2025-12-29: Forward Facing Ferocity
- Log: Forward Facing Ferocity
- Cast: Tsubasa Seki, Hyousuke Suzuki
- Where: Nagasaki Shrine, Iwatodai
- OOC Date: 2025-12-29
- IC Date: Sun, Sep 02 2012
- Summary: Everyone's favourite berserker duo get together for their new smash hit: trying to convince Lance to hand over her stick so they can throw it again. God damn it, Lance. We cannot throw that fucking stick if you won't give it up. We are trying so hard to fulfill your dreams you've just got to meet us half way??? Oh, yeah, also Tsubasa meets Hyousuke halfway on expressing their fears over going straight (in terms of crime, not queerness), and Hyousuke meets Tsubasa halfway when he discloses his painful past with regards to gangs. But mostly, like, Lance, you're the world's best girl, but you have GOT to give if you want more throw.
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
Tsubasa's out walking Lance today! It's one of her last walks in Iwatodai... but Lance doesn't know enough about holidays to know she should be sad about that.
Lance isn't really sad about much. She's having a great time. She HAS a STICK.
And Tsubasa -- who's in a cyan, magenta and yellow wig, a military tank top and a pair of cargo pants -- is trying their damndest to throw it for her, except she's decided that Tsubasa isn't allowed to take her stick, only to throw it.
"C'mooon, Lance," they whine, palm out. "Give it."
"Rrrouwf," Lance protests.
"Okay, so maybe I won't throw it!" Tsubasa huffs, hands planting on their hips.
"Arrroooooo..." Lance whines.
"D--don't give me that look!" Tsubasa exclaims, more animated when speaking to their dog. "You're the one bein' stubborn!!"
Anyway, that's the scene Hyousuke's gonna walk into, given Tsubasa suggested they meet up here in God's house.
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
It was one of the last chances Hyousuke had to wander through Iwatadoi at his leisure. He hardly had much reason to go there in the first place - he'd still not explored as much of the area around Kasu as he would have liked, despite having been settled in there for quite a while. But the fact that the option was being taken away from him was a little disheartening. Unlike Lance, he vaguely comprehended concepts such as time and holidays, though given his intellectual track record, few would have been blamed for not thinking he had a particularly great handle on them.
Even so, Tsubasa inviting him to hang out went a long way to lifting his spirits. He'd not had the chance to hang out at length his friend in quite a while, so the opportunity had been taken with all due haste. The chance to see Lance again was certainly not an unwelcome one either, if the way his face lit up upon seeing the goodest girl in the whole wide world was any indication.
"Sorry I'm late you guys!" He said, waving as he approached. "I found a cool stick on the way over so I had to get fetch it."
In fairness, it was a *very* cool stick. Long, straight, dense, and gnarled like some old druid's staff, it was a fine specimen.
Perfect for throwing too, as his waving of it might have demonstrated.
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
"Aroo??" Lance perks up immediately on seeing an even cooler stick, though of course she would trot up to Hyousuke regardless of sticks in his possession. She drops her stick in front of him, to gaze longingly at his. Throooow the stiiiick...
"Sure is a cool stick," Tsubasa affirms, as they amble up behind Lance. "That's, like, the Omnistick or some shit." Tsubasa, is this a reference to your nerd shit.
And so, one Lance later --
"We almost back in school," Tsubasa reflects, leaning a shoulder against the monkey bars. "How ya goin' with that, man? Had some wild shit goin' on this holidays..."
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
Hyousuke was a little possessive of his stick. He had claimed the stick, so it was his by rights. However, Lance was a very good girl, and it was a very good stick. It was not a question of if he would crumble, but one of how quickly. Without more than a heartbeat of hesitation, he hurled the thing away. The stick was hers now, and would be until she had tired of it. It was a sacrifice that wounded him deeply, but if it was for Lance, then he supposed he could endure it.
Tsubasa's question had him looking off into the middle distance, face contorting a little as he tried to figure out how he was supposed to answer that. It took him a moment or two, and even when he did speak, it seemed he still had some trouble putting his thoughts into words.
"Wild doesn't cover it. All that was..." He let out a breath that sounded like he had been caught halfway between a grunt and a sigh. "I don't know. It's a lot to take in. I'm still trying to figure half of it out. How about you? You holding up alright?"
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
Lance's tail wags, and wags, and...
And the stick goes flying! And she's off!!!
BOOF BOOF BOOF...
As Lance frolicks with her Ultimate Stick, Tsubasa lets out a breath. "... I dunno, man. Like, most days I'm keepin' it together... but other days it's like, I'm describin' it like keepin' it together, right?"
They shake their head. "... but that ain't mean it's all bad or nothin', too. Goin' steady with Ichika, now, means I'm pre' tight with Sakamoto-kun these days... an' I made some better friends over th' course a this, like Amamiya-kun. Plus, that bastard Eiji's done... he can't hurt no one else now. Like -- nothin' else -- we achieved somethin' big there." ... and they were able to help save someone important to them, though they're not quite feeling up to verbalising that part. It still matters to them.
"Plus," Tsubasa adds, "reckon I got a hookup with a doctor might actually give me hormones... y'know, maybe. That's pre' sick."
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
"Amamiya?" Hyousuke asked, looking slowly back at Tsubasa. His face held a quizzical look, a brow raised and his blinks slow. "Ren Amamiya? Black hair, carries their cat around in their bag?" Even he found it a little strange that that was the first thing he'd fixated upon - even if it took him a moment to recognise that - but he moved on quickly to the other things mentioned. "Still... It's good to hear everything's going well with you three. After all the shit you've been through, it's... It's good to hear things're going better."
Not 'good.' There was yet work to do, as Ichika had pointed out to him. But it definitely sounded like things were going better.
One thing still puzzled him a little, however, and it showed in his expression.
"What's with the hormones though? Isn't that for like... growing animals and stuff?"
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
"Yeah, thas' him," and Tsubasa does use the pronoun him, but it's just because they don't know whether Ren's out to Hyousuke or not, given how they're still mostly in the closet. "He's cool. Cat's cool, too." Not that Morgana is a cat, they add, to themself, with apologies to Morgana for the mis-speciesing.
They nod, firmly, at the idea that things are getting better. As much as their parents are terrifying them, right now... it's still better.
"Eh? Nah, man, hormones, like --" Tsubasa gestures with a hand. "Okay, so, like, they do grow animals an' shit, but people got 'em too. They're called sex hormones 'cuz dudes got testosterone, an' chicks got estrogen, an' both a those work to change ya into an adult when ya hit, like, middle school." Ish. They're approximating. Their brother's the maybe-one-day-a-doctor, not them. "But if you got, like, a dude that's female-to-male, you can give him testosterone an' his body like, adapts to bein' a dude. Same with chicks what are male-to-female. An' since there ain't no none-a-th'-above hormone," there are several of them, actually, but that's way above Tsubasa's paygrade, "someone like me can take testosterone an' make their body less like a chick's too, ya jus'... take less a it or somethin'."
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
Ren was cool. That was good. Hyousuke even nodded sagely, as if learning that knowledge had been some great revelation. He didn't speak to let Tsubasa in on what the revelation was, but at the very least, he seemed happy to have the knowledge. The hormones were a more complicated topic than whether a stranger could be trusted or not, however, and that drew a look of intense focus from him. He nodded again, this time firmer as he began to let the knowledge seep into his brain, though attempting to actually process and understand it was... a task.
"...I don't know if I understand it totally." He eventually confessed. Not that his still-scrunched-up face would have helped in hiding it. "But if it's helping you do what you want to, then that's good. I think." He made a mental note to look into it later - perhaps a slower pace would help him figure things out easier. Perhaps not. It was worth a shot, at least. Silence hung in the air as he considered what else there was to talk about, before he finally settled on something he'd asked of Ichika not too long ago.
"So what's next for you? Sounds to me like you've got plans."
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
Tsubasa can figure that Hyousuke had some reason to need to know Ren was on the up-and-up; it just makes them glad they stumbled into it. It's fine, they're also pretty standoffish, they Get Him.
"Yeah, pre' much," Tsubasa nods affirmation, when Hyousuke figures the magic hormones are going to do something good. "It's cool, man, this shit's complicated. But if I can snag 'em, they'll help."
And so, silence; Tsubasa's fine with silence, though. They're not the most wordy guy around.
"Me family's tryin' to make nice again," Tsubasa sighs, folding their arms, as they watch Lance frolick with her stick. (She's still having a GREAT time out there.) "But... Ichika an' th' gang's on it. Ain't gon' let 'em get in my way. Me..."
They sigh, rubbing at a shoulder as they look over the shrine grounds. "Started doin' some grunt work fer th' Kuzunoha Detective Agency, over summer... realised I were real good at it. I been thinkin'... maybe I try an' clean me act up a bit, like... I got a record, but if I can keep it clean five years straight, means I can get me detective licence. Ain't like I'd be a cop or nothin'... but there's a lotta shit folks need help with where th' cops ain't gon' help."
Tsubasa shrugs that shoulder, as they add: "Uh. Not like I'm plannin' on becomin' borin' or nothin'. Jus'... there's shit I can do. Quit carryin', keep th' stealin' to th' Dark Hour, prolly stop sellin' essays... ain't like that last one'll be hard, ain't no one gon' come to me for shit when they see what me scores were like last exam."
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
Hyousuke listened intently. It was a different kind of focus to when he had listened about the hormones, however. His was not the manner of a man trying to untangle information that was almost entirely new to him. It was something more attentive, more understanding - like Tsubasa had said something that flipped a switch in him. He remained quiet throughout, not even nodding or mumbling in acknowledgement, though the look in his eyes made it abundantly clear that he hung on every word that Tsubasa uttered. It was only when he was sure they were finished that he spoke, but even then, he hesitated a little, as if he himself was unsure if he should have continued.
"Feels good to leave it behind, don't it?"
There was weight to those words - weight enough that he struggled to speak them. Weight enough that each one strained him, slowing his speech and forcing him to think. "Making a future for yourself, and doing it with someone too..." He did not finish the thought, though whether it was because he did not wish to or did not know how to, he kept to himself. "You, Ichika-san, Sakamoto-san - you guys make one hell of a team."
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
"Part a me's scared," Tsubasa admits. "Like... what if I try, an' I fuck it up? What if all I'm provin' here is I really am this no-good punk...? This ain't... th' easiest route I coulda gone." They'd be easy pickings for Akechi to arrest, now they're part of the Phantom Thieves... it does trouble them how he's not. Isn't he supposed to be a jerk?! "But, like..."
They shrug. "What happens if I jus' say it's too much a pain in me ass an' I go on like normal? I don't got much future in petty thievin'... an' I ain't wanna do crime as like, me main thing. So even if I'm kinda freaked by th' idea it ain't for me... I wanna give it a shot, man. Like... I really care 'bout Ichika, y'know? An' Sakamoto-kun, he's real solid. A real reliable guy." One of these days, they might even get around to figuring out if they can call him by his first name, but Tsubasa's always been weirdly respectful for a punk.
"... thanks, man," they add, with a firm nod to Hyousuke. "You'd know this stuff more'n me, huh...? Appreciate th' perspective."
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
It was hard for Hyousuke not to react to Tsubasa's concerns for the future. He did his best to - he didn't care to be a distraction, or to appear as anything but that strong, capable, oaf that everyone seemed so fond of - but there was no disguising everything. The tight grip of his crossed arms that tinged his red-raw knuckles with a deathly pallour, the slight contorting of his face that tugged a little on the bruised skin of his neck, the intensity of his gaze as he pondered how best to reassure Tsubasa... the reactions were subtle, but they were there.
"Then we'll help you."
It was a simplistic response. Reductive, some might have said. All those worries that Tsubasa had confided in him, all those anxieties about the future - he'd countered them all with a simple, strongly-spoken reassurance that everyone would help them. "We're all in this together. You, Ichika-san, Sakamoto-san, me... Whatever happens, we're gonna face it all together. And you're all gonna make it out of this some day. So don't worry about failing or anything like that. You're gonna make it, and we're gonna make sure it happens."
Whatever hesitation he'd had before had vanished. Hyousuke spoke so confidently, so matter-of-factly, that there was simply no room for doubt in his words.
"Doing shit you don't want to, for people that don't appreciate you, it's..." He faltered. He stopped. He exhaled, and he braced. "...I never told you why I said no to joining up, did I?"
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
"Cool," Tsubasa nods, in turn. "Countin' on it." And that might sound reductive, too, except...
Except it's hard to count on help, and it's something that's tying Hyousuke to the future as much as anything else.
They fold their own arms, seeing how tightly Hyousuke's laced up. ... they're thinking that mirroring him might be the trick, here. But when he talks about the reason, they shake their head. "Nah. Never needed to. Dunno if ya family got done dirty by some gang, or they was part a that shit, or you was runnin' with one an' it went bad... that's all details. Ain't needed to sleuth 'em out to know you weren't into it."
They drum their fingers on their arm, for a moment, before they look over to him again. "But if ya wanna get into it... I'm listenin'."
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
A short - almost curt - response. Hyousuke might have frowned a little at it, if he hadn't given one himself. He didn't know how much Tsubasa believed him, or for how long he would even be able to help them, but the reassurance had been made and acknowledged. What more was there to say on the subject, especially when it shifted towards himself? Some part of him felt relief as Tsubasa spoke of not needing to hear of his past, and old habits began to creep in, demanding that he take the out and leave things at that.
Yet, he resisted.
It took no small amount of effort. Every thought in every corner of every fold of his mind screamed for him to shut up - to be quiet and private, and give only the information that Tsubasa had need of. He shook his head in some attempt at dispelling such thoughts, but they clung tight, and it took a surge of willpower dredged up from the depths of his being to speak without his voice quivering or his speech wavering.
"I told Ichika-san. She knows. And I think you should know too."
More tension in his body. Even the very fibres of his flesh railed against him, as though seizing his muscles would keep him from speaking. Even so, he spoke.
"I used to run with one. Some small-time piece of shit gang that didn't even give itself a name. They took me out on a job as their muscle one day, and..." He hesitated. His mind faltered, despite his willpower, and a moment was taken for him to collect himself enough to continue. "Shit went south. Someone called the cops, everyone else ran, and I got used as fucking distraction."
The details were scarce. The context was almost nonexistent. The tale itself was short. But the way he spoke it... There was little trace of the strong, boisterous, blundering man that had stumbled into everyone's life one day. Every word he spoke needed some Herculean effort behind it, and his eyes seemed to lose focus as they drifted towards the middle distance. He saw not the trees, nor the grass, nor anything beyond them - there was an image in his mind, it seemed that took precedence over all else around him.
"I fought for 'em. I bled for 'em. One of those fuckers almost cut my fucking eye out. And when all they had to do was drag me out until the cops got tired of chasing some punk kids, they..." Again, he left a thought unfinished. The words stuck in his throat like a stone, and though he summoned whatever strength he had to heave them out, he found himself wanting. All he could do was swallow them down, and allow his walls to rebuild themselves anew. The moment had passed, and what vulnerability he forced himself to display faded into obscurity.
"I'm not gonna apologise for saying I'll never join a gang. I'll never go back to that kinda life. But... I *was* an asshole about it. And I owe you an apology for that. So... sorry. For being an asshole about it."
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
Tsubasa doesn't mean to be unfriendly, at least; they're both not terribly wordy, and trying to match Hyousuke's speed. It's a vicious combination!
Still, there's one good thing about not being wordy: it tends to give someone more patience to let the other guy finish. Tsubasa doesn't have a burning need to interject; it lends Hyousuke those moments of silent tension. They nod, though, to indicate their attention.
Option three... huh.
... probably the best out of them all, they think, considering the kind of gang activity adults get into. But... it still sucks.
"It's cool," they say, first. "Kasugayama ain't like a lot a schools... most places, this shit ain't normal. Lose sight a that when you in it... but you ain't said nothin' bad. Bit of a tone, maybe, but that's it... 'I ain't into that' ain't no crime to say. I'll accept ya apology," they clarify, "but seriously, man, you're cool. Don't reckon you no asshole."
Tsubasa breathes out, looking up at the holy tree shading them. "Still... fucked up shit, man. Yeah, I been grabbed by th' cops... fucks ya up. Some a them pricks, they fuckin' like hurtin' us, swear to God." They shake their head, looking back down. (Were they actually swearing that to God...?) "Ain't th' cops what hung ya out to dry, tho', huh? ... thanks for tellin' me. Feels like I get where ya comin' from a bit more now."
They look to Hyousuke, their stoic expression a touch grim. "Hey, man... you ever feel like you ain't feelin' like you got a lotta trust in what I'm doin', speak up, yeah? If you ain't always there, like... I get it. But I'll do what I can."
Man, they think, Ichika's way better at this kinda touchy-feely junk...
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
No spoken response was given to Tsubasa's reassurances, nor to their acceptance of his apology. But the way his body seemed to almost collapse in on itself as the tension began to vent may have gone some way to showing how relieved he felt. It felt as though some great burden had been lifted from his shoulders, and with how they sagged and how the pallor began to fade from his once-tensed knuckles, it certainly looked that way as well. Eventually, he turned his head to grant Tsubasa a weak smile, and a weaker "Thanks." A gesture he felt could never properly express the relief he felt, but it was still a start.
He looked to the shrine as Tsubasa did, but while Tsubasa shook their head at it, Hyousuke's remained still. Instead, a look of scorn crossed his face, and briefly considered swearing *at* whoever resided above. He decided better of it a second later, instead choosing to commiserate with Tsubasa about their dismal judgement of the authorities.
"And those assholes in court. They're not any better than the cops." The entire judicial system had its problems, and Hyousuke was more than happy to hurl insults at all of them, but more immediate matters demanded his attention.
Then, the last part. Hyousuke shook his head, and slowly, his gaze grew harder, and his posture straighter. Whether that display was meant to inspire confidence in Tsubasa, or in himself, Hyousuke wouldn't - or, perhaps, couldn't - say.
"You and Ichika-san have been fighting by me through everything. All the shit we've been through, all the things we've had to do... It always felt like I was fighting *with* you guys, and not fighting *for* you. I guess... I guess what I'm trying to say is that, even if I don't know shit about what's going on, you've proved you're worth trusting. So if you ever need me to do anything, just ask, and I'll be there. I'm not ever gonna be in the gang, but I *am* your friend."
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
Tsubasa smiles back! It is possible for them to smile; they just try to avoid doing it, too much, because too much smiling reveals how lopsided their face is. (You know. All those burns.) Clearly Hyousuke's gratitude is one of those special occasions where they can shift out of their Default Scowl for a minute, though. "Any time, man."
Still... the courts. "With me, they decided I was guilty while I was fightin' for me life in hospital... by th' time I was able to say shit, was only one thing they wanted to hear from me. Me older brother sold me out, so me own father helped 'em figure I was guilty... prick." Tsubasa mutters the invective, but any time they're able to insult their father is a great victory, really. "... ain't gon' guess they were any more fair with you."
They smile, again, when Hyousuke insists they're fighting with him. "Yeah. That's how it is... an' same with me, yeah? Ain't... always easy for me to trust a guy," and given their family, that might be self-explanatory, "but I trust you, man. Glad to be your friend, y'know?"
Lance finally trots up, wagging her tail a mile a minute, as she BOOFS around her stick.
"Heh," Tsubasa cracks a grin, briefly. "Lance is ya friend, too, yeah? Looks like she's finally figured out we can't throw those things if she ain't gon' give 'em to us... how 'bout it?"
Hyousuke.
Your destiny is to play with the dog.
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
There were many important things to attend to. There were monsters to fight, demons to be faced, people to be brought to justice, and a multitude of other things. The task before them was monumental, and he would need every mote of strength and resilience in order to remain the ally he believed they needed. But there, in that moment, in that place, there was one task that took precedence over all others, and Hyousuke did not need to be prompted to take it up.
"Alright, come on girl, give it here. You gotta let me take it, I can't *just* throw..."