one; voice + text

[worldliness]

Hey, I finally got this working!  Kinda embarrassing it took this long. Can't even work stuff like this and I'm not even old....  Wait, wait, I just might be able to make this a lot more interesting.

[there's that tell-tale static of a microphone being turned on.]  Gotcha!  Man, this little thing is so cool!  It still doesn't make up for, you know, any of this.  Honestly, breaking and entering, kidnapping, forced labor...what the heck would they even need with ordinary people?  Wouldn't they want super heroes or trained soldiers instead?  This all seems way too fishy for me.

First things first...where can a guy find a decent meal around here?

Comments

[voice]

[worldliness]

Tatsumi?! [SHIT he wasn't trying to announce to the entire world "I WENT TO JAIL FOR MURDER" from the get-go if he could help it. the damn kid would blow the entire thing out of the water. then again--maybe he'd had an attitude adjustment. what with the hair and all. play it cool, adachi.]

...July, Heisei 24.

[video] [terrible attempt at private]

[punk_cute]

[There's actually a noticeable delay before a response comes. When it does, Kanji is calmer, but radiates suspicion.]

July, huh... That's a long time after [and here he obviously catches himself and says something that wasn't what he planned] the shit in December. Damn. lemme...

[There's some muttering and cursing, and no view of anything except maybe the pads of his fingers, but when things stabilized, Kanji has managed (a really poor) job of making it private. It won't keep anyone with any kind of hacking skills out, but at least they'll have to put in some effort to see it.]

There it's private now. Look. I wanna know your deal, y' bastard. I ain't gonna start anything unless you do, 'cause there isn't a point here, but I remember what you did.

[voice]

[worldliness]

Tch, new looks, same old tricks. [there's the smarm we know and love. kanji could practically see adachi rolling his eyes if he imagined hard enough.] There's no deal going on here. I was holding up my end of the bargain and serving my time when the Initiative decided I was more needed here. [his voice drips with sarcasm. apologies if kanji's speakers are damp.]

Your turn. What's turned you into Mr. Law-Abiding Citizen?

[poorly private video forever]

[punk_cute]

They do that, an' I know it ain't your fault they took you. What're you expecting, huh? Me to be all "he's a murderer; slap his ass back into jail" at everybody?

[Sarcasm...misinterpreted. But he continues on, suspicious but more or less calm.]

But you got a deal. Everybody here has a deal. What're you gonna do with this time out or whatever the hell?

[He does snort at the question.]

The delinquent punk wasn't really me and you sure as hell know it. I'm bein' my real self now.

[poorly private video forever]

[worldliness]

"What am I gonna do?" [that...is a valid question. he groans,] Hell if I know. Technically, I don't have to fight. No reason to wind up getting killed for people I sure don't know. But--they are paying me.

Wasn't you? [that earns some laughter, and he continues in an amused drawl,] Oh, yeah, you were the insecure momma's boy. How could I forget that Midnight Channel?

[punk_cute]

Yeah, they are.

[He doesn't say anything else to that and just shifts uncomfortably for a moment before continuing. There's an edge to his voice, but Kanji manages to control his temper--at least mostly.]

You shut the hell up about that. That wasn't what was really going on, dumbass, an' you know it.

[It strikes home though, because he does love (and miss horribly) his mother, and he can easily see why people would think that with his hobbies.]

[worldliness]

Sure, sure, I know. [doesn't mean he won't use it to get under kanji's skin, though. tatsumi never said adachi had to be nice.] Let me guess; you're fighting for freedom, justice, and everything good left on this sad version of Earth, right? The new you caring about that kinda stuff and all.