tampered | Log: Ongoing

Current Mood: mercurial

Log: Ongoing

When: Sunday, March 16th, morning
Rating: Everyone
Characters: Ishiah [

ishiah] and Kurama [

banditfox]
Summary: Breakfast and business dealings (legal ones, oh my!).
Log:

It was a politely reserved Kurama who came to Lux the morning after speaking with Ishiah over the network. Further disagreement with Hiei had left him in a less than amiable mood, but Kurama was good at masks, always had been, and adopting a respectable human veneer before he left the apartment that morning was a simple matter. This was, after all, a business meeting as well as a social call. It was also the first time he and Ishiah would speak in person.

Although the pair had discussed the matter of supplying tropical plants for Lux, Kurama came to the doors seemingly empty-handed. Should Ishiah wish to see specimens, he could readily provide them.

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One of the doors was propped open, Ishiah inside and poring over the latest set of figures related to profits and turnover. While the bar's owner was undoubtedly a powerful woman, she had not been keeping up with her accounts.

A delivery from one of the city's many Japanese eating houses had arrived less than five minutes earlier; silver foil cartons of abura-age waited on the bar top. It had seemed a fair assumption that Kitsune had the same appetites the worlds over, and he had promised breakfast.

For now Ishiah looked almost as human as Kurama's assumed form, wings hidden from sight. He looked up as the fox arrived (expectedly empty handed, this was only intended to be a discussion) and beckoned him inside.

"Come in, leave the door as it is, I've been trying to let in some air." Not quite what he had expected.

Edited 2008-03-17 01:56 (UTC)

The smell of tofu reached Kurama through the open door. His lips curved in a faint smile as he accepted the invitation to enter. "You've done your homework," he noted. Unlike the tales, Kurama's human guise was perfect, because it was part of him and very real. No fox tail, no fox-shaped shadow, and very little chance that he would lose control of his form and be subjected to an involuntary change before an audience. He threaded his way through tables and chairs and cast an interested eye at the work Ishiah had open before him. The thief in him automatically took note of the figures and filed them away for future reference, though he had no intention of using them.

As for Ishiah, he was not quite what Kurama had expected, either. The energy that surrounded the apparently human form was difficult to classify. Kurama was unfamiliar with peri, and so had no experience from which to draw conclusions. "If you were Robin, I might be concerned you were trying to win me over by appealing to my vices."

Had the figures been anything worth noting they would have been folded away long before Kurama reached the table. A great deal of experience with pucks compensated readily for any lack of it when it came to other species of trickster; necessary or not, Ishiah always erred on the side of caution. He stood and bowed a greeting to the fox, half smiling at his comment. "In this trade it's always a good idea. Provide the wrong Sidhe with a glass of milk and you'll be finding pixies in unusual places for the next week. Not the worst example I could give you, although they leave a nasty bite."

The notion of any comparison between himself and Robin was too preposterous to give voice to. Ishiah may have allowed himself the faintest shudder of reprehension as he moved to fetch the food and two bowls, gesturing for Kurama to sit as he did so. "I can assure you that this is breakfast without strings attached. I have seen vices on such a level that fried tofu no longer registers on the scale."

Food shared out and customary graces said, he leant in with one chopstick raised, "I do not think I've asked how long you have been in this city?"

"Just over two weeks," Kurama informed his his host after observing his own mealtime customs. They were manners he had held before Shiori became his mother, but nineteen years in her company had strengthened them and made them an integral part of his human persona. "I was recently sent home for a brief time. Prior to my absence, I was in the City a full year."

Not a word was said about the circumstances of Kurama's return. He still bore a scar to remind him of the attack, one that would eventually fade, and if that weren't enough, the feel of Hiei's youki, weaker than it should have been, told him constantly, You should be dead. Kurama brushed aside the thought. In a tone that was lighter than he felt, he added, "More than long enough to expose a number of vices to public view."

"A year." Overcast blue eyes darkened to the colour of a storm. It had been little more than a week and already the peri grew tired of a world where even the sky had barriers. Cages were distasteful whatever their form, and that the things calling themselves deities could rattle the bars and force him to perform was even more so. Ishiah had his own constant reminder ringing in his head: Robin's voice informing him of his temporary death. Twenty four hours as a corpse. He didn't allow anything more than anger to accompany the thought.

"The others from my world have been back and forth without my ever noticing them gone. Whatever power is at work here it is an sophisticated one." A bite of the meal, a curl of his lip, and enough composure regained to prevent white feathers flickering into virew at his back. "Though given the nature of some curses, not particularly mature."

Kurama nodded and neatly parted the food before him with a practiced motion of his chopsticks. "There's a popular theory that the negative emotions of the City's residents fuel its progression towards the end of the worlds. It would appear that any negative emotion is suitable, even indignant outrage." The fox indulged in another bite of fried tofu and shook his head. "To be perfectly honest, I begin to tire of threats against all of reality, no matter what form they take. The redundancy would breed complacence if the consequences of doing nothing weren't so dire."

"Doing nothing appears to be the collective condition." Ishiah had heard the theories without intention of forming his own. The clock wasn't important to him, even alone the ticking could be filtered out without difficulty. All worlds would end eventually, he merely had no intention of being trapped in this one until that day came. It was the level of acceptance that surprised him - all regimes had resistances. If there was such a movement here, it stayed very quiet.

"Which brings me closer to our point." He leant back and gestured to the bar's interior. Deceptively larger than outside appearances would have it, it was opulently decorated, with a raised platform and piano at one end indicating regular entertainment. Ishiah had to quietly admit that it was a step up from a hole in the wall in New York, but the real estate markets were hardly comparable. "What do you think would grow in here?"

There had been protests, of a sort, but sustained, active resistance? Kurama wondered if such a struggle would feed the City's purpose rather than fight it.

At Ishiah's gesture, Kurama leaned back and took a good look at the interior of the club. Most human world plants would flourish here with his continued influence, but he had no intentions of becoming Ishiah's fulltime gardener, no matter how positive his impression of the peri. After a moment's assessment, he said, "The varieties you requested should manage well enough. There are several other tropical species that have adapted well to indoor cultivation, though you may have to provide them with suitable artificial light sources." A few seeds appeared in his hand, dormant for now. "Bromeliads, various figs and ferns, lilies, plumeria, dracaena. The list is more extensive than you might think."

With circumstances as they were, a full time gardener on the payroll would be low on Lux's list of priorities. Their weekly turnover at this point would barely cover one of Robin's more enthusiastic evenings out. Resting one elbow on the table, Ishiah curled long fingers under his chin and gave the kitsune's suggestions full consideration - not as yet showing the least surprise at the seeds which had appeared with the slight of hand of a table magician. After a moment, he spoke.

"I don't want it to overwhelm. It should bring to mind a garden, rather than a jungle. Hanging baskets here, here," he pointed out low beams that arched above the tables, "A vine across the bar. Jasmine, for the darker corners, but beyond that whatever you think best."

Now he eyed the seeds, "Although if those are what you're working with I might have to put back the opening by a few months."

"On the contrary, if these are what I'm working with, they can be trained to grow precisely where you want them over the course of an evening." Kurama selected a single seed. Its casing parted, and a bright, young leaf curled free. Within moments, a small vine had wrapped itself around Kurama's forearm, its roots tangled securely with his fingers. It was good to call the sleeping life forth, to work in concert with something familiar after the difficulties of the previous night. Kurama coaxed the jasmine into bloom. Ningenkai plants were so much more forgiving than their cousins in the demon realm, and that ease of communication was gratifying in its own way.

"It should be simple enough to establish the vines and baskets you requested. Beyond that, a few upright, lowlight specimens grown for their foliage would suffice."

Curiosity flickered for an instant before the peri's features settled into their usual, unreadable veneer. "Part kitsune, part wood nymph, or else something I have never seen before." he observed, not at all unimpressed by the display of talent. Waking something from slumber into blossom was a far worthier gift than the talons or venom most supernatural races exhibited so proudly. Not that he would forget that plants had thorns and poisons, too.

"We will need to discuss a fee."

A raised eyebrow and an amused near-smile greeted Ishiah's assessment of Kurama's nature. "Wood nymph is certainly not one I've heard before. I can assure you that both of my parents were kitsune." After a moment, he amended, "The first time, in any case." He nudged the jasmine back into its original state and tucked the seeds away.

"I generally work on commission for a fixed percentage of shared profits, but that doesn't apply here. I believe the cost of supplies and a fixed hourly fee would be acceptable in this instance." It was one of the few purely legitimate jobs he'd taken in the City. Kurama most often relied on old skills that most law-abiding citizens didn't approve of to make a living in the City. He could have applied for a more human occupation, but he had enough of office work at home with his stepfather's company.

Ishiah noted but left the subject of Kurama's parents unremarked upon. While he liked to remain as informed as possible, he would stop short of pursuing any obviously personal subject unless it seemed likely that the knowledge would benefit him. When it came to the kitsune himself, however, he was still curious. With a dip and twist of his chopsticks he finished his meal and stood. "Is that your only exceptional talent, or should I wait for your next trick? One moment."

Turning toward the balcony, he stepped into the air. The accompanying burst of light from his back momentarily hid the white plumed wings as he flew the short distance toward the darkened tables on the second level. It was an ostentatious display he would not normally indulge, but offered here as fair trade, knowledge for knowledge. The demonstration saved time in explanations when there was only so much he would tell.

Returning to the bar below, he handed Kurama two cards, black with burnished gold. "I will let you decide the fee and trust that it is fair. This and free entry for yourself and a guest, of course."

Kurama accepted the cards and tucked them away in a pocket with a nod. It often wasn't wise to trust in his fairness, but he approved of Ishiah's manner: straightforward and without naivity. The revelation of the peri's wings answered some questions and raised others. His meal already finished, Kurama folded his hands around his knee and tilted his head in open curiosity. "I take it all of your kind are so gifted, since you seem to expect a certain level of standardization within a species."

"I try to expect little. So far as rules go, I have seen too many exceptions." There may have been a smile hidden in Ishiah's eyes as he sat back, feathers vanishing again before his shoulderblades hit the back of the chair. "But never a Peri without wings." Clipped as they were, particularly in this place.

Lips quirked in amusement, Kurama replied, "How many of those exceptions were Robin's doing?" The fox sobered momentarily. "You have questions. I'm not adverse to answering at least some of them."

"Robin has yet to decide whether he will be exceptional." Ishiah answered, quietly. Outwardly identical as they were, the fate of other pucks did not have to be the template for his own. The peri hoped he might recognise that before his pessimistic inner prophecies because self fulfilling. Tiresome, troublesome bastard.

He pushed a hand back through jaw length blonde hair, bringing the faded outline of a scar across his jaw into the light. "How many from your world are here?"

The nature of Robin's fellow pucks was not something Kurama had pried into. He had heard mention of Hob and what Hob became, but he was also aware that it was a topic Robin did not care to discuss, and so had not pushed as hard as he could have for further information.

There were more similarities between his world and Robin's own than might at first be apparent, Kurama thought as he noted Ishiah's scar. One of the key differences appeared to be that what was contained within the limits of Makai in his world was integrated with human society in Robin and Ishiah's.

"Three, at present: myself and two friends. Five others from our world have been in the City on prior occasions that I'm aware of. It's quite possible there have been more we simply haven't heard about."

shiah had already come to realise that the city took people in groups. He had only spoken to one or two who were here entirely without connections. There might well be others from the same world that they remained unaware of, but to pick a small group with it's own, unusual ties more than ruled out any coincidence in the selection. It didn't, however provide him with a great deal of reason.

"What connects you, beyond your friendship? You said that knowledge of the supernatural was uncommon in your world..."

Kurama dipped his head in gracious acknowledgement. "So I did. In brief, what connects those of us who are here now is common experience. Hiei and I have been partners for a number of years. We met Kuwabara through a mutual acquaintance. The full story is of course much longer, and more complicated, as things must be when interworld politics and law come to bear. The simplest interactions between demons and humans are always subject to scrutiny, because the only way the human world gets on with its business is not having to knowingly deal with the supernatural at all."

"We're not subject to such regulations. Most supernatural creatures in my world choose discretion by virtue of being vastly outnumbered. Humanity as a combined force is a far greater threat than those who thrive by picking them off in small numbers would care to admit." He took a drink and sat silently for a moment before adding, "And humanity in small numbers can also prove a force to be reckoned with."

He tipped his drink from side to side, watching tiny tidal waves break against the glass. "Is it a comfort that they're here?"

"Humanity have no such luxury in my world," Kurama replied. Youkai existed in sufficient numbers to destroy the human world if they so chose. With the dissolution of the barrier between the human realm and the demon realm, only Enki's law and the regular border patrols prevented those demons from testing Reikai's resolve to protect humans from creatures that had survived on their misery and flesh for ages.

He tucked a stray lock of red hair behind his ear as he considered Ishiah's question carefully. Was it indeed a comfort? "I suppose so. It may be selfish of me, but the City would be far less tolerable without Hiei or Kuwabara's presence. I've become unaccustomed to being alone these past twenty years."

Of course, in his current form few would have believed that Kurama had lived twenty years, let alone that they were only the smallest fraction of his life. Ishiah accepted it without a blink.

The question would have been more difficult had it been turned back on him. Of course the last thing the puck could be described as was a comfort, nontheless, Ishiah knew that without him here he would be very much less settled. As it stood, the questions came with regard to going back. Robin existed there, but also here. For Ishiah to return to their own world would mean leaving Robin unprotected in this. Thinking about it unsettled him - he liked his priorities clearer cut.

"I'd like to meet them."

"I'll have a word with them," Kurama promised. He expected that if Ishiah liked Cal well enough to employ him and tolerated Robin well enough to worry for him, he would be able to endure an encounter with Hiei and Kuwabara. The question was how well Hiei would fare in Ishiah's presence, if he could be convinced to enter it at all. Kuwabara, being a fairly honorable if at times awkward young man, was less of a wildcard. Kurama would make no attempt to describe his friends to Ishiah at this juncture. It wasn't a part of their current business. "Hiei may refuse. He doesn't often care for company."

Rather abruptly, Kurama's form blurred, the outline becoming indistinct as silver threaded through red. In a moment, a tall, pale kitsune with the characteristic ears and tale sat beside Ishiah, clothed in white paler than the silver of his. "A fair exchange," he said by way of explanation. "You should know what sort of kitsune you're extending your hospitality to."

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Log: Ongoing

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