Thistle and Weeds

[dishevelment]

Who: Cosmic Indulgence, Junkyard Carnival, their friends, and YOU
What: Things have changed in recent weeks, personally and professionally. People need to meet. Things need to be discussed
When: Latter part of March
Where: All around Vista City
Warnings: Carnies, Squalo, etc. Things get wild with these guys.



[Insert your prompts as needed, folks. This is a catch-all for everyone to react!]

Comments

[dishevelment]

...You think so?

[Terry had been terribly unnerved by it, as well as his own mild reaction to suddenly finding the marks on his person. But it confirmed a few puzzling details for him, and in an odd sense it let him have some peace with himself.]

I don't mind it, really. Having people try to kill you just shows how important you are in the world.

[sharktrash]

I don't lie, Koumei.

[ He reaches up, almost carefully, and traces his fingers over the ragged edges of the scar, head tilted slightly, some kind of... appreciative smirk on his face. ]

So it was meant for you, then?

[dishevelment]

It was meant for the enemy general...which was me. It's a quite efficient strategy, actually.

[His fair cheeks were tinged pink as he looked up at Squalo, a little shy because of the careful attention that was being paid to this same detail that had already scared other people off.]

It also helps solve something that had been puzzling about that battle, but I can't really remember what it is right now. All I know is that it's not something that was entirely unexpected, even if it wasn't planned for.

[sharktrash]

Efficient and common. An army's just like any other living organism. Take out the head and the body dies.

[ He finishes drawing the perimeter of the mark and withdraws his hand. ]

That's why it needs the most protection. An arm willing to take the blow instead.

[ Is he pulling up his shirt? You'd bet. There's a pretty messy looking scar in the middle of his chest, edging a bit more toward the left. There's probably a matching one on the back, but he keeps his coat on so it's hidden. ]

[dishevelment]

[Squalo may have noticed that there was a matching one on his back as well-- a common feature among wounds that run straight through a body. ]

...We're in the same position, [He murmured, reaching out with a hand to touch Squalo's ragged looking scar.] We're both the hand out in the field while the head takes care of the politicking.

[sharktrash]

[ Well look at that. They can start up a new band and call it The Impaled Bros. ]

[ He'll let the other man touch it, but shake his head just barely. ]

Not quite. Mine wasn't meant for me. [ Not originally, though this particular strike was. Details. His voice lowering, he adds; ] This is how I died. I... shielded someone important.

[dishevelment]

[Then he'll gently trace the patterns of the scar that he can see, with the same glint of admiration in his eyes that he had when Squalo told him about his hand.]

That's quite an honorable thing to do, [he said, glancing up at him.] I would that my wound was so honorable...but there's nothing kind about a war that rends your own family.

[sharktrash]

[ That feels nice. That admiration. There's a smirk slowly spreading on Squalo's face again. ]

Hell yeah. I wasn't thinking about it, though.

[ He tilts his head slightly and looks back at Koumei. Here's a guy that commanded an army, and yet didn't have anyone to take the hit for him like Xanxus did. A shame, truly. ]

[ Almost absently, he cards fingers through the end of the other man's braid. ]

No. But you should've been protected. You should've... had someone like me with you.

[ that bodyguard au pls and thank you ]

[dishevelment]

[SOMEDAY]

....There was nothing you could have done, [Koumei said gently, smiling wistfully at that stolid declaration.]

The enemy wasn't in front of me, but on the front lines of the war. He revealed the hand of a third party who shouldn't have been there...and his assault came from above, with the speed of a missile.

[sharktrash]

Your own knight, then. Someone who'd always be there. [ He tilts his head slightly, his look remaining intense. ] And don't underestimate me. I stopped something that was too quick to see.