2023-07-22 Warm & Soothing Rain
- Cast: Domon Kasshu, Rain Mikamura
- Where: Neo Tokyo
- Date: U.C. 0097 07 22
- Summary: After what seems like far too long, the victorious pairing of the 13th Gundam Fight reunite in a ramen shop, thankfully free of those pesky vending machines. What follows? Read on and find out!
<Pose Tracker> Rain Mikamura has posed.
Rain and Domon may do their own thing, but Rain is sensible enough to check up with him over Vertex or other connections every so often. This definitely helps, however she also likes face to face contact as well. Therefore, Tokyo, not too far from Fujinomiya, is her choice for this check in - plus, it's a guarantee for him for non-vending machine food.
Rain's set a rough time for the meet up, knowing they both may be early, late, or on-time; she's already seated by the time Domon gets in, and she gestures him over to a booth. Similar to Ichiran, it's got a small curtain so they two have some privacy to themselves, away from the rest of the diners. She's already got a small bottle of sake with two glasses, and green tea for her.
Her smile is the same warm one she tends to reserve for him alone, glancing down.
<Pose Tracker> Domon Kasshu has posed.
Domon grunts as he enters the small ramen-ya. At least it wasn't one of those blasted ticket dispensing vending machine shops...though that hardly did anything to dispel his unease. How long had it been since he had seen Rain in the flesh? How long had it been since either of them had been this close to each other? Ducking under the curtain to their assigned booth, he paused.
There she was, looking as radiant and put together as ever. Sometimes he wondered what she'd ever seen in a broken man like him...
Shaking his head, he stared dumbly at Rain for a moment longer, then sat.
Say something, you idiot!
"You look pretty...good."
Somewhere, off in the fourth wall breaking dimensional space that separates fact from fiction, an audience was collectively groaning and facepalming in response. /That/ was your best line? After all this time? You really are a moron, Domon Kasshu.
Seeking to escape the withering thoughts and self-criticism within his psyche, Domon instead dives his gaze down into the menu, sternly and thoroughly examining the items...which cover less than half of the page.
You can't hide forever, c'mon man.
Rain's question goes sailing over his head, and Domon only briefly grunts in affirmation.
<Pose Tracker> Rain Mikamura has posed.
Rain had definitely heard about the vending machine issues by now. She won't torment him.
That much.
She already has a completed menu in front of her, next to a small bell to summon someone to take their sheets. When he gets off a rather free compliment her way, she blinks a couple of times, before that smile turns a bit shy, ducking her own head momentarily. She doesn't honestly know how to respond to that. Eventually she looks back up, sighing softly.
"Domon..." Rain says his name softly, reaching across the table to gently touch his hand.
"... don't take too long, we're both busy." Ice. Bath.
<Pose Tracker> Domon Kasshu has posed.
In the span of less than a half minute, Domon's anxiety and hopes were both assuaged, then immediately dunked in cold ice water, figuratively speaking. He blinks blearily, then nods rigidly at Rain's insistence to be quick about things. That's right, this is the way things are. The way things have been.
Maybe it's better this way after all. What can I offer her, anyways?
"I've been getting dragged into battles again. Battles I'm not sure I'm ready for...battles that are both too soon, and not soon enough. I suppose that's the only life there is for a battle-drenched fighter like myself."
A pause. Pondering. Thoughtful.
"I did take on an apprentice. Though...he's not quite the boy he was when I first took him on. Maybe not even the same person, frankly".
A long swig of water, as the scents of ramen broth and freshly broiled pork begin wafting towards their booth.
"What about you...Rain? What have you been doing?"
<Pose Tracker> Rain Mikamura has posed.
"Ah, that came out wrong... I just don't want to take up the booth too long. It's nice to walk around Tokyo, you know ... plus I've been here long enough I will buy the whole menu for us to share." Rain, by and large, is not a big eater, but even she sniffs appreciatively of the smells wafting about.
She is, however, promptly distracted.
" "... An apprentice? Not the same?" Rain asks, curiously. "What's their name? I'd like to meet them... if they're that impressive on your brain, they must be someone you enjoy being around. Like me." She gives him a bit of a smile. It's not all cold, just awkward.
Then he asks his question, and she hesitates. "I'm... trying to help with what Sayla was doing, you know, with what she was doing for the Shuffles. Trying to check in on everyone, generally. Things have gotten shaken up, so I took some time off to just... talk to people." </poem>
<Pose Tracker> Domon Kasshu has posed.
"He is...I don't know how to really explain." Domon shakes his head. How DOES a guy explain that his first apprentice had his body taken over by a supersized alien with a penchant for flashy transformations? How do you explain that the person they were might never come back? Domon sighs as their ramen arrives. Taking an appreciative whiff of it, the King of Heart almost scalds his tongue by slurping a big mouthful of noodles and broth in, right from the get go.
Looking at Rain, who smiled at him over her bowl, Domon gingerly put his spoon and chopsticks down.
"His name...well, it's Yuta, but he prefers to go by Gridman these days. Good kid...well, good person. Took to the lessons quickly. Sometimes I wonder if I was able to teach them enough, however.
As the Fighter of Fighters listens to Rain's hesitation, an awkward silence settles momentarily over the shared booth, a pall of squirming stillness.
Domon decides to break free of it.
"Well...I'm glad we got to meet again. Honest."
<Pose Tracker> Rain Mikamura has posed.
"... Huh." Rain opines. That is quite a way of describing someone and how things changed. "Yuta... Gridman. A interesting name. If he's /your/ apprentice, he's probably actually more interesting than what you've let on."
She does give her ramen a moment to cool, before slurping the noodles right up. "Oh, this is delicious." She says with a happy sigh.
Another pause, then she leans over to tap his hand again, and says, earnestly, "You can always ask me... or we can agree on set times to meet up? Since we're both sort of doing different things... I would like to see you more often. After all..." A sheepish chuckle. "We said it all back then, didn't we...? After you rescued me."
<Pose Tracker> Domon Kasshu has posed.
Domon sweats a little internally. "It's...a long story...and I don't want to keep you for too long."
Watching Rain enjoy her ramen was a shot of serotonin that Domon didn't realize he had needed or wanted. He wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth however.
However, nothing prepared him for Rain's next comment.
We said it all back then, didn't we..?
After you rescued me.
Flashbacks assail him. That final fight. That heartfelt confession. That final Sekiha.
Myriad feelings, myriad thoughts, myriad memories. She was right, after all.
Domon looks at Rain in the eyes, sheepishly. "I...I would like that."
Blushing beet red, Domon hid his face in the ramen and began to wolf it down in earnest, hoping that Rain would mistake his flushed face as a byproduct of eating something delightfully hot and steamy.
<Pose Tracker> Rain Mikamura has posed.
Rain has a oddly unproblematic tendency to be right when it comes to the two of them.
Domon digs into his meal and Rain follows into hers at a well more sedate pace. He can pretend all he wants, but she definitely knows that flush started a bit too early... but she lets it slide for now. She also knows she's not going to order anything else, but he's free too. Metabolism! After awhile, she adds on -
"It's okay if it's a long story. You can tell me what you want, when you want - I'm always willing to listin."
<Pose Tracker> Domon Kasshu has posed.
Domon pauses and thinks for a moment. What does he even tell her? Where does he start?
I missed you.
I want you by my side again.
I want to be happy with you.
So many desires, hopes, dreams.
But he couldn't. Not yet.
He had a duty to uphold, and his own demons to banish from his soul.
So instead, Domon began to speak, haltingly. "Where...where do I start? Sayla pulled me in to help her against the corrupted and the Oath Over Omega. I fought legends. Heroes. Villains. Warriors who shaped our world into what it is today. I helped purge them of their corruption, gave them a chance to live again. Amuro Ray. Char Aznable. Other still."
A pregnant pause follows, only interrupted by the slurping of ramen and pork bone broth. Domon rips and tears into a piece of chasu like an unnamed slayer, as he muses on what to speak on next.
"Yuta, well Gridman...he's not a bad sort. And he's helped me more than I'll ever be able to say aloud. It's nice...having an apprentice."
Lastly...
"And now we're here, eating ramen, seeing each other again. I...missed you." Domon looks back down at his ramen. Why was this getting to him so much? Was it all the time away?
Or is this what I truly want, after all?
<Pose Tracker> Rain Mikamura has posed.
"Heh... I still remember the little kid you used to be..." Rain says, hiding a smile behind a sip of ramen. "If you managed yourself, any teen you're working with is going to be helped by your attitude, especially if he's that sort of ... fighter-type, I suppose to phrase it, you and the rest of the Crest holders are. And has something that he's fighting for."
She eventually puts her empty bowl down, idly glancing at an empty sheet of paper to order for more, delicately folding small creases into it. It'll be used, she knows - and somewhat slyly, but with no intention of being coy or mean, "Perhaps we could, when things settle... do how we did with the Gundam Fight? Just be near, than ... this?"
<Pose Tracker> Domon Kasshu has posed.
Domon stares at Rain. Somehow, in this dimly lit ramen-ya, she was just as radiant as that one night.
"I would like that. Just the two of us. Together."
Glancing at the menu, Domon resisted the urge to order more. It may have only been a few years since, but his metabolism was finally starting to rebel against the appetite he'd so recklessly charged forth with previously. Hard to believe how quickly the body ages.
Domon shuddered at the thought of Master Asia popping into his head. How on earth did he retain such strength, such power into his advanced age? How did he manage to fight at his peak potential for so long, even as he could feel his death approaching?
Yet now was not the time to dwell on mortality.
Why worry about the future when there was the now?