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Entry tags:

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Who: Kazuhira Miller | Various
When: April
Where: Wherever labeled
What: General OTA starters for this month
Warnings: Will warn in the title portion of tags.

pax hamburgana.
[Miller comes into his diner almost every day. He's lucky to have workers, really, but he'd still come in alone and work his little heart out if he had to. He would sweep the floors, he would bus tables, he would cook food and do dishes, whatever is necessary to keep things running. The luck of "space age" technology (or rather, very average tech here) is that much of that can be automated as necessary. But the "human element" or the near equivalent when there's such a mix of people requires a face at a bar and at diner booths or a body by the heat of a stove, as far as he's concerned.]

[Today isn't a cooking day, it's a serving day, and he's up front finishing up a wipe down of the bar after a daily shift change rush. He guesses it's Region One's equivalent of the noon lunch around here. A bunch of people get a break at approximately the same time and they come in and get food and either they love it or hate it and he's the one that gets to hear about it]

[Sometimes during the lull and most of the busy work is done, Kaz'll spend those spare moments to practice playing his guitar at a booth, soft acoustic sounds from expert fingers filling the restaurant. Good enough that at one point he could have been a professional so long as he didn't sing as well. Now being original is a trial, songs being difficult to generate on his own. Instead he plucks through ones he made years ago or learned in Costa Rica.]

[Either way, he'll find his way to anyone that comes in to eat.]

EN-Line.
[The worst part of taking up a new project is finding all the paperwork he needs to fill out.]

[One is a broadcasting office. One for him to ask about taxation and licensing because he has no idea how that works here. But it means a lot of walking and a lot of being told to go to another place and a lot more walking. Not long enough to take public transportation, but enough that the runaround gets exasperating (and he's a man that enjoys this sort of thing normally).]

[By the time he gets on the EN-Line to make his way home he's in a seat attempting with all his might to not nod off. A wearying battle that he loses, eventually doing so. That blond head tipping forward some, eyes closed behind his aviators, Kaz starts muttering a little to himself.]

Do you know where Miller is?

[He wakes up with a start from the sound of his own voice and shakes his head. Well, that's fun. He'll just try to find someone to talk and keep himself awake so he doesn't end up falling asleep and riding this thing in a circle.]

band night at a bar.
[It's been a hell of week, and Kaz has not slowed down except to sleep and that sleep is the sort of "decent" sleep that's like a marathon in itself. Check time, confirm time setting, lay down face first without undressing, sprint snooze. This is the first time he's taken some time off just to relax, going to a bar to enjoy himself and listen to some music.]

[But perhaps he should not have.]

[Once the live band hours are over, he's piss drunk. Somewhere along the line Miller forgot he's no longer twenty-eight and the last time he got drunk without strange mantid interference was back on the last birthday he could remember, at a party that Big Boss had thrown for him when they were both aboard the Moira.]

[And that has him ranting at some poor unfortunate soul near him.]

Did you know John put me in a slingshot? He tricked me. [Kaz slurs with spite, making himself mad all over again.] I almost died for a man that put me in a slingshot. You know how far I went? I lost my clipboard.

And his box was too tiny. I had to make him make it bigger. He barely listened to me over his stupid small box, I don't know why I thought he'd listen to me over nukes.

[This all makes sense to him. Even that hiccup that follows that odd assortment of words that are supposed to be a true story. Accurate punctuation.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[He sits there. Shifts his eyes. Seems to be thinking about what stupid things he could have done. Then... then comes the most horrible question a man can possibly ask while drunk.]

Do you mean with my pants on or off?

[Luckily, Nyx doesn't have to answer.]

If it's the former? Then it's taking my pants off.

[For a second Nyx looks surprised, and then he ends up laughing so hard that it's one of those painful, silent, jerking laughs that has his whole body convulse and tears come to his eyes. It really shouldn't be that funny but he can't help himself.]

Gods abound. Miller. You're killing me.

[He's trying to calm himself down from his laughing fit as he watches the older man take another shot. Nyx considers telling him to slow down or stop but instead he finishes off his own beer.]

...pants off, then. This better be good.

That's the story. [He says that as if that's the logical end to a "took my pants off" tale.]

I was an idiot. Stupid... idiot me. He made all kinds of problems for me now. It's his fault. [His past self being a separate entity in this drunken ramble, a version of him that he can blame all his bad mistakes on.]

Ow.... Ow ow ow.... [He puts down his drink as his right fingers twitch, and then he slides off the stool holding his shoulder (as if that'll do any good).] I don't know. I guess I'm not a very good drunk anymore. I don't want to stand on a table.

[That's a good drunk, right? He wavers on his feet, deciding whether he wants to go to the bathroom or step outside and pretend fresh air will do him some good.]

[Nyx isn't sure if Miller's talking about his younger self or this odd Big Boss character. Either way, his laughing sobers up as his boss's temperament grows more dour. The hilarity is gone completely as the man complains of pain, and now it's Nyx who is frowning.

He sits up straighter and watches Miller slide off the stool and he looks as if he's just about to fall flat on his face. Nyx quickly pushes his own bar stool aside and comes around to place both hands on the blond's biceps to steady him.]

Whoa, hold on there. You need help getting home, old man?

I'm not that old, I'm only forty. Forty isn't old. Forty is still good. I haven't forgot what sex is like. I can still fall in love. I can't ride a bike anymore but I never liked them. I just don't want to take my pants off on a table.

[He needs to stop talking.]

I just need to get some air, I think. I don't want to go home. Not yet.

[He'll look like a drunken moron as he travels and he guesses he'll probably worry people unnecessarily.]

[Nyx murmurs an okay or slow down there after each one of Kaz's sentences. After the one about sex he gives the man an incredulous look and an ungraceful snorted laugh bubbles up out of him. The whole time, he's gently guiding the forty-something towards the side exit to the bar they're in.]

I seriously doubt you've ever taken your pants off on a table in your life.

[If only he knew. All Nyx knows is this Miller, stubborn and seemingly prudish and serious all the damn time. About the time Nyx has guided them out of the door and into the cooler night air he's questioning Kaz's claims even more.]

You sure you remember sex? 'cause you're so grumpy you act like you haven't been laid in your life.

Because I lost the person I loved. And I'm still too stupid to do right by the one I still love.

[He needs to shut up, he needs to drink water. He needs to stop running his mouth.]

I used to get up on tables. Showed them the real Kazuhira Miller. And have lots of sex. Lots of it. I had so much sex I got in trouble for it. I had to have my ass kicked to stop causing fights over how popular I was- I'm not mad about that, by the way. I kind of liked that, too.

[Because Nyx's boss is a little bit messed up sometimes. Though constant, persistent pain had ruined his love of rough-housing.]

You shouldn't waste your time on me. You should go find yourself a girl. Or a guy. Do all the things I shouldn't have stopped doing. Go live a life that I missed. [He rambles sentimentally.]

[So much wow and TMI happening at the same time that Nyx feels a little dizzy as he stands there staring wide-eyed at his boss. And here he's thinking he knows the man. Looks like he doesn't really know him at all.

And then he's suddenly getting advice on his own personal life. Nyx snorts a laugh again and leans on Miller at the hilarity of the moment. His own buzzed mind not respecting any personal boundaries. He does at least push himself off of the other as he reaches back to close the door.

It gets quiet then, the glow from the bar gone with the door closing, leaving them in a dark space between buildings and Nyx looks up trying to get a glimpse of the night sky. The buildings are too tall though and his vision is a bit impacted from all the beer he's drunk. Suddenly he needs to urinate but he ignores it for right now. He's not leaving Miller alone when he's this drunk.]

You think I wanna dance with my pants off on tables and have lots of sex?

[Nyx thinks a moment, trying to imagine it, then ends up laughing uproariously again. He's laughing not only at the image of himself doing that but again trying to picture the Miller he knows doing it. It's too much.

He laughs so hard he leans back against the side of the bar and holds his stomach with both hands.]

I'm going to piss myself.

Well... maybe not the pants off. Don't do that one. It's a bad idea.

[He sounds completely serious, before fishing in his pocket to pull out his tab. Then a largely useless wallet, only good for pictures now. He opens it, flips through a few old ones. Leans heavily against the bar himself to show him the first-]

This is me. [He says of a picture of himself against a base backdrop, military soldiers here and there. Prissy in an entirely different way than the stuck up idiot of a man next to him. Then he flips an old ID next, tucked behind a Diamond Dogs ID.]

I used to be good looking.

[And obviously way sassier than what's trying to regale him with tales of yore at the moment.]

Neither of these is pants-less. Maybe you are in the I.D. I guess. [Nyx furrows his brows and takes the first picture from Kaz and looks it over, then looks over at the man he knows now.]

Whatever.

[He wonders who this great love of his boss is, and if that person is here on one of these worlds or lost back home. Nyx hands the picture back and gives a helpless shrug.]

You're still good looking. You look exactly the same. Your hair is fluffier now.

[Finally he just grunts] You want to see me take my pants off to blackmail me. Well, I'm not going to do it.

[This. He will regret all of this later, and likely swear he'll never drink again but then will drink again in another year.]

I age well. Hopefully I'm smarter, too. Less mistakes.

[He knows he still makes them, but knowing he makes less would be nice.]

[And just like that Nyx is laughing again. His fingers pinch at his t-shirt over his stomach and he tries to stop himself, causing his eyes to water. He really is going to piss himself if he doesn't stop it.]

I'm not going to blackmail you! Damn. Never heard of a paranoid drunk before.

[Nyx takes a few stumbling steps away from the wall and catches himself on the opposite wall of the blocked off alley they're in, and he starts undoing his jeans. The wall looks like the perfect replacement for a proper urinal.]

You keep talkin' about takin' your damn pants off and I'll really start to wonder, boss.

[Either it's his own history or his over-exposure to crude soldiers, he seems completely unfazed by the classlessness. Why not? Hopefully the Savrii don't arrest men for pissing in strange places on their planet. That's his lone concern.]

I can't help it.

I probably shouldn't have drank so much. I used to be okay with this. I'd still be standing fine.

Maybe I should go back to drinking more.

[All these rambling hypotheticals while Nyx tends to his bladder emergency.]

Drinking more is never the solute-sol--right choice.

[Nyx has one hand up on the wall and his head is resting against his bicep while his other hand is occupied. Moments later he's doing his jeans back up again and turning to walk in a mostly straight line towards his boss.]

That said, I got some more beer at my place if you want to drinks somewhere you don't have to stand up any more. If you don't wanna go back to your house.

[He makes a dismissive noise.] I'm sure I could handle it, if I got used to it again.

[Though Nyx is right, for him? Not the best solution. Right now it sounds fantastic.]

I have to go home. I have things to do there. [But beer sounds good.] But sure, I could see your place, too. As long as I make it home.

[No crashing on a couch or anything. Cab. Public transit. Something had to happen.]

Sure, boss. We'll have a few then I'll take you home. 'kay?

[Nyx doesn't bother arguing that there's nothing at all that Kaz can possibly get done at his house this time of night, this drunk. He smirks at the man before motioning to the closed door so that they can go inside, pay their tab, and leave. He has no intention of going back out again and there's no way he's letting Kaz try to make it home again. But he will let the man have his delusion for the moment.

Twenty minutes later they were walking through Kauto an underwater pathway past a research facility, and finally to some apartments. Nyx lets his boss inside and just like the walkway, his entire apartment has a see-through glass ceiling. There are lights running along the support beams, giving little illumination to the water above. Quite frequently, large fish can be spotted shimmering in and out of view.]

Make yourself comfortable. [Said as he pulls his hoodie off and tosses it on one of the chairs in the front room.]

[He'll probably still call that cab. Dogs and all. Responsibilities that he had to take care of.]

[He shambles uncertainly in, staring at the cieling the whole way until he reaches the elaborate apartment which is... much more decorative than any place he's ever been in. This from a man who, left to his own devices, can earn millions of dollars. With a partner, even more.]

[And this is the first time he's been in this type of place (as someone's home anyway, not just a viewing tank). Startling to a man that's mostly at home in bland apartments and military barracks.]

[He is so drawn in he actually trips into the chair he was loosely aiming to sit in, and stares upward blandly.] Huh.

[That's a great evaluation, Kazuhira.]

Now you know why I take all the jobs you give me. I have to afford this place.

[It's an absolute luxury, that's for certain. Nyx has never lived anywhere so nice but being as he's supposed to be dead and work is very easy to find here, he's splurging on himself. Besides, ever since that peace treaty signing party, he's been enamored with giant aquariums. Living inside one is about the coolest thing he discovered here, and he had to move in as soon as he saw it.

Nyx moves through into the kitchen and takes out a few bottles of beer which he brings back with him. He pops the top on Kaz's for him before handing it over and then opens his own, clinking the bottle against the one he's just handed over and he smiles down at the seated blond.]

Here's to... not taking our pants off on any tables tonight.

Did you know that toasting with beer is an insult in Russia. [He says idly while he toasts and takes a drink.] It's okay, I'm Japanese and I'll pretend it's to a particularly annoying Russian I know.

[He takes a drink. He actually kind of misses Ocelot. And that vaguely human image of thinking of the man when he was a boy, standing in front of a TV and twirling his gun.]

I live in a piece of crap downtown near the diner. Bought it up front. Didn't need more than that, I didn't figure.

I don't know what Russian or Japanese are, but I'll take your word for it.

[Nyx settles himself down on the end of the couch, where he is essentially sitting next to Kaz although the man's in the recliner. He finds himself smiling over at his boss in between sips of beer. It's nice and cold and he's content to get back to that floating, overly warm buzz he'd had going before they left the bar.]

I'm from a place called Galahd. Most of us got ...absorbed into the capital city of Insomnia though, when the Empire came. It was a beautiful city.

What's your home like? Home-home.

The place I came from? ...Warm. Bright. Constant ocean breeze. The occasional storm, but they were manageable.

[He closes his eyes, leans back with his beer resting on his stomach, and if his drunken brain thinks hard enough he can almost feel it. Warmth against his brow and cheeks. The world spiked with color from behind his glasses. The sounds of gulls.]

Insomnia is a hell of a name for a place. Not the sort that provides easy living conditions, at least.

[Empires don't sound great, either.]

Is that... Japan? [He's taking a guess what the region name for someone who is "Japanese" is. Japan, it's a fun word to say he thinks, repeating it in his head a few times as he continues watching the older man.

At the appraisal of his former home's name, he chuckles with a shrug.]

It's a huge city state, all white and gold with spires, statues everywhere, all the modern junk you could want. The whole thing is covered in a giant, magic shield our King kept up to protect us. It was kind of beautiful in a way, it sometimes looked like shifting rainbows in the sky.

[Nyx smiles as he watches Kaz relaxing in his chair, and he stops rambling to take another sip of beer.]

Did you have any kids?

No, uh... No. Japan is an island nation. Some hot. Some cold. There are volcanos and hot springs and beaches and snow. Depends on the place. I grew up in a slum. [Another drink.] Near a naval base. It was fine. I didn't like it as a kid, appreciated it more as an adult.

Giant magic shields, though? ...Yeah. Nothing like that. I hear about them- [he shakes his head up at the bright ceiling, at the rippling light] -and even after having been here so long, I can't imagine how that went.

Me... No. No kids.

[There's no statement attached whether or not he wanted them, though. Probably because he doesn't know for sure.]

Sounds like a neat place.

[Nyx takes a sip of beer, followed by a gulp, which is then followed by a soft hiccup. He's gone to staring at the ends of his black boots. He still doesn't know how this whole Ingress thing works but if they ever get to Kaz's homeworld he decides he'll visit Japan.]

Huh?

[He'd been spacing out and partially missed what the other said about the shield. Well that was an easy thing to fix.]

I'll show ya.

[Thanks to a certain no-good-somebody he has his magic back. He wouldn't dare try to warp while drunk but generating a shield should be easy enough.

Nyx stands up and walks over to the entertainment center to set the beer down, then he turns to face Kaz. There's enough distance between them that it's safe. He steadies himself with one foot forward and the other bent, and both hands outwards. A second later a series of watery polygon shapes start forming and morphing together to generate a shield large enough for a few people to hide behind.]

[And there it is. A spark of soberness. Miller sits up quickly, suddenly surrounded by the polygons that fit together and surround them.]

[Yup. That just happened.]

[He doesn't say anything to this one. The expression on his face is bleary, but it's also akin to a dog shown a card trick. He has no idea how that worked. Give him more lucid thoughts, and he'd reflect on his own uselessness. How with two limbs, he still can't offer too much to the world compared to everything else available.]

[Right now, though? Just bafflement.]

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