tabularasa_rp | Heavenly Blanc Void Party

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Heavenly Blanc Void Party

🥂 HEAVENLY BLANC VOID PARTY 🥂

Who: Everyone!
What: Heavenly Blanc mingle and info exchange
Where: The Heavenly Blanc Bar and Café
When: "August 1"; but really, what is time
Content Warnings: N/A

Maybe you heard through word of mouth, or got an invite from the barista and barkeep directly, or spotted the handwritten paper invites hung up around the area, but there is a gathering happening at the Heavenly Blanc Bar and Café TODAY! So feel free to stop by, hang out, have some drinks, and share some stories.

🍺 DRINKS: Coffee will be served by Ren, and Tifa will be handling the other drinks. There's a wide variety behind the bar, ranging from alcoholic to the non-alcoholic, with delicious cocktails (yes, including virgin ones for the minors) to pick from. And before you ask - no, if you are underage, you may not have alcohol. Tifa will be very strict about it, and anyone who tries to bypass her imposed law will be subject to room temperature tapwater for the rest of the party.

🎲 GAMES: Various boardgames that came along with Le Blanc will be made available for all to play, including a Shogi board for the strategically inclined (and whoever knows how the heck to play it). Along the side wall are two pinball machines, and while they don't light up and make sounds, the mechanisms inside them still work, so they aren't completely out of the picture! Next to them, between the jukebox and the door is a dart board. Please do be mindful when throwing darts, as the light filtering into the bar through the front windows is very minimal.

🤔 INFORMATION EXCHANGE: The important part! When all are gathered inside the bar, Tifa and Ren will make a small announcement for everyone:

"Now that we've all had the chance to take a look around and get our bearings, I wanna encourage everyone to exchange what you know, or what you've found. Even share it with the rest of us! Locations, ideas, theories - anything that could be useful in helping us all figure this out. We all come from different worlds, but we're stuck here, so we're in this together until we're not, yeah? Let's make friends and play nice, and most importantly, have fun today! Oh, and if you're coming and going, make sure to close the door nice and tight behind you."

"It's nice to see everyone. Since we're stuck here together, let's cooperate well."

☕ OOC NOTES ☕

This is the open mingle post for the Heavenly Blanc void party! Please feel free to top-level and tag around.

There is a top-level included here for you to post OOC notes of what their characters have discussed on the log, as well as their own thoughts about the world. If there is anything important that people should know, please reply to the top-level with the information, so that it's easy to find for everyone. General info posts about what your character will be talking about are fine as well. Just please try to avoid multiple edits if you can as you thread if you are going that route! for the sake of my dw inbox...

Because this is an info exchange/mingle post, we encourage thread-jacking. However, we know that not everyone is into that kind of thing, so if you are okay with others hopping into your threads, please be sure to indicate it in your top-level.

Questions about the log can be directed to the ooc post.

Have fun!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Damien shrugs. everyone in America owns a gun, right? he really doesn't feel like he's tipping his hand in admitting he knows how to shoot a gun, that in mind. there are a lot of reasons he might]

There you go, then. [he pauses, shifting a little to lean in towards Akechi, attentive] Though ... how does that work, where your from? Do the police in Japan carry guns? [and if so, how does that work for Akechi, since he's still what would be considered underage for having a carry permit in the States]

Uniformed officers do while on duty, yes, [Akechi confirms with a nod,] Though my understanding is that it's quite different in America. Ah, as a detective, I wouldn't be carrying a gun myself, but I did learn how to use one.

It may sound a little old-fashioned, but I'm actually quite proficient with a saber, as well. Fencing is excellent exercise for both mind and body.

Interesting.

[yeah, that is different -- detectives in the States definitely carry guns. hell, most, if not all, LEOs do, if only because the job's become so dangerous, particularly in big cities, like Chicago, where you have the fucking Irish Mob everyone in America really does own a gun, apparently]

[but anyway]

So is fencing, actually. It's one of the few sports that ever actually caught my attention. [if only because it seems like as much as strategy game as it is anything else. not like Aiden and his hockey, which was always just a brawl waiting to happen. what's the turn of phrase there? i went to a fight and a hockey game broke out? then again, that's Aiden for you]

Truly?

[Another notch in the respect-belt for Damien as Akechi smiles and nods. He's not much for watching sports himself, because he's a fucking nerd, but,]

The precision and quick-thinking displayed by professionals is quite something to behold. Beyond mere sport, there are practical benefits to studying it, as well. Precision, as I'd mentioned, as well as the fundamentals of footwork in a confined area. I wasn't able to study formally for very long, unfortunately, but I was able to do some practice on my own.

I can only hope that will be of some benefit in this strange situation we've all found ourselves in.

It can't hurt, if nothing else.

[all knowledge is good knowledge, really. something seemingly innocuous can come in handy, in the right situations, you never know, and like Akechi said, this is a little more practical, so]

Shame it's not really something I could ask you to teach me, while we're here. [he touches his fingers to where his brace starts on his thigh. much as he'd rather be the Guy in the Chair, what he wouldn't give to have his physicality back, to be whole again]

Yes... I'd be happy to show you some of the forms and discuss the theory with you, but...

[Akechi follows his hand to the brace, lips twisting in sympathy. He'd been hurt before, been near death more than once, and yet the majority of his more serious injuries were in a world of cognition. They still hurt like hell, but healed upon his return to the real world, leaving no lasting scars save for the mental ones.]

May I ask what happened?

[Damien shifts a little in his seat, obviously uncomfortable with the question. if it were anyone else, he'd tell them to fuck right off, the details of his personal tragedy no one's business but his own, even if he's the one that keeps bringing attention to the brace. he doesn't need your pity, thank you. but it's Akechi, and he actually respects the kid, and he was nice enough to ask if he could ask, which is telling and appreciated, so maybe it's okay]

[the only thing making him hesitate, still, is the fact that Akechi will probably tell Ren, and Ren hasn't unlocked his tragic backstory, yet. maybe, then, that in mind, he'll have to not lie, exactly, but tell the watered down version. he'd probably be telling the watered down version anyway, if only because, as far as he knows, Akechi is one of the good guys]

[either way, that in mind and after a beat, he leans forward a little, starts:] A group of men were waiting for me, when I got home from work, one night. They broke both my legs before they beat me unconscious. [he pauses, fingers tightening and relaxing on his leg] I woke up in the hospital, a week later; I was in bed for ... [a long time; it took his legs too long to heal. he shakes his head faintly, either way, and returns his attentions to Akechi where they'd wandered to some middle distance, in telling his story]

After months of physiotherapy, they finally told me I'd never walk right again. [and that he'll need a wheelchair, as he gets older] The police never did figure out who did it or why. [but he did. fucking Chicago South Club]

[Well, he's not wrong in the assessment that he'll probably tell Ren, unless he were expressly asked not to. Or if he deemed it personal, but unimportant.

Unfortunately, neither of those are the case. As Damien tells his story, Akechi's expression shifts, subtly. In the past, perhaps he'd have affected a righteous anger, brought his full Detective Prince persona to the fore in a swearing for investigation and vengeance. But there's no point to putting that act on, here. Instead, his expression shifts subtly, the look in his eyes far-away and slightly cold. For a moment, he just looks very tired, beyond his years.]

Yakuza. [he says quietly, a slightly stiffer set to his shoulders. It's not that he dislikes the yakuza -- far from it, he has a grudging admiration for their kind of traditional honor code, even if it's not quite as idealistic in a modern era. And yet, what Damien described doesn't sound all that different from one of the eventual fates Akechi had imagined for himself once his plans had succeeded, though he'd suspect his would be a much more final end.

Still. He draws himself back and meets Damien's eyes, a note of curiosity in his eyes.]

Ah, I apologize. I believe the word in America is "the mob?" That would be my guess, anyway, though it's odd. At least in Japan, I'd expect an attack like that to be the result of a personal grudge, either theirs or whomever paid them. "Random" acts of violence are seldom such.

For what it's worth, which I know isn't much, I'm sorry that happened to you.

[And that, at least, he means sincerely. Whatever Akechi's personal opinions on the police and his disregard for the people harmed by his own actions, Damien is intelligent enough and respects him enough to be afforded respect in return.]

[Damien might get around to asking him not to spread his story around. for now, however, and absolutely in spite of himself, the corners of his mouth quirk upwards into a sick sort of smile. he should have expected Akechi to put it together. he's a smart boy, and that look in his eyes, just then -- yeah, he should have expected it]

[either way, he lets the smile go on a breath out] The Irish Mob. The Chicago South Club. [they're both the same thing] The cops may be useless, for all that half of them are in the Club's pocket, anyway, but my partner and I -- [to his credit, he doesn't hesitate, doesn't give away that Aiden isn't really his partner anymore, in any sense of the word. that relationship broke about the same time his legs did. it helps, maybe, that every other word he tells him is true] -- well. We figure we got too close to something they didn't want us to see.

[he expects, of course, that based on what Akechi knows of him, he'll assume he and Aiden got close to some vital piece of evidence that would put someone or someones, plural, at the top away for a very long time. what they actually stumbled upon, what the Club really wanted to scare them away from was a blackmail video and the intellectual nuke that is the Bellweather]

I ... appreciate it, though. [the sympathy. normally, he'd sneer at an apology, Akechi's fault or not, for all that it's too close to that pity, too close to wounding his pride all over again, but -- well, it doesn't feel so cheap, here, as it usually does. it's like he actually means it, and that matters, oddly]

Edited 2020-08-11 20:40 (UTC)

Ah.

[Akechi nods, a piece of the puzzle slotting into place. There's a beat where he weighs his options carefully, wondering how much he can disclose -- how much respect he'd be able to gain from voicing his true opinion, versus maintaining a polite veneer. In the end, he settles on a middle ground, lips curving into a frown.]

Unfortunate that the police in Chicago seem to be as corrupt and inept as many of the police in Tokyo.

[I'm on your side is the intent behind that communication, not unlike when he reassured his prosecutor mentor that he was only using the police himself, regardless of official affiliation.]

Though I suppose greed is simply a universal truth, spanning countries and universes, no?

[Damien is silent for a moment, studying Akechi, something behind his eyes hardening slowly, sharpening, though not because he's upset. this is more almost dispassionately calculating, a taste of the mastermind behind the man. he keeps this up for several seconds, too, and then slowly and almost imperceptibly, he nods, his expression softening. message received, Akechi]

I'd wonder if it was a city thing, that greed, but ... mm, no.

[greed and corruption are omnipresent. and sure, maybe that applies to him, too, but like he's told Aiden, time and time again, over the last month or so, as far as monsters go, he's not the biggest one for his ambition. the Club is worse than him. the cops are worse than him. Aiden is worse than him, for all that he pulls that my cause is noble because it's righteous bullshit. and -- ]

[ -- and he's just going to pull back out of his own head, on a breath out, and shake his head] It's a shame. [yes, Akechi, he agrees on all counts]

[Akechi holds Damien's gaze even as it sharpens, feeling the familiar thrill that comes with exposing pieces of his true self, prickling equal parts anticipation and anxiety. It's almost comforting, the way the other man reminds him of Sae; Akechi's never been comfortable in complacency, and having someone with the potential to see through him is exhilarating all on its own.

He takes Damien's nod as acceptance, the corner of his lip quirking up briefly before he steers the conversation to safer waters.]

I must admit, I've never been out of the city myself, but from what I've heard, it hardly seems isolated to that.

[He knows for absolute certain that Shido's conspiracy and the corruption in the police force reached even to Ren's small town, after all. One doesn't create a nationwide conspiracy by ignoring much of the country.]

Have you always lived in Chicago, Damien-san? Aside from this most recent development, obviously.

[by way of agreement:] You hear it on the news, every night, the tales of greed, elsewhere. [he's never really spent much time outside of Chicago anymore than Akechi has been outside of Tokyo, but oh, the things he's seen, even so and beyond the news. it's really something, being able to pick a proverbial closet, anywhere in the world, and pull out a skeleton. everybody wants something and no one is as good as they pretend to be, except maybe the people Akechi's age. they've yet to sell their souls]

But yes. [again, getting out of his head, here] What can I say, I'm a lifer? [he pauses, spreading his arms wide, briefly, before dropping them back into his lap] I have family, outside of Chicago, though. My ex-wife ... [he hesitates] She's still living in Rockford, as far as I know. [along with his son, who's about Akechi's age, now, maybe a little younger. a teenager, anyway]

[Family.

It's funny, how the thought hadn't even crossed his mind that there would be people here who'd left family behind when they were quite rudely taken away from their daily lives. Akechi hasn't had a family for a very, very long time. Ren never talks about his family, either, and selfishly, Akechi had allowed himself to think that maybe his home situation was fucked up like his own. It had to be, right? To send their child to Tokyo on probation for a crime he never committed?

There isn't a single person waiting for Akechi to return. Even if Ren weren't here beside him, Akechi would still argue that there wasn't anyone who would miss him. How foolish, to forget even such a basic thing as the connections other people have with each other.

Still. His sad backstory isn't important, and he forces himself to listen once again. "As far as I know," implying that he doesn't see her very often, so he can hazard a guess that not only are they separated, they don't keep in regular contact. Does Damien have children, or perhaps he's referring to parents when he means other family? Well, it's not important.]

My apologies. It seems once again I've started to pry. A bad habit of mine, I suppose.

[this time, Damien waves off the apology]

It's an old wound. [though, one Akechi clearly picked up on, if the fact that he's apologizing is any indication] I haven't talked to Christina in -- ten years, maybe?

[the more horrifying thought is that that's the last time he saw his son, too, though not for lack of trying. unfortunately, his ex slapped him with a restraining order for trying, and while it really wouldn't have been hard to delete that from the system, like he eventually did his criminal record, the timing was all wrong. he'd literally just gotten out of prison for computer related crime and people still remembered that. if he'd gotten rid of the restraining order, more than a dozen people would have know it was him. he was too angry at the time, anyway (fine, fuck the bitch and the kid), but now? god, does his son even remember him?]

[maybe the wound's not so old, after all. maybe he's going to change the subject, rather than dwell on that, or the idea that no one will miss him, not even his rival. Aiden will notice him missing, surely, but he's probably eventually just settle on the idea that he fell into Lake Michigan, and never think of him again]

What about you, though? Any brothers or sisters?

[The question sparks a laugh, one Akechi can't quite manage to hide behind a polite hand. It's a short, derisive sound at odds with his usual veneer, and he shakes his head.]

None that I know of, but it's not impossible.

[By the time he was old enough to realize that if his father had accidentally sired him, there could be others, he'd stopped caring. So what if there were other unlucky bastards out there? None of them had the power to take his father down like he did. Who gives a shit about siblings he doesn't even know, if they exist at all?

He reels himself back in. Fine. If Damien could tell him about his family, perhaps it's okay to let on a little about his own. A little. It wouldn't do to alienate him with the truth.]

Unfortunately, my mother passed years ago, [suicide, he doesn't say, because who wants to hear the sob story of a child losing his only family member? What adult cares? Not a single one, in his experience.] And my father... well.

[I'll do anything for the captain. I'll die for him, too. Isn't that how Shido thought of Akechi? As his puppet, a tool, a child to manipulate from the very beginning. Hatred isn't strong enough of a word for what Akechi thinks of him.

So maybe he can be forgiven if the smile that rises to his lips is less than pleasant.]

I've nothing to say about him.

[Damien can do the math, adding it all up not particularly difficult, given what Akechi's told him. he may have brothers or sisters. he definitely doesn't like his father. dad must be out of the picture, then, and even if he isn't, well, the implication that he can't keep his dick in his pants is loud enough]

[he makes a face, that in mind, and then lowers his eyes briefly, submissively, apologetically. he wasn't trying to pick at Akechi's wounds; it was just a natural progression of their conversation, asking about family]

Seems like we've got that bad habit in common.

[the prying, he means]

[Akechi shakes his head, tugs one of his gloves in the only fidget he allows himself.]

It was a natural progression. Besides... he's out of my reach, now.

[This strange world they've found themselves in aside, there's no satisfaction to killing a man who's heart has already been changed and feels he deserves it. Akechi had planned to take him out at the height of his power; it means nothing to kill an already-broken man. There's a part of him that will never forgive Ren and his friends for taking that from him.

His lips quirk in a half-smile, almost wry.]

You don't seem the type to be satisfied with the answer that's been polished for television, after all. It's the kind of question an interviewer only ever asks once, and giving them vague half-answers has only added to the "mystery." The more people wonder about you, the more they're willing to talk about you. It's just branding.

[the way he puts that seems like more than just his father not being here, now, for him to confront. he's not sure what, exactly, Akechi does mean by that (was he hoping to arrest him, back home?) but there's something there. he won't prod him for meaning, though (or at least not right now), if only because Akechi has his respect]

[right now, he just shrugs, flashing him a brief, wry smile] You're not wrong about that. [a beat] Though, if you'd told me it was none of my business ... [he'd still known he'd hit a nerve, but he might have accepted that as a courtesy. and courtesy would have made him less likely to pick at it later, as it does now, than forcing him to swallow a half-answer]

No need to say it so bluntly.

[There's a hint of a smirk curving his lips as he waves a hand dismissively. He's said what he's comfortable saying around someone who won't use that scant information in a way that matters. Plenty of children hate their fathers, after all, some for better reasons than others.]

In any case, none of that matters now. It isn't like the television is playing reruns of the shows I've been on, after all, and I fail to see how carefully marketing myself as a teenage prodigy will be of any use here.

[Little light, no electricity. He's sure Ren would have something to say about the remark about his talk shows, but honestly? Akechi's just fine letting those tapes rot in the dust of some forgotten backroom at the TV studio.

He will, however, carefully market himself to most people as a very nice boy. Some parts of the brand are more useful than others.]

Point.

[he's silent for a moment, that said, thumbing absently at his goatee. when he drops his hand, returns his attentions to Akechi, he starts:] I wonder how many people get a fresh start on this scale. [not that he plans on doing anything different, on being anyone different, but well. it's nice to have been able to ditch Aiden, if nothing else]

Not many.

[He shakes his head, gaze drifting up to the ceiling for a moment as he turns the thought over in his mind before looking back to Damien with another smile, this one edging closer to rueful.]

The internet has made it very difficult to truly erase anything from public memory. People's perceptions can be overwritten, of course, reinforced with new information and made to question if what they knew was true. One could even leave the country and find a fresh start, for a time. But this...?

[He shakes his head again before looking to Damien with a hint of curiosity, hidden behind politeness.]

Are you looking for a fresh start?

Isn't everyone, to some degree? [that, he's still not comfortable getting into with Akechi, if only because, regardless of whether or not he is, he'd have to be upfront about -- well, a lot of things. maybe next time. maybe if and when Akechi ever finds out he's not as noble or good as he pretends to be] But you're young. You probably don't have many regrets, yet.

[beyond not being able to stab his father, or whatever fate he had in mind for him, but you don't need a fresh start for that]

[The irony of Damien's statement makes him laugh, again covered behind a polite hand. Regrets, huh...? He has more than most people his age, but also, in spite of everything he'd done, he only regrets how the path had started. After a certain point, the cost of what's already been done simply became justification to hurl him further and faster down that path, until he didn't have time for regrets anymore.

No one cared when he was hurting. Why should he care about the people he hurt?]

Perhaps not. I've heard that the pain of regret fades with time, as well, so I suppose there is that to look forward to. It seems as though right now, time is the only resource we have in abundance.

Still, I'll admit it is refreshing not to be burdened with the expectations that I'd grown accustomed to.

[he regrets not killing Aiden, once he realized he couldn't control him. he regrets teaming up with him in the first place. he regrets never getting his hands on the Bellweather. he regrets -- well, this isn't really about regrets. it's about dodging the question, as to what he'd need a fresh start from, and mission accomplished]

[he nods, that in mind] I imagine it gets tedious, being in the spotlight, all the time. [he's sure it's fun, to a point, that prestige, the masses fawning, but dodging the paparazzi would get old when it started getting invasive.]

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Heavenly Blanc Void Party

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