atlas_shrugged | OPEN POST ||

[ Routine prompts him awake before dawn, but it's the clattering of thoughts in his head that lead Josh down, dressed in the jeans he'd fallen asleep in. The house is quiet, but his footfalls sound foreign, and the shadows in this new place make it an odd exercise in tiptoeing out the door, sneakers hooked on one hand's fingers before he settles down on the porch to slip them onto his cold feet.

The last forty-eight hours have been a whirlwind of things -- his initiation as a Netsach hunter and the subsequent promotion to Seventh Circle ( learning all about Solomon Burke as part of his initiation and lighting a candle at the Memorial had meant more than he thought it would, especially after his conversation with Brig about how the original founders of Taskforce Valkyrie had been like family ) followed soonafter with Hikaru giving him the death mask of the geist that had once belonged to a man that had meant something to the Blade King; and he wasn't even going to go into Gabriel Marlowe's suggestion of not just looking to join up with the Order of the Grateful Dead, but to consider the Rhiannon Group as a choice that would not just offer him a place as a Sin-Eater among the network of Sin-Eaters and Cards, but as an option for more.

He jogs then, down the street leading out of the residential district and up the path that leads him to Falner and then Balamb. ]

Edited 2014-02-05 05:31 (UTC)

[He received the call as he was making his way back to the base: Tenoroshi, his youngest, talking animatedly of the man in his office. The man An'yu himself had mentioned more than a few times to his family over dinner.

Brigade was at the office of the Order of the Golden Dawn. Tenoroshi had been in, and had talked a little with Brigade and his 'family' (that woman, and her young Alchemist daughter) before calling his father. Apparently, Brigade wanted to see him.

As things were at the moment, An'yu was already stepping out of his car and walking towards the office. He waved off the greetings he received the moment he entered the building, and went straight to his son's office. He smiles, of course, the moment he spots his son, and smiles again once his gaze meets Brigade's.]

Good morning. I hope I did not make you wait for too long.

SENT: 5:00 AM
Good morning, Brig. Are you free for a celebratory drink?

[Color An'yu excited. If he had his way, he would have been around right after Brigade's initiation.

He's proud of his work, okay.]

[Tohru had come to pick him up just that morning, from Cisco's house. He had already been ready to go nearly an hour before his father came - the former Assassin of the Searing Wind had been courteous enough to inform him.

Suffice to say, he had crashed and crashed hard as soon as he found himself back in the home that he and Alistair Mordechai still shared. It's about 2 PM, now, and he's up again, feeling significantly better --

-- physically, anyway. Emotions are a whole new thing to consider altogether.

Either way, he's sitting by the pool behind the house, dressed down in a hakama, smoking from one of his favorite pipes. No one else is home, but the doors are open, as always, for the Zashiki-Warashi operatives who have taken it upon themselves to maintain the place. They don't bother him, though. They respect the Blade King's space.

Good. He has a lot to think about.]

[Sending this text just as he and Tala are finishing up their usual session. He has a feeling that you're still awake anyway.]

SENT: 1:55 AM
Can I have a moment of your time, Brigade?

[Kalika is up to her usual routine after breakfast with the entirety of Kibo: she's flopped on her side on the patio overlooking the largest courtyard in the Senshi Wing of the base, watching the junior operatives spar with each other.

Cigarettes are nice. =w=]

SENT: 8:00 PM
'Sup, Brig! Heard from some of the others that your team's in South Africa with President Stone. How's it going?

Anyway, texting you to ask for updates on the pipe. I also heard that you guys smoked it, so.

[So you're getting a text from an unknown number, soldier.]

SENT: 6:34 PM
Hi, Brig! This is Barbie Gomez. Got your number from Hawke... hope you don't mind. :)

Are you free tonight? I'd like to have dinner with you. Kaiser Delacroix told me that you're the kind of soldier who's always willing to help out, and I think I could use a Hunter with your skills for a little project of mine.

[Of the actual negotiation, there wasn't much to say. He and Brigade had stood right behind the couch that Barbara Gomez had been seated at, watching the proceedings like good soldiers ought to. The elder they had been dealing with was one of those arrogant, rich shits who had grown fat on blood and wealth and skirting just shy of breaking both World of Light and Kindred laws. Barbie had come to him to see if she could convince him to be better. The elder, in response, had thrown his wine in Barbie's face and tried to summon his entire household down on her.

Said household is now slowly but surely becoming disembodied limbs, guts and blood all over the place. A shame: the carpets were nice. So was the furniture.

Hawke glances over to the closed doors of the kitchen in time to see more blood splatter across the glass. One of the elder's children is shrieking in there. Barbie, in return, is telling him to stop running because really, she is so tired of dragging her favorite pair of high heels through dead vampire.

So this is what Hawke does. He taps Brigade on the shoulder, cants his head towards the exit.]

I don't think we're needed here, and I am itching for a cigarette.

[He is the very picture of calm, unruffled, and This Happens A Lot, No Big.]

[She's lounging around just outside of the gates of Colina de las Espadas, leaning against the jeep that she's going to take into town. It's pretty early in the morning, but that was part of the plan. She wants to get as much done as possible.

Brigade should be around any minute now. It'll just be the two of them today, and yes, she's wearing the current standard issue of Taskforce Valkyrie on purpose.]

[And once the two of them finally finish up, Kaien's stretching, moving off to the edge of the rooftop that they had commandeered for their Transmutations, and letting out a satisfied noise.]

I think we're good for tonight. How about we cool down with some beer?

[Saying that with a grin in your direction, Brigade.]

[He waits, of course, for Joshua LaRue to be fully asleep before he settles in with that one curled up against him and lights up a cigarette. Then he leans his head against the headboard, takes a good, long drag, and reaches out across the telepathic link that ties him to one particular Warden in the area.]

Sorry, Brigade. I don't think I can make it for drinks tonight.

Waking the Dead 2.0 | 14 April 2063

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