undergrounds | RESTING, WANDERING, BUT ALWAYS LOOKING

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RESTING, WANDERING, BUT ALWAYS LOOKING

CLOSED TO HILLINGDON HOUSE

[Lying outside by the waters, he rests his hands over his bare chest – fingers lightly scratching at the tattoo of an engine that he has etched into his skin. He had gone out earlier in search of answers, of whispers, of where the other War Boys are, but came up with nothing. Nux isn't sure how he fits in with the other hunters; they were not raised on the same beliefs as he was, but they were still human. They still wanted to make a world safe for humans and that is more than enough for nonbelievers.

It isn't that he's lounging. Though, he does like to give the impression that is what he is doing. It is honestly that he has quite winded. Nux does what he can to build his strength up enough to move about, but sometimes, it does get the better of him. At least, the war paint that he still coats his skin in covers up how pale that he is actually getting.]

All I need to do is find the others, or find the one who did it. That's all.

[An easy task, he tells himself. He will be given great treasures in the afterlife once he has completed either goal. He takes a breath in and slowly turns his head to look toward the house. Nothing like his kind. It'll be all right. He'll protect them. Keep 'em safe any hunter would.

Already, he thinks that he can hear the war drums.]

OPEN: WANDERING THE STREETS

[His pants make an almost jiggling noise as he walks. It'd probably be better if it was bells, but it is mostly due to spare chains and bullets that he keeps in his pockets. Nux has become aware in the two years that he has lived out in the world that people do not like how he looks. His saved head and painted white skin tends to make them back away from him. But that's the point, isn't it? Humans are safe and hunters hunt. They're supposed to be frightening like guard dogs.

Or so he thinks.

At the moment, it isn't as serious as that. He's looking for his brothers as always, but he can't do that on an empty stomach. Nux isn't sure how long he has been wandering the alleys, and streets, but night has already fallen. He runs his hands along the glass of where there is some baked goods. But the lights are off given the indication that it's closed.]

Maybe should pop over to some store? How long do they stay open, anyway? [He is asking no one but is already starting to try to walk to find the fabled open shop in the middle of the night.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"I'd rather not accumulate a record out here. 'Specially not with law enforcement." He glanced over at Nux, who was rubbing a bit of his paint off.

"So what's up with the face paint? You don't look like you're off to a party." The face paint was probably one of the reasons people didn't like him tailing them. Granted, it would be uncomfortable under most circumstances, provided you didn't make sure you went unnoticed.

"Ain't so bad." He pulled one hand away to use his thumb to start pressing down on each finger, cracking his knuckles one-handed, as he finally scanned over the menu.

"Ain't face paint, either. War paint. Goin' to war. Eventually." Find the person who did in his brothers and that would be it. The Hunt would be on and it would be his last hunt. Be the last anything. Nux flexed his fingers as he brought it back to hold the menu.

"...To war?" For someone who came from a country that had been at peace for well over half a century, this concept seemed a little bizarre. Especially hearing it in Britain. "With who, exactly?"

The waitress sidled on back to the table. "Get you guys something to drink?"

"Dunno. Gonna find 'em, though." It won't matter what they are. Demon, fae, werewolf. It won't matter. He'll die in the Hunt if he has to, but he'll take them to justice. That's what will have to be done. Proper, right. Let everyone know what happened to his family.

Nux lifted his head up from the menu, finally. "Water."

"One water," she said, nodding at Nux.

This situation started surreal and somehow has never stopped being thus. Heiji turned his face up towards the woman. "I'll take the blend!"

Her expression cracked with the faintest hint of a smile. "'Black as midnight on a moonless night', right?"

"You know it!"

"Okay. Be right back." She slotted her pad back into one of her pockets and bustled back towards the counter.

"It doesn't get that dark."

He pointed upward toward the sky, before turning his hand to scratch underneath his chin again. "Black, yeah, but -- ain't really the point." There was a point that he was trying to make, but he wasn't sure anymore what it was.

Reaching underneath his jacket, he lightly scratched the top of the two mates -- Larry and Barry. His fingers gently poke the tumors as he wondered if they were getting larger or not. "You got like other questions and stuff, yeah? 'bout me or somethin'? Or just want to eat and not worry 'bout it?"

"Oh, it's a line from an old TV show," said Heiji amiably. "It was pretty popular in Japan!" Yeah, in like the 90s. How old was Heiji, anyway?

"I dunno, I guess we could chat. I usually like doin' that when I'm snacking with someone. So, uh. Like I said, I'm Heiji. I only got to London a couple months ago, but I sure am meetin' a lot of weirdos lately."

...Nux might be included in that group of weirdos.

"Never been to Japan."

He didn't know much outside of the War Boys. He didn't know much of the world even in the two years that he had been part of it. Lots still to know about it, but he didn't have the time to learn it all.

"Might be uh, the shock-thing. Shocking? Shocks of bein' in London." Nux cracked his knuckles, again, one-handed and looked over what he should get on the menu.

"Culture shock? Yeah, maybe. Truth is, before then, I'd never left Japan. But I did read about other countries."

He turned a page in the menu, not really reading any of it. "It's not bad, overall. I kinda miss home, though. The food and... people. I knew pretty much everyone in my neighborhood."

"Why choose here?"

He wondered why tourists chose London of all places. The menu was dropped out of his hands -- holding them out palms up like he was done with it. People didn't know what was going on here, but -- he craned his neck to look around at the patrons -- it wouldn't matter. Hunters protected humans, yeah?

"No reason to leave."

Heiji tapped the surface of the menu. "Ain't really have much choice. My old man decided I could use some time outta the country, so that was it. ...Uh, you lookin' for someone?"

Not that it would have mattered much if he had, because the waitress returned with Heiji's coffee and Nux's water. "Make up your mind about your order? I can give you a few if you're still deciding."

"I dunno. A fruit bowl's fine."

Nux reached for it to take a few deep drinks before setting the glass down to the side. It wasn't like he could afford too much. The rest of the funds had to go to finding more information on his brothers -- knowledge that others has always was very expensive.

He'd wait until the waitress walked away before he'd finally answer the question. "My family. They went missin' two years 'go. I have to find 'em. People don't just vanish." Clenching his hand into a fist, he was starting to get a little anxious about how much time had passed without him finding out much. "Anyway, spend too much time 'way from family, ain't always good. But followin' Dad's orders. I know that."

"Slice of cherry pie, please!" was Heiji's order.

He frowned as he watched Nux form a fist with one hand. "Your whole family? So they were a missing persons case? I didn't hear anything about it on the news... but I do live in another country. Still. Two years means the police've run outta leads, yeah?"

"Not really." It was difficult to have the whole War Boys be a missing persons. More like a gang -- as far as the norms saw it -- finally being cleared out of an area. The hunters protected that place as best as they could. Scratching the side of his neck, he gave a small shrug.

"No one will look for them besides me." And that was fine. That's how it should be. If he went missing, well, he didn't think that the others would go looking but assumed that he crossed into Valhalla. Nux rephrased it in his head. If his whole hunting team went missing, the older ones would come lookin' to see what happened. Pieces in the machine. But the machine was missing too many now and they had to be found.

What a mysterious guy. But if the cops weren't involved (and considering Nux's behavior so far), his family must have operated not-quite-in-concert-with the law. He could offer his help... but Nux seemed fairly close with information about himself.

"I hope you find 'em, then," said Heiji finally. "I know I'd go lookin' for mine if they went missing. And on a completely unrelated note, I figure that since I invited you here in the first place, I should pick up the tab. So you don't have to settle for a fruit bowl if you want some other stuff, too."

"It's all right. Got two more years." He put a deadline on it. Nux looked down at his hand, turning it over to examine how they looked. "That's more than enough time to find 'em. That'd be four years looking then. So, should find something in that."

He paused at the offer before shaking his head. "Ain't right. To take your money without givin' somethin' back. All I gave back is almost trouble. That doesn't seem fair."

Heiji considered this. "Well, d'you have anything you could trade, then? Like a really good story? I write a bit in my spare time, so I'm always looking for some inspiration. Somethin' with adventure in it would be nice."

What exactly did Nux have two more years for, anyway? Two more until he could consider his obligations paid? Or maybe it had something to do with that hideous cough of his.

"Nothin' that nobody'd believe." He closed his eyes as he rested the back of his head against the booth. But what was it? Nux had to be witnessed -- his eyes opened as he knew that the witness had to be a proper hunter, but it may be worth something to tell a story. He flexed his fingers.

"Used to patrol the perimeter." Nux made a circle with his hand in the air. "Nothing to really worry 'bout. Just follow the line, make sure thing are as they should be. Sometimes, other groups chased something into the perimeter. It didn't matter. It didn't matter if it was just makin' sure to see which would get rid of the other, though."

Turned his face, he pointed out the scars on his face. Harder to see with the light, with the war paint on, but when gestured to, it was easier. "It wasn't chased off, but it wasn't going to hurt anyone. If I died then, that'd be fine and well. It'd be how it should be. But I didn't. Got stitches and bed rest." He sneered at the bed rest, because that made a person weak, or seem weak.

Heiji was trying to piece together the context of Nux's story. Nux had worked (lived?) as part of a group, apparently among other similar groups. The security of their territory was something of a concern. And Nux hadn't been very high on their totem pole -- at least not at the time the story had taken place. Otherwise he wouldn't have been assigned to guard detail.

He frowned at the scars on Nux's face and noted the disdain about being required to rest. "So I take it you're not a big believer in dyin' peacefully in your sleep? That's what most people want -- these days, anyway."

"That's what --" Nux shrugged his shoulders. He didn't finish his thought because norms don't like to be called that for some reason. It wasn't something that he wanted -- die peacefully in his sleep without achieving anything that he wanted to in life. Without finishing his great hunt, he smiled briefly.

"--I'm not a believer in that. To be witnessed. To continue the machine. To carry on through the gates that burn eternal!" He pointed suddenly outward past Heiji and toward the wall, before his hand dropped. "He's probably waiting there, too." His god. The great hunter. What would he think of him if he didn't keep trying.

"Mediocre."

Wh...at. This new round of commentary sounded like it had gone from story to religious fervor. He had no idea what this business about 'the machine' was, but.

"So... it's like you die in battle and get swept off in glory. Like Valhalla. Or Sto-vo-kor." He had no idea who was waiting for Nux in the afterlife, though. The father he'd talked about?

"You've heard of Valhalla? I thought it was just a myth part of my family." Nux isn't the most well-red individual. In fact, he only knew as much reading to get him by so that he could do what he needed to do. Anything leisurely would be considered more or less a waste of his time.

"Glory to you to know the story of where we go when we die the right way."

Well. Color Heiji slightly confused, although this at least confirmed some of what he'd been suspecting -- though it raised a whole slew more questions along with it.

"Uh, thanks!" Thankfully, it was then that the waitress returned with their food. Heiji picked up his fork. "Well... I hope you do die the right way, then. In a fight with like ten guys."

There were many ways to check out, after all, and he supposed dying for what you believed in was better than getting offed so someone could get at their inheritance a few years early. Just a for instance.

"Don't matter the number. It matters how it is done." To think of how it would help the greater good, to ensure the safety of humanity, of what was right. He flexed his fingers once more. It could be one, and that would be fine, because so long as it would do the final act of ensuring that the world will be a little safer -- a hunter had done his job.

And he was not used to eating with other people. If people wanted to give him food, they usually gave him money then ran away. He wasn't too sure about the running away but appreciated the coins. Tearing into what he had, he shoved most of the fruit in before grabbing the water to swallow more down.

"Really? I kinda figured that it'd add to the cause. I mean, fighting against overwhelming odds and all."

Heiji wasn't a particular stickler for manners himself, but watching Nux eat was truly an experience. He took a few bites of his pie, watched Nux down his water. "You okay? Don't choke or anything."

RESTING, WANDERING, BUT ALWAYS LOOKING

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