MAY DAY PARADE --OPEN TO ALL

[df_official]

WHO: Gate Walkers and Civillians alike
WHEN: May 1st, 1952
WHERE: GOVERNMENT SECTOR, RESIDENTIAL QUARTER
FILTER: Come one, come all!
WHAT: May day Parade with an added twist! Maes is holding a covert operations with it to map out this part of the government sector no Gate Walker has been allowed to see. There will be a thread for the secret

Comments

[soulofthestorm]

Sasuke wasn't sure how he'd been roped into parade duty. At least he wasn't dressed up and forced to march like a trained duck. No, instead, he was following Maes around with a clipboard, checking things off, wondering why he wasn't on the walls where it was quite and at least he only had to deal with zombies, and glaring death at anyone who tried to talk to him.

This was not his idea of fun and frivolity. It was noisy, chaotic, and people were asking really stupidly inane questions. The only upside to the whole ordeal was a current lack of Itachi.

Sasuke took a deep breath and trotted to catch up to Maes, checking off another item on the lists as he fell in step with his superior officer. "Everything seems in order so far." No, he wasn't going to address Maes as 'sir' even if he should. Rebellious little git refused to follow the rules as strictly as he should, and it was a wonder he even made it in military life with his attitude.

[graficmemory]

Maes nodded as he listed the final things that needed to be checked over. "Very good! Hopefully, then everything will go without a hitch." With a small sigh, he made a smart turn around to the front of the line. "Just five more minutes, and we'll be able to get this show on the road!" His green eyes shifted over to Sasuke, almost sparkling with excitement, but there was something else there clouding them. "You ready for this?"

[soulofthestorm]

Sasuke glanced at Maes, black eyes narrowing a moment as they met green, before he redirected his attention to the chaos of the parade set-up around them. "Looks like it should run smoothly." He agreed, tone neutral, as he scanned the pages on the clipboard one last time.

"Everything is set." Sasuke tucked his pen almost absently behind his ear and looked out at the gathered crowd. "I'm ready."

[graficmemory]

"Let's get this show on the road, then!" He lifted up an arm and swung it in a circle pattern over his head. "All right, front line! Let's go!" Maes grunted out something in Russian, most likely something that equated that the parade could warm up and start.

"I'm tellin' ya, Sasuke, this is going to be the hottest damn parade these people have ever seen! Look at the sharp uniforms! The shiny instruments!" He even knocked on the tire of a truck they walked past. "The giant machinery! And that's not even the half of it!"

[soulofthestorm]

If Sasuke needed any confirmation that his commanding officer was a little nuts (and he didn't) this would have confirmed it. Not that he actually minded eccentric too much. Though if you used hot pokers and an iron maiden you wouldn't get that confession out of him

[graficmemory]

Maes smiled then. Not one of his cryptic, 'wanna see the picture of my darling family?' smiles, but something a little more genuine. It was something that hinted that Maes knew exactly what he was doing, and he didn't care who thought he was crazy. "Think of it this way... no one that I know of has been this deep into the Government sector. At least," his eyes shift, looking to see if anyone's listening in, "no one from our side of the city. So think of it as a great site seeing tour, eh?" With that, he grinned and slapped Sasuke on the back.

[soulofthestorm]

Sasuke was actually surprised at the smile, and the words were even more interesting. He glanced around them quickly, without moving his head, a sweep for listeners very much like Maes's.

"You sneaky bastard." Was the ninja's reply, his lips not moving as he tucked the clipboard under his arm.

Sasuke looked around again, this time with a great deal more interest.

[graficmemory]

"I know," the voice practically purred with smugness as he looked down the line. "Hey! HEY! What did I tell you--" He quickened his step, a scowl quickly crossing his face. "You can't put the dogs there! I....." Then he jogged over to the problem at hand. "I told you that the dogs had to go there!" He pointed to another section in the parade line, trying to convey to the handlers without getting bitten by the sudden onslaught of attack dogs.

"AHHHHHHHHH!"

[detachedkiller]

Itachi had been posted by the wall and had been tracking Sasuke and Hughes' path from the starting line. He had intended to follow it to the end, and none of the other soldiers really seemed to care. He wasn't the only one moving down the sidelines watching for trouble, rifle propped against a shoulder. He wasn't so much as looking out for trouble as just keeping an eye on Sasuke. His brother was too old for it, and it was laughable that Itachi should show any interest at all, but he was dead. This was the last place for him now, no ifs ands or buts. He would do what he liked

[soulofthestorm]

The smug rejoinder, the whole brief exchange was having Sasuke re-evaluating his superior officer rather rapidly. It made him both thoughtful and intrigued. It sort of reminded him of Kakashi--goofy on the outside, something entirely different within.

Look underneath the underneath.

The ninja didn't have much time to really contemplate his revelations on Maes, however, before the older man was getting into a fracas with... Dogs of all things. A lot like Kakashi....Sasuke trotted to catch up and see if he couldn't assist Maes--all that time walking dogs as a genin had to pay off some time, right?--when Itachi seemed to materialize next to the other man and Sasuke stiffened and froze in his tracks, face going still and cold as he stared at his brother. Of course Itachi handled the situation not only flawlessly, but efficiently

[graficmemory]

He never jumped when Itachi appeared. It was as if Maes had been expecting it. "All right! So put them over there, okay?" He did some extra pointing and gesturing to the grumbling group. "Don't make me whip out my picture on you!"

Maes watched them slink off, and then turned back to Itachi. The man was practically oblivious to the disgruntled look the soldier gave him; it was that or Maes truly didn't care for his safety. "Hey! Thanks. Thought I was going to be dog food, for a second there." Had they been off duty, he surely would have done something embarrassing just to get a reaction out of the stoic soldier. Probably a bear hug and a good old set of Russian kisses. That would be fun. Anything to make the nearly silent man say something. It was a game after all that Maes enjoyed every Rations day: Make the man talk for his food.But then he spotted Sasuke and grinned. The animosity between the two did not go unnoticed, but ignored. "Well! I guess I'm not getting a puppy for Christmas, am I?" With that he laughed

[detachedkiller]

Itachi certainly could feel the hatred pouring over Hughes' shoulder unbidden, but his eyes floated over Sasuke as they normally did. A quick flick that acknowledged someone was there, but not anyone that required more attention. Hughes was speaking, nothing important, and was dutifully ignoring whatever tension was in the air caused by the newest arrivals appearance.

"Unless you require something else," Itachi stated, letting it trail off as he turned to leave. He'd prevent the man from being eaten, perhaps shot, but otherwise, he had no reason to be there. whatever his plans were, the parade wasn't something he cared much about. He would follow it to the end, see what he could see, and that was all. He wasn't quite sure of the route through town, however, or he would have been more keen to be a part.

[soulofthestorm]

Normally not one to appreciate the friendly closeness of Maes, Sasuke was still distracted enough with curbing the impulse to do something bloody and violent to his closest living kin, that he didn't react or shrug the man off. Almost mechanically, Sasuke raised the clipboard for Maes's perusal, eyes barely scanning the plan--yeah, the dogs had been in the entirely wrong place--before returning his gaze to Itachi

[graficmemory]

Maes knew something about sibling rivalry. He wasn't immune to it, that's for certain. But he wasn't about to ramble off into some story about how his younger brothers always clung to him, thought they were better and just ran off on their own. But now Maes had stopped talking about the parade and switched to something else just to see if Sasuke was paying attention.

"So then since he said he didn't like sweet things, I persuaded to have made this really decadent chocolate cake, because who can't resist chocolate, right? No one can! Once we had that beauty baked with chocolate fudge icing and chocolate drops on top, we almost had our trap set. The plan was to set this cake out in a reeeeeeally quiet place and string up one of those camera things. Like-" He sniggered a moment, trying to regain his composure, "Like he pulls the string, and then 'snap' goes the picture!"

[detachedkiller]

Itachi gave the slightest quirk of his eyebrow at the random change of topic, but it wasn't any concern of his. He didn't know who would fall for such a trap, well, not many, but it might be interesting to see, if he came upon it in progress.

He was already making his way out of the center of it all, to slink back into the shadows until something else came up that may need his attention. Knowing the other man, it probably wouldn't be long before he stumbled -purposefully or not, he can never tell- into another situation where something might take a chunk out of his hide.

[soulofthestorm]

Sasuke did actually take a minute to tune back into Maes's conversation, at which point he re-wound his internal recording and tried to follow the random topic switch.

Sufficiently distracted from his hate by the complete one-eighty turn in the discussion, Sasuke graced the older man with a highly arch look.

"What?" Oh yes, intelligent response. But really, what?

By the time Sasuke thought to look for Itachi again, his brother was already fading back into the crowds. In a way, that was creepier then having him within sight. Sasuke knew he was going to be jumpy and looking for a glimpse of Itachi for the rest of the parade.