Week 68: A meeting with a murderer

For a moment, Sun Ren hesitated as she looked at the bar's exterior. Like many on Jictar, it catered primarily to hunters, and with her better-than-human hearing, she could hear the noises from the rowdy interior from here. But this was where she would find him, and so it was here she had to go.

She pushed open the door and walked in, thankful that she was wearing attire that might be vaguely suitable - well-made but sturdy trousers and a simple T-shirt in a blue somewhat darker than her skin. Regardless, a lot of the bar patrons turned to study her with interest. Even on Jictar, Muse replicants weren't exactly a common sight, especially unattended. Most of them turned back to their drinks and rather loud conversation after a few moments, but there were those whose gazes lingered. Ren ignored them, making her way towards a man sitting alone, apparently concentrating intently on a trio of men exchanging hunting stories. Once she stood next to him, she coughed, delicately, and spoke in a voice that carried to him alone.

"Excuse me. Ban So Tzun? I need to speak with you."

Ban, looking amused with a small amount of stubble, gave Ren a brief look and waved a hand at her dismissively... He listened to the hunting story for a moment, laughed along with the punch line about murdering a terralocite by leading it off a cliff, and then turned to face the replicant. Through his slightly less than sober haze, he fixed his gaze on her. Dozens of men and women, though most not as good looking, had tried to seduce him, and his first thought was that she was just some other hanger on... But then knowledge passed through his face. "..Oh, I know you. You're Minoru's replicant. So, they finally fixed you up, huh?"

He leaned heavily on his table, taking a hearty drink of something alcoholic. There was an uneasy, unsettling smirk around his lips. One could say he may have even been leering slightly. "Here to kill me cuzza selling off your beloved master?"

Ren ignored his smirk, mostly because she wasn't sure exactly how to interpret it. Besides, she had thoughts of her own to sort out. She sat by the man responsible for her master's death and slowly shook her head.

"No, that's not why I'm here. I just want to ask you some questions, that's all. I don't understand you. You murdered my friend and toyed with his body, and I want to know why you did that." Her voice was calm and level, despite her subject, and she held Ban's gaze with her deep blue eyes.

The older man smiled a little as she spoke, and he patted the table with his drink hand. "Oh, one of these. Yeah yeah, come, take a seat."

He gulped the last swig of his drink, up-ended his glass and signaled over for another, no, two others. The speed and commonality of was enough to let Ren know that he was a regular, and heavy drinker. He gave Ren a calculating look, focused but inscrutable. When his drink was delivered, he took another swig and looked back at her. "Minoru liked his toys, and the other blue one, he was the easiest toy to get. So vulnerable. Very little security in those days, you remember." There was a fondness in his voice, and danger in his slightly bloodshot eyes. "He killed one of my men, so I killed one of his. Taking pawns." He kept looking at her, but didn't bother saying anything else.

Ren tilted her head slightly, apparently still puzzled. "That is not what I mean. Killing because somebody has done wrong to you I can almost understand. I detest it, but I can see a certain logic. But...why did you kill Daorong, rather than Xu? You could have done so, had you desired, rather than taking your problems out on innocents. And why did you do what you did with the body?" At that, an edge entered her voice and her eyes narrowed. "Surely even you must see that that was excessive and unnecessary?"

Ban laughed, actually laughed, a hoarse little noise. "Oh yes. Excessive and unnecessary, but fun!" He chuckled some more, looking at her serious expression. He pointed to the second glass, and smirking, continued. "It was no more excessive than cyberwolves and galvanic arm cannons in a bar fight. But I wanted to see what he would do. What he would do when he felt threatened."

He took another gulp of his drink, but his expression sobered somewhat. "You're not a hunter. And me, I am." He smiled tightly, gesturing around. "It wasn't a bounty; it was a hunt. And I wanted him to know his nest was unsafe. Unsafe enough for me to play in, do something... truly untoward." He shrugged a shoulder. "There's no innocents in the hunt, girl, just the prey and the hunter."

"So, if somebody is allied with someone you consider your enemy, you think they are fair game?" Puzzlement was clearly showing through in Ren's voice. "That seems...needlessly unpleasant. There quite obviously are innocents - people who have done nothing to offend you and would not fight of their own volition. Daorong was one such. To drag them in just causes more pain to everyone." Her gaze was still fixed on Ban, her face not moving or twitching as a human's would. "Surely that is something to be avoided?"

Ban motioned to the glass again, eyebrows raising in bemusement. He looked Ren over, calculation in his bloodshot eyes. He smiled almost sweetly at her, leaving one eyebrow raised. "Surely it's something that some people wish to avoid. But it's only one viewpoint. Some people don't try to be nice when they are not nice." He was mimicking her a little as he spoke, his voice getting quieter, enunciating each syllable. He watched her for another moment, then his face settled. A weird look passed over his features...

"Don't feel too bad, girl. I would have done it to any one else who had been sitting at that desk. Coulda been you, coulda been that mousey girl the big boy liked." He shrugged and took another mouthful of his expensive liquor, and motioned one last time to the glass. "Come on, drink. It's a pricey one. A good one."

Ren took the glass without looking and took a gulp, showing no reaction to the taste - her mind was on other things. "Who it was is irrelevant," she said, frowning. "The point is that it was somebody who had no quarrel with you. That it was my friend and fellow replicant is beside the point. All you did was cause me pain and kill an innocent victim, when you could have achieved the same result without harming anyone - to send a message, destroying property would have been sufficient. And there was certainly no need to do what you did with his body," she added, with a snap of anger in her voice and setting her glass back on the table.

"No need indeed. But it was fun. And it fucked up that twisted little freak you had as an owner. I know he didn't show it, but i-it did." He chuckled lowly, smirking, and he looked around the room for a moment before turning back to Ren. "And some people say you are property, girl. By law, you are. All I did that fun second time was destroy a little bit of property, and move him like the puppet he was." He smirked a little, but there was something in his eyes. "But it wouldn't have been fun for me if he wasn't a person." He laughed again, slower and even lower this time.

Ren was silent for a moment, eyes boring into Ban's with a face that was slowly settling into an angry expression. "Fun? You did it because it was fun? You take pleasure in inflicting pain?" Her hands clenched into fists once, twice. "How could you do such a thing? That is...repulsive. Destructive, unpleasant and repulsive. Not even she stooped so low as that."

Ban's drunk brow furrowed. "Who the hell is 'she'? Look, girl, there's nothing better than causing pain. You've been around for months and months now. You never came across a little sadism before? Ha, wow, you have be a sheltered little girl, haven't you?" He leaned back in his chair in disbelief, taking another gulp of the burning and costly booze. His breath smelled like it. Even his sweat had a tinge of alcoholic sharpness. He shook his head at her, trying to puzzle her out.

"It seems I have only been on the receiving end of it," Ren replied, her voice sharp and disapproving while a frown creased her lovely features. "Taking pleasure in pain is not a concept I understand. Or like. To deliberately inflict suffering on another for the sake of your own amusement..." She shook her head and took another gulp of the drink, her eyes still focused on Ban over the top of her glass. "As I say, I find that repulsive."

She set the glass down and shook her head slightly. "I believe my questions have been answered. And I have no wish to cause further violence, so now I shall leave you. You have been...a disappointment."

"You sound like my mother." He gave a low laugh, his face delighted at Ren little rant. He nodded slightly as she went to signal her leave, apparently not taking this personally. He nodded his head slightly as a goodbye, but reached out and put his hand on her wrist. It was strong, and slightly clammy. "...You think I'm bad, but I'm not the worst of the bunch, girl. ...And it's better on this end than the other. Other people won't tell you, because you're not worth it. The things I've seen 'em do to you guys they wouldn't let me do to humans. They act like it's nothing and they don't even enjoy that. They'll treat you worse and they won't even like it. Remember that."

His voice was bitter in a weird, twisted way during those emphasized words, and he didn't even bother to look at her. There was an edge to his voice, something that bothered him in a way he couldn't articulate. He released her wrist, his face a little blank.

Ren withdrew her hand rapidly as Ban let go, her gaze still locked on her face and her expression severe. "I know how some people think of replicants. And that is another issue. My problem with you is how you treat people. The fact that you treat us as people might be a point in your favour if that meant you treated us well," she added, off-handedly, "but as it is, it does nothing for you. Goodbye."

With that, she turned to leave, her curiosity satisfied.

Ban looked away, an almost perverted smile on his face. His eyes focused some distance away. "Don't say I didn't warn you." He didn't bother to look at her, and after a few moments, he appeared to change his focus back to the old conversation. He dropped his empty glass on the table, and signaled the waiter for two more.