(Untitled)

[notpissedoff]

Characters: coughcoughshank and notpissedoff
Date/Time: May 1, mid-morning
Location: Souji's place in Section 1
Rating: I can't see it being higher than PG
Summary: Rain seeks out Souji to discuss a few things he saw on the fourth floor.

Comments

[notpissedoff]

[Rain wasn't planning on asking people to start calling him Susumu - he was fairly certain that it was his given name and thus quite a familiar form of address, and he liked to keep more distance between himself and others. But if Souji or the others who'd heard it wanted to use it, he wouldn't stop them. It was his name... yet he still felt like being called Susumu might take a bit of getting used to.

He accepted the tea with a quiet thank you and continued.] I've heard it in more than one memory, although it wasn't spoken in this one. I think there's a connection there, though. It's the name of both a man - an enemy, I believe - and a store that I was ordered to investigate. This memory took place outside of a store, and it appeared as though several men were being arrested by others in uniforms.

[Rain slid his notebook across the table to Souji, open to a page where he'd sketched the uniform he'd seen as best he could. It was a quickly done rendering, but aside from the fact that the pen was the wrong shade of blue for the haori, it was accurate.]

You were among the ones wearing that. [He sipped his tea.]

[coughcoughshank]

[Daitou's eyes widened in surprise as he brushed his fingers over the sketch.]

This... I remember this, I think. It feels so familiar. And important.

[His brow furrowed slightly as he tried to bring all of the little pieces of information together.]

...Shinsengumi uniform. And... it sounds like we were law-keepers.

[notpissedoff]

[Rain nodded.] That's the conclusion I came to, as well. But I wanted your opinion.

[Rain still had yet to hear anything about Shinsengumi in any of his memories, after all - he only had what Souji had told him to go by. Thus, he'd wanted the man's input to make sure they were on the same page, and he was pleased to see that they were.]

It seems like the Shinsengumi were some sort of police establishment. Most likely one made up of samurai, if we followed the samurai code. [And he knew he'd served as a spy for them, but he had to wonder what Souji's position in the company had been. Did the fact that he'd been on familiar terms with the vice commander indicate a similar rank? Was he someone Rain should be subordinate to? He wished he knew.

He took another sip of his tea.] I'm afraid I wasn't able to get a good enough look at the storefront to draw it. There was a crowd of people in the way.

[coughcoughshank]

[Souji nodded his agreement with Rain's guesses - they felt right to him.]

I suppose... even without the storefront, this is still more than we knew before.

[He paused, and then continued]

The memory I had recently... it didn't give me much other than my name.

[Which is only sort of a lie - but he's not sure he wants to share the rest with Rain.]

[notpissedoff]

This one was the same. My name, and [he motioned to the notebook with a tilt of his chin] that.

[Which was also sort of a lie, but likewise, Rain didn't want to talk about the rest. He didn't think it was of any importance to Souji, anyway. He stared at the cup in his hands.]

I'd hurt my hand in a fight, it seemed. And... there was still something I was unable to hear. [He scratched his arm absently.] It might have been Peacemaker's name.

[coughcoughshank]

I guess there are things held back from both of us, it seems. I still don't know the vice-commander's name either.

[notpissedoff]

[Rain just nodded and sat in thoughtful silence for a minute, continuing to sip his tea. There was still so much they didn't know... but at least this was progress, even if it was slower progress than he would have liked.

Eventually, he indicated the notebook again.] You can tear out that page, if you want it. [He could always redraw it for himself.]

[coughcoughshank]

[Souji hesitated for a moment, and then pulls the notebook closer to him.]

Thank you. I'd... like to keep it, I think.

[He started to carefully rip the page out from the binding, doing his best to not make it ragged in the process.]

[notpissedoff]

[Rain retrieved his notebook once Souji had torn the page out.]

That's all I needed to tell you. It isn't much... I apologize. [Just another small piece in a very large, frustrating puzzle...] But it concerned you, so I thought you should hear about it.

[He finished the last of his tea and set the cup down on the table.] For all the time I lost to the elevator, I'd hoped to come away with something more substantial.

[That wasn't entirely true. He'd come away with a fair bit, but most of it simply didn't seem to concern Souji. His sister, and the circumstances of her death that he had yet to make much sense of, were his own business. And there was his name... that was good to have, of course. Even if it didn't tell him anything useful about himself.]

[coughcoughshank]

[Souji sighed slightly, and nodded.]

This place can be quite teasing.

If I find out anything new, I'll be sure to let you know.