Welcome to Gaia! ::

Tasuki stood silently above the koi pond, both hands in his pockets and one arm holding Magik's against his side. His eyes gazed idly into it with no real focal point. As the tiny droplets of rain met the water he followed the tiny wave rings to their inevitable demise. This place was anything but what belonged here in the city by a long shot. He wasn't much on it, but he found the beauty in all of it.

"This isn't really my cup of tea. I understand the dichotomies of this culture and I enjoy the cleanliness and simplicity of it all. Somehow in my overexposure to humanity over long periods of time I'm completely impartial to most of it. All of the generalities of man are still there. The hypocrisies are just much more elaborate here."

He let his eyes trail up the stones bordering the pond and the tender care that had been put into the life around it. The plants here were cared for. Even in the rain they glowed with robust life force.

"Real beauty shines through any darkness Magik. Life is beautful. This place has love and passion sewn into every inch of it. That's something that translates the same in every culture."

This is where this man found his humanity now. His eyes drifted from the plant life to the waterfall and a soft smile spread across his face. It was quite apparent that there was no longer a facade across his features. He was genuinely content.

"Seems like I lost myself there for a moment."

He offered a comforting smile and added a wink for good measure before turning to face her again.

Eclipse tilted his head a little bit, maybe it was him being wound up from being discovered but he felt there was something in the tone of voice he didn't like. "Please take no offense to this but I've endevored to keep the secret police out of my life up to thus far and I intend to keep doing so." he said sounding as polite as possible. It just seemed like a big headache for them to be in his life. "It's easier to go around unnoticed as a cat," Eclipse responded flatly, "Sometimes I like to keep an eye on things, as I've mentioned I like to be left in peace and sometimes I need to make sure that nothing gets in the way of that." he said as slide open the office door for Umbridge.

"Of course, have a wonderful rest of your day." Eclipse said with a small bow. When he stood up straight he went right over to the koi pond where two newcomers he had never seen before were. "Ohayo, Hello." Eclipse said bowing to the two, "I am Ryuu Hamasaki, is there anthing I can get you two? Or would you like a moment to enjoy the garden?" He asked softly. He liked to see people enjoying the garden he had painstakingly took care of. He often hoped that it would a place of peace for all who came through.

Tasuki slid his hands down his abs slowly and hooked his thumbs into the sides of his belt to hang loosely next to him. Before he noticed what he was doing it was already done. It would seem that some habits really do die hard. He couldn't help but smile as he turned to the approaching figure. When his companion greeted it he let his eyes travel over to her, admiring her sweet conformity. She was always so ready to make others comfortable in their own right. He could feel a sense of admiration that was undoubtedly quite nostalgic. Time had a way of making even the longest years seem surreal. His eyes traveled back away from her and locked onto the newest addition to their company. They swirled a gentle green.

"Hello."

The tone of his voice was completely undefinable. It held a softness and a distance to it, as though it was merely a technicality next to Magik's greeting. Feeling a bump from her he nodded slowly and looked into the stranger's eyes as it introduced itself. It was quite the name to say the least.

"Ryuu..."

His eyes drifted beyond the new man to the structures in the background and he grinned slowly.

"My companion and I would like very much to consume some of your leafy water."

He offered a wink before bumping Magik gently with his hip and stepping forward slowly. As Tasuki's feet met the grass between the stone walkway his shoes were no longer part of his wardrobe. He stepped upon the cold wet stone pathway and looked across to Ryuu from just beside him.

"I'm quite fond of your effort"

He smiled brightly and stepped past the host slowly, his eyes trailing the ground in front of him.

"A special blend of green tea?" She was whispering quietly as she leaned back over the rail a moment to gaze down at the koi. "It's the kind reserved for...trouble makers I bet?" She couldn't help cracking a joke. With everything that had happened in her lifetime, it just wasn't imaginable to sit down and actually enjoy a cup of tea without some kind of interference or some kind of problem. But if it was going to happen, maybe her luck had actually changed.

She stretched out to her five foot, six frame and headed back onto the stone path, which in her italian high heels was a pain, but she'd take them off and set them beside the door as they walked in. Clad only in her stocking feet, getting to a pillow on her knees with her hands relaxed over them, the traditional way to sit while having tea. Inhaling the small pot of green tea with two cups now set in the very center of the table except for the potted lotus sitting there.

She motioned her head towards the pot. "I'll let you do the honors, Tasuki. But while you pour, you really could tell me what exactly brought you here? I highly doubt it was me you tracking down..." But if it was, that could lead to more problems. She had done nothing to anyone as of late, so there shouldn't exist any contracts on her head. Then again, animosity always existed.

Magik was pleased with this change of attitude, change of personality. Tasuki was so much more positive, even moreso than she was. Was it like how she was in earlier days? A beacon, a joy to be around? Maybe the sun shining through darkened clouds, but she sensed what he was stating.

She reached over and spooned what looked to be abit too much sugar for one little cup of Japanese tea, but it was how she drank it. "After Auria had its,....demon wars, Well, everyone sort of went their separate ways? I've had alot of time to sit and think. My downfall, I believe, will be someone I trusted in the past, perhaps even trust now. It's like that feeling you just get, that instinct that you just can't even shake?"

Her eyes left the tiny cup of tea as he spoke his last words, suspicion showing in those sapphire blue eyes. "You're not dying of something, are you, Tasuki?" Far as she knew, the man shouldn't be able to die. But nothing seemed to last forever, no matter how one might wish for it. She reached a gloved hand over and slipped it over one of his, mostly to keep him grounded in the here and now, and if he was here to give bad news, she wanted to be supportive. But deep down, she hoped she was far off the money and just entirely wrong.

"I know everyone can change. I haven't exactly changed for the better, I think. I hung around too many hermits, too many recluses. Mages and such in their towers. I sought to never lose my way and I know, I did. Turned my back on my beliefs, all for the sake of some friendships. I wouldn't change it for the world though.But tell me, does anything trouble you, Tasuki? Seriously?"

Magik kept her eyes on his, watched for telltale signs of what he was trying to say. And when he touched her bare skin, her eyes alighted with knowledge. Least what she believed was to be the truth. What had he once said he had been once, a Soul Collector? Her head tilted to one side as if weighing this information. She herself knew how important and how delicate life was. She'd taken crazy risks all the time, thinking her god or her friends of old would protect her.

And most times they had, but most times, she knew she had been just damned lucky to still be alive. She put her other hand on top of his, sandwiching it before she gave him a reassuring squeeze of a makeshift handshake. "Being alive and content is all well and good. Long as you're happy. Taking pleasure from the little things can only hold one so long, Tasuki. Never ignore the big picture, alright?" She smiled warmly, hoping he wouldn't have caught the trace of sadness that lingered in her eyes at remembering everyone that had left, passed away or plain vanished over the years. They were like ghosts in her memories that would always haunt her.

Because she never learned how to let go.

Death was why she had probably become a cleric in the first place. While she'd been a cleric, she didn't have to watch friends die, and leave her life. She could restore life, cheat death. But she could only do so long before death had tried to come for her to make her pay for everyone she helped over the years. But somehow, she'd overcome it again. Someday, it would come for her to, and she'd have to accept it. Not everyone could be...or wanted to be saved.

She let her hands slide away sadly from his as she downed her now slightly chilled tea. The problem with such small cups sometimes as she refilled it and set about using a startling amount of sugar yet again.

"Good, maybe thats what we're all searching for still. Contentment." She still hadn't a clue what she was always searching for.

His first words hit her harder than even a murder attempt probably would have. In fact, she'd probably had preferred him to pull out his gun and attempted one, then they could have bickered like old times, slapped each other around a couple times and then had a good laugh about it all later on down the line.

But this...

This...

She let her hand slip through his, winding up sitting back on her knees with her hands just resting again on her knees. Her head bowed down before her as if she was taking a moment to attempt to compose herself, or perhaps struggle with facing it all. Truth was, she didn't want to even think of it as being the truth. She'd have given anything for the man to say "Just kidding" so she could throttle him later. But this, this sounded entirely too serious. Then there had been the way he had looked at every little piece of life, clung to everything beautiful, exactly like a dying man would, because he...was dying.

The sound of silence in that tea house was almost deafening. Funny how in one moment, your world could be turned upside down. The happiness one felt totally sapped from one's system.

Her head raised abit, blue eyes moving this way and that, showing that her mind was calculating, searching for that perfect thing to say to perhaps change his mind, but this was his decision. Did he have some sort of disease that was slowly eating away at him? Did she have it in her to try a resurrection if he did die? Would she honor his wishes that he seemed comfortable to want to die? And the answer always came back to it being HIS decision, not hers.

She got to her feet, pulling out a Fifty and dropped it onto the table. Money had lost most of its luster with everything she'd been through. And learning she was losing another friend was just...she swore this city would be different, more promising, and she could get back to some sort of normal life. Death was normal, wasn't it? She shook her head in denial.

Even as she lifted her head, she had to reach up to wipe away a tear that had slid down the left side of her face, heart heavy with sadness. "Tasuki...I just ran into you and you hit me with this? God...I thought we could talk about old times and just be silly like we used to be. But this? You were the first friend I ever made in Barton. The first person who ever believed in me. If it hadn't been for you, Hell, I might not have even had the confidence to fight for what I believed in. To here you say, you're dying and you're perfectly accepting of this? I don't know why you're dying, what you're dying from, but if you don't want to...talk to me?" She got up and walked over to stand beside his kneeling form, struggling to remain standing on one leg as she put on her other high heel.

"I...simply just...Business is all well and good, but with you? No. What can you tell me to simply believe there's no other alternative? I want a direct answer, Tasuki!" This was her in her sad, stubborn phase, she meant well, but it was hard to hide one's pain when it struck so deep.

Or was it she was being entirely selfish. If something was wrong with him, she'd just gone and made him more than likely feel even worse. She had to understand this wasn't Auria or Barton. He had probably gone there to enjoy his time. And she also had the answer to her question as to why he'd been looking for her. She somehow just had to suck it up and try to accept it. She stole a moment letting her eyes close as she tried to keep herself from just losing it. That would entirely make things worse and she'd already said more than she thought she had a right to.

Hearing movement, she opened her eyes, watching him and committing everything to memory. She wasn't sure how long he had but she had to make sure he had a place in along with those she'd never forget. That one quiet moment when he stood there and she realized she really wasn't that tall. A small package that had put a monkey wrench in more than just one person's plans down the line over the years.

When his arms went around hers, she found herself reciprocating the action, gloved hands pulling abit at his vest that he had just straightened out as her hands formed fists. This was the closest to anguish she'd felt since Adama had willingly died and Raz had vanished from the face of the Earth. She had been alone for what? Three, four years now? Just managing her clubs, trying for that normal life. And she hungered for more. Either that or she did want to go out in a Blaze of Glory doing something nice for someone.

Or she had a deathwish. That thought made her laugh quietly, probably making Tasuki think she really had lost her mind, but she kissed his cheek before he pulled away. She let out a deep, cleansing breath like she had to do in old days to deal with something she wasn't sure she could handle. This was right up there with all of them.

She shook her head quickly at his last statement. "No, I think when it all comes down to it, I'm the one being selfish. Either this is something you can't stop and had nothing to do with, or you've decided this is what you want. This isn't my decision, Tasuki. For all the years I've known you, if this is what you want...I must honor it. Because if you aren't happy with things, then I have no right to be. It's your life. I can barely live mine the right way, so I'm in no position to be giving people advice or trying to save the world." Though it never stopped her from trying. "It's not reversible? I mean...." She reached up and wiped away another line of tears, she was a waterworks tonight, that was for sure. "See, I don't even listen to myself. You've thrown me for an absolute curve. I don't want to say goodbye, ever. But that's kind of impossible, isn't it? No one and nothing lives forever. Not even vampires." And therein lied a dilemma. No cure in sight for death itself, only a delay.

"Can we...take a walk? Please? I Mean...if you feel you can handle it? Like we used to and it will help me think. We might be able to work through some details or find some way to maybe stave it off better for awhile or at least think of some ways to make you more comfortable..." She let that trail off, even now still, her mind didn't want to accept what was probably inevitable.