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Entry tags:
TDM 003
| TDM 003: #BEACHBUMS |
I. BEACH  Welcome arrivals, new and old! The skies on Erku may be perpetually gray, but the weather has taken a sudden turn to summertime heat. Fortunately, soaring temperatures have chased away more of the strange fog that conceals so much of the island, unveiling a charming, sandy cove dotted here and there with rustic love shacks. These shabby little lean-tos are dusty and sparse, but they provide everything one (or two, wink wink) might need for a little relief from the sun. Just don’t wander too far... that fog has memory-loss properties. II. DRINKS  The 'bots are very apologetic about the whole fog incident, and they are trying to get on the new arrivals' good sides by giving out fancy drinks. Of course, they still haven't mastered the art of making things properly, so each drink has a little something... extra.
III. SNACKS  Lo! As you ask, the Augur shall provide. Thanks to the efforts of your organic predecessors in restoring the planet’s Eros energy, edible fishes and seaweeds have returned to the ponds and the shores of Erku. If you fancy yourself savvy to basic survival skills, why not fashion up a fishing rod and catch yourself dinner? Just be careful if you happen to hook one of the octopus creatures from the deeper waters - they can be quite forward with their tentacles! Or, if primitive angling isn’t in your repertoire, you can always trade some credits for a tasty catch from one of the food stalls along the coast. Most stalls are manned by 'bots, but there’s nothing stopping an enterprising arrival from setting up shop. No credits? No problem! The robots have also provided a bit of entertainment, and any volunteers to man the kissing booth, get dunked in the wet t-shirt dunk tank, or grill up some fish - among other opportunities - will find credits automatically loaded onto the payment app of their bracelet devices. The 'bots are recruiting especially hard for participants to work in the gloryhole tent! IV. SPARKLES  As dusk descends, the white sands of the beach suddenly come alive with glittering lights. It’s as if the darkened waters have carried a thousand shining stars from the depths of the sea to the shores of the cove. In actuality, each little twinkle is a bioluminescent plankton or jellyfish! Feel free to wade among them and admire their shine; even the sting of the jellies won’t hurt you... though they do pack a different punch. The tentacles of the jellyfish elicit a powerful aphrodisiac response, which gets the heart racing and the blood pumping for an intimate touch. The effects come on within a matter of minutes, and last for a few hours. Only time will relieve the symptoms, but a partner will help to make it more bearable. N A V I G A T I O N |
ib
He's taciturn at the best of times, but it stands out particularly under the vague sense of revelry blanketing this place. It reminds him of a summer festival, and if he were younger and more naive, he might even have found it in himself to enjoy some portion of it — regardless of the erotic undertones.
Thus far he's met with no familiar face, and so isn't expecting anything of the sort. Maybe he should have noticed ahead of time just who it is he manages to stumble upon, but the combination of serendipity and the dulling of all of his senses means he turns to the robot first, frustrated: ]
I don't like—
[ And then recognition kicks him in the chest, knocks all the wind from his lungs, and he freezes with mirrored black eyes on the man he's only, just recently, killed. ]
kill bill sirens
Without the aid of sharingan, there's no way to confirm or deny this reality, but until this point the sheer complexity of his surroundings—and its many inhabitants—has Itachi inclined to disbelieve he's been trapped into genjutsu. His own skill notwithstanding, of course, because it's a stretch to even imagine he would fall prey at all. Yet something has happened. That's clear as soon as he sees his brother walk up to the drink stall.
One hand on the drink (with its hilariously bizarre pink mini-umbrella), the other on the pouch of weapons at his waist, Itachi waits for that flash of recognition—knowing with cold, logical certainty it will come. Not long ago he was sitting in the throne of the old Uchiha base, anticipating this exact encounter.
Unfortunately, the robot continues its bossy peer pressure, oblivious to the charged atmosphere that plagues this family reunion.]
Nonsense! You haven't tried ours before, have you? Give it a taste! [Rude mechanical hands push the cup at Sasuke. Enjoy that.] Don't be shy now!
https://youtu.be/eTMb2UkW4xY
This second time should not happen at all. Sasuke watched him stagger the distance of their destroyed ancestral home, collapse under his own weight, the stilling of his chest as his heart and lungs and mind stopped.
What jars him from it is the insistent shove of the cup against his hand, and Sasuke reacts on reflex alone. His palm finds the hilt of his chokuto, and then the blade finds the torso of the robot. The shrill crackle of electricity doesn't come from Sasuke, but instead from the mechanical deaththrow of the robot shorting out. When the weapon sings on it's withdrawal and hangs loose in Sasuke's hand, his other is still holding the chocolate cup he'd been given.
He blinks, as though coming back to himself, and then looks again at Itachi. ]
no subject
They're left only to stare at one another.
Carefully, Itachi places his drink aside on the now unmanned stall, then straightens.]
If you intend to attack me next, you should know I've been stripped of most of my abilities.
[Including the sharingan, unsaid. The black color of his eyes in this moment is proof enough. If this bothers him (and it does, deep down), there's nothing to reveal it in his stoic expression.]
Is it the same for you?
no subject
If Itachi had been serious, we wouldn't be having this conversation. Would he ever have been able to best Itachi? A phantom sting itches in the slope of his shoulder, where his seal no longer exists. The fact they've both been stripped of their abilities (the mutual blackness of their eyes a visceral sign of this fact) might even mean they could meet on more even ground.
Itachi sets his drink down and his spine straightens. Just weeks ago, the fact he remains seated might have incited rage in him, making it lick up all his insides and catch his lungs on fire. That total arrogance and disregard...
The chokuto slides back into it's sheath and clicks softly into place. ]
Would that matter?
[ He's watching Itachi so intently that he's hardly blinking. ]
When you intended to lose from the beginning.
he's allergic to talking
At least until Sasuke answers, kicking up thoughts in his mind like grains of sand, rattling that placid mask. The line of his brow creases.]
It would matter. [Something hard enters his voice, a sharp kernel of dismissal.] If we mean to measure ourselves against each other, we'll need access to that which has been taken. [OuR eYeS, otouto.]
I have no intention of losing.
yeah WE KNOW
His already thin patience is translucent, and unlike his brother's unflappable demeanor, Sasuke's brow comes angrily down. His voice is low, but sharp like a whipcrack. ]
Liar.
[ Sasuke steps forward, not quite in Itachi's personal space but near enough to threaten to cross that boundary. The base of his cocktail hits the countertop — but Sasuke doesn't let it go. His knuckles are tight around it's base, blanching the colour from already pale skin. ]
You were already dying.
[ It's lost on him for a moment, the idea that he's arguing with a man that's already dead, that he should be asking questions like how are you alive. Instead, emotion takes him by the throat and drags him like he's leashed. Every emotion he'd felt when Madara tore into his heart with the scalpel of the truth rushes to the surface once again and flushes his face, pink and blotchy and unflattering. ]
no subject
Predictable because he's seeded it there.
When those words come, Itachi doesn't move despite how close Sasuke is now, how blatant that threat is. He hears the clack of glass against the counter, yet it's ignored to the incomprehension of what is said. Were.
Liar.
Black eyes narrow dangerously. His thoughts almost slide into a freefall, unwilling to accept what he has heard. Steeled composure prevents this crack in his demeanor from showing.]
Where did you hear that?
[It's the only explanation.]
no subject
The hate is still there — deep and abyssal — but it has a new target. ]
Uchiha Madara. He told me everything—
[ He sucks a sharp breath in and anguish claws at his throat, pinches his expression into something tight and angry. Even without his sharingan, his eyes widen reflexively. All it houses is the blowing of his pupils, making his dark eyes even darker, the reddening of his scelera purely from emotion instead of the bloody spin of tomoe. ]
Everything they forced you to do.
no subject
... And yet this encounter, too, is impossible. Surrounded by water and machinery, stripped of their bloodline, not yet bending into the violence he expects and plans from their interactions. Sasuke is standing close to him, but there's no weapon at his throat.
Itachi looks into those eyes as though waiting for them to bleed red. When they don't, he falls further to silence, resting on the jagged edge of his brother's words.]
You misunderstand. [Suddenly he moves, reaching for the cup on the counter and standing, stepping out of reach. He turns and begins to walk. There's no question whether he'll be pursued. Any change in his demeanor is subtle, hidden in the straight, stiff line of shoulders.] I wasn't forced.
Tell me what he said. [And this is a sharp, low command.]
no subject
He opens his mouth to retort, but then Itachi moves. He stands so swiftly that Sasuke feels himself take a reflexive step back, a fear manipulated into him, so deeply ingrained that even at the end of their fight, it had zipped up and down his spine as his brother closed the distance between them. He gives Sasuke his back, the sight vicious and familiar, and he can do nothing but follow.
He takes the drink in his hand with him, but doesn't seem to notice, fixated on the swish of his brother's ponytail between his shoulder blades. ]
He told me everything! What our father wanted you to do, the position the Leaf backed you in to, that you asked for his help —
[ He hates this, that even now Itachi won't stop and look at him. Even now, in the face of the truth, Itachi maintains this cold, distant exterior. ]
I was never supposed to survive that night, was I? Itachi!
[ A fit of passion makes him strike, trying to grab his brother's elbow to stop him. ]
no subject
Perhaps part of that is selfishly motivated. Now that he is aware of his younger brother's presence, he has no intention of allowing someone else to intervene in this conversation—or any other they might have. The deserted beach is preferable to a busier thoroughfare.
He senses the reach a moment before it comes, body tensing for that altercation. He allows it. Sasuke's hand closes over his elbow, and the momentum of it forces him to halt just at the edge of the path where sand begins. That touch is like a brand; still he doesn't turn around.]
And he told you I was dying? [There's the slightest pull, testing that grip to see its strength.] You believed him? Given all that I've done, all that I have done to you—why I chose to keep you alive for my sake and your own weakness—you allow yourself to be swayed by a man you don't know or trust?
[The harsh, cruel voice he uses is like some last effort to stay above drowning water.]