>>RESUME
"Somewhere, somewhere, somewhere..." Tweak murmured. The map to the station that she was shown earlier was pulled up and a flagged location flickered up ahead. Ahead, in a general sense of the word. Did she want to go there? Wait, why was she pulling him along? "Oh, um..." She slowed, allowing him to catch up so she wasn't dragging him with her. "Someone is talking with Administrator Montreal right now."
Kokuten had kept a steady pace, but tried to look as little hurried as possible so the two of them wouldn't attract the attention of any wary figures. The way she was hustling, it seemed she was highly distressed, or perhaps frightened? Tweak seemed skittish like that. By the time they had slowed down, the Captain had pulled out one of his Rueben cigars, and opened the film around it by sliding it down the sides as he pressed the cigar's tip against him, like one would remove paper covering off of a straw.
"Is that so? Are we going that way?" asked the Chiaki, having little inkling of which direction Cassefin was. His arm began to buzz as a charge built on the contact pad in his palm. "Because, no offense to the Head Administrator, but I'd prefer somewhere less..." He paused to bring his palm to the tip of the cigar, and lit it from the heat of the electricity coursing through the contact pad. He gave a puff or two before finishing, "... Oppressive."
Tweak shook her head. "No...away. Definitely going away," she said, watching the floor.
"Sounds fine by me." said Kokuten, his tone becoming relaxed now, and the cigar bobbing up and down with each word. He made no effort to loosen his hand, since the Freespacer-Neko would likely notice she was still leading him around. So, by his reasoning, there was a reason why she was handling him in such a way. "Though, if you don't mind my asking," he puffed, "Is there a specific place you're taking us?"
The neko slowed a bit. That gave the smoke trailing behind Kokuten time to catch up and her nose crinkled at the smell. She glanced up at him, noting the fresh-lit cigar. "Not really," she said, looking back down and speeding up to the previous pace. "You don't have to go if you don't want to."
"Why not? I rather enjoy your company." smiled Kokuten as he stuffed his hanging hand into his side pocket. He looked around at the surrounding scenery, taking in the extensive decor and frill of the establishment. "Morris zipped off in a flash, and left me in the Cigar Shop." he explained matching Tweak's pace despite their difference in height, "I thought I would be lost in a sea of people for sure! Walking this large place by myself until dinner. So, it was nice to meet a friendly face, especially yours."
"Oh..." The blinking location kept drawing Tweak's attention. Should she tell him who was talking to Montreal? Would he want to go back there? Would it help or hurt the situation? "The store wasn't oppressive...it was very nice," she mused aloud, recalling what Kokuten had said a while ago. He was her superior officer, he needed to know the situation. But they were both off-duty too, so did that still apply? "Would you want to know about possible problems even if you are off-duty?" Tweak finally asked, looking back up at Kokuten, her Tactical system absently tracing the path of the smoke as she did.
"Mmm?" sounded the tailing Chiaki. Tweak's question was a little out of the blue to him. In fact, it sounded in appropriate enough for a specific reason. Though, he knew better than to upset her by asking more questions. Besides! It was their vacation time, no need to worry. "Well, as a doctor, I would have to say yes, because it could mean someones life. As a soldier, I would have to say no, because things are hard enough to warrant me a relaxing shore leave." explained Kokuten as he brought a surgically adept hand to his chin, "So, only if it was important. I don't like to neglect intrinsic details."
Was it important? They weren't to be trusted, to be sure, but Tweak remembered her previous conclusion. She sighed. "It isn't...just worrisome." The flagged location was in sight now.
Kokuten ran his hand from his jaw to his chin before sighing, letting loose a big plume of smoke. He put his hand in his pocket and thought about it for a mere second before asking the question, "Well, is something worrying you? If so, feel free to tell me. It's best to get these sort of things off your mind."
There was a faint thumping somewhere nearby. She would have a better idea of which direction it was coming from if she could uncover her ears. Tweak ignored it and shrugged. "Why would the CEOs of Vinross Yu-Cranker be here?" she said. The thumping was either above or below them. Probably below. And that would match what she was seeing.
Following that declaration was stop in Kokuten's footsteps. Tweak would feel him act as an anchor to her movement, his hand still stayed in hers, but still he moved no further.
"Vinross." said Kokuten simply, taking a deep breath before exhaling the air. "They're probably here to enjoy the hotel like we are. That, or aggravate the Head Administrator, she seems to invite that sort of pressure. I highly doubt that such prominent figures would attempt anything with so many people around. Especially being planetside." reasoned the competent soldier. He picked up his pace again moving up next to Tweak rather than behind her. "I appreciate you telling me this definitely something I'd like to keep in mind, just in case."
The sudden stop was a surprise. She had forgotten that she was still holding his hand. Her grip loosened and almost let go. When the distracted medic didn't loosen his, Tweak looked at their hands. She quickly looked forward again and adjusted her hand a bit before holding his again, this time without the "come with me if you want to live" grip she'd had on it to start.
When Kokuten came out of his reverie and explained his view of the Administrator situation, the 'Spacer neko smiled in her usual subdued version of the expression. That was what she had thought, and hearing someone else arrive at that conclusion too was comforting. Or at least a little relieving.
"Alright. Alright..." She looked around and, trying to ignore the people, translated the two-dimensional map she had in mind to an
augmented-reality view of the area. This floor was aquatic-themed. What were the others?
Would they only sell seafood if they had a grocery store here? she wondered, then spotted a patch of ultraviolet light. That was everywhere in some form or another, of course, but not in that concentration. Tugging Kokuten along, Tweak locked onto the patch and everyone in the crowd faded into outlined shapes that she wove through to get to the location.
She seemed almost like a hunting dog that had spotted her mark. When she set off, Kokuten knew he would have to keep pace. He tried to look on ahead to see what they were approaching, but couldn't quite gather a reasonable conclusion. "Ah, Tweak, did you see something?" he asked also navigating and dodging people as they went. He motioned his cigar around in his mouth to avoid it sticking into someone's eye, knowing that that would be a painful experience for anyone.
The exterior to the particular place appeared as if the walls of the corridor had blended with a cave. Raw, unhewn rock formed a wide tunnel that acted as a doorway into a dark passage that was pocketed with lights. Only two things gave it away as a club and not a problem with the building, the guards standing in front. One was the obligatory super-large ID-SOL, and the other was not. Probably a high-conversion cyborg, but based on normal Nepleslian stock.
Tweak didn't even give the bouncers a second look as she stopped in front of the doorway and stared inside. The stone appeared porous, likely fake...hm? Tweak blinked in amusement when her TacOps returned that it was a very, very...close replica. So close, it may as well be stone.
That's the sign of wealth, she thought. "Spent more money on getting an accurate fake than using the real thing."
The UV was from the blacklight emissions coming from crystalline formations embedded in the stone. Tweak's head tilting in fascination, she wandered inside. The thumping she had felt through the floor wasn't coming from here, or they had changed the song by now. But there was music inside. The neko's eyes didn't show any external signs, but her vision modes shifted to deal with the low-light conditions. Other than the black-light crystals, the hollows in the stone held some sort of bio-luminescent material that gave off just enough in the visible spectrum that unaugmented vision could avoid running into things or people, but who had unaugmented vision these days?
"Wanting to go in there?" asked Kokuten, before activating his own low-light vision and staring inside. He didn't visit many clubs in his times, and as a matter of fact, hadn't been to one since before he joined the military. "Never figured you one for clubbing!" said the man, before switching the low-light off and then looked over at the two burly looking men working as bouncers for the place. "Can we even go inside?"
The bouncers didn't stop either of them when she passed them, so apparently they were allowed. One of them touched the side of his head as they went by.
So that's how they did it...Instead of the rather over-done version of an undersea party, this had gone deeper. Deep-sea graphics and holographics were present, but not densely-so. The ceiling was hidden by a projection of a shimmering surface as if seen at a great distance, like being on the edge of the total darkness of an ocean floor.
The music was somewhat up-beat, a mix of electronic, a drum loop, and violins at the time Tweak and Kokuten went in. Tweak's hand loosened on Kokuten's again as she wandered inside, keeping to the wall instead of heading into the dance crowd. It wasn't all that crowded, though, since it was still sometime before evening. Tweak switched through a few modes, admiring the non-visible lasers that flickered from place to place, then settled on standard mode. This was good...
Kokuten's eyes looked around as Tweak's did, also taking in the rather pricey looking decor. Coming from a decent amount of money himself, he knew the amount of DA it took to put down architecture like that. With each color that seemed to flash, his eyes seemed to match the color by seamlessly matching it in successive fades ins and outs. As Tweak finally seemed to loosen up her grip, Kokuten let his hand slip loose and allowed himself to move himself around freely.
"It does seem a little early to be coming to a place like this. There's barely anyone here!" said Kokuten aloud, though, the words he spoke gave him a realization. "Or, is that the point?"
>>PAUSE
