xp_logs | LOG: [Garrison, Marius] Adventures in culture

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Marius and Garrison collide outside Sensouji, and very quickly decide to go with the beer that didn't come out of a vending machine. Discussion happens.

Marius wandered absently through the streets around Sensouji. It was somewhat inevitable. Though he'd memorized handy phrases such as "Where is the train station?", it was surprisingly ineffective if one lacked the vocabulary to decipher the resulting directions. This excitement of the language barrier was made even more interesting by Japan's method of city planning, which seemed like less of a plan and more the result of people building houses and shrines at random and letting the city figure out how to shoehorn in roads in whatever space was left. Additionally, many of the streets that had somehow made it to construction didn't seem to have names. After his third temple he'd begun to think this was intentional.

No matter. At a certain point he had given up trying to puzzle it all out and opted to approach this trip in the same manner Marius approached so much of his life: largely clueless, but prepared to enjoy the view. Fortunately the one in Asakusa was quite pleasant.

Sensouji itself was easy to find, both due to size and the crowd of tourists and visitors going in and out of it. A respectful distance away, there were several street vendors set up, and a bank of vending machines for the crowd to purchase any manner of items. Standing in front of one, shifting through his money and looking contemplative, was Garrison Kane.

Garrison had left the mansion a few weeks ago, almost as soon as he was out of the medlab, and no one had seen him since. Until someone had noticed his name on the conference guest list, no one really knew what he'd been up to. The scars on his neck were noticeable at a distance, even through the brown stubble.

Marius blinked briefly, wondering if what he'd caught out of the corner of his eye had been just an illusion, but full attention confirmed it; whilst the back of the man at the vending machine across was not particularly distinct, the signature Marius read from it was unmistakable. He'd known Garrison was around, but he hadn't been expecting to run into the man outside of Tokyo proper. Buoyed by the prospect of speaking to someone whose face reflected no more than the usual lack of comprehension, Marius slid himself around the tourist-crowded stalls and made for his teammate.

"Oi, Mr. Kane," Marius called in the cheerful tones of one who'd had the phrase 'respect your elders' hammered into his code of conduct with a hairbrush and was having difficulty moving away from it despite repeated requests by the aforementioned elder not to be referred to as a 'mister', "break from the conference? Good to see you're mostly back together," he added, glancing at the livid marks on the other man's neck. Far less inclined to ooze, at any rate.

"Marius. Looks like you already ate." Kane said, eyes flickering over Marius' grey-ish countenance and back to his change. "I find myself in the tourist paradise of Tokyo, asking the age old question. Do I buy the extremely dodgy looking beer out of the vending machine? Do I buy the even more extremely dodgy looking carton of sake from the same vending machine? Or, do I just cut out the dilemma by pocketing my cash until I can find one of the ones that sells schoolgirl's panties in it?"

"Ta, but my genetic peers have been off the menu for quite some time," Marius said, a shade flatly. In a way he had to commend the man: considering his past history with Yvette, Garrison had managed to find the one subject Marius found zero humour in. Rolling his shoulders, the boy turned his attention towards the vending machine. "I don't see much point in the panty dispensers. In my personal opinion, lingerie isn't worth much in the absence of the effort spent gettin' the lady out of it." He paused as the uppermost portion of his annoyance evaporated upon closer inspection of the contents of the machine. "Here, is that a litre of beer?"

"It would appear to be, of dubious quality. I'm hoping Sapporo quality, but the advertising kind of screams Miller High-Life to me. Well, nothing ventured, nothing... something." Kane fed in the money and was rewarded with a clanking rattle. "As for the panties, I'm trying to understand the native perspective, of course."

He pulled out the litre container and opened it, taking a long sip. "Hrm... here." He said, passing the drink over to Marius.

Marius peered at the can suspiciously. "Well, who am I to mistrust a rating system like 'Ninja Extra Strength'?" He tried a swig and made an odd face. "Eh? Wait, what is this, rice stock?" He shook his head and handed the can back to Garrison. "My congratulations to Japan. I believe I am experiencing actual feelings of violation."

"They use rice to make Budweiser. Perversions like this exist the world over." Kane underarmed the litre container into a nearby trash can. "Screw this. Let's go get an actual beer."

"Suits me. Know a place?" Marius wiped the hand that had taken the can on his jacket. He felt unclean. In theory he supposed he should have asked after Japan's legal drinking age, but considering it hadn't been an issue yet he doubted it was overly important.

"Not the slightest clue. But this is a tourist spot, which means that a bar cannot be far behind, eh." Kane led them through a few winding streets, surprised to see that unlike the rest of the city, the area was largely older buildings, dating back from before the war. It didn't take long before Kane spotted a sign, and they went down a flight of stairs into a narrow bar. Garrison greeted the bartender in fluent Japanese, earning a surprised look before he slid a pair of iced bottles in front of them.

"Have to admit," Marius remarked as he opened his beer, "as a culture, Japan has impressed me with its a serious commitment to drinkin', not to mention its long-running an' equally meaningful affair with wakin' up in strange places the next morning. Never have I seen so many suit-clad individuals so undiscriminating about their night's lodging. Current favourite was the bloke sleepin' it off on the hotel steps."

"It's a cultural thing. Rigid, highly ordered society that has enshrined drinking as an outlet, so sleeping in the street while hammered is considered part of that, as opposed to something to be scorned, I think." Kane took a long swallow from the bottle and sighed. "Much better. Yeah, you won't find comfortable drinking environments in a lot of the US. Too many factors involved to keep it something looked down on."

"Yes, such as the behaviour of those whose idea of a political stand against the unarguably ridiculous age-limit is to imbibe as much as possible an' then go for a pleasant drive, thereby spoiling it for the responsible. Indeed, in vino veritas. Sadly, sometimes that truth is that you are a wank." Marius, vaguely aware that Canada's legal drinking age was several years less offensive than that of the United States, doubted this would be a particularly dangerous subject. Regardless, it was true he had little respect for people who insisted on making idiots of themselves. It was his personal vow never to do anything drunk he wouldn't also do sober. Due to his standards for the latter he had never found this particularly restrictive. The boy fingered a cardboard coaster reflectively. "Still, I cannot help but feel there is something fundamentally wrong with a country that has arranged clearly defined opportunities to engage in socially unacceptable behaviour. For a start, it seems to rather defeat the purpose."

"Not really. Every society needs a release valve, and as regimented as the Japanese one often is, there are worse outlets they could be choosing." Kane shrugged, waving away the halfhearted offer of food from the bartender. "It's unlike the US is going to find a more mature national opinion on booze anytime soon, so it's up to people like us to shine the slightly wavering glow of alcohol enlightenment to the poor masses."

"A terrible burden. Given the vastness of our competition, I pray our radiance will prove sufficient." Marius glanced around the small bar, observing some of the few other patrons. "Strange, nowhere in the marketin' in the US have I seen it advertised that edamame is the Japanese equivalent of the beernut. I will be sure to address this heinous oversight when I return." He tilted his head at the Canadian. "Will you be, by the way, or are you still on, eh . . . whatever bit of your dayjob you left to handle?"

"I don't really know, Marius. Keeping some of the X-Men's secrets puts me at direct odds with my own country's interests, and I did swear an oath." Garrison' shrug was deliberately casual. "If not, one of you trainees need to start fasttracking it into the leathers."

Marius raised the beer to his lips, letting this statement percolate for a moment. "Well, I suppose bein' affiliated with some form of law enforcement is a bit of a problem," he said. "Come to it, there's some fairly significant points of illegality inherent in the organization. The bloody great jet, for example. Oh, an' the bit where the law makes us, at best, technical vigilantes. Perhaps militia if you're feeling generous." The boy scratched the back of his neck in a contemplative way. "Can't say I don't see certain drawbacks of bein' subjected daily to a conflict of interest, so I suppose I wouldn't blame you for leggin' it. It's not precisely your job, is it? But I don't know. For my part, I'm just trying to make good with what's right. Not that there is any lack of overlap there with the lawful, but there's the odd squiggly bit that runs outside the line. For me, that's enough." Marius paused for a moment, considering, then shrugged. "Of course, I am also not known for bein' Mr. Morality, so I suppose that hardly comes as a surprise."

"Unlike you lot, I'm an employee, not a volunteer. The decision really rests with the Canadian government." Kane didn't go into his own feelings on the subject. He wasn't the type to gush to random people, and the trainees especially didn't need to see someone openly questioning the X-Men. "I guess we'll see what happens."

"Suppose so." Marius furrowed his brow at the bottle in his hands as the incomprehensible murmur of Japanese drifted around them. He hadn't had much to do with Garrison since graduation -- aside from the odd sub job, whatever work he did with the Bureau seemed to occupy the majority of his time. Therefor, Marius had no way of predicting whether this was dangerous territory to pursue. However, he was curious, and they were both sitting in a bar holding beers and conversing in a language only barely understood by the majority of the room. That was about as close to bonding as it was likely to get. Deciding to try one last cast of the rod, Marius tilted his head at the older man. "I know you're here for the job, but conflict of interest an' ventilated jugulars aside -- is there nothin' you like about it?"

"Being an X-Man? I believe it's important." Kane said finally, waving for another round in the meantime. "I don't disagree with what we do. Hell, the US government quietly doesn't disagree with what we do. I just worry about how we do it, and the fact that a lot of people don't seem to think about it much. I trust the Professor. I'd say he's one of the most genuinely 'good' people I've ever met. But he's still a person, prone to mistakes or judgments which are influenced by his own ideals and perceptions. He'll miss something, make mistakes, and there's nothing there to balance those out. Do you realise that in sheer power level, the X-Men could reasonably take on the New York National Guard and win? In fact, win easily? That's a lot of power without any oversight. I think that deserves more questions, more discussion. I think we should be uneasy about some of the things we do, because that shows we're not just following along."

Kane shrugged and took a drink from the new bottle. "When I hear someone like Marie or Lorna openly advocating killing Magneto and the Brotherhood, I worry that we might be getting on to the same path. After all, Xavier once thought Magneto was good too. That doesn't mean I don't understand the reasons, or I don't approve of the X-Men. I like the job enough that I want to work on ways to make sure we're doing it the best way; the right way."

"Ah. So part of it would be quis custodiet ipsos custodes." Marius drummed his fingers against the bartop. "In all truth I think evolution is frankly mental to bequeath random individuals such as, oh, take myself for example, with power enough to level a small country due to nothin' more than a lucky hit at the genetic lottery. However, since I'm not hearin' much popular support for the return of eugenics there's not much to be done for that. As you say, we are all people, and mistakes can be made. With the added bonus that they might be accompanied by a decorative crater where once there was a major urban centre, yet." The boy flipped a curly strand of hair from his eyes and downed the rest of his bottle. "I shan't even attempt to further a failsafe that be attached to the current regime, but on the personal level, I suppose can only do what others have done: endeavor to watch one another as best we can." He thought back to Monte Carlo, and the ruined street, and gave his beer a humourless smile. "For individuals such as ourselves, I think, those that can, must."

"The important thing, Marius, is that we are watching each other. We are asking questions, demanding answers. What we're doing exists so close to a dangerous line that the only way to keep from going over it is everyone helping pull back." Kane pointed out. "There isn't a police department in the world that hasn't had people circumvent the laws or processes in a case. Sometimes, it has to be done. But we come down like the hammer of God on people to make sure it doesn't become an institutional standard, as opposed to an abnormality."

Kane shrugged again, sitting back on the bar stool. "At the same time, the X-Men are an extremely young organization. It's been, what, active ten years in total, starting out with teenagers as the main body? It takes time and maturity to grow these mindsets, and maybe I'm just worrying over something that will correct itself when it needs to."

"Yes, well. Speaking for myself, I've every intention of vigilance. Once bitten and that. Or being the biter, as the case may be." The slightly brittle edge in Marius' voice was smoothly polished away by another swig of beer. He set the bottle back down with a decisive thunk and gave his fingers a rhetorical wave. "You know what they say: friends help you move, true friends hang about to give you a sound beating when you start outfitting in capes an' investing in orbital space lasers. Or they should do, anyway. So much trouble could be spared."

Kane rubbed his throat. "If we're going to start talking about space lasers, we're going to need a lot more drinks."

Marius grinned and tapped his chin thoughtfully. "You know, if you find this subject inordinately depressing, we could redirect to that most venerable of Japanese customs: karaoke."

"According to Canadian law, I'm allowed to hurt you very badly for that suggestion."