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]

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.

[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.

[graficmemory]

"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?"

[soulofthestorm]

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.

[graficmemory]

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.

[soulofthestorm]

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.

[graficmemory]

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.

[soulofthestorm]

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.

[graficmemory]

"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.

[soulofthestorm]

"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.