[Day: Saturday, June 11th. Time: 2:00 p.m.] [Chie is in her shop when she sees Lazar in the window! I mean through the window. He's not for sale or anything. Although I suppose she could pretend he was a sculpture of some sort and auction him off... ah, ANYHOW, Chie's at her shop, Lazar's headed there.] [Action!] * Lazar peers in through the window, spots Chie, waves, and heads in the door to the shop. * Chie is sitting behind the counter, working on something. Old 60's rock music plays through the speakers positioned at strategic locations in the shop. As if prompted by some higher power, she suddenly looks up and sees Lazar. She waves back as he comes in. Hey, Laz. What's up? * Lazar just kind of shrugs. "Was wandering, passed by shop, recognized it. Figure I stop in, say hi." ( You realize that's the equivalent of an American playing 100-year old Japanese music in his shop? :P ) Well, hi. You're actually the first one of the group to stop by during business hours. (Yep. And do you think she minds this? ;p) ( This is why her shop is not setting trends or on its way to an IPO, isn't it? ) * Lazar looks around. "Is nice shop... what you sell?" (Hee. Probably not. And remind me to, if I ever open a shop, find 100- year-old Japanese music. ^_~) ( Imagine hearing traditional Japanese music at an auto-shop. That's about the same effect :P ) * Chie holds up the necklace she'd been working on. "Jewelry. All kinds of stuff. Take a look around, if you want... did the lights burn out in the display cases again?" I never remember to change the light bulbs... * Lazar shakes his head. "No, no... just distracted. Should have noticed all the jewelery." * Lazar chuckles. "No go into shops much... no reason, no money. Forget to look sometimes." * Chie smiles. "S'okay. So... since you're here and all... is there anything I can do for you? And I don't mean this in a 'can I interest you in a fine necklace' way, because somehow I really don't think that's what you'd be interested in. Call it a hunch." * Lazar grins. "Am that easy to see through?" * Chie grins back. "Well, no, actually you're rather opaque. But, all puns aside... well, this doesn't exactly seem like the kind of place you'd just happen upon. I mean, I could be wrong, but..." She shrugs. "Just a hunch, I guess." Another hunch. I'm full of hunches today. * Lazar nods. "Lot of things lately on mind. No can really talk to Peter, no know where Makoto or Rei is, no could find Maria if given month, no could resist throwing Chomei through window..." ( Hah! ) (*laughs*) ( ^_^_v ) * Lazar shrugs nervously. "You have minute to talk? If busy, I can come back..." * Chie giggles involuntarily at the last part. "Okay, process of elimination, then. And, sure, I've got time. Been a slow afternoon anyway. You wanna talk in here or go upstairs?" ( Chie's hitting on Lazar <.< ) (o/~) * Lazar shrugs. "Whereever you prefer." ( man, that'd be one rocky relationship. ) (*laughs* Poor Chie. ^_^) ( But Lazar rules! ) Well, if you don't mind... upstairs is comfier. For me, at least. Sitting on this stool all day isn't much fun. * Lazar nods. "Is okay. Probably best not to talk about job here, no?" Yeah, somebody could come in in the middle of the conversation and all. Okay. Hang on a sec. * Chie flips a switch behind the counter, and the music stops playing. She then hops of the stool and walks over to the front door. She's not limping anymore. She flips over a sign in the window so that the part facing the outside now reads "Closed for Inventory" and locks the door. Okay. Follow me, please. * Lazar nods'n follows. * Chie goes through the back of the store, through a door, into the rear hallway. Once Lazar is through, she locks that door and turns on the security system. She then proceeds up the stairway to the apartment, unlocks that door, and ushers Lazar in. * Lazar is ushered, and waits for Chie to take a seat before finding a comfy spot on the floor. * Chie flops down on one of the beanbags and stretches her legs. "Okay. So... what's goin' on?" (And, yes, I remembered to shut the door behind me. ;p) Just... lot of things I no understand. People I no understand. Everything different from Transylvania. Last night just latest thing. No understand why thing work how they do here. Like... how, exactly? Last night. Lady working with evil Rei brother and stupid Opera guy. Spend long time shooting at us, hit you in leg... how is leg? [Chie's leg is perfectly fine.] It's fine, actually. Guess I must heal pretty fast. And it only grazed me, so... could've been a lot worse. * Lazar nods. "Is good... and that my problem. She shooting at us. If dodge wrong, could have seriously hurt, even kill. And then we just stop fight, start joking and laughing with her." ( Awww... It's sweet. ) In Transylvania, when fight zombie or werewolf or vampyre, we never stop until it dead, because it evil, and if alive can still hurt people. But here, not only let bad guys live and get away, people is joking with them. I... I just no understand. * Chie sighs. "I know. It's... well, for what it's worth, I don't think she was trying to kill us. And I'm not even sure if she's really a bad guy, even if... well... by that point, I wasn't really thinking about much beyond my injuries, so I was just as glad to see it stop." I think she was right, though. She could get away any time she wanted. * Lazar shakes his head. "I think she was bluffing. No way could take all those hits and no be injured." She was injured. But... okay. You want to hear my theory on this? You're probably not gonna like it, but... But that not issue... okay, you injured, fight going nowhere, maybe make sense to stop and regroup. But how can team joke and chat with her after? * Lazar nods. I'll get to the joking part in a minute. But here's my theory. Did you see how the ward I threw at her started to burn her? I think she's a demon. ... would explain fangs, yes. Yeah. Plus, that portal that Katsu and company went through supposedly went to a "demon realm." So she's a demon, and a pretty powerful one at that, if what she said about her family is true. So maybe we hurt her, but not as much as we *should* have. I mean, the four of us are pretty much the fighting core of the team. If we can't take something, it's pretty bad. I think she could've beaten us a lot worse than she did. * Lazar frowns. "Is why I need Peter to find Kabbalist soon..." Bad guys getting more dangerous... need get more powerful to keep up. Yeah, I know... I've been working on something of my own. Need a bit more time, though. Although that's another thing... I wonder exactly what Victoria's bargain with Katsu and that group is. I'm thinking part of it might be that she tests the waters for them, so to speak. Could be. Get feel for what we can and can no do. * Lazar grins nastily. "Though if get rest of runes, they be in for surprise..." Exactly. I pretty much used most of my arsenal last night, Maria did her midair tricks, Chomei shot about three different kinds of arrows... And I hit her with big metal box. * Chie grins back. "Yeah, they would. But... getting those runes wouldn't change *you* in any way, would it? You'd still be Lazar, just... much stronger Lazar, right?" I think. No know. Never been golem without all runes before, or one with soul. I first one. Well, here's hoping. 'Cause I wouldn't want to lose any of you guys. Really. * Chie smiles. * Lazar grins. "No way can be sure. Golems supposed to be fist of God on earth, runes are channel for power. But golems supposed to be mindless... just moving statue, given life to stop some threat to my people." And once threat gone... poof. No more golem. ( Fortunately this is MC, so his people will be threatened for quite some time :P ) ( Well, technically his people aren't threatened... more of a revenge thing at this point. =P ) * Chie blinks. "Really? Wow. That's... yeah. Didn't know that. Didn't know much of anything about golems, really." * Lazar shrugs. "Legend vary. Sometimes, golem inactive once job done. Sometimes, runes must be erased. But never been golem with soul before... so no know how things work." But no worry about that until near finish job I created to do. *small grin* Sure. Worrying doesn't do all that much good, although I will admit I've been doing more of it lately that I ever have. But... comes with the job, I guess. Can't say I wasn't warned. * Lazar nods. "You get used to vampyres and zombies." ( Can too ) (Well, I can complain that I wasn't warned well enough. ;p But I was warned. ^_~) * Lazar sighs. "Fighting evil so much easier in Transylvania... all evil things try to eat you, suck out you blood, steal you soul... in Japan, bad guys talk you to death. And run away." * Chie shudders. "I don't think I'm terribly fond of the blood-sucking type, easier or not." Yeah, but less confusing. No evil brother, no "maybe evil, maybe no"... if it evil, it drooling, pale, and trying to bite you in Transylvania. * Lazar shakes his head. "Bad guys too complicated in Japan. No is good." I can see it now: The Field Guide to Transylvanian Evil. And, yeah, it's complicated. Especially when it's something like Rei's brother and that sword. ... you have copy? * Lazar looks around. Sadly, no. I doubt it's been written yet. Kinda hard to find writers when they keep getting attacked. No, no. It exists. 93 volume set. ...oh. Just no think they anywhere outside of Transylvania. * Chie shakes her head. "I really, really should not be surprised about that." Has everything from were-aardvark to zombie. ...right. Is there any sort of dark, evil, or otherwise not-nice creature that *doesn't* exist somewhere in Transylvania? No lawyers, I think. Ah, so there *is* an upside! Still, I think I'm not going to be making any vacation plans to go there any time soon. No offense. ( What a blessed place. I wanna live there someday. ) (Lazar and Maria can elope to Transylvania.) * Lazar nods. "Transylvania bad place to visit. Is very hard to leave." I'll bet. Probably really hard to run the passport office when the employees keep getting eaten by were-turtles or something. * Lazar nods. "Plus, demon lords no like people leaving... means less food, fewer toys." Actual demon lords? I didn't think they could survive on this plane for that long... no, wait, they probably can. I just don't want to know how. Is Transylvania. Have vampyre lords ruling vampyres, demon lords control demons... and Dracula. He's not just a myth? No is myth. Even demon lords fear Dracula. * Chie lets out a breath. "I had no idea. I guess they keep it hidden from the rest of the world, because if word got out things were that bad..." Oh, people know. Is just noone want to try to go in and fix. * Lazar shakes his head. "My people only ones dumb enough to try and fight evil in Transylvania." Yeah, they'd have to assemble an entire army of supernatural fighters. And Interpol probably had enough trouble just getting our team together for one city." It's not dumb. It's... okay, maybe it is kinda dumb, but it's better than living in fear and doing nothing about it. * Lazar tilts his head. "Maybe, maybe no." But no matter... once in fight, you always in. Yeah, I've heard that. One of my teachers... he's been doing this sort of thing for twenty years. Which, compared to generations of supernatural fighting, isn't all that much, but, still... * Lazar nods. "Is all I know how to do. Not much time for math when trying to keep dead people from eating you." If it's any consolation, I'm not terribly good at math, either. Never had the patience for it. * Lazar grins. "Then hope evil Rei brother no make us do math to save world?" ( Fools. Shouldn't have mentioned that :P ) Shh! He must never find out our secret! And, if that does happen, we shall hope that Rei is there to save us all, because I have a feeling she's quite good at math. (Rei would kick Katsu's butt at math. ^_~) * Lazar nods. "Is balanced team. Rei and Peter brains. You, Maria and I are brawn. Makoto sneaky, and Chomei... is Chomei." ( I have my own niche!) * Chie sighs. "You know, he is a genuinely nice guy. He just... is severly lacking in clues. And that's probably bothering me more than it should. But!" Would you, perhaps, be willing to lend your support to the Dye Chomei's Hair Pink Movement? He forfeited the silver-blue when he pulled that stunt last night. ( Rei is brains? c.c ) ... I was thinking of hanging him upside down out window. No, no, no! Defenestration is far too... pedestrian. We must have style! No, no, no protest. Hang out window. But it lacks *style*! I mean, yeah, I'm sure it'd be fun to hang him out for a few minutes, but dying his hair will last for at least a week! Two, if I can mix the dye up properly. Sadly, they have yet to make a permanent pink. ( *wonders if Rei has much skill in Chemistry...* ) ... could break his arm. Would last a while. * Chie shakes her head quickly. "No, Laz. I mean, we do need him around. He's a valuable member of the team. We just won't let him be in charge of anything that requires... common sense." ... was joking, little one. Well, mostly. * Chie blushes furiously. "Right. I knew that, really." * Lazar patpats Chie. "Of course." But maybe somebody should talk to him. In which case, I nominate Makoto. He'd probably be more... diplomatic than either of us would. ( Ouch. With that one action, Chomei's life was forever changed... ) * Lazar nods. "Throttling him probably no is best way to talk." And mine would be... loud. Very loud. And full of insults that aren't completely directed at him, and that I don't entirely mean, and that I'd regret saying later. So, yeah. * Lazar eyes Chie. * Chie blinks. "What?" * Lazar grins. "Nothing." *whistles* Hey, I've blown up at people who didn't entirely deserve it before. It's a habit I'm trying to break. Honest. Just surprised. You seem like such calm, even-tempered person. * Lazar grins. * Chie grins back. "Oh, but of course. I'm the pinnacle of serenity. Heck, if you go look up 'calm' in a dictionary - *any* dictionary - you'll find my picture right there beside it." * Lazar nods. "Same dictionary with my picture next to subtle?" Absolutely. And the one that conveniently neglects to mention the fact that I was lousy at meditation. Eoi-sensei was great at the whole 'empty your mind' thing, but I never could get the hang of it. ( subtle like a rock! ) (A rock on your head?) Meditation replace sleep for me. Is how I recover after fight. * Chie blinks. "Ahhh... so that's how you do it. I have to admit, I was always curious... but I didn't want to pry. Yes, really." * Lazar shrugs. "No sure how would work if seriously hurt... but so far, resting for night has helped. By time it time to go to club, am healed." That's a pretty good deal. And, well, so far we all seem to be pretty resilient. Still... I'm gonna step up my training some. Can't hurt to be even more prepared. * Lazar nods. "Only so much training I can do... no have muscles to build. But will do what I can. Team needs someone to hide behind, no?" =P * Chie grins. "Yeah, we're always behind you. And... thanks. I mean it. I'm... really glad to have you around." It's good to have people who know what I can do and don't run away screaming or insist I'm lying or try to have me committed. ( She IS hitting on him! <.< ) * Chie winks. (Fascinating.) (No she's not! She's just... friendly. Very friendly. ;p) (Suuuuuuure.) * Lazar shrugs. "I from Transylvania. In Japan, you is unusual. In Transylvania... you Chie." Hey, I *like* being Chie. * Chie grins. Yes, but you no have eyestalks growing out of you armpits. So you no are very odd, in comparison. Yuck. Okay, in that case I will accept not being very odd. Is good plan. ( I must remember that one. ) ( Blind it with deoderant! ) * Lazar hrms. "I should go. Need to find gift for Rei birthday." Good idea. And I need to put the finishing touches on hers. * Chie stands up and stretches. "It was nice talkin' with you. Stop by anytime." * Lazar nods. "Will try not to angst next time." Nah. If you need to angst, angst. No good keeping it in. I didn't mind listening, and I hope I helped at least a little. Still getting the hang of this "helping my friends feel better" thing, y'know? * Lazar stands. "Did help. Thank you." * Chie smiles. "Any time." And next fight, remember to stay behind big stone guy when bullets fly. *grin* * Chie grins back. "Will do. That was not one of my better moves." [Wendy's has better hamburgers, but MacDonald's has better fries.] [End]