MAY DAY PARADE --OPEN TO ALL

Jan 16, 2009 14:17


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 ( Read more... )

filter:open.log, maes hughes, npc: official, filter:event.log, uchiha itachi, edward elric

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detachedkiller January 17 2009, 06:01:42 UTC
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.

He shifted through the crowd, stepping around people by sight and not touch. It still amazed him sometimes that his vision was to its previous condition. Before the Mangekyou. Before everything... but now he couldn't use his genjutsu at all, not anything substantial anyway, and his sharingan was even a drain. He knew through experimentation about how far he could go, and that wasn't far at all. Disconcerting...

...but that was neither here nor there. Hughes was screaming and the Uchiha could see why, with dogs snarling at him. He almost quirked a lip at the man's over-reaction and slammed the butt of his rifle into the ground, close to the nearest dog's head. It gave a startled yip as he stared at the owner, forcing him back.

Itachi turned to give Hughes a blank look. Maybe a little bit of 'Pick your battles more wisely', but mostly blank.

[[It begged to be done. Just a brief encounter for the hate~]]

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soulofthestorm January 17 2009, 12:04:29 UTC
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.

It made Sasuke so damn angry. That blank stare. The superior attitude. It grated. Sasuke stayed still, fingers tightening so hard the clipboard creaked under the strain as he willed himself not to launch a random attack at Itachi--though fantasies of shoving the clipboard down his brother's throat were briefly and lovingly entertained. He was a few steps to the other side of Maes, a little behind him, staring at Itachi around the man's shoulder.

The pure anger and hate in that look was undisguised.

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graficmemory January 17 2009, 12:22:49 UTC
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, definitely clapping an arm around Sasuke's shoulders and peering suspiciously over the clipboard. "Damn people thinking that my design is flawed. See? Right. Here." He punctuated those two words with a pounding on the clipboard. "Says right here that they needed to be just before the floats and just after the soldiers. Not in the middle. Jeez! No one can take any direction around here, whether it's in Amestrian or Russian!"

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detachedkiller January 17 2009, 20:00:47 UTC
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.

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soulofthestorm January 17 2009, 20:43:50 UTC
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.

It really pissed him off to be dismissed so casually. For all that he really should have been used to the treatment, he just... Wasn't. Unbidden came the flash of memory, Itachi's fingers poking his forehead before his brother fell...

Sasuke jerked a little under Maes's touch, as if shocked. His eyes fell away from Itachi, hesitating near the edge of the crowd, and he frowned, trying to dispel the unsettling memory. It brought up questions he didn't want to ask. And even if he did want to ask them, it wasn't exactly the time or place.

Pretending to ignore Itachi--rather unsuccessfully, since his eyes kept straying to his brother--Sasuke attempted to concentrate on the details of the parade plan Maes was pointing out, lips pressed so tightly together they were a thin white line.

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graficmemory January 17 2009, 21:01:34 UTC
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!"

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detachedkiller January 17 2009, 22:13:41 UTC
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.

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soulofthestorm January 17 2009, 22:52:37 UTC
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.

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graficmemory January 17 2009, 23:05:12 UTC
"It's time to start!" He commanded the drum corp to start so that the parade to get underway.

"Sasuke, do you know how to draw? We should have really pretty sketches of this place for the paper, you know?"

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soulofthestorm January 17 2009, 23:45:07 UTC
Sasuke picked at the pen still tucked behind his ear, doing his best to put the disconcerting meeting with his brother out of his mind.

"Good enough for your pretty pictures." The ninja replied honestly. If Maes wanted the Birth of Venus he'd be disappointed, but Sasuke was practiced enough at mapping and layout sketches to be exceedingly accurate.

He contemplated using the sharingan, it would improve his drawing and detail, but it would also drain him considerably. And red eyes weren't exactly inconspicuous. For the time being Sasuke just flipped the page and looked around, ready to start. Anyone watching from a distance would just see him making notes continuously as Maes chattered his ear off, after all.

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graficmemory January 17 2009, 23:52:18 UTC
Smart boy. Maes chattered incessently and make many large hand motions as the parade finally went underway. Fortunately for Maes, he avoided the dogs. Unfortunately for Maes, he nearly got run over by one of the floats. But that wasn't the point! The point was to map out the government sector and get this parade done and over with.

After ward, he needed to pay a visit at the jail and bail out the girl who was supposed to be drawing out the map. He honestly hoped she was doing okay.

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soulofthestorm January 18 2009, 01:36:54 UTC
Sasuke had to duck one or two of the more exuberant gestures. He tuned Hughes out easily, concentrating on recording as many details as accurately as he could, and keeping it both readable and organized, with the occasional written note next to anything of interest. He switched between sheets of paper frequently, mapping and also sketching landmarks, making notes and try to form some organization out of it.

After the parade he could make a neater set of copies. He nearly walked into one float while he was distracted and following Maes, and after that kept his attention divided between what he was doing and where he was going, because following Maes too closely was apparently not the brightest idea.

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graficmemory January 18 2009, 02:19:48 UTC
Maes never bothered looking at Sasuke as he orchestrated the parade down the planned route. Actually, he did walk over into Sasuke's personal space to jab at the paper as be babbled, hoping that the kid would know enough to sketch out things he felt was important. They'd go over it later.

So far, so good! The parade was moving along just as he planned.

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soulofthestorm January 18 2009, 03:07:24 UTC
Sasuke had a good grasp of what details were important, tactically, but he was being as thorough as he could on the move.

He rubbed his temples and kept drawing. He didn't bother to ask about how they'd exchange information, Maes lived next door, after all, and talking in the open wasn't a bright idea.

"How's your hand?" he asked instead, absently, as he sketched out a twist of the street.

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graficmemory January 18 2009, 13:39:38 UTC
"It's fine." He didn't think that anyone saw the nip that German Shepherd dog gave him but maybe he was wrong. Maes was fairly certain he didn't react to it as if he had been bitten. He slid his gaze over to Sasuke while they were almost finished with the parade. This guy definitely had some potential.

Once he was done with some other errands, he would check out Sasuke some more.

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soulofthestorm January 19 2009, 00:53:24 UTC
"Hmm." Sasuke's response was a skeptical snort as the parade wound to a close. He finished marking in a detail here and there, then flipped the pages back to the checklist on top and settled the clipboard casually under his arm as he looked around at the milling chaos.

The time to escape was now. Or he'd get roped into helping with clean up.

"Well, I better go finish up the paperwork." Sasuke commented, almost sadistically. "I'll just let you take care of the rest." He started to turn to leave, with every intention of leaving Maes to deal with the aftermath of the parade while he found a nice quite nook to re-copy the map in.

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