jikan_rpg | October Catch-all --a little early.

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October Catch-all --a little early.

⌛ Who: Jiang Cheng and Kinn Theerapanyakul
⌛ What: Neandering around town
⌛ When: Tail end of September but October (spoopy season)
⌛ Where: Wherever!
⌛ Warnings: TBD in threads

[Jiang Cheng, post qi deviation]

Once Cheng was strong enough to move around for more than ten minutes, he started trekking over to his friends houses to see how they were doing and to thank them for their help and apologize for causing so much trouble. With every friend he visited, he offered a fruit basket. If he thought cutting them would last, he would have.

He comes to the next home, takes a breath and then schools his face for a pleasant smile before knocking. All he had to do now was wait to be answered. Cheng fervently hoped that their relationship hadn't been ruined by the recent events.

[Jiang Cheng, Onsen]

Once he had recovered, he wanted to do ... something. Anything. He was tired of sitting in the house, tired of people hovering over him, worried about what he would do, if he would relapse. He just needed to get out of the house and relax a bit.

The best way he knew how was the Onsen. The incense was nice, the sound of water was soothing and Cheng was looking forward to relaxing, pampering himself with some expensive cleansers, and let the stress of the past three weeks drain out of him.

[Kinn, by the wharf]

Despite gathering evidence that overall, the place was relatively safe, Kinn still wanted to be prepared. So he made his way to the wharf where many had said one could find rare items, hoping he would find a seller who may have more than just information about firearms.

As he strolled through the allies, he walked with confidence as if he owned the place. His clothing was neat but not necessarily anything that would scream he was rich or in the wrong place. And as he walked, he considered the things he would change in the place. A floating market, some different variations in the market-maybe something foreign in terms of imports?

Evidently, he couldn't completely dismiss the mafia in him.

[Anyone who wants a specific starter with any character, please hit me up! Discord Aristastarfyr#8868 or pm the journals.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

“I do.” Kinn had the stipend that had been provided on his arrival as well as information on how to access the funding on a weekly basis. It was a new thing for him, considering he never had to worry about money before, just profits. “But I’m used to baht, not this currency. Yen? Or is this place different enough that it’s called something else?”

He may or may not have been paying much attention to that detail as he panicked over the fact he was in a strange place and Porsche wasn’t by his side. And having Riley by his side, explaining all this minor shit he didn’t have the time to pay attention to would be a help. It would ensure that Riley stayed close in case something happened and made it look like they were…well, tourists or something? Blending in was never his style.

"They use yen here. If you need help counting it out later I can help out. It's pretty easy since it's about 100 to 1 US dollar. I've been living in America for a few years now so I've gotten used to that currency."

And it was a way easier conversion compared to the one he used to have to do in order to figure out the way things cost in America versus London where he'd grown up. Though he'd quickly learned that things were cheaper in America so it had worked out.

"Baht is used in Thailand right?"

"Mn. Yes. If I remember correctly, one Baht is about the same as a few... pennies? in the Americas." He knew of currency changes but didn't keep up with them constantly. He had people to research and let him know just before important meetings about conversion rates. He thought about conversion rates between Japan and Thailand.

"Yen has never been a strong currency. It takes almost four yen to equal the power of a baht," Kinn explained as they walked. His eyes kept moving around, looking for a good food stall as well as keeping an eye on their surroundings. He could never be completely at ease on his own.

"I think about a quarter the last I checked." Oh right he wouldn't know what that was. "That's about twenty-five pennies."

Riley was pretty sure that his fountain of knowledge wouldn't help with everything but he did have some useless facts that worked here. That just happened to be one of them. Though that fact about the baht versus the yen? Really interesting. More so that Kinn happened to know about it. "Does your family do a lot of business with Japan?"

Kinn nodded. "Japan, Korea, Russia, China. We work with several other countries." He smirked, glancing back at Riley. "Luxury vacation hotels require that sort of communication. But I have other people to keep track of the conversion rates for me."

Finally one food stall caught Kinn's eye and he headed in that direction, eyes sharp for anyone lingering in the shadows. "Tuna or swordfish?"

"Ohhhhh. That's impressive." It was probably a lot of work to keep track of all that. And luxury hotels were a huge amount of work. To have that many in that many places? Obviously Kinn's family would be loaded. Well that and Riley's imaginary crime family thing but that was just his fantasy.

"Swordfish." Mainly because he hadn't tried it and wanted to. Tuna he was used to and could get anywhere. "How long has your family been in the hotel business?"

"Generations," he responds, heading over to the swordfish spot. "I guess the proper term would be I come from 'old money'?" That sounded right, at least.

He ordered for both of them, ready for the haggle that usually came in fish markets. Coming away with two orders, some sweet bun dessert of some kind, he turns and grins, jerking his head a bit. "Where do you want to sit?"

"Oh. So you guys go way back."

He probably should have been excited about the fish but his eyes fell to the sweet bun instead. Sweet addiction. He would get him every time. But he quickly pulled his attention back to them and looked around before waving to where he saw some seats.

"What's it like growing up like that? I bet it's a lot of pressure."

"It was, in a sense. But probably a different sort of pressure than what other people deal with. Go to school, get good grades, go to a prestigious university for a good paying job and all the while, stay out of trouble, right?"

He sets the plates down and takes a seat. "I was brought up more, don't harass your tutors too much until Pa caved and let us go to university. But we had training for business, self defense and the like. The pressure to take over the business was Khun's for a while, until he'd been...Well, he'd been kidnapped by a rival business. He wasn't the same since. And Kim didn't want to be a part of it. He wanted to pursue music. Pa said no at first and..." A wry smile showed up. "The baby of the family will always get what they want, no?"

He really had to wonder if Kinn really understood just how much he sounded like a crime family in a drama. It was so easy for him to create this elaborate set in his head all about them. He was even doing that now as he listened to him with wide eyes. Like his new friend had become his new favorite show and every encounter was a new episode.

Okay, so it wasn't literally like that. But it sure felt that way sometimes!

"So you have two brothers? Older and younger?"

"Mm. I'm the middle child." He fishes a bit for the chopsticks he had tucked away for safekeeping and handed one pair over to Riley. "All of the responsibility of the elder with none of the leeway for the younger." That wasn't true, really. He'd been given Porsche. But even then it was sometimes dicey considering Porsche's new duties. They made it work, though, determined to stay together no matter what.

"What about you? Any siblings outside of the Fae mob?"

Taking the chopsticks, he broke them neatly in half then rubbed them together while he shook his head. "I'm an only child. Which meant that I got spoiled a lot but it also meant that I could scare my parents more than ever. When you're the only one they cling to you more."

That was his experience at least. And it sounded bad but it really wasn't. "They showed me so much of the world. We'd go on trips all the time. Camping was especially our favorite and mom would tell me all about every animal we saw along the way."

"I've been camping once." He latched onto that rather than the loneliness of a single child didn't seem so much different than the loneliness of a mafia heir. "I learned to fish. With a spear, no less!"

Okay, that was stretching the truth. Because 'camping' was actually trying to stay away from the people who kidnapped him and Porsche and learning to get along while being handcuffed. But once the worry that the enemy would find them had worn off and the realization that they needed to be patient for rescue to arrive kicked in, it was... Well, it was like camping, he imagined. "We were by the Ta Then waterfall in Chonburi. It's a high end tourist attraction in Thailand."

That made him laugh a bit as he went to grab himself some sushi to eat. "Who taught you how to fish with a spear? They have fish rods, you know."

It had to have been quite the story though. Maybe he'd gotten kidnapped and needed to go fishing. That seemed a fun thing to make up. Rich crime heir running through the woods and needing food and water. Then there was a river with fish. In desperation he found a way to carve a spear to stab fish so he wouldn't starve...

How Kinn had cooked the fish? Well Riley will still creating that in his head. "Oh I've seen pictures of that place! It's really pretty!"

"I know there are fishing rods. We didn't have them." Kinn doesn't get into the story immediately as he tries a piece for himself. Then hums a bit in appreciation for the freshness of the food.

"My boyfriend, Porsche, taught me how to do it. He's a good teacher." And he misses him deeply. It was apparent in the way his whole demeanor drops, thinking about the situation. Annoyed, he practically stabbed the next piece of sushi, glaring at it in thought. "It is. It can get cold at night. Chilly in the morning. But the waterfall was beautiful."

Revision. Somehow the boyfriend taught him how to fish. He had absolutely no evidence for this but it was totally how he'd write this episode of the drama. A cute bonding moment between them.

Chewing thoughtfully on the sushi, he watched his friend for a bit then swallowed as he gave him a little smile. "You really miss him, huh."

It wasn't a question. He could tell.

The answer was plain on his face when he looks up. Looking wretched and distraught, he swallows back the lump of pain before looking away. "Yeah. I miss him all to hell but.. I don't want him stuck here like me, either."

Riley looked down and nodded. "I've never really had a lasting relationship but that's how I feel about my parents. How I've felt about them for several years now. I miss them so much but I wouldn't want to put them through anything just to have them be with me."

So they had more kinship than he originally thought. "What, a cute guy like you? No one's beating a path to your door?"

Yeah, Riley was cute. But Kinn was committed. He wasn't ashamed to admit that before Porsche, Riley would have been right up his alley.

"I dated a couple people in high school but they'd get jealous over how friendly I am and break up with me. Then about six years ago the Fae found me and it's hard to keep a lasting relationship when you're on the run."

He held a finger up to his cheek and tilted his head to the side. Clearly making himself cuter than he already was. "So I'm cute but apparently I'm too friendly and unavailable."

There! There it was. The person Riley had been reminding him of. "Pete! You remind me of Pete. My brother's uh-assistant. Cute and friendly and easygoing. No wonder I like you." He even threw in a grin. Kinn didn't want to spiral down into relationships, current or past.

Blinking in surprise, he tried to figure out who Pete was. Then when it was explained he was still blinking. Finally, he burst out laughing and pointed at himself. "Me? I remind you of this Pete person? Is a friend of yours even though he works for your family?"

"No, he resigned." From out-law to in-law in no time flat, it seemed. "He's practically engaged to my cousin now. We adhere to the rule of not fucking the staff." Mostly. Occasionally.

Riley stared at him a long time. A very long time. With fish hanging out of his mouth that he'd just put there. Slurping it in, he gave him a squint. "Why do I think that's totally not true and that more than one of you has jumped in bed with your staff?"

Look, he was writing a drama in his head about his bestie named Kinn. He had to get deets.

"What?" He stared back, blankly. As blankly as he could get. Did Riley know? No, he couldn't know! "Why do I think that you're just fishing for details?" He counters back, squinting. "And why would you want to know?"

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