Post by Jasper Aizawa on Nov 1, 2014 17:51:50 GMT -5
"You can't do anything right, can you?"
Jasper's eyes darted up.
"I'm sorry?"
"Huh?"
Jasper looked up from the leather-bound menu he was clasping toward the young-looking fellow taking his order.
"Did you say something to me?" Jasper asked harshly.
"No." The boy replied, obviously puzzled.
Jasper's eyes darted around the restaurant. It was empty, save for the employees. It was why he had picked this place. Reaching out with his presence confirmed this. He felt nothing. Looking straight in the boy's eyes and sensing for any change in his mood from his meager reaitsu presence confirmed that he was telling the truth. Who the hell had said that? The voice had sounded so clear.
He looked down at himself now, and saw that he was at the edge of his seat, his posture aggressive. He shifted back into his seat, gulping. "I apologize," he said quietly, "I'll have the special."
The boy, still confused by the encounter, wrote Jasper's order down in a daze before walking back to the kitchen, mumbling something to himself about shinigami and voices in heads.
"Oh." Jasper thought. He remembered now--there were two beings inside of him. He had forgotten in their silence that had lasted for months now. Had it been one of them who had spoken? Already, the memory of the voice was fading. Had it been Minerva? Fabianus? He could not tell.
His eyes darted toward the clock near the edge of the room. It was getting late at night. The sun had gone down nearly an hour ago, and it was only the anachronistic lamps that lit the dark pathways of this district in the Rukongai. He hoped now that the woman he had asked to meet would be making her way to this place now, having followed the instructions in his message that he had had delivered to her office yesterday well. He remembered it clearly:
Chinda. We must speak of important matters. Meet me at the only restaurant in the fifth ward of the northern fourty-fifth district. Dress surreptitiously. Burn after reading. Aizawa.
Jasper had intentionally made himself to look as little like Captain Jasper Aizawa, Acting Commanding Officer of the Fifth Division as possible. He had slicked back his hair, wore common clothing, and even changed the register of his voice. The only thing he couldn't change was his distinctive height. By keeping his back slouched, however, he had avoided being detected from that while walking to this restaurant. He prayed that his good fortune in this respect would continue.
Chinda--a key part of Jasper's plan. It had been months ago that she had expressed her distaste of the current commander of the Gotei 6, but her willingness to work under him despite it. Jasper didn't understand her reasoning. She claimed to be loyal to the Seireitei, but the Seireitei was founded upon a set of ideals, not just a set of leaders who, following recent trends, would be gone in a year. If they were doing evil and betraying such ideals, it was their duty to fight against those people, not just turn a blind eye because they were their superiors.
Jasper didn't have the time to change Chinda's philosophy, however. The only thing he could do was try to convince her that the Captain-Commander was a clear and present threat to the Seireitei. If he could do that, he might have an incredibly useful tool in the battle against that corrupt man.
But first, Chinda would have to come. In the darkness outside, Jasper could make out a figure approaching the restaurant. They were too far away for Jasper to discern any distinguishing traits, but Jasper knew that Chinda, if she was planning to attend at all, would be here soon. In a few moments, he would be able to tell whether or not his guest had arrived.