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“You c’mon, pour me some more.”
The man that was slumped on the wooden table, raised his hand holding a cup towards one of his men. Harried, his cup was quickly filled... Another shot gone too soon, the pearl white o-choko taps on the table’s surface as the man dishevels his already rugged look with his spare hand.
“Captain Jun...”
The man — half-lidded, glances towards to his loyal henchman with the only remaining eye that was fortunately spared.
“What is it?” Jun said, waving his empty cup.
The bustling patrons added to the mood of the environment as a few glasses clatter and chatter sprung laughter. A cloud nine atmosphere was a rarity in the city, these fleeting moments are cherished especially when several bottles of sake litter on top of the Kurokumo Wakashu gang’s table. His Loyal henchman’s reticence, however, was more apparent.
“C’mon~ don’t worry bout the mess, enjoy the moment hic .” Jun said, gulping another shot. “Besides, it's not common we got free time.”
“Captain... This is the seventh bottle—”
“Hah, we can go for an eight~”
His loyal henchman sighs, Jun wasn’t so loose up until now. He has always carried a sort of worry in his eyes after being assigned to a new group of Kurokumo Wakashu clan members. He was strict at first, not letting one of his boys go in haphazardly by any means, outright choosing to risk himself. Protective in a way, but his rough exterior seems to soften up on booze of all things.
“We got a big day ahead of us, so might as well join in. Hey you ova’ there- pour him some. This isn’t team drinking for no reason.”
A filled cup slides over to Jun’s loyal henchman.
“Captain, this is important.”
“Yeah, it is~ hic.”
“No, Captain. Not the booze...”
As Jun shifts his gaze towards his loyal henchman. It was like a switch that turned his Jovial smile into a resolute face that one of his underlings would see if they really pissed him off with incompetence, or a horrible mistake on duty in carrying out a mission.
“The Thumb... again?”
“Yes.”
Jun slams his metallic right hand ordained with cloud-like patterns, on the table. Staring at the very bottom of his cup underneath the clear liquor. His underlings’ carefree exchanges that surrounded the table, nose dives into silence.
“...Fuck them.”
His underlings and definitely his henchman is alarmed by Jun’s choice of words, leading to hushed whispers within the cluster of his boys.
“Capt—!”
“I know, I know... ugh.” Jun groans, clutching his hair.
His night of debauchery ends quite abruptly as his usual demeanor when on duty returns, only his drunkenness lingers as loathing simmers in.
“If only those...those hic”
Letting a guttural groan, he sits up, resting both his elbows on the table as he pours himself another drink. Despite only an eye left, meeting with his eyesight is enough to sink chills down to their bones. His left eye was covered by a black metal piece engraved with a golden circle. Not usually something anyone would get for themselves, nor was it prosthetic either to make him see, contrary to his arm.
“You know... f-funny thing, no—” He takes a swig before continuing.
“Story about this, bout this arm.” Jun clenches his prosthetic fist, contracting, fidgeting with each finger as if to check the looseness of it. A mortifying edition to his past, many got worse in the hands of those damn fingers, squashed like insects without a second thought. Maybe the wings had more in store for him or was it misfortune that he survived this long.
“If those blade- blade l-lineage fucks didn’t... come out of the blue.”
Jun releases his fist.
“Maybe... maybe that damn monolith would had arrive sooner... then me and my boys would be off our way, but whatever the wings willed... couldn’t spare me an arm and an eye.”
The underlings nor his loyal henchman could break the foggy feeling within the circle.
“They ain’t a problem... my boys wouldn’t end up dead from those people. Just, that thing.”
More liquor trickles down Jun’s cup.
“Ugh... maybe then—” Jun takes a moment. “Wait, oh yeah. The, the blade lineage Sal- people were easy ‘cept one... that guy.”
Jun motions above his head, mimicking a triangular shape towards his boys.
“The guy with a hat, that big hat... Just slashed through— everything. His... well It’s eye glowed blue under that stupid hat.”
The men around the table except Jun, all collectively hitch their breaths. Looking up towards an unfamiliar figure with nothing that resembles a Kurokumo Wakashu clan member could signify, stood by the doorway. The man didn’t bear any semblance of any well-known figure, but only the thing Jun described about ‘the guy’.
Their unnamed guest pans the room, stopping conveniently at where Jun was sitting, before then promptly approaching him. Carrying a large sheathed Hwando, his boys were wary.
“Hic... Even his own people, ‘was a slaughter.”
The seat next to Jun creaks, as a familiar pair of attire joins their table. The others had a grip on the hilts of their katanas, ready to hack the man. They held off, waiting for Jun to make a sign, but their captain had other things preoccupying his mind.
“He, it wasn’t a man anymore... It just cut through anything close by. Worse part, was the monolith next to that thing.”
A glass not the captain’s own fills itself as Jun continued the tale of him and his group back at the building of carnage.
“He... he was, Kin was it...? That short girl from the same people nagged me ‘bout where this, this mentor Kin was. Ugh, she gave me a long week of neck pain for sure.”
Jun palms the black cloud tattoos on his neck, to the part where the girl incapacitated him.
“It sure hurt a lot. And that Kin guy... more pain up my ass.”
A chuckle beside Jun breaks the brewing silence from the audience — his boys.
“Who’s this Kin?” The man said.
Jun taps on the table with the empty o-choko, holding his chin with a spare.
“He pushed my buttons, but I— also can’t say t-that's all it was.”
“Are dark clouds casting one’s thoughts?”
“Heh, if you sa- say it that that way.” Jun said as he grabs a nearly spent sake bottle.
“Excessive sustenance like this can impair your already degraded body further.”
“Mmff... Just let me have this okay? Been thinkin’ a lot, havta loose up a bit.”
Quaffing down his unnumerable amount of shot, his boys’ worries weren’t placed on his liver collapsing inside out inside him at this point but rather the looming potential threat of the stranger next to their intoxicated captain.
“And that Kin guy...”
“What does One ought to this ‘Kin guy’?”
Jun ponders, his face plastered with a faint red tint either caused by the extensive amount of alcohol Jun has consumed or something else bothering his mind.
“I—” Jun takes a moment to carefully form any sensible word he can say, being tipsy wasn’t helping.
The man next to Jun takes a sip on the o-choko, tipping their big bamboo hat in doing so. Awaiting the Captain’s response, who had his eyes locked on the table’s surface. It was time for Jun to muster something to say.
“Kin... I want to— meet him again. I want a fair Duel with him, when I’m out of duty... I don’t want- whatever that thing was in Yong-Jin building.”
The man next to Jun let out a breath of amusement after hearing the proposal. Jun looks up towards some of his boys on the opposite side of the table, their tensed faces made something click in Jun’s head.
“Once you awaken from your nightmare. I shall permit you to cross my waters again, Jun.”
Jun stares at the man, who he has now come to realize wasn’t the loyal henchman he was talking to. Blinking, clearing his eyes, he is in fact not seeing stars and hasn’t collapsed from the copious amount of sake that his liver is sure, going to enjoy.
“It’s Kim, Mentee Aeung-du has told me about you. Within you is Potential, poison only carries more sorrow.”
Jun was dazed or was it the sake. Either way, he has been yapping for a while now and only now came to realize. The man, the thing was in front of him, he was practically eyeing Kim from top to bottom seeing he is more human than what he once looked like from that ‘Distortion’ of sorts. Although his face was covered by the bamboo hat, he didn’t sport that dark smoke like aura carrying tendrils anymore.
Kim leaves the o-choko on the table, his Hwando glimmers beside him.
“Are ya telling me you’re accepting the duel...?”
“A spar or two, wielded swords clashing with one another. Just the two of us.”
Jun was just staring at Kim, his consciousness slowly reaching its limit courtesy of the bottles of sake.
“If you desire to cross roads once more, then we shall meet again at the backstreet behind Yong-Jin building. I’ll light up the path to where you shall show me what you are capable of.”