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

[atlas_shrugged]

[ The way it's delivered, she sounds so much like Hikaru ] We will see you again, Ma'am, won't we? [ He's sad at that. And thinks of their first meeting. How she told him the story of Sister Sun and Brother Moon. Her constant presence had almost made him forget that she wasn't here permanently. That she hadn't left yet because her purpose had not arrived.

He wished the purpose could wait another week. Maybe a month. Or a year. Hikaru and Setsuna deserved to have more time together ]

[bladeweaver]

I'm happy for you, then. Hikaru-san has been so much more... calm, since you showed up. It's a refreshing sight, can I just say.

[Might as well.]

What do you see for us, if I may ask? My blade. I've grown quite attached to them, see, and I guess I'd like to know if there are things I can prepare for, for all our sakes.

[atlas_shrugged]

[ Brigade gives a grimace at that ] That wouldn't be right. Not one bit. [ He takes a swig of his alcohol ] If the higher ups and your close friends can tell you guys from one another, that just means I'm going to have to take the time to get to know you both better. [ Brigade smiles and holds his beer up for a toast. Oh, it's empty already. His bad ]

[bladeweaver]

[Taning hadn't noticed, because drugs.]

Oh um. Was I saying anything interesting?

[Oh yeah he was.]

[bladeweaver]

Oh, uh... [Rueful chuckle.] We're a small blade, I think, compared to yours? I suppose we have fair balance of personalities. But I shan't bore you with our personal issues...

[He means that. He's not deflecting, mostly because he doesn't see the need to.]

[ferricwill]

On the contrary, I don't find it boring.

[It's actually nice to see what kids are up to these days.]

[thebrandybunch]

Eh, it's you're call. Sometimes it's a tactical advantage, leaving people in the dark.

[And that would be Saxon, as he's handing a new bottle over to Brig.]

[sadame]

[Glancing up, ears flattening a little against her head in apology.]

I'm sorry, Taning. I'm afraid that I don't really see possibilities in the way that I used to unless there is something that requires my attention.

[Although, that might be a good sign. Her not seeing anything for them just yet.]

[sadame]

I hope we do.

[She really, really, really does.

She is also not about to mention to him how, by the two of them getting close, the chances of them seeing each other again get slimmer by the minute.]

[fidelias]

Not at all.

[Yeah you totally were. But Tohru is Boss at this.]

[atlas_shrugged]

[ Brigade nods in thanks and takes a swig of the beer. He's yet again, while speaking normally, trying to study the differences between the twins ]

Keeping the enemy in the dark: yes.

But I find not getting to know your brothers-in-arms leads to tactical disadvantage since you don't really know what they can do, or how they'll do it. [ Brigade feels like a cigarette but he's drenched and in the middle of the pool. Now if only there were waterproof cigarettes. He opts to take another swig instead. ] It ruins flow and synergy which I'm sure you two know perfectly about.

That [ Brig pauses slightly ] and I think it's just wrong not to know the people you fight alongside with. Could be easier since you don't have any emotional connection. They're just another couple of dead soldiers. [ That's a terrible way to look at things really. ] But you don't fight harder either, since you're only looking out for your own skin. Fighting for some purpose other than one's selfishness is always better fuel, I believe.

[atlas_shrugged]

[ Brigade can sense the melancholy in her voice ] I think I'm happy to stay right here for the moment. [ He rubs the space between her ears ] Just spend some time with you while you're still here. [ He'll spend time with the others later. He'll savor the time Setsuna can spare with him. ]

...Sorry, Brig.

[thebrandybunch]

[Huh.

Huh.

Both twins are kind of all "o_o" at Brig now. And tilting their heads.]

You're a pretty serious guy.

[sadame]

[Mmm, that is nice enough to be distracting. A little.]

I'm not about to complain. Thank you.

Re: ...Sorry, Brig.

[atlas_shrugged]

[ Brig laughs. He now knows why that feeling of comfortable familiarity was exuding from these two. ] Sorry. Habit and training.

[ He wades over to the big sake bottles lined up on the edge of the pool and tosses them one each and takes one for his own. The smile of abandon in fun comes back to his face. Sometimes, after a sortie back in the 1940s, they all just went home and drank. Just because. ] You're right. Fuck that, DRINKEY-DRINKEY! [ He feels it appropriate after hearing them shout FIGHTEY-FIGHTEY a lot in the Shatterdome before. He starts to chug his bottle straight. ]

[atlas_shrugged]

[ Brigade smiles and just keeps rubbing the space between her ears. It's enough. Sharing a moment of peace like this is enough. ]

[thebrandybunch]

[YAY FINALLY SOMEONE WHO DOES SHIT TO WORDS LIKE THEY TO.]

DRINKEY-DRINKEY!

[Kasumi is so going to kill them later.]

[atlas_shrugged]

[ Brigade proceeds to marathon drink all the alcohol with the Brands, alternating water wrestling matches in-between. He hasn't felt like a kid in so long. ]

maybe some time after Taning speaks to him

[atlas_shrugged]

[ Brigade approaches his mentor and Sadaharu, carrying with him the shield that is Gintoki ] Good afternoon, An'yu-sama, Sadaharu-san, may we join you? [ He gestures to the shield ]

[ktotheatothez]

[Kaz is waaaaaaay winded by the time the match hits 3-0, and he really, really can't even. When he dashes for the ball again, he just rolls onto the floor. It's clear he can't win and he's learned to be less stubborn about things.]

Aaaaagh, fine, kuya. I give.

[It's mock irritation, and he mostly just stays there, on the floor 'til Nico helps him up. His consolation prize is his boyfriend using the sleeve of his yukata to wipe the sweat on his forehead before kissing it, then flicking the ball at Taning.

"You okay?" the taller boy asks, and Kaz only nods, still breathing out of his mouth.]

I'll be fine. Just lemme find a seat and some water.

[He finds a place to sit, and just cools down. Nico running off to get him a drink maybe.]

[therealbrianna]

[ At this point, she actually moved closer to Tohru, plus she's poking him on the arm. ]

So it's just business, not personal?

[atlas_shrugged]

[ Before Nico runs off, Brig catches him by the arm and puts in his hands two water bottles ] Drink up, Kaz.

OOC: Cue in Nick Nolan's "Devil Gets Your Soul"

[ Brigade picks up Kaz's paddle and walks up to his side of the ping-pong table ] My turn. [ He smiles at Taning and takes off his yukata. Standing there with only his boardshorts, and in typical anime fashion, it falls slowly to the ground while the sun glints off of Brig's skin. ] Your service or mine?

[fidelias]

[And in that moment, like in all moments where someone dares to ask him such a question, the memories come back before he can stop them: small hands, on his face. Small hands, on his knee. Eyes that are not his own at all, in a face that could not have come from his wife or from him.

The smile, though, was always, always for them. As were the tears. As was the silence, before he quietly, carefully brought the words back.

"Don't apologize. I am honored to be your father, so please... please don't run away from us."]

It is both now. More personal than anything else.

[He had made a promise: to follow, even when he could not. He planned on keeping it, with every cell in his body, with every breath he drew, down to the last.]

[therealbrianna]

[ Still poking him because he's daddy's daddy so that makes him Bri's grand daddy. ]

That's okay. 'Cause that just means you love Daddy a lot, and that makes you a good daddy, grand daddy Tohru.

[ Yes she just called Tohru her "grand daddy" because she loves collecting people. ]

[fidelias]

[Lifting an eyebrow at her as he takes another drag from his pipe.]

Are you sure that you want me as your grandfather?

[YOU KNOW NOT WHAT YOU ASK FOR, CHILD.]