To the Junkyard Once More

[cloudy_memory]

Characters: Mako cloudy_memory and Night hisdarkavatar
Date/Time: Today, Now?
Location: Junkyard
Rating: PG
Summary: Cloud heads down out of curiosity. Kadaj finds him by chance (since it's his job). The former finds something important which both feel familiar with...

Comments

.../lazied

[cloudy_memory]

"Mm," he replied in acknowledgment of the comment, hearing his suit power back up but not paying any attention to it. He continued to rummage through the junk in silence. Shreds of what may have been glove(s), a dented hammer head (how did that happen?), a bullet cartridge... but nothing that he could see of actual value. His eyes scanned over the surrounding area.

He was slightly startled by the other's voice since he had assumed the other had left to find better things to do. But instead, it seemed he was trying to pick up a conversation, which he didn't mind at all. Hunting was a unique choice of words indeed, and Mako would've doubtless disregarded it if Night was someone else. That tiny tug he felt inside him, however, made that word linger in his mind a second or two more than what should've been, then dropped. "Nothing in particular," he answered without turning around, continuing to scavenge. "Just for something valuable."

His hand brushed over a small area and somehow just stopped and hovered over a half-buried handle. He looked at it for a moment and felt his interest pique for an unknown reason. He reached forward and brushed the junk off the rest of the handle and gave a sharp intake of breath; he definitely knew that handle. It was short, rectangular and unique in itself... there was no way he could be mistaken. But what relation did he bear to it? Though his hands lay on the handle, the material covering it was foreign to his fingers. He knew it only by sight; not by touch. Why? He continued to unearth the sword, suddenly desperate to find the answer in the way finding out about one's own past is an unbearable feeling.

I'm sorry. T^T

[hisdarkavatar]

He nodded as he dug through another pile. ...something valuable. There was no doubt that Night had also been looking for something valuable for the past few months, and he was very frustrated that others had unearthed or uncovered more than he had. That, in combination with his current feelings, with those whispers of 'traitor', with that unexplained anger that he always bore with him... all these things were starting to build up, and Night could feel himself searching more frantically through the scraps before him.

"Ah, people do overlook the value of things that they could find here," he continued. "Clues to memories and familiar objects, and when people meet each other--" He sharply cut himself off for the feeling of an bizarre, unwanted threat was about to roll from his tongue. Why it was so hard to shift his mood around this man, he wasn't sure, but he wanted it to stop. There was no need to cause trouble...

...wasn't this that guy who was with Star in the wilderness some time ago? It must've been the first time they all found out this was some kind of game. But now a different anger arose in him--it was a different kind of jealousy than what he had for the tall dark man. While digging through that pile, he'd found a mouse trap with bent wires, a mangled toaster oven, a headless rubber duck squeak-toy, a standless LCD monitor, and a couple sword hilts missing blades. Taking up one of the hilts, he once again noted his familiarity with wielding it and decided it would be better with a blade--or two. Yes, twin blades.

Maybe he could have it fixed as a custom job. He might have enough money.

As he contemplated, he fought the overwhelming urge to continually shoot the other. It was stupid and childish, but that anger inside of him would not settle.

S'okay babe. <333

[cloudy_memory]

Mako had stopped paying attention to Night. His attention was focused solely on the blade he was unearthing, his movements becoming more desperate and rash with each passing moment, maybe, perhaps, a little too obviously desperate and rash. Mako never did actively 'search' for his lost past, but when it happened to come upon him, as it did now, he put his whole being into it, whether voluntarily or involuntarily (and usually, it was the latter). His mind searched as desperately for answers as his fingers did to completely reveal the mystery before him. He gave a momentary halt to suck in his breath as the sword's blade just stopped. He stared a moment longer, then, coming to the conclusion that it was bent, dug deeper through all the unoragnic junk. An old, rusting battery was thrown behind him carelessly, and, coincidentally, right at Night. Then, suddenly tired of digging, the blonde grabbed ahold of the hilt firmly and tugged.

"Nnnngghh.... gah!" he yelled out as the trash gave way, the momentum throwing him backwards and onto his back. He took deep breaths and was in no hurry to get up; he was examining the L-shaped sword in his hands with great wonder, flipping and turning it, knowing he knew it but not from where.

...That black-haired man. He had something to do with it. He knew he did. He realized that that black-haired man must've had a lot of impact on his life if he was so familiar with things acquainted to him. Slowly, he sat up again, focusing fiercly on that blade. Still, nothing came. For as many things he found he was familiar with, his memories were coming at an awfully sluggish pace, and he thought he might be lucky to know at least half of his past by the time he was a year old in Edensphere. He ran his hand along to blade, mesmorized, his hand coming to an odd halt where it was bent. Maybe... he had to fix it. Then the memories would come to him. He could only hope that would be so.

"...Huh," he said uselessly, since he was pretty much at a loss of words.

[hisdarkavatar]

If only there was a blade attached to the hilt, Night would've been dead on blocking himself from the tossed battery. Instead, the battery flew past the hilt and hit Night in the chest. In aggravation, he huffed about it but upon seeing the L-bent sword that came ripped from the pile of rubble, his eyes widened. He knew it shouldn't be bent that way; its shape and build were incredibly familiar. Something about him hated it.

"That--" He cut himself off, speech becoming more like a low growl at the other man. Night examined the blade before glaring at the other man. Traitor... traitor... traitor, traitor... It was playing like a mantra in his mind, and he didn't know why he felt so angry, but he quickly scanned the yard, searching for a blade of his own. In his anger, he'd been biting his lip and now bit down so hard it was bleeding.

And when he didn't find a blade to work with, he simply approached the other, raising the plastic gun high -much higher than necessary to shoot- before swinging it down quickly in an attempt to hit the blond.

[cloudy_memory]

Mako failed to notice Kadaj's aggravated actions, still mesmorized by the artifact in his hands. What did that black-haired man have to do with it...? That one question repeated itself in his mind, but suddenly, he realized that little feeling the other gave him was growing. Not only that, but his instincts told him there was something very wrong. He pulled his mind away from the sword and looked to the side, and, when finding Night was not beside him, but instead behind him, his eyes widened and he swung himself around, the deformed blade catching the gun just in time.

"H-hey! What do you think you're doing?" Mako demanded, not using his name because he didn't know it yet. The attack- it had to be because of the sword. It had to. The other hadn't shown any signs of aggression towards him, at least, not openly. Not until the sword had been unearthed. They were from the same world, undoubtedly, both very familiar with that particular sword, though in very different ways. Mako's stomach sunk as he realized he could very well be dealing with an opposing enemy from his homeworld. He hoped, though, that he could stop this before it got into something worse.

"Knock it off!"

[hisdarkavatar]

The taste of blood in his mouth was giving him a crazy rush. The plastic gun came down against the bend sword with a blunt sound of plastic hitting metal. Somehow, the toy gun didn't crack at the force that Night had swung it down. But Mako's reaction and that blunt noise from the block seemed to bring Night back to his senses.

The look in his eyes transformed from intense hatred to that of utmost confusion. What was he doing? Neither of them knew about their pasts, so he didn't have a reason to attack the other man! Night blinked away the anger and frustration now replaced with confusion as he stepped back and shook his head. "Wh-what?!?!" His head was pounding -throbbing- from the 'traitor' mantra that continued to repeat itself.

He dropped the gun, allowing it to dangle from the attachment on his wrist before dropping to his knees and grabbing his head. "Aarrrgghh--guhhh!!" His breathing became intensely labored for a moment as he sat in confusion and shock.

[cloudy_memory]

Mako instantly felt some relief when Night backed off. He lowered his weapon and watched him carefully in his confused outrage. He tried to understand it from the other's standpoint. A sudden feeling of familiarity, but with it a dreadful sense of hatred, the feeling washing over like a tidal wave; strong, uncontrollable, but only lasting shortly. When he was back to his senses, he would feel ashamed, confused... scared, even. Incredibly confused, since the reason of his attack was unknown even to himself... if known, only subconsciously.

When Night dropped to his knees, Mako couldn't help but feel another wave of panic rush over him, but of a different kind. Night might've just attacked him, but he didn't actually do harm, whether he was intending to or not... And it really didn't seem he was intending to. Everything aside, he tried to call out his name, only realizing once more he didn't know it. "Argh..." he said to himself instead, dropping his weapon and running over. "H-hey!" He kneeled down beside Night, unsure what to do. He had an expression of concern on his face.

"...Hang in there."

[hisdarkavatar]

Green eyes shot their frustrated gaze at the other before Night backed away carefully. He couldn't understand why he was unable to quell that rising anger, and he was afraid that it would only escalate. And this was giving rise to panic for a sense of helplessness or loss of control.

"I... can't--" he managed to rasp out between gasps. It was like he was semi-glaring at the other; all the while, he was fighting that anger, those emotions. "--my head really hurts. It's pounding... pounding..."

That mantra was still going, racing in time with his heartbeat. Traitor. Traitor. Traitor. Traitor. Traitortraitortraitor...

"Something... about a traitor..." He shrunk away from the other, still angry and partially ashamed or embarrassed but without any idea why. "Who...who are you?"

Long post is loooong

[cloudy_memory]

Though Mako made a gesture to reach out for Night, he didn't do more than that. He was a bit afraid himself. What if they had been mortal enemies in their own world? ...But then, why did he feel little more than a tug of familiarity? He watched, becoming more unnerved and helpless himself each moment. He didn't know of any doctors, though, was a doctor what the other really needed? Perhaps... a therapist. But he didn't know any of those, either. And he certainly didn't have any skills with this himself. His head, pounding, pounding... a migraine? Probably so. But from what? Undoubtedly, it was a question they both had in mind.

...A traitor? He, a traitor? Or the betrayed? No, the way the other made it sound, it was he who had been betrayed. Though, why would Mako want to betray him? It was an incredibly disturbing thought. After all, Star seemed attached to the guy herself (she'd told Mako and he'd read her entries) and as far as he could see so far, he was maybe a bit impulsive, but... not a bad person. He hadn't flipped him off, tried to start a fight. He'd tried to engage in friendly conversation. He reasoned with himself that he didn't really know the guy yet, that first impressions weren't everything, but. He just felt... convinced. Right now, the other was restraining himself from supposedly tearing him apart. What evil-willed person would waste their self-control protecting someone they hardly knew? ...unless they were only protecting themselves in the end, but that was another thought to think of for another time.

He stole a glance back at the sword. Because he found it, the other almost lost it. He felt a strong, good connection to it, and the other obviously felt a negative one. Was it coincidence that he and the other, undoubtedly from his own world, came together by chance to this place, and that he was to find a relic so conflicting to their emotions? Disturbed, he turned his gaze away, but suddenly found himself unable to meet Night's. "Ah... I... don't know my real name..." He forced himself to bring his eyes to Night's. The emotions rampant within him were clear, and, unmistakably, Mako felt some level of guilt. "But... I call myself... Mako." He attempted to make casual conversation. Maybe it was a lost hope, but he couldn't say he didn't try. "You?"

Late reply is LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE...

[hisdarkavatar]

In his panicked state, Night had completely forgotten that no one here could identify themselves--at least, no one he'd met on the journals. And he'd been here for about three months already but still learned nothing of himself; what more for those who'd arrived after him? Then again, there were some who had already obtained memory crystals or other clues to their pasts, and Night was frustrated from not having any at all.

And then of course he came to realize that his name probably wasn't actually 'Night' at all.

Calming a little bit and regaining some grasp on his sanity, he turned away from the blond. "I call myself Night." Part of him wanted to apologize for what had just happened, but there was a deep-seated feeling in his gut that absolutely refused to do so.

Speak for yourself, woman.

[cloudy_memory]

Night. Alright. Now he knew his name and the other didn't seem quite so unstable now. That was good. He felt doubtful, though. How long would it last? Just how much self control had the other? What if- unintentionally- he would provoke Night once more, sending him into a rage that wouldn't just make him want to whack Mako, it would want to make him have a full-blown battle. Because Mako didn't want to, probably wasn't in the condition to anyway. Calm down, he 'said' to himself softly, inhaling deeply and exhaling audibly (given the Junkyard's lack of residents, save himself and Night). He allowed himself to get into a more casual sitting position, thinking to himself, What next, what next...

"You're a scavenger here, right?" he asked, suddenly remembering his conversations between himself and Star. He didn't remember every word of it, but some part of him recalled the word scavenger somewhere, and, well, what better way to converse than about jobs? Yeah, they'd just talk it off as though nothing had happened. Like they were meeting for the first time (which they were) and it was a perfectly normal meeting (which it wasn't). Like the sword Mako had found, felt an instant attachment to, didn't even exist. Not that he had to worry about thieves anyway. Well, he might have to, but the place was so barren of life that it'd be impossible for someone to sneak by and grab it up. Night hadn't really sneaked up on him, because... Mako hadn't really cared about being shot. And he definitely cared about this blade... whatever it was, whoever it belonged to.

[hisdarkavatar]

"Ah, that's right." He'd replied quietly, kind of reserved and defeated in a way, but much calmer than before. "If I don't, I won't know what to do with myself." His voice was a little shaky, but he had far too much pride to allow himself to be on the verge of tears, even when he did actually feel that way. No, he didn't want to show weakness to the blond, and he was going to quash those feelings with all his might.

But at the same token, anger wasn't appropriate here. Not until he knew why, at least.

"I have to keep looking for clues to who I am," Night continued. Swallowing a lump in his throat and partially choking on the repressed anger, he added, "And I have to find out who that tall man was... and my Mother..."

[cloudy_memory]

Mako nodded even if he didn't really understand. But then he guessed he did, in a way. He just saw it first-hand, after all; Night had jumped him, and only quick-thinking had led to consequences that weren't undesirable (what was happening now couldn't exactly be called desirable, but not undesirable either). It seems his memory affected him much more than it did Mako. Or maybe Mako's memory affected him just the same and he had yet to come upon a person to provoke such a reaction, good or bad... he hoped it was the former.

"...Tall man?" he urged because letting the conversation that started die down for even a second seemed impossible and immediate family was personal business. Maybe he added mentally as an afterthought, I know him. It was certainly possible if they came from the same world, in which he no longer had a doubt in his mind that they were.