"In cento anni o cento mesi, l'acqua torna a' suoi paesi."

[sharktrash]

Who: Squalo and YOU!
What: birthday catch-all! Squalo's turning 23 on the 13th. Yes he is Pisces because his character wasn't fish-related enough yet.
When: 12th-14th
Where: All around Vista city, the mall, the bars, Pride HQ, MANTICORE penthouse, Junkyard Carnival penthouse, etc.
Warnings: Squalo language, violence, substance abuse, (mentions of) banging, will update as necessary


[ prompts in comments! ]

Comments

[bass_instincts]

[Shin's been going out to bars with his band, but tonight he's alone for the moment. Hearing that it's this guy's birthday the newest Nuclear Parliament member goes up to him with a smile,] You smoke? I figure it'd be rude to not share some weed with the birthday boy if I'm going out to have some.

[sharktrash]

[ Oh hey, look. It's Johanna's new guitarist. Squalo considers it for a moment. On one hand, he's not sure how good of an idea is trusting anyone from Virgo to not slip him poison, on another, it's pretty much paranoia at this rate and he refuses to be played like that. Finally, he grins. ]

Not really, but I can make an exception.

[bass_instincts]

[Shin's too new to really strongly hate Pride Records, though that isn't to say he won't still try to show any of them up musically. He leads the way out and lights up, having the first pull before passing the joint over to Squalo. Still holding the smoke in his lungs he says,]

So, is it rude to ask how old you are?

[sharktrash]

[ A short, sharp laughter, and he'll take the blunt. It doesn't kick nowhere near as hard as coke does, but hey, it's his fucking birthday, he'll take everything he gets his hands on. YOLO etc etc. ]

I'm not a fuckin broad. So nah. Turned twenty-three today.

[bass_instincts]

You probably wouldn't guess, but I turn seventeen in November. [He does look like he could be fourteen if you took away the dyed hair and piercings. He doesn't even have a hint of hair on his face.]

[sharktrash]

[ Wow. Wooow. Are you trying to make him into a jailbait chaser, boy. He only looks amused, though. ]

Holy shit, you're a baby.

[bass_instincts]

[Shin can't help but laugh,] Yeah, at least I'm not the age people tend to guess for me.

[sharktrash]

Let me guess. Twelve.

[ That's his guess on what people are guessing, apparently. He does his best not to cough from the smoke. ]

[bass_instincts]

Shin laughs, "Usually closer to 14, but I can see 12 if I took off all my piercings and didn't spike my hair." He takes an intense drag from it, letting the drug work it's way into his blood stream.

[sharktrash]

"If you did that, I'd give you seven," he says perfectly seriously. "So. How does it go with the Parliament?"

[bass_instincts]

"Shit, that young!?" At least he doesn't actually seem offended.

"We've been partying, getting to know each other. Cloud's a bit full of himself, but he's okay."

[sharktrash]

"Doesn't sound too bad. Johanna's pretty great." He actually sounds fond. "Don't piss her off too much, yeah?"

[bass_instincts]

"Nah," he says with a smile, "I don't make a habit of making ladies angry anyway." He smokes some more, passing back to Squalo. "You two are friends?"

[sharktrash]

"Uh..." Good question. Are they? Well, they seem to relatively like each other, chat on occasion and share some of the weird things that have been happening, but friends? He feels something akin to an unexplainable allergy to the word. "Something like that, sure."

[bass_instincts]

He smiles at that. So things didn't have to be all animosity between labels. That's a relief. He hated the idea of being so loyal to corporate that he couldn't hang out with who he wanted. Granted, he had a sinking sense of dread over going against them.

"I'm a bit surprised she's not around, then. She was complaining about not getting out enough."

[sharktrash]

All reasonable feelings. What makes this even more bizarre, Johanna had actually nearly stabbed him to death during one of the joint label parties. He ended up praising her technique later, not sure why he wasn't angrier about it. Oh well.

"Yeah, me too. Maybe she had other plans." He shrugs, somewhat carelessly, and draws in the smoke as deep as he can. No coughing this time. It's almost hilarious how accepting his body seems to be of everything that's supposed to be bad for it. "Do you do this a lot?" It's unclear if he's referring to the whole going out to party thing or the weed in particular.

[bass_instincts]

Maybe it was a bit of his rebelliousness fighting against the brainwashing, not that he would know.

"Yeah. You?" While waiting for an answer he inhales very deeply, easily holding it for a pretty long time, trying to silently make the point that he means the smoking and the partying, though Squalo had already said that he didn't smoke too often.

[sharktrash]

Yeah, he was planning to die in battle, not from lung cancer. Wait, that wasn't right...

"Only when there's nothing better to do," he quips with a toothy grin. Oh, sure, he loves trashing bars as much as the next person, but writing music is his ultimate favorite. Either way, whatever he does at the moment, he'll do to the fullest. Ain't nobody got time for standing still, even though he's not sure where that feeling that he could die any moment is coming from.

[bass_instincts]

Shin smiles back, "Yeah, finally there is some things better to do." Since before this his life was even emptier than it feels now.

[sharktrash]

[ He snorts, and for a moment, there's just silence and looking up at the sky buildings surrounding the back of the club. And then he grins and motions at the blunt that Shin's still holding. ]

You do know that's kiddie stuff, right?

[bass_instincts]

Shin gives a questioning look before breathing out, "What do you mean?"

whoops format

[sharktrash]

Yeah, the grin's going wider.

"I mean what I said. Don't tell me you've never tried anything with more kick to it."

np

[bass_instincts]

Shin looks a little wary, but mostly curious. "No, I haven't. It's never come up before. Isn't it dangerous?" Like that would really stop him. It's pretty easy to tell by his expression that he's probably going to try whatever Squalo tosses his way.

[sharktrash]

"Not if you know what you're doing." He digs out what looks like a regular enough cigarette box, but it's pretty obvious they've been tampered with when he opens it. So his nose needed a break, can't risk ruining this pretty face, yeah? Don't judge. Not like he can't afford enough of it to waste some.

He'll offer the kid one and take another himself.

[bass_instincts]

Shin is a little nervous. Pot was one thing, but he didn't even know what this is. But there's a gnawing emptiness that he's eager to find some way to fill, even if he doesn't realize that's what he's doing. It's not so much that he wants to kill himself as it is that dying doesn't sound too bad. Not that he would even admit that to himself at this point.

Pushing aside all the warning bells going off in his head, telling him to stop, to not do this, to run away screaming, he takes one of them. He's a little hesitant to light it though, and looks inquiringly to Squalo. He keeps his voice low, "What is it?"