IC INBOX | OKADA IZOU

[goei]

@Izou

manslayer

---

ABOUT ME

The strongest, most genius swordsman to ever haunt the streets of Kyoto! That's me! So you better think twice before crossing me, ya hear?

NOTE

As long as you don't get in my way I won't kill you, probably.

Message @manslayer

Comments

[vogelfrei]

[ ... McGillis blinks. ]

That's... recent.

[ YOU WEREN'T EVEN A TEENAGER??? ]

[goei]

[I WAS SURPRISED WHEN I LOOKED IT UP TOO. He just got lucky with the timing I guess ]

Yeah, well with how many officials I was offin' they were pretty intent on tracking me down I guess.

Kei joined up too as soon as Dad'd let him, but as far as I know he never had ta kill anybody.

[vogelfrei]

How strange to imagine that you've had a whole life before 'Manslayer' became central to your being.

[ McGillis is trying to imagine a murder-free Izou as a young man - in debt, involved with radical forces, but overall on the right side of the law. He can't picture it. ]

[goei]

Whole life? I was just barely gettin' started. I mean yeah, I was alive fer all those years before, but until we were teenagers me an' Ryouma were just kinda fuckin' around doin' nothing.

[To Izou, he wasn't really living his life until he had a purpose and direction. Very dog coded of him.]

[vogelfrei]

That is also hard to imagine.

[ Both because he can't picture Izou that way and because he can't picture what it's even like to be a tween who's life barely started yet. Theoretically, he's lived those days with Gaelio. But emotionally, he'd always been in such a different place that a lot of Gaelio's worries seemed alien to him. As far as McGillis is concerned, he's always been going through the motions rather than truly experiencing the stages of one's life as they are meant to be experienced. ]

[goei]

[Yeah, if he was actually asked to mentally engage with hiw easy his childhood was compared to McGillis, he'd understand the perspective, but. He doesn't think ]

Easier to imagine if I told ya we got into so much trouble my Mom'd joke they had Kei as a backup after seeing how reckless a kid I was?

[He unsurprisingly sounds weirdly proud of the fact that he was a handful of a child ]

[vogelfrei]

[ At the very least, that does make the corners of McGillis' mouth quirk up in amusement. ]

A little bit. Though I never once questioned that you were a troublemaker.

[ Covered in dirt and with an indignant look on his face... Yeah okay, the picture is coming together. ]

And that I also always pictured you as a child-soldier says more about me and my world than anything.

[goei]

[Shouting that there's no proof he was the one who untied the neighbors horses while there's hay in his hair... That sort of thing.]

Why, they make you go fight when you were still a kid?

[The kid he met was certainly up to the task, but he didn't imagine rich people sending their kids to war.]

[vogelfrei]

Not me, no. I went to military school and didn't experience real combat until my early 20s... previous incidents notwithstanding.

[ The murders were unrelated. ]

My most valued allies were all forced to work for private security companies as children though. It's not an uncommon path for a child from a poor background, unfortunately.

[goei]

Aah... Well, even though we didn't have much money, my family was still samurai. Probably even if the revolution had started earlier I probably still woulda been spared somethin' like that.

[Probably. Maybe.]

[vogelfrei]

Still quite fortunate that you didn't need to put that theory to the test.

[ And quite fortunate for me, that I instead met you after you were already completely tainted in the eyes of the world. Even McGillis won't go so far as to say something like that out of the blue, but the sentiment rings in his mind clear as a bell.

Though the ominous beat of silence, the silent waiter once again makes his appearance from the back of the room, this time to remove their empty plates and leave them with just the remainder of their drinks. McGillis glances out the window - by now, the sun has fully set. ]

Hmm... Time flies when you're having fun.

[ Because he has been having fun. Tense moments aside, it's been nice. Relaxed, even. ]

[goei]

[MCGILLIS WHY ARE YOU GLAD FOR THAT. WHY IS THAT GOOD FOR YOU???]

Crazy ta hear a phrase like that come outta yer mouth.

[But yeah, he does seem to be, for what he's come to expect from McGillis, in a good mood. Weirdly(?), Izou feels like he's had a nice time too??]

That mean I actually met yer expectations? I figure a guy like you had some sorta idea in yer head about how this'd go.

[vogelfrei]

Well, I can't deny that I had some intentions.

[ To kill time. To stay awake. To make Izou look at him and only him for an evening. ]

And I'd say I've achieved my aims. I know you a fair bit better now.

[goei]

When ya talk like that you make it sound like it's over and done with. Who says we gotta stop with just havin' dinner?

[As he finishes off the wine in his glass.]

[vogelfrei]

Oh?

[ Likewise finishing his drink. ]

If you want to whisk me away some more, I'm all yours.

[ He hadn't wanted to overstrain this, but he also does absolutely not want to go back home and to sleep. So. Why not make more bad choices? ]

[goei]

[Bad choices indeed. Izou grins, because for some reason McGillis has given him carte blanche it seems. Not that he knows what that phrase means.]

Oh? Yer puttin' yer fate in manslayer Izou's hands?

[He's getting up, clearly already with something in mind.]

[vogelfrei]

Had I not already done so?

[ The truthful answer is: absolutely not. McGillis has no intention of letting Izou decide whether he lives or dies. If it truly came down to it, he'd kill Izou to save himself with no questions asked.

But for the sake of flirting, a little fudging it is permitted. McGillis heads to the counter to pay for their meal (and he does leave a generous tip, he knows they've been weird to behold), then follows Izou out the door. ]

[goei]

[Izou's really just slotting naturally into the roll of sugar baby as he didn't even give paying a second thought.]

That kinda freedom kinda makes me wanna bully you a little. Ain't you gettin' a bit too comfortable?

[His tone isn't actually threatening, though. Really it's him that seems to be getting too comfortable as he trots ahead down the street.]

[vogelfrei]

[ McGillis is equally suited to the sugar daddy role, apparently, because he also did not think even once about Izou paying for any of this. He invited him, of course he's paying. Izou's complete lack of effort to stop him from footing the bill thus went totally unnoticed as well. ]

You tell me to cut loose and then berate me every time I relax. Talk about sending mixed messages.

[ Well. He should probably cut loose and relax with people who aren't deliberating killing him, that's true. He just doesn't want to. ]

[goei]

Just cause I think you should let loose don't mean I'm the guy you aughta be gettin' comfortable around.

[But against his better judgement, he's glad that McGillis is.]

But I think I'd like ta se you even more unraveled. When you were-
[He stops himself, and from the look on his face it was something suggestive he was about to say.]

A-anyway, I remembered this place was nearby, and I bet ya never done anything like this before;

[Gesturing at an establishment just down the street; CRAZY MIKES TURBO MINI GOLF]

[vogelfrei]

[ McGillis has a very 'go on~' kind of look on his face, but Izou chickens out and that's just as well. (McGillis is reasonably certain that if by crazy happenstance they do end this night somewhere in a hotel, it's not him getting unraveled anyway.)

And then that thought is cut short, because he is confronted with CRAZY MIKE and all that CRAZY MIKE might have in store for them. ]

Well. I've played actual golf before...?

[ He hated that though.

For the few steps it takes them to approach, McGillis gives CRAZY MIKE's crazy business a dubious look, but by the time they're at the door he's caught himself. Fine, he'll buy minigolf tickets for two. Let's do this, what the fuck. ]

[goei]

Nah nah this is different. You'll hate it.

[Probably. The bored teenager manning the entry booth hands over the tickets and then points them to a rack of multicolored putters and matching golf balls.

Izou of course, picks out the red ones, before heading through the gate. Apparently one of the selling points of CRAZY MIKE's establishment is that it can operate during the night despite being outdoors. The whole course is alight with various neon tracks, the obstacles illuminated with floodlights including some sort of cyber gorilla, a plaster volcano, and an alien spaceship. Hooray.]

Goals still the same as regular golf though!

[vogelfrei]

[ McGillis is going to grab blue, because sticking with theme colors is important.

And then they pass the gates and McGillis understands that it's CRAZY MIKE's world. They're just living in it. ]

I know what minigolf is.

[ Gaelio has probably tried and failed to drag him along to it once, while McGillis was instead focused on doing homework........ A mistake that he'd regret in the afterlife, who knew. ]

And I appreciate that you're attempting to frustrate me out of going out with you. It won't work. Let's go.

[goei]

Psh, if I was trying ta do that I'd just make you run laps with me or something.

[Apparently Izou thinks he could outrun McGillis? Bold claim.]

I just wanna see yer frustrated face when I beat you at a game this stupid!

[He's decided he's going first as he tees up at the first hole before hitting his ball entirely too hard.]

[vogelfrei]

[ Izou?? He's a career soldier, he is used to drills. He's not going to be put off by running laps??

And then McGillis gets to watch that ball ricochet off the course wall and expand its energy by being unnecessarily derailed.

... ]

Well. Then show me your expertise. I am prepared to be amazed.

[ So flat. ]