[MINGLE] One-Man Show

[sixthiteration]

WHERE: Inari Shrine and elsewhere
WHEN: 25 January 2019 through ?
OPEN TO: All opted in characters
WARNINGS: Please warn in the subject line of your comment as needed, and remember to move anything turning adult to a new post.
IMPORTANT NOTES: Final reminders and informational links are here. Please label all top-levels clearly so that there is no confusion who they are open to and what they are for, and DON'T FORGET TO ADD YOUR TAG!
Have fun and ask questions here!

Comments

[firacrux]

No one was supposed to know about his, either, but here they were. Putting their traumas on display for an unexpected audience. At least only one had been a complete stranger on his part, though Seifer was unsure if that was better or worse.

For right now he'd much rather focus on trying not to vomit, and making Anne laugh, even a little, seemed like a much better use of his energy. Speaking of the laugh, his smirk remained, encouraged ever so slightly.

"Worked, didn't it?" Yes, it was a terrible joke, but hey at least he broke the tension. "So, uh... that your ex?" Because that would explain a few things.

[can_fight_ugly]

Anne wasn't exactly excited about anyone finding out, but she's got to deal with the aftermath despite that.

"It ... it did, yes." Sneaky little trick, but it worked.

With his second question, she pulls in a breath and lets it out in a huff, then grimaces. "Yeah, that's him. We broke up before the whole alien symbiote thing."

She wasn't exactly acting in the right mind while she was making out with him.

[firacrux]

Sneaky, underhanded tactics are a good way to get a leg up when dealing with an adversary. Right now their adversary was a lot of depression and heavy moods. Something which everyone could probably use a little relief from, Seifer could, he was glad to see his trick worked.

Kept her from being fully embroiled in the horror of realizing her memory had witnesses at least. "And I'm gonna guess the symbiote was that weirdly affectionate goop?"

It wasn't impossible for him to rationalize and understand this, he came from a world with moon monsters after all. Trust him, he understood not being in the right mind. She'd just witnessed it in action.

[can_fight_ugly]

"Yes, that was Venom. Have you met him here? He looks a little different when he's with Eddie." More shoulders, less bust.

Weirdly affectionate goop. That was a pretty good description of a host-less Venom - or at least Venom outside the context of this strange village. "It's been ... interesting, dealing with both of them here."

Especially given the additional emotional context of her relationship with Eddie.

[firacrux]

"Don't think so. Might've seen him at the party?" He thought he saw something weird, but with everything else weird it just sort of blended in. Alarming.

"Hyne, I can only imagine. No wonder the situation's awkward." If there's a goop alien in the mix with her ex-fiance.

It was hard to formulate what else to say about the subject. She bit someone's head off. He tried to murder his ex-girlfriend, she participated in murdering and un-murdering him. Good times all around.

"...You okay?" Yeah, that seemed like a good start.

[can_fight_ugly]

"You would have known if you had seen him at the party." Probably towering over the rest and doing something definitely not-human, or something human in a definitely not-human way.

She falls quiet with his question and crosses her arms, partly against the cold and partly in a subtle defense. "I thought I was. It's certainly dredged up some ... blissfully forgotten details. Like, the taste of cranium. Seeing it from this perspective kind of drives home how messed up the whole thing was."

[firacrux]

"Probably, if he's that big all the time." Hard to miss a giant hulking black alien creature. He does think he might have spotted it and decided to leave well enough alone. He was looking for snipers or bombs not aliens.

"You saved his life, that's the important part, right?" He could only imagine that chowing down on some dude's head was probably not the best part of her evening that night. Did it crunch? He had to wonder if it crunched. "Yeah... sometimes it's easier to forget. Guess this weird place doesn't want us forgettin'. The hell are we anyway?"

As if he'd only just realized he was cold, because his coat was back in the blacksmith's where he'd been working. Next to the fire he didn't need it, damn it all.

[can_fight_ugly]

"They work a little differently here; Venom's out at night, Eddie during the day." They used to be more than that, Venom having the ability to ooze out whenever he wanted - or to whoever he wanted, as the case may be.

"We did, yes." They saved Eddie, then they all saved the rest of the planet, and that'd more or less the focus. They had discussed it later, but from a more ... personal perspective.

She crosses her arms and shrugs as she takes a look around the shrine. "I have no idea. We'll need to see if someone's more familiar with the area - or has a map, better yet."

[firacrux]

"Not the same where you're from?" The glimpse he'd just witnessed had been at night, though he realizes that didn't mean it worked exactly the same here. Did Eddie get sleep while Venom was out? Hyne, that had to be weird, sharing your body with an alien.

"Then what's one or two crunchy craniums along the way?" He's still trying to lighten it up, just a bit. The whole killing people thing was always the hardest part to work around. They had to develop heavy skill at compartmentalizing and figuring out how to cope if they didn't want to be useless.

"With our luck? Probably not. Gonna have to hope we're close enough we can recognize the landmarks." Surely they wouldn't be whisked away too far... right?

[can_fight_ugly]

"Not at all. Venom had more freedom back home." Which was a vexation here they were both dealing with, and Anne trying to help where she could without toeing the 'awkward we used to date' line.

"At least it wasn't a cranium the world was going to miss." Anne still looks a little shaken by that particular memory. She was thankful she wasn't Venom's full-time host if just for that reason alone.

"We're going to have work together, see if we can find anyone else." Since she has literally no context for where they currently are, she's not about to hope on being any specific distance, and is simply mentally preparing herself for the hike of a lifetime.

[firacrux]

"That's gotta be drivin' him nuts," Seifer observed. On the opposite end of that particular spectrum here, Seifer was quite enjoying himself. For the most part. Uninvited trips down memory lane notwithstanding.

"Hey," He reaches out to offer a companionable hand on her shoulder. "Try not to think too hard on it. I know, easier said than done, but really. Let's focus on what we gotta do now." Which means trying to find their way back out of this place and back home. Nice of the Overseers to plop them there and not send a taxi to pick them up.

"Wanna check the network? I can't." He holds up his arm where the watch is conspicuously missing. "I'll see if there's anyone else nearby. We stick together we should be alright." Sure no one was properly armed, all he had on him is a hammer he's tucked into his waste band, but they'll figure it out.

[can_fight_ugly]

"Seifer, how did you lose your device?loose it?

"Yes, I can check the network. How long have you been missing your device?" She lets him go and stands back, crossing her arms and looking more perplexed than angry or anything else.

[firacrux]

"Dunno, woke up one morning and it was missin'. Been a real pain in the ass."

And now he couldn't contact anyone who might be looking for him, so that was worrisome. "Almost two weeks now I think?" He'd had Nida ask the network about it but no one had any helpful information.

omg I butchered the html there huh

[can_fight_ugly]

"I'm just surprised it came off at all. I'll keep my eyes open just in case, if you need to use mine, let me know."

That's troubling, especially when it's apparent that something like this can happen - what if they hadn't been in groups?

She pulls in a breath and sighs, looking around at the shrine. "I wonder what the whole point was to put us through this."

lol it's okay

[firacrux]

"That's been the really confusing part. I've looked all over, far as I can tell it sure didn't fall off." So, that left him with the uncomfortable realization that somehow the Overseers had taken it off of him without him waking up and realizing it. He tried his best to find the damned thing, so no one could call him on that.

He was lucky they were in that regard. Otherwise it would be Seifer, alone, navigating the woods to try to get back without any way to let anyone else know what was going on.

"See how likely we are to go for each other's throats after watching shit like this?" Alright maybe he's incredibly cynical about things sometimes.

[can_fight_ugly]

"If that was the case, I think they'd be disappointed with our group. Not sure how the others are faring." She didn't hear sounds of discontent wafting through the shrine, though, so that's a good sign.

She sighs and keeps an eye on him. "We'll figure something out, Seifer. Even if we have to string up a bunch of cans throughout the village."

[firacrux]

"Heh, no kidding," He frowns up at the shrine, listening as well. Didn't sound like any fights had broken out. "You think there are others? Maybe it was just to see how we'd all respond." Hell if he knows any better than she does.

A chuckle and shake of his head. "Come on, let's get an idea of our status and where we are." He gestures for her to follow. He'll take a glance outside, see if there are any obvious landmarks that could be used for navigation. Then they can regroup and decide the best course of action.