wu_lo (wu_lo) wrote in rrinitiative, @ 2013-02-15 02:20:00 |
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Entry tags: | day twelve, haruko, haruko and wu, wu |
Reunion
Characters: Haruko and Wu
Setting: Block A corridors, morning
Effective time management was generally a boon when one had as many points in their morning as Wu did; from his exercise to reading the journals to the orderly presentation of his personal appearance, he put every minute to good use. And when a morning began from the sort of night he’d had? It took extra effort, and extra time, to still get everything done to his liking.
He’d had to wake early after staying with Carmel, gently rousing her as well so she would know he was leaving, and it hadn’t been easy to get away with not having her prepare breakfast, but Wu managed. She’d deserved more sleep, it was still so very early... but not too early for Wu to indulge a slice of toast and a few pieces of fruit.
Eating his simple fare up in his new room, Wu worked hard to keep from dwelling on his night just yet. There was too much to do today before he devoted more time to wondering over a possible tomorrow. There was enough, in fact, that he couldn’t spend any more of it in solitude here. With a short message posted to the journals and an idle tightening of his tie, Wu slipped from his room, ready to go and find his new office.
Ru had not gotten much sleep. Really, she'd been a little too wired to do so. Eventually she'd gotten some, but it had been fitful at best. She didn't do well in new environments. She was imagining her nights would be very long for a while at least. She took to exploring again, unsure where her day was going to take her.
Or, she was unsure right up until she spotted a familiar figure. His back was to her, but she knew him anyhow. She'd seen his name, but realized it could be someone else. But now? She was certain. To the point where she was already dashing toward him. "Kau fu!" she called, just getting to him. The emotions she was being hit with were nearly overwhelming, and ones she didn't expect. Then again, she hadn't expected to see him again, either.
That first sense of someone in motion had knotted Wu’s fist up tight at his side, and he was just beginning to turn towards whoever it was with a readiness to strike hard and fast. Even in this place, only a fool would rush another’s back and expect no consequence. But then, of course, he heard someone call him ‘uncle’ in Cantonese; and Wu hadn’t heard that in close to three years now. Two had been spent in prison, half of the third wasted in a trial, and the last handful of months? They had both been working so much, ruling and helping to rule.
“Little Haruko,” Wu greeted with something that couldn’t be suppressed quirking his lips and bringing a twinkle to his eye. To see her again was, in a way, blinding; it left Wu oblivious to the changes in her, the scars that dotted her. All he could see was the brave child who had grown into a faithful, steadfast adult, and the closest thing to family he had in the world. “I had wondered when I might find you in this place,” he went on in their native tongue, opening an arm to urge her closer. Three years had been too long...
While normally, she would have looked around first to see who might be observing, in their current circumstance and her total relief at seeing him, Ru immediately stepped in to hug Wu tightly. She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, and stayed there, her voice muffled slightly as she let herself cling for just a minute or two. She felt like a little girl all over again, after all, even if she had no idea why that was. When she spoke, she also automatically shifted to Cantonese. "I had seen your name, had hoped, but wasn't positive. I am very happy to see you, Uncle, I've missed you so much."
Normally, as he had for the past nearly-three years, Wu would’ve shown as little as he could. It had brought him focus, patience, discipline that smoldered slowly and kept him alert and, thus far, alive. But this place was far from normal, and even if Wu had managed composure overall in his time here? He couldn’t maintain it right now.
Hugging her tight with one arm, Wu allowed himself a moment with his eyes shut as he made soft sounds to soothe her, but only a moment before he was watching for onlookers again. Even with the watchfulness, though, he was smoothing a hand down the mass of wavy hair Ru had. “You are the only welcoming face I have seen since the day of my arrest,” Wu praised, leaning back a bit to look her over. And when he saw the scar at Ru’s throat? His relief didn’t fade, but it did edge itself with something the others here would recognize about him, something cold and intent. “The one who left you this mark, they have been dealt with?”
There was a reason she'd sought to blow the people who'd betrayed him the fuck up. She loved Wu dearly, he was family. Her family. The devil who saved her. Being back in his presence was a relief in and of itself, and oddly, just talking to him and reporting back something as simple as having dealt with someone who attacked her was centering for her. She'd fought hard to become a trusted, important member of his organization. She'd been good at it.
She smiled at him, and nodded. "Yes, Sir." she assured him. "While they still breathe, they will not be enjoying their remaining years." she added. "I am sure it sent an appropriate message." Or, it had so far. She didn't know if anyone would find her here.
Wu had a soft grunt of approval at that, something wordless but loaded with sentiment. For over two decades he’d known this girl, had watched her become a woman, then a lieutenant the equal of men twenty years older. She knew when he was pleased. And he would’ve expected no less, not with the enemies they’d had even before his fall from power.
“One message is all that is needed,” he agreed with a curt nod, thinking of his own time in Southport. Three men had come for him in the yard just once, early in his stay. After what the rest of the inmates saw him do? It was quiet from then on, dull even. “Come. I have been given an office, we will speak in private. I would know how you came to this place,” Wu urged with a nod towards where his office was supposed to be.
She gave a reserved but genuine smile, very much knowing he approved. And while there had been more than one attempt on her life, she had dealt with each one accordingly. The last one had been the slice to her throat, and after that, people had sought much less of her attention. Falling into step with him, an automatic thing, she thought about how she would tell the tale. Where she would start it. Possibly letting him know that as far as she knew Uncle Benny and Eddie were still alive, still trying to do their own parts in things.
Wu wasn’t so arrogant as to think the governor’s office had ended up here to make life easy for him; it was just fortunate on his part. It meant there was only a short walk to the door before he turned the key card he’d been given around in his hands intently, swiping it once and giving a huff of amusement when he heard the door unlock. Swinging it open and feeling for a light, Wu took his first glimpse of the reception space with something like approval in his eyes. This would do.
“Sit, be at ease,” Wu offered with a wave to the chairs around the meeting table, moving for a little tray of glasses and decanter of water. At least the people in charge here were thorough. “Apparently I am entitled to some luxury now, there is no one I would sooner share it with,” he added, pouring them each a glass.
"Thank you." she said, smiling. Ru went to sit down, drawing her feet up beneath her to curl on the seat, looking around the office as Wu got her water. "This place...it certainly is a strange one." she commented. "I'm still getting my bearings. I haven't met many yet--though one interesting individual. He was all over the news a while back. Very reserved." she provided.
Heading over to set the glass in front of her, Wu settled into a chair next to Ru’s, smoothing his tie down as he sat. Anyone else, he’d have a table between them, but she belonged at his side. “Strange does not do it justice,” Wu agreed. “It is somewhere that deceives at its’ very foundation, but that must be believed if we are to endure it. And in time, you will meet the others,” he went on with a nod, “They are a curious lot. Some are not as they appear. Some are dangers. Which do you speak of?” Wu hadn’t met anyone here who was particularly high-profile aside from Meg, and even then he hadn’t recognized her for her crimes. But then, Ru had always been more in touch with the proper culture of this country.
Wrapping her hands around the glass, she took a drink, listening to him as she mentally assessed him. It had been too long since she'd seen him. And while there wasn't a huge difference physically, she thought she could see differences that she couldn't pinpoint. "Zach Briar. His friends had been in a school shooting years ago, and more recently, he killed several old classmates. He has a severe case of tunnel vision, but he's interesting. He was quite shocked, it seemed, that I would spend any more time with him."
“Tunnel vision,” Wu echoed, “There are several here who suffer this. They are... unfit for normal prison. This place is a relief for them.” Becka and Wren most notably; two women who were too gentle for such a place, but too skewed in perspective as well. “Zach Briar,” Wu echoed then, nodding slightly. “Is he a threat? Or a curiosity only?”
"Currently, only a curiosity." Ru assured him. "And from what I remember about the police reports, even if he went on a killing spree, it was for his own reasons. I believe he'd have to be pushed to do it again. Which doesn't mean I would put it past him. I am under the impression he is clay right now. Waiting to be molded by new things." she shared. Zach's whole life had been about school and what had happened there. And now it was all over. So, he was going to have to find a new outlook.
Wu was going to make a note of that, because he could always use someone impressionable and open to violence. People like that were wonderful resources, and if this Zach boy had some affinity for Ru? There was a pre-made ingress with him. “Many here are this way, curiosities... but as I said, some are dangers. There is a rapist among the men here,” Wu confided with a line of ire creasing his brow. Ru had seen plenty of times in the years just how low he considered such men. “He has struck once for certain, possibly twice.”
Considering the rapist issue, Ru was quiet for a moment, before speaking. "Would there be a way to bait such a creature?" she asked. "Flush him out, then deal accordingly?" She was still figuring out what the politics of this place entailed. But then again, it seemed everyone else was too. Either way, she liked to work problems out in her head, and if you had a rat to find, you found proper bait.
“If it is the man I suspect, then yes,” Wu confirmed. “I hear tales of his ego, and I have seen his smugness myself. Such men are simple creatures, ruled by their wants.” And he definitely planned an attempt just like what Ru was suggesting, but with his new authority it was simultaneously easier and harder than he’d originally thought. “There is also an arsonist, and another vandal who may be the same person. Creatures of chaos... they are lesser concerns.” But they’d be dealt with in time, the same as Ryan.
"You know should you require me for anything, I am at your service." Ru told him, even if she knew it was unnecessary. He would know that. But pledging her alliegance here and now, again, helped her headspace. It made her feel better.
Then, on to other matters. "Eddie and Uncle Benny miss you." she told him. "But both are out there, waiting."
Even if Wu knew that she was his to command, it felt good to hear it. Refreshers of the loyalty he was owed anchored him back to himself, to who he knew he was meant to be: a ruler, a necessary tyrant. “I will have use of you soon indeed,” Wu assured her, thinking on plans he’d been dreaming since the votes came in yesterday. But he couldn’t speak them openly, not with the cameras always watching.
And what Ru said next? It would’ve taken precedent even if Wu wanted to share his ideas so soon. It conjured a storm in his eyes and deep lines of concern across his brow and around Wu’s mouth as he brought both hands to the table, folding them together in front of his glass. “What has happened in my absence?” he asked quietly. “What has been done to our home, and what has been done to those who would upend it?” Because he didn’t want to believe the traitors would go unpunished; there had to be some small number who would strike back, either his own people or the allies he’d once cultivated.
"Much has happened. But I have been out of commission for a while. Nearly a year." she told him, giving him a frame of reference for when she went inside. "Your betrayers were uncovered. I took my own form of vengeance. Uncle Benny and Eddie helped me. It did not work perfectly, unfortunately. But Ngo is dead. Ando survived, though he is crippled entirely on his right side. The leg gone completely, his arm clipped above the elbow." she said, indicating on her own arm where the cut off point was. "Sadly, Cheh was not where he was meant to be when the bombs all went off. But I did make an impression, and quite the dent no one will be forgetting any time soon." she said, tone dark.
Hearing that drew sharply conflicting responses from Wu; the urge to smile clashing with one that wanted him to smash a fist into the table. He’d been able to guess at the identities of his betrayers just on what information was given to the law, but to hear it confirmed? To know that men he had elevated and rewarded turned on him? He wanted to pulp them with his bare hands.
“This will make him harder to reach when the day comes,” Wu said at length, “And richer in the holdings he takes in Ngo’s death. Still... it will not preserve him.” He wanted to chide her for not seeing the entire task out, but Wu knew that it had happened at all because of Ru’s fierce loyalty. She had been dedicated, refusing to let such injustices go unpunished. Which was more than anyone else could claim. “And your mother?” he asked then, that subject breaking the neat composure of Wu’s tone. She’d always been dear to Haruko, a liability that he would allow. And without him, it wasn’t hard to think how quickly that liability would become a target.
"Maybe. Or maybe Eddie will get in close. Or Uncle Benny." she suggested. It wasn't as if those two were going to give up just because she wasn't out there with them. When he asked about her mother, Haruko stilled. She didn't even breathe for a few heartbeats, before she reached out, taking a sip from her water glass. When she spoke, her tone was lighter than before, even if it was edged with steel.
"After you were removed, it became clear that others believed I had been a threat to their standing. Some believed you may have chosen me as your successor." she explained, not looking at him. She didn't have a tone with that--she was positive that was not the case in the slightest, and she wasn't bitter about that at all. That wasn't her destiny, it never had been. She had a part in the organization, she hadn't been going to head it up. "That, along with the idea that I needed to be kept in line had them taking action. They believed carving her up one tiny slice at a time until there was little left, certainly nothing alive, would have the desired outcome."
And she'd blown them to fucking kingdom come. Or tried to. Taking Wu down was offense enough. But what they'd done to her mother? That just made it all the worse for them. She'd taken down one, permanently fucked up another, and their closest, trusted circle? Well, a lot of them had needed to be mopped up off the pavement too. “My strikes took out more than single targets. They keep sending assassins after me, but I believe they continue to underestimate me.”
They learned nothing from me, Wu thought darkly. Sure, the idea of what had been done to Ru was sound, but it took more than personal targets and persistence to break someone if you couldn’t kill them. “They underestimate a great deal,” Wu agreed, “But they have always been part of greater numbers, and never understood the triumph of one. I am sorry for your mother... she did not deserve their focus after what has been endured.”
But then, that was what Wu had feared after his arrest; the women he cared for and provided for would draw the gaze of short-sighted men. They would be bled for the maximum profit, literally, and disposed of whenever it was beneficial or even just easy. Ru’s mother would have been both, even if killing her only enraged Ru herself. “In time, this will be answered for. You have my promise,” he assured her evenly as he reached to squeeze one of Ru’s hands, never one to detail threats or plans of violence. If Wu intended for it to happen, it was guaranteed to happen in truly terrible ways.
Ru felt better for the promise, even if she wasn't surprised by it at all. She knew he would be offended, even if her own wrath had already been felt. Wu's would be another brand of it altogether. She squeezed his hand in return, offering him a small smile. "I am sure they will remember to fear the Devil again." she told him, affection in her tone.
He wanted to believe that, of course. Wu dreamed of his freedom and a chance to rain horrible vengeance down, but even with the offer of a new start? How could he believe that anyone would give it to a man like him? If he questioned it too much, it all fell apart... “Surviving this place is all that matters now,” Wu stressed, “And when it is behind us, the next steps may be taken.” And there would be steps, even if no one who supported him remained. “How much of this place have you seen?” he asked then, turning his mind to what would eventually need doing. To do it, he would need perceptions like Ru’s; dangerously sharp and analytical.
"Not overly much." Ru said, taking another drink. "I've done some explorations, but haven't met many people, and the layout of this place is...interesting. I really need to take a little more time, but wanted to be slightly more sure of my surroundings before I threw myself in fully." she said. After having had to fend off would be assassins, she had met the new place with curiosity--and caution.
“Be thorough,” Wu encouraged with a nod. “It has been expanded several times since my arrival, and the cameras that surely exist do so seamlessly. No doubt, there are subtleties to the design and layout that I have not seen, but that you would.” And with how well they knew each other, the unspoken directive there was clear. He would want to know everything about this place eventually; everything Ru could learn. With her understanding of how things worked, Wu was thinking she might even provide him the leeway necessary to get some real control.
She smiled at him. "Yes, Sir." she told him, that affection in her tone again. And there was a pinch of her impish side underneath that. She'd be careful, she'd be thorough, and she'd have fun doing it, too. It was like a puzzle she could piece together, or a lock she could crack. It would give her something to do, and something she would enjoy.
It felt good. Not just being addressed properly, and in his native tongue, but having it done by her. There was only one person left in the world who’d been loyal longer than Ru, and he was beyond the walls of this place where his loyalty could do nothing. But with Ru here and ready to work again, with Jae on his side and Reece receptive to his requests? Wu felt like he had some authority again, something far beyond the silly little title he’d been given.
And if that title actually carried any weight, things were going to change around here. Soon. “Come,” he requested, slipping from his chair, “Show me the path to your room, and I will share what I know of all that we pass.” She had her task, but if he could prepare Ru for it? So much the better.
Hopping up, Ru finished her water quickly, then headed for the door with a smile. Things were looking up. She felt better. She had Devil Wu back in her life, she seemed to be someplace beyond the reach of those who kept wanting to try and kill her, and there were things to do. Her world was starting to feel 'right' again, and that was something she'd been missing. There was a path to be walked, here, and she was happy to start on it now.