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]

[ Brig thinks on how he met Taning ] For a while, when I first met him, I think he could've ended up more like Tohru. [ He takes a sip of his sake ] But having spent more time with him, yeah, he is very different. They're only alike when Taning goes on serious-mode.

[kawaakari]

Well, they do appear to have several things in common beyond their dispositions.

[Yeah, she's kind of read Taning's file. It's her job, okay.]

He does appear to be good for Tohru, though.

[atlas_shrugged]

I don't know Inquisitor Fukuzawa enough to comment on that, really. But if he is, I do believe I would like to get to know him better. [ He does mean it. As hardedge as Tohru is, Brigade respects his ability and personality. And his undying love and loyalty to his son ]

I'd have to agree on him being good for him though, Ma'am. [ He wants to call her by her name again, but old habits die hard ] Taning, actually, has been very good for everyone in the Blade, I believe.

[kawaakari]

Perhaps you should approach him sometime, if you haven't already.

[And that, my friend, is the only warning that you're going to get.

That little mental message is for Tohru, of course.]

And is Taning good for your blade because he helps you watch over them?

[atlas_shrugged]

I do plan to, Ma'am. Just setting up when to approach him. I'd like not to waste his time. [ Because Brig respects the no-nonsense aura Tohru gives off ]

No, not really, Ma'am. Although, yes, I do watch over all of them. [ He takes a drag of his cigarette. ] It's more that Taning is a good influence. He keeps everyone grounded. He reminds everyone, by just being Taning - not the Obrimos Mage, not the Iaidoka Master, not the Adamantine Arrow; Just Taning Marasigan - , to be good people, and that they are good people.

[kawaakari]

And you feel that you cannot do that as well?

[Watching him now.]

[atlas_shrugged]

[ Brig would like to think he can. But he admits that - ] Not as good as Taning can, Ma'am. I'd like to think I'm a good man helping people to be good people. But I'm rigid and stiff. Taning, well, he seems like he hasn't lost the child in him, even with all the shit that's happened in his life. And that, that just exudes out of him without him even trying.

[kawaakari]

[A thoughtful noise.]

Well, an inner child lost could also be an inner child regained, or an inner child developed if there wasn't one to begin with.

[And looking at you now, almost teasingly.]

I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE! Nyahar. Thank god for timeskip with Aidan

[atlas_shrugged]

[ Her words don't slide over him. He remembers his talk with Father Aidan. He was born a soldier. An adult soldier. He had no childhood years ]

[ He just looks at her. Stick in his mouth. Not puffing. ] Now you're just making fun of me. [ But that's just Brig picking up Hikaru's bad habit of deflecting. A curl of a smile on the edge of his lips. ]

I don't know what you're talking about. :3

[kawaakari]

Or I make a valid point.

[She totally makes a valid point, right? Right???]

lalalalala. haha

[atlas_shrugged]

[ Brig keeps smiling. But yes, she does. ] True. It won't get me baby pictures for you to look at though. [ Now he's just making light of things. But he gives her a look and a nod that he does understand what she's driving at. ]

[kawaakari]

[That's enough for her.]

No need. Giving me the pleasure of watching you try and inevitably succeed as you are will be enough.

[atlas_shrugged]

Thank you. [ He downs his sake and sits a little closer to Kasumi ] I'll think on it. But thank you. [ He lights up a new cigarette and quietly sits with her ] I will miss these.

[kawaakari]

It seems as though there will be many things that you will miss when you go.

[He had started waxing nostalgic, after all, during one of their previous sessions. It was nothing outside of what Kasumi was expecting from him, though.]

[atlas_shrugged]

Aside from Great Koi, Ma'am? [ He glances sideways at her ] I'll miss these conversations.

[kawaakari]

It's almost like you are saying goodbye to me already.

[Lifting an eyebrow.]

We still have one more night.

[atlas_shrugged]

And I'm both happy and sad about it. [ He knows he's going to miss talking to her. ] Would you be up for a change of scenery tomorrow night? Sit at the Great Koi's pond?

[kawaakari]

Very well. As things stand, it would be good for us to keep him company.

[atlas_shrugged]

Nico Raio said that he rarely ever gets guests, Ma'am. [ He thinks of the Great Koi and how happy he seemed with Taning's pinwheel boat ] But are there any other reasons why keeping him company would be good? [ He's not quite sure about her last remark. ]

[kawaakari]

Few are actually aware of his existence in Seigi. He does this on purpose, of course, but no creature should be left alone for too long.

[atlas_shrugged]

Sounds like a lot of somebodies I know, Ma'am. [ Brigade shakes his head, laughing at himself, and thinking of Hikaru and some of the others he's read on. ] Is it a good thing I'm keeping you company too, then? Or am I wrong to think you're a woman who keeps nearly everyone at arms-length?

[kawaakari]

You are not wrong in that. We Whisperers work best at an optimum distance.

[Which occasionally means 'close', but could also mean 'nowhere at all'.]

[atlas_shrugged]

[ The words just come out, before he can steel himself from saying them ] Don't keep me at a distance? [ It's out already anyway ] Don't make our talks Whisperer work?

[kawaakari]

[Ah. And here it is.]

My life is defined by my work, Brigade. That does not mean, though, that I cannot enjoy certain aspects of it.

[atlas_shrugged]

This from the woman who told me she prefers not to spoil her drinks with talk of work? [ He smiles at her, remembering a previous night with her ] I'd feel terrible then, if I were just more Whisperer work spoiling your drink. [ He means it and his expression shows how he really feels, even though his words try to place it wittily. Please don't let me be just work. ]