I burned it all but I'm doing fine

[somebadnews]

WHO: Five, Jon Snow, Hijikata, Souji, and Jens
WHEN: during the Ke-Waicai plot
WHERE: the forge of Beom-Soo
WHAT: a very simple task to steal a key
WARNINGS: probably violence, language, (??) will update as needed

This plan was overly complicated from the start. The trek to get to Ke-Waicai was an ordeal in itself, and once they reached their destination, Five had little choice but to agree to hunt down one of the keys that would get them the rest of the way in. Little choice, but still some. The much easier path would have been to teleport directly into the House of Ravens, but he's had enough magic inflicted on him to take a risk by being impatient before he at least tries it their way.

At least once he split from the group, he has some space to think. In retrospect, the forge isn't the easiest option of the three. For one thing, there are more workers than he expected, and even in the spotty light, he can see that he's a fraction of the size of the men toiling away in the heat. Blending in is an impossibility, so he needs to stay out of sight while he searches. Or decides he doesn't have the time, and tells them some halfway plausible backstory to get them to do his work for him.

All options are still on the table if they fail. He needs to succeed, in something, to get rid of his curse and get his shit back together before he snaps and burns the village to the ground. This will work. Then he can focus on his family and getting them the hell out of here.



ooc: starters below! Feel free to make your own, if you'd like to do anything pre or post-running in with the murder child, or if you'd like another starter just hit me up. Also if you'd rather action tag, totally open to switching for you, it's fine. (Also if you haven't been following, Five is currently in the last stages of his greed curse, but he's cool so it's nbd.)

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[somebadnews]

Five stands back, his face an impartial mask when the sword is unsheathed. It's hard to tell how much of that is for show when he knows nothing about the man, but he has to hand it to him for being effective. Time is not on their side, and if they can get their blacksmith here to cooperate without a fuss, he isn't going to start to criticize.

And it isn't like Five hasn't worked with people who are on the unhinged side. The Commission was full of them, even if they didn't always make the best agents. It takes a certain type of person to be an assassin. The vibe he gets off of him tells him that he might have experience with that type of work.

So he's surprised when he seems to be asking for approval.

Slowly, Five nods and looks to the retreating man. There's no real telling if he's going to get the key or if he just said that so he could run away, but that would have probably been the case anyway.

"We'll see." Shrugging, like he's heard that hundreds of times before. Then he turns back to Souji, considering him. It's still not entirely clear why he decided to insert himself into the situation. "You must really want that key."

[deathcough]

Souji continues to watch the man back away, his gaze no wavering even after the man is out of sight. It isn't until Five speaks again that he drags his gaze over with a soft, 'hm?' like he's barely been paying attention.

He shrugs at the not-quite-question. "Oh, don't get me wrong. I couldn't care less about the key." He nods towards Hijikata's direction. "But he gave me the order, and unfortunately he's still my boss. But this might give me a chance to do what I'm best at, so I guess it's as good a use for me as anything."

His fingers drum against the hilt of his sword and he looks Five up and down curiously. Five looks young, but that doesn't really mean anything to Souji. After all, he was killing by the time he was like, 8, what the fuck did he know about 'proper ages' for things like this.

"I'm not entirely sure what the keys are for anyhow," he confesses with a little shrug, indifferent. "But how good are you with torture? I don't quite have the delicate touch for it as much, I'm better at executions."

Normal things to discuss with seemingly 13-15 year old boys.

[somebadnews]

Now that's a question Five absolutely doesn't want to answer. The truth is that the Commission has an entire subsection of their handbook on torture, and for a time Five was their best agent, so he's naturally familiar. He preferred assassinations that were quick and efficient, and those were generally the assignments he was given. However.

It only strikes him as odd after a minute. How could he know that he has that experience just by looking at him? A minute ago he would have guessed that he was stepping in because he assumed he was a helpless child. Usually it takes a lot more convincing to get someone to take him seriously at all, and now he's asking for help torturing someone.

Five glances to where his 'boss' is presumably still watching and scowls back at him. From this little interaction he believes that he'd kill anyone in the forge with almost no incentive. Did someone send them after him specifically, or do they actually care about what's at the end of this?

"What orders did he give you, exactly?"