Investigation Trance
Dec. 16th, 2021 02:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
madimpossibledreamerYagami talking a good talk to avoid saying he’s upset ‘cause he knew Shintani
Main Points:
Judgment|Judge Eyes/Cowboy Bebop
Chapter Summary: Yagami is a little bit obsessed.
Word Count: 880
Rating: Teen
Kaito coughs as he steps into the central room. Sure, he’s no stranger to a little cigarette smoke—he indulges, himself—but the room is thick with smoke. It’d be surprising the fire alarm didn’t get set off if not for the fact that this probably just means they’ve found yet another broken system on the ship. He can barely make out Ta-bo’s outline through the haze.
Something’s going on. Something’s always going on with Yagami. As much as the man likes to pretend he’s straightforward and carefree, that’s a lie. You wouldn’t notice if you weren’t spending as much time with him as Kaito obviously is, but small, quickly hidden emotions behind the eyes, all the work that goes into retaining that air of mystery, odd things he says or does…it’s not like there’s anything obvious he can figure out, but it’s pretty clear he’s hiding a lot. This, though, this is worse than usual.
Ta-bo doesn’t chain-smoke. He just doesn’t. Sure, he’s a social smoker, but Kaito can’t remember the last time he’d pulled out two smokes in a row, let alone filled an entire ashtray like this. But then, since last night, he’d also refused to eat, hadn’t even taken his usual nap, by the looks of things, and has been poring over the pages and pages of documents they’d collected on the latest bounty seemingly nonstop.
“You get any sleep at all?” There’s no response, and now as he walks closer, he sees the man has on his headphones. It’s hard to tell whether that’s an uncharacteristic show of being nice or if he’s just trying to keep himself awake.
He taps the headphones and almost manages to get away from the retaliatory grab. Touching Ta-bo when he’s not expecting it is dangerous, and Yagami’s the fast one. He’s the strong one.
Not to say Yagami’s not strong, but his is a wiry strength. And it can hurt.
Luckily Ta-bo realizes what’s going on and lets go, but he’s probably going to bruise. Like that’s a big deal. Kaito can’t remember the last time he didn’t have at least one bruise, to be honest. He blinks blearily and pulls his headphones down around his neck.
“So what’s your grunge with this Mole guy?” he asks.
Ta-bo smiles slightly, tired look showing in his eyes. “It’s ‘grudge’,” he corrects fondly, setting the papers down in front of him. He settles back into the couch, throwing his sneakers up onto the table. “And things aren’t adding up and it’s driving me crazy.”
“I haven’t seen you this fired up since…” He trails off, thinking, and Yagami snorts.
“Point taken. Yeah, it’s just…” He taps the paper. “Masamichi Shintani, right? Sure, he might have defended a Syndicate guy, but he’s just a civilian. Not your average Syndicate target.”
Kaito squeezes in next to Ta-bo on the couch, and his partner leans in a bit. He talks a big game about not liking cats, but Kaito figures it’s just because he pretty much is a giant cat and needs to preen under the spotlight at all times. He’s not always in the mood for touch, but sometimes, when he’s not feeling well, he can turn downright clingy. Not that the ex-cop dislikes it, really. Just like the feral cat that practically adopts you, but refuses to let you take it in. That’s Takayuki Yagami. “Good point. Don’t they go in for this whole ‘hands off policy’ with civilians?”
“Hands off,” Ta-bo murmurs, sleeplessness creeping into his voice.
“Ain’t that what I said?” Kaito’s genuinely not sure, and it takes Ta-bo a moment or two to answer as he thinks about the conversation.
“Uh. Yeah. Right.” He yawns. “Yeah, it’s a tradition imported from Earth. A little corruption is to be expected, a galaxy this size, and if it’s not impacting their lives at all, they won’t put up much of a fuss. Might even interfere with a cop’s work, or a bounty hunter’s, not like you need me to tell you about that.”
His partner pauses, but it doesn’t take long for him to catch up. “Ohhh, yeah, I gotcha. Cops think this guy’s Syndicate on account of the victims, but you’re saying he might not be.”
“I mean, he could be rogue. Though you’d think he’d have turned up dead by this point, if that were the case.” Not for the first time, Kaito wonders if Ta-Bo was some sort of organized crime otaku.
“You got more?” he asks, and Yagami considers.
“Well, this one sucks, but—mercenary. He’s taking jobs from the Syndicate, but they’re not his only client. In fact, he might be the most prolific serial killer on record if he only takes the eyes of gang members.” Kaito frowns and picks up the papers.
“But Shintani’s eyes were gouged out too. Nasty shit,” he points out after reading the file again.
Yagami growls, irritated. “Yep, that’s where I’m getting stuck.”
Kaito pauses. “How does any of this crap help us find him, though?”
“It doesn’t. It just means someone has to stop this guy.” Oh. Huh. Ta-bo does a pretty good job hiding the fact that he’s got a pretty strong sense of justice, but sometimes, like now, it shines through.
“We will,” Kaito promises.
Main Points:
Judgment|Judge Eyes/Cowboy Bebop
Chapter Summary: Yagami is a little bit obsessed.
Word Count: 880
Rating: Teen
Kaito coughs as he steps into the central room. Sure, he’s no stranger to a little cigarette smoke—he indulges, himself—but the room is thick with smoke. It’d be surprising the fire alarm didn’t get set off if not for the fact that this probably just means they’ve found yet another broken system on the ship. He can barely make out Ta-bo’s outline through the haze.
Something’s going on. Something’s always going on with Yagami. As much as the man likes to pretend he’s straightforward and carefree, that’s a lie. You wouldn’t notice if you weren’t spending as much time with him as Kaito obviously is, but small, quickly hidden emotions behind the eyes, all the work that goes into retaining that air of mystery, odd things he says or does…it’s not like there’s anything obvious he can figure out, but it’s pretty clear he’s hiding a lot. This, though, this is worse than usual.
Ta-bo doesn’t chain-smoke. He just doesn’t. Sure, he’s a social smoker, but Kaito can’t remember the last time he’d pulled out two smokes in a row, let alone filled an entire ashtray like this. But then, since last night, he’d also refused to eat, hadn’t even taken his usual nap, by the looks of things, and has been poring over the pages and pages of documents they’d collected on the latest bounty seemingly nonstop.
“You get any sleep at all?” There’s no response, and now as he walks closer, he sees the man has on his headphones. It’s hard to tell whether that’s an uncharacteristic show of being nice or if he’s just trying to keep himself awake.
He taps the headphones and almost manages to get away from the retaliatory grab. Touching Ta-bo when he’s not expecting it is dangerous, and Yagami’s the fast one. He’s the strong one.
Not to say Yagami’s not strong, but his is a wiry strength. And it can hurt.
Luckily Ta-bo realizes what’s going on and lets go, but he’s probably going to bruise. Like that’s a big deal. Kaito can’t remember the last time he didn’t have at least one bruise, to be honest. He blinks blearily and pulls his headphones down around his neck.
“So what’s your grunge with this Mole guy?” he asks.
Ta-bo smiles slightly, tired look showing in his eyes. “It’s ‘grudge’,” he corrects fondly, setting the papers down in front of him. He settles back into the couch, throwing his sneakers up onto the table. “And things aren’t adding up and it’s driving me crazy.”
“I haven’t seen you this fired up since…” He trails off, thinking, and Yagami snorts.
“Point taken. Yeah, it’s just…” He taps the paper. “Masamichi Shintani, right? Sure, he might have defended a Syndicate guy, but he’s just a civilian. Not your average Syndicate target.”
Kaito squeezes in next to Ta-bo on the couch, and his partner leans in a bit. He talks a big game about not liking cats, but Kaito figures it’s just because he pretty much is a giant cat and needs to preen under the spotlight at all times. He’s not always in the mood for touch, but sometimes, when he’s not feeling well, he can turn downright clingy. Not that the ex-cop dislikes it, really. Just like the feral cat that practically adopts you, but refuses to let you take it in. That’s Takayuki Yagami. “Good point. Don’t they go in for this whole ‘hands off policy’ with civilians?”
“Hands off,” Ta-bo murmurs, sleeplessness creeping into his voice.
“Ain’t that what I said?” Kaito’s genuinely not sure, and it takes Ta-bo a moment or two to answer as he thinks about the conversation.
“Uh. Yeah. Right.” He yawns. “Yeah, it’s a tradition imported from Earth. A little corruption is to be expected, a galaxy this size, and if it’s not impacting their lives at all, they won’t put up much of a fuss. Might even interfere with a cop’s work, or a bounty hunter’s, not like you need me to tell you about that.”
His partner pauses, but it doesn’t take long for him to catch up. “Ohhh, yeah, I gotcha. Cops think this guy’s Syndicate on account of the victims, but you’re saying he might not be.”
“I mean, he could be rogue. Though you’d think he’d have turned up dead by this point, if that were the case.” Not for the first time, Kaito wonders if Ta-Bo was some sort of organized crime otaku.
“You got more?” he asks, and Yagami considers.
“Well, this one sucks, but—mercenary. He’s taking jobs from the Syndicate, but they’re not his only client. In fact, he might be the most prolific serial killer on record if he only takes the eyes of gang members.” Kaito frowns and picks up the papers.
“But Shintani’s eyes were gouged out too. Nasty shit,” he points out after reading the file again.
Yagami growls, irritated. “Yep, that’s where I’m getting stuck.”
Kaito pauses. “How does any of this crap help us find him, though?”
“It doesn’t. It just means someone has to stop this guy.” Oh. Huh. Ta-bo does a pretty good job hiding the fact that he’s got a pretty strong sense of justice, but sometimes, like now, it shines through.
“We will,” Kaito promises.
