MAILBOX; inbox

[shoubai]

WELCOME

House 1411

"Hello? Hello?? I'm sorry, there's nobody home right now. [ obnoxious peal of laughter: go ]

Ahh, that's right! Leave a message, and I'll get back to you. Right? That's how it goes? Aha, no telemarketers, please!

If you run up my bill, I'll have to ask you to pay the extra costs.

[ BEEP ]

Comments

[slushfund]

Sometimes it's easy to forget that the body I'm in here, I'll be in when I get back home.

[he waves a hand at the glass after he's done filling half of his lonely mug with steaming coffee.

two drugs ready to mix, ready to wake him up, lift him up, and then push him right back over.

of course, hiruma doesn't bother elaborating on sakamoto's tall tale; he works closely enough with an alcoholic to know when someone finds solace in a few drinks. here, whatever. here, it doesn't matter. and isn't that a pretty mindset?]

If it's good for the heart, then, ah. By all means, right?

[shoubai]

For the good of the heart, cheers.

[ he knows it isn't particularly good, he knows this won't do him well down the road. this isn't good for his company, but here? under the landlord's watch and gracious hospitality? here where there was no kaientai? it didn't seem to matter as much.

what a pretty, sickening mindset. he puts it firmly out of his mind. ]

If it's a good body, what's the matter? You look like a guy who's taking care of himself.

[ tired, yes, weary in some quiet and subtle way, yes. but healthy? fit? young? strong? yes, yes, and yes. an athlete, a man with a dream. only the ambitious can be so driven for so long. ]

[slushfund]

Sure, in that regard. Bodies are simply tools that bring greedy minds what they want.

[a mindset he's had, on more than a few occasions — he can tell it's a deflection.

it helps him realize, with a bit of a pause over the lip of his cup, that not only can he help this man acclimate, he has the ability to keep him on course. things he's suffered here would be easy to relay to sakamoto, problems would be easy to pinch off now that he knows how it is and knows how everyone starts to slip.

green eyes raise studiously, cataloguing every detail of the tradesman; he doesn't have a dial for the intensity, it's getting bearings on others that makes him so good at what he does. sakamoto may be an exceptional liar, but they're toe to toe now.]

I wonder... what your mind wants now more than ever?

[shoubai]

[ out. a way out. home. space. his fleet. his dream. ]

A fine woman wouldn't go awry. Some song, a good deal of wine. Isn't that what most men want in life?

[ he laughs, knocks back another burning swallow of souped-up coffee and berates himself for a fool. old habit, bad habit. he'd shake it yet. ]

Besides the good things in life, a return to business wouldn't be too terrible. Is this along the lines of what you were expecting?

[slushfund]

Hou, here I was expecting a convoluted answer.

[in so few words, it's exactly what he'd anticipated.

naturally, really, for who wouldn't give someone like hiruma the runaround? he's practically a stranger, someone boasting illustrious goals and ambitions, a random twenty-year-old boy asking for — demanding — the impossible.

not after tonight, hiruma assures himself.

tonight he gets to know this man, katsura's friend; a confidant.

and his bar for this meeting is, as always, set incredibly high. he can barely reach the level he's set for himself (sakamoto, in the flesh, is proof the sky isn't the limit — why would he settle for anything less than his own marble capstone?). expecting others to is...]

Most men want freedom. The rest comes after, isn't that right?