Ryslig | IC Network Contact

[hantale]

WELCOME TO YOUR PRIVATE CHANNEL, BAISEAL-LEAF. FOR SECURE COMMUNICATION, USE 015.43.187.59 *** BAISEAL-LEAF has joined 018.07.154.55 <BAISEAL-LEAF>> I think it's working... Test? <BAISEAL-LEAF> Yup, looks like it. <BAISEAL-LEAF> Hello, and welcome!

Comments

[justbeingknife]

Sure. What's the plan?

[ He'd just follow right along with Fran. ]

And what kinda stuff do ya grow? Usually, I mean.

[hantale]

I was thinking of a stew! Nice and warm, hearty.

[ And one of the few things Fran's actually good at cooking. ]

I grow berries, mostly! And hearty vegetables like carrots, potatoes, onions, and cabbage. They seem to do well in Ryslig, and don't need too much care.

Oh-! And pumpkin!

[justbeingknife]

Oh yeah? That does sound like all the basics. Uh, except for maybe the pumpkin? I dunno, didn't see a lot of those in Japan.

[ Once they got inside, Majima would look for the fridge to put the melon in. ]

Anythin' I can help with?

[hantale]

They're pretty sturdy plants, once they're ripened! Though you have to preserve them afterward, I've found.

[ Fran slipped out of their shoes, heading over to the kitchen and washing their hands after pointing out the fridge. ]

You could cut the pumpkin for me! It's pretty tough. Into bite-size cubes should be fine.

[ Meanwhile, they're getting started on the carrots and potatoes. ]

[justbeingknife]

[ With the melon stowed, Majima located one of the kitchen knives and a cutting board. ]

This's my first time eatin' the actual thing.

[ Pumpkin spice lattes probably hadn't been invented yet. ]

Anyway, uh. You were curious about the guys from my memory, right? The guy with the gun was my old boss. Sagawa.

[hantale]

In for a treat then! Pumpkin is quite sweet when it's cooked, it turns out~

[ One smallish butternut pumkin is slid his way, still easily more than enough for both of them. Fran pulls out some potatoes and carrots, working on those instead. ]

Mmh- I don't quite remember the details anymore. But I take it you didn't like him very much?

[justbeingknife]

That's putting it mildly. I hated the guy.

[ Majima washed the pumpkin, then set to work removing the stem and beginning to reduce it into smaller, more bite-sized pieces. Chop chop. ]

Never shut up. Practically made it his life's mission to jerk my chain, and he was a master at it. I'll give him one thing, though -- he was stubborn as a goddamn mule.

[ Was that... a compliment... ]

[hantale]

[ While the kelpie works away with a peeler, their eyes stay on the vegetables, but those long ears almost seem to twitch when he speaks. ]

Is that... A good thing? [ Really, complement might be a bit generous Majima. ] I assume some circumstance kept you two near each other for a while?

[justbeingknife]

That's right.

Story was, if I toed the line, he'd help get me back into the business. I could pay my brother back.

[ He made surprisingly neat work of the pumpkin, chopping it into even squares. What knifework! ]

You know anything about racketeering?

[hantale]

[ For a moment their eyebrow raises, not having heard that phrase before. Toe the line? It seems intuitive enough. Once all the vegetables were peeled, they began chopping, carefully at first, but not bothering to make the sections too neat. Approximations of bite-sized chunks to contrast Majima's neat squares. ]

Not really... I don't think it's really come up to me before.
What did you owe your brother?

[justbeingknife]

Everything.

[ He cleaned off the blade of the knife, looking for something else to do with his hands. Well, that wasn't all that helpful. ]

I was supposed to back him up on a job, but I got called off at the last second. I never did get to find out exactly what went down, but he ended up facin' off eighteen guys all on his own.

So now he's in prison, and I'm here. In a whole-ass new dimension.

[ Majima gave Fran a wry smile. ]

Sorry, uh. Seems like I should start at the beginning, but I ain't even sure where that is. There anything else I can... chop?

[hantale]

[ Fran dips back, checking beneath the counter for something else Majima can.... chop.

Half a celery is placed before him, the other half presumably already used for some other meal. ]

Fine slices for that, if you can!

[ In the meantime, they can get a smaller stock pot out and start working on the actual veggie stew. Very basic food, but it's hearty and tasty. ]

I think I see what you mean. So you worked for this man to try and make up for not helping your brother?

[ Part of them doesn't quite get it, and that's clear in their tone. But they want to. There's a lot to cover.]

[justbeingknife]

[ Of course. Fran's world was pretty different from 1980's Japan. ]

Yeah. Alright, let's back this all the way up.

[ Celery was oddly comforting to slice -- concrete, crisp. The dip of the knife worked away at the stalk. ]

They got the mob where you're from? Mafia?

[hantale]

Right-

[ Their head bobs, sprinkling some salt into the pot and then leaning back to face Majima. Most of the prep-work is done, stew is a good slow meal. ]

Mafia? [ Doesn't sound like it. ] I'm not sure... I only really learned about their cities from travelers.

[ It's going to be a long story, at this rate. Good thing they have all night, right?]

[justbeingknife]

[ Good, indeed. Although even if Fran only got the broad strokes, he figured that'd be more than enough. After all, what use was all this information now that they were stuck in Ryslig? ]

Alright. It's a type of criminal organization.

In theory, a local organized mob's better to have around than a bunch of loose cannons, or criminals imported from somewhere else. Because they have roots in the community, a stake. Of course, the police don't see it that way -- they still commit crimes.

Anyway, I was part of my hometown's mafia. Debt collection, protecting territory, that kinda thing.

[ The stew sure did smell nice. ]

[hantale]

Right-... Better the criminals you know than the ones you don't?

[ It made sense maybe? Fran wasn't incredibly familiar with how cities and towns tended to work with stuff like that. There's a few things that confuse them though, and it shows in the odd look he gets. ]

Not to interrupt but... Aren't those all things you could do legally?

[ It'll smell even better when Fran puts the rest of the aromatics in. The celery, onion, and carrots, prompting a light sizzle followed by the stock and spices. ]

[justbeingknife]

Okay, but we did it illegally. Y'know, by beating people up if they took out a bunch of cash and didn't pay up up.

[ Look Fran, stop telling him he didn't do crimes! He did!! Big crimes!! ]

I was good with my fists, so I fit right in. At least until orders came down for my brother and I to pull off a hit. We were supposed to kill a big crime guy from a different family.

[hantale]

Ah, I see...

[ It's kind of clear they don't, not fully at least. But they get enough to move on. ]

So, you were part of this organized crime group? And they asked you to do something very difficult?

[justbeingknife]

Right. Two guys, me and him, against the chairman of the Ueno Seiwa clan and seventeen of his guys.

[ Two against eighteen, not spectacular odds. One of the reasons Majima had been somewhat uneasy about the task. ]

Even if we managed to pull it off, best case we'd be in prison for life once the cops got hold of us. That's if we avoided the death sentence.

[ And how bitter that memory was now, given what had happened. ]

Ah! How did so many days pass? Sorry!

[hantale]

[ Fran nods, the weight of the names not reaching them, but the way he says it conveys what he's trying to describe. It was something big, and difficult. Something most folks would call impossible. ]

And you both survived?

[ That alone would be impressive enough. ]

no worries!

[justbeingknife]

I was on my way to our meetin' point before one of the suits grabbed me aside. Told me the hit was canceled at the last minute. But no one'd told him that; too late to reach him by phone. Couldn't just leave him, either... so I disobeyed orders trying to get to Saejima before it all went down.

[ Majima shook his head. ]

They chained me down like a dog and made sure I never got there to help.

[ Those celery bits were looking very well chopped at this point. ]

He survived. Took down all eighteen of them on his own, don't ask me how.

[hantale]

[ Hmmm, it's hard to hide the disapproving frown on Fran's lips. Not for Majima, but for the situation he was put in. Not pleasant in the slightest. Still, the fact that he survived was impressive! Their lips open, about to ask the very question Majima pre-empted.

Oh. Alright, then they won't ask. Fran steps over to his side, gently gesturing for him to stop cutting so they can scoop the celery up and drop it into the pot to sizzle. ]

So... He was arrested then, I take it? Why did you need to repay him?

[justbeingknife]

Because I wasn't there. [ Majima said, like this was a given. Like he wouldn't have had to even explain it if Fran wasn't from magical multiverse land. ]

I couldn't help him.

[ In fact he was saying all of this right now like it was a given? Not being able to help his brother was 100% a hard mental equivalent to stabbing Saejima in the back, but look -- at least he'd planned to die to make up for it. ]

We should've both been here when the cops showed up. I'm the one who didn't make it.

[hantale]

[ He talked like everything was obvious and made sense, but of course, not everyone sees the world through the same lense, especially the kelpie beside him.

Fran busies about the kitchen for a bit, preparing some spices and herbs and then pouring some stock into the pot and setting it to simmer for a bit. ]

Mmmh- I don't quite get it yet. Wasn't it the other people that stopped you from going? Why is that your fault?

[ Logically, sure... But they were aware things didn't always work that way with most people. Eventually, Fran shakes their head, eager to move on to a likely less sore point. ]

So you worked for them for a while, doing all manner of things?

[justbeingknife]

[ Quite honestly, even people from Majima's world wouldn't really understand his thought process at times. ]

That ain't an excuse. [ NO EXCUSES, IN FACT. ] I still shoulda been there.

I don't know how much he's heard about what went down -- probably not a lot. Dudes on death row ain't exactly get to sit down with an evenin' drink to watch the nightly news.

But yeah, I worked for the Omi for a while. Hated it. Took about two years of that, and then the whole damn mess got turned upside down over some real estate deal. Long story, but the short version is that just before I ended up in Ryslig, I was a free man.

You're pretty handy with that stock.