Thirty-fifth Lotus

[spandexisyouth]

[There are a great many scratched-out starts to this, illegible.]

Please do not be alarmed if you run into me. I will try to avoid most people.

I may need some days off work, Stoneface. I will come explain. [A pause.] I will come, and then I think I will not need to explain.

[[ooc: And now he's in Hidan's body. Whee!]

Comments

strikethroughs get progressively more scribbly and grr

[ice_echani]

Pray tell, my friend Gai

Alas, this entry is

I must know, friend and comrade, if it is at all within my power to assist you? Why do you fear to show your face?

And he thinks she's just being very kind.

[spandexisyouth]

I will come to the Watch office later and it will be very clear, I think, my friend. Only the Tree can change this back.

[ice_echani]

Then I will anticipate your arrival with great anticipation. I would desperately like to know what odious change the Tree has worked upon your normally vibrant self that would give you such distress at merely carrying out those duties you so enthusiastically and dutifully hold.

[there are some stabbing marks after this. better to just get her message written and then take out her frustration with the prose.

Except for 'anticipate with great anticipation.' That she can't let stand.]

[spandexisyouth]

You are being very formal. Is everything all right?

[ice_echani]

The only problem which I am frustratingly subject to at this moment in time is a maddening lack of control over the words which I write with my pen. I seem unable to prevent myself from adding a plethora of superfluous nouns, verbs, adjectives, preposit

[giving up now.]

[spandexisyouth]

Oh! I see! I am sorry.

Should I come over now or would another time be better?

[ice_echani]

There is nothing wrong or inconvenient if you were to ambulate to my house at the present moment.

[spandexisyouth]

I see, I think. I will be on my way shortly.

[quicklog]

[ice_echani]

[Brianna runs through some combat dances while she waits for Gai in order to relieve her tension. She doesn't understand why he's being so cagey about the source of his distress, or why it's apparently causing a rift between him and Bell.

It's rather worrying. So she is keeping all senses--hearing and the Force--aware for his ambulation.]

[quicklog] ...future tags will be shorter, I promise.

[spandexisyouth]

[It takes longer than normal to get there. It's not because he's slow; he's moving pretty quickly. It's because Gai's taking a route that goes rather out of the way in his efforts to avoid anyone possible.

While his energy would still feel the same, his approach does not have the same sound. Apostle is more slender, with a different center of gravity. Gai's even having to wear Bell's clothes right now because his don't fit right.

He makes the last bit of the trip by rooftop. No one runs on rooftops, and few look up, so it's safer. Gai drops down from a roof about five yards from Handmaiden, which... might be out of instant attack range. His hands are up, palms outward, in what's supposed to be a non-threatening stance. Now to see if he could make it through an encounter without causing conflict.]

[quicklog] It's cool XD

[ice_echani]

[Brianna whirls when she senses the presence--like Gai's, but not quite. Her face changes when she sees that body and she tenses at once, ready to throw a punch, or at least ready to confront with words--

--but the stance is wrong. The tension of his muscles are wrong. The set of his body is cautious and tentative, not cocky and callous.

And Apostle vanished, didn't he? But that doesn't mean he can't be back with memories. It has happened before.

Since she's already set to attack him, however... she carries through with it, because his reaction will be telling more than anything else. So now the man has a Brianna flying at him with a punch.]

[quicklog] Hee. :D

[spandexisyouth]

[Four meetings, four reactions. Sometimes it was hard to be optimistic. Come to think of it, staying at home out of the way wasn't very optimistic, so it wasn't like he'd been trying. Today was just a rough day.

Her punch was fast, as always, so Gai's decision is just as fast. His arm goes up to take the punch. Catching would have been stupid, holding her there, dodging wouldn't have told much, and there was no way he was swinging back.]

Brianna. I am not him.

[quicklog]

[ice_echani]

No, you are not.

[She sounds satisfied and straightens up.]

I apologize for striking at you. It was the truest way to tell who you are, Gai.

[quicklog]

[spandexisyouth]

[Gai blinks.]

...That was very easy.

[Then he shakes his head. That didn't come out right.]

I mean it is fine. I am glad to have an encounter go more smoothly.

[But it makes sense, in a way. He can sense Brianna, and she him. Vimes couldn't. Cloud couldn't. And Bell had been half-asleep.]

And this body is why I do not think I should be around many people. I am trying to keep from scarring as many as possible.

[quicklog]

[ice_echani]

[Brianna nods. Though even without the Force, the way "Apostle" stands and how he reacted were as good as if Gai was in his right body.]

I can understand now why you were so reluctant to be specific in your journal entry. This is... perhaps one of the worst alterations the Sphere could have made to your appearance.

[She frowns.]

And I am sure whatever power manipulates this knows this. How are you faring?

[quicklog]

[spandexisyouth]

And I know that people were hurt by him. I do not want them to have to deal with their memories of the experience again.

[There's a half-smile as Gai folds down the collar of his shirt just enough to show bruises, ones that more than suggest an attempt at strangulation. Then the collar goes back up.]

I think sh--they knew full well what reactions it would get. But I am working on staying out of the way of most people. It should help. How are you doing? It cannot be easy to not have control over what words you choose.