Post by Kazuki Akimoto on Dec 27, 2006 1:31:55 GMT 1
Standing in a large, clean but almost sterile appearing elevator, a young man leaned calmly against the back wall as he watched the numbers tick by on the small screen above the doors with idle eyes....As they gradually increased, he gave a slow, deep sigh as the numbers changed for a single word...
Penthouse
Unlike any of the lower floors, the door opened not to a large landing with a few scattered doors to the comfortable apartments that were spaced out, but to a single, short and abrupt hallway that housed two sole doors, and only one of them was to an apartment. The penthouse suite of the Redclyffe Gardens, when he stepped into it after fumbling with the lock a moment, did not disappoint him...Then again, after spending close to six months in a hotel room as his living space, he could have walked into a hovel, tidied it and been happy, so perhaps the muted description did not do justice to his reaction.
'Wow....'
Slipping out of the light jacket he had worn, he hung it on the nearest open door loosely before taking a look across the place, remarkably surprised at the thoroughness of the work that had been done to it. Rocco had fully outdone himself, and Taiku kept note to tip him again when he saw the Italian for his handiwork, still almost struggling to believe the extent of skill his friend had when it came to interior design and the like, he stifled a quick laugh and shook his head before turning towards the kitchen...
'For a gay man who doesn't stereotype, he's certainly living up to that one.....'
The thought was pushed aside as his eyes set upon the large kitchen before him, the very sight of it enough to make him grin when he saw that it was almost a complete duplicate of his old kitchen, just seemingly a little wider and with a longer breakfast bar, and a much lighter surface for its counter. Approaching the refrigerator, he opened it and glanced in with a wry smirk, seeing it full...He would definitely have to make note to thank Rene for the act, but in truth he would have kind of expected her to do such a thing. Strong as he was, smart as he was, clean as he was in terms of housekeeping, fitting with his meticulous nature, he almost never bought groceries...It was half the reason he liked having roommates, back in Varron he had quite contentedly dealt with most of the bills and other household necessities, so long as the others would see to it that the groceries and such were always kept well-stocked.
"Probably set her back a few bucks, I'll leave some money for her later...." he mused as he padded away through the tiled floor, stepping back into the lounge and looking around. It was fairly simple, a couple of large corner couches, some cabinets and other furniture, but he simply snickered to himself when he saw the huge TV that had been acquired, grinning both in anticipation and awe at it. Where the two of them found some of the things he saw in their apartments, he was usually in a state of amusement at the lavishness they enjoyed to live by...Glancing to his side, he made his way out and onto the balcony of his apartment, stepping into the crisp, sharp air with a faintly caught breath at the chill in it before leaning lightly against the railing, looking out over the water to the other land just across from them...To either side, he could make out the blip that was Alcatraz in the distance, making a mental note to check it out at some point, and to the other was the much more obvious famed bridge...
It was at this moment that Taiku Akimoto, formerly living under his given name Kazuki Shinato, pondered everything that had come to pass....In the space of two years, so very much had happened, so many things that would remain his own to concern about for a long time. In the last two years, he had changed so dramatically that he doubted he would believe it himself had he been told at any point before now...His strength, both physically and mentally, was greater than he had ever known, but he retained enough humility to know that even he was unbeatable. This new city, this new life, he was not the figurehead of power he had been back in Varron, and was quite aware of it...Not that he was not already in process of making that a thing of the past, he just needed to wait on a phonecall later on this afternoon. Turning from the balcony, he left to the relative warmth of the rooms behind him, approaching one of the bedrooms and looking in, raising an eyebrow at the decor...Pastels, light, soft colors and frilly things everywhere...
'Must be Roccos....' he thought with a dry smirk, he knew outright Rene would flay the man alive for doing her room like so, and didn't doubt Rocco knew the exact same.....
Moving down the hall a little, he opened another door to a room, the tones much more muted with the occasional richness of a few dark reds, deeped with blacks and grays on the bedlinen and he smiled lightly...This would be his room, then...Stepping in, he kicked off his shoes at the foot of the bed before turning around, slumping back to lie on it with a grunt, folding his arms behind his head and looking up to the ceiling in silence...As much as he knew this was the choice he had made, it did not mean he did not wish it could have been under more favorable circumstances. With a hint of bitterness, he thought back to the day of the attack on the club, shaking his head...How had he not been able to save it, and how had he not been able to predict that Kvist would have been able to catch him off-guard as he had? Since that day, he had set about disbanding Legion, knowing that if he could not prevent such an attack that he was simply risking the lives of those who took the chance to fight with him, and he would not allow such a thing to happen again. He would fight alone if he had to, knowing that he could willingly accept his own fate as opposed to risking that of anyone else...
But, above it all, there was one person whose memory still lingered in his mind, fresh as the day it had occurred back at Hallowe'en....Kira Karyuudo, a woman whose presence in his mind would show no restraint, able to captivate the one-time former leader of Varron, to hold all power of his mind with but a mere appearance in his memory...She was his sole true weakness, the one thing he would risk his life for, but how could he justify such a cause if he himself had not yet mustered the ability to tell her outright how he felt for her....? She had managed to evade conversation with him for long enough, now easily past three months, since their tryst an all Hallow's eve, but something within him said that she had been as much the instigator as he had....
His thoughts were broken when the phone rang a moment later, surprised anyone had the number at first, for the briefest of moments, before deducing that Rene and Rocco must have already acquired it...Picking up the mouthpiece, he listened calmly before smirking, giving a curt 'No problem' and setting it down again....Strolling back to the main door, he fished in his pockets for his door keys and plucked his jacket from the back of the door, setting off outside again as he made his way towards the new club.....
He had, after all, been busy in the last month....
Penthouse
Unlike any of the lower floors, the door opened not to a large landing with a few scattered doors to the comfortable apartments that were spaced out, but to a single, short and abrupt hallway that housed two sole doors, and only one of them was to an apartment. The penthouse suite of the Redclyffe Gardens, when he stepped into it after fumbling with the lock a moment, did not disappoint him...Then again, after spending close to six months in a hotel room as his living space, he could have walked into a hovel, tidied it and been happy, so perhaps the muted description did not do justice to his reaction.
'Wow....'
Slipping out of the light jacket he had worn, he hung it on the nearest open door loosely before taking a look across the place, remarkably surprised at the thoroughness of the work that had been done to it. Rocco had fully outdone himself, and Taiku kept note to tip him again when he saw the Italian for his handiwork, still almost struggling to believe the extent of skill his friend had when it came to interior design and the like, he stifled a quick laugh and shook his head before turning towards the kitchen...
'For a gay man who doesn't stereotype, he's certainly living up to that one.....'
The thought was pushed aside as his eyes set upon the large kitchen before him, the very sight of it enough to make him grin when he saw that it was almost a complete duplicate of his old kitchen, just seemingly a little wider and with a longer breakfast bar, and a much lighter surface for its counter. Approaching the refrigerator, he opened it and glanced in with a wry smirk, seeing it full...He would definitely have to make note to thank Rene for the act, but in truth he would have kind of expected her to do such a thing. Strong as he was, smart as he was, clean as he was in terms of housekeeping, fitting with his meticulous nature, he almost never bought groceries...It was half the reason he liked having roommates, back in Varron he had quite contentedly dealt with most of the bills and other household necessities, so long as the others would see to it that the groceries and such were always kept well-stocked.
"Probably set her back a few bucks, I'll leave some money for her later...." he mused as he padded away through the tiled floor, stepping back into the lounge and looking around. It was fairly simple, a couple of large corner couches, some cabinets and other furniture, but he simply snickered to himself when he saw the huge TV that had been acquired, grinning both in anticipation and awe at it. Where the two of them found some of the things he saw in their apartments, he was usually in a state of amusement at the lavishness they enjoyed to live by...Glancing to his side, he made his way out and onto the balcony of his apartment, stepping into the crisp, sharp air with a faintly caught breath at the chill in it before leaning lightly against the railing, looking out over the water to the other land just across from them...To either side, he could make out the blip that was Alcatraz in the distance, making a mental note to check it out at some point, and to the other was the much more obvious famed bridge...
It was at this moment that Taiku Akimoto, formerly living under his given name Kazuki Shinato, pondered everything that had come to pass....In the space of two years, so very much had happened, so many things that would remain his own to concern about for a long time. In the last two years, he had changed so dramatically that he doubted he would believe it himself had he been told at any point before now...His strength, both physically and mentally, was greater than he had ever known, but he retained enough humility to know that even he was unbeatable. This new city, this new life, he was not the figurehead of power he had been back in Varron, and was quite aware of it...Not that he was not already in process of making that a thing of the past, he just needed to wait on a phonecall later on this afternoon. Turning from the balcony, he left to the relative warmth of the rooms behind him, approaching one of the bedrooms and looking in, raising an eyebrow at the decor...Pastels, light, soft colors and frilly things everywhere...
'Must be Roccos....' he thought with a dry smirk, he knew outright Rene would flay the man alive for doing her room like so, and didn't doubt Rocco knew the exact same.....
Moving down the hall a little, he opened another door to a room, the tones much more muted with the occasional richness of a few dark reds, deeped with blacks and grays on the bedlinen and he smiled lightly...This would be his room, then...Stepping in, he kicked off his shoes at the foot of the bed before turning around, slumping back to lie on it with a grunt, folding his arms behind his head and looking up to the ceiling in silence...As much as he knew this was the choice he had made, it did not mean he did not wish it could have been under more favorable circumstances. With a hint of bitterness, he thought back to the day of the attack on the club, shaking his head...How had he not been able to save it, and how had he not been able to predict that Kvist would have been able to catch him off-guard as he had? Since that day, he had set about disbanding Legion, knowing that if he could not prevent such an attack that he was simply risking the lives of those who took the chance to fight with him, and he would not allow such a thing to happen again. He would fight alone if he had to, knowing that he could willingly accept his own fate as opposed to risking that of anyone else...
But, above it all, there was one person whose memory still lingered in his mind, fresh as the day it had occurred back at Hallowe'en....Kira Karyuudo, a woman whose presence in his mind would show no restraint, able to captivate the one-time former leader of Varron, to hold all power of his mind with but a mere appearance in his memory...She was his sole true weakness, the one thing he would risk his life for, but how could he justify such a cause if he himself had not yet mustered the ability to tell her outright how he felt for her....? She had managed to evade conversation with him for long enough, now easily past three months, since their tryst an all Hallow's eve, but something within him said that she had been as much the instigator as he had....
His thoughts were broken when the phone rang a moment later, surprised anyone had the number at first, for the briefest of moments, before deducing that Rene and Rocco must have already acquired it...Picking up the mouthpiece, he listened calmly before smirking, giving a curt 'No problem' and setting it down again....Strolling back to the main door, he fished in his pockets for his door keys and plucked his jacket from the back of the door, setting off outside again as he made his way towards the new club.....
He had, after all, been busy in the last month....