(Untitled)

[cannibar]

Who: cannibar, pteroda, and later on brandedjustice.
What: Hunting for emos.
Where: Archives, then Niflheim.
When: Right before the plane shift.

Comments

/late

[brandedjustice]

Smoker wiggled his fingers. Death wasn't as he expected, even if it was a temporary flux of his existence. He could still feel, breathe, think - nothing much had changed, save the empty feeling residing in his chest. It could have been any other day.

Save the fact that his tangible form was half-way to hell in some god-forsaken laboratory somewhere in Nuadoria.

The Commodore frowned and reached for a length of cigar - he found none. Right. Died without his jacket - nice. He licked his lower lip and stood, hands finding the solace of a belt. As he did so, he tilted his head back and let out breath. Nifelheim was cold, dead - as should be expected. The Marine grimaced at his situation and mentally battled how much he hated this place and its politics. Every time something went wrong, he was there to clean it up. It was same shit, just a different day and he took it in stride albeit a bit less forgiving.

At least no one broke the sky this time; that was something to be thankful for.

"This is it, huh?" Smoker thought his voice sounded like a shadow. He growled and tapped on his communicator. "If you're still around, now would be a good time to point out a direction." Without much to go on, the Commodore took a normal place through the fog.

[absolute_npc]

The communicator glowed for a second before a video transmitted to the Commodore's device. Lilith, as promised is there, her surroundings clear enough to be the archives within Nuadoria currently.

"Yes. I advise you to check the upper levels of the archives first." The video disappeared although the transmission still stayed connected, switching from an image of Lilith to a map. Suddenly a point on the map glowed, blinking red. Another dot, a green one appeared on the map, as well. And then finally, two blue dots appeared looking as if they may be also going to the archives.

"Uchiha Itachi and Kuran Yuuki are also within Niflheim at this moment. It may be wise to meet with them before stepping inside the archives."

[brandedjustice]

Two? Smoker's brows knotted themselves; it was hard to understand why anyone else would take this mission on, but whatever. They were here now and while Smoker wasn't the most personable of people, he would figure out the rest of the plan later and try to make nice. He was out of his particular element, that was for sure. And his temper was on thin ice.

"Don't know them," he stated blandly. "-but I guess that doesn't really matter." He wished he had a watch right about now; Kasukabe hadn't given him any sort of time frame for how long he would be knocked out. Smoker knew the very basics - if he were out too long, he wouldn't be coming back any time soon.

And that very reality was worrisome.

Smoker huffed. "As soon as this is done, I expect some damn answers."

[cannibar]

Perhaps it was simple luck that a clear indicator of Smoker’s whereabouts was the faint glow of the communicator that illuminated within the heavy desolate atmosphere.

Faintly in his mind Itachi had wondered if Smoker could accompany Yuuki while he searched the area himself (As much as he worked in pairs in the Akatsuki, he found himself awkward and uneasy around those that he was not purely familiar with, or rather, those that had intervened when not necessary.)

Half-glancing over his shoulder, he gave a small nod to Yuuki to gesture her to follow him as they made their way to Smoker. Itachi could see him perfectly, and even how animated the other seemed to be in speech as well as gestures could not go amiss.

However, when they were in a close enough proximity, he stood there silently, allowing the young girl beside him to confirm the man before them. Allowing her to speak first.

oh my god this is so short, sorry orz

[pteroda]

Yuuki blinked when Itachi gave her the go ahead to speak first. A wave of hesitance washed over her, but she simply tighten her hands into fists and breathed away the tension.

Stepping forward just a few steps more she called out to Smoker, "Commodore Smoker! Is that you?"

no worries

[brandedjustice]

Smoker stopped and slowly turned his head. His brows pushed together, causing a thick line to run up the middle of his forehead. He growled, back a little arched. "You must be the two that followed me in here," he said. "-not that I'm complaining, but do you have any idea what you've done." Not a question, a firm statement. The Commodore ran a hand through his hair.

"I'm not going to ask what you did to land yourself here, but I'm sure you know what's going on, so I won't have to explain anything to you." Smoker gestured ahead. "I don't know if I'm running on a timer, so let's make this quick."

[cannibar]

"Followed you." Itachi was quick to repeat the words coldly. It was vaguely obvious as to why -- almost instantly -- Itachi had found himself not accepting the man’s beliefs in his own self-importance, "You are not our top priority. It was requested that we would find you beforehand." ( -- Unfortunately.) With the cold distance and apathy in his words, Itachi displayed some stubbornness and doubt.

It wasn’t any concern as too how Smoker had made his way into Niflheim, only that he was there now, and supposedly one more piece of unwanted company. He moved first, making his way to the archives.

[pteroda]

She could already see that the Commodore and Itachi would be getting along splendidly. She never got a chance to answer the Commodore before Itachi spoke, and the girl found herself looking back and forth between the two in silence.

When Itachi started forward, she followed him, only smiling a bit apologetically to the Commodore over this whole fiasco. And by fiasco she meant not going according to plan (Smoker had gone solo, after all) and having Itachi as he was (but it was to be expected, wasn't it? He seemed to know the Ice Magister much better than her or the Commodore).

"Yessir," she replied, however to his comment on making this expedition quick. They needed to get things back to normal already.

[brandedjustice]

Smoker kept his silence, but his anger brewed there. He made no gesture of kindness made towards Itachi. The very little patience he could muster was given to the young lady, whom had addressed him with some sort of respect. Not that Smoker needed it.

"Friends with him, then?" A short question, if not to get some answers. Smoker wasn't about to make pals with two other people who decided to throw themselves into oblivion. He made a noise in the back of his throat; the slow burn of being suspended in death was taking a toll on him.

He should have brought smokes.

"I'm guessing you've had the pleasure in dealing with this before - " The Commodore went back to business. "- let's just get this done and over with before any harm comes to the people that are stuck on the other side."

[cannibar]

Fortunately Itachi was not disappointed by the lack of kindness Smoker seemed to indicate. It was not what he was seeking for, and he had no concern in how Smoker behaved. It was foolish for the other man to throw himself in this place by himself with the expectancy to be first and foremost.

With a lingering silence, Itachi did not answer Smoker until they were several blocks down a street, in which he replied with an uncaring tone, "Loose acquaintances would be the correct term." Despite himself and Caim being close enough to be considered friends, Itachi was not well-versed to identify someone as such.

Only when Smoker had continued to talk did he half-glance over his shoulder (Half of his attention to Yuuki, to reassure himself of her safety.) and with that he only continued to allow himself to be silent.

[pteroda]

Yuuki was finally just about to tell the Commodore, no, she hadn't (she'd been musing whether to or not for the few blocks of walking) when Itachi corrected the friend comment. For some reason she felt it suddenly wasn't necessary at all for her to let Smoker know that, no, this was her first time, too. This wasn't exactly the ideal adventure, running on an invisible clock to zero.

"It's there, right?" Yuuki said, giving a point to one of the taller and large structures seen over the rooftops. Just one more block or so seemed as if it'd land them in the archives. The question was, now, would they make it that far before something happened and if nothing did, would the Magister in question be there as they hoped.

[brandedjustice]

Smoker adjusted his gaze to the taller structures up ahead. All of this was a real fuck all and all he wanted was some order. Unfortunately that came with the grave consequence that he had to work with people that seemed not too keen with him being here.

Let them file a report; he didn't really give a damn about the social consequences.

He was silent through the trip, though his face showed increasing amounts of displeasure as the three of them trekked the wilderness of the supposed-dead. The Marine searched his mouth for a smoke, still knowing he would find none.

Finally after a considerable amount of silence, he spoke: "I'm not here to play games - if he doesn't want to get back to his post, I'll drag him back there myself." Smoker's voice wasn't threatening as much as he was gruff and precise. He wasn't about to run around and kiss the ass of a deserter.

[cannibar]

With the silence that dawned down on the three of them, Itachi was silent throughout the journey. His reply to Smoker’s own words were nothing but Itachi mentally rolling his eyes ( -- As opposed to do a gesture that would be as such, knowing that it wasn’t in his mannerism.) and he led them to the archives that were set in the city. It was a complete mirror reflection of the one in the normality in the city, only shrouded in a desolate atmosphere and dark.

He did not show any form of hesitation or reluctance as he climbed the stairs and made his own way into the interior, allowing himself to only lean against the doorframe, waiting for the other two and letting himself gaze at Smoker, as though to silently speak for the other man to be their guest.

hello. :)

[redeify]

He wouldn't get the chance, unfortunately.

The door swung open without them, and out stepped Dai with his heavy, reverberating footsteps, clicking and echoing out into the city walls. In the same regalia as always, clad head to foot in his spiny, black and silver armour, he looked over them (down on them) with a serene smile, as though this was all Exactly As Expected. And really, why shouldn't it be? Finding out what they had from Lilith, it must have seemed like the most natural choice for the visitors who had taken such a shine to Caim. To come and find him, bring him to where he should be, and make it all better.

He reached up to run his fingers through his white hair smoothly, shutting the door behind him with the other hand. "Well, this is really quite a party, isn't it?... I suppose you thought you'd rather be safe than sorry. Though, there's always the risk that one might end up being both."

The Commodore. Itachi. Yuuki. All familiar faces, and his smile deepened, his eyes flicking across each of them in turn.

"... Such grim expressions, when visiting a friend should be a cheerful occasion. What is it? Are you not glad to see me?"

[brandedjustice]

Smoker had finally found his target. No more pleasantries were left in him by the time that one of the natives decided to make his grand appearance. Smoker wasn't completely familiar with the lot on a name basis - he had only been called a couple of times to clean up a mess someone else had created (Heine and Rikku, Anima) so he didn't bother remember their names.

"Stuck doing clean up duty again - can't say I can muster that kind of joy." He extended his hands outwards and gave a healthy crack of his knuckles. "I'm not here to pussy foot around the subject, so I'll make this quick: where the hell is the one that decided to bail?"

Smoker's eyes were tense and narrowed. He wasn't about to make any small chat. "Seems everyone here wants to play nice, but I'm in no mood to hear some damn sob story. Either he gets back to his post nice and quiet, or I'll do something about it."

[cannibar]

No, Itachi knew that this was not to be expected. For Dai to come down and expose himself as though he was behind the idea of manipulating their very beings. (In the back of his mind, however, when Itachi had questioned Lilith's whereabouts as well as the rest of the magisters, there was a faint possibility that tugged at the back of his mind that a similar outcome would unravel in front of them.)

There was no waver that graced his expression. He stood there, motionless -- but if one would look carefully, there was some disdain, how he lowered his eyelids and let his lips set in a thin line, how his hand was no longer empty of a weapon until the handle of a blade was suddenly coiled by his fingers.

Still, he was silent as both of the men spoke.

Not bothering to waste his breath in the round about way Dai often provoked. After all, Smoker had asked what was needed to be asked: the location of Caim.