01

[scepterho]

Date & Time: December 16-ish? Anytime.
Location: Winter Wonderland!
Characters: Saruhiko Fushimi, acquaintances and whoever else feels like crashing
Summary: The moon sucks and he’s got a guy to stalk.
Warnings: Surliness.

( munakata never said fushimi couldn’t leave the moon base. he also never said to inform him of any future travel plans. and really, nothing the king could have said would have stopped him regardless, so here he is. he first procures a nice shack far away from too many people for a base of operations.

then he sets out on his journey. but this is a big frozen wasteland, and even certain extremely loud people can be hard to find. so along the way he may be spotted doing one of several things, like sitting at a fire and, uh, throwing knives at any cats or other small animals which approach to scare them off, or peering at a nearby yeti from around a tree. otherwise he’s just got the “stalking” look about him, slowly making his way around populated areas in an obvious investigation of some kind. )

( ooc: you can actually write whatever starter you want if you don’t like the sound of all that. do your worst. )

Comments

[scepterho]

( ....oh my god, this is too good. fushimi's suddenly glad he gave up searching for yata angrily fighting some huge mammal out in the wild. this is worlds more entertaining.

he silently comes up from behind the crowd before speaking. how else, honestly. )

I have to say, domesticity doesn't really become you.

( guess who C: )

[battering]

[ for just a second, he thinks he may have just been hearing that annoying voice. but why would he even be thinking about fushimi?!

hint: he wouldn't.

his glare switches over to the sneaky traitor... and just like that he makes his choice of spud, reaching to try and shove the one he didn't want against fushimi's cheek. ]

Ugh, who let you down here?

[redsea]

[ "Pathetic"? Just who was he to say that? Dealing with him was already so frustrating. With only a few words, he managed to plant another seed of doubt after she had uprooted the last one. She didn't ask for this! All she wanted to do was go home... which shouldn't take too long after Fushimi's discovery. Upon hearing about the buildings, Kougyoku looks up. It's painfully obvious that she's looking forward to seeing Yata and the others. ]

Um, thank you.

[ Is she thanking him after he said all those mean things to her!? ... Yes. ]

Stalking a stalker

[deadlybanker]

[It was the motions the young man made that attracted his attention. The way he peeked out from behind things and moved through the crowds like he was searching for something, or maybe some one?

Giovanni fell into step behind the lad. Curious, as to just what he might be up to.

The assassin had many years of training at stalking and trailing, it was simple enough to step behind a tree or fade into a crowd to avoid detection. Though he found himself wishing for more rooftops. Running along those was the far simpler way of keeping some one under surveillance. But still, following this man proved an interesting journey.

Throwing knives at a cat? It was tempting to return that in kind, to launch a knife at his feet just to see what the reaction might be... but that could become problematic. Instead the finally walked out of the shadows, all calm and even-natured, approaching him as 'only a simple banker' instead of an assassin.]

The small animals offend you signore?

[scepterho]

( please, he let himself down here. )

Or maybe it does. ( he allows the slug with the potato, chuckling under his breath at the gesture. ) What's this, your chosen weapon? I'm terrified.

( and he gladly takes the unwanted potato off yata's hands. )

[scepterho]

( she's thanking him? he somehow doubts it was for his words of wisdom. scoffing a little, he continues down the way until the houses come into view. )

Does this look more familiar to you?

[redsea]

Yes. I can walk from here.

[ Kougyoku doesn't want to stay with him any longer. She walks ahead, but before Fushimi can take his leave, she turns around. ]

You're not exactly Yata's friend, right?

[ Although he claimed he was, Kougyoku could tell there something off "A friend of a friend is a friend," they told her, so... ]

Then, is it okay if I make you my enemy?

stalkerception?!

[scepterho]

( on occasion fushimi had gotten the feeling that he wasn't the only one doing the observing, but every time he'd stop, turn around, or peer into crowds, he wouldn't find anything suspicious.

by the time he's outside by his fire, he's more or less forgotten about it until the newcomer approaches. coincidence? possibly. he seems harmless enough, at least for now.

he just shrugs at the question. ) They're bothersome. And I have no food for them, anyway.

( plus, you know, target practice. but he didn't want to hurt them, just scare them! )

[battering]

[ if yata ever finds a potato shrine anywhere near fushimi's things, he's pushing him out into space without a spacesuit on. ]

Shut up, listening to you's just embarrassing when you know what my weapon is. [ red pride, ya dig? as if there was ever any doubt it'd be anything else.

but look, he could keep calm!! totally! (mostly...?) he was on a mission of food and it couldn't be helped that this place hated him enough to dump blues into the mix. ]

-- And pay the guy if you're keeping his potato!

[ priorities.............. ]

[scepterho]

( he looks back down at his shoes at her first question. because, no, not exactly, not anymore.

but her next question earns a moment of silence. right when it's about to get awkward he begins chuckling, still staring straight down. it isn't the loose, crazy laugh he tends to let out whenever yata's concerned--it's quieter. perhaps no less unsettling for that fact, though. )

Ah, now it all makes sense. ( what is that supposed to mean? he's not telling, but he does look her straight in the eye. ) Declaring people important after just meeting them once again, are we? Thanks for asking my permission, but no. Someone like you isn't worth the effort.

:P Absolutely! A stalker has to stalk someone after all.

[deadlybanker]

[He hadn't been asked, but it was beginning to get more chilly than it had been earlier in the day. Giovanni walked over and took a seat next to the man's fire. ]

Still, seems a waste for the knife. Have you attempted any hunting with it?

[scepterho]

( so the "red pride=as good as a potato" thing went over his head, eh? how expected. )

Relax, Misaki. Some of us here aren't petty thugs. ( he says while giving the vegetable back to potato guy. thanks, potato guy! )

So. Who's trusting you with the grocery shopping? I'll admit, I'm a little surprised.

[redsea]

[ She immediately brandishes her hairpin at him. The accessory begins to glow, but only for a moment. She won't let her emotions rule over her. Not this time.

There will be other opportunities, but for now... ]

I am Kougyoku Ren, Eighth Imperial Princess of the Kou Empire, Conqueror of the 45th Dungeon, Vinea. [ Not that those titles matter anymore, but when she insists on them, it doesn't mean she wants to be friends. More importantly, she isn't just anybody. ] I'll do as I wish.

[ Telling him that will bite her back someday.

Satisfied with that introduction, she puts her hairpin back in its place and turns her back toward him. The walk home feels somewhat longer than usual. ]

[scepterho]

( he squints a little when the older man takes a seat, but it's not like he told the guy he couldn't approach. or like he really cares enough to make him leave. )

It's my first day here; haven't needed to yet.

[scepterho]

( he just watches her go, not having reacted any way in particular when she revealed her hairpin.

he can make things glow too, princess. scary.

she's an annoying homra lapdog like the rest of them, it seems, but in hindsight he has to admit that was kinda entertaining. the princess defending the naive knight-in-distress.

and he has to be grateful, in a way. now he knows where misaki lives. )

[skilful]

[ Totsuka has been behaving. This means no wandering away too far from the place they've deemed their base (temporary or not) and it also means he's been bored enough to pick up multiple hobbies in order to curb the boredness.

One of them includes snowmen.

There are a few all lined up quite close to where HOMRA has been staying at, in different shapes and sizes, with different expressions ... with different animal ear headbands. The mastermind behind these snowmen, currently in the midst of making yet another one by rolling a ball of snow, looks up just in time to catch sight of Fushimi. Smiling, he waves and calls out, ]

Oh, Fushimi! Good afternoon~ Are you free? Come over and help me!

[clansman]

[ fires aren't unusual these days.

the knife, however, is: it strikes the snow a few meters ahead, and seconds later a cat goes yowling headlong as it skids past (and practically over) mikoto's boots on its way into the underbrush.

of course he heads over to toe the knife, and to look past, to its thrower. ]

. . . hah. Hunting?

[battering]

[ he looks proud at that. ]

Ha! If you really wanna know, I'm getting things on my own so I can make Mikoto-san the best curry in the world.

[ eat your heart out, saru. ]

So even you can't annoy me today! [ no, that wasn't true. that first misaki was annoying on principle, and it took every ounce of willpower he had in him not to yell about it. it wasn't said as infuriating as it could be.

he takes a step to keep looking at produce, but not before he turns to fushimi and points and accusatory finger at him. ]

And don't... follow me!

[ ah, deja vu. cue a glare. ]

[deadlybanker]

[He nodded casually. Giovanni was not much of a hunter himself, at least not a hunter of animals, people on the other hand...]

Maybe it will not prove nessacary, but it is nice to have the skills should they be needed. Have you been training your abilities for very long?

[Right now though he was just curious, not hunting anything but information. ]

[scepterho]

( for all that fushimi successfully rebuffed totsuka's attempt to integrate him into the hive-mind that is homra in the past.....well, he's also got a small history of being a pushover wherever the guy is concerned.

but no more! even if he was dead and even though fushimi is finally seeing him in person for the first time since then, no more! he had just been walking up to the strange line of snowmen to investigate when their maker came into his view, rolling the snow up closer to where he's standing.

yes, he was expecting to run into totsuka at some point after the message to his tablet, but...seeing him in person is another story. after the deja vu passes, he recovers from what is probably an awkward stare and shakes his head insistently. )

I'd rather not. You seem to be doing just fine yourself.

[scepterho]

( fushimi's about to move to retrieve the knife, stopping himself when he shows up.

no, go away. turn around and walk away, you're not who he wants to see!

he hopes that sentiment properly comes across in his short reply. )

Getting rid of pests. ( pointed glare, does he mean the cat or someone else. )

[scepterho]

( "so even you can't annoy me today!" challenge accepted, then. )

For Mikoto-san, eh? For a second I thought maybe your beautiful princess had you as whipped as he does.

( that's right, let's talk about girls, because it went so well for them last time. please ignore the barely-there threat that was inherent in his voice when said princess was mentioned. )

[clansman]

( one look's worth of silence, consideration and sleepy-eyed indifference, before he approaches the fire. )

On your own, huh.

[scepterho]

What's that to you?

( it's true, he's here without mikoto's kingly illicit lover. sorry to disappoint. )

[clansman]

. . . What do you think?