OOC said:Apologies for the short lag between topics; unfortunately, my ability to be distracted/ill/discouraged has hampered me yet again.
For anyone who is reading this and is not Masao, please PM if you want to intervene in this impending train wreck. Preferably before kicking the door down and starting a bar brawl. ^_^'
INPC - Yasu Ren
<i></i>It was a slow day at the small establishment located in a somewhat obscure corner of the district; Ren wouldn't have it any other way, he did not enjoy having to speak over a rowdy crowd. What's more, of the few patrons who had shown Ren didn't recognize any of them as shinobi, all the better... regardless of how well this conversation went it might be better if none of Ren's peers or subordinates overheard.
The atmosphere of the business, somewhat of a mixture between a pub and a proper restaurant, was overall friendly and lively despite the relatively slow evening. It was the friendly charm that kept Ren coming back here, the staff here knew him by name, and were always ready to fill a reservation for him; which in this case allowed Ren a semi-secluded table near the corner of the room, easy to see anything that might be going on in the room, easy enough to be 'part of the crowd' if need be, easy enough to maintain a reasonable level of privacy if proper effort was taken to avoid raising one's voice. Ren sat facing out towards the middle of the room; the veteran shinobi looked about the same as ever... dark hair down to his shoulders, dark coat that made him look like something straight out of an action movie... but at the same time he seemed different- worried, maybe.
In the man's hand was a tall glass of water that he had been sipping on for the past ten minutes or so, and on the table in front of him was a file that appeared to have been taken from the Main Branch's records; any identification of the file's contents were intentionally obscured however.
'Well, I must admit, I had wished this meeting had happened under better circumstances... but I cannot afford to wait to bring this issue up. I've waited too long already, I've let her go too far already.' Ren thought as he stared into his nearly empty glass.
The stage was set, the meeting had been arranged; Ren knew what he had to do, what he had to try to prove.
'... but I hope we can at least delay that conversation for at least five minutes; it's been too long since I've been able to have a civilized discussion with anyone in this village.'