Description: At the Park Hyatt, a five star hotel in Seoul which is currently providing its services to the soldiers and aid-workers helping the city recover, three heroes have an after-action discussion. Howard Rust, Munin, and Momoko are having an impromptu meeting in the lobby in the evening. It's less serious, perhaps, than it should be given the situation (if only for Momoko refusing to take anything seriously) but it helps perhaps to provide some closure.
Seoul, Park Hyatt Luxury Hotel -
Park Hyatt, a sophisticated 5-star luxury hotel at the heart of Seoul. Its first floor lobby is a vast expanse filled with fine marble tile and pillars, polished wood, and lavish white carpetting. It has all of the amenities one would expect such a place to have... including a lavish television area filled with leather seats and two big screen televisions, a dining area, a computing area where customers can bring their mobile devices and hook-in to the residential wi-fi network, and a series of small shops on the farthest end of the lobby nearest the second floor stairs. It's a well-lit, air conditioned, place being attended to by a rather modest assortment of finely dressed hotel staff.
Ordinarily, one could not even get into a place like this without commiting some serious cash for reservations. However, the hotel management has as of recently been providing temporary free room and board for those who are helping to restore the city to a functional state. It's in their best interest after all.
Today, one diminuitive little girl is running barefoot through the expensive lobby of the hotel, darting from one end to the other with an energy someone in her condition probably should not have. She's ddressed in her usuals: loose black tube shirt bound by a pink belt buckle to her chest, messy hair tied up into a great pink ribbon above her head, and a paair of baggy white capoeira pants. She's barefoot currently, with a bandage running across her forehead and right arm bound up in a sling. ... To where is she running?
"Weeeeeee~!" A flip through the air is made, after leaping off of the back of a white leather sofa, where she falls softly onto the couch with a bounce in the midst of the white carpeted TV lobby. Not soft ennough, however, as she seems to wince at the jarring motion. "Mmmm.... ow..."
Somewhere in the background... wait staff is scoffing...
It was only a short while ago that one Howard Rust, last man standing in the apparent decisive battle to push back Northern influence (in turn, influenced by Shadaloo), was off trying to carry Munin and Julia - other heroes - to safety.
Fun fact - a half-hour walk later he couldn't take another step, but help was more than waiting to take in the ones who survived Vega's wrath once more... a rare distinction, indeed, considering how easily lives are snuffed out by his very power.
Even with the acceptance that they may have won for now, it's difficult for the aging American man among them to really be fully free of tension. Equally barefoot with a series of bandaging around one of his feet and his left arm, he's sitting on another white leather sofa opposite of Momoko's happy bouncing as he holds an impossibly small cellphone to his ears. (It is a mystery as to how his fingers are capable of tapping single buttons as opposed to every button in ground zero of a mere touch.)
"Yeah, uh, so far," Howard mumbles out, "haven't... no," he shakes his head, "I, I dunno if it's worth doing a comparison like it's a... a competition, or... both got whacked pretty ba--"
Momoko bouncing on the nearby couch sees him turn his head with a wince. This may or may not have been the first time he's seen her run around and play like this despite her not-insignificant injuries. Granted, it wasn't all that long ago he thought it was a good idea to do a handstand to get over a fence when /he/ had a broken arm, back when... well, no, probably not a good idea to dwell on those trying times either.
"You really ought to... to not be doing that, with, with that arm," Howard mumbles out as he lowers the cellphone away from his face before lifting it back up, "sorry, ah, well... yeah. Few days. 'm as, as ready to go home as... as anyone, really, but..."
From off to the side, in the shadow of one of the pillars, a single unbandaged glowing violet eye watches Momoko run amok. Like Momoko, Munin bears the telltale signs of injury. Her left leg is in a cast, with a crutch positioned under her right arm. Bandages adorn her lower arms and hands, covering the burns suffered from the dealing with Vega's psi, and a bandage holds a patch over one of her eyes. As for her attire, it's very simple and basic for a change. A dark green tanktop borrowed from the soldiers extra supplies, and a pair of comfortable sweatpants and slippers.
Such injuries still don't diminish her instinct for concealing herself, it seems, despite the fact the lobby is bright enough that she is perfectly visible where she stands. She step-clicks her way over to the couch, unable to hide her amusement "Try not to break the furnature, please. Shadaloo we can handle, but the amount of dirty dishes we would have to wash to pay for property damage? Even our formidable skills i doubt would be a match for such ickyness....".
Yes, she DID just say 'ickyness'. Seems Momoko isn't the only one feeling a bit light-hearted after Vega and Shadaloos defeat.
The couch cushions readily given way as the sixteen year old fighter sees fit to settle down for a bit and relax again. Her brown eyes find Howard Rust seated nearby, talking away on his hilariously small phone... and it causes her to smile a bit. That didn't look like the kind of phone a man usually carries, or could even use. Did he borrow it from a lady around here... or was it his girlfriends? ... A glance at that purple toupee is made momentarily, and her face faults. ... Probably borrowed.
She doesn't reply immediately, however, realizing it'd be rude to interrupt someone on the phone. Instead, she just offers him an energetic little nod and then turns her smiling brown eyes back toward the nearby TV. It's currenlty on mute, but the news is on... and the it is interesting enough to look at. One wouldn't think so though... given how anxiously she kicks her feet out into the empty air in some unheard rhythm. This child has so much energy. Rust probably /had/ seen her do the running and flipping several times tonight, if he were paying attention. She's been excitedly nosing through the lobby ever since she got back here.
As Momoko hears Munin approach, the marble floor giving away her steps, her brown eyes do turn in her direction... nd upward to meet her eyes. She doesn't say anything for a moment... but then she smiles broadly... "I'm not strong enough to break the chairs!" Okay, maybe she is... but not unless she's /trying/ to. "I won't break nothin'! Don't worry!" The she eyes her up and down, and realizes not only has she not seen this woman before... but she looks as though she got in a fight with a bulldozer... "...What happened to you?"
Cellphones just keep getting smaller and smaller, and as technology continues to miniaturize, some are victimized by the inconvenience of having to operate something not really made for the size of one's fingers. Case in point... that man, over there, who continues to be deluded into believing he has a healthy head of hair.
"Huh? Well... maybe," he mumbles over the phone as he leans back on the couch. He's mentally exhausted. Even with his willingness to stay on board and help see at least some things get put back together, to face Vega again and end in a harrowingly narrow survival (survival is in itself victory) has clearly worn on him. "Probably, uh, c-could've gotten the students out here too... huh? Er, sure, I can, I can hold," he coughs once, "'scuse me."
Put on hold in brief, Rust lowers the cellphone a ways away from his face to address Munin's lighthearted commentary about debts and matters of things breaking. "I, I dunno 'bout you, but, even if we did break something, well, uh... not... lookin' forward to the, the new insurance premiums when I'm back. Cripes..."
Munin can't help but chuckle as she answers Momokos question in the most amusing way she can think to... "I was hit by a psycho-powered truck in a stupid hat". Once she clicks to the couch, she slowly lowers herself down, perfectly happy to relax. She eyes Rust and nods "Yea, those are gonna just get worse, I imagine, but for which: damages done, or hospital bills?".
She eyes Momoko a moment, thinking back "I remember you..... you and Jones had a duel and someone didn't show up. Been a long time. Seen Jones lately?". She does take note of Momokos injuries, but doesn't ask. Shadaloo is almost inevitably the answer.
The brown haired girl's eyes move from one person to the other as banter ensues, her messy reddish-brown hair and the ribbon it's bound up in swinging this way and that. Momoko didn't know much about insurance, admittedly, being that she doesn't even pay her own bills yet really... so she couldn't contribute on that but something else Rust says catches her attention. "...You're a teacher?" She cocks her head to the side a little, like a curious dog who'd heard a strange new sound. "...What do you teach?" Judging by the look of him, probably something physical if she had to guess...
..Then she registers Munin's comment and gets it almost immediately. "...You ran into Vega, huh?" She nods softly, ackowledging that it was a fitting description of the man. She'd seen him before... if only in pictures. He really was built like a truck wearing a funny hat. "...I am sorry I couldn't have been more help when he showed up. ... I didn't have much of a choice though, I got stopped by a completely different kind of truck." She giggles, softly... and leans toward the nearby coffee table. Her hand goes for the crystal candy dish at the center of it, but then she stops suddenly.. "Jones??" She smiles broadly, looking back at Munin again midst reach. "Oh yeah! Mr. Jones!" Her body sways a bit gently, the girl suddenly becoming animated by the club music from her memory. Duck King knew his stuff... "I dunno. I haven't seen him in a while!" She really ought to do something about that when she gets back to America...
It is pretty funny to think that a man who has gone through what might be among the most horrifying possible experiences a human being can have would suddenly default back to worrying about matters of insurance and the like after surviving - for a second time - the threat of Vega directly.
"Huh?" The man shifts his weight on the couch a bit as he's addressed. It's a high quality hotel - in fact, the very highest! - but for some reason this particular couch does not seem to meet the needs of his sore, sore backside no matter how he sits on it. "Me? Yeah, I'm a teacher," he eyes his phone as if wondering when the person he's talking to is going to show back up, "well, more like... assistant."
One of his shoulders pops loudly as he reconsiders the use of the arm rest, as though wondering if this arm rest were actually part of his comfort problem. Maybe it's just a combination of it being too firm and that he's putting too much weight against it.
"Basically, I work over at the, the Kyokugen Dojo in Southtown. I'm a green belt." Typically instructors in most martial arts schools are third-degree blackbelts or higher - they either have a lot of trust in his abilities and experience despite his modest belt rank, or they're simply hard up on people to work with the numerous white belts (many of whom drop out almost immediately after enrollment).
"Used to teach shop at, at high school, and... and, uh, lemme tell you, I... don't miss their insurance plan. I mean, it was... it was better if I got... y'know, sick from disease, or something, not so much for fighting. Which... I do for a living now."
He gave up a really good salary to chase his dream of being a full-time fighter. It's... been really uphill even now. There's a good reason why the Kyokugen Dojo is not financially prosperous (beyond matters of talent and strength, neither of which are lacking).
"Jones? Last I heard, he's been... well, he's been kickin'. Two time Neo Development champion..." It's been all silent on that league since they cut down the paycheck considerably, but man Mr. Jones must've really raked in the dough.
"That I remember....." Munin responsds, with something of a frown "I was in that, and had to fight him in the finals. Beat me down fast and hard. Was the last I heard about him. Didn't know if he got caught up in all this mess or not". She also gives Momoko a tired smile "Whoever you ran into, you kept them busy long enough that it was one less we had to deal with, so don't feel bad. Any more and i doubt we'd be sitting here still breathing....".
She seems to stare off a bit, thinking, but whever it is, she doesn't put words to it, just idly peers over at Rust "You were a shop teacher?". (Makes sense.... still.... hard to see now...)
Momoko has, in the time it took for replies to come, managed to pluck several pieces of candy from the crystal dish across from her. There's a sound of plastic wrinkling, and then she plucks the sweet caramel chocolate candy from the open end and shoves it in her mouth quickly. She's like a squirrel hording nuts. One could simply take a single candy, after all staff will always refill the dish if it goes empty. But it was a delightful feeling to her, clutching candy... despite her age.
The taste of her caramel is, apparently, so delightful that she looses her senses momentarily. She just kind of slumps back into the couch lazily, staring off into space... rolling that hard candy around in her mouth wih her tongue.
.There is a bit more silence from the girl, as the two 'adults' nearby talk about things. The only sound being made by her is the occasinal soft thud of hard candy against teeth as she continues to simply roll it around. After a bit though, she does speak up again... addressing Rust firstly, "...You're a green belt, and an instructor...?" Even Momoko had enough wherewithal to know that was unusual. "Wow. I can understand... kind of. Anybody who can fight Vega ought to be a pretty good fighter!" nd lest we forget, he has plenty of practical experience being a hero of two major wars but... "How unusual, though." ... There's a silence then, as she thinks to herself momentarily. Then she pipes up again enthusiastically. As enthusiastically as one can for an injured girl, raising her uninjured fist full of candy into the air suddenly. "Okay! I'll come visit your dojo someday!" ... Don't try to cross the chasm between her trains of thought. Just don't.
..And to munin, she glances over shortly after... "Yeah, I guess so. She was pretty powerful. ... What a mean lady!" She looks furious for a moment as she recalls the fight with Diesel. ... A fight Momoko started by being catty admittedly...
"I'd, uh, I'd like to think I'm good," Howard rubs the side of his head with his free hand. An elbow pop suggests that maybe he shouldn't be moving it around so much right now. The declaration that she'll want to come by and visit, well... can't be any worse than anyone else dropping by to pass the time and ask for direct demonstrations of might, can it? (Yes, it frequently does.)
"We, we throw real punches there, ah, hold on," Howard brings the cellphone to his ear, mumbling something inaudible. A few moments later, however, the lack of a dial tone suggests maybe someone had to hang up, or perhaps he accidentally subconsciously hit the hang-up button for, what, the fourth time today? Either or, the cellphone ends up on his lap just in time to really catch up with the other prominent subject being discussed between the two of them.
"Well, uh, I have to say, too, if it weren't for... for the advice, and, from the sound of it... whoever you fought," sadly, 'powerful woman' really really really does not narrow it down considering that women of all shapes and sizes in the fighting world have, in fact, proven incredibly powerful far beyond their frames suggest, "I... well, don't think I ever had a, a chance to say it since I got back, so," the older man clears his throat as his voice starts to trail off towards incomprehensibility, "'scuse me."
"Never had chance to say... thanks. Far as, as I know, it made the difference." Even if they aren't quite sure as to whether or not Julia's pulled through entirely yet - she got it really bad, to his understanding. It's already a miracle enough that they're still here, sitting, talking, enjoying lounging around in a top tier hotel.
Almost as much of a miracle as the miracle that would be finding a way to be comfortable on this couch given his numerous aches and pains. A part of him wonders if maybe he should've spent another day lying down entirely.
Munin nods when Rust thanks Momoko "A single grain of sand can tip the scales in the right circumstances. Vega and that masked woman, to say nothing of the countless soldiers, were barely within our ability to help the allies handle". She eyes Momoko "Your holding up someone of potential threat is of no small significence".
She oohs when Momoko goes for the candy, having not thought of it herself, and grabs a piece as well. She then peers over at Rust "Thanks also go to you for saving our asses back there. Vega would have likely killed us if you hadn't finished him off" she noms the candy, smirking "That's two i owe you for, now".
Yet more plastic crinkling sounds ensue, and another caramel candy is promptly popped into her mouth almost as fast as the last once disappears. She immediately starts to roll it around again, clinking the hard candy against her teeth. If it isn't this girl's feet (which are still swinging by the way), it's her tongue, or her eyes... or her thought process. This little capoerista has entirely too much energy, and she burns it too. Not anywhere near as effeciently as her master would like though...
Curious brown eyes dart back toward Rust suddenly as he speaks again... narrowly avoiding looking at the top of his head. And clearly /trying/. "...Aw, thank you!" She smiles, brightly, as he thanks her for the help she provided. One could almost see the little heart bubbles coming out from somewhere behind her head. Were this an anime, anyway! "...But I didn't do much." She admits, she really wishes she could have done more. Perhaps the only solace she really has is... for once she was one of the most active Psycho Soldiers. Even if her contributions still don't measure up to 'fighting Vega' like Athena. "I just did what I could. Everybody did! That's why it's going to be okay now!" She leaps up from the couch suddenly, letting her feet hit the cold marble floor again. Apparently she's grown tired of sitting already.
"Thank you for letting me!" She adds. Admittedly, not a lot of people took Momoko seriously enough to trust her advice. Wonder why...? "Oooohh..." She lets out, as Munin mentions Rust finished him off. "You beat him?? ... No surprise, I guess! That's why you're such a celebrated hero!" She then suddenly gets distracted by a noise in the background, spinning on one foot suddenly... and darting over... momentarily out of ear shot. A waiter had just begun to refill the coffee machine, apaprently. Did Momoko like cofee... or was it just a curiousity? ... She might be back soon... or she might not... knowing that scatter-brained girl...
Howard, in comparison, doesn't seem to be in a rush for any candy. He's more in a rush to find some way to rest against this couch in a manner approaching comfortable. If this keeps up, he inwardly thinks, he's just going to get up and build his own couch, right on the spot.
In fact, he thinks of doing just that as he puts an arm on the rest and starts to lean forward to get up... but a sharp pain that goes through his lower back tells him, no, this is your body speaking, we're going on strike, you stay seated. And so, he lies back in apparent defeat.
"Well, that's... that's what we're all hoping," the twice-last man standing against Vega says as he exhales loudly. He and this couch are going to be close friends for the next few hours and he might as well just settle down now before it's time to start helping oversee some of the street rebuilding tomorrow.
For being the one positively identified as the one who managed to take down Vega, there is a certain lack of... acknowledgement on his part? Humility? Maybe it is the knowledge that he is in fact capable of returning from the loss of a body. One can't even call the phenomenon 'death' any more when it comes to Vega. He is, ultimately, slowed from all he can understand of such a person. Is Vega even a person any more, if he can so casually transcend the boundaries of life and death?
He doesn't have much to say to Momoko on the matter when she runs off to whatever thing has amused her so. Perhaps the older man is just contented that she understands that it's a good thing for everything to go back to normal, instead of being 'boring' or what have you. In this respect, she is really being taught well by the other Psycho Soldiers.
"So," Howard turns his head over to Munin, who is happily chewing candy with an enthusiasm that belies her age. "y'know, I'm not... actually... clear 'bout what you ddo," the older man's tone is as much confused as it is suspicious. "Where're you gonna go after you're all... rested up, or, done with whatever here?"
The middle-aged man stops to think about it all - she has shown nothing but generosity, with very little hints of an actual ulterior motive. She has yet to jack his truck like some other lady way back when, at least.
"Ahh, I don't... just, don't worry 'bout it," he mumbles aloud as he sinks into the couch, as if in defeat of the idea of figuring Munin in the context of everything. Maybe some things just shouldn't be worried about too much.
As Momoko runs off, Munin also sits back in her seat, letting the aches and pains settle. She smiles a bit as she hears Momoko being what she should be: still something of a kid not yet twenty rather than a super-serious fighter or somesuch. While she doesn't usually have any such exuberance herself, it is refreshing when she can find it in others on occasion...
When Rust asks her what she intends to do, she says nothing, eyes going distant. Her mind races through potential ideas in it's usually methodical manner, but she gives up when he says not to worry about it. The only response that she can think to give is simple.... "I don't know.....".
Log created on 21:18:30 09/06/2012 by Momoko, and last modified on 01:18:35 09/07/2012.