2021.09.14: Curry and Poor Taste
| Curry and Poor Taste | |
|---|---|
| Shizuki brings Allayna a questionable breakfast. | |
| Players | Shizuki, Allayna |
| Location | Vallara Terrace Apartments |
| Spheres | Gaian Garou Shifter Mortal+ |
For most, the hour is late(ish). The bulk of the population has long since come home from their jobs, had dinner and is probably settling in for an evening of vegetating in front of the television. A familiar ritual that numbs the brain and allows for them to maintain the same cycle, the same grind, day after day. For others, however, a different routine is taken and it is to the apartment of just such an individual that Shizuki is currently heading. The doorman and lobby attendant both know him by now and give him a smile and a wave as the young man passes through, returning both with amiable greetings of his own. The gaunt, posh woman emerging from the first-floor hallway is given a curious side-glance, un-noticed by her, before Shizuki boards the elevator and rides up to the sixth floor.
This evening, he's carrying with him a pair of white paper sacks, medium sized and rolled over at the top. Both are quite full, it seems, and the thick, spicy aroma of curry wafts from them both. He has a sack in each hand, so the elevator button is manipulated with his knuckles and when he arrives at the apartment door of his destination, the knock on the door is made with a rapid but polite thump of his foot. Immediately afterwards, he turns his head towards the camera above the door with a wide smile, lifting up both bags so that they are in full view of the camera angle. "It's me, Shizuki," he announces then, just loud enough to be heard through the door. "I've brought you breakfast!"
Inside the apartment on Allayna Walker has been - getting ready for her 'day' / 'night'. Sleeping in the day, working on her computers at night, it's a way for Allayna to remain that mysterious figure that no one knows. It's what she -likes- about her life. This existence has been doing quite well for her, for quite some time, at least until Shizuki showed up. The tall blonde has finished with her shower, put on something other than pajamas, and was in the process of grumbling about broken promises as she rummages idly through her fridge.
The sound of the knocking stirs her to look up and -almost- refuse to answer it, though when the camera above the door turns its gaze onto Shizuki, there is the undeniable sound of many bolts being undone, followed by the door opening upwards and Allayna muttering. "You're late."
Once Shizuki is through, the camera does a quick sweep back and forth in the hall, while the door closes behind him and the multiple locks are once again put back into place. Once Allayna is quite sure that no one followed the young pup, the camera shifts back into place above the door, and the tall blonde idly draws towards her kitchen, sniffing the air with a curious... "It .. smells .. interesting." She begins, casing a wary glance at the young man. "What did you bring?"
"Sorry," Shizuki is quick to apologize for his tardiness, "I lost track of time." He doesn't elaborate any further just yet, shuffling quickly into the apartment so that Allayna can go about locking up the door again. A quick glance is given towards the many deadbolts and chains, as if perhaps wondering why the woman feels the need to employ so many of the devices, though he declines to say anything. Instead, he heads over to the dining area and sets down the two paper bags and unrolls the top of each to open them and allow the fragrant aroma of curry, nutmeg, onion, ginger and a few other fragrant spices that, while potent, aren't as easily identifiable.
At the question of just what it is he brought, Shizuki glances over his shoulder with a broad grin. "I found a restaurant called the Curry Corner that is run by kinfolk of my tribe," he announces proudly. "I have some tandoori chicken, some curry noodles, masala dosa and some authentic chai tea." As he lists off each dish, he extracts a wrapped food item from the back, unfolding the paper covering to reveal a selection of entrees, from heavily seasoned chicken breasts to yellow-brown spiced noodles, to rolled, crepe-like items that seem to be filled with a kind of potato paste. And, of course, a pair of small, steaming cups with the chai tea that are withdrawn last, plastic lids popped off to reveal the hot liquid within.
"I.. know it's not your standard style of breakfast, but, I was already running late and... Well, they gave me a discount," Shizuki explains, offering a small shrug. "But! It's really good food, and I had them make it not too spicy, because I wasn't sure if you liked spicy food or not." He pauses, glancing towards the food that's placed out on the table. "Except for the curry noodles, I don't think they were able to water those down. Anyways," he continues, looking back to Allayna fully again, smiling once more. "I did promise you breakfast and I didn't want to default. Except. I did forget to get any eating utensils...."
Taking a few steps into the room, Allayna stops in her tracks as Shizuki begins to talk. Her gaze flickers towards the bags, watching as the items begin to emerge and the smell wafts gently through the apartment. A brief frown begins to stir at her lips, the frown intensifies greatly as the items are not only brought forth but described. Her brows narrow towards the freckles on her nose, lips pursing together.
Her tongue clicks onto the side of her cheek, as her lips roll about, making a face that begins with the frown, twists into a scowl, and finally is left with a straight line.
Her teeth gnash downwards, as Allayna remains quiet, letting her face do the talking for her. Finally, her steps draw towards the kitchen, there she produces a couple plates, forks, serving spoons, the important items necessary for consumption at the very least.
When she returns to the table and hands a plate and fork to Shizuki, Allayna offers a quiet, "Thank you for getting this, whatever it cost I will repay you for it." Settling herself down into the chair, Allayna idly casts her gaze from item to item, finally choosing a few pieces of chicken, avoiding everything else, and her cup of chai.
At first, it seems as if Shizuki doesn't at all notice the adverse reaction that Allayna seems to have to the food choices - instead pulling a chair up to the table to sit down and take a little of this and a little of that onto his offered plate, collecting the offered silverware with a nod and a genuine thank you. He also is quick to wave off the notion of being paid back for any of the food, shaking his head with a swish of his dark hair from side to side over his features. "No, this is my treat," he insists. "I told you I would get you breakfast, that doesn't mean that I expected you to pay for it. Besides, you've given me an open invitation to sleep on your couch. Bringing food is the least I can do." He takes a bite of one of the marasala dosa, holding like a soft taco, savoring the potato, onion and spice mixture within the thin, pancake like exterior, and washes it down with a sip of chai tea before he finally seems to notice the dour expression on the blonde's face.
"You... you don't like Indian cuisine?" he begins, his eyebrows lifting just a bit before they crease together in concern and, ultimately, embarrassment. "Oh...I.. I should have made certain first! Are you allergic to cumin or ginger?" He sets down his half-eaten marsala dosa, wipes at the corner of mouth with a napkin to clean off a bit of food there, and starts to rise up out of his chair. "I can go out and get something else. Many restaurants are still open. In fact, I remember seeing the establishment on the nearby street corner was still serving food." He pauses, trying to remember the name of the place. "Hot Tamales? I think they serve chicken there, a sign on the window said they have the best breasts in town..." The statement is made completely deadpan, showcasing either a terrible naivety or a very dry sense of humour.
"Sit. Down." Allayna states with a tone of voice that is hardly amused. "I do not require hot tamales, nor do I wish to eat street corner food. This chicken will suffice for the time being." Trying her best to not seem too pissed off, Allayna idly shuffles the chicken from one side of her plate, to the other, trying to make it look like she's at least eaten some of it.
Her face scrunches upwards, tongue idly rolling about on the inside of her cheek, before moving forward to lick her lips while her upper teeth maul about on her bottom. When she speaks, her tone is deadpan still. "You see." She begins, finally pushing her chair backwards to turn her gaze onto Shizuki.
"I have a different schedule than most. I suppose I have never really given you the run-down, but given I consider this first meal of the day my 'breakfast', I had - wrongly - assumed that you might understand what I mean by that." Allayna's eyes narrow downward as she gazes at the food, then back to Shizuki.
"Breakfast is a time when I eat, cereal. Eggs. Waffles. Perhaps if I so desire, I'll put together a chicken fried steak, but spicy Indian cuisine is not something that immediately comes to mind for me." Allayna's not the most charismatic when she speaks, so her tone could be misconstrued. "I usually have only a couple meals a day. When I first awaken, and then later on in the evening, early morning I'll have my supper, which this will be delightful for that."
Yes, Allayna recons this is a strange way to do things, but - well, she's a strange person, too. "Anyway. Thank you, but I think I'll just get right to work."
Plopping back down into his chair immediately, given the tone that Allayna puts forth, Shizuki blinks once as he sits there and listens to her clipped words and the explanation that she offers. As she continues to speak, the young Japanese man's expression turns further into a pained grimace, a regretful frown pulling at the corners of his mouth as he realizes the severity of his error and how much it's at odds with the woman's preferred habits.
"I... I understand," he finally states, inclining his head forward in a sign of respect to the woman. "And I apologize, I should have realized when you said 'breakfast' it wasn't just a symbolic word choice...." The young man draws in a deep breath and lets it out again slowly before he continues. "I will make it up to you," he states calmly then, before adding with a small grin, "But not with Indian food. Still... This should re-heat very nicely. I do not have any scheduled appointments this evening, I will set an alarm so that I will be awake to heat it for you, it is the least I can do. I know you'll like it, it's actually really quite tasty..."
As if to punctuate his point, Shizuki picks up his half eaten marsala dosa to take another bite, chewing and swallowing with gusto. He washes it down with another sip of tea, before he tilts his head just a little as he regards Allayna. "Can I ask what it is you'll be doing tonight? Do you... have a list of companies that you target or investigate, or...?" He leaves the question open ended, then adds, "I apologize, I shouldn't pry, I just... What you do, it's very different from any other work I've seen."
Rolling her eyes, Allayna just laughs, her sides heaving with the quiet sound. "Hairspray." She begins, referring to the nick-name she's given Shizuki, versus the actual fact he might use it. "You do not need to get up and reheat something." The idea of using a microwave suddenly creases her nose into a great wrinkle. "I can cook, actually I've even had several lessons, so my tastes are a bit above a microwave reheating, anyway."
"You didn't know, so it's not a great deal." Except Allayna's less than charismatic manners tends to make it so, but hey! She's trying to be nice, here! Sorta. Rising upwards, Allayna's rummaging through her cabinets pulling out tupperware containers to begin putting the left-overs within them, talking as she does so.
"I don't mind talking about what I do." She offers, casting a gaze at Shizuki then back to the work at hand, gesturing for him to get what he wants out, else she's going to put the rest away. "Tonight I plan on breaking into the office of this detective agency that has been, I think, working with a less than legal organization, black mailing high profile clients into doing ... well. I'm not quite sure yet. I stumbled upon it while looking through the files of this low-life Yakuza thug. His cell phone held every single one of his passwords, so it didn't take much to get into his system and start looking through everything. One thing lead to another.." And Allayna's idly finishing up the Indian food, putting them into the fridge as she speaks.
"That I found out he's the go-between guy for this detective agency and the Yakuza, /and/ that there's a great deal of black-mail going on." Allayna idly closes the fridge, turning about to rub a hand through her medium lengthed hair. "If I play my cards right, a lot of the times these idiots keep their cash in things like bitcoin and other difficult to trace commodities and they tend to keep their information on their computers. So I'm going to do some digging tonight."
Pausing a moment, Allayna eyes Shizuki. "Hey. Weren't you suppose to sniff someone else's butt tonight?"
Quickly collecting a little bit more of each of the dishes onto his plate before the rest of the food is ferreted away into storage containers, Shizuki continues to eat away as Allayna explains her current 'job' to him, each mouthful of food taken in measured, even bites as he chews thoughtfully, nodding every so often to show that he is not only listening to what the woman has to say, but is understanding it. For the most part. Of course, the mention of the Yakuza brings a proverbial shadow across the young man's features, eyes widening just slightly. "Be careful when dealing with the Yakuza," he warns, likely unnecessarily, but just the same. "I don't think I need to tell you how dangerous they can be."
A light frown passes over his face then, another bite of chicken chewed thoughtfully and swallowed as he regards Allayna. "When you do your ...digging," he begins after a moment. "Let me know if you find any orders from the Yakuza regarding the pursuit of any, ah, persons of interest. Especially anyone matching my description." He's a little cagey about the request, but doesn't really seem to be trying very hard to be subtle about it. "I don't think anyone could possibly know I'm here, especially so soon after I've arrived, but... I have learned not to rely on luck and not to trust coincidence."
Shizuki takes another sip of his chai then, calmly drinking the liquid when the question about sniffing butts almost causes him to do a spit-take. Almost. He catches himself just in time, though does sputter a little over the rim of the paper cup. "You know fully well that's not at all a thing," he answers then, unable to contain the smirk that rises to his features afterwards. "Well. Except for the Red Talons, but... Anyways," he continues, getting back on track. "I did, in fact, manage to meet with two of the Sept Elders and had a very encouraging talk with both of them. It seems that the Sept here is very open and have given positions of responsibility to more than a few Metis. And kinfolk as well, from what they've said," he adds in a clearly leading tone.
Casually fluttering her eyelashes in a manner that is not so innocent, Allayna's smile only grows as Shizuki does admit the Red Talons do just that. "AH - HA! Not so far off, now am I!" She crows in happiness, settling into the chair that is once again across from Shizuki. The smile never wanes from her features as she listens, though it does begin to twist into a smirk as she offers a quick. "Well, la-de-da for them." Rubbing her nose with her index finger, Allayna chews on a thought a bit, gazing at Shizuki with a careful look.
"You know, you can do anything you want to, the sins of the parents should not be that of the child, regardless of whatever the fuck laws exist in this world, you are born innocent, and that's how I've always believed." Idly rubbing her nose again with her index finger, Allayna shrugs her shoulders upwards. "Anyway. I'm glad they're not as much sticklers to the entire 'OH EM GEE' you're a devil among dogs bullshit that some places do. You still totally sniff each others butts, though. I'm just saying."
Rising upwards, Allayna finally dismisses the idea of getting in trouble with the Yakuza. "Hey. It's me. I'm super careful, but if I can get rich off their stupidity, who am I to say no to that?" She winks one eye at Shizuki before turning towards the hallway. "Anyway, time waits for no one, so I'm off to work. There's free porn on channel six, the woman downstairs is gone for the night, but several of her aides are there having a good time." And with that, Allayna moves on towards her office.
