your good people, I'll kick their asses when they screw you over." The tone's still teasing, but the satire bites deeper, more of the renegade's actual sentiment in the words. ".. and stop fucking with the decent ones. Eventually."
It's a major concession, more than anyone would've gotten out of him before K' appointed himself the YFCC's guard dog. The firebrand grins lopsidedly back over at Hotaru, "Yea. I should probably plan to fight. Raise money for the inner city youth, and shit. Just in case the whole 'winning friends and influencing people' thing goes south." His response to the raised fist, the good-natured challenge, comes in redoubled tease, the firebrand stepping up just enough to drape a familiar arm across Hotaru's shoulders, as he intones, like he thinks it's just the silliest idea in the world to consider otherwise, "Of /course/ you won't! You're not suicidal. Besides..."
The bravado is completely faked, here. K' doesn't even bother to hide it, really. He passed the point of being able to really harm Hotaru sometime /before/ she pulled his battered body out of a collapsing highrise. Besides, whatever hammed up impact he may be going for is undercut by the double-edged amendment that comes with a dart of amber eyes aside towards the girl at his side, "You /remember/ me."
Log created on 23:48:25 06/02/2012 by K', and last modified on 12:53:00 06/04/2012.