Rensei had been working for a long time now... fixing up people and
adding his art to their bodies. But he felt he was about to come across
something different when that tanned kid crossed the studio's door. He had a determined look in his eyes. The doctor looked at him for a short while, trying to guess what he was up to. Without getting to a conclusion, he smiled and asked.
"Yes, can I help you, young man?"
Sid bowed, unconsciously a martial artists bow, with one hand covering a
fist, held at chest level. He spoke in his still fairly new Japanese.
"Greetings. Have come to inquire about having some *special*, *custom* work done." He said, putting as much innuendo into his flat, angry sounding voice as he could.
Doctor Rensei scratched his long beard and bowed back. "How you got to
know about it?"
"Contacts." He said simply, not wishing to give too much away. "People who prefer to remain anonymous." He added. "And some former patients of
yours..." He finished.
"That's good enough for me." Rensei went to get the "closed" sign for the studio. After he had the doors closed, he led Sid to the back of it, and opening a secret passage on a wall, indicated him the way down an unexpected clean corridor. "Come in... we can talk in privacy there."
Sid let his eyes rove over the entranceway. Finding no hidden traps, he
stepped in, making sure to keep one hand on the switchblade he kept in his pocket. The doctor appeared nice enough, but Sid knew from experience that it was always best to be cautious. After a short walk, the two arrived at their destination, a large, well lit room packed with medical instruments and electronic parts. Still, it wasn't messy. Everything was perfectly set in order. The doctor got chairs for both of them.
"Now, what exactly do you have in mind?"
"That depends on what's medically feasible. First, can you implant this?" He replied, pulling something small and electronic from his pocket. The tiny NAVI was a model of engineering. Folded up, it encompassed only half his palm. Sid unfolded it to reveal an lcd screen, and a miniature keyboard, with keys so small they had to be press with toothpicks. An eraserhead that could be pressed to click it sat in the middle of the keys. Sid held it up for Rensei to see.
"Ah, cybernetics... now I see." He looked curiously at the small jewel.
Even in his experience, he had never seen anything like that. "You made this yourself?"
Sid decided to go out on a limb. "Stole it, actually." Sid said deciding
to trust the doctor. Tachibana had been dumping its industrial byproducts in the river that ran parallel to his old neighborhood. Sid felt no sense of duty to them. "Must be somewhere discreet, preferably the chest or upper thigh, and it must not cause ill effects when struck or submerged. Can you do that?" Sid said.
"No, kid, I can do better than that." the old man answered. "And if you
know where to get good gadgets like this one I don't think you'll have to worry about paying."
"Arigato gozaimasu, Doctor, but this wasn't gotten at the consent of its
owner. But if you don't mind acquiring your stuff that way we can surely
work something out." He said. Sid wondered if the doctor sympathized with the resistance.
"Hm..." the doctor grinned. "That sounds good. But first and foremost
let's have a look at your body. We need to know if it can handle what I have in mind."
Sid considered that for a moment. Stripping in front of a stranger (or
anyone else for that matter) was new to him. "Hai. What needs to be taken off?" He said.
"Just take off your shirt and lie down there," he gestured towards an
operating table. "I'll take care of the rest."
Sid did as told, tossing his shirt and jacket somewhere he could see if
the doctor made a grab for them. Shirtless on the operating table, he
mentally catalogued all the equipment, while he waited for the doctor.
Rensei came to him wearing surgical gloves and carrying some sort of
scanner with him. He started by running it over the boy's chest, then down to his abdomen. The doctor then asked him to turn round, and proceeded to scan his back, stopping when he reached Sid's spine.
"What I have in mind is that you get a NAVI that will connect directly to your neural system. So... do you have any sort of neurological problem?"
"No neuro problems. But a NAVI that goes straight to the neurons runs the risk of brain hacking. One that doesn't hook up to the nerves, only running off my" ,and there a perceptive person could catch that Sid did not seem to like referring to himself, "body heat'd be much better."
"Yes, there IS a small risk of brain hacking... well, I'll do as it
pleases you. But, this isn't something I can do by myself, let alone do it right now. You'll have to set an appointment, maybe next week. Come here." mhe gave Sid his shirt and jacket and waited for him to put them on before leading him back to the tattooing studio.
"Is next Wednesday optimal?" He said. He added The Doctor to his mental
list of minimally trustworthy people.
"Next Wednesday... let me see..." Rensei checked his appointments for the following week. "Is ten PM good for you?"
"Hai. One last thing... can you have a catalogue of your more common
weapons implants ready by then?"
Rensei knew what not to ask, and "why do you need such a thing" was a good example. "My less uncommon you mean, right?" he asked grinning. "Yes, I can have it ready. We'll discuss about payment later."
"Arigatou Doctor." He said with another bow, before exiting into the busy Tokyo streets.
___________
For a moment, he held his breath until he saw her chest rise and
fall: proof of life. There were loud noises in the entry hall and
Noah heard Yi-Xue's voice speaking quickly to the medics. They came
in, seemingly unfazed by the scene. Everything became a blur to Noah
as the medics bandaged her cuts and put her on the stretcher to take
her to the hospital.
Years later, if you asked Dr. Noah Bradford, perhaps while he was
watching his young wife play with their three children at Ueno Park,
what had happened within the next few hours, he wouldn't be able to
tell you anything. Like a bad night of drinking, he had no
recollection of the events that transpired. The only things that he
would know would be Yi-Xue ordering him to go with Eiri, the almost
blue colour that Eiri's face had turned as her heart kept trying to
stop on the short drive to the hospital, the slight prick at the
hospital as they started a blood transfusion between himself and
Eiri, filling her body with life-giving fluid of which they both
shared a type.
Yi-Xue came in a few hours later holding the large vase of black
roses from Kojirou. She set them on the table next to Eiri's bedside
then walked over to Noah, who sat in a chair next to the window,
staring blankly out across the Tokyo landscape. He had changed
sometime in the previous hours from his blood-soaked pyjamas into a
professional suit that he must have kept in his office in the
hospital. The coat for it was cast on the floor. Yi-Xue pulled a
chair up next to him and sat.
"Eiri will be fine, Noah. You need not worry," she said softly.
One of his hands was over his mouth and he kept his stare
constant. "I've lost one wife and child already; I don't want to lose
Eiri and our child also."
Yi-Xue looked over at him then followed his eyes out to the
landscape. It was beginning to mist outside, casting a dark hue
across the city at mid-day. The rain grew progressively stronger, and
soon thunder resounded through the hospital. Yi-Xue closed her eyes
and listened to the steady pounding of the raindrops on the window.
"Have you told Eiri's friend Kojirou yet?" Noah said suddenly.
"No... I figured that you might talk to him. I'm sure he knows you
better than he knows me."
He picked up his coat. "I'll go see him now..."
Noah stood and walked away, putting on his coat as he went over to
Eiri's bed. After kissing her pale face, he left the room and stood
in the hallway for a few moments before leaving and heading to his
car. By the time he reached the car, he was soaking wet, but he
didn't care. He arrived at the Mansion in a few minutes. He got out
of the vehicle and went up to the gate. Surprised to find it open, he
walked up to the door and rang the bell. Within moments, he was
greeted by Nakita's girlfriend.
"Hime... is Kojirou here? Eiri's in the hospital and I thought he
might want to come see her," Adam murmured.
Since he was... around .... Nakita heard the doorbell and went to
investigate. He moved fast enough that he could clearly hear what
Noah had murmured...
When he arrived at the front door, he had no need to look around
Hime - although not a brick shithouse like either of his younger
brothers, he wasn't vertically challenged.
"Hate to be so blunt, but what put her there and why?"
If there was a list of things that Noah didn't want to happen right
then, number one on that list was to see his psychology superior
after he had just committed a vile offense in the world of
psychology.
"Ah, Nakita..." Noah said, then stood in silence for a moment before
speaking again. "There is something that I was recently told to not
tell Eiri. I'm sure that you know this...?"
Just one look at Nakita and even Hime told Noah that they knew.
"I told her... and she seemed so non-chalant about it... but this
morning, she cut herself with every knife in the kitchen. She had
severe blood loss and was taken to the hospital... they don't know
when she'll be released and whether they'll be able to release her
into public for an extended time after she's well..." Noah looked
slightly to the side to hide the tear-filled glimmer of his
eyes. "But... I know how close Kojirou is to Eiri... so..."
"Ah shit...."
Nakita dropped into the detailed thought of a good physician, much
like the fictional Doc Ferrel in the short story, 'Nerves'.
"So your innocent comment turned her world upside down.... not
good.... well... at the moment, the best thing I can suggest is come
inside and we'll get plastered together."
"As much as I'd like to say that's a good idea, Nakita... I'd rather call Kojirou and we all go to the hospital, how's that?" not waiting for an answer, Hime went to call her brother.
A crystal-shattering scream stopped her. It took not more than half a
second for the princess to recover, after which she rushed into Kojirou's bedroom.
Noah stared after Hime for a moment before focusing his attention on
Nakita once more. As a sign to him, he held his hand up to his mouth
and tipped it as though he had a glass.
"Something strong, right now, before she gets back," Noah said. He
worried about Kojirou, but at that moment nothing could appease him
more than a really strong drink...
---
To be seen were small and moderately plump hands clenching an engine-red pillow on a rather warm summer morning. The hands belonged to a somewhat plain girl, though obvious mixed heritage gave off a somewhat exotic effect.
Said girl lie there a while, staring above at an off white ceiling, much like herself...being slightly "off", in terms of sanity of course, and rather pale. Raising a tolerably fleshy arm, she admired her very own set of Barbie-pink nails, which like little candies in appearance had missing chunks and jagged edges as if they'd been thrown into a pit of starving Ethiopian children...Or a starving pit of children from any country, for that matter. Was Ethiopia a country? Not that it mattered.
Dismissing her current thoughts on said supposed third world countries, she hoisted herself off the bed, automatically slipping matching Barbie toes into a rather faded and worn two-some that could have possibly once been a bright new pair of green Converse-like sneakers. Brands names really didn't mean much.
Trudging down a few stepping stairs, she made her way into what seemed to be a kitchen. There was a sink. There were shapes that resembled dishes and there was a bowl of noodles that didn't look...too bad.
Clad in her daringly left untied, green, no-name sneakers; Bikini underwear stamped with pink palm trees; and a white boy's t-shirt, she slipped her behind upon a rather low countertop and consumed said noodles. They couldn't be more than a few days old.
When said noodles were gone, she slithered off the counter and located a pair of denim shorts that had been carelessly left on the floor...next to a certain set of unmentionables, one seeming to belong to a product of a male species, she slipped into the above mentioned article which were so eye- catchingly short, it is likely that they didn't deserve the "O", the "R", or the "T".
As she was headed out the door she spotted a rather tasty looking gumball lying on what could have been a coffee table. It was green and shiny, with a picture the average Japanese fan girl's dreamboat pop-star kind of guy printed on what could have been its front. Consuming the glossy sphere without even a glance at Mr. Perfect Pop Star, she exited the vermin- infested hellhole that she loved to call her home. And no, that's not referring to rodents.
---
After Nakita returned with four bottles of vodka...
"120 proof vodka enough? You look an emotional wreck... not surprising considering your involvement has progressed past the physical."
Nakita opened one bottle and gave it to Adam/Noah.
"Drink up."
Nakita was too busy drinking to notice the twin ghostly forms, both
identical to him .... existing .... behind him, perpetual sorrow
locked into their faces. As for Adam/Noah, however....
Noah had only had a swig or two of the vodka, but as he looked up to talk to Nakita, he had the sudden belief that he had already had too much.
"Fuck, I thought I could stand more liquor than this," he said, emphasizing his point by shaking the bottle. "But just a bit and I'm already seeing triple..."
He closed his eyes for a moment and then reopened them to still see the Nakita three. He narrowed his eyes.
"Nakita... those aren't exact copies of you," he said, noticing the bottle in the real Nakita's hand. "Turn around."
After letting the smartass comment "I'll drink to that" escape,
Nakita turned the beat around.... and sprayed approximately 75 ml of
good vodka into an atomised mist.
Turning back to Noah, "Well.. I better fill you in.... I'm the third
of ten children.... two sisters older than me who I've never met,
then I'm one of a set of identical triplets, then two single births,
one male, one female, then we have the second set of identical
triplets, Tak, Kannai et al."
/ Strange... why did I react so casually? /
The same thought went through Noah's mind.
"So... this is... normal for you?" he said, then took another swig of the vodka.
---
Her feet rested upon the innermore side of her faded canvas sneakers as she lolled along, following a steep cement curb. The people working in their gardens or retrieving their mail opposite side of the curb would often turn their heads upon the obtrusive sound she made as she chaffed the rubber bottoms by grazing harsh cement with most untidy footwear.
Raising a bit of her shirt, patting brow and neck to rid herself of a most unfavorable body secretion such as sweat, as if any other bodily secretions were in fact, favorable, she passed a young boy, who in the age of erector sets, held no real interest in anything but. She flashed a rather Cheshire grin at him as she passed and flicking a bottle cap, he as her target.
Right between the eyes, she thought. The grin became most tenacious when she heard the effects of her most ignoble actions in the form of a child's snivel and bawl.
After approaching a most shady apartment building, she dallied her way up a flight of awfully rusty stairs and to a door of which she didn't bother to knock, just turned a squeaking handle and pushed open the squeaking door. Maintenance mustn't be too good here.
Eyeing some dirty manga casually lying upon a handicapped coffee table, she picked one up and began to.."read". She giggled like a school girl, most fittingly, as she learned of the outlandish theme of the book. Those kooky hentai always brought a smile to her face.
Sprawling out upon the couch, she admired the candy nails once more, lazily turning her head as someone else entered the den.
He was rather tall. Looking mid-to late-life. Ranging from 30-45. Gray hair already taking black on top of a round head. Dressed like that of a sad and disheveled bank-teller. Fleshy, drooping cheeks and baggy eyes told the story of a marriage as grey as the hairs on his head. Though the eyes seemed to relate more to the boy of erector sets with a love for his mother. A certain pitiful slant.
She smirked, her eyes rolled round and she let out a sort of huff. The huff led to a word, the first you've heard from her, If my memory serves me right. "Keisuke," she sighed in a most agitated tone.
His mouth formed a sort of pout and he began towards her, he kicked the heavy door with his foot. You see his plump self slink up upon the couch, or you would, if the door hadn't been slammed in your face.
---
Hime returned a short while later, Kojirou on her left side. When he saw
the three Nakitas, Kojirou raised his eyebrow, an inquiring look on his
face. Hime settled for a wide grin. After a short silence Kojirou scratched his eyes, "Is there something I missed?"
Tak chose that time to join the assembly... seeing the older set of
triplets in his family reunited for the first time since their
birth...
/ Everybody needs to believe in something... I believe I will scull
two bottles of vodka... /
Without further ado, the green-haired giant grabbed the two unopened
vodka bottles and emptied them.
adding his art to their bodies. But he felt he was about to come across
something different when that tanned kid crossed the studio's door. He had a determined look in his eyes. The doctor looked at him for a short while, trying to guess what he was up to. Without getting to a conclusion, he smiled and asked.
"Yes, can I help you, young man?"
Sid bowed, unconsciously a martial artists bow, with one hand covering a
fist, held at chest level. He spoke in his still fairly new Japanese.
"Greetings. Have come to inquire about having some *special*, *custom* work done." He said, putting as much innuendo into his flat, angry sounding voice as he could.
Doctor Rensei scratched his long beard and bowed back. "How you got to
know about it?"
"Contacts." He said simply, not wishing to give too much away. "People who prefer to remain anonymous." He added. "And some former patients of
yours..." He finished.
"That's good enough for me." Rensei went to get the "closed" sign for the studio. After he had the doors closed, he led Sid to the back of it, and opening a secret passage on a wall, indicated him the way down an unexpected clean corridor. "Come in... we can talk in privacy there."
Sid let his eyes rove over the entranceway. Finding no hidden traps, he
stepped in, making sure to keep one hand on the switchblade he kept in his pocket. The doctor appeared nice enough, but Sid knew from experience that it was always best to be cautious. After a short walk, the two arrived at their destination, a large, well lit room packed with medical instruments and electronic parts. Still, it wasn't messy. Everything was perfectly set in order. The doctor got chairs for both of them.
"Now, what exactly do you have in mind?"
"That depends on what's medically feasible. First, can you implant this?" He replied, pulling something small and electronic from his pocket. The tiny NAVI was a model of engineering. Folded up, it encompassed only half his palm. Sid unfolded it to reveal an lcd screen, and a miniature keyboard, with keys so small they had to be press with toothpicks. An eraserhead that could be pressed to click it sat in the middle of the keys. Sid held it up for Rensei to see.
"Ah, cybernetics... now I see." He looked curiously at the small jewel.
Even in his experience, he had never seen anything like that. "You made this yourself?"
Sid decided to go out on a limb. "Stole it, actually." Sid said deciding
to trust the doctor. Tachibana had been dumping its industrial byproducts in the river that ran parallel to his old neighborhood. Sid felt no sense of duty to them. "Must be somewhere discreet, preferably the chest or upper thigh, and it must not cause ill effects when struck or submerged. Can you do that?" Sid said.
"No, kid, I can do better than that." the old man answered. "And if you
know where to get good gadgets like this one I don't think you'll have to worry about paying."
"Arigato gozaimasu, Doctor, but this wasn't gotten at the consent of its
owner. But if you don't mind acquiring your stuff that way we can surely
work something out." He said. Sid wondered if the doctor sympathized with the resistance.
"Hm..." the doctor grinned. "That sounds good. But first and foremost
let's have a look at your body. We need to know if it can handle what I have in mind."
Sid considered that for a moment. Stripping in front of a stranger (or
anyone else for that matter) was new to him. "Hai. What needs to be taken off?" He said.
"Just take off your shirt and lie down there," he gestured towards an
operating table. "I'll take care of the rest."
Sid did as told, tossing his shirt and jacket somewhere he could see if
the doctor made a grab for them. Shirtless on the operating table, he
mentally catalogued all the equipment, while he waited for the doctor.
Rensei came to him wearing surgical gloves and carrying some sort of
scanner with him. He started by running it over the boy's chest, then down to his abdomen. The doctor then asked him to turn round, and proceeded to scan his back, stopping when he reached Sid's spine.
"What I have in mind is that you get a NAVI that will connect directly to your neural system. So... do you have any sort of neurological problem?"
"No neuro problems. But a NAVI that goes straight to the neurons runs the risk of brain hacking. One that doesn't hook up to the nerves, only running off my" ,and there a perceptive person could catch that Sid did not seem to like referring to himself, "body heat'd be much better."
"Yes, there IS a small risk of brain hacking... well, I'll do as it
pleases you. But, this isn't something I can do by myself, let alone do it right now. You'll have to set an appointment, maybe next week. Come here." mhe gave Sid his shirt and jacket and waited for him to put them on before leading him back to the tattooing studio.
"Is next Wednesday optimal?" He said. He added The Doctor to his mental
list of minimally trustworthy people.
"Next Wednesday... let me see..." Rensei checked his appointments for the following week. "Is ten PM good for you?"
"Hai. One last thing... can you have a catalogue of your more common
weapons implants ready by then?"
Rensei knew what not to ask, and "why do you need such a thing" was a good example. "My less uncommon you mean, right?" he asked grinning. "Yes, I can have it ready. We'll discuss about payment later."
"Arigatou Doctor." He said with another bow, before exiting into the busy Tokyo streets.
___________
For a moment, he held his breath until he saw her chest rise and
fall: proof of life. There were loud noises in the entry hall and
Noah heard Yi-Xue's voice speaking quickly to the medics. They came
in, seemingly unfazed by the scene. Everything became a blur to Noah
as the medics bandaged her cuts and put her on the stretcher to take
her to the hospital.
Years later, if you asked Dr. Noah Bradford, perhaps while he was
watching his young wife play with their three children at Ueno Park,
what had happened within the next few hours, he wouldn't be able to
tell you anything. Like a bad night of drinking, he had no
recollection of the events that transpired. The only things that he
would know would be Yi-Xue ordering him to go with Eiri, the almost
blue colour that Eiri's face had turned as her heart kept trying to
stop on the short drive to the hospital, the slight prick at the
hospital as they started a blood transfusion between himself and
Eiri, filling her body with life-giving fluid of which they both
shared a type.
Yi-Xue came in a few hours later holding the large vase of black
roses from Kojirou. She set them on the table next to Eiri's bedside
then walked over to Noah, who sat in a chair next to the window,
staring blankly out across the Tokyo landscape. He had changed
sometime in the previous hours from his blood-soaked pyjamas into a
professional suit that he must have kept in his office in the
hospital. The coat for it was cast on the floor. Yi-Xue pulled a
chair up next to him and sat.
"Eiri will be fine, Noah. You need not worry," she said softly.
One of his hands was over his mouth and he kept his stare
constant. "I've lost one wife and child already; I don't want to lose
Eiri and our child also."
Yi-Xue looked over at him then followed his eyes out to the
landscape. It was beginning to mist outside, casting a dark hue
across the city at mid-day. The rain grew progressively stronger, and
soon thunder resounded through the hospital. Yi-Xue closed her eyes
and listened to the steady pounding of the raindrops on the window.
"Have you told Eiri's friend Kojirou yet?" Noah said suddenly.
"No... I figured that you might talk to him. I'm sure he knows you
better than he knows me."
He picked up his coat. "I'll go see him now..."
Noah stood and walked away, putting on his coat as he went over to
Eiri's bed. After kissing her pale face, he left the room and stood
in the hallway for a few moments before leaving and heading to his
car. By the time he reached the car, he was soaking wet, but he
didn't care. He arrived at the Mansion in a few minutes. He got out
of the vehicle and went up to the gate. Surprised to find it open, he
walked up to the door and rang the bell. Within moments, he was
greeted by Nakita's girlfriend.
"Hime... is Kojirou here? Eiri's in the hospital and I thought he
might want to come see her," Adam murmured.
Since he was... around .... Nakita heard the doorbell and went to
investigate. He moved fast enough that he could clearly hear what
Noah had murmured...
When he arrived at the front door, he had no need to look around
Hime - although not a brick shithouse like either of his younger
brothers, he wasn't vertically challenged.
"Hate to be so blunt, but what put her there and why?"
If there was a list of things that Noah didn't want to happen right
then, number one on that list was to see his psychology superior
after he had just committed a vile offense in the world of
psychology.
"Ah, Nakita..." Noah said, then stood in silence for a moment before
speaking again. "There is something that I was recently told to not
tell Eiri. I'm sure that you know this...?"
Just one look at Nakita and even Hime told Noah that they knew.
"I told her... and she seemed so non-chalant about it... but this
morning, she cut herself with every knife in the kitchen. She had
severe blood loss and was taken to the hospital... they don't know
when she'll be released and whether they'll be able to release her
into public for an extended time after she's well..." Noah looked
slightly to the side to hide the tear-filled glimmer of his
eyes. "But... I know how close Kojirou is to Eiri... so..."
"Ah shit...."
Nakita dropped into the detailed thought of a good physician, much
like the fictional Doc Ferrel in the short story, 'Nerves'.
"So your innocent comment turned her world upside down.... not
good.... well... at the moment, the best thing I can suggest is come
inside and we'll get plastered together."
"As much as I'd like to say that's a good idea, Nakita... I'd rather call Kojirou and we all go to the hospital, how's that?" not waiting for an answer, Hime went to call her brother.
A crystal-shattering scream stopped her. It took not more than half a
second for the princess to recover, after which she rushed into Kojirou's bedroom.
Noah stared after Hime for a moment before focusing his attention on
Nakita once more. As a sign to him, he held his hand up to his mouth
and tipped it as though he had a glass.
"Something strong, right now, before she gets back," Noah said. He
worried about Kojirou, but at that moment nothing could appease him
more than a really strong drink...
---
To be seen were small and moderately plump hands clenching an engine-red pillow on a rather warm summer morning. The hands belonged to a somewhat plain girl, though obvious mixed heritage gave off a somewhat exotic effect.
Said girl lie there a while, staring above at an off white ceiling, much like herself...being slightly "off", in terms of sanity of course, and rather pale. Raising a tolerably fleshy arm, she admired her very own set of Barbie-pink nails, which like little candies in appearance had missing chunks and jagged edges as if they'd been thrown into a pit of starving Ethiopian children...Or a starving pit of children from any country, for that matter. Was Ethiopia a country? Not that it mattered.
Dismissing her current thoughts on said supposed third world countries, she hoisted herself off the bed, automatically slipping matching Barbie toes into a rather faded and worn two-some that could have possibly once been a bright new pair of green Converse-like sneakers. Brands names really didn't mean much.
Trudging down a few stepping stairs, she made her way into what seemed to be a kitchen. There was a sink. There were shapes that resembled dishes and there was a bowl of noodles that didn't look...too bad.
Clad in her daringly left untied, green, no-name sneakers; Bikini underwear stamped with pink palm trees; and a white boy's t-shirt, she slipped her behind upon a rather low countertop and consumed said noodles. They couldn't be more than a few days old.
When said noodles were gone, she slithered off the counter and located a pair of denim shorts that had been carelessly left on the floor...next to a certain set of unmentionables, one seeming to belong to a product of a male species, she slipped into the above mentioned article which were so eye- catchingly short, it is likely that they didn't deserve the "O", the "R", or the "T".
As she was headed out the door she spotted a rather tasty looking gumball lying on what could have been a coffee table. It was green and shiny, with a picture the average Japanese fan girl's dreamboat pop-star kind of guy printed on what could have been its front. Consuming the glossy sphere without even a glance at Mr. Perfect Pop Star, she exited the vermin- infested hellhole that she loved to call her home. And no, that's not referring to rodents.
---
After Nakita returned with four bottles of vodka...
"120 proof vodka enough? You look an emotional wreck... not surprising considering your involvement has progressed past the physical."
Nakita opened one bottle and gave it to Adam/Noah.
"Drink up."
Nakita was too busy drinking to notice the twin ghostly forms, both
identical to him .... existing .... behind him, perpetual sorrow
locked into their faces. As for Adam/Noah, however....
Noah had only had a swig or two of the vodka, but as he looked up to talk to Nakita, he had the sudden belief that he had already had too much.
"Fuck, I thought I could stand more liquor than this," he said, emphasizing his point by shaking the bottle. "But just a bit and I'm already seeing triple..."
He closed his eyes for a moment and then reopened them to still see the Nakita three. He narrowed his eyes.
"Nakita... those aren't exact copies of you," he said, noticing the bottle in the real Nakita's hand. "Turn around."
After letting the smartass comment "I'll drink to that" escape,
Nakita turned the beat around.... and sprayed approximately 75 ml of
good vodka into an atomised mist.
Turning back to Noah, "Well.. I better fill you in.... I'm the third
of ten children.... two sisters older than me who I've never met,
then I'm one of a set of identical triplets, then two single births,
one male, one female, then we have the second set of identical
triplets, Tak, Kannai et al."
/ Strange... why did I react so casually? /
The same thought went through Noah's mind.
"So... this is... normal for you?" he said, then took another swig of the vodka.
---
Her feet rested upon the innermore side of her faded canvas sneakers as she lolled along, following a steep cement curb. The people working in their gardens or retrieving their mail opposite side of the curb would often turn their heads upon the obtrusive sound she made as she chaffed the rubber bottoms by grazing harsh cement with most untidy footwear.
Raising a bit of her shirt, patting brow and neck to rid herself of a most unfavorable body secretion such as sweat, as if any other bodily secretions were in fact, favorable, she passed a young boy, who in the age of erector sets, held no real interest in anything but. She flashed a rather Cheshire grin at him as she passed and flicking a bottle cap, he as her target.
Right between the eyes, she thought. The grin became most tenacious when she heard the effects of her most ignoble actions in the form of a child's snivel and bawl.
After approaching a most shady apartment building, she dallied her way up a flight of awfully rusty stairs and to a door of which she didn't bother to knock, just turned a squeaking handle and pushed open the squeaking door. Maintenance mustn't be too good here.
Eyeing some dirty manga casually lying upon a handicapped coffee table, she picked one up and began to.."read". She giggled like a school girl, most fittingly, as she learned of the outlandish theme of the book. Those kooky hentai always brought a smile to her face.
Sprawling out upon the couch, she admired the candy nails once more, lazily turning her head as someone else entered the den.
He was rather tall. Looking mid-to late-life. Ranging from 30-45. Gray hair already taking black on top of a round head. Dressed like that of a sad and disheveled bank-teller. Fleshy, drooping cheeks and baggy eyes told the story of a marriage as grey as the hairs on his head. Though the eyes seemed to relate more to the boy of erector sets with a love for his mother. A certain pitiful slant.
She smirked, her eyes rolled round and she let out a sort of huff. The huff led to a word, the first you've heard from her, If my memory serves me right. "Keisuke," she sighed in a most agitated tone.
His mouth formed a sort of pout and he began towards her, he kicked the heavy door with his foot. You see his plump self slink up upon the couch, or you would, if the door hadn't been slammed in your face.
---
Hime returned a short while later, Kojirou on her left side. When he saw
the three Nakitas, Kojirou raised his eyebrow, an inquiring look on his
face. Hime settled for a wide grin. After a short silence Kojirou scratched his eyes, "Is there something I missed?"
Tak chose that time to join the assembly... seeing the older set of
triplets in his family reunited for the first time since their
birth...
/ Everybody needs to believe in something... I believe I will scull
two bottles of vodka... /
Without further ado, the green-haired giant grabbed the two unopened
vodka bottles and emptied them.