Scene #4891: The Man Who Came In From the Cold

Owner	Pose
Ren Tanaka	In the future, people will probably ask 'where were you when Njorun and the Citadel fell?' and Ren can quite honestly say 'well, I was playing a game of poker'. Who with isn't as important, but he /was/ losing. That was almost a week ago. Now, things are very much in a jumble, but as far as he knows, Tomoeda is still Tomoeda, or at least that's what it seems at first brush as he walks through it. Once again Ren is treading an only-once-before path walked towards Li's home, perhaps a little unsure why that's the first place he's going to, perhaps feeling deep down that if anyone would do his best to be on top of the situation it's Li.
Li Syaoran	Li Syaoran was sitting in his house, watching television, eating popcorn and relax-- Okay, no, he wasn't. That wouldn't be Li at all. In fact what he WAS doing was practicing. He was sitting besides his coffee table, his hands in his meditation stance surrounded by his magical circle as he focused his energies, lightly whispering as he worked. He hadn't tried navigating the other worlds in the turmoil yet, instead focusing on this world and those inside it. He honestly didn't plan on it, either, for a while. His interest in the union had been... short lived, so too speak, and focused primarily on Sakura. Now he was more remaining in interest of what was happening back home. The smell of a soft, hearty stew filled the house, a reminder of what was waiting for him when he finished. he'd started slow cooking it this morning.
Ren Tanaka	Who even eats popcorn at home? I mean, unless you're watching a movie. Popcorn should be entirely for watching movies, either at the cinema or on DVD. Or possibly laserdisc. Then again, Ren could go for some popcorn right now. As a matter of fact, he could go for relatively anything, really- even his capabilities have been stretched to their limits in the last six days and he's not eaten in two of them. He lets himself in, because of course he does. Rens just tend to appear in your house sometimes. To this day he's either not understood why people don't like it, doesn't know that people don't like it, or maybe he just hasn't cared for so long that he's forgotten that he doesn't care. However, when he does find Li meditating, walking past the doorway of the room he's in, Ren does fairly enough think to himself 'oh, he's busy with something here, I'll quietly slip out and try and find someone else'. Then his stomach rumbles really loudly because of that stew, ruining the idea in comical fashion. o_o
Li Syaoran	Li Syaoran blinked a few times and his eyes opened. His sword formed in his hands and he started to jump the couch to attack the intruder. Then blinked. "You? What--" His foot snagged the couch and he flipped over, landing face first by the couch. "Ow," he grumbled darkly before slowly sitting up and holding his face. He narrowed his eyes on the guy. "What in the world are you doing in my house? How did you even get in here? I locked it!" he snapped, motioning to the door. Then his eyes narrowed. "Did Sakura-chan give you a key?" He swore, if she did... he couldn't yell at her. But by gosh darn it he'd want to! The sword turned into a bauble and he moved it to his side. "You're ruining my meditation and--" He paused. "You, you look horrible. What happened, you get hit by a bus?" he asked. He crossed his arms and sighed. Well, he WAS Sakura's friend. That meant he couldn't just kill him. "The multiverse exploding get you trapped?"
Ren Tanaka	Ren Tanaka immediately has a sword flying at him. And then Li trips on the couch. Boy, if he ended up stabbing himself /that/ would have been pretty awkward. Don't think about that too hard... "Good day to you too." "Well, things have been rather busy in the outside world, so I thought I'd step in and see what's going on over here," he says, answering 'why' rather than 'how' and he knows he's doing it. Hands behind his back, too, looking for the comfiest place to sit down. "A key? No, I don't think I did, except perhaps it did seem as if the way in /was/ somewhat easier than expected. Perhaps I just let myself in without really thinking about it?" Disarming shrug. He does look terrible. "Mm, something like that. It's been a little bit of a difficult road back to familiar territory."
Li Syaoran	Li Syaoran sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose, shaking his head. He could already feel a migraine coming. He sighed and glanced up. "Fine. If you're here, I'm guessing you have nowhere else to go. I suppose I should at least...tolerate your presence for now. You can use the shower if you have a spare pair of clothing. I'll have dinner soon." He paused. "After you clean up. I don't want you tracking... that, through my house," he muttered. By the time he'd get into the bathroom, he'd already hear the vacuum. "And just leave your garments outside the door, I'll have them washed!" he ordered. eesh, such a good caretaker! If a bit... jerky about it. He grumbled darkly, before heading to the kitchen and filling up two bowls and grabbing some toasted bread as well.
Ren Tanaka	Little known Solar charm #264: Instant Thundering Mindstorm Method! Ren nods enthusiastically but otherwise silently at Li's assumption, the question reminding him in some murky way of the fact that he thinks he does actually have a one-bedroom apartment somewhere, perhaps with... was it some sweaters? Some sort of top-clothing? And other small christmas presents from the previous year, but for some reason despite his otherwise flawless memory he can't quite put a finger on where. He sucks his teeth. "You know, with no backing organization to our names any more, a lot of our outstanding contracts and agreements will go to seed... I'll have to find a good advisor." "Ah, Li... you are the soul of generosity," he says, and he absolutely seems sincere about it. A little time passes. Sitting at the table, later, Ren says to Li- "Did you know I once thought about going into business myself, in these parts?"
Li Syaoran	Li Syaoran sighed and grumbled as he did the laundry. His home was fairly spotless, almost as if he didn't live in it. Or as if the person who lived in it really just studied and worked all day and didn't know the first thing about having fun or relaxing. He didn't even HAVE a tv. Who didn't have a tv? Sure, he had a smart phone, but like... even that was just for news. "Yeah, generosity..." Were he not Sakura's friend, he would have ditched the guy long ago. Alas. For her, he'd put up with anything. He blinked and shrugged. "Well, my family does have a few businesses in this area, though the majority of our infrastructure is back in China. We run a few small markets however. Our services are far from cheap, however, and we more offer specialty needs. What kind of business were you thinking of?" he asked, glancing up.
Ren Tanaka	Ren listens, bread i one hand, now curious, as Li compares ideas. "I was going to call it 'A Man Who Can', that was the idea. Although I'm not sure if the rhyme works in Japanese. I had the idea when I saw a shop with the same name in one part of England, down in the south-west... you know me, I tend to be able to turn my hand to just about anything, so I was thinking of just a little hole-in-the-wall sort of thing. Someone could come to me, and they'd say 'can you do ... so-and-so for me, like 'can you tune my piano', or 'can you landscape my hedges', and I could say to them, 'well, I might not be able to do it as well as a professional in that field could, but I could definitely do it for you at a lower price'. A handyman for hire, I suppose. I don't know what I would have put on the walls, of course, but still." He eats a little. "And what sort of things does your family do in Tomoeda?"
Li Syaoran	Li Syaoran blinked a few times and stared at him. "You're... kidding, right? That's not a business idea. That's the job a guy with an rv sits in the parking lot trying to figure out," he snapped. "no one wants to hire someone like that. A specialist can get the jobdone better and faster. If you want to get a job, become the kind of person who directs people into the professionals. They make a fair amount and can often be trusted. It's basic marketing."v "My family? All kinds. Some marketing, business arrangements, trade deals, divination, exorcisms, the like."
Ren Tanaka	If Li was on Dragon's Den, he'd definitely be one of the harshest interviewers, wouldn't be? "Well," Ren shrugs, "That's why it never really came together, I suppose. It's not really a sustainable sort of thing," man this stew is good, "Is it? When you sit down with a phone book, really, if you take enough time going through it you can almost certainly find some sort of professional, no matter how strange the job is. My market... would be entirely made of the people who don't have enough time to read a whole book." When listening to Li's business fields, "That really is a diverse profile, there. Especially those ones at the end, that's very impressive. I don't know," shrug, "I mean, perhaps considering what's happened maybe I should, you know? Consider finding a good four walls, and a place to employ myself." "Having said that, I did hear some murmurs of groups that were willing to take the place of those that preceded them, but then again the outside world's become a stranger place again... but still. Murmurs, it's all murmurs."
Li Syaoran	Li Syaoran nodded. "Ah. Then you, effectively, want to be the internet. It doesn't take more than a few moments to find a professional these days unless you're looking for something less than legal. If you are, well... then I'd suggest you talkto someone else and not involve Sakura-chan in your affairs." He took a small sip of his stew, calmly sipping it. "My family is a long standing one filled with both prestige and power. There is very little that we have not done or managed to steer in the course of our affairs. In china, we hold the ears and, in some cases, the chairs of many influential people. A diverse profile is paramount for such a thing." He glanced up and eyed him. "Frankly, you're borderline useless. However, you do have a few... small talents. If you require a job while this ordeal settles, I suppose I could put in a word with my family. Though do bear in mind I only do this as you are a friend of Sakura-chans." "Yes, the paladins, the watch, the others. I've heard of them as well. I've yet to make a decision who, if any, I will join. For now it may better serve my needs to remain a free agent."
Ren Tanaka	Ren Tanaka pauses for a few moments while Li goes off on what seems like a strange tangent, only to give a strange chuckle. "Ah, Li, you've got quite the imagination on you, my friend. Even more of an imagination than some of the jaunts I've been on, I reckon." He defers to mostly silence as Li continues to explain the family business, leaving most of the interaction he makes to just be some nods and noises of assent. "Wonderful," he finally says. When Li names the new factions, Ren finishes with "-and the Concord, and the League. Although I hadn't heard about at least one of those, so I'm pleasantly surprised to find out you know more than I." He takes a drink of whatever's available, and then swirls what's left around the cup a little. "But do you know how I found myself in the Union, Li? For the longest time in terms of the muliverse I just wandered and travelled alone. There were even some small groups that rose and fell before that. But I was getting tired of having no-one to talk to, I guess, so I closely associated myself with that roster of heroes. It was still something like silence for a couple of months, until things coming out of Brockton Bay turned it all around."
Li Syaoran	Li Syaoran glowed. "I do NOT have an imagination," he snapped. "I deal purely in facts and figures." ... Oh, he was quite the serious boy. "And of course I know about the factions, they are... moving in. For now. I aim to determine what their goals and motivations are before I determine who, and even if, I will join." He cocked an eye. "Oh? Well, I imagine silence must have been a fun and... interesting notion for you." ... it was hard to tell if he was being sarcastic or sincere. Either way, ouch. "What changed?" he at least seemed mildly interested.
Ren Tanaka	As for Ren, Li's comment, seemingly so self-defensive, about his /lack/ of imagination just goes with a little bit of a smile. 'Ah, we'll see about that' is what it's saying. Ren's already thinking of places that would challenge that idea. Oh, the memory oceans of Narcos. The flower fields of Earth-2009-00. The places we could go. "There's certainly a novelty in silence, although I think personally much of the fun is in finding ways to break it. "Well, that is how I met Tomoyo," he says, "And where the last two years of adventures began, I suppose." "I'm glad the two of them are fine." He doesn't need to ask if she and Sakura are alright- if they weren't Li wouldn't be here, of course. "I wonder where the future is going to take them now..."
Li Syaoran	Li Syaoran shrugged. "I usually prefer silence, myself. It allows one a much easier time to study and focus on the important things in life." He did pause, his cheeks getting a little redder. He didn't say it, but there was... one type of silence-breaking that he didn't mind. Or at least one cause of it. "Oh? So that's how you met tomoyo-chan? And I imagine through her, met Sakura-chan. Interesting. And it will take them to great things. Sakura-chan has a destiny far greater than anyone I have ever met and Tomoyo-chan has her family to guide her."
Ren Tanaka	But it's a little sad, because Ren's outlived something else. But it's a little hard to say that, so he doesn't. Ren's finishing up his food. "Do you think they'll still go out beyond their own world, now? I mean, I almost certainly will, I've got other people to find." Kazuko, Ainsley... Kirika, Kyle. Faruja, Zephyr and Rei Lin... "And yet for some reason I keep coming back to Tomoeda. And I think I need a little time to rest, it's winter in a lot of Earths no matter what the number is."
Li Syaoran	Li Syaoran nodded. "Indeed. Right now I'm waiting for things to settle down. People in our world need aid in this dark time, and I aim to give it to them as they need it. Once things are... repaired and the groups are ready, we have the right information, I will move myself back into the other universes to offer my aid. I know where the people I care about are and many of them can take care of themselves."
Ren Tanaka	"Mmm, that's a good plan. I don't know if I'm going to throw my lot in with any of these new groups either, I think it feels a little disrespectful, in some ways? Perhaps I'll end up seeing what their motivations are." He finishes. "Mm! Excellent. Thank you very much, Li, I'll wash my own things up." Of course about ten minutes later Li'll find him sleeping somewhere in the house and he's not getting up for anyone, so this is of course where life gets hilarious.
Li Syaoran	Li Syaoran nods. "Of course." and then ten minutes later. He was considering lighting him on fire. Surely it was okay in this situation. He even drew his sword for it... but then stopped. No. Sakura's friend. He could let him stay here one night. On the couch. That was it. As long as he stayed out of Li's room then there would be no need for stabbings. Granted, Ren had likely taken one of the guest rooms, but still. One night. That was it. He'd tell Wan when the older man got back. It would be fine. It was not going to be fine.