Cho Hakkai (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
vinesofregret) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
damned_institute2011-12-22 03:26 am
vinesofregret) wrote in damned_institute2011-12-22 03:26 am
Night 60: Sun Room
[From here]
Hakkai slipped into the room, playing his flashlight around the wide space to see if there were any foes - or friends. For the moment, though, it looked like he was alone. He stuck close to the wall, keeping an eye out as he skirted the edge of the room to the bulletin board, but still nobody. Had the person he was supposed to be meeting decided against it?
A slightly guilty thrill of relief ran through him at that thought. He would be free, and it wouldn't be his fault. Still, he should give the other person at least a little time to show up. He did say he would be waiting, after all.
[For Kurama]
Hakkai slipped into the room, playing his flashlight around the wide space to see if there were any foes - or friends. For the moment, though, it looked like he was alone. He stuck close to the wall, keeping an eye out as he skirted the edge of the room to the bulletin board, but still nobody. Had the person he was supposed to be meeting decided against it?
A slightly guilty thrill of relief ran through him at that thought. He would be free, and it wouldn't be his fault. Still, he should give the other person at least a little time to show up. He did say he would be waiting, after all.
[For Kurama]
sorry for the late!
The room was dark enough, but the glass ceiling overhead let in enough light that Kurama would still have been able to see. He kept the flashlight on, though.
The bulletin was on the left. Kurama headed toward it, pointing the light beam in front of him as if he would actually need it to navigate the large room. His concentration was focused mainly on keeping his energy in check and making his presence untraceable, so perhaps that was why he didn't realize that there was someone else's light on aside from his own. It wasn't until he got closer to the bulletin board that he realized he wasn't alone.
After the initial surprise and subsequent, short recovery period -- this was unfamiliar territory for him, after all, and his instinctual reaction to most unknown presences was to attack or flee -- he lowered the flashlight's beam out of the other's eyes.
"Sorry," Kurama said, taking on Shuuichi's polite demeanor and looking appropriately apologetic. "I didn't realize there was someone else here. I'm guessing you were heading for the bulletin board as well?"
The man before him looked older and was also several centimeters taller. Asian, wore glasses, and if the light caught on just right, there was the glint of multiple ear piercings through short, dark-brown hair. Wearing the same, gray uniform as he was -- so, a patient like himself. All-in-all, the man looked like a normal human being on the outside. But only on the outside. There was still the possibility that this could be his anonymous bulletin acquaintance.
If it turned out to be so, Kurama was determined not to show his hand before the other did. Instead, he continued playing the part of 'Shuuichi,' waiting for some indication from the other person that could give him a clue as to what his next options would be.
"Apologies if I startled you," he continued, dipping his head. "I wasn't, ah, paying enough attention to my surroundings..."
pft, I'm not any less late
The man was a stranger to him - the one he was supposed to meet? It was hard to say - he seemed ordinary enough. Very polite, too. Only one way to find out, he supposed.
"Ah, I was. The weather seems quite nice tonight - quite a change from last night."
wow no, I was totally more late than you (nottalking)
As soon as he heard the other's response, Kurama went on the alert, tensing ever so slightly. The man had mentioned the weather, which made him the youkai he was supposed to be meeting tonight. Something occurred to him. Though Kurama's youki was masked, be wondered how likely it was that he might have already been detected himself. He'd never told the person on the board exactly why he was interested in his predicament, so if the other demon realized the circumstances before Kurama revealed them, it would be disadvantageous. Since his abilities were already being limited, it wasn't going to be safe to assume that everything he did would work as completely as it normally did. If this was the case, it would bring new meaning to the man's reaction from before. ... Or could he be reading too much into it? At the moment, all he had to go on was possibility. There would be no way to tell until Kurama made his own move first. He briefly considered ways to play it safe and keep his identity hidden a while longer...
Finally...
"is it?" he replied, speaking as if this were a perfectly normal conversation he was having. Shuuichi's persona was meant to be harmless and pleasant, if perhaps a little more observant than one might expect out of a human student his age. Continuing to use Shuuichi's conversational speech patterns meant perpetuating his anonymity for just a little longer. "That's good to hear."
There wasn't much else he could say to that. Either the other demon hadn't had a chance to go outside and check the weather himself or this was a trick. In whatever case, in order to disguise the facts that he had been outside already and that he was newly-arrived, the less he said, the better. Instead, Kurama drew the focus away from what might have been a strange response to a random comment about the weather with his next words.
"Apologies again for startling you. I don't believe I've introduced myself yet. I'm Seimei. Abe Seimei."
In the end, he had decided to step out anyway. The name of the famous, Japanese onmyouji may or may not trigger a reaction or recognition. Again, Kurama waited for the other's move.
this is a game that nobody wins. NOBODY.
The smile stayed for the moment, though. "It's a pleasure to meet you, then. I'm Cho Hakkai." He paused for a moment, and then added, "I believe we spoke on the message boards?"
Nope. The dates totally say I was more late, so there. This time, as well. TOO BAD.
Well. No indication that he might be attacked anytime soon. So far, so good? The smile stayed on the other man's face though, so it seemed their interactions were to remain civil for the time being. Good. It was much easier to talk things out as opposed to fighting it out. It might work with Hiei or Yusuke, and occasionally, even with Kurama himself, but there were still too many variables with questions marks on them. And Kurama had no way of telling how long this man had been here, either. He hadn't the time to test out his own power limits yet, which was certainly a disadvantage. So yes, it was better to keep it to words.
"Yes, we did," Kurama affirmed. "And likewise, a pleasure to meet you, as well." Cho Hakkai. Somehow, that name sounded familiar, but he couldn't place where he'd heard it before. He set that aside for now. He'd have time later to think on.
"My name actually isn't Seimei," he continued, bringing his flashlight up to his own face so the other could see his expression clearly. He wasn't lying and he was taking a chance in being truthful. Kurama hoped that would be would be interpreted, anyway. "I apologize for lying to you, but I didn't want to give my name out in public."
He paused as the door to the Sun Room opened, admitting a small group of people. Fellow 'patients,' it seemed. With most of his concentration still focused on still masking his youki, Kurama couldn't tell much about any of the people in that group, but they didn't seem to have much interest in him, anyway. One of them, a spike-haired youth, waved, but he and the group ultimately went onward through the doors on the far-side from the entrance.
"An acquaintance of yours?" Kurama asked, once they had gone.
And then LJ made me THE LATEST EVER
He turned his focus back to his current conversation partner. "Aah, I've met them before. Briefly." And under rather trying circumstances at that, though he didn't want to bring that up - but he had the sneaking suspicion that what had happened last night might surface eventually."
"And no need to apologize - though I think you're rather more concerned about privacy than many here." Observation, rather than criticism, but he had to admit a certain curiosity in the man's ways. He knew that names weren't meaningless, having shed one himself - but he didn't think sharing it would be the key to any particular sort of power over him, either.
By, like, a day, wow. But darn you, Frank. (bah)
As well as the fact that as of now, he had no idea who exactly he could trust and how much he could trust them. At least, not until things became clearer to him.
"Anyway, should I call you Cho-san?" he continued after a pause. "We should probably move to someplace else to talk. It seems we both have things we'd rather not have other people know about."
He turned back toward the Sun Room's double doors. Wary as he was still of his new acquaintance, it seemed Hakkai was even more high-strung than he was. Not at all like the enemy Kurama might have expected. In fact, it seemed almost like the other man was even more nervous than he was.
"Where would you prefer to go?" Kurama asked. "I recall you saying you didn't want your roommate to know too much. I made sure my roommate was gone before I left and locked the door. It's your pick."
Meanwhile, Kurama tried to decide how he should really introduce himself as. 'Kurama' was a name that was already well-known from his earlier, thieving days and it had only become more prevalent on the mouths of gossiping demons. What with his involvement with Koenma and Reikai, as well as his newest affiliation with Yomi's kingdom, he imagined it was fairly recognizable.
But then again, this man had mentioned once being human. There were several ways that could have happened and Kurama could not claim to know all the details to that. Hakkai had seemed to declare a strong allegiance toward Ningenkai, though. From the bulletin, it had seemed that he was ashamed of his new status as a demon.
"I've introduced myself as 'Minamino Shuuichi' to others here," Kurama said eventually. "And that is my real name, but it's not my only name."
Well, that was almost true. Partially true, he'd like to believe. Minamino Shuuichi should have been born a normal human baby. Instead, a demon had stolen Shuuichi's place in the world. So could he really be given the right to the name that Minamino Shiori had given her son? But there wasn't really an answer to that question, he knew.
no subject
He trailed just behind the other man, a little relieved to be leaving the Sun Room. Too big, too hard to see in this darkness, even with the flashlights. Not good for his nerves. Though it looked at least as if things weren't going to come to a fight between the two of them, right now. Not that it dismissed the possibility he was being led off to be killed elsewhere - but he'd survived a lot.
He could not, however, quite hide his surprise at the revelation about Shuuichi's name - or names, rather. There was more than one reason for someone to bear multiple names - Sanzo, after all, had been someone else before inheriting his title - but the odd coincidences between himself and this stranger struck deep. Hakkai was silent as he pushed the doors open, and headed into the hallway.
[To here]
no subject
Mike entered the room, glancing over to his companions. So, this was the way to the basement, huh? It seemed like a rather odd way of getting there. Ah well, as long as it worked, Mike didn't really care.
His gaze turned to Niikura in particular--lead the way.
no subject
They entered the Sun Room and Shiina looked around at the variety of doors awaiting exploration. Shou seem to know where this basement was, but Shiina hadn't a clue. "Where do we go from here?"
no subject
"I chowed down, yeah," Niikura said with a grin. He would have eaten the other guy's waffles too if that brat hadn't decided to turn it into a thinly-veiled insult war. Over waffles.
Honestly.
The Sun Room was nice and miraculously quiet, save for two other men, one of which Niikura recognized from just the other night: Vine Whip-san. He gave the other man an awkward wave as they passed by, although whether he would see it or not was up for debate. "Ah? Oh--uh, well, someone told me that the walk-in freezer in the kitchen's had 'real food'" - He made air quotes. - "this whole time so, y'know, sounds like a good place to start if you ask me..." He laughed quietly and pulled ahead, walking straight for the cafeteria doors.
[to here (http://damned.livejournal.com/1221858.html)]
no subject
That he felt no enemies upon entering didn't give the ninja any reason to relax. He kept his guard, even after seeing patients seemingly going about their business. He'd been fooled once before when he had been able to sense something and would not allow himself to be tricked a second time.
no subject
"The basement is sort of a... hidden level, I suppose," Ilia said over her shoulder as they started through the Sun Room. Truth be told, she wouldn't even know about the place if Claude and Anise hadn't spilled the beans due to their latest fiasco.
Seishin posed a good question. Ilia was almost embarrassed to answer him without having concrete details but it was better than leaving him without an answer at all. "It's still all hearsay, but supposedly the basement leads to a way out of this place. There's not any real evidence to back it up, but it's the only clue we have."
no subject
That didn't necessarily mean it was the place they should go. Rose Lalonde was not entirely opposed to playing outside the rules -- a little hacking, in the physical sense -- but she hadn't yet seen a reason to start blowing things up.
Not to mention the lack of things to blow shit up with, given that the only time she'd had anything close to enough power, everything around them had been in God Mode.
> ==>