[open] the beat is insincere

[no_kyouken]

Who ⬤ Majima & Open
What ⬤ September 2022 Substories + Etc
Content Warnings ⬤ Cross dress, violence, alcohol, mental illness, probably smut somewhere.

Prompts in comments, wildcard me with anything else you want. You can catch me in the discord or DM me at itsabee#1072. CR meme comment Network comment - Shuten welcome Shuten mingle Feel free to double up prompts, I will tag you however many times you want. majima 🎶

Comments

[kaientai]

Coulda sent Hizen, if y' wanted to.

[ he would've suggested izō before, like every other time he's gently volunteered him for things ryouma would use as an excuse to spend some extra time with him. lately he doesn't think he has that right anymore either. in any case, no sense in belabouring the point.

he heads over to his desk to retrieve an envelope from one of the drawers. ]

Might as well say so since you're here, but maybe we got off on the wrong foot, seein' as I probably said somethin' outta line before runnin' my mouth. We've got different methods, but I meant no disrespect just 'cause it's not my way. Y'know... for what it's worth.

[ he hates to see the money go but done like this he has no objection to handing it over without a fuss. ]

[no_kyouken]

Th'fact ya think I'd send yer own friends t'shake ya down tells me plenty.

[ He extends a gloved hand for the envelope. He won't bother to check how much is inside off it, it's just going to end up inside his jacket pocket. ]

[kaientai]

Well, sure? Ain't been lookin' at it as a shakedown, but I guess if that's what this is it explains the first time...

[ and nishitani showing up waving a baseball bat. ]

We shook on it and I'm payin' like we agreed, so they're playin' the messenger and I'm probably buyin' dinner.

[ he hands the envelope over, which will later turn out to be the correct amount as he'll be basically paying the shuten clan its own money back for the forseeable future if his business luck holds out... ]

[no_kyouken]

[ Ain't been lookin' at it as a shakedown. For fuck's sake, Ryouma. Majima just shakes his head with bemusement. He doesn't bother to check the amount, he just puts it into the pocket of his jacket. ]

Buy 'em dinner on yer own time.

[kaientai]

Well, yeah. Ain't got much choice there, do I?

[ he laughs out loud because he hasn't managed to entirely blow this yet so far, so he figures he's... doing alright. ]

I get why ya do what ya do, mind, I just figure it doesn't have t' always be the hard way.

[no_kyouken]

There ain't no easy way.

[ That's... the gokudo. ]

Do what yer gonna do, Sakamoto. Don't care if ya get it.

[kaientai]

Okay, sure.

[ he looks at majima with a tired smile. ]

Whatcha call this then? I'm doin' my best here... tryin' t' meetcha halfway.

[ he thinks that's what he needs to do to avoid his life going in a direction where the people he cares about go where he can't follow, but to minimise his personal issues in this, there's a bigger problem he feels like he has to sort out. ]

Things worked out well enough this time, but in the future, I can't do my job if me just bein' around is a problem for my people.