Keeping Promises [For Schon]

[sumarusfinest]

True to his word, Katsuya makes his way to the more quiet ends of the Nexus once he has a semblance of a plan in place for constructing a memorial for the casualties of the demon invasion that stemmed from his home.

He takes a seat near the newly made door to his world, trying hard not to overthink what is about to transpire.

Comments

[sumarusfinest]

"As you wish." Oh thank god. Katsuya hasn't talked about his brother this openly in years. Since...since he left, really. So never. He's never had to be this forthcoming about the loss of the only family he had left.

He's retreating back to the kitchen looking for anything to distract him for a good few minutes. Schon is welcome to follow him if he's curious about Katsuya's safety place, or he can wander the rest of the apartment unsupervised. Katsuya isn't going to notice anything if he's not banging around.

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

Schön stands, letting Katsuya retreat and taking some time to stretch and nose about a little more. He'll give the other man a few minutes to get himself under control before coming to lean in the kitchen doorway, the border of that sacred space, to look within.

[sumarusfinest]

The red tinted sunglasses are sitting on a counter, cast aside for the moment.

Katsuya himself is leaning against the refrigerator wiping at his eyes with the back of his hand. He's not making a single sound, no matter how hard his shoulders tremble. The hand not wiping his face clean is balled into a fist, pressed against the refrigerator door.

Three years of nothing. Not a letter, a phone call, or even a ripple of Resonance. Not a damn thing. He'd bottled it up, let the time slip by without really realizing how long it had been.

Then the timer goes off and, wow. He'd seriously been making tea. Katsuya inhales sharply, scrubbing his hand over his face one more time before pulling his sunglasses on and tucking his hair back into place carefully.

Soon the entire kitchen is filled with the smell of Japanese green tea, a special blend he'd received as a New Years gift at the office. He doesn't notice Schon until he moves to load the tray.

"Are you ready to continue?"

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

"I believe that's a question better asked of you, Mr. Suou," the thin man replies. Is that empathy in his tone, or is this another game? "We have time, after all."

[sumarusfinest]

"I would rather continue." He's very firm about this. Even if it means taking another break. He's not sure he's strong enough to want to do this again.

So while he's here, he will see it through. The officer dutifully brings the tray of tea out to where they're seated, replacing it for the one that used to hold their coffee. That tray is moved back to the kitchen for cleaning and refilling at some point.

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

Schön sits, tending to his tea while Katsuya takes the coffee tray away. Again, cream and sugar are strongly represented in the contents of his cup. He waits for Katsuya to be settled with his own cup before adjusting his phone and starting the recording again.

"Did the events we've discussed cause any difficulties for you within your department?"

[sumarusfinest]

First his brother and now...Katsuya nods.

"They did. Given the incredible nature of the events, it was hard to believe what it was I was doing. Ergo, there was...tension between myself and the station. I was even wanted for questioning for a while."

Not that this was the first time his family had been used by the very service they swore their loyalty to.

"During the events last time I was in the Nexus, a prominent member of the Tien Tao Len, a Chinese mafia assisting in the events that would have led to Nyarlathotep destroying my world...had somehow managed to be released from his life sentence."

"Baofu and I, in investigating his release, discovered a corruption scandal within the department. We realized that the cult group we had thought had been destroyed was still at large. Meaning Nyarlathotep could be brought back at any time. I was branded a traitor to the force and sought justice on my own."

Hatsuya sips at his tea, his grip on the mug tight enough to turn his knuckles white. Unlike his previous story, this one seems to make him angry rather than sad.

"We found him. Arrested him. Questioned him. Discovered how much of the cult yet existed. And set about dismantling it." Sip. Deep breath.

"After I turned Whistleblower, I was still treated as a criminal for nearly a year. The force got a huge gutting when all was said and done, and I got my job back. Things have been better, since."

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

"Is it your ambition to rise through the ranks, now that they have been somewhat cleansed?"

[sumarusfinest]

"I confess, my ambition has little to do with my job on the force." Katsuya shakes his head. "I wouldn't decline a promotion, but my patrols for...other dangers...is my highest priority now. The job serves to pay my bills."

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

"Hmm. If some other option came across your path, a career that took care of your bills and left you with more time for... special patrols, do you think you would take it?"

[sumarusfinest]

Katsuya looks thoughtful for a long moment. He remembers Verity talking about working a bakery in the Nexus. It's a nice thought....but he's not sure it would work. Converting anything he made their into money for his apartment here...

"I might. I've never considered another line of work. This is about all I've ever known, as far as work goes."

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

"Do you enjoy it?" The danger of promising to answer all his questions, or one of them at least, is that he's free to ask questions like this, pryingly personal and probably nothing to do with the demonic invasion.

Justice Arcana represent!

[sumarusfinest]

"I enjoy helping people." Katsuya nods. If he didn't like that aspect of it he wouldn't have lasted so long in the department. Doing the right thing, being a public servant. Those were parts of the job he truly believed in.

It was everything else that made the work difficult.

"My father was also a detective. It runs in the family." Whether they liked it or not.

Sound off like you got a pair (of handcuffs)!

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

"A detective with this force?"

[sumarusfinest]

"A long time ago, yes. Many of the higher ups knew my father." Katsuya gives a short nod.

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

"How many of them were excised in the purge?"

[sumarusfinest]

"..Not many. Most have retired already." Katsuya doesn't understand this turn in topic, but he does his best to answer truthfully and succinctly.

It made sense that Schon wanted to know about his family, considering he and his brother had this strange power.

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

"Where is your father, now?"

[sumarusfinest]

There's a long pause. Katsuya looks down into his teacup.

"My father passed away three years ago. Don't bother asking about my mother. She's been deceased since I was still in primary school."

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

"My sympathies," he offers, along with a moment's silence. "Any other family? Aunts, uncles, grandparents?"

[sumarusfinest]

Katsuya shakes his head.

"We don't have much in the way of extended family." He doesn't think his power comes form his genetics. In a way, it all came back to Tatsuya and Maya. Everyone with powers was somehow involved with one of the two of them, or both.

"Tatsuya is my only blood family. Though Jun has become like a brother to me as well. Or at least. He was" A small shrug.

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

Schön nods thoughtfully, sipping at his tea. It was worth checking, at least. "The form your persona takes--what does it mean to you?"

[sumarusfinest]

"Helios?" A creature in fine Victorian inspired garb, catlike in appearance, with the power of the sun at his command. And a very large gun.

"I've been told it is also me. A part of my soul. Since I'm allergic to cats, I always found it rather like I was being teased, having him take such a form." But he likes cats.

Liking things he cannot have. Striving for justice while being used and abused. Giving up everything for someone else, time and again.

"Helios is a necessary tool for the work I do. I suppose one could argue his appearance is a reflection of myself. I never gave it too much thought before."

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

"We all have another side to our soul," the thin man muses quietly. "Have you any hobbies?"

[sumarusfinest]

"I enjoy baking." Katsuya offers right away. "Culinary arts in general are quite relaxing."

What else does he do? Wow he's really boring when he thinks about it.

"I have functional English capabilities, obviously. I am passable with an acoustic guitar. Uhm. Believe it or not, I've gotten quite good at placing wiretaps." Despite it being a crime. You hang around Baofu long enough and you start to learn things, okay? He's also gotten really good at interrogations. In a not so by-the-books way.