A Story To Tell? [Niso]

Niso wasn't exactly someone known to attend sociable places like a bar or a night club, in part simply because he wasn't old enough, but with enough money to pay for warm meals for a fair few weeks, he was more than happy to enter such an environment. He knew that the laptop wasn't worth much beyond the general use of a second hand laptop, but Niso was not foreign to the worth of a good hard drive, and so he'd managed to throw in some of his other items to sweeten the deal, though he'd leave that for a surprise. A few run ins with people trying to shank him while they were high or people who thought they could give him the raw end of a deal all eventually were brought to great harm or...ya know, beyond. Either way, even if it was just a druggie who had accidentally noted the location of a dealer in their phone, or a blackmarket dealer with a fair few connections in their laptop, Niso had ripped out the memory cards and hard drives of multiple devices like this knowing what they'd be worth to someone who recognized the value of it, and as such, it felt like a nice way to sweeten the pot with this woman who clearly had an idea of what she should be looking for.


Regardless, with the stolen laptop bag filled with a laptop and a few loose hardrives and memory cards, Niso had used one of the masks he'd bought for the art-attack on UA a few weeks back on the suggestion of the woman he'd met in the odd little villain chat, a design apparently from a video game from years ago that made quite the splash in it's time, but in truth it was just creepy and odd and Niso absolutely adored it. Probably wasn't the classiest thing to wear, but you could get the odd freak in a nightclub so he was sure it'd be okay in the end.

Otherwise beyond the satchel and the majora's moon-esque mask, Niso was just in his usual scruffy attire. An old white shirt that was mostly scuffed but definitely starting to turn to a shade of grey, and black pants and shoes. It looked like it might be the remnants of some old school uniform, only without the black blazer most japanese schools adopted for their male students. He wandered through the bar, not at all put off by the loud music and the intense atmosphere and in fact just having a good time with it. He shifted and swayed through the crowd, casually catching the beat while dipping by the other patrons, a bit blinded by the odd nature of the mask he'd chosen but for the most part enjoying just a casual shift across the dance floor. At one point he tapped the shoulder of someone walking with a tray back to their table, and as they looked about, stole a drink from their tray with the other hand, walking off and disappearing before they were caught.

Eventually, he managed to catch that the woman with the Oni mask meeting his eyeline, though it was a little hard for either of them with the fake eyes of the mask likely throwing her off and his own blinding him a little. He managed to slip his way into the booth they were using, a little out of breath, not from exhaustion, but just from the humid environment inside his mask choking him out a little at this point.

『Hiiiiiiii! I'm gonna hope your the woman I met on the chat or I'm gonna look really stupid right off the bat here!』He chimed in, a chipper tone managing to break over the clubs music and the muffled nature of his mask. He didn't reveal the laptop yet just incase he was indeed wrong, but first decided to present himself, both hands on his chest, bowing his head forward and nearly tapping the edge of the mask against the table in the process. 『Pinocchio as you know me, or Niso if you like, I really don't mind how far my name travels』 He lifted back up and pointed to his mask. 『Temporary, before you ask. Still working on the whole...』 He gestured vaguely. 『Villain identity thing....you are who I think you are right? Like seriously stop me before I spill too much if you're not!~ Walking out of here to find the police waiting for me isn't gonna be fun ahahhaa!~』

It was clear he had energy to spare as he presented himself and even with the creepy mask it was clear he had nothing but smiles and bright eyes under the mask, grinning wildly in fact at the prospect of sharing an odd story and getting paid for it no less. Hopefully the free hard drives he was throwing in would make it a more 'interesting' story if he was over estimating it.

Niso was a little glad that this woman didn't seem to talk any crap. Now of course these were only first impressions but Niso didn't feel like anything she said was a lie, in fact it felt like everything was just coming out in the bluntest form possible. He gave a chuckle at the idea of being referred to as Pinocchio, and quickly shook his head, the mask wobbling left and right a little on his shoulders. 『Not at all! Call me whatever you like really so long as I know you're referring to me. Niso, Pinocchio, Konto, Miso Soup, little psychopath, whatever the hell you want~』 He chimed happily, more than ready to accept any weird name that was to come and leaning back more comfortably in his seat as he pulled his satchel onto his lap, unzipping the main laptop section. 『Dunno what my own name being unexpected means really, or even the fact that you think it's disarming...maybe say it with my last name Konto? Might add a bit of kick to it. Ya know, with the K and all.~』

As far as it went with the hero boys playing dress up, Niso had to respect them in an odd way. He liked chaos and going against the norm, so the idea of heroes was an odd delight, though the fact they had rules and restrictions imposed by the government... 『Agree to disagree. I'd never be a hero myself. Too restrictive. But I don't see much wrong with dressing up and playing the good guy if that's what you're into, but if you really find it so silly I don't mind dropping my own disguise. I mean-』 He yanked the mask up off his head, shaking his messy hair free and tossing the rubber head-dome off to the side without a second thought, scoffing a little at the fact he'd even been wearing it when- 『It's not like you're gonna eve recognize me. Nor is anyone here. No one remembers some random homeless kid they pass on the streets』

With the question of his goods, and what he could only presume was his payment placed upon the table, Niso lifted the laptop he'd advertised on the villain chat out of his satchel. Now, personally, he felt assured it had nothing special on it. It was a pretty new brand, high grade, worth a few hundred pound or a few thousand yen easily. It had a few specks of dried blood on the left side of it's rim when it was closed but given the dark shade of the laptop it wasn't too easy to notice. He placed it on the table between them, a smile ever present on his lips as he met the gaze of the other woman. 『Well here you go, one laptop as promised. Like I said there ain't too much special about it's previous owner, buuuut-』He then tugged out 3 hardrives, the wires that would connect them to the rest of the laptop frayed from when Niso ripped them out of their original devices and placing them ontop of the laptop, and a handful of Memory cards from modern thones atop that. 『I had a few of these leftovers after my last buyer for...less than reputable information, decided he'd try to swindle me. Suffice to say, not I, nor anyone else, will be selling to him anymore.~』 He had a nice wide grin as he hinted to the fate of his previous buyer.

He then rose his hands and made it clear. 『Now I don't expect any extra payment for this little treat, but I would appreciate you taking it into account when you decide how "interesting"』 He used physical air quotes 『My own story is~ They're a little damaged but I'm sure a woman like yourself probably has the means to make sure they retrieve what they need no?』 He pushed the laptop and the memory devices across the table, leaning back into his own seat with an oddly smug little smirk as he waited for his payment, more than happy to tell his tale with the mad scientest Alfonso following it, but definitely needing at least his first payment before he went further. He'd been burned before and now the woman knew what to expect if she did the same given his tale of the other buyer.

Niso tipped his head off to the side as the other woman made a comment on why exactly they should be wearing masks but he wasn’t actually sure what point she was trying to make. Was it professional in her opinion to wear a mask here? He didn’t really care, and if it was just to hide their identities from eachother given her comment about bothering to remember him, he really couldn’t care even further. They didn’t look like the types to cross eachother’s paths unless they arranged it before hand, so he had very little to worry about, though at her last comment, her visibly shivered as he caught onto what she meant, gently rubbing his brow.

“Ew. Please. Keep your love life to yourself. Genuinely there’s nothing I could find more disgusting. No offense to you miss I just find all that stuff pretty retched period.” Hoping they were on the same page. Despite being able to effectively cave someone’s skull in with a bat and not…bat an eye, the idea of anything sexual just made his stomache turn outside of very outstanding circumstnaces. While it opened the floor for the woman to tease him about it, he hoped she was enough of a professional, unlike him, to follow through with the meeting without making him want to vomit.

Still, the deal seemed to be moving along well enough barring the sudden queasiness he felt, though he did pull back a little whenever the woman blew smoke towards him, idly commenting- “That’ll kill you ya know” He smirked, clearly just being cheeky. In truth he didn’t mind the occasional smoke himself but with his body he could literally purge cancer cells out by making the others literally push it out of the body. Well. In theory that should work, he’d never actually had to try it. For all he knew cancer cells could just grow even faster in him than a normal person since they’d be fuelled by a mutated version of his quirk, but that was a bummer topic for him to ponder on another day.

For now, the deal was done however, and Niso eagerly leaned across the table to receive his envelope, at least discrete enough to just open the envelope’s top a bit further with his fingers and get a rough estimation for the money inside before shoving it down into his pocket, his hands clasped together on the table and lightly twiddling his thumbs, a fairly happy chap considering what he’d just received for some items he’d just gotten in the pursuit of his own sense of fun.

When he was prompted for the story, of course he knew this woman wouldn’t forget, and he himself was all too willing to share it. He eagerly rubbed his hands together as he thought of how best to tell it. “Well I don’t know if doctor patient confidentiality works both ways, but I’m sure the good doctor would be glad to hear there are people interested in his work.~ Well then, for starters I’m going to give you some background okay? See me? Killing me isn’t so easy. Now while being Pinocchio means I musn’t tell a lie, afterall, the truth is always far more interesting, I’m not going to spill all the beans either. Just take my word that even if I look dead, odds are I’m still gonna be breathing the next day.~”

Moving on with a flippant gesture of his hand, he continued. “Anyway, the doctor apparently needs corpses for his research. What good mad scientist doesn’t? Point being, me, with all the potentially stabby ‘friends’ I can make ended up playing dead in some alleyway somewhere as my quirk did it’s work, and the good ol’ doctor, assuming I was a corpse, dragged me off to his little lab, and so our tale of intrigue beings. A bland tale it may be perhaps, but with interesting tidbits nonetheless.~”

Drumming his fingertips together with a sly grin, he’d pause to see if the woman had anything to say, or any questions she was eager to ask so he knew what exactly to include in his retelling of the events. In truth he was pretty sure from here on out the tale could become bland and brief, but he was willing to tell it all the same if she was willing to listen.

Niso tipped his head left to right, in a somewhat pseudo nodding motion to her comment about the best things in life being a danger to your health. He couldn’t really disagree there, especially with his own lifestyle. If it weren’t for his quirk his fear of death would probably disable him from doing most of the things he found fun, so in this moment at least he could agree that the odd smoke here or there, even for someone without his quirk, wasn’t so bad, and if she found delight in it, was probably much better for her in the long run to some extent.

As the questions started to pile on and the woman showed a clear sense of intrigue, Niso chuckled a little through his grinning teeth, thinking he should maybe rope her along for a moment but even if avoiding the truth could sometimes be fun, this in some sense was a transaction and he should re-tell the tale with some sense of seriousness to it. All the same however that didn’t stop him adding his personal flair to the retelling here or there.

“Oh I wasn’t enthused in the slightest…well, maybe the slightest.~ I’m always looking for new and interesting experiences you see, and being dragged off to a mad scientist’s operating room when you’ve been mistaken for a corpse? Hard to find something more interesting than that…well, unless you’re me of course.~” As the cigarette pack was offered to him, Niso quirked a brow at the idea of other party favors, not at all sure what she was trying to hint at but casually shrugging and pushing his body half over the table, taking one of the sticks and popping it into his lips, presumably allowed to use a lighter too to get it going. “Well, don’t mind if I do.~” He chimed with a chipper smile from behind the cigarette.

“Well-“ He began as he talked through the cigarette balanced in his lips, at least for a while, though taking it out after a handful of words when he realized he didn’t want a cigarette burning a hole in one of his only shirts. “As far as his research goes the old man wasn’t too clear. He wasn’t just made by the sounds of things. While he was angry and I think a little scared once I woke up, he was level headed enough for us to talk, and when I asked about what he was looking into, he was a little…vague, though I don’t think that was on purpose.”

He shifted a little, elbows resting on the table as he continued. “See apparently the man’s researching quirks. Mutations by what he was saying. My quirk is apparently similar to his in that it affects our control over our own biology. If I had to hazard a guess he’s just trying to see if there’s some perfect quirk for humanity’s evolution or something. Really I couldn’t care less, but if the science world at large found his research so heinous as to turn their back on him…well, at the very least, her must be exceptionally thorough don’t you think?~” His lips curled into a devious smirk as he idly rubbed his hands together, the picture of the old man doing atrocious things in the pursuit of his research filling his own mind.

“Really all I can imagine is he was using the corpses to further his research. Heck I even make a bit of money on the side helping him. He said he preferred live subjects but…well you know, the less they struggle the better huh?~” He stuck out his tongue as if the implication of murder was a playful throw away line between the two of them, which he supposed it was given their impressions of one another likely not being the most pure and pristine. “We ended up coming to an arrangement. While I can heal most of my own injuries, if I ever have anything impaled in me or an injury that’ll be a bit too much to handle on my own, I come to him, and of course for a bit of extra payment here or there, I bring him the corpses of any quirkers I happen to…’discover’ out on the streets. I don’t discover them too often, but it’s a nice source of income when all is said and done.~”

Niso kind of enjoyed how thorough this woman was in her questions without controlling the conversation. She was definitely interesting enough to hold Niso’s attention without making him feel like he wanted to cave her head in for making him feel small in their conversation. He wasn’t a regular smoker but he also enjoyed the cigarette, though it was hard to tell if he was actually puffing it or just rolling it about between his lips. Seemed more so the latter given the lack of smoke output, and one could always breathe through their nose pretty easily.

“Oh yeah by all means I guess I should be on the sharp end of his knife still.” He shrugged casually. “But really people tend not to restrain people they think are dead, and the poor guy was so scared when I rose from the grave that he staggered back enough for us to have a pleasant conversation.~” He smirked and gestured a little with his hands as he spoke, clearly a very physically expressive person from how he was gesturing. “In the end we came to arrangements and I managed to get out of their. Not only do I have my little job and access to him as a doctor, but I let him take some of my muscle too. Apparently my quirk would do very well for his research, whatever the hell he’s actually aiming towards.” He shrugged with a smirk, still oblivious to the final goal of this man, but assuming he had a hand in every pot given how vaguely he spoke about the nature of quirks.

As the focus turned to the woman’s vision of the doctor Niso chuckled as he determined the older man was ‘handsy’, easily finding a bit of amusement in that and shaking his head. “Oh he’s alright. Just make sure you don’t play dead in an alleyway and I’m sure you two will hit it right off.~” He chuckled a little at his own tease, eyes lifting as she mentioned the laptop and nodding along to her assumption. “Oooh I didn’t think you’d need any more to that story, but you hit it right on the buzzer there miss. Poor fellow was in the wrong place at the wrong time when I wanted a meal and was a little short on the yen.” He shrugged fairly casually at their death. “Then I found they had a nice little laptop and thought, hey, why not sell it?~ Not like there are many places to charge that thing on the streets, and the alleys around starbucks aren’t as comfortable as you might think, so stealing the wifi there is a nightmare.~” He stuck out his tongue with a playful expression, talking about the poor chap he’d murdered for a handful of cash with a certain detatchment and odd pleasure to his tone.

As the woman proceeded from simple intrigue to the promise of business, Niso’s cigarette lifted suddenly in his lips with his eyebrows, and removing it from his lips he…well his face made the motion to ‘whistle’ but nothing came out beyond a hum that attempted to sound like a whistle. Poor boy didn’t have the natural talent to produce the sharp, high pitched sound it seemed, though the visual hopeful still got across with the nearly cartoonishly exaggerated head sway with the non-existant sound. “Oh I get a pay day and another source of income? Well aren’t I a lucky little boy?~” He stuck out his tongue once again. “Sure! Why not?~ I’m a fickle worker though so I’d advise being ready to hear a no if you get in touch with me. Most of the time I’ll be up for it, buuuut, well, ya knooow. Even homeless bums need a day off.~”

With a cheeky smirk and a chuckle, he quickly added. “I dunno how reliable the doctor is in exposing of his bodies, but he ain’t been caught yet!~ If he’s game for it I’m more than happy to be your little murder hobo. Gotta make a living somehow don’t’cha?~”

Man this was going well, Niso was just being himself and he had a job and a payday out of it. Wasn’t this one hell of a happy day? He still paid attention though of course as the woman seemed to want to know more of his other tale regarding the hardrives, though technically there wasn’t much to it. “Oh the hard drives? Just murders from before I met the doctor. Some for fun, some for vengeance…oh! Unless you want the story about the guy who tried to rip me off! Hilarious!~” And short. “See apparently he was hired by some up and coming gang leader to help collect hard drives, seemed like a good enough person to sell to as any, but he tried to convince me they were worthless and that he’d ‘dispose of them’ for me. Now. I’m a wackjob, but I’m no idiot, so before he knew it he had the wrong end of an signed baseball bat cracking against his skull. A short brawl later, a samurai sword rammed through my chest, and I was standing over his vegetable of a body caving his head in till I was tasting brain on my lips.~” Not to say that he purposely ate their brain, he just wacked their head so hard the splatter was unpredictable.

“Best part? The woman who hired the goons ended up hiring me! She’s actually arranging for a place for me to live if you’d believe it!~” Even Niso scarecely believed it, especially with the odd request he’d had to live on the roof. She was apparently making preperations for him. She expected him to just be ordering him a good quality tent or something but how little he knew of the lengths this woman would go to in the pursuit of potentially promoting loyalty among her allies. Either way Niso wasn’t about to complain. Especially if it led to more fun~ Which this most certainly would.

As the woman across from her took in his tales, Niso had begun idly cracking his knuckles and popping his fingers, not with the maliciousness to intimidate but just the idle fidgety-ness of someone who clearly didn’t do well sitting still, his leg even bobbing a little on his foot as he tapped his heel under the desk, already wanting to get out of the booth and just do something else but the sane part of him reminding him he had a few weeks worth of money on the line here and licking his lips eagerly at the idea of all the cereal he could buy with that. Cereal was delicious. Why did people think it was only a breakfast food?

“Oh not at all sadly but not every story can involve crime, intrigue, mad scientists or back room dealings.” He had a cheeky grin at his comment on the story, but it was true. As much as he relished every new experience, a lot of them were more interesting than the others and that was a plain old fact.

As for the work he could be doing for the woman, he shrugged a little as she commented on not worrying about the work he should be doing. “Oh worry isn’t really part of my usual ‘emotional range’ “ he gestured vaguely at that and shrugged it off. “Or whatever you might call it. Just call me whenever you need someone to magically disappear yeah?~ I love to work magic tricks like that.~” He stuck out his tongue, referring to death and vanishing corpses like it was such a simple thing, he leaned over the table between them, cheek resting in his palm with an almost dreamy expression at the prospect. “Heads up though, if you want the doctor to help, they’re gonna have to be quirkers, otherwise I’m gonna have to get rid of them myself, and soooooomething tells me I’m a lot less thorough than the doctor.~”

Glad to see their business was going well, he eagerly took the next envelope with far less discretion than she offered it, flipping open the top and brushing his thumb along the top. “Geeze all this for telling some story or two? Is this what it feels like to be a movie director?~” He was joking of course, taking the envelope and stuffing it into his pants with the other, twiddling his thumbs feeling they may possibly have more business or general bonding they could engage in, but it seemed they were all done. Niso was almost disappointed but he supposed he shouldn’t beg for more when he got a decent amount of fun out of this little meeting already.

Taking the offered work eagerly he’d grab a napkin from the side of the table and jotting down his name on it along with his phone number. When he handed it back it was clear he didn’t have much practice writing, and the name Niso Konto had been scribbled out roughly and ‘Pinocchio’ had been written in smaller letters underneath, but the scribble was so poor you could easily make out the original name. “There ya go. I stole a portable battery pack off one of my unlucky encounters, so my phone’s charged pretty much all the time. At least so long as the good doctor keeps letting me use his place to charge up.”

Really he could charge himself up at any internet café or the like if he at least bought something but when he was out of money the good doc was always reliable. At the signal to get gone, he nodded and stood, hooking his mask back onto his head, and giving a flourishing bow before turning about and heading on out, his body slipping and sliding through the busy dance floor on his way to the exit.