Takashi

Shine City 3: Summer Sequel (Always Accepting)

When night came, Yutaro was manning his usual post at the blackjack table. The casino had more or less become a zoo; with the popularity of the bunny girls bringing in a lot of new customers, the boss had decided to have every employee wear some kind of animal gimmick depending on their job. Yutaro thought he would be used to wearing those damn cat ears by now but every time he put them on he couldn't help but grimace. What made it worse was that rumors of his chagrin spread among the workers and he had earned himself the name "grumpy cat." Of course he always wore a pleasant expression for the customers, making them feel entirely welcome at his table so that they'd spend their hard earned money, but he took those ears off as soon as he clocked out for his break.

Yutaro had taken some time off of work after the incident, but time off was honestly the last thing he needed. Being back at work helped him keep his mind focused on things he liked to do, like taking people's money, and so his mood was always elevated at work. Then he thought for a moment about Ryoki. He knew she was supposed to be coming back again, and he was looking forward to seeing her more. After the incident, she had understandably been keeping to herself, and Yutaro hoped she was holding herself together. He hadn't called her because he figured she wanted some time alone, and he figured she could contact him when she was ready to talk again. Though, he also wondered if they would ever be able to pick up where they left off. Yutaro knew he wasn't himself, and he could only imagine what the incident had done to Ryoki.

However, he thoughts were quickly drawn back to the game at hand when the customers started showing up. The night was a bit slower than usual, probably because of that crazy foam party at club lush, but there was still a healthy flow of customers. There was a middle aged man trying to impress a pretty young woman at the table, but alcohol had already knocked the wits out of him. It was so easy egging him on he almost felt bad for him. "Aww, don't quit now. You're lucky streak could be one hand away." The woman giggled and the man grunted, buying in for another fifty dollars. It was a good start for the house, and it helped that the man was playing pretty poorly. It was as simple as collecting free money.

Shine City 3: Summer Sequel (Always Accepting)

So, any idea when this time skip is happening? I've been waiting for it to post because I didn't want to start an interaction just to have it cut short with a time skip, but if it's still gonna be a while, I'll post something.

Shine City 3: Summer Sequel (Always Accepting)

Im going to make a time skip to saturday evening when I next post, Jacques is going to be heading to the casino for some guilty gambling.

will @Takashi Yutaro be working tonight?@ClocktowerEchos how about the trap? :)

@Dynamo Frokane

Yes he will. You can find him at the blackjack table as usual.

Wandering Beyond the Fireflies | A Rurouni Kenshin RP

"Oro?" Kenshin looked up with a dazed expression once he heard the clack of wood against steel. He knew that Kaoru was brave, but he hadn't expected her to lash out like that when nobody was in any real danger. The whole point of his plan was to prevent a fight and save the groceries that were now scattered on the floor. With a sigh Kenshin stood up and brushed himself off, watching the brief exchange between Kaoru and Ryuuto with his hand on his sword, ready to jump in and break it up before anyone got hurt.

Kenshin was impressed that Kaoru was standing up to someone with a steel blade, and that she was actually able to block the strike without her own blade breaking. Ryuuto seemed to have the advantage in power, and his technique was aggressive, but refined. He was a little worried seeing that, but his aggressive style left an opening that Kaoru quickly seized. It was a sturdy smack to the side of his head, and had Kaoru been wielding a sword like his, he would have been severely maimed, if not killed. Still, it seemed that the blow was enough to break his resolve and he took off swearing vengeance.

With the fight over, Kenshin gave a look of dismay at the vegetables littering the ground, but it seemed Kaoru was still heated up and, without hesitation, signed herself up for some local tournament. She was then just as quick to ask him for help to train. "Well, I'll certainly do whatever I can to help you, Miss Kaoru, but the Hiten Mitsurugi style is not well suited to wooden blades. Perhaps I could give you some advice on your techniques to help you improve. But right now there's something more important we need to take care of." Kenshin pointed to the food that was spilled all over the ground.

Without chastising Kaoru for causing chaos in the city streets, he calmly went over and started picking the groceries up and salvaging as much as he could. "I suppose most of it will still be good, but we'll need to wash it. It would be a shame if we let a man like that make our food go to waste, don't you agree Miss Kaoru?" He gave the young swordsman a pleasant smile even as he cleaned up her mess. Once he gathered everything up, he started heading back to the dojo with it, walking beside Kaoru.

He was quite for a while, simply enjoying the fresh weather and musing to himself, but eventually he said, "I think it will be good for someone to stand up to that dojo. Show them that strength isn't something to be flaunted, but rather something to be used to protect the weak. Show them that there is more to swordsmanship than just powerful techniques. And..." He looked at Kaoru and smiled. "Show them that the Kamiya Kasshin style is worthy of respect."

Shine City 3: Summer Sequel (Always Accepting)

I think we should include some preliminary trigger warnings before all our posts now just in case guys - you can never be too PC!

@NarcissisticPotato

Well I'm triggered by trigger warnings so don't put any trigger warnings up.

Shine City 3: Summer Sequel (Always Accepting)

Here's Blade's shitty living place.

The Struggle is Real

@Bozo

I saw an electric fan. He doesn't know the meaning of struggle.

Wandering Beyond the Fireflies | A Rurouni Kenshin RP

It was a beautiful day and Kenshin was trying to get the chores done quickly so he could enjoy a way in the nice weather before it got dark. He probably would have been finished already if a certain young "samurai" had been a little more enthusiastic about his chores. "Ugh, why does Kaoru still have me scrubbing the floors like I'm some kind of maid."

Kenshin chuckled softly at the boy's indignation. "If you are above scrubbing the floor, then perhaps you are also above walking on it." Yahiko grit his teeth and got back to work, grumbling to himself, while Kenshin just smiled gently. He wasn't sure when exactly he had become accustomed to the routine chores and rhythm of the Kamiya Kasshin dojo, but for the first time since his days as the battousai, he felt like he had a home. Sure, he had set his head down in many places during his travels, but nobody had made him feel as welcome or as comfortable as Kaoru. Indeed, Tokyo had it's fair share of strife, but he felt that his life here was worth fighting every now and then for.

With the chores finished, Kenshin decided to go for a walk through the city, and perhaps meet up with Kaoru to help her take care of the groceries. The sword he wore on his side always seemed to attract attention, but recently it seemed to stir up some apprehension among the citizens. A new group of swordsman had moved in, flaunting their skills about aggressively, and that caused people to become nervous around anyone carrying a real sword. It was unfortunate, but there was really nothing Kenshin could do about it short of crashing their dojo and running them out of town. However, he would refrain from that so long as no innocents were being harmed...

And then Kenshin saw a young man brazenly pointing his sword at Kaoru's neck, and he knew that Kaoru wasn't the kind of woman to back down from something like that. He decided to head over and defuse the situation before a sword fight broke out in the middle of the street. "Excuse me," Kenshin said, walking up to the assailant with a pleasant expression. "Would you mind putting your sword away? You're scaring people who just want to go about their business."

Ryuuto kept his sword aimed at Kaoru's neck, but slowly rolled his eyes towards Kenshin, and then towards the sword at his side. "Do you have any idea who you're talking to?" Ryuuto said.

Kenshin blinked and gave Ryuuto a blank expression. "I haven't the slightest idea..."

Ryuuto smirked. "You're talking to Tajima Ryuuto, number one disciple of the Tajima dojo. And just who the hell are you?"

"Oh, I'm just a wanderer," Kenshin said, maintaining his pleasant tone.

"Well then, Mr. Wanderer, I'll make a deal with you. If you bow down and show me proper respect, I won't stain this girl's kimono with her blood."

Kenshin thought about the proposition briefly. He was pretty certain that he could disarm this upstart with ease, but that would likely just start a feud with the dojo, and a feud was the last thing this city, and Kaoru, needed. So, he decided to oblige and see if Ryuuto was a man of his word. "So, I bow to you and you'll put your sword away without any trouble? Alright, sounds simple enough." Still, maintaining his pleasant expression, Kenshin got on his knees and gave a proper bow.

Ryuuto immediately busted out laughing. He kept his sword out but took it away from Kaoru's neck, and then placed his foot atop Kenshin's head. "A weakling like you doesn't deserve to carry a sword. Go ahead and eat some dirt for me!"

Shine City 3: Summer Sequel (Always Accepting)

Morning used to be the beginning of something great: a new day of possibilities, meeting new people, and having all kinds of fun at work. Now it was simply the end of something abhorrent. Even with sleeping pills the images crept into his mind; a distant pop, a scarlet splatter, screaming, crying. Over and over again the dreams would repeat to the point where Yutaro knew exactly when the shot came. He knew what note of what song marked the end of that poor girl's life. He knew that if she moved at that particular moment, she would still be here. If he had started dancing earlier, if she would have gone for a drink, if if if... so many ways she could have lived. But the only possibility he relived was the one where he sat there, blissfully unaware of the tragedy only moments away, until it all came to an end.

Yutaro groaned and looked over at his clock. There was no point in trying to get back to sleep at this point. The sun was up, and his biological clock was telling him he no longer belonged in bed. However, his body was stiff and tired from the restless night. He stretched and forced himself out of bed, walking past his coffee pot and over to where he kept the caffeine pills. Screw coffee. It was too much work to heat up water, pray the the grind he had tasted good, and sit there sipping the hot beverage when all he really wanted was to wake up. He threw the caffeine pills back with some water, as was now a part of his morning ritual. Pills to force him to go to sleep, and then another set of pills to undo what the other pills did. Sure, sounds healthy.

Then his gaze moved to the letter from his parents on the table. He let out a heavy sigh. Right, he had forgotten about that. They knew that something was wrong, especially his mother, but he hadn't told them what happened. Talking about what happened wouldn't change what happened, so he saw no point in it. The caffeine started kicking in, he splashed some water on his face and he put on the smile everyone was used to seeing. Nobody questioned familiar things.

One thing that hadn't changed was that he still hated being cooped up in his apartment, so he decided to go out for a morning walk through the town. He had no plans, really. He didn't work until later, so his mornings were usually free. He was free to just walk through the streets and let his thoughts wander. He wondered how Ryoki was doing... No, that was a stupid question. He knew she wasn't doing well. She wasn't talking to him or doing much of anything; sometimes he even wondered if she was still alive. Not, that he could blame her after what happened. But still, he hoped that things were starting to look better for her.

"Whatever fortune has raised on high, she lifts but to bring low," he muttered to himself. He had said those words to another unlucky person at the ball. Perhaps those words were a curse, a secret incantation for a dark spell that brings misfortune into the world. Or, perhaps they were just a simple truth, realized through generations of misfortune befalling the great. However, right now, Yutaro wished those words were wrong.

Shine City 3: Summer Sequel (Always Accepting)

@Delta44 I know, right? It's crazy. Want me to PM you so we can talk about what happened with Ryoki and Yutaro over the time skip?

Wandering Beyond the Fireflies | A Rurouni Kenshin RP

Looks good. I like that you're making Ryuuto nice and aggressive right off the bat. I'll start working on my post.