AD 2204, 5/5, 6th Hierarchical City of Yabiko – Unknown Area
The vigilante known as Carl Clover does not like staying in one place for very long. Firstly, his research requires that he meet with and study various strong souls. Secondly, that irritating performer Amane Nishiki just wouldn't leave him well enough alone. Carl suspects he's the one who has been tailing him as of late. Thirdly, things like this might happen.
"Come on, Clover, celebrate a little!" Kagura Mutsuki, Colonel of the NOL and leader of the Praetorian Guard, slings a drunken arm around Carl's cloaked shoulders. Mutsuki's spiky black hair falls over his handsome face quite strikingly in the pub's low light.
Carl's left 'eye' glows ominously behind his silver half-mask, his white-gloved hand gripping the handle of his mug tightly. "Colonel Mutsuki, I must kindly ask that you remove your arm from my person."
Mutsuki groans, but retracts his wrapped hand, sipping sullenly on his mug of sake. Carl himself takes a sip of his brandy. Good stuff, he supposes, as it glides warmly down his throat.
It's his nineteenth year on this planet, and he's no closer to his goal than he was seven years ago. Drinking is not for celebration, but experimentation. Perhaps if he puts himself into an unfocused state of mind, the muses will favor him with inspiration. However, it appears that Mutsuki has other plans for Carl's evening.
The pub they currently occupy is a humble, homely establishment, done up in classic Austrian style. The furnishing is what drew Carl to this pub in particular. The familiar style was somewhat comforting since Ada would not be admissible here if he wanted the evening to remain peaceful. She's watching from somewhere close by, he's sure. And his evening has indeed been peaceful, save for the interruption that is Mutsuki.
"Stop taking baby sips! You need to throw it back and have another, or you'll never get the hang of this." Mutsuki demonstrates this by throwing back his head and downing his mug in one go, jostling his black cape in the process.
How typically uncouth of the playboy, Carl muses. He hums his disapproval and continues to sip leisurely. Surely Mutsuki will grow bored of him if he doesn't engage the man, he doesn't wish to cause unnecessary grief by fighting him off instead.
Alas, Mutsuki persists. "You know what you need, hic?" He slurs his words a little, his smile loose and easy, purple eyes smoldering with mirth.
"Some peace and quiet?" Carl raises a disinterested brow, not even glancing at Mutsuki. His right cerulean eye stares forward, burning a hole in an innocent painting depicting a cavalry charge.
"No!" Kagura slams down the empty mug and motions for another, before raising a scholarly finger skywards. His expression is solemn. "You need a, hic, woman's touch."
Carl stiffens, his gaze shifting to the man beside him with suspicion and irritation. Mutsuki leans in, never breaking eye contact, huskily murmuring. "You're so tense I could use you to beat Shishigami to Yabiko and back."
Carl leans away and glares at him, barely holding back a snarl as his half-mask emits an eerie azure hue. Mutsuki blinks at the sight bemusedly, then smirks rakishly. "See what I mean, hic? You're getting all worked up just thinking about it."
He moves to poke Carl on the nose with his pointer finger, and the younger man slaps his hand away, hissing like a freshly terrorized kaka kitten. "And just how do you know I favor the company of women or any company at all for that matter?"
Mutsuki shakes his swatted hand with a hum and shrugs, never having lost his rakish smirk and mirthful smolder. "Call it lover's intuition."
Carl groans desperately and takes a properly uncouth swig of his brandy, turning away from the ridiculous Mutsuki, and silently damning the red heat rising into his pale cheeks.
Mutsuki smirks wider, sensing an opportunity to enact his plans for this evening. He slips into one of his favorite roles, smacking the table with exuberant force, his expression becoming sloppier in presentation. "Tell you what, Clover. If you can d- hic, drink me under the table, I'll let you go. If I- hic I win, you got- hic gotta stay with me for a while so I can- hic find you a pretty lady."
Carl glances Mutsuki's way dubiously, but upon seeing the slackening smirk and spreading flush, he dons a confident, if somewhat cruel smirk of his own. Mutsuki has always been a bit of a braggart by reputation, and though he may be the more experienced between the two of them, Carl's hard-won constitution and relative freshness should allow him to prevail easily.
"Alright, Mutsuki, I'll play your little game." Carl raises his mug and finishes his drink with a flourish, continuing to smirk at the promise of future satisfaction.
He doesn't think to question the frequency of Mutsuki's hiccups. Rookie mistake, Kagura muses.
Half an hour later…
He's forgetting something. Carl hates forgetting things, it leads to trouble. He whines as Kagura hands him another mug. He's going to be sick. But he must win, it's important. Right?
The room spins as Carl turns to the older man, his blonde low ponytail brushing the fine polish of the table from where he's leaning over it to maintain his precarious balance in his seat.
"Kagura, why are we, hic, doing this, hic, again?" Carl pouts as the older man chuckles. His head is so woozy, and the sound is reverberating down his spine too much for his liking. His bangs are also falling in the way of his eye, obscuring Kagura slightly.
"Because you need to prove yourself as a man, remember?" Kagura smiles heartily, purple eyes warm and inviting.
"Yeah, I guess that makes sense." Carl raises his freshly full mug of brandy to his lips and closes his eye. Mutsuki's brightness continues to shine blurrily in the peripheral of his left side. It's distractingly noticeable.
Kagura smirks connivingly, his own eyes narrowing as Clover becomes blind to the physical. The kid's fallen for his routine hook, line, and sinker. He reckons that it will be just another drink or two before he's down for the count. Who knew the kid was such a regressive drunk, though?
Clover finishes his drink with a gasp, the brandy shining off his petal pink lips. He flutters his lashes as he opens his eye to peer at him. Kagura doesn't think he's ever seen the other man this vulnerable before. Not that he's ever seen or paid much attention to Clover, mind. Though he supposes that he can now see why Nishiki insists on chasing after him. Clover's kind of girlish in the low, warm light of the pub. Or maybe that's the drink talking. Kagura looks at Clover again and decides it's definitely the drink talking.
He fills his mug with another round of sake, and downs it swiftly, relishing in the singeing burn. He'll give Clover his due; he's gotten Kagura very nearly drunk himself. He's about half a dozen rounds away from his limit. If Clover somehow proves him wrong and manages to hang on, this will have all been for nothing, and then Hibiki's going to be pissed.
Kagura thinks about that notion again for a second, then shrugs. "Hibiki's probably pissed at me anyway."
Clover puts down his mug, swaying heavily in his seat. A shark's killer grin splits Mutsuki's cheeks. He's got Clover dead to rights, now. He quickly hands him another mug of brandy, and Clover shakily shoots him with a glare full of distress and angry determination. Kagura grabs another mug of sake for himself and counts down. They raise their drinks in unison, and…
Thud
"…You're out. I win." Kagura puts down his mug of sake, then jolts when a familiar but unwelcome voice huskily whispers in his ear. He nervously turns his head to see a particularly intense-looking Hibiki. He swallows thickly. Hibiki offers a small smile that reaches his dark eyes. Kagura feels his soul trying to escape the unsafe confinement of his very mortal flesh.
"Now Sir, it's impolite to leave a contest unfinished." Kagura smiles shakily at the man, then grabs and downs his mug of sake as quick as a flash. Hibiki hums, his expression returning to careful neutrality. "Also, since when did you have time in your schedule to run a dating service?"
Kagura bats his eyes innocently, hoping to duck from what he knows in his heart is inevitable. "I'm sure that Homura can find it in their heart to—"
Hibiki slices a hand through the air, producing a clipboard. Kagura quivers, his once happy heart falling into the merciless clutches of despair. Not paperwork, by the Gods, anything but paperwork. But alas, no God heeds him, and so he must sign a cruelly extensive waiver to beg permission for extended leave hours.
Hibiki smirks happily when Kagura finishes after several minutes. "There." Hibiki nods to the wilted form of Clover, now drooling on the previously pristine face of the table.
"Best you both get going before Shishigami comes looking, sir. I took the liberty of letting him know that dear 'Master Carl' was in here." Hibiki saunters off, smirk firmly in place and with a twinkle in his eye, while Kagura sputters and darts his eyes around the pub nervously.
"That sneaky little—?!"
The tell-tale scent of 'manly' sweat, the growing sound of that signature loud shouting… Kagura kicks his ass into high gear. He throws a lot of money on the table, grabs Clover, and books it out the back door.
"MASTER CARL! It's been too long since— Huh?" Bang looks around in confoundment and sadness, frowning deeply. Hibiki said he'd be right here, at table three. Yet here stands he, Bang Shishigami, atop the fine furniture with nothing but empty chairs before him. He hums thoughtfully and taps his chin, expressions becoming pensive as his keen mind races. "How curious…"
"You jackass, I just got that table clean!" A swift and devastating broom swinging into the back of the noble ninja's head cuts his customary inner monologue short.
A few minutes later…
"Shit!" Kagura bobs to the left.
"Shit!" He weaves to the right.
Shit!" He continuously cycles through evasive maneuvers while trying to outrun Clover's angry 'sister' Nirvana. However, the giant purple marionette is pretty damn relentless in her pursuit.
The kid's plated hat is fucking heavy as he cradles his head, and his ponytail keeps tangling between his fingers. How the hell that hat is staying on, he's content not to know.
He jostles the younger man roughly and successfully wakes him for a moment.
"Hmm? Just five more minutes, Sis…" Clover dozes off, beginning to drool on Kagura's white shirt.
Kagura shakes him again, with even more feeling. "Clover! Get your Nox to knock it off!"
Clover groans, and slurs a bit unintelligently before successfully calling out. "Sis. It's okay, Kagura's just… Um, what are we doing…?"
Kagura watches Nirvana hesitate and decides it's best to play along with his assigned role of the designated runner.
"I'm taking you home so you can sleep this off." Clover nods slowly, a drunken smile of understanding on his face.
"That sounds nice. See Sis? It's okay…" Clover trails off again, and Kagura watches Nirvana stop, then hold out her claws.
Not wanting to piss her off again, Kagura pivots and hands Clover to her. She stares at him expectantly, tilting her blonde head after a few moments, impatient.
"You're not serious…" A bead of sweat runs down Kagura's face as the moon gleams off her silver claws. He gulps, then nervously shuffles into her grasp.
She clenches them both to her chest, then rockets off towards his home at blinding speeds. Kagura barely holds back his dinner. Clover doesn't, and a scream of terror and anguish from below splits the night. Clover's going to have a hell of a hangover in the morning. Kagura decides it might do him well to sleep in, he doesn't like his chances with a hung-over Clover.
Author's Notes
For anyone wondering, yes. This is a revision of my old work on FFN. I decided to try and retrofit it as a less serious story since it's been a while and I have a less intense relationship with the games.