Day 41: Lunch

[perfectrecord]

Just as von Karma started to enter the doorway leading to the Courtyard to look around for anyone remotely resembling his daughter, that pretentious lunatic's voice rang out over the Intercom, heralding the approach of lunch time. Right away, the damned nurse practically dragged him back into the cafeteria and towards the serving tables, telling

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[ruthless_hunter]

Like usual, Lockdown got to the refueling room nice and early. If he got here early, there was always a dozen empty tables, and therefor he wouldn't be forced to sit with others.

The bounty hunter grabbed himself some fried and what he assumed were the chicken strips. He also decided to get himself a couple of sides, settling on some sort of slop consisting of stringy vegetables and thin, white sauce, and a salad from the salad bar. He used a different dressing than the one he got last time, remembering the horrible taste of it.

Lockdown seated himself on a small table, closest to the wall, hoping that his client would be here soon enough, and started nibbling on a fry.

[closed to Ichimaru Gin]

[traitors_smile]

Crawford had been interesting, to be sure, especially his views on the people of this place as a whole. Gin couldn't say he held many of the patients in high regard, and their herd-like behavior hadn't done much to change his opinion. Still, Gin preferred to make his changes from the inside, rather than the other way around. It was trickier, but that wasn't to say it couldn't be fun.

"LD" wasn't difficult to find either. With such obvious markings, he stood out enough to be as easy target, yet... in this place, people with markings or strange hair colors or anything of the type were almost a dime a dozen. He picked up his tray and took a decent helping before wandering over to the table.

"Aft'noon," he said as he set his tray down, not waiting for an invitation.

[ruthless_hunter]

Lockdown looked up when someone sat down with him. Like most of the humans here, he didn't look the least bit interesting. Was this his client? Only one way to find out.

"You the one from the bulletin who was interested in my services?" He figured that would be ambiguous enough in case this wasn't the guy; and if he was, he would get it right away.

[traitors_smile]

"That's me," he replied easily, as though it were just another conversation. There weren't too many in the cafeteria just yet; a mixed blessing. Not many people around to see them chatting, but then, there were more to come. Not that he cared all that much.

"Thought it might be fun t'stir things up a lil'. Think you'd be up for it?"

[ruthless_hunter]

So this was his client. Lockdown had pictured him being a little older, or at least a little less casual.

Lockdown narrowed his optics at the human. "I'd have to know what you had in mind and what you plan to pay me with before I say 'yes' to anything."

[traitors_smile]

An interesting man, and not as dim-witted as initially expected. Gin smiled his fox-like grin and gave a nod.

"'Course, tha's only fair." For now, he just wanted some mischief. If LD proved to be useful, he would continue to use his services. Not that the man had to know that.

"Hnn, well there's jus' a patient tha's been makin' a pest of himself. Needs a little roughin' up. Up t'you how you wanna do it. Be creative, I don' mind. Long as I c'n see he's havin' a bad time a' things, it'd bring a smile t'my face." He opened to a blank page in his journal and started jotting down the name, using the same nondescript handwriting as before.

"You said you'd take weapons or information. I have either one, so why doncha let me know what you're interested in?"

[ruthless_hunter]

Lockdown smiled in his usual predatory way. Finally, he was gonna get to track someone down and, as the young man put it, 'rough him up'.

"Trust me, my friend, I can be very creative when I want to be." A little Metalikato here, some work with his new knife there, it was all good. He wished he had made a weapon out of the dog teeth by now, but oh well, he could make due without them.

"As for payment, I would prefer weapons. Why don't you tell me what you have to offer in the way of that and I'll determine if I want anything you've got." Worst case scenario, it would be another knife, which he would have plenty of once Blitzwing paid him.

[traitors_smile]

He folded the note, once he'd written Aidou Hanabusa's name as well as a brief description, should that not be enough. If LD was as creative as he made himself out to be, Gin would very much enjoy seeing the results of his work.

"An' discretion, a'course," he reminded. He had no reason to fear the kid, but if his little friends (if he actually had any) found out he was behind something like that, there would be no end of annoyances. He passed the note across the table with a casual motion.

"Some medium and small knives would be fair for something so... simple for someone like you, wouldn' they?" he offered, unsure of what LD already had and what he might consider valuable. "If that ain't your style, they're steel n' can be reworked real easy by some of th' folks here. Or..." he shrugged, "I know th' place pretty well. I c'n jus' give ya the locations of some good places t'pick stuff up. Up t'you."

[ruthless_hunter]

"Of course," Lockdown agreed. "A good bounty hunter doesn't reveal his client to his prey." Unless the prey was well-aware of who wanted them, that is. Then it didn't matter if Lockdown revealed the client or not.

The bounty hunter thought about it for a moment. He already had plenty of knives, so perhaps he should take up the offer for information. He liked having a little variety in his collection. "Okay, I'll take that locations information."

[traitors_smile]

"I'll have a map ready then," he smiled, closing the journal and setting his pen down. Gin had little else to discuss, now that the terms had been agreed upon.

"I look forward to seeing your work," he smiled, wider than most humans ought to, friendly as it was. He gathered his things and prepared to move; unless LD had anything else he wanted to discuss.

[ruthless_hunter]

Lockdown read the name and description on the paper the young man gave him, and then noticed that he was starting to leave. "Before you go, I have one more question for you," Lockdown said. "Is there anything else I should know about this person you want taken care of? Does he have any powers or anything that I should worry about?" He might as well know what he was getting himself into, and prepare himself accordingly.

[traitors_smile]

"Enough t'make him a cocky lil' git," Gin shrugged. "Never fought him so I can't say f'sure."

With that Gin stood, lifting his tray. Landels was pretty good about leveling out the playing field, so no matter what powers a person had, it would be close to even. At worst, Gin would just know that LD wasn't as dependable at his work as he'd said. Either way, it didn't much effect him.

"We'll see how it all goes," he said at last, nodding slightly before he started looking for a new location.

[traitors_smile]

[[Moving to here]]

[ruthless_hunter]

Lockdown watched his client go, and then held the paper at optic-level, reading it a few more times while he ate his lunch. Doing his best to ignore the conversation at the table next to him. Particularly the man with the strange accent.

Perhaps he would ask HK-47 if he knew anything about this "Aidou Hanabusa" when dinner came around. Maybe if he were extra persuasive, he could have HK lend him one of his small, sharp knives.

[justlovesyogurt]

Okay, he was coming in close. The target was holding the paper in front of him. Perfect. As Michael flailed and dashed towards the puddle of water, he reached outabsentmindedly and snatched the paper out of Lockdown's hands. Immediately, he knelt down and pressed the paper face down into the puddle of water, soaking it.

"Duuuude! Duuuude! I'm so sorry I spilled all this waaaaater. I'll clean it up man, don't worry." When the paper was thoroughly soaked, Michael looked up at his target. "You got any more napkins, dude?"

[captain_hunam]

Zelnick made a helplessly protesting noise as Chaz snatched a paper of some sort out of the stranger's hands, and another one when he started sopping up water with it. "Chaz, that's not a napkin!" he said, rather plaintively, leaning over the table. "I'm sorry," he said to the other g-- woah, tatoos. He blinked, then said, again, "I'm sorry, Chaz is new, Chaz give him back what he was reading," and there was a bark of order in his voice. The Captain rank wasn't just for decoration.

... Well, sometimes it wasn't.