Starring:
Date: October 24, 2013
Summary:
At a party Atsuro and Daisuke have to deliver a message while Soren escorts a young woman. Things get complicated.
Poster's note: foul language filtered in obvious places.
"The Party Crashers"
Banquet hall in Kadomai
There's a party in Kadomai tonight, and all of the bigshots in the area area attending. This classy fundraiser event is being held in one of the town's finest banquet halls, and it's crowded with some of society's wealthiest and most influential. But right now, two ninja are here, and their concern lies with one of the influential. He's actually an important contact for Konoha in Kadomai, and Atsuro and Daisuke have a message to deliver to him.
Although the look suits him pretty well, Atsuro looks less than comfortable in his tuxedo. And it doesn't help that he can't bring Taizen into the party. Standing off to the side, he's just giving the dog a few instructions, then a pat on the head. Then he walks over to Daisuke. "Ready?" he asks. "Remember, if anyone asks, we're half-brothers. The guy we're looking for will be wearing a brown belt and black shoes." He rolls his eyes, "Hopefully nobody else has fasion sense that bad. Anyway, he'll be holding a cigar in his left hand. The code phrase is 'Do you have a light?' and he'll respond, 'Sorry, but I don't smoke.'"
If Daisuke doesn't have any further questions, they'll head on into the party — after being searched for weapons, naturally. But of course, they're ninja, so if anyone can smuggle in some weapons, it's them. The party itself is pretty much what you'd expect. High society, waiters walking around with fancy food, a string quartet, and all that kind of thing. Now, is there anyone around here who looks interesting?
Daisuke didn't own one of those weird penguin suits Atsuro was wearing, but his traditional Senju robes that he dusted off after bringing out of his closet made him just as awkward as Atsuro. "Hate wearing these things." he mutters as they meet up at the party after Atsuro says what he needs to to Taizen. He lifts his shoulders before dropping them, fixing the feeling of the robe on his shoulders. "Got it, he's wearing a belt and shoes with a cigar. Not hard at all." he says with a smirk, secretly seeing no faux pas in wearing brown with black. The task was simple enough for him, and it felt all secret spy-like, making him feel like some hero from the manga he "used" to read.
Daisuke's robes draw more attention to him than he was expecting, being ones from the 'head' family of the Senju and usually worn within the capitol by lobbyists and diplomats for Konohagakure. Any gold digger or politician that may be at the party could easily pick them out at a glance. Because of this, Daisuke is first met by a wealthy rotund man with a cigar, introducing himself and talking about some kind of current events pertaining to trade with Sunagakure that didn't interest Daisuke. No brown belt and black shoes, so Daisuke politely smiles and nods before bidding him adieu.
Caviar he hated these parties.
That was the only thing that Soren was thinking right now. And circumstances made things -even worse-. He was supposed to be here as an escort you a lovely youn woman, a donor for tonight, specifically he was here to make her boyfriend jealous. Well… with the young woman he was to be escorting having made up with her boyfriend, and promptly found a quite room to be private in, he had suddenly found himself here for no particular reason. Always fun.
The young man was wearing formal wear that looked like it was from the martial arts of the southern continent. His top was made of beautifull silver blue silk, and his pants were pristine white, down to his ankles, his shoes and ankle wrappings black in contrast. Quite the conspicuous outfit, especially for one who'd been rather blatantly ditched. Aside from a few waiters, not many approach him, other than a few greetings, and questions about whether he's from the southern continent or not.
Wow, and Atsuro though /he/ hated these parties. It wasn't much of a choice in his mind, but the option to wear some traditional Inuzuka robes was certainly there. "Oh, Hajime," says Atsuro, walking up to him, "It's been so long. We need to talk." If Daisuke allows, Atsuro tugs him along, avoiding anyone who looks like they want to talk — and apparently he's pretty practiced at it.
For a second, he thinks he catches a glimpse of a man with a brown belt, but the man disappears into the crowd. Atsuro starts to look for him, but his attention is grabbed by a gaudy— er, striking blue martial arts outfit. And its owner, Soren. "Hey," he says, "Fancy meeting you here." He pauses for a second, "You haven't seen anyone with a brown belt and black shoes, have you?" he asks. He glances around, and quickly affects a snooty tone of voice, "That would be absolutely /ghastly/."
Daisuke was busy being crowded by 2 young women in slinky and sparkling dresses when Atsuro burst in to save him. One of the girls pouts as the other asks, "Is this your brother?" in a happy tone. Daisuke chuckles as he is being tugged away, "HALF-brother." he says with an apologetic look before he is free of them. Daisuke straightens up his robes and looks one way then the other as he is away from the crowd. "They are vicious in there." he says with a chuckle before asking "Did you find him?"
Daisuke wanders over with Atsuro to meet Soren, not feeling so out of place after spotting what Soren was wearing. With a small hidden smirk, he greets Soren with a nod and a small wave.
Soren was being spoken to by a young woman when Atsuro approached. A quick reply of no to her question, and the woman seems to shy away quickly. Soren sighs, as he looks up. "Yeah, fancy that." he says with a smile, rising from his seat. He nods towards Daisuke, and smile. "Oh, heavens it would be horrid." he says, in the best, wedgie prone, up tight tone he can manage. "I dare say, I believe my date's boyfriend was wearing just that!" he says, shrugging a bit. "Don't ask, long story."
Some people are able to smoothly extract themselves from conversations. Atsuro isn't, but he can do it /quickly/. "Mhm, yup, great, so nice meeting you," he tells the girls, barely even sparing them a glance as he drags Daisuke off. Once they're safish, he lets go of Daisuke. "Thought I saw him," he says, looking into the crowd again, "Wish he'd chosen a purple and orange scarf or something."
Soren's story gets a raise of the eyebrows. "Don't think I wanna hear it," he tells Soren, "Was your… friend holding a cigar in his left hand, by any chance?" He looks into the crowd again. Geez, no wonder they sent an Inuzuka. No wonder they sent an… Aha! Atsuro sniffs the air. Catching a whiff of an unlit cigar, he looks over… and there he is. "Hey, Dai." He nods in the man's direction. Brown belt, black shoes, cigar in the left hand. Unfortunately, old ghosts from Daisuke's past have come back to haunt them! Their contact is being buttonholed by both the old man, and the two girls Atsuro just blew off. Not gonna be easy to get a hold of him under these circumstances. Atsuro mutters, "Escarg — uh, beans."
Daisuke chuckles lightly at Soren's story, seeming amused by it, at least moreso than Atsuro. "Quite the get-up." he says to Soren as he moves closer to the wall beside the trio so he can still watch the party. He keeps his eyes on the guests, but without some kind of extra sensory ability, Daisuke is stuck with his eyes and so far he can't pick anything up. It was then that Atsuro mentioned he had spotted the man, pointing him out. Daisuke almost smacked his own forehead as he saw the situation. "Alright, I'm going in, operation Magnet." he says as he adjusts his robes and heads into the sea of people, making his way over to the girls and hefty man, introducing himself to the target before beginning to draw the attention towards himself so Atsuro could move.
Soren sighs, and shakes his head. "Trust me, you don't." he says grinning a bit. "Lookin for someone specific?" he asks with a small smile, and a raised brow. At the mention of finding the man, Soren raises a brow, scanning the area where Atsuro-Ah! There he is. The young man rises, patting Daisuke on the shoulder. "Well, I'm not letting you go in alone dude." he says, grinning a bit. He approaches the now quintet, introducing himself with a bow, before glancing at the trader that grabbed Daisuke's attention earlier. "I'm actually particualrly interested in seeing trade with Sunagakure. Believe it or not, I have a particular investment in the caravans going between the two countries. Actually lived there for a while to boot."
Nicely done! Atsuro nods in approval to Daisuke and Soren. Operation Magnet: successful. Now that the man himself is free, it's just a matter of getting in there and talking to him. "Excuse me," says Atsuro, tapping the man on the shoulder, "Do you have a light?" There's a flash of recognition in the man's eyes, but otherwise he's pretty smooth. "Sorry, but I don't smoke." Atsuro glances to the three hangers-on. Daisuke and Soren have them distracted, but can he safely pass on the message like this? Well, these people are pretty full of themselves by the looks of it, but Atsuro has to be cautious. "You're holding a cigar," he points out, "Since you don't smoke, can I have it?" He gives the man a meaningful look and reaches into his pocket, carefully folding up a small slip inside before palming it. Then he takes the cigar, exchanging it for the paper. "Thanks." Mission accomplished!
"My," says Atsuro, "It's getting late, I'd better— " He's cut off by a loud crash from somewhere else in the banquet hall, and the string quartet stops playing. Then there's some angry yelling coming in from outside the main entrance. "Does anyone know where the exit is?" Atsuro asks, "Say, one /really close by, where nobody would notice us leaving?/" He gives a meaningful look to Soren and Daisuke. So hard to tell with the crowds all around them! And things are becoming increasingly chaotic.
With Soren coming over to help take the hefty trader off his hands, Daisuke feels much more confident that he can handle the attention of ladies who seek nothing but. Acting flirty like he does with Satomi, he is able to keep the attention away from the target long enough for Atsuro to do his work. Daisuke watches Atsuro go to work out of the corner of his eye as he keeps his smile on the women, laughing appropriately, acting enough to make them think he may be interested in a future meeting.
About to prepare to exit as Atsuro gets what they came for, a loud crash interrupts everything. "Things were going so smoothly, too." he says quietly as he excuses himself from the ladies after making sure they were ok and not around any harm. He moves to Atsuro and Soren to figure out the next move, scram or investigate.
Soren throws out a few names, and talks a bit of trade with the heafty man, before the crash catches his attention. He grins, and shakes his head. "So hard to find good help, am I right? It was nice speaking with you sir." he says, with a nod, and a handshake, returning to Atsuro and Daisuke. "Were you guys expecting trouble? Or do I actually need to be worried?" he says with a slightly raised brow. "There's gonna be a couple back entrances, and there are windows in the backk rooms you could probably use." he answers to Atsuro's request for a sneaky exit, he says, waiting for their decision, before mentioning "I've got a job to do, so I've atleast gotta check things out. Get out of here if you need to, I'll catch up."
"No we weren't…?" Atsuro looks over to their contact. "There is a small possibility…" says the man. Atsuro looks over to Daisuke. "Okay," he says, "Yeah, we'd better get out of here." He glances over to where the commotion is to see what looks like several people shoving their way through the crowd. "Thanks," he tells Soren, wondering exactly what that job might be. Maybe he should have asked for the story after all. "C'mon," he tells Daisuke, then he takes their contact's hand and starts pushing their way through the crowd as well.
Then some yelling can be heard from another part of the crowd. "WHERE'S TH' CHAMPAGNE THAT TOU-TOUSHED MY WOMAN? I'M GONNA PUNSH HISH LIGHTSH OUT!" He starts to stagger his way through the crowd, stopping at the buffet table to grab a steak knife. Soren might recognize him as the guy he was hired to make jealous. And it seems like he's pretty jealous!
Meanwhile, Atsuro and Daisuke have made it to a small hallway leading away from the main hall. There are a couple doors nearby that might lead to a back door, or at least a window. "Check them out," Atsuro tells Daisuke, "I'll cover our rear." Inside door number one is a small bathroom with a window just big enough to fit one person at a time through. Inside door number two is a large pantry with a door leading outside, but it's jammed. They're pressed for time, which one should they take?
Daisuke nods to Atsuro, making his way through the crowd towards the back where there were less people and more room to move. He spots the drunk man looking for, he assumes, Soren and chuckles. "Wish we could stick around for that one." he says as he moves towards the hall, spotting the two doors. As Atsuro asks him to check them out, Daisuke peeks in each, the bathroom containing a small window. "I doubt my massive arms could fit through that." he says as he goes to door number two, finding the pantry and a back door, albeit jammed. "This way." he says to the rest as he ninja-chakra-kicks at the door to attempt to open it.
Upon hearing the mans voice, and noting that it -is- infact the jealous boyfriend, Soren looks… honestly quite surprised. "Well, that's a… yeah…" he says, as he quickly makes his way back in the direction Atsuro and Daisuke went, tugging off his right limb as he traveled, slipping it into the arms of some random guy. "Here, you've earned this." Once he's gotten to the back of the room, he turns and yells. "I hear he's the guy with the wooden arm!" before he pretty much bolts for the back entrance. He fully expects the arm to be dropped, but it will confound the angry boyfriend long enough for an escape. As he's running back, he notes Atsuro, Daisuke, and the contact. IF the door isn't opened by now, the young man sighs, charging a bit of chakra. "Drunk boyfriend! Steak Knife! Duck!" he yells, leaping up, and kicking the door with a focused bolt of chakra. If it isn't opened already by that point it is.
Atsuro spares Daisuke a grin, "Me too." He continues to stay on guard, however. Can't have the brown-belted man getting kidnapped, or beaten up, or assassinated, or…
Soren's poor scape goat pretty quickly drops the wooden arm, but his quick retreat seems to have saved him from the wrath of the drunk boyfriend. The man continues to yell and stumble around in the crowd, but oh well. Hopefully that steak knife doesn't end up hurting anyone.
"Rrreally?" Atsuro asks Daisuke, "If we've got a way out — oh." He and the brown-belted man follow Daisuke into the pantry. The door swings right open when Daisuke kicks it. "All right," says Atsuro, "Let's get outta here." He starts to head for the door when Soren runs in. "Remind me never to hire you for anything," he says, shaking his head, "Or date you, apparently." He ushers their contact through, then heads out himself. Whoever the intruders were, they weren't friendly, but that doesn't matter right now. They've successfully delivered the message and lived to tell the tale.
