tyska
Full Member
Posts: 233
|
Post by tyska on Sept 18, 2011 1:49:04 GMT -5
"I train, mostly. And watch the news. Its good to stay updated, so I pay attention to televised, printed, and internet sources." ....And he'd lost him. Barnaby was in tuned out interview mode, refusing to address what Kotetsu was actually getting at while in public.
|
|
|
Post by gryfeathr on Sept 18, 2011 1:55:38 GMT -5
Kotetsu knows the signs; the smooth face, the rounded vowels, the clear diction. Even a slightly artificial way of tilting his head precisely engineered for the best angle from a camera. He'd seen it all before, multiple times, from this very up close angle.
He stuck a hand on his hip, face falling into one of his difficult cheek-puffed expressions. "Right, right."
|
|
tyska
Full Member
Posts: 233
|
Post by tyska on Sept 18, 2011 1:59:04 GMT -5
Barnaby watched Kotetsu's own form of pouting a moment, before glancing away back to the window. He felt a little bad for that one, but now was not the time.
"Ah, is this our stop?"
|
|
|
Post by gryfeathr on Sept 18, 2011 2:07:49 GMT -5
Kotetsu had become totally distracted by the conversation, or lack of one, as they rumbled along the high speed lines that cut through Sternbild as a subtle under-webbing of the city's layout. He started as the automated voice read out a familiar stop name, jolting upright as he twisted around to catch the scrolling announcement over the doors.
"Ah, ha, this it he one." He focused hard on bracing himself for the next stop, balanced lightly on the balls of his feet. No matter how clumsy he seemed in his many accidents, there was always a lightness to how he held himself and a ready, easy tension in his body to react to movement. As the doors dinged, he held on to his hat as he wove through the bodies with easy sways out onto the glitzier platform for this part of the downtown district.
Around them was a higher-than-usual number of couples milling around, boyfriends holding purses and girlfriends dragging boyfriends by the hand. In the midst of the twenty-somethings, Kotetsu stood out as one of the few gentleman above the age line of thirty, and this fact was not entirely lost on him as he waited for Bunny to join him before heading for what he was.... pretty certain was the right stairs up to the street level.
|
|
tyska
Full Member
Posts: 233
|
Post by tyska on Sept 18, 2011 2:19:35 GMT -5
Bunny's shoulders eased up as the doors opened to offer escape. But as he glanced about their surroundings, taking careful note of them as he had before stepping foot on the train, the proverbial hackles began to rise again. 'Love Hotel' was in the air. Fantastic.
It wasn't so bad, really, to just pass through. He picked up his pace a bit to head up the stairs Kotetsu was headed towards.
|
|
|
Post by gryfeathr on Sept 18, 2011 2:25:23 GMT -5
Kotetsu took on an air of determination and exited up onto the streets. Around them the buildings were bright with neon, while the sound of moving bodies drowned out all background noise. It took him a minute to get his bearings up there.
It had been a long, long time since he'd walked around this part of Sternbild, and he shaded his eyes with the brim of his hat as he decidedly didn't think about it. "--Ah, this way, Bunny," he gestured off to their right, diving through the crowd with an easy lope. It had taken years for the city-walk speed to infect him, but he managed to be lazy about it and still move at speed with the crowd anyway.
|
|
tyska
Full Member
Posts: 233
|
Post by tyska on Sept 18, 2011 2:36:59 GMT -5
It was in its own way fascinating to see Kotetsu slip into a casual people-weaving stride in the city. He'd wandered through enough crowds on his own for years while chasing leads, but it turned into a different art entirely when he had a companion.
"...Not a part of town I'm familiar with," He called with a voice raised just high enough to break over the white noise with clarity. He bumps shoulders with someone and picks up his pace, keeping his proximity to his partner a bit closer. His eyes wander above to the surrounding signs and billboards.
|
|
|
Post by gryfeathr on Sept 18, 2011 2:47:26 GMT -5
For a little while, the billboards and signs were the usual date-focused fair, advertising special two-person prices and offering luxurious and intimate experiences. Kotetsu wove absently, always murmuring an excuse me when he brushed against someone else.
Barnaby's voice caught his ear, and he glanced back at him with a wry twitch to his mouth. "Haah? No girlfriends?" he asked, amused by the very prospect of Barnaby going out with some small boned, pretty girl. He just couldn't do it. He was well aware that Barnaby had no social life, so the question was mostly just to needle him a little and ease him up as they walked through the crowd. "It's not that far, just past some of these--"
He made an absent wave with his hands to include the strip of street they had just turned on to, and sort of choked short of the rest of his sentence.
LOVE LOVE HAPPY TIME blazed across the side of one building. Another had an oversized martini glass with a girl on it. He paused, staring, and his shoulders spiked with alarm.
And somewhere, in the shadows behind it, looked like a sign that might have been a golf club if you squinted.
|
|
tyska
Full Member
Posts: 233
|
Post by tyska on Sept 18, 2011 3:00:57 GMT -5
Barnaby huffed. "I don't have time for that sort of thing. ..Can you honestly imagine me wi..."
He trailed off, bumping into Kotetsu's back as the same signs pervaded his own vision. His brow lifted along with his voice. "...The miniature golf is...where again?" It wouldn't matter much, really- no, really. If he didn't have to worry about pictures of him walking towards questionable mediums of entertainment with a strange older man.
Although he supposed he'd been wrong about one thing. Judging by location, Kotetsu must have been correct about miniature golf being romantic in at least some contexts.
He crossed his arms stiffly. "Let's...not...stand here."
|
|
|
Post by gryfeathr on Sept 18, 2011 10:57:46 GMT -5
"............aah ha looks like some new building since I was last here," Kotetsu hurried to correct, grabbing at his hat as he dove past the crowd to find a way past the more questionable buildings. There was a side street he aimed for, distinctly not looking back up at the bright signs advertising special one night rates.
|
|
tyska
Full Member
Posts: 233
|
Post by tyska on Sept 18, 2011 11:27:56 GMT -5
"... Are you sure this place even exists? Ah-! Hey!" Kotetsu dove and Barnaby followed, shoving his way behind him. He was absolutely not getting lost alone in the Love Hotel district.
"This had better not be a wild goose chase, if it's been that long we should have called first!"
|
|
|
Post by gryfeathr on Sept 18, 2011 11:40:55 GMT -5
"Of course it does!" He waved absently at him from behind, leading them down a narrow and dark alley. Some people might have looked askance at it. Kotetsu didn't seem to care, as it did seem to take them all way to the other side of that block where the less ostentatious sides of the hotels faced the street.
"Eh, its fine, its fine." He slowed on the other side, tilting back his head to squint at the signs around them and giving Barnaby a chance to catch up. "It should be around here somewhere..."
|
|
tyska
Full Member
Posts: 233
|
Post by tyska on Sept 18, 2011 11:46:10 GMT -5
Running down narrow dark alleys surrounded by Love Hotels.
...What had his life become?
He holds a palm to his forehead as they move, suppressing a sigh. "This is all your fault," He murmured inaudibly under his breath. He slowed as his partner did, and hesitantly gave the buildings a similar once over to see if there was anything resembling a decent business around.
"Every time you try to help!" He snapped, wary of being spotted.
|
|
|
Post by gryfeathr on Sept 18, 2011 11:56:33 GMT -5
Kotetsu blithely ignored him, scanning across the buildings and suddenly grinning. "Stop worrying so much, it'll give you early wrinkles." He turned back to look at Bunny as he spoke, pointing out a building a block down. PUT PUT WHALE MINIGOLF plastered across an upper floor made mostly of windows, a neon whale flickering between tale up and tale down as if he was splashing happily with some golf clubs.
"Exactly where I remembered." He settled into an easier walk, now certain of their destination, as he headed for the front doors at the bottom floor.
|
|
tyska
Full Member
Posts: 233
|
Post by tyska on Sept 18, 2011 12:02:12 GMT -5
He suppressed a scowl. "Well I suppose you would know, having such a plethora yourself, ne, Oji-san?"
He had to admit, spotting the place offered a great deal of relief. Kotetsu may have settled into an easier pace, but Bunny bolted for the door. "Right where you remember? And you couldn't have picked a better location?"
|
|