Waking the Dead 2.0 || May 18, 2063 || The Mandatory Hot Springs Episode

[kawaakari]

[The skies are clear, the air is cool, and overall? Conditions are perfect for spending the entire afternoon and maybe even the entire night at the hot springs within Seigi. It's open to Zangyaku operatives and their families, along with any of their guests.

Oh, they're also communal. Surely no one minds? It's just skin, after all.

You're allowed to smoke, drink and eat while you're chilling out in the pools. You can also play cards, have a round (or several) of ping pong, flop around... anything goes, as long as you don't kill anybody!]



OOC Notes:
+ Make your own threads, plot out your own shenanigans and whatever else. Just remember: War Hounds and the rest were probably invited there after lunch, and are more than welcome to spend the rest of the day there. Y'all might want to specify the time. :3
+ NPCs are available on call beyond the threads I set up in here (if I end up setting some up, anyway)! Lemme know if you have questions.

Comments

[thebrandybunch]

[Have looks of Solemn Approval.

They like you now.]

C'mon, join us. The water's great!

[That is from the both of them.]

[sadame]

Yes. We can talk about it, though, if you want to hear it from me.

[She doesn't mind at all.]

Besides, we have not been able to talk at length yet.

[fidelias]

There was a need for me to. The Blade King needs a good eye on him at all times.

[He can be those eyes. Watching has always been something that Tohru Fukuzawa is good at.]

[bostova]

[ What looks? What grace? ]

No, the honor would be mine.

[atlas_shrugged]

[ Brigade smiles at this ] I've found, Ma'am, that the dossiers and files only tell so much, and that the real stories [ He remembers his walk with Father Aidan ] can only be found out from the person involved.

I would like to talk longer with you too. I would like to get to know my Brother's sister better.

[atlas_shrugged]

[ Brigade feels a familiar camaraderie with the Brands. Something he hasn't felt in a long while. It's so out-of-character, but he feels young again. He takes off his yukata, wearing a pair of board shorts underneath, and decides to cannonball in after picking up two bottles of beer in each hand. As he raises half his body out of the water again, he tosses a bottle to each of them. ] You're both right; it is. [ And as simple as that, he just starts drinking some more ]

;A;

[ktotheatothez]

[YO MAN! Kaz really shouldn't have agreed to anything of the sort, but too late. It's vicious, but he barely manages to return the volley, before that slice.

He goes after it, pivoting on his heel - grip on his paddle flipped - and he misses just barely.]

One-Zero.

[He keeps his breathing even as he serves again, backhanded. It sends the ball spinning across the net and into the far right of Taning's side of the table.]

[OOC: Dis be some PoT shit right here.]

Yes, please :3c

[ktotheatothez]

Maybe later. I don't exactly want to see Kuya's fundoshi again.

[There's a stage shiver, but it's an affectionate tone in his voice that belies that he actually doesn't mind it all the time. He takes a seat next to the older man and digs out his cigs from somewhere in his yukata]

So. That was brutal.

[He speaks of the match between The Assassin and The Living Land. Using their titles somehow softens the blow to Kaz. Detaching the fact that two people he respected had basically gone down and dirty and it was really, really not pretty.]

:) :) :)

[bladeweaver]

[A funny thing, this drug cocktail of Tohru's, of Makoto's invention. Everything seems to be in slow motion. Slow enough that Taning is running figures in his head.

He's also got Forces mage sight, Read Matrices, on, because he's a cheating cheater like that.

He catches up to the ball and sends it to the center of the table with a slice, slowing it down enough to go back to center position. Again he settles Kaz into a comfortable rally; easy enough that the young man can hit on instinct alone, but difficult enough that he doesn't get many opportunities to set up a smash or a cross-courter.

And then, Taning sees a gust of wind coming half a second before it arrives. He aims at the center of the table, ostensibly to drop it, but really to catch the gust as soon as it arrives. When it does, the ball is carried to the leftmost side of the table, very near the net.

Give Kaz a lot of credit: he actually makes it to that ball and sends it back over to his side. But...

The chances of you sending this back, as Taning rips a backhand to the far right corner, are at zero percent.

Nico deftly caught the ball with his hand before it reached his face.]

Oops, sorry Nico!

[bladeweaver]

[Taning hunches down, with as warm a smile as any he had worn in a while. What is it about this woman that puts him at ease? She's like a long-lost friend.]

No, thank you, for listening to an insecure old mage babble. And for letting me scratch your ears. That was quite soothing!

[He sits Indian-style now, because talking with Setsuna-san wasn't supposed to happen, but it did, and he doesn't mind now that it has.]

If you don't mind me asking, how's it feel like, to be back? Or, [He clears his throat embarrassedly.] being actually visible again. You know what I mean.

[bladeweaver]

[That makes Taning actually laugh. He's read some of the dossiers.]

I suppose there's one in every blade, huh?

[bladeweaver]

[Taning has this vaguest feeling that he's about to make a fool of himself again, but... no, he really shouldn't. Not in front of all of these big shots.

So he makes a conscious effort to not really let loose. Just be... happily stoned. Kind of like happily drunk, but with more muscle coordination and less memory.

Turns out that this blend is really good for that. Why is everything so clear? Why is everything so... close? And then he realizes that he inadvertently turned on Celestial Telescope.

Is that Brig? Why does he seem like he's staring at someone? Okay yeah he's definitely staring, I've forgotten the past five seconds and he's still looking. His head swivels around, and... Ah, Kasumi-san. But why?... eh. Doesn't matter. Ask later.

He people-watches like this for fifteen minutes, muttering under his breath.]

Link in ooc note on this post. :3

[mordechai]

[Yeah he really didn't need that mental image --

Oh. Serious discussion time, is it? Not saying anything immediately. Focusing on his cigarette instead.]

Aria is lucky that Tohru didn't go all out. He could have.

[You don't need to kill someone in order to make them feel like they died, after all.]



ooc: And here! Takes place a day after this, etc. etc., we can figure out something.

I'm cry XDD

[ktotheatothez]

[Kaz goes to retrieve the ball from Nico, who hands it back to him with a grin. They both know Kaz isn't all that great at Table Tennis, apart from mandatory Phys. Ed.]

Dork.

[He swipes the ball, grinning all the same. Nico could take on Taning, but no. This is his match.]

Your serve, kuya.

[He tosses the ball back at Taning and flips his grip on the paddle. A chopstick grip like back at school. It served him well enough, and he wanted to at least get a couple points in - no matter if he lost.]

[ferricwill]

More like two or three. Unless your blade happens to be an exception.

[Curious now.]

[thebrandybunch]

[Laughing even more, of course, when Brigade just... jumps in. Kasumi's probably not going to like that, but WHATEVER~~~]

You're Brigade, right?

[That would be Breton, as Saxon is occupied with opening more bottles for all three of them. Brig's probably going to be done with that one soon anyway.]

[sadame]

And I would like to get to know you better too. You and the rest of your blade.

[They've done plenty for Hikaru. She can tell.]

I just hope that there will be enough time for us to do that.

[sadame]

It feels...

[Wonderful. Perfect. Fulfilling. Terribly beautiful. Beautifully sad.]

It feels great, actually. It's been too long.

[kawaakari]

[IT'S TOTALLY THERE, JUST... BURIED DEEP...

Anyway. Smiling at that.]

And the roles you will pick. Which ones are you considering?

[atlas_shrugged]

[ That last statement is so ambiguous that Brigade's mind races over the possibilities she could mean ] Ma'am, what do you mean? [ He's expecting bad, worse and worst. ] Are you leaving soon? Or is there something coming that we should prepare for? [ The "worst" he doesn't verbalize. Nyx? Grendal? Something else of equal magnitude? ]

[fidelias]

[And listening to this intently.

Very, very intently.

He is remembering the real reason why Makoto loved this stuff back in the day. It made people talk.

Still. This IS his student.]

You're talking to yourself.

[atlas_shrugged]

[ Brigade smiles and holds his hand out for a shake. ] Yeah, that's me. Nice to meet you two. You're Breton or Saxon? [ Brigade focuses on Breton's facial expressions, the quality of his features, the hunch in his shoulder, looking for something he can always look for in the future to differentiate one twin from the other ]

[bladeweaver]

[Taning mirrors Kaz's grip of the paddle; it is not his preferred grip, but...]

Here I go!

[He serves the ball easy, then launches Kaz into a rather intense rally that has both him and Kaz huffing and puffing after the ball. It's fast and it's fun and he's starting to get Kaz really into it.

This kid is actually good! With practice he can give me a run for my money. Not just here, but as a Hunter. That's good. I want to see more of that. But for now...

Kaz is caught in an interesting position. He is far to the left of the table and his grip... hmm. Taning slices a Kaz short ball back to the left side to draw him further out, and Kaz goes off after it like a shot. Fast! But he forgot to be wary because of the pace of the game. And so, he flips his paddle in his hand and smacks another hard backhand to the right corner. And Nico catches the ball again.]

3-0, Nico! I mean, Kaz! Sorry, Nico! Kaz, yield? [He grins affectionately at the poor, winded kid.]

[thebrandybunch]

Breton.

[...Yeah it's pretty much impossible to tell them apart. It's in the attitude. Physically, they look exactly alike, and further aggravate matters by wearing the same clothes almost all the time, and always cutting their hair the same way.

You'll have to keep hanging out with them to figure them out.]

We don't mind, though, if you switch us around. Happens often enough.

[sadame]

I will have to go eventually. All of this has been a bit of an extended vacation for me.

[Sounding just a little bit sad, but trying to make light of the situation.

Does that remind you of somebody?]