9828/Tea and Bullets

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Tea and Bullets
Date of Scene: 25 January 2022
Location: Japan
Synopsis: Elektra and June arrive in Japan for their showdown with Madame Gao. Things start boring and stuffy.
Cast of Characters: Elektra Natchios, June Connor




Elektra Natchios has posed:
The flight to Japan is continuing at a good rhythm. At least to Elektra. But they also have *hours* to go until they arrive. And does Elektra let June sleep? Nope! Because there is much to teach even if Elektra isn't the most patient of teachers.

The champagne and the poisons are long gone in their conversation now. A few hours have been spent on tea, the proper way to hold the cup, to turn it. To actually serve tea and all the meaning of it.

It's an art of patience and grace.

The rest? Going through the story of the Hand, the killings, how they use tradition to conduct their assassinations. Formality has many rules. And through those rules the Hand seems to weave their network. Which bears the question on why she is making sure to teach June all about the traditions.

Now they are getting close to touchdown on the landing strip, a call from the pilot saying it will be just a few more minutes. Elektra looks at June. "So, what have we learned on this trip, June?"

June Connor has posed:
    Murder. Can't we just stick to murder? It's so much simpler. That's what ninjas do, right? Tea ceremonies and rules of conduct are not only dull, but June's never been known to have patience or a long attention span. It was a long flight for her.

    She instinctively moves to look out the window when the pilot says that they are going to be landing soon. "Um, that Japanese are super boring and stuffy," she surmizes.

Elektra Natchios has posed:
"If that is what you conclude out of all these hours we spent talking then the odds of your survival aren't good." Elektra returns in a casual manner, suppressing from rolling her eyes at the non challant manner in which June is taking all this. She shakes her head, "Do you really think you have nothing to gain from learning all this?"

The plane signals that they are doing the descent approach, Elektra buckles up and soon enough the plane is touching ground. It's night now, the lights of Kyoto visible beyond the window. Elektra casts a brief look out the window and once they come to a stop she gets up.

"Bring your bag. It's up here." She opens up a compartment, retrieving a large travelling bag for her along with a smaller one.

June Connor has posed:
    June rolls her eyes, moving back away from the window to sit and buckle her seatbelt. "Don't worry, I can make nice and do all the stuff," she says. "It doesn't mean it's not stupid. Like who the hell cares if you hold the cup with one hand or two? And if you circle left to right instead of up and down? But it's whatever. I'll play nice and fake it."

    She gets a little nervous looing as the plane touches down. Her knuckles actually turn white, and eyes go wide in terror as the wheels impact the ground. "Oh shit!" she exclaims, sure that they are crashing. When everything is fine, she takes a moment to release her death grip on the seat arms before calming down. She lets out her breath, having not realized she was holding it. Okay, down and safe.

    She gets up, and grabs her bag. "Flying is fuckin' terrifying, you know that?" she comments.

Elektra Natchios has posed:
"It's not that." Elektra shakes her head at June, putting the bag on the floor to then start rolling it out to the exit. Whatever is she bringing in there? "Do you think others won't be trying to subvert those traditions? How do you expect to see what they are attempting if you do not know the basics of it? And ..." and she pauses to look at June, "... how do you expect to use those traditions in your favor if you do not know them?" she lets the girl to think on that before continuing out.

"So, first time flier, is it?" That seems to amuse her, "Don't worry, it will get more terrifying the more days we spend here." she states.

The doors open down and she climbs down the small steps to the landing strip. It's close to the airport. A car is waiting on the landing strip, a single man dressed in a tuxedo waiting patiently. "And here is our ride. We will be going to visit the top Finger here in Kyoto who will then welcome their hospitality upon us. Once that is done we shall be safe until negotiations begin."

June Connor has posed:
    June climbs down the steps after Elektra. "Ugh, if everyone's trying to subvert them then let's just call it what it is and say fuck it?" She definitely doesn't seem to have the art of politics in her current wheelhouse. When she spots the man in the tuxedo, she stops the line of talking. "Safe, ok." Yes, that sounds like she's convinced. Not sarcastic at all.

Elektra Natchios has posed:
"See June, this is why I am in charge." Elektra states about June mentioning subverting politics and saying fuck it all. Not on her watch! Anarchy, brrr... "Yet you aren't fully wrong. *Some* anarchy is sometimes needed. But if you do it all the time ..., doesn't it become the norm?" is she taking a jab at June's overall behavior?

Whatever it may be she doesn't confirm or deny, instead making her way to the car. A nod is given to the japanese man who opens the door for the two of them to go into the back seats. All very prim and orderly. Elektra goes in first after getting the bag in.

"Come." she says, "We don't want to be late."

June Connor has posed:
    "Yep," June openly admits that it does become the norm. Of course, given her past...well, anarchy really is her norm. Not the intentional politically charged anarchy, that's way too organized. Just...real anarchy.

    She follows suit, and it's clear she can at least fake being a little more formal. She straightens her back and fixes her posture. and slides in after Elektra, holding her own bag and placing it on her lap.

Elektra Natchios has posed:
Fixing her posture gets a look from Elektra. Some approval there. Maybe all those hours weren't a waste. If anything Elektra hates wasting time! The door is closed by the driver who remains mute all the time. He gets in, the car engine coming to life. First gear is on and then off they go! Ugh, a manual shift. They must be common in Japan!

Elektra casts a look out the window, thoughtful. Some tension appears visible on her shoulders as they drive through, approaching the city and joining the busy, crowded streets of Kyoto. There's a dichotomy between the old and the new. The old houses that still survive in an hostile, encroaching technological advance along with the sleek skyscrapers that denounce many of the old ways have been lost already.

"The city is quite different from last time I was here." she notes.

All in all it's a nice, fine ride. All until a motobike comes to a stop next to their car as they are stopped on a red light. A couple of pops from a silenced weapon and blood splatters from their driver being summarily executed. Uh oh..

June Connor has posed:
    "Same," June agrees as the drive begins. Of course, she's never actually been to Japan. She is looking out the window at the sights when the bike pulls up. She doesn't see the gun, but she sees the motion. Her eyes go wide.

    "Look-" her warning is too late. The driver is executed before she can finish the declaration. She doesn't wait for instruction from Elektra, but pulls the door handle. Locked. "Shit." She pulls the zipper on her bag, pulling it open so that she can get into it.

Elektra Natchios has posed:
With the driver having been shot Elektra gets into motion. Is she surprised? At least the hardened expression on her face doesn't seem to show it, or maybe she's just quick at reacting (well, she is). In a flash a gun is in her hand and she leans over to the front seat, on her side and levels the gun up at the motobike driver. A shot on the chest and then another through the helmet and the woman topples over, dead.

"Get on the driver's seat." Elektra tells her ward, unhooking the seatbelt on the dead driver and pulling it to the driver's seat.

"Make it quick, this won't be the only assassin sent for us." She tells June.

It's a manual shift Mercedes! And so the saga of teaching June to drive continues. No pressure.

June Connor has posed:
    June doesn't argue, but pulls a handful of smoke pellets from the bag. Stuffing them in her bra of all places. No time to mess with where exactly she has to hold them. She leaps between the seats and into the driver's seat. She kicks and scuffs her way around the deat body. Blood everywhere. "Fuckin' hell," she grunts, "Just get him out," she manages as she wriggles her way around to the driver's seat. She hits the gas despite the light, but...the engine just revs because it's in neutral, and it rolls a few inches backward. "What the fuck? Go you foreign piece of shit!"

Elektra Natchios has posed:
"Use the shift." Elektra points out. Maybe she should had been the one driving. But oh well. Instead she opens the passenger's door to get their poor, quiet driver out onto the street. As she is all twisted on the seat she spots a car approaching at speed. A few more shots from her gun.

"Better make it fast. Aren't you a kid? Didn't you see those racing movies where they use manual shifts?" She asks while continuing to shoot her gun at the approaching car. The sound of it's wheels spinning out of control is heard and it goes to crash against a parked car. Not too far from where they are.

June Connor has posed:
    "The Fast and the Furious isn't a driver's ed video!" June roars back in frustration. She tries to shift. It won't move. Clutch. Shift. The car lurches violently and peels out as she floors it. Lot's of torque, but she tops out at about 20 miles per hour. Kilometers per hour? Whatever!

    "It's slow as...shit, how do I got faster!?" June swerves, having gone into the intersection against the light, and is honked at by another car that has to likewise swerve to avoid hitting her. Guess she's making a left turn now! Wrong way, Japan drives on the other side of the road!

Elektra Natchios has posed:
"Obviously not." Elektra sarcastically replies about Fast and Furious not being driver's ed videos considering how June is handling the car. She winces as the girl puts it on 1st gear and just pedals to the metal, the engine roaring in complaint at the high rotations. "Clutch again, then second gear." she tells the girl even as they continue like tortoises down the road.

"Also, be a dear and go to the other side of the road, please." See? Elektra is calm. She takes the opportunity to go back into the car, closing the door and slithering to the front seat. "Seems like the little bitch decided to make a hit before we actually reached safe ground. Not bad out of Gao, but it also means she's getting desperate." a smirk.

June Connor has posed:
    "Yeah well I'm feelin' pretty desperate right now myself!" June declares loudly, taking a side swipe that rips off the driver's side mirror. She hops the median and shifts to second, making it grind on the gears. She clutches again, the car rolling unpowered and it lurches again. "Why would they make this shit manual? Who DOES that anymore?" she complains, a car whizzing past them with a honk.

Elektra Natchios has posed:
"Come on, Grandma. I am sure you can get a third shift going." Oh yes, Elektra is poking at the beast. Or maybe she knows how focused June can be when she's mad. Might just make the girl want to excel herself! Nothing like testing different levers to see what moves the girl.

"Remind me to give you proper lessons when we return from Japan." She lowers the side window so she can lean outside. Because on the rearview mirror one can spot a couple of motobikes approaching at speed. And are those Uzis on their hands? Yes. Some bullets pepper the car while Elektra returns fire.

"Also, take a right on the next crossroads."

June Connor has posed:
    Another swerve brings June a fresh set of honking complaints from the other drivers. "Just shoot them," she answers. Shifting again, but too early and losing the power to accelerate quickly. She drifts into the turn, and hits the gas again to start accelerating as best as third gear can manage. "Where the fuck is a cop when you really need one?" she asks. "I swear, it's no better than New York!"

Elektra Natchios has posed:
"Who do you think owns the cops in this neighborhood?" Some more shots ring the air. Both from Elektra and the pursuers. More bullets zip by giving that sense of urgency that one should get moving *faster*. "Get fourth gear going once you feel the engine high up." crash course driving lesson.

A couple of bikers come by, dressed in black. Black helmets too. One goes over to Elektra's side, levelling the uzi over to start shooting. What he gets instead are bullets through his vest and then on the bike, sending him crashing off to a side and caught by a car coming on the opposing lane.

Of course that with Elektra busy taking care of one of the sides she doesn't catch the other biker coming up to June's side of the car. He looks over and lifts the uzi, prepared to shoot.

June Connor has posed:
    June catches the sight of the uzi outside her window. Steering she can handle. She swerves suddenly and violently, sending the black car to crash against the smaller motorcycle, sending it into the oncoming traffic. "Fourth! Got it!" she shifts again, a small but less noticable lurch as she speeds up sliding between the other cars as if she were in a video game. Unlike a video game, though, the other drivers react, honking and moving out of the way. The rear bumper catches one of them. "Oops."

Elektra Natchios has posed:
Another motobike that swerves and crashes to the side. So far so good! Elektra looks behind them for a bit longer before drawing out a sigh. "Well, seems we are safe for the moment." she gestures.

"Keep going. That way." she points to another road that crosses with the one they are on. "We aren't far now."

She brings the gun down and continues with her attention on any pursuers, "Stuffy and boring, are they?" she then calling back to their earlier conversation about what June thought on the Hand traditions..

June Connor has posed:
    "I take it back, okay?" June yields. She comes to the cross traffic light and stops. She doesn't shift down, and so it stalls the car out. "Now what?" she takes her hands off the wheel, looking at the car as if it betrayed her. "It's dead. I already hate this country."

Elektra Natchios has posed:
Turning her head to briefly look at June Elektra lets out a fake gasp of surprise. "You? Admitting you might have been wrong?" a smug smirk on her expression. Clearly the pursuit got her blood running. Or maybe it's all going according to plan.

"It's not dead. You need to lower shifts when you slow down." she says, "Foot on the clutch." she then instructs her. If she does so she puts the car in neutral. "Neutral, now back to first gear.." she says, "Turn the key and press the accelerator. Gently."

The rest of the trip? It will be a lesson in how to drive manual shift.