Scene #7140: The Knight And The Dog

Owner	Pose
Majima Goro	The Grand Dorado would not seem to be Majima's thing. It's clean. There's basically nobody to punch, at any time. However, he's in recovery mode. The fight wasn't to the death, or anything, but he still needs to recuperate, and that means food. This presents an opportunity, and so, at a somewhat upscale cafe... "One of..everything, sir?" Majima's waiter is not sure what to make of this situation. The one-eyed man with obvious bandages around his midsection, and reddened skin, reclines in his fancy outdoor patio chair. Legs spread obnoxiously far. "Eh? Yeah. One of everythin'," He says, flicking the menu. "I wanna try one of literally everythin' ya sell. It's a thing. I got the cash." In fact, to demonstrate, he splays a pile of it on the table, from somewhere. "...I see. Very well." The waiter dutifully checkmarks literally everything on his piece of paper, and walks back inside to baffle the shit out of a chef.
Seifer Almasy	The clean, sharp, beautiful city. The gold city. The city of promise and prosperity built on skill and capacity. Grand Dorado. This isn't really Seifer's kind of thing, either. He's gotten used to it, though only sparingly - he spends the vast majority of his time on the Moon Cell, fighting through wireframes to keep his skills sharp, spending hours with Caster, or doing paperwork. The rare occasions he does come to Grand Dorado are entirely for Concord business, save today. He's dressed in his usual preferred coat. This is an oddity - usually when he comes to Grand Dorado he's in his Concord best. But today isn't business, and he didn't feel like dressing up. And it'd be kind of a pain with his injuries. He's got...a lot of them. Some of them are magical burns. Some of them are just physical cuts. He's on a crutch. Seifer's been through the ringer trying to help Riku and it shows. By the time he sits down at Majima's table he's aching from the effort of walking and has to slide down in that awkward manner to sit at it sidesaddle. Before the waiter goes, he says, "Coffee, six sugars and five spoons of cream, two turnovers or whatever other fruit-and-sugar pastry you've got with cherry, and a dozen in a box with blueberry, cherry, and peach each." He waves his hand. "It's goin' on my account. Seifer Almasy." 'Hand of the Concord' is a title that carries weight around here, after all, and Seifer has very little problem name-dropping himself to avoid having to pay. Makes sense. He's a war orphan. He's a lot more stingy than he lets on. He nods at Majima. "His, too." When the waiter's left, he leans back a little to support his weight, trying to drape his arm over the back and failing miserably. The wince is kind of telling. "So how y' feelin'?"
Majima Goro	"...eh?" Majima's head slowly turns as Seifer approaches. After all, the footsteps do sound weird. Alright. Burns. Cuts. Normal. A crutch. His brows flatten a moment, as if he ponders something..and then Seifer goes and pays for everything. Majima scoops his cash up with a shrug, stuffing it away..in...the wallet Seifer got him, maybe? It's a good question. "What, we ain't goin' Dutch?" He's got a wide grin on his face, rocking his chair back a bit. Seifer gets a longer look, now, as Majima gets a read on the situation. "Me? Heh. I got in a monday afternoon fuckin' tussle. Should be askin' that shit about you, eh?" There's a vague circular motion with a gloved hand. "This that Riku shit again?"
Seifer Almasy	Seifer wouldn't remember if it's the same wallet anyway. "Yeah." "Riku's...possessed." Seifer digs around in his jacket pocket until he can find a notepad. "Ansem, Seeker of Darkness," he reads, "Tall, white-haired, dark skin. Kept...kept him talking long enough." He fumbles with the notepad. It falls out of his hand, onto the table. There's a couple notes there if Majima glances - stuff beyond just the typical 'pick up groceries' or stuff about Ansem. Little things. Little notes about little things that ordinary people would never need to write down. Directions to places. Reminders about birthdays and names with addresses because he'll never remember the faces. Holiday reminders. The whole pad is just a scribble of information, a jumble of things Seifer had to write down in a hurry, lest they disappear. On the bottom it says Sora, I'm sorry. Another is 'remind Majima to tell the story sometime.' A third just reads 'Haguro'. He picks up the notepad and fumbles it back into his coat pocket. "I'll live. Guy said..." Seifer screws up his face. "...said he beat me, Sora, and Molly back at Hollow Bastion. I don't remember what happened. So...Gilgamesh probably ate the memories to protect me. Maybe all of them." "Maybe all the memories I had, too." "Least back to Garden, anyway." Seifer pushes his way back in the chair.
Majima Goro	Majima's got the eye for that, it turns out. He's not going to say it, because he's not a goddamn idiot. He knows damn well why Seifer has it. He crosses his arms, leaned right back as he arches his back. Clearly trying to pop something, before he suddenly leans in. "...Eh? Possessed?" He's paying attention now, leaning in. Seifer's coffee comes down. The pastries will, apparently, be a moment. Majima's got his first plate, some sort of hippie, trendy 'alfalfa' sandwich. It appears they're going to go alphabetically with him. Majima puts his hands together, bows twice to the food, and has a bite. He eats through the rest of the conversation, seemingly lost in thought. "Arright. So, this jackass knows some shit, and he needs Riku for..something. ...Ya care if I smoke? This's soundin' serious." If there is one thing Majima knows, it is that serious conversations call for cigarettes. "Not gonna lie, still not sure ya don't get a raw fuckin' deal with that Gilgamesh shit."
Seifer Almasy	"Nah, go for it. I'll give you a light if you don't mind me tryin'." Seifer holds up his good hand and presses his fingers together. "Gettin' a little more precise. A little. Still need some practice, but I know at least it won't burn your face off. Maybe your eyebrows." Seifer shifts uncomfortably as he looks at the sandwich. "That looks like what food eats. Dang." He does not bow to his drink. He does pick it up and take a sip. He's still a bit of a kid at heart, apparently, considering that childish dream and that...well, that coffee. Or rather, that milk and sugar with coffee flavoring. He looks away from Majima. "Yeah, well. It's a raw deal I accepted. A raw deal I knew I was gonna get. Terms up front. An' you know what? It's my dream, an' I'll do anything to get it. Marry an admittedly hot fox ghost sorceress to be her knight? Yep. Contract to a weird spirit who fell outta the sky after I killed a god? Yep. It doesn't matter. I'll keep goin' forward till that life's one hundred percent in my hands." He leans forward and shakes his head. "Honestly, only raw deal is that he never shuts up. Ever." "...yeah, it's important. And it's serious. I don't know what this Seeker of Darkness knows but I bet he's the reason Riku is the way Riku...was, right...then. Now he's...I dunno, he's not there anymore. The kid's been pushed into it, or something, and his body's been taken over and it's not his body anymore. I don't even know how to describe it. I think he's the guy that Terra guy was looking for."
Majima Goro	Majima draws a cigarette, looking at Seifer a little weirdly. "I mean, we're equals, so that's a little weird, but alright." He holds it in his mouth with two fingers, giving Seifer a chance to light it. Even if it does spark his eyebrows, he'll keep going. Inbetween bites of the sandwich. "It's on the menu, eh? So I'm orderi'n it." That seems to be sufficient enough reasoning for Majima, who listens to the rest inbetween finishing the sandwich, and, apparently, the premium organic Apple Juice that's on the table now along with Seifer's pastries. "Heh. Ya live your life, I get that. I get that." There's a puff of his cigarette, and he lets it dangle from his fingers with the exhale. "And frankly, ya do probably a better job of it than I do. But this Seeker of Darkness shit, eh..." There's a long drag of the apple juice. It's not alcoholic, but not everything has to be. "So, thing there is, ya can't just beat it outta the guy, I'm guessin? Gotta get some mumbo jumbo shit in there, or you're just beatin' up Sora's friend?" Another drag of the cigarette. Bite of the sandwich. "You're caught up in some bullshit, though, Seifer, I'll give ya that. Most I can offer is I can beat some dumbfucks up for ya if your plate gets too full, I guess."
Seifer Almasy	Seifer snaps his fingers. There's a little boom in front of the cigarette. It's audible, and it's not a pop, either - it's a full-fledged explosion. The smell of gunpowder and everything. Like the inside of a gun being fired. After a few seconds it clears up, and the end of Majima's cigarette is missing, but what remains is burning, so, hey, credit! It probably didn't sear off Majima's eyebrows. "Thanks." Seifer gives him a look. "What, is that equals thing some of your weird culture stuff, too? Another business card thing? I wasn't askin' 'cept to practice on a good, small target, so don't worry, this one I'm not gonna argue over." "Yeah. I don't know what'll happen if I beat up Ansem. If it'll hur Riku. I reached out to him, too, just before Ansem took him over. I told him that I was sorry, that I was really sorry, that...I wanted to help him, for real, nevermind Sora, nevermind what happened. That it might have been right, but it's not what Sora would've wanted." Seifer sits forward, face in his hand. "An' as usual when I try an' do any of that crap I just mess it up." "Just stick to bein' a bully." He takes a breath and composes himself. Then he runs his fingers through his short hair and shakes his head. "Yeah, I am. We all are." "Speaking of...I've got a note in my notepad I don't remember writin', but..." He shrugs and takes a bite of the pastry. Then, "So what happened on Monday? This thing with Haguro? An' didn't you almost get killed kinda-recently?"
Majima Goro	Majima's going to smoke the cigarette anyway. It would be weird and rude not to. "...Well, ya get used to, ya know, your /boys/ doin that shit. Leanin' in ta be the guy to get to light your cigarette," He explains. As for the rest, Majima lacks few options besides nodding thoughtfully and passing his empty sandwich plate back to the waiter to receive the asparagus salad with the Brunch Special nearby. "If doin' that heart-to-heart shit was easy, then it wouldn't be a fuckin' industry, Seifer. Ya tryin'. That's more than a lot of these fuckin' idiots." He waves a hand vaguely around, to point to...someone. "Monday? Yeah, Haguro decided ta rob a bank for some huge part o' her. Turns out that they used some metal for her wreck to make the fuckin' vault door. I got bored, Joestar decided he wanted to..fight me for some fuckin' reason, and it wasn't like anyone was comin' in to stop us, so I went for it. Shit was great." As for the rest, he looks to the side. "Eh, yeah, kinda almost died. Got better. Got some meals in me, rested up, got the Concord meds to do their damn jobs, and I'm good to go, ya know?" He taps himself on the chest, and winces a bit. "Ya wrote some shit in your notepad ya don't remember? I mean...ain't that why you're writin' in it ta begin with?"
Seifer Almasy	"What, like, they compete t' be the guy who lights your cigarette?" Seifer raises an eyebrow. "That's friggin' weird. You know that's weird, right?" He runs his hand across his face. "Yeah, well, if it was an industry at least I'd know where to get it, or somethin'." His hand remains over his eyes. "Think that one got away from me a little but you know what I mean." Seifer watches Majima wince when he touches his chest, and his eyes narrow a little bit. "You don't look good to go. An' I bet that's not from your Monday fight, either. Did you go brawl him with a chest injury?" Seifer waves his hand at the notepad question, an implicit 'you know what I meant.'
Majima Goro	"It ain't fuckin' weird!" Majima gestures with the cigarette. "It's--never mind." It's not worth explaining. He taps the burning smoke out on the table, and has another swig of his drink. "Eh? Nah, that's from gettin' some rainbow bright overdrive shit at point blank." There's a shrug. "Why ya think I'm here gettin' a fuckin' meal in, 'stead of working on the construction site? Joestar launched my ass outta the bank like a fuckin' baseball." He mimics a bat swing. "...but, eh. ...I remember. Fuckin' karaoke night. Ya wanted ta know who I was singin' bout, back there." He takes a breath. "...heh. You got a lot on your plate. Sure ya wanna hear my shit right now?"
Seifer Almasy	"Oh, right. Super attack." Seifer shrugs. "'cause you're hungry? Like a normal person? I mean, not like a normal person," he glances at the waiter, as if to say NORMAL PEOPLE DON'T ORDER THE ENTIRE MENU, MAJIMA, "But close enough." There's a quiet pause. Then, "Yeah, I'm sure." "I wanna hear it 'cause it's obviously important to you, Majima." He taps his finger on the table and stares at the other man. "So spill."
Majima Goro	"Yeah, but...what, this shit?" Majima points at the Chicken Cacciatore he's got now. "This is just gettin' this cafe off the list. Ya gotta try everythin' once, Seifer, that's just fuckin' life as it works. Ain't you the one who's gotta get every fuckin' Triple Triad card now? Ya wanna get on that? Neehahaha!" There's a long pause, as Seifer really does push the line, though. His expression drops a little. Seifer sees a different man, for a moment. A very tired man. A tired man, in his forties, who looks rundown and defeated, for just a moment. "...Alright. Mid-eighties. I'd been outta the fuckin' pit, workin' my way back into the Yakuza." He has, at least, the Crown Whiskey on the cocktail menu, and damn if this situation does not call for it. He lights his own cigarette, this time. "Was running a cabaret club for an asshole who was stringing me along. I knew it, he knew it, but I didn't have another option. I needed back in, and he was my lifeline, even if he was keepin' tabs on me. Wasn't allowed to leave town, and every spare yen I made went to his immortal ass. Then one day, he's got a deal for me. All I gotta do is kill -one- asshole, and I'm back in. And this's straight from the guy who had me in a torture room for a fuckin' year, so it's absolutely legit. ...That sounds weird as fuck, but go with it."
Seifer Almasy	Seifer raises an eyebrow and mouths 'now'? The implication is pretty clear. But he doesn't wanna speak over Majima. This is important. Important. Capital Letters Important. He shakes his head. "Guy has no reason to lie to you about that," he says, "Lyin' about money's a direct benefit to him. Lyin' about havin' you kill somebody's just stupid - if you do it, and he doesn't, then it's open season on him, 'cause the rules got broke, right? An' if you don't do it, then he loses nothin'."
Majima Goro	There's a sigh. "So, fuck it." Majima says. "I ain't killed before. So, I got a name. Makoto Makimura," He says, "I'm told this asshole guy's doin' bad shit, involving human trafficking. I do a bunch of runnin' around, find out he runs a 'massage parlor', so I break in after the place is closed to see what the deal is," There's a drink of whiskey. He's got the Garlic Meatball Sandwich now, at least. At some point, he pops open a bottle of something called 'app-stim RX', taking a pill or two before continuing. "Course, I was young, right? Didn't figure he just wouldn't be there. Thing is...as I'm 'bout ta leave, and it really /is/ a standard, up-and-up massage parlor, I hear a girl's voice."
Seifer Almasy	Seifer leans back in the chair at Majima mentioning the name. He waits, and then, "But he's legit, isn't he? He's not doin' that stuff at all. The massage parlour's exactly that?"
Majima Goro	"This girl comes in. Staring right at me. Then she's callin' out," Majima says, looking around, "And she's feeling her way around, and I realize--she's fuckin' blind. She's wearin' a uniform for the place, and she's blind." He sounds exasperated, but is that..a hint of a smile on his face? "...So she /barely/ just squeezes past me, and I'm standing there, petrified. And /bam/, I fuckin' cough. She starts screaming. Ya know. 'Thief! Thief!'" He chuckles a little. This..is a weirdly happy memory, for him. "...Eventually, I calm her ass down, convince her I'm there for a massage. Course, now I have ta actually /get/ the massage. Kinda..ya know, just put the killin' tanto into a nearby trash can, figurin' she wouldn't see it, take the massage, and I kinda..." He looks embarassed. Like, he actually rubs the back of his neck. "So I fuckin' fell asleep."
Seifer Almasy	There's a very long, pregnant pause, before Seifer gives a little laugh. It's not much of one, and it's not the HOLY SHIT THAT'S HILARIOUS laugh. It's the quiet little disbelieving 'fucking really' laugh that people laugh when they don't want to say that but are definitely thinking it loudly. "A blind masseuse, though. That's actually kinda interesting. 'cause she'd have to be real good at touch, right? Probably real good at findin' the knots and stuff." Seifer taps the table and picks up his coffee. "So, what, did you wake up to find the guy loomin' over you, wonderin' what the heck you were doin' there?" He's not laughing, but he is grinning and trying to politely hide it in his coffee.
Majima Goro	"Yeaaah, therebouts. So I wake up, and he's tellin' the girl to go get cigarettes, cause he wants ta give me 'a full treatment', and he needs the cigarettes ta 'heat up the needles'." Majima says. "He sees the knife. I'm lookin' at him, he's lookin' at me, neither of us is gonna tell the girl what the fuck's going on. Soon as she's gone, he's askin' why a shitty ass hitman was sent after him. I get the needles outta his hands, he kicks the knife away, we tussle. It's a fuckin' /bitch and a half/, cause he knows every pressure point in the human body. Pretty sure if I let him do whatever the fuck it was he was doin' with his thumb when he had my arm bent back, he'd've wrecked me, ya know?" There's a vague weird hand gesture that's like a thumbs down, except the thumb is pressed back, then he gets onto his egg salad for a few bites. "So I get him beaten back a bit, and then a bunch of cheap suit yakuza show up. They get a shot on the guy, I'm just standin' there pissed off someone is poaching my kill..." He turns his head. "...Then the girl comes back. Everyone's dead silent. She walks up, big guy's like 'Get out of here!', and one of the cheap suits looks at her and goes, 'Oh, there you are...Makoto.'" He pauses. "So, yeah, I'm apparently supposed to be killin' a fuckin blind girl, and I'm the only one who doesn't know this shit."
Seifer Almasy	Seifer just sort of stares at him for a long, long moment. That's getting to be a pattern here. "The guy sent you to kill a blind girl." "Aight, I'll bite. Why, what did he stand to gain from it, an' how did it lead to an obvious series of misadventures an' problems before everything went..." He leaves that hanging.
Majima Goro	"I'm gonna get to that shit. That's the whole crux, right there." He waves a forkful of food at Seifer as he says this. "Right then, didn't fuckin' matter. What mattered was I was gonna get her out of there. Dead or no, she was /my/ ticket back into the Yakuza. So I beat those fuckers up, big guy's got a bullet in his leg, he ain't going anywhere. Tells me ta leave with her. Fine by me. So we're sneakin' cross Sotenbori, and it is /packed/ with guys lookin' for her. Took fuckoff forever, finally shook everyone off. So I'm alone with her, in an alley. I got my knife. And I pull it out, and..there it fucking is, right?" He looks at Seifer. "Everythin' I want. One girl, one cut of the neck, it's done, I'm back in. And..." He shakes his head. "I couldn't fuckin' do it. That's when shit started gettin' nuts. So, big guy found a storage locker we could..kinda keep her in while we tried to sort shit out. That's when things started getting /really/ fuckin' crazy. Everyone wants this girl, and I mean fuckoff everyone. Dojima family's comin' over in droves searchin' for her. Remember how I was tellin' ya about The Empty Lot, a few times?"
Seifer Almasy	Seifer takes a long sip of his coffee. Clink. "Of course you couldn't do it. You couldn't possibly do it. There's lines you won't cross. There's things you won't do." Seifer leaves it hanging whether it's the same for him. He takes another sip of the coffee. "But you're not proud of it, are you? That you've never killed a man. It's not a thing you're proud of. It's a reminder that that's the line you can't cross. That that's the line you already found you couldn't cross when you had everything you wanted on a plate and couldn't go through with it." His eyes are locked on Majima's one. "Because if you did, you wouldn't stop, would you? You love fighting. You love blood. But you don't want to taste that kind of blood. You're not a soldier. You never will be. Because if you start tasting that kind of blood, you'll be a mad dog that needs to be put down - a mad dog that can't be satisfied." Clink. "I mean, maybe I'm wrong." He tries to shrug, then winces. "But it's starting to make a little more sense, now." Seifer raises an eyebrow at 'do you remember.' "Let's pretend I do. I'm gonna guess it's because she owns it, doesn't she."
Majima Goro	Majima Goro nods. "She doesn't fuckin' know it," Majima says. "She doesn't fuckin' know it, but--lemme tell ya something. Turns out she's Korean. And she got fuckin' taken by a goddamn human trafficking ring. She's blind because of the fuckin psychological trauma. She got adopted into Japan, her and her fuckin' brother, after they got her out. Her grandpa, who lives in Japan, only had this one tiny ass lot to his name, left it to her. She has no idea, but the rest of Japan's apparently figgered it out. We're talkin'...the amount of money's staggerin'. This girl's worth billions upon billions, and she hasn't got a fuckin' clue. All she knows is she's helpless, and scared, and noone's explaining what's going on to her. I sure as fuck wasn't going to, and neither was Big Lee, as it turns out his name is." He takes a breath. "...As for that, yeah. Ya kill a guy, the second guy's easier. Third guy's easier. I ain't goin down' that route. ...So, yeah, now I gotta keep her safe. Somehow. When everyone and their fuckin' brother wants them dead, and me and Lee eventually find some chick who looks just like her. Real fuckin' bitch piece of work. All we gotta do is off her, put her in Makoto's clothes, dump her in the river, get Makoto outta Sotenbori. Problem fuckin' solved, right?"
Seifer Almasy	Seifer Almasy has killed a man. He doesn't say anything about it getting easier. He's a soldier. This is a civilian's point of view. No matter how much Majima may be a skilled man, he's a civilian, and the look in Seifer's eyes says as much. That he could offer thoughts here, say something, but that it'd be like two ships in the night - it'd go past Majima just like what Majima's saying is going past Seifer. Oh, sure, they'd both grasp the underlying points of it - but the conclusions are from two different worlds. Finally, he says, "No. Because you didn't kill her, either, did you?"
Majima Goro	Majima just knows the Yakuza who've killed people. It's not soldiers. Soldiers get debriefed. "...I couldn't do it. Left the clothes in a trash bin. Couldn't fuckin' do it. Walked off. Decided to figure out what the fuck to do later. Next fuckin' day, there she is, on the fuckin' news. Our fake Makoto, dead, in a fuckin' river. Wasn't me, wasn't ol' Big Lee, right? So I go to that asshole--Sagawa, the guy who's been yankin' my chain, tell him the good news, since..I don't know what the fuck else to do. ...Shit, this linguini's pretty good," He distracts himself for a minute to comment on the food, nodding appreciatively at the Italian fare. The waiter is, frankly, having a mild existential crisis. "So we've got a plan. We're gonna sneak Makoto into the fuckin' van the massage parlor uses, Big Lee's gonna take her, and all I gotta do is get her to the van. Right as I'm walking up, Big Lee's starting it..." There's a long, long drag of his drink. "Car bomb."
Seifer Almasy	"Car bomb." "That goes past crime family tactics and straight into domestic terrorism. They wanted this lot so bad that they would risk going right into terror tactics to get what they wanted, huh." "So who did it?"
Majima Goro	Majima nods. "Yeah. This was gettin' serious. Truth is, I /think/ it was Sagawa, but I ain't ever been entirely sure. He was definitely there, he knew I'd fucked with 'im--sent guys ta follow me and shit, and he's just gettin' about to shoot me in the fuckin' head as I'm laying there next to Makoto, when some guy shoots /him/ in the fuckin' back. He falls over, and I'm..kinda blurry-eyed, ya know?" He points to his one eye. "Then -that- fucker knocks me out, I wake up, Sagawa's got me tied to a fucking wall." He pauses. "...Ah, yeah, as for who killed the /fake/ Mikoto, turns out it was this one crazy fuck named Nishitani. Ya ever see me do that thing where I throw a knife up and then kick it into a guy? Learned it fighting him. Absolute fuckin' madman, walked right into my Cabaret, bought it out so he was the only customer. Literally bought every girl." He shakes his head, chuckling a little. "So I tell him I won't fuckin' fight a customer, and he grabs a phone. Grabs a fuckin' phone, calls the cops, and tells them he's ME, and that there's a guy robbin' the place. Hangs up, tells me that now that he's robbing the place, I can fight him. I had to respect that shit, ya know?" He grins. "So, Sagawa's only not murdering my ass because I know Nishitani, who knows where Makoto is. I find that fuck, he's not only in jail--turns out that he just fuckin' chills in jail, Seifer. He chills in jail when he feels like it, because he's bought enough cops that he can just fuckin' live in there." He gets a little more serious. "...Nishitani wants another fight, I fight him in a jail cell. Turns out the asshole who shot Sagawa took her to a fuckin' brothel outta town, then it turns out some asshole bribed the police to kill both of us. Nishitani fuckin' tanks six revolver shots to the chest to save -my- ass."
Seifer Almasy	"Six in the chest, huh." Seifer holds up his hand to flag for a refill. "Is that the guy who works for you now? I don't remember his name," he says, as if that's necessary, "But it starts with a Ni, doesn't it?"
Majima Goro	Majima Goro shakes his head. "...Nah. Nishitani's dead. Nishida's the guy who works for me," He explains. "Like I said. Six bullets. That's how ya kill a guy. Or a knife." "So, yeah. After that shit, I went off with Sagawa to this crazy ass black ops fuckin' secret Yakuza prison underneath the goddamn brothel. I'm talkin' ninja motherfuckers. We split up, it was one of those real long 'open doors with the bodies of your enemies' kinda fuckin' endeavours." He has another cigarette. It's going great with his tortellini dishes. "So I find the fuckin' guy who shot Sagawa and knocked my ass out. Name's Sera. He makes a deal with me that Makoto's safe in Kamurocho, and -anyway- just as we're workin' that shit out, Sagawa shoots him in the fuckin' back, and...well. Same deal, really. I know where she is, and I know there's a real estate company that's holdin' her. So, anyway, we gotta get to the real fuckin' special part of this, because Shimano--the guy who ordered the hit--wants to fuckin' talk to me and Sagawa."
Seifer Almasy	"Does he want you dead, or does he want to offer you everything you want in exchange for the girl, 'cause he figures you ain't gonna pull the trigger yourself by this point, or does he actually wanna make a square deal?"
Majima Goro	Majima Goro rubs his forehead. "...So, I gotta talk a little bit about Shimano first. This guy's a long term planner kinda guy. I respected him, even if he, ya know, fuckin' tortured me for a year. Guy knows what he's about. So, we explain the situation, and this guy looks at Sagawa like, 'So, Majima didn't kill Makoto...of course fuckin' not, you idiot, that was the point!'" There's a dramatic hand gesture. "Turns out the entire idea was that he knew I wouldn't kill her, but knew that she'd trust a guy who was sent to kill her but couldn't do it. He never wanted her dead in the first place. He just wants her to trust me so that I can convince her to pass him the fuckin' Empty Lot. That was the plan. The entire fuckin' time."
Seifer Almasy	"That's a good plan." "Guy knew you real well. I guess that comes from a year of torture." Seifer is quiet for a minute. "Gotta know how to get into somebody's head. Zero in on the flaws. Navigate around the strengths. Break 'em down." His hand doesn't shake. The coffee gets poured, and he picks up the cup and shoos the waiter away. "So did you?"
Majima Goro	Majima Goro nods. He doesn't seem too chuffed about that whole thing, for some reason. "Well...I was kinda pissed off at the time that I'd been played like an idiot, but I ended up finding her at the lot. 'pparently the Dojima boys killed her brother. So we make a deal that I'll go off the lieutenants for her, in revenge, right? So I go to meet her the next day--'cept it turns out Makoto fuckin' played me. She's gone off to the Dojima building to trade the Empty Lot for the heads of the lieutenants." He cracks his neck once. "...Do I gotta tell you that was a stupid idea, or.."
Seifer Almasy	"Trading away leverage in exchange for the heads of loyal high-ranking members?" Seifer just kind of stares at him over the coffee, like, 'what do you think'.
Majima Goro	"So, yeah, I busted in, told the guy in the front to get /every/ meatsack on duty, cause I was going to beat them all to hell," Majima stretches out, "And then I beat every last one of 'em to hell, just in time to watch some asshole assassin guy put a bullet in her from three feet away." He pauses a long second. "...I mean, yeah, single bullet, she fuckin' lived, but at the time it was worrying as fuck, and they /did/ have to get her a doctor."
Seifer Almasy	Seifer nods. "But she lived." "I'm sure she lived. Or you wouldn't've said that you've never killed a man in your life, would you? Because you would've killed him if she hadn't, I think."
Majima Goro	"I almost killed that fuck. Almost. She ended up in the operating room, I went off to Dojima headquarters," Majima says. This is the part where he sounds angry. "...I'd call it a rampage. Beat the assassin to an inch of his life, and I was about to end Dohei Dojima when that Sera guy shows back up. I mean, I'm there, with a gun, Dohei's losing his shit, and Sera's the one thing between me and ending that asshole. ...Heh. Not that that mattered, in the end, I guess." He chuckles, shaking his head. "...Good fuckin' zucchini." "So, Makoto's in a coma, I'm sent off to go kill Shimano, Shimano makes a deal with me where I'm back in his family instead, Omi Alliance guy takes the fall instead, and I didn't see her for a few years. She had her sight back, and shit, but..." He takes a breath. "..So here's the fuckin' rub. Alright? Ain't a fuckin' question that I care about her. And, right in that fuckin' moment, I know that she cares 'bout me. So..what do you do, when you're in my crazy ass situation, and--she's never heard my name, and she's never seen my face. And I went -that- far to protect her...well, I had ta finish the job. So..." He stops. "...so I kept out of her fuckin' way successfully till 'bout a year before we unified."
Seifer Almasy	"Safest place to be is as far away as possible." "It's not like me and Tamamo." Seifer waves his hand, then winces. "Tamamo can take care of herself. She's dangerous. But this lady, she's not. She's caught up in something bigger than herself and while she might be able to fight she's not fighting the kind of people she's dealing with. If you were around her you'd be working twice as hard to protect you and her." "That, or you were a coward and didn't wanna talk to her, but I know that's not the case." Seifer leans forward a bit. "You don't wanna to be around a civilian when you're tryin' t' solve a military problem. It's the same for you, right? You don't wanna be around somebody innocent when you're tryin' t' solve a gang problem." "Plus, it might make your resolve crack. You might have to show them something ugly. Something you don't want 'em to see."
Majima Goro	"'zactly. But yeah. You get it." He chuckles a bit. "...so, get this shit, though. So, Omi Terada's absolutely fuckin' up the Tojo clan a couple years back. Yada yada yada, I get a murder pinned on me, and I'm lookin' into it. Drags me back to Sotenbori, cause apparently it's one of my guys that actually did the hit. And I'm lookin' for this Kawamura fuck, cause it turns out he has gambling debts and some asshole offered to pay 'em--you see where this is going." He handwaves. "...so ended up goin' to the same massage parlor, lookin' for answers. Woman agrees to help me out, but I gotta buy a massage course. I ain't thinkin' twice about it, just buy whatever's the shortest option. Guess who, after ten fuckin' years of being out of the business, apparently had /just/ come back to it?"
Seifer Almasy	"Sounds like destiny. Too good to be true. Romance right out of a novel." Seifer's got a bit of a drifting grin on his face at that. Literally everybody knows how he feels about that kinda thing. If they don't, they're not paying near enough attention. Whatever the supersoldier's thought processes, at the end of the day, he's still a kid swinging a stick to become a knight and find his sorceress. "But you didn't wind up with her. Or you wouldn't be here. Why? Did you convince yourself out of it? Did she convince you out of it?" "Did you not want to intrude on her happiness?"
Majima Goro	"...Eh? Situation ain't fuckin' changed. Sides, she had a husband." Majima waves his hand. "So..here she is, giving me this massage. Good news is, she doesn't know my name. She's talkin' to me 'bout her situation, and I can't say a word. She's hittin' muscles that're knotted to hell and back, and I can't risk making a /single/ peep." He explains. "....She still had the same fuckin' watch from when I knew her. Had this shitty strap on it, though, cause the old one broke. She was happy, she was 'bout to leave the country with her husband gettin' transferred, so I figured she'd finally be safe. So, I managed to keep my mouth shut the whole time, and..." He finishes his drink. "....Heh. So, I managed to anonymously, at least, get her the right watch strap. Somewhere, ain't sure where, she's safe and happy. That's all I care about."
Seifer Almasy	Seifer's face flickers. There's a look of...disappointment?...at the way the story ends. Of course there is. He's a romance junkie. Both the knightly romance and, in a lot of ways, the modern romance. Seifer likes stories with happy ends, or bold ends, or bold confessions with tragic endings. It's written on his face, that flickered, ever-so-slight frown, those dipped eyebrows, the tightening of his chin. Yeah, it's somebody's life, but... It's a story, too. Finally, he sits back in the chair, and the look fades as his face returns to normal. "Would you have married her if you'd had the chance?" "If she'd come into that parlour, no husband, would you have said 'hello' to her? Would you have seen where it would've gone, where that feeling would've led?" "I know, I know. No point in ifs. But...humor me. I don't think you get a chance to be honest with yourself that often." Seifer looks up. "I told Haguro I had a crush on her because I wanted to do it and clear the air. Let go of some old stuff. Move forward. Get better at communicatin' stuff without Hyperion with people who ain't Caster." "So." He looks back at Majima. "Here we are. Two friends at a cafe. One with a coffee and a bunch of pastries for his wife, the other...what godforsaken thing are you eating now, anyway?" "...but, here we are." "This is probably the only time you'll get asked this, because I bet you don't tell this story to anybody. And you know you can trust me. And you know I would never give my word if I didn't mean it." Seifer leans forward a little bit. "So tell me. If she had been single, if things had been just slightly different - would you have married her?"
Majima Goro	It's romance, honestly. Just a romance from afar. But Seifer's got a more complicated question to ask, and Majima's...not sure what to say to it. "No. She doesn't need to be part of my bullshit. If she was single...well...she'd still be better off. Especially now. Didn't I tell ya, Seifer? I'm absolute shit at defendin' things. At protectin'. I go out there and I /attack/ shit. That's what I'm good at." He has his last cigarette, now. "..'sides. I got married once. Pop idol. Married me on the sly," He says. "...She got pregnant. ...Decided to ...well, she got rid of the kid, and I get that, but she couldn't fuckin' tell me /first/. I found out after the deed was done. Couldn't deal with that." He stares down at the table. "...That was probably the only woman crazy enough ta be willin' ta risk my fuckin' hijinks, but...had ta draw the line somewhere."
Seifer Almasy	Seifer shrugs. "You're not bad at protecting things. You're just havoc. You can point havoc in a direction an' make it useful for protecting things. It's just most people think of protecting as holding back." "But the best defense is a good offense. 'scliche, but stuff is cliche 'cause it's true." He doesn't say anything at the rest of it. He looks off into the sky, just...silent. What can he say? What could he say that wouldn't sound hollow? Finally, he looks back at the other man and says, "I'm sorry." Then he shakes his head. "That's really messed-up." "You've had a long, hard life, huh?"
Majima Goro	Majima Goro pops his neck. And then he just..starts to laugh. "Nehehahahaha! Who the fuck hasn't, numbnuts? Ya think I'm demandin' sympathy or some shit?" The Mad Dog persona is out for a minute, and he sits right up. "...But..nah. Fuck. I wouldn't change any o' that shit. Ya do what the fuck ya gotta, in life. Knowin' every fuckin' day that Makimura's safe, and she's always gonna be, and ain't noone ever gonna fuckin' change that...makes that shit worthwhile, ya know? Park's fine. We ain't ever gonna be a thing, but...nah. I get my fuckin' kicks. That's just how life is, when ya don't get to be a kickass superknight on the moon, I'm afraid."
Seifer Almasy	"I didn't think you wanted sympathy. I was makin' an observation." Seifer's lip quirks up in a grin. "I'm a friggin' war orphan, moron. Grew up in an orphanage. Too young to even remember my parents, before this whole thing. No parents, no money, just a poor kid swingin' a stick and scrapin' up cash till he was old enough to go to a military academy. Snuck in the theater t' see the Sorceress's Knight. Came back so often they gave me a job sweepin' the place." "Thought I was supposed to be the one with a bad memory, dang."
Majima Goro	Majima Goro ...tilts his head. "...Arright. Arright, fair. I'll take it." He grabs at his glass for another swig. It's empty. "...ah, well. Heh. I don't usually do this whole airin' my dirty laundry shit, ya know. So.. I dunno the fuck you say at this point." His eye trails away. "So, eh, was it worth it for ya?"
Seifer Almasy	Seifer looks down into his coffee. "Yeah, actually." "It's somethin' I'm gonna try and remember." He looks back at Majima. "Or I'm gonna...I dunno, write it down. No names. No major details. Just...somethin' to make sure I don't forget. Somethin' in one of my private journals, somethin' encrypted or some crap." "I just don't wanna forget it." He shrugs. "It'd be a real dick move to go 'yeah it was totally worth it also it's gonna disappear tomorrow', y'know?" He shakes his head, then winces again. "It's not gonna disappear tomorrow literally, it's just...you know what I mean." "Thanks. For telling me."
Majima Goro	There's a moment as Majima adjusts his eyepatch a little. "What, for real? Half the reason I was willin' ta even tell ya was I figgered you'd forget about it!" He cackles again but shakes his head. "...But, eh. Maybe I can trust ya with it. It ain't your kinda romantic story, but it's the kinda shit that keeps me goin'. Bein' the crazy motherfucker I am is what makes the borin' shit palatable in the meantime."
Seifer Almasy	Seifer laughs. "We both know that's not true." He looks back at Majima. "That ain't why you were willing to tell me that." Then he sighs. "Yeah, well. The borin' stuff's the necessary parts. The stuff that keeps the Concord runnin', the everyday little things nobody remembers. Honestly, if you think about it, everybody's got it about as bad as me, they just don't realize it. I've got the benefit of knowin' where my yesterday nothin's gonna end up. Most people just let it slip away 'cause nothin' worth rememberin' happened." He swirls his coffee lightly. "It's the part where I have to lose the things that are worth holdin' onto that occasionally makes me wonder what I've lost. What I might lose. What I will lose. If Caster disappears, or the Moon Cell stops workin' and she goes with it, or...whatever, will I forget her? Will I forget Haguro? Will I forget you?" "I already have trouble with your freakin' name. Only reason I remember Staren's is because he comes up so much I've started associatin' the headache with him. Only reason I remember Rook's is 'cause it'd be way too dangerous not to." "That's the only part that sucks." He shrugs. "The rest is just streamlinin' away that boring stuff in between, that boring, necessary time-filler."
Majima Goro	The Staren joke gets a snort out of Majima, and he leans his elbow on the table, then his chin on his hand. "Heh, fair 'nough. 'sides, 'eyepatch guy' does it. Ya seem to remember the important shit 'bout me anyway, fuck do I care if ya remember my name?" He asks. "I live fun and crazy, and I'm that guy missin' an eye. Ya keep that much in your head, and I'll consider us even." The rest, though, gives him pause. "...well, if ya do forget me, that just means I get ta surprise your ass next time. I'll take it."
Seifer Almasy	"If I forget you guys, there's something a whole lot worse going on and me living through it ain't guaranteed in the slightest. Then again, I guess nothing's guaranteed." Seifer shakes his head. "Alright, this has been fun - an' interesting - but I better get these pastries back to my foxy wife before they get cold." He stands, awkwardly, leaning on the crutch as he picks the bag up. "Talk to you in a bit." "...and seriously, you know you can just say you're a Hand here, right? This is Grand Dorado. Job comes with perks."
Majima Goro	Majima Goro shrugs. "Yeah, but it's funnier when they find out at the end of the fuckin' order, especially if they're givin' me grief and shit midway through. Someone tells 'em, and they get this look in their fuckin' eye. It's great." He cackles again, slowly getting up. "Yeah. You get her those pastries. Seeya next time some shit goes down, alright?"