Special Delivery!

[thrasherpunk]

Ichi gets a text message a few days after he's come to New York, in The Shadow's voice. He's supposed to expect a delivery of food and clothes by an agent, and he's not allowed to mention the Nexus. He is encouraged to practice his English, though

Comments

[blind_masseur]

Ichi is a little wary of the visit, but he does his best to prepare. He's been trying on various clothing he's been provided, and has found a pair of navy blue sweatpants, and a plain gray shirt to be the most comfortable so far. It's only luck that they aren't clashing.

The knock, and then the doorbell interrupts his time sitting on the couch, playing the tape player and he stands, bringing his cane with him.

He gives a generic shout to let whoever his visitor is that he's coming, but he's still working on some things, and doesn't feel comfortable shouting in English yet.

The entrance opens to Ichi pointing an ear around the door and raised eyebrows. He looks every part of wary that a man like him could.

"Hello?" He speaks a bit meekly, and with a very, very, very thick Japanese accent.

[thrasherpunk]

His visitor is shorter than he is, and smells like the streets and bubblegum. "It's Ichi, right? The Chief sent me over with some stuff." She's also got a slightly husky voice, but somebody like Ichi can tell in an instant it's definitely a she, and probably young.

[blind_masseur]

Ichi is still uncertain, the word Chief is still not something he's learned yet, nor does he know The Shadow is called this by his subordinates. The fact that she knows his name though, allows him to see enough cause to permit her to come inside.

He holds his cane near him, and once Chaz is inside, she'll see that lights are intermittently on and off throughout the apartment without any sort of rhyme or reason.

At least he's a tidy man, especially for all the traveling he does and being unused to keeping his own place. There are not even dishes in the sink. He closes the door behind her once she's inside and puts his back against it. He's honestly a bit surprised that a girl was sent to deliver items, and his first wonder is if the female voice is the Myra-woman that has been previously mentioned. He's not about to go guessing though.

"From Shadow-san?" At least the name was something he didn't need to translate.

[thrasherpunk]

"Yeah. Tall guy, big nose, wears lots of bla- nevermind." She's grinning, and looking him over. Ichi doesn't strike her as the agent type, so she assumes it's somebody he's protecting from dangerous criminals. "He said you were learning English still, but I brought food and a few clothes. He said something about you'd want booze but I wasn't allowed to cheat the law to get it for you. Sorry."

[blind_masseur]

Ichi smiles and nods. What she does describe of The Shadow, at least the tall part, he knows. He steps away from the door with a smile and motions her toward the kitchen.

"Mhm, learning. Trying to." He knows his words are clipped and broken, but he's doing his best. "You work..." He purses his lips before the words come to mind. "With him?"

[thrasherpunk]

"Sure. he's gotta have an inside line to the drug deals that go around the schools, you know?" Her accent is completely different from the Shadow's, and probably a little harder for him to understand. The feeling's mutual, though. She doesn't really know where anything is, but the gesture to the kitchen helps, and she'll look around and try to put things away for him wherever makes consistent sense with what's already there. "I need to start learning more languages. He probably knows about a hundred."

[blind_masseur]

"Shadow-san, very smart." He smiles and opens a couple cupboards for her with just his right hand, holding the cane with his left. They're barely stocked, and what she's brought is certainly needed. "My...first new language." Ichi gives a gentle chuckle and rubs the short hair on his head. His eyebrows raise up as suddenly he remembers his manners. "Tea?" He points to an empty kettle on the stove, and opens the cabinet to a couple coffee mugs and a small box of tea bags. His idea of organization makes sense, though it is a bit odd.

[thrasherpunk]

"Genius. I know some Spanish 'cause we had to take a foreign language in school, but I'd better learn quick if I ever want to be half as smart as him." She's not going to question however he has things arranged, since her own system involves dirty clothes on the floor. She's trying to study him while she puts things away, guessing how old he is and how he ended up here. Most of her guesses are probably wrong, but it's not her fault nobody's told her about the Nexus.
Yet.

"Hunh? Oh, er, okay." She'd rather have soda, but she's supposed to be polite. She's got orders.

[blind_masseur]

Ichi has no idea what Spanish sounds like. Even so, she's expressed interest in learning a language. Perhaps...

"Tea." He repeats the word in Japanese and quickly fills the kettle without even checking the amount of water by sticking a finger in it. He places it on the stove and turns on the proper burner as he pulls out the mugs and tea bags. "In a few minutes." He waves at the kettle and then smiles. He looks about 30 or 40, the younger of the two actually being correct. He's a bit overweight, and stocky, he doesn't appear too threatening, but the deftness which he gets around is almost uncanny. It's almost like he's just holding the cane for show, he's hardly using it at all. "Sorry." He gives a partial bow, from the waist up. It looks a bit awkward. "What is your name?"

[thrasherpunk]

She repeats it almost perfectly. She's got a smart mouth but Chaz does take her learning seriously. Maybe she can learn a little from him, and that's worth drinking his hot water with leaves in it.

"Chaz, sorry. I guess I had the advantage of you and everything. All I know is Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto..." Okay, clearly he's not quite what he seems, but he's definitely not looking. There's a mystery about Ichi and she'll be damned if she doesn't figure it out. He's just become very interesting.

[blind_masseur]

"Chaz." Ichi takes a moment to roll the name around in his head and then smiles. "Domo arigato...means thank you." He laughs gently. "We practice together, we learn together, eh?"

[thrasherpunk]

She's not telling him it's Chelsea or he might actually call her that. "Sure thing, what do you want to learn?" Now that everything's put away, she hops up to sit on the counter, swinging her feet but being careful not to bang her heels on the cabinets underneath. That would be rude.

"You sound like you're picking up on it pretty good, but if I say anything you don't understand, just ask. Your English is better than my Japanese, though."

[blind_masseur]

"Heh, I have help." Ichi smiles and holds up an empty hand near his ear as if the tape player were in it. "Lucky, no read...reading." He grins broadly, waving the hand in front of his face and then reaches over to the stove, taking the kettle off of the burner as it steams, but doesn't whistle. He fills the two mugs, drops a tea bag in them, and holds one directly in Chaz's direction, within arm reach.

[thrasherpunk]

"Not even braille?" Now there's a word his tapes probably don't cover. She takes the tea and crosses her eyes at him, just to test.

"You listen better than most people though, don'tcha... like to the sound of the water level in the kettle rising?" She's a kid, but she's sharp.

((I'm gonna have to crash soon...))

[blind_masseur]

"Braille?" He does his best to repeat the word, it's not half bad. Technically, he can read, and he does read a version of braille, but the name is unknown.

"Heh, ears are eyes." He shrugs and then turns, pulling out a sugar bowl and offering it to Chaz. He likes his tea without it, but doesn't know if she does or not.

((Sleep well!))

[thrasherpunk]

"Reading with little bumps on the page. The different formations of bumps make different letters. Tha-domo arigato." She's got the pronunciation better this time, after hearing him say it. She hops down off the counter and takes the sugar, dumping a heaping spoonful in. Since she doesn't normally drink tea, she's not sure how she takes it, but sugar is always good.

"Oh, I dunno, I bet hearing tells you things seeing can't. But I guess any sense could work that way if you focused on it hard enough..." Tonight, Chaz is totally going to try walking around the house blindfolded.

((You too!))