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006↠ ACTION
[It's sunny. And hot. And perhaps not the best weather to take a nap in while you're unabashedly unconscious.
... Which is too bad, seeing as Sanji's passed out under a tree located at the village's edge - clothes dirty and ruffled, no doubt collecting more dirt as he rolls in his uncomfortable slumber, the crook of his arm covering his eyes.
Go on. Wake him up. Be a good Samaritan.
And hell, even if you don't, Sanji will eventually stumble upon you -- or into you, if that's your thing. Later in the day he'll be all over the village insisting he's fine, no he's not drunk so stop trying to escort him back to bed. B| He can walk it off.]
[ooc: MALLYNAP EFFECT. Touch him and your character will share a memory with Sanji. It can be a memory of his or a memory of your character's; just specify in the subject line what you prefer. |D Any memory is free game, and the scope of it is at our discretion, but keep in mind both characters will view it until the memory ends or they escape the "boundary". (Just imagine the memory as a bubble and if a character walks far enough for whatever reason, they pop it.) Also note they're still in Luceti - no teleporting anywhere. Just assume the characters are mostly slack-jawed and staring at a tree for the duration.
I also endorse all time-breaking. Tis but a flimsy wall in our way.]
... Which is too bad, seeing as Sanji's passed out under a tree located at the village's edge - clothes dirty and ruffled, no doubt collecting more dirt as he rolls in his uncomfortable slumber, the crook of his arm covering his eyes.
Go on. Wake him up. Be a good Samaritan.
And hell, even if you don't, Sanji will eventually stumble upon you -- or into you, if that's your thing. Later in the day he'll be all over the village insisting he's fine, no he's not drunk so stop trying to escort him back to bed. B| He can walk it off.]
[ooc: MALLYNAP EFFECT. Touch him and your character will share a memory with Sanji. It can be a memory of his or a memory of your character's; just specify in the subject line what you prefer. |D Any memory is free game, and the scope of it is at our discretion, but keep in mind both characters will view it until the memory ends or they escape the "boundary". (Just imagine the memory as a bubble and if a character walks far enough for whatever reason, they pop it.) Also note they're still in Luceti - no teleporting anywhere. Just assume the characters are mostly slack-jawed and staring at a tree for the duration.
I also endorse all time-breaking. Tis but a flimsy wall in our way.]
;A;
What is this. Sanji can't think to answer the Hero's question because he's too busy being captivated, wide-eyed and horrified, by the scene unfolding before him. What is this what is this what--
He hears the stricken Barnaby ask how long has it been, how long has he not known, and Sanji doesn't even need to hear the answer to know the truth. He's already turned his back on the scene, fists clenched so tight they might draw blood soon.
"About several months now... It was tough, trying to keep it a secret from you."]
alas, we had episode 25, it was not to be, sanji
Sanji, how do you turn this off??
[Because he can't. He really doesn't want to see this. The past few weeks he's been haunted by the thought of what happened then. The last thing he wants is to see Barnaby feel let down by him yet again. It's overwhelmingly painful. All the while, as he calls for Sanji, the scene unrelentingly plays out.
"I'm sorry... I never realized what condition you were in..."
"You idiot... What's the point of hiding it if you noticed it?"
He stops moving, turns to see the scene over his shoulder at the sounds of a jagged cough. "Damn... I think this is bad..."]
But he doesn't knoooooow
The most he can do is keep his distance, bow his head, and close off as many of his senses as possible - push aside how his stomach knots the more Barnaby's cries raise in pitch and fear, that he's gritting his teeth and wishing a cigarette was there for him to bite down on.
"Say, Bunny... it was fun going after criminals with you, and listening to your silly lectures... When you started calling me 'Kotetsu'--"
Shit, no more. He doesn't want to keep hearing this.]
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Did the malnosso do this?? This is from the kidnap, right??
["Stop talking like that!"
"Thanks for everything."
Barnaby's screaming at him--"stop talking like you're about to die"--and he remembers specifically—feeling like he's sinking under a veil of darkness, feeling like maybe this was it. How untrue that sensation really was. Still... For when it happened, it really felt...
--"you're not that kind of person--
your enthusiasm is your only strong point, right?!"--]
We can't stay here. There's gotta be a way out.
[... Maybe if he used his power. Maybe then--]
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Shut up already.
"I've been learning how to make fried rice!" Crying. Bargaining. Pleading. The desperate words of a man about to lose everything. "So you have to try it someday!"]
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[He continues his walk to Sanji, tense, confused at the sudden fiery silence coming off the young man in waves.
"Too close, pal."
Eyelashes. What had even compelled him to talk about his eyelashes again? He grits his teeth as the entire seen suddenly goes pitch black. He can't see Sanji. He's unable to see anything at all, unable to tell up from down, see his hands or feet or ground or anything
Meanwhile, he can hear Barnaby's voice fading off into the distance.
"Kotetsu...??"
Strangled, desperate, lost.
"Kotetsu—!!"
The sound is an awful kind of sound he can barely remember now; the sound of someone thinking they were left alone again. He grits his teeth, hands clenched, and glows, leaping as hard and far as he can, out of the dark and away from the memory. Might've overshot just a little, because when he can see again--away from that inky blackness--he's tumbling roughly through some trees.
Overshot a little.]
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He's pissed. He has no right to be after what he's just seen - Kotetsu's "retirement" is his own business - but the hell-hound that is his twisted anger and sorrow has been set loose, and no cage will hold it.]
That shitty-- [Damn everything.]
Kotetsu!!
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Whoops.
He looks around before hopping to his feet moving through the forest as a little zig-zigging neon light before sliding to a stop around where he'd found Sanji to begin with. It doesn't occur to him that that wrath would be following after Sanji like a ghost, because why would it be?
Sure, he accidentally showed him a tender moment, but it doesn't mean he has to be upset. Right? Right. He searches around and finally sees Sanji's back, putting his hand up. The blue light fades out immediately.]
Oi, Sanji.
[Maybe... he should address that kidnapping shift. He really needs to.]
... Can we talk now?
/turns this super ugly 1/2
Sanji will start by grabbing you by the collar and shoving you against a tree]
Retired, huh?! [Lying bastard. The words echo in his head, each renewal charged by Sanji's own guilt for being so damn angry when he should be handling this better. And maybe Kotetsu has known the blond long enough to pick up the subtle shake in his shoulders, or that the bite to his words lacks focus - he's not angry at Kotetsu.
He's angry because rage so often comes before his sorrow.]
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The answer comes soon - the moment he hears his own voice screaming a name, a command - Don't you dare die on me! - Sanji's grip on Kotetsu turns slack. He forgets to move away. His head doesn't turn. He loses the ability to do anything but drill a hole into Kotetsu's shoulder with his blank stare, breath held tight in his chest. Every part of his mind is frozen in silence.
Like Ginko's chest will sound: silent. Sanji doesn't need to look to know when the knowledge clicks into place - when his own heart stops for a second and he pulls his slowly ear away from the man's torso. The words "He's dead" won't make sense for another hour or so. Until then, all he can do is float in-between a state of numb acceptance and firm denial.
So the chef will sit there in the snow, and stare.]
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[—grab me.
Well, too late for that.
Kotetsu's starting back with wide, uncertain eyes as the scene bleeds into reality again. He thinks for a moment 'I don't remember this', doesn't remember why he'd be screaming like that. He's yelled for people not to die before, but not so fervently, not to anyone but helpless citizens injured or fading beneath a mound of debris or licks of flame.
This was way worse. And it only now clicks when he looks over Sanji's shoulder that it's not him at all. A body with hair white as the snow they're in, and Sanji... looming over that body desperately, not realizing it's too late until the moments tick by.
Sanji's still boring a hole through Kotetsu with his gaze when he looks at the chef. Never seen him so numb-looking. It occurs to him, a quiet realization, that he's very well watching someone as close to Sanji as Bunny was to him die.
And god, does he know that pain. The pain that's jumbled his eating and sleeping habits, kept him restless when he's alone, flooded the pit of his stomach with guilt. 'Should've been able to something, anything, to save 'em.' But sometimes, even if you try your damnedest, all you're left with is that achy pain.
He grabs Sanji's shoulder and yanks him, in the roughly gentle way Kotetsu manages to pull off so well, until the chef's face is over his shoulder. Where he can keep his focus. Don't look.]
I'm sorry, I shouldn't be here.
I'm really sorry.
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The memory doesn't end there. Time and distance skirt beside the grieving man and follow him up the mountain's path while he carries the body with him, into a cave. And then he's talking. Falsely placid words are too low and subdued to hear; the bearer of the memory probably doesn't remember what he said. And Sanji isn't paying attention anymore so much as he's locked in the experience again, lax in Kotetsu's grip, feeling the frustration and anger and helplessness in the cave build and build and--
The yelling starts. So does the kicking. Sanji has never been one for calm when lost in an emotion; the enclosure is just not equipped to handle his unchecked rage. Spikes of rock from the ceiling tremble and fall, and target every inch of the ground, including the still man in a corner - and the cry of fear that erupts from the chef's throat when he shields the dead body with his own...
With an unstable jerk, Sanji propels himself out of Kotetsu's grip like he's been burned, his eye wild and unseeing despite his clenched expression. No. He can hear the choked, naked sobs in the distance and no more. End this, please.]
1/2
[The memory is slowly fading, seeping from his vision bit by bit, and he follows the other man quickly. He wants to distance himself, too, from the sounds. The memory of that awful moment that shouldn't have been shown. He's not sure how to even start fixing his mess, this awful thing.]
Oi, Sanji—wait, dammit!
[He doesn't think. He's not sure if he cares. He's ragged from a lot of things, and he's not thinking straight, because he moves to grab Sanji anyway, needs to stop him from escaping after all this.
The old memory is still biting at his ankles when the new one spots the area, starts to fade in. But it's not painful. It's nothing of the sort. Kotetsu trips and falls into unkept grass, breathing heavy. He's a little scared to see what this memory is, now that he's actually here—]
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Just one of the fields in Oriental town. He recognizes it because he used to play here. He can see himself, a few years younger, sleeping on a blanket, under a tree. When was this again? Aaaa, he's been here a lot.
Regaining his breath, he sits up, looking to Sanji. Suddenly not sure what he was even gonna' say. Still on his stomach, sitting on his elbow, looking dazed while dragonflies or butterflies or grasshoppers thrive around 'em. Everything else is so quiet.]
...
Are you gonna be okay?
[We need to talk.
Not run away, but talk.]
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Kotetsu's grip on his wrist is the only thing keeping him stationary, and the older man will be able to feel the muscles tense and flex, tightened by the mad desire to keep walking and leave this shit behind. The old wound on his heart is open again, bleeding itself dry - all he wants to do is work on mending it closed with denial and disregard. It worked before. It'll work again.
He sucks in breaths through his teeth and hisses the air out of his nose. He doesn't want to remember. So--]
Let go already.
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[Said has his head sags toward the ground, but his grip on his arm is still tight. No explanation why, no attempt to talk him down or make him feel like it'll be okay.
Just a no.
In the distance a van drives across the old road, but there's so little noise around them. Some sound of trees rustling, some sound of birds chirping. Almost like Luceti, with some hazy wheat color pressing the scene.]
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[There is a very thick, very present threat in his voice, as his fingers twitch into a fist again. The background scenery barely makes an impression.
Let go.]
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[He jerks Sanji's wrist toward him, frowning.]
The last time I let someone run off like that, I regretted it, so I'm not letting you leap off like he did! We're friends! We don't leave each other in the dark!
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Then why the hell didn't I know you were dead!?
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[Blink, blink. He lets Sanji's arm go with that yank, looking confused.
In the distance, Kotetsu sits up, yawning, looking disgruntled, pulling his collar. "Moou, it's too hot to sleep out here..."]
...
Dead?
[Wait a sec-]
Is that why you were mad at me earlier?
[are you confused yet sanji]
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With measured slowness, Sanji turns around and stares down at the other, his anger retreating. His own expression is less confusion and more dawning realization]
But-- [It takes a second for his voice to work properly] I saw you...
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He casually loops his fingers around his wrist, clenching and unclenching the hand.]
No one checked my pulse.
1/?
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4/4
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1/3
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1/2
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