Whiskey, Laughter, and Fate [Ryoichi/Amelia]

Tonight was not a night for flashing lights, loud music, and dancing in heels only to regret it later. Instead, it was a night for tranquility, some nice socialization, and a few drinks. It was Saturday night, and the first week of school was gone, giving Amelia time to take for herself. The bar she chose was a usual one; they knew her here. It also wasn't very far from home or the main thoroughfare, so if she wanted to continue the night or head home, it was an easy left or right down the street.

Making her way up to the bar of the mostly empty establishment, Amelia sat on one of the stools and groaned as she leaned forward and used her own bust as a pillow. "Bad day, doll?" the bartender said. "Not bad, but stressful... I have a little hellion this year; he likes making very inappropriate comments. I've had to send him to the principals twice already." Amelia explained. "Ah, children can be the devil." "Only if they don't belong to you and are protected by educational guidelines."

Amelia and the bartender shared a friendly laugh before he poured her usual drink and she gave thanks. He went on to cleaning some glasses and gave Amelia her space, though she would have welcomed the conversation today.

Weekends had become little different than any other, really. The only thing that was different was that tonight, for some reason, his layover to get to China was stupidly long. With an attack having recently happened in Beijing, flights were all chaotic, and layovers were way longer than normal. It'd be around noon tomorrow before his flight would be ready.

Usually, he'd just wait in the airport or nearby for the layover, but, with over a day of waiting, Ryoichi decided to spend his time at one of the bars in the area. It was mostly empty, and decently quiet, something he was very grateful for after all the noise in the airport.

But, that gratefulness would soon come to an end, as he heard footsteps, causing him to turn his head and look down the bar, seeing a woman sit down, groan, and lay her head down...on her chest. Well, that was somethin' you didn't see every day. He took a sip from his own drink, taking the occasional glance as he listened to the idle chatter between her and the bartender.

'From how he referred to her, and the lack of any proper name when ordering, she's probably a regular. A teacher too, by the sound of it...damn. Never woulda guessed a nice-lookin' lady like that would be a teacher. Good for her, though, really.'

Though, his expression saddened at the thought, especially at the following comment from the bartender. From the info he had, his little one would have only been starting kindergarten before everything became a haze. His hand idly drummed the end of a pencil against his notepad, bringing the tip to the page as he turned his head. A small, casual smile formed as he looked at the teacher.

"What grade are your little monsters in?"

Amelia was setting her glass down when a voice aimed her way caught her attention. She looked over to see a handsome man with sad eyes giving her a kind smile. She thought to take a deeper look at him, but just didn’t want to put in the effort after the long week she had. If he was a baddie, then oh well!

“Sixth. All just out of elementary school, and according to them, heading straight into adulthood,” Amelia said kindly and then laughed a little. Tilting her head, she picked up her glass. “Would you like someone to accompany you tonight?”

Sixth grade? Yeah, that sounded about right. He wasn't around for his kid's teen years, but, he did know that teens tended to get like that once they hit that point. For them, everything was starting to change. So, Ryoichi gave a small tilt of his head, as way of saying "Yeah, that makes sense," lifting his glass a little in unison. Upon asking, the man's smiled a little, giving a light nod.

"Sure. Chattin' with a good-lookin' lady like you sounds a lot better than sittin' alone. Plus, drinks with others tend to taste better."

Setting his glass down, Ryoichi made a few small gestures with his hand, wordlessly manipulating an invisible field of Reiryoku, splitting it into multiple, smaller fields to lift up Amelia slightly, carefully bringing the woman further down the bar to a stool next to him, along with her drink and coaster, setting her down expertly, intended to be done without the slightest discomfort.

"Ryoichi. Doubt your name's 'Doll,' so, mind puttin' a name to face?"

Upon finishing his sentence, Ryoichi lifted his glass to his lips, taking a quiet sip as his free hand unconsciously went back to his pencil. Had he any drawing skills, maybe he'd consider sketchin' faces. Would make these kinds of encounters even more worthwhile when he got to immortalize pretty faces like this one.

There was something moving in the air between the two of them, but Amelia didn’t feel a breeze. Suddenly, she began moving, and in a smooth motion was slid all the way over to this man’s side, drink and all. There wasn’t a moment of imbalance that even caused her worry. Now in place, Amelia blinked a few times and raised a curious eyebrow at Ryoichi, a very interested smile in her eyes.

“I’m Amelia,” she said, her voice dripping with a clear seductive intent. She crossed one leg over the other and rested her head in the palm as she leaned into the bar. “So, Ryoichi. What brings you to Germany?” she asked, assuming by his name that he wasn’t a native. As he answered, a blink created a glint in her eyes, a very hard to notice glitter over them as she took a look at this man's emotional aura.

It was a nice little party trick that he did from time to time. It made some people's nights, sometimes he was able to make a kid smile whenever he did something like make their stuffed animal float around.

In this instance, it got this fine lady's attention. So, Ryoichi joined her in leaning against the bar, taking another drink as he rested his cheek against an enclosed fist, quickly and unconsciously writing down her name and job. Upon looking, Amelia would see a calm grey, mixed with a warm smile.

"Nothin' too interesting, honestly. Was heading to China to investigate something, but, there's been some shit happening that's given me one hell of a layover. It'll be about noon tomorrow that my flight'll be ready to keep going."

He raised his glass and held it forward slightly, both gesturing to Amelia, as well as making a light toast.

"But, getting to see 'n meet a lady like you? I'd say it makes that long wait pretty worth it. You seem to be a regular here, though. The little monsters that bad?"

"I see… Are you a detective of some sort?” Amelia asked, raising her glass and tapping it lightly against his. She took a sip, enjoying the warmth in her stomach, and anticipating the calming effect it had on her once it washed over her liver.

“Hahaha. Yes, they truly can be, so I come here often. It isn’t always them though,” Amelia said, her smile fading some as she stared into the brown liquid in her glass. “It can also just be the stresses of life that bring me here.” Amelia took another drink, this time longer. “Ahh… So, what are you investigating?”

A detective? Nah, he wasn't anything that neat. Ryoichi shook his head lightly in response, making a note that she was, in fact, a regular. Even if he had already made a pretty accurate guess, hearing the official statement from the horse's mouth was better confirmation.

"...I get it. 'Sweet liquor eases the pain,' 'n all that."

As she asked about what he was investigating, Ryoichi went silent for a minute, before letting out a quiet sigh as he took his hand off his drink, dried it off on his pant leg, before reaching into his pocket. Taking out the photo, he made sure the bar was dry and clean before setting it down so she could have a look.

"Tryin' to find my daughter. It's old, but...it's all I've got right now."

Those sad eyes she saw before suddenly came back, and, soon after Amelia put her glass down, Ryoichi picked his up and took a long, deep drink. No matter how many times he looked at it, nothing seemed to spark. No memory, no name, only the frustration that he couldn't remember, and the guilt at everything that happened in the time he was in his coma.

Amelia did not mean to trigger such a memory in him. This was probably why he was in the bar in the first place. She took another drink, emptying her glass this time and ordering another. She picked up the picture and saw the image of a bright eyed, cheerful little, brown haired girl with twin tails. A blink let that glow in her eye vanish; she didn’t want to keep seeing the sad aura he was clearly radiating.

“She’s adorable… What… What happened?” Amelia asked, gently placing the old photograph back down in front of him. "Why are you going to China to look for her?"

Ryoichi stopped writing, setting the pencil next to the notepad. He smiled in response to the comment, giving a light nod. But, the second part made him hesitate. He quietly took the photograph back, taking a glance at it before tucking it back into his wallet.

"...Accident happened. Worked as a...fireman, I think, and got put in a coma for a decade while on the job. Wife at the time sold her off to some group. She inherited my telekinetics, and they wanted to run some kind of...experiments."

Ryoichi looked down at the bar, before turning to look at his glass, taking a long drink. Even in the four years that he'd spent trying to find her, that guilt never seemed to go away. The feeling that he could have done something differently so that he'd still have been there for her, for his family. Even if he couldn't remember a lot, everything that he had managed to look up and get information on to piece things back together had only made that desire to find her even stronger.

"Heard rumors about a girl with telekinetic powers in a couple places, and...now I'm just checkin' 'em off the list. Maybe I can figure out if it is her or not."

"Or not."

That wasn't something he liked saying. Despite the guilt, despite all the days where he doubted he'd ever find her again, he still kept repeating the thought that it was her, that he would see her again. He had to keep saying that, it had to be true...because he didn't know what he was going to do if it wasn't. Thinking about that made him quickly go to have another drink, finishing the glass and wordlessly signaling to the bartender for another.