Making Business (Niso)

Niso was feeling… good. Lately. Or at least better. He’d been freaking out so much about trying to find that information about his old home St martas but now… it felt like a weight off his shoulders. Daffodil had it in hand and something about her gentle approach compared to what he expected from a villain had soothed his nerves. He trusted that she’d be able to handle it for some reason. She just… seemed like she could, and it was nice to not be thinking about that endless rabbit hole of dead ends for at least a while.

Instead, he was thinking on a new rabbit hole… MARINE. He’d been after that golden goose for a while. Most of the criminal world didn’t seem to want to deal with it but Niso was MORE than eager to get his hands on some. From the demonstration he’d witnessed before having to flee shinagawa when the heroes showed up, it supposedly hyper-activated your quirk before your cells combusted or some convoluted crap like that. The thing was… Niso was SURE he could out last that! If it hyper-activated his quirk than he could use his own body to out-heal the Marine and come away closer to immortality than ever before! Sure it may be a gruesome, painful experience, but what part of his life wasn’t!?~

That lead him to a deal with Antonio. While the two were initially just going to be holding a meeting with one another, Niso was more than ready to see how things would flow from there. Odds are they may have a ‘pleasant’ interaction and go their separate ways from there but… Niso hoped that a man like this could get what he needed. From what little he could tell this other man seemed refined, connected, much more in tune with the politics of criminals than he was…

If anyone could get him what he wasn’t that wasn’t that REVULTING Thunder… Antonio sounded like that man.

A set of headphones on his head, he rocked up to the meeting place humming a very energetic tune, seemingly blind to the world around him. While Antonio had perhaps been waiting very seriously in the cold and the dark, Niso was walking in with a practical skip to his step, each one moving along to the beat and twirling on his heel as he started chanting the nonsense lyrics.

“Nightmare PAH-RADE- BABABBABABA!~” He chuckled away to himself, spotting Antonio and a huge chesire grin spreading across his face as he dragged the headphones off his head, looking to them before wrapping them up and shoving them in a pocket of the jacket he was wearing. “Ugh I love the old music. Electro swing or whatever they call it. Has such a chaotic energy to it don’t you think!~” He chimed with a grin, offering his hand across with a more devious tint to his expression. “Niso Konto, a pleasure to meet you.~” he hummed gently, like the slithery little sounds of a trickster trying to figure out his prey.

He expected no less from Pinocchio then a twirling boy and singing with no care in the world. He reminded Antonio of someone he dealt with in the past, but this wasnt them. So it was not important to dwell on it. He watched Pinocchio have this shit eating grinon his face as he removed the headphones and shoved them away.

Still idly humming the tune he’d been listening to as he shoved his hands down in his pockets, Niso quickly displayed he was hardly the type to sit still, or stand still for that matter. Even shoving his hands into his pockets to remove the chance of making idle gestures, the chipper expression he was holding was coupled by the gentle bobbing of his head, and casual sway of his hips to the energetic tune in his head that he managed to hum along to, though really with the speed and specific choices of the song’s tunes it probably sounded like the hummings of a madman even to those only semi-familiar with the song itself. “Oooo a potential fellow fan.~ Might I recommend caravan palace? They died off somewhere in the 2030s but they made some real good music if you like a bit of a ‘bop’.” He offered a cheeky ass grin with a brief waggle of his brow before pulling back and holding a somewhat more serious expression.

… Well. As close to serious as Niso can get without shapeshifting.

“Supplier huh?” Niso shook his hand firmly, but it was clear even in that attempt he didn’t have the most firm grip. It was a bit… boney, felt like he could dig his claws into something if he really wanted to, but he certainly wasn’t an immediately threatening specimen. Might make someone question how he got into the top 5 most wanted list in Tokyo…

“The supplier hm?~ I know some of you lot still care about your ‘secret identities’ so I’ll stick with that. As for helping us criminals get what they want… how good would you say you are at that?~ Cause I might have a challenge for you mr supplier.~”

Niso did want to make sure he was dealing with someone serious. He’d been trying to get in direct communication with the producers of this drug he was after for quite some time with minimal results. Maybe he was too much of a wild card for them to trust. Ah what a compliment that would be if it was the case… but regardless, it meant he needed someone more serious to be the middle man.

Seeing they were off to a pleasant enough start, Niso retained his smile but wasn’t exactly taking anything the man before him said at face value. Afterall at the end of the day, they were both criminals, and while Niso himself made sure to never tell a lie, there was a lot of damage you could do even just telling the truth. As such he made sure not to take any of these other criminals at face value. Growing up where he did it had become a bit of a defense mechanism to never fully believe anything anyone else said. “Mmm. You do that.” He idly commented, with a mildly cheeky smirk of his own.

In truth Niso just didn’t care about his face being known as his ‘true’ one. He had a secret identity by all means, it just wasn’t the one he caused chaos under. He thought briefly to his fake Alias, Niso Gottschalk… heh. So obvious it was hard to take seriously. Yeah, he had the same name as a famous criminal when trying to pass as a civilian, but it wasn’t like he could have chosen the name he was born with. Plus it made it a lot easier to ‘lie’ when his real name matched his fake one.

As Antonio took a cigarette, Niso winced and took a step back. With his quirk the things wouldn’t even come close to killing him but he really hated them all the same. Alcohol, drugs, cigarettes… anything that could shorten your life span was idiotic to him no matter how addictive it could be. If anything that made him hate them more, made him wanna back off from the scent, as if believing he could just… become addicted by being close. Still. To each their own. So long as the supplier wasn’t a ‘pusher’ like Thunder he didn’t have room to despise him.

“Well I could say the same… though from what you just said I think we mean something different when we say ‘years’. I mean when did you even start? You look about my age.~” He teased cheekily. Of course Niso with his bad case of baby face looked late teens at most so he mostly was just joking about the age of the man before him. “As for what I can afford… I’m pretty sure if you give me a number I could find the funds. I mean, those funds might go ‘missing’ from other people, but I could definitely find them myself… I’m more curious if you think you can get me what I need.~ I mean. 5th most wanted criminal infront of you. I think my reputation speaks louder than… well. Your LACK of reputation…~”

“As someone who wants to live a long time I’m not a fan of those who try to kill themselves. No.” He spoke with a mild hint of genuine disgust in his voice. Any hint that the smiles he put on were a façade were entirely lacking from that hint of annoyance in his voice. Even if he could spoke and purge the shit from his system without harm, it was more the concept of it that felt like a spit in the face when he observed it. “The redirection is appreciated though…” He’d offer as a… sacrifice. He supposed. He wasn’t about to start a fight here since he wanted this guy’s help on some level.

His eyes grew wide however and his business here was briefly forgotten as this man mentioned being alive since at least 2030 if he was understanding him right… he barely looked older than him. Niso was good at reading people but even he couldn’t tell if he was being fucked with here, narrowing his gaze in brief disbelief and wondering what made this guy tick but… ah what the heck. When did he care for the social rules amongst villains. He’d ask boldly enough. “2030 huh?~ What’s your quirk… just good skin or are you actually as young as you look?~” He was curious now. His own goals were pretty much to train his body and his quirk till death was no longer a worry. If this person had a quirk that was already granting him youth… well. Niso might well wish to learn from that one day.

Still, he wouldn’t linger of Antonio wasn’t in a divulging mood. They had business afterall.

Niso’s gaze narrowed but he seemed to be forming a curling smile as the man went on about how he only lacked a reputation in Japan. Retiring huh? In Japan? Yeah you picked the wrong time for that if you’re a trained criminal. Niso scoffed in disbelief but his smile remained. “To retire, or to escape the heat?~ Can’t exactly be an expert if you couldn’t even retire in your own home country.” He’d tease, hoping to goad Antonio a bit and get a more valid form of… well, evidence, that he had what it takes, but at the end of the day he was still here for what he wanted, and he’d offer that across readily enough.

“Well, spain or Japan, expert or no. You know who your dealing with, so I imagine you know what might happen if you don’t get me some results.~ Whatever you’ve outlived… I assure you I’m worse.”

He lingered with just a quiet smile and a joy to his tone that didn’t match his words, before slowly calming himself and adjusting the collar of his jacket. “Either way! To business huh? I assume someone like you must know who the plutocracy are… right?~” This was potentially a make or break point. Surprising to Niso, a lot of criminals seemed rather cautious to do deals with the plutocracy…~

“Mmm…” Niso still wasn’t toooo happy to even be in the general vicinity of a smoker, but it wasn’t like it was about to kill him of all people… besides, he could put up with worse when he needed something, wanted something or… someone. He’d put up with a lot of Luzia’s habits to keep her happy afterall… he idly wondered if she was doing okay without him keeping her ‘supplied’. Maybe not…

Ugh. Business time Niso. No reason to get distracted by idle thoughts about the girl who walked away from you. Focus on this. Here and now. Focus on MARINE.~

Niso stepped a half step back as the person before him displayed their quirk, his eyes going a little wide for a moment as Antonio had the stones to just put out a lit cigarette on his skin. Briefly a spike of pain flowed through Niso’s mind, his healed brain cells getting flashbacks to the countless times one of the st Marta employees put out their cigarettes against his skin to vent their frustrations. Eventually he’d become a bit mentally numb to it… to pain in general. Still, he knew the unpleasant sensation that entailed, a chuckle leaving him at the balls Antonio had to use such a thing as a display, idly remarking. “Heh… birds of a feather.” Niso raised the back of his own hand. While not burnt, his skin cells seemed to turn… dark and blue, as if being damaged from the inside, a thick painful mark appearing before slowly fading away as Niso flexed out his fingers. “Gotta say, never seen someone but me with a regeneration quirk so… quick.~ What I wouldn’t give to see what yoooou can endure…~” What he wouldn’t give to somehow add his quirk to his own too. If only that were possible…~

His teasing about Antonio’s reasons for retiring didn’t seem to break any ground but Niso could respect that in it’s own way. Antonio knew who he was and what he was about. Sure, he was still ‘playing the game’ so to speak but how he wanted to spend his retirement was his choice. Niso never planned to ‘retire’ from his own version of the game. Not if he could help it, but ho hum~ Not everyone could be a like mind. “Well to each their own I suppose…~ Still, out here, meeting with a shady criminal… I’d hardly call this retirement por fa vor?~” He spoke, having no idea what ‘por fa vor’ actually meant. He did however burst out laughing as Antonio called Thunder an idiot. “HAH! He is isn’t he!? Aaaah I can tell we’re gonna get on swell!~”
Despite this, Niso would still hold his ‘weight’ in the conversation. Chummy or not, he needed something from Antonio, and as such, he needed to ensure he was… motivated, to get it done.

His brow raised when Antonio said he’d been in contact with the plutocracy and Niso’s prospects here were already looking up!~ “Good. Gooood… see I’ve been looking for some of their ‘product’ for quite some time but the reps seem to have difficulty wanting to arrange a meeting with someone of my… unique disposition. So… I was hoping that through you, I might be able to get my hands on some of their sweet, sweet… MARINE.~” He chimed, a devious chesire like smile creeping across his cheeks. “Of course whether you obtain it legitimately or through somebody else I don’t care. I just want some of that stuff in my hands. I’m not usually one for drugs but… this one definitely intrigues me.~”
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Niso’s brow rose with some clear confusion as Antonio spoke his native tongue to the Japanese boy. Niso was surprisingly well ready so people couldn’t get past him with fancy words, but another language? That got under his skin in a way he didn’t expect. He felt like cheekily asking ‘in japanese’ but the odd frustration he felt creeped in a little more than he expected… he tried to ensure his brain cells committed those words to memory, and he’d look it up later. Hopefully it wasn’t an insult to his face or something of the like.. but he expected Antonio had more class than that, from what little he knew of him already.

As Antonio seemed to treat the matter of Marine rather flippantly, Niso’s brow rose with some surprise and a bit of delight surrounding the matter. Well then! Seemed they be doing this simply enough. Honestly he thought this might be more of a challenge given how long he’d been wanting the stuff, but at the end of the day it looked like the plutocracy may have just not wanting to deal with him. Ho hum. “Well then, you know how to get in touch with me. You need anything else?~”