Boardwalk

[Lash Vereaux]

At right around five miles with its lovely beach like scenery the boardwalk is one of the most popular locations in the city. All the way down the strip one side is lined with beach, and the other varieties of restaurants and gift shops.

It is definitely a wonderful change of pace from a few blocks over and into the city. Aside from the occasionally muggings and rouge demonic shenanigans, the boardwalk is one of the safest areas to be in. Not to say no crime goes on here, but at the very least its typically non-violent.

For the romantic at heart, a large pier branches off far into the ocean. Though it leads to a truly euphoric view, it seldom attracts many people. Due to a large number of storms the structure has withheld, it leaves its inhabitants with a sense somewhat of paranoia. Anyone with an eye for beauty however will tell you that the scenery is well worth the risk.

 

[Serena Magik Novello]

((Continued from the tea house thread ))

Her eyes closed at the feel of his lips touching her forehead. A tender, painfilled almost kiss goodbye. A long drawn exhale was the only thing she could muster, trying to block anymore tears from falling. A person could only be so strong. She knew Tasuki had lived more than others and that no one wanted to live forever technically, but she had every intention of fighting for her life. Maybe because there was still so much she hadn't gotten to do yet. Her way of thinking had always been a very human way of thinking, because no rocket science here, it was what she was. Who she was.

When he started speaking she opened her eyes, eyes that were desperately trying to understand what had driven him to this choice. There wasn't a smile on her face, but she still slid her hand through his arm when he offered it, because this was going to be like old times. However much she had to pretend, how to act, she was going to try to make this a happy occasion.

"Good, because a Tasuki no one knows of yet is capable of great miracles." She flashed him a wide smile, happy to see the grin plastered on his face. As they started down the street and towards the boardwalk, it reminded her eerily of Auria's boardwalk and out of sheer habit, what was the first thing she did? Check to see if any of the street lights had been shot out. She gave his arm a light squeeze and found herself laughing it off quietly. Old habits died hardest. Maybe that's why it was so hard to just watch Tasuki give up. He was her oldest one. The one she could always go to for trouble, or advice, someone who had been there when she had drunk herself into a drunken stupor when fighting the dark side of the supernatural started to weigh on her soul.

Seeing the shops closed up for the season and the empty benches, the chill in the air reminded her of what time of year was fast approaching. "We should have a Halloween party somewhere. Like the old days? Maybe I can rent out the Ballroom of that hotel I'm staying at or i'll check and see what this city has to offer." It was a suggestion at least. Maybe somehow it would spark Tasuki into wanting to hang around for longer? She leaned close to him, shoulder to shoulder like most lovers tended to do. But they were excellent friends for so long, personal space wasn't really an issue. And it felt good to be around someone who she hoped knew her so well.

"I used to come sit by the ocean all the time. It offers me hope and calm when everything else in my life is chaos." She maybe relied on where she had lived too long, living in safety and what she thought was security. "What does your son think about you considering what you're thinking?" Then again, she didn't really see Tasuki as a big family man. He had to much of a roaming freewilled heart to be tied down in her mind. He reminded her of those Romanian Gypsies. Full of life but never making anything but their wagon their home.

Why couldn't she steer it to something more positive? Because she was still on a mission to try to change his mind. Save his soul. But maybe, just maybe, he was saving hers. Reminding her that life was what was important after she had taken hers for granted for far too long hiding away.

It wasn't life if you were afraid to live.  

[Abeyant Acrimony]

There was an absolute calmness in Tasuki's features as they walked side by side down the boardwalk. He listened to her words while sorting out his own plan piece by piece in his mind. Something like this wasn't exactly the most ideal situation for him to say the least, but he had a righteous cause and that bolstered his spirit. Catching Magik's smile out of the corner of his eye, he couldn't help but grin and slide his hand over hers as she leaned against him. A Halloween party? How was he not surprised? She had always been such a fancy ball girl. Obviously any public appearance wasn't something he looked forward to, but he knew that she put her heart and soul into these things. He laughed ever so slightly and his grin was overcome by a bright smile. It would almost certainly be extravagant and overwhelmingly classy. At least he had grown very fond of expensive clothes over the years. And if it was a costume party? He laughed quietly to himself again and looked down at boardwalk beneath their feet. It was hard to tell whether he was dreading actually wearing something like that or looking forward to seeing Magik in one. With a warm smile returning to his face he looked back over to her and nodded slightly.

"I suppose you do love to throw your parties. And I imagine they'll be a nicely stocked bar."

As she mentioned sitting by the beach he remembered the drunk nights the would lay on the sand or on a roof life hooligans and jabber about ridiculous things all through the night. A lot had happened to both of them since then. They had moved on into completely new terrains of life, but those moments were so surreal in his memory. As she asked about his son he slid his free hand up against his phantom holster again to rest. Before he realized it he had already let his hand pass through the air. He could see the humor in it, as annoying as it was to keep having the ground pulled out from under his feet like that. It distracted him for a moment, but he remembered what she had asked almost immediately. Oh his son... What a question that was. If only he could begin to explain the absolute calamity his son had become. What had he honestly expected though?

"Oh you know... the apple... and the tree and all that. I don't think that apple even fell from the tree to begin with. It's like that apple stayed on the tree and took it over by a violent military coup. It's like I took all of the evil in my body and somehow put it into one little person and as that person grew it grew with him. He works for the people I used to work for. I'm still wary of the day he actually tries to fill my contract. I'm praying to the heavens that he's got some sort of misplaced sense respect for me and everything I've taught him. If not..."

He looked down again and laughed a little.

"He is his father's son..."

It hadn't occurred to him that if his son got wind of what was going on he might get some clever idea to come collect on his head. He was going to have to sniff him out and keep him in check if he planned on continuing with this fairy tale he was hoping to live. What a sobering thought. Somehow he knew it was almost inevitable though. That boy was absolute chaos incarnate. Even Tasuki was always a step behind him. There was absolutely no rhythm to his step what so ever. He shook off the thought. Somehow that seemed to overshadow his other problems for now. It was a problem for tomorrow though. Right now he had other things to take care of. There was going to be blood in the next few days, he could almost taste it. He brought his eyes back to Magik's as they walked together. It reminded him that he had something that his son didn't. It made him confident. He had spent lifetimes learning to balance the chaos that was in his nature. In that way he was miles ahead of the game. This woman was his anchor.

"He's got too much ambition to worry about me now anyway. All of the people who wanted me dead are so knee deep in my dirty money and my ridiculous business pork that they'd never dream of getting rid of me."

Tasuki turned to her once more and placed his hand against the bare skin of her neck, his eyes gazing deep into hers. He would miss the touch of her skin if he went through with this living business, but everyone had a price to pay. Every second now was worth it though. He could drop dead there on the boardwalk and be happy.

"I won't be human much longer if I go through with this Magik. I won't have the pleasure of touch or the warmth of breath. I'll have to remember these things for what I can. I just want you to know that I'm thankful for this."

He brushed his thumb gently across he skin and looked down slowly, as if to capture it in his mind.

 

[Serena Magik Novello]

She had caught sight of some of the waves coming in to crash against the beach, sort of how she always felt. Calm, Serene and then WHAM! Something happens and next thing you know, you got everything scattered all over hell and creation. And she'd still never gotten everything back into place before the next wave came. And probably never would. It caused her to drift off in thought a moment, a sad, somewhat knowing smile on her face as Tasuki slid his hand on top of hers, regaining her full attention. Sometimes Magik zoned out. Plain and Simple. But sometimes, that kept her sane.

She hadn't really expected to do a party here, but why not? She'd hosted a party every year like clockwork and if she wasn't going home any time soon, why not do it here? It might help make him feel better or if worse came to worse, would give him a good send off. Her smile faltering again, damn, it was always hard to pretend everything was alright with the world.

"There's always a bar but I actually haven't drank in eons. Well, not like I used to anyways. I like the occasional shot of whiskey. Helps me remember how the burn feels." She listened quietly while he explained about his son, concern showing in her eyes. If the man was anything like his father was in the very beginning and he was doing contract work...there was a definite threat somewhere lingering. That was not reassuring, but as far as she knew, there hadn't been any contracts on her head since Barton days. Her mind racing to think about who she might have ticked off the last five or so years. Most of her enemies were dead. Well, except for Valgarv, but last she heard, the man had his own problems.

The feel of someone's fingers on the back of one's neck was not so easy to forget and well, it gave her goosebumps on her arms and threatened to make her laugh. Laugh because it was either that or cry. "This isn't Casablanca, Tasuki. No Play it again, Sam...No flying off to somewhere. This is the end, the finale, the whole reason of living. I used to think living was the reason to live, but we're all only born to die, aren't we?" It was spoken with such disdain, such hatred for death, it had claimed too many and taken too many from her, and yet, kept some of her friends in an extended life form.

"If you go through with this, you won't be anything anymore, Tasuki.. But a memory. I hate to be brutally honest, because I care...once you go for it, there isn't going to be a way back. Not if you tell me you don't want me to bring you back. Because if you tell me not to and you die...I will respect those wishes. I have no ...other choice."

Her eyes looked up into his, shivering at the way his thumb felt across her skin, even as she reached up and gently took the hand that had been touching the back of her neck, placing his hand in between both of hers now to stress a point. "I'm glad you're thankful for this, but I'm not doing anything but being here. Just please, all I ask is for you to not ask me to hold your hand while you die...because deep down, I don't have the strength to watch you die, Tasuki."

The honesty came out in that last sentence, squeezing his hand as she let it go a moment later. "I wanted this to be a happy occasion really..." She reached into her pocket, got into her wallet and pulled out a business card, handing it to him. "This is the number to the clubs and this is my cell...", she leaned over to point to each in question. "I want to make sure I give you this now in case, In case I forget later because I don't think right now either one of us is really thinking straight. I'm going to see about planning a party, I mean it, and You'd better be there. You hear me? No skipping out on this."

She tried to put a motherly scold in there, but failed terribly. With Tasuki, it just didn't work so well. "Somehow, we're all going to come out all right on the other side of this. Even if...if it's not quite where we thought we'd wind up."  

[Ryonara]

Donny Cain
۩════════════════════════۩
Win or lose, it doesn't matter to me
I do what I do simply because
I was there to do it.
۩════════════════════════۩
x♎xDonny sat on top of a large pile of rocks underneath the pier. His clothes were dirty, and in his hands was a shovel. Underneath the rocks was a little over 10 tons of C4, which was a bit like 50 tons of dynamite. This was only one place out of many, however, though at least he got this part over with. He whistled himself a jaunty tune as he watched the waves crash back and forth, wondering where his next destination should be. Somewhere where people could see, he knew that much. The Doctor Jin's Tea House, perhaps. Absorbing the shovel back into his being, Donny walked off his rocks and onto land, where he began to walk towards the Tea House, in hopes of getting his concert started. "The show would end in a bang, yeah?"

((Exit to Doctor Jin's Remedy))  

[Lash Vereaux]

As the sun set a long shadow cast from the concrete pillars that supported the pier and grasped out into the ocean. The splash could not be heard over the laughter of children running into the towels held by their parents, ending a long day of fun at the beach. They all knew the cold weather would be coming soon and that this may have been their last day to play in the sand under the sun until next years summer came. What they didn't know is that they would never see another summer again.

A lifeless face with blank expression and a soulless drool now gripped the shade of the pillar closest to the beach. It's string puller watching the light fade through her puppets eyes, biding her time until sweet satisfaction long unachieved would finally be her's again. In the demon's mind the children's laughter was converted to high pitched screams that struck the pallet with a strengthened succulence. To all the advantages of possessing a vampire, this had to of been the most contrarily worst one.

Oh how she hated the sun, and cursed Lash's stolen body for not being able to withstand it. Only a few more moments now though the demoness thought to herself, letting Lash's nose twitch. The scent of human bodies traveled like steam to his nose and she picked out the innocents of their souls through the smell, increasing her craving that much more. She barely had the patients most demon's who stayed alive long relied on. Though her anticipation did not show on his face, it's presence was heavy.

A security gaurd walked off the pier and away from his post to secretly answer a call. "Hi sweetie, happy birthday", he said softly, blocking his phone from view. After a moment of listening he smiled and spoke again, "Don't worry baby, tell mommy daddy is going to be home soon."

You could barely make out the little girls protest as the phone fell to the sand, "But daddy! It's already dark!" It hit with a thud and bounced before the girl heard her father scream out in horror, followed by the screams of dozens. "Are you there? Daddy!", her words were faintly heard before the man's body, minus his neck, crashed down onto the cell phone, smashing it to pieces under the weight of the corpse.

Masses ran, while some stared in fear at Lash's blood soaked face. "No don't run. Play with me.", Lash said with the voice of a sweet young girl. Which was quite odd coming from a twenty year old male vampire.

With the strength of the demoness in the already strong vampire body, it was no trouble for her to rip hunks of wood from the pier and chuck them, killing multiple people at a time. She ran to snap the neck of a fleeing life guard at a speed that to the human eye would look like teleportation and then went on to kill a few others in the same way, dropping bodies left and right. Just like in her fantasies their screams and pain tasted so good to her and filled Lash's body with an orgasmic energy so strong that it almost woke him up.

The ones that did manage to get away were far beyond the beach now, but there were still a good thirty some people trapped on the pier. "I still have you!", the demoness said delicately.

One fellow, appearing to be in his mid twenties and in good shape, decided to abandon his girl friend of whom he'd spent the whole day trying to impress and jumped into the water.

"No! You are not allowed to leave", Lash called out starting in the same female voice yet half way through the tone changed to a deep and evil bark. The dark purple smoke that filled Lash when the demon first possessed him, shot from under three of his finger nails and into the water. Everyone watched as the young man tried to swim away, and then shrieks of terror erupted when a shark, bleeding from the eyes sprang to devour him. Three of them now circled the waters enriched with red dye, prepared for anymore acts of escape.

Lash laughed a child's giggle as the purple smoke formed into two flames emitting from his eyes. Just as the smoke they were a dark purple and black and instantly they burned his reflective shades, revealing his lifeless solid white eye balls as they journeyed to the pier, setting it aflame. "Will you be devoured or burn?", the demonic voice screamed out in pure bliss.

It would take a good fifteen minutes for the flames to reach them if they ran to the very back of the pier, and those fifteen minutes would be the greatest entertainment the demoness could imagine.  

[rosewhite]

Finding himself almost at Boardwalk after receiving a panicked call from an escapee of the horrific event at Boardwalk, Peter turned his attention away from the crime scene he had visited that day and now focused his attention on the much more severe and immediate danger.
Speeding, Peter drove his motorcycle as fast as he could towards Boardwalk. Coming to a sudden stop, the tires of his motorcycle squealing, before he knew it he arrived at his destination. He definitely would need back up for this supernatural. It was reported that the man in question was senselessly slaughtering all he saw at the Boardwalk. He couldn't help but think how unfortunate this would be, because he really enjoyed the Boardwalk, now all he would think about is the bodies strewn across the boardwalk and the stink of burning flesh. That smell haunted him from many other cases before. Peter knew this was likely a powerful and crazed demon.

Carefully he found his way towards the smouldering boardwalk. It wouldn't be much longer before the entire thing was completely eaten up by the flame. He focused his mind, analyzing whether the mutilated bodies were dead or injured as he came across them. The flames licking at the sky told him water was probably safer. As quickly and as silently as possible he swam out into the water. clinging to the side of the pier. Occasionally hot ciders would spray from the burning wood above. Peter winced as they burned his flesh. He looked out ahead of himself seeing bodies scattered in the water and others attempting to flee from the horror before them. His expressions sank and his anger rose. Nothing human could ever do this, this definitely was a demon.

Peter desperately prayed that back up would shortly be on its way he could hear the sirens ringing out bouncing off buildings and distorting to an eerie howl. As he drifted in the water he came upon a ladder, carefully he began to climb the ladder and peaked over the edge of the pier to the scene above. He could see his target reveling in its blissful destruction. He noted that the man may in fact be possessed, especially since a little girls child-like voice echoed out of his mouth. His whole body shivered, and it wasn't because of the temperature of the water. He found a few living in the water and dragged them to the shore making sure that they could get out without being pursued. As he brought the last of the survivors in the water to the shore, backup arrived. A sea of police and medical professionals made their way across the land to the shore.

The police pulled out various weapons as they perceived the danger. The medical team grabbed as many people as they could at a time and made it back to their vehicles swiftly and stealthily. Through all of this chaos Peter found his central calm and made his way back into the water attempting to locate the demon once again.  

[Lash Vereaux]

The three sharks under the demon's control had alerted her to Peter's presence the moment he entered the water. They were not to kill him at first, instead they were made not only ignore, but hide from him. Obviously he was the head of the rescue crew the demon had been waiting for. She would let him think he was hidden for now and allow for him to save a few of the petty and already half dead scum she had dealt with.

Lash's body had vanished when the reinforcements arrived and the demon now waited in her hiding place for Peter who now once again entered the water, apparently unaware of the sharks lurking below him. By now the pier was eaten up by the flames. It's support beams could no longer hold what was still standing and collapsed. The sounds of the remaining people on the pier screaming and the splash of the remaining structure was enormous.

When this happened the three large sharks were ordered telepathically by the demon to come from hiding. They would all three attack Peter, each with a strength slightly enhanced due to their demon puppeteer. The first would attempt to chomp into his leg with razor sharp teeth, and the second and third would hold back until the first shark made his move.

At the moment they attacked Lash's body would spring from under the sand, getting behind the main line up of officers at the shore. His stomach expanded and he blew from his mouth the demon's purple smoke, sending a storm of sand flying at the police, so thick it would be nearly impossible to breath or see. Unfortunately for the demon Lash had no powers other than physique, and her own were now exhausted from the fire and controlling the sharks. She would run out of magic if she did not consume more souls soon.

Lash would stand his ground after blowing the sand, the demon hoping to spot an officer defenseless from the attack to seize and drain his soul.  

[rosewhite]

Peter looked around at the half eaten bodies in the water and realized that they appeared to be attacked by something with many teeth. He felt his body stiffen as horror struck him. He realized that the Demon had allies in the water, his realization urged him to get out of the water and quick. He swiveled his head around violently in search of the monsters from the depths. He felt something big moving the water beneath him. Panic set in as he saw the horrific face of a shark, he felt his heart beat quicken and his breath growing short for an instant time seemed to slow as it dawned on him his possible fate. Teeth grazed his leg as he kicked out violently attempting to smash the nose. He suddenly found himself on the beach blood oozing from his minor wound. He gasped in astonishment at what had just happened.

He lay on the beach wondering how he got there. Nothing made sense. His head swam at the sudden inertia of being teleported suddenly from one location to the next. The viscosity of the sand vastly different than the water his hand reached out as if to feel it for the first time. Vision blurred and his head slowly become discombobulated, he stood up slowly wincing at the pain in his leg. He felt slightly relieved he was no longer in the water to meet a rather gruesome fate, yet confused as to how he came to be on the beach. Wobbly and non-sure-footed he stumbled across the sand only to be met with the sand flies, which further confused his senses. Desperately he reached out a hand to find another being. Collapsing to the sand he wretched on the ground.

Peter found his head clearing up rather nicely after his stomach rid itself of its contents. Slowly he pushed himself up and moved towards where he thought the solid earth be. He felt his feet tripping over large things he pretending in his mind were tree logs, for he didn't want to imagine the alternative. He searched desperately for the demon, unable to see and hardly able to breath he tied a cloth around his face covering his mouth and nose. Slowly he trekked away from the sand and onto solid ground. Once again able to see he scanned for the demon, yet the thick black cloud of flies made it impossible to see where he was.  

[Lash Vereaux]

Lash remained hidden in the cloud of sand. Every so often the sound of gun shots fired off, followed by the screams off the ones struggling to breath. A body would fly toward Peter's direction at a force that may even be enough to knock him to the ground. Whether he was hit with it, or managed to avoid it, he would notice that the man's corpse was not one of youth, but rather looked as brittle as any sea creature beached for over a week in the hot sun.

This man had been the first to suffer the fate some of the others were now facing. His soul had been removed from his body. A fate worse than even the most painful death, for now he will never know consciousness again in this life or the next, unless the demon is ever defeated. Several other bodies would follow, being sent soaring through the air in many directions. One was sent to the ocean.

The demon gave the order for the sharks to dispose of it, but she did not feel their existence anymore. Either they had been killed, or someone had removed her hold on them. She realized the man who was sent in first must still be alive. Now it seemed he may pose a threat. It was starting to look like the best course of action would be to turn her attention to him.

First though she would finish eating souls. The sand storm around them would now be viewed by Peter or anyone else looking from the outside as having a dark purple aura about it. She could feel her strength returning to Lash's body, but could no longer hold that particular spell.

The sand would dissipate into the winds, and soon reveal Lash, along with the drained, dry, corpses of those who souls were removed. Even the ones she hadn't drained would most likely be on their last leg from breathing the sand for so long, especially if human.

Whatever the case may be with the surviving officers, Lash would now be fully visible. His clothing tattered, his glasses, mere frames with no lens, and his pupils stolen out of his eyes. The man looked almost as emotionless as the dead and soulless that littered the beach. It was clear from his fangs he was vampire, but to the trained eye who took note of his pupils, it would be obvious something was not right about him.

Not knowing Peter was closer to land, the demon would scan the shoreline for him.  

[Abeyant Acrimony]

Tasuki let his eyes drop slowly to the boardwalk beneath his feet and took a long slow breath. There was still so much this woman did not know about him. What did he expect? It was hard to imagine anyone being more of a hermit than he was. Perhaps it was better that he kept it to himself. his eyes slid slowly down the boardwalk and his thoughts began to solidify. He reached up slowly to grasp her card between his thumb and forefinger. He let her voice bounce around in his mind for a bit while he slid the card into his vest pocket. It sounded like something he would legitimately enjoy.

"Yes mother..."

He narrowed his eyes playfully and grinned slowly. Sometimes it was better not to address the bad parts of life. In his mind he had already come out on the other side of this, the only thing he was uncertain about was how many people he would have to kill to get there. Greed had a way of clouding people's judgement. Some of them would have to die, he knew that. After all this time he was simply incapable of looking and killing the same way most of the world did.

"Nothing afeared of what thyself didst make, strange images of death."

The two words nothing afeared were tattooed across the inside of his right forearm. His grin turned to a soft smile and he looked back across her face, admiring her for a moment. As he spoke his voice was calm and warm.

"I love Macbeth..."

He smiled a bright smile and slid his hands slowly into his pockets, straightening his back and looking up to the sky. After all this time and all his change he still felt the thrill of what he was going to go through soon. It was in his nature. The smell of gunpowder and blood ignited something deep within his core. It was primal. He was born a fighter, that was something he simply couldn't change no matter how hard he pushed to do so. He knew his words had been few and far between since he met with her, but he was not used to expressing his thoughts out loud anymore. He had been more or less alone for years now. Most often he lived inside his own head, sorting his thoughts to himself. There had certainly not been anyone he cared to share them with... until now.

"I think too much don't I? I've become a bit of a hermit over the years. I'll be at your party, friend. In the mean time I supposed I've got people to persuade. I assume I've got the money to please the will of many of them, but some people are a stickler for tradition you know? Old blood and whatnot. I suppose I've got people to dispatch as well. Of course they'll not go easy. Maybe I'll catch a few of them with their pants down. I'd like to give them a fair go at it though. Somehow I feel like I just don't have that liberty anymore."

He looked back down at her and nodded. The way his next words sounded were almost melancholy, as though he was about to put on his boots and go grind out a nine to five job.

"I suppose I had better get down to business."

 

[Serena Magik Novello]

How many times had she been called Mother over the years? Mostly because she cared so damn much. "I'll let that slide. For now." Her eyes took in the fact he had her card now, so she was somewhat relieved if he ever needed to get ahold of her, he could. She stuffed her hands into her trench's pockets, mostly because of a lack of what to know what to do with them. Part of her wanted to strangle him, part of her wanted to hug him. Man had to figure out what he truly wanted out of life. Gee, didn't that sound familiar?

She had done a total 360 getting back to what had been bugging herself lately. She wound up shaking her head. "To be honest, I'm tired of all the planning, It's busy work. I do it to keep my mind away from my problems. So I'd just be hiding behind some Halloween Party I'd be planning. Bad habit I think I'm having trouble on just letting it go. Forget the party." She was always hiding behind her being some business woman, simply because she didn't do much of her cleric work anymore. Everyone had to have a purpose, and not serving a purpose, made her entirely restless.

"Macbeth? I was always a Romeo and Juliet, Midsummer Night's Dream kind of person, imagine that?" She had to laugh at that. Her being the dreamer she always had been, but she didn't dream much anymore. She had seen most of the magic that the world had to offer. What was left to Dream about? Now she was more of a realist.

After a moment, she realized they both had their hands in their pockets, almost a mirror image of one another which made her simply sigh deeply. When he said he thought too much, her eyes lit up abit, Heck, everything he was saying had been true. "I think too much too. If you don't think, there's got to be something wrong, in my opinion, Tasuki. So where are you staying?" She only knew of the one hotel, for all she knew, Tasuki might have had a house somewhere. "I don't have any business to get down to. Kind of a ...Drifter's Existence. I'd rather not start looking like a tumbleweed..." And she flashed him a slightly sheepish smile at her bad joke.  

[120Damian120]

Damian Smith

Damian landed silently on a roof to one of the shops he let out a small sigh as looked at the beach he layed down his hand behind his head and looked up at the sky. Damian liked this place alot it was the only place that he could be calm enough that another person could come near him without Damian losing it after a few minutes damian sat up and looked around he saw a few people on the streets he quickly looked away just to make sure he didn't attack "everyone gets to enjoy life but me" he said quietly to himself as he watched the water "some day i'll enjoy life" he said and layed back down on the roof watching the clouds

 

[Abeyant Acrimony]

Tasuki looked back at her with a sly grin as she asked him where he was staying. It was as though he had already completely forgotten about the heavy thoughts of the day. Before speaking he turned to the ocean and rolled his sleeves up slowly, they were still damp from the rain and it was beginning to make him feel claustrophobic. The thick black ink that covered almost every inch of his skin was as vivid as the day it was placed there. His eyes traveled down from his wrist across his forearm and down to the ground again. It was so easy for him to get caught up in the simple things now. He slowly began to unbutton his vest.

"I've got one of the high end suites at the hotel. It's not the nicest I've had but it's certainly quite pleasing. It just has those walls... and those windows that keep you from the world. I haven't got much use for a bed that big, or a hot tub... or a plasma screen. It all just reminds me how much of the world I am missing. I want living breathing things around me. I want to be surrounded by life. I want to feel absolute freedom. I think I'd enjoy a swim. You might care to join me."

He slid his fitted vest off slowly, letting it hit the ground and beginning to unbutton his top slowly, his gaze following the waves as they came into the beach. It was beginning to get a bit rough out there and it made his heart race with anticipation. As he unfastened the last button of his shirt he dropped it to the ground on top of his vest and turned back to his companion with a nod and a smile. The dark shadows underneath his undershirt burst out into thick definite shapes and words as he tossed it aside and winked playfully. His figure ceased to exist in front of her and he found himself firmly footed atop the safety railing of the most distant end of the pier. He was completely nude, except for the almost solid coat of tattoos across his entire body. His eyes traveled down his abs and he couldn't help but grin at the many names and quotes tangled within a lifetime of jumbled ink. As he watched the waves crash against the supports of the pier he laughed happily and dove in head first, almost floating gracefully down with nearly perfect form to make only the slightest splash as he disappeared into the ocean.

The water was much colder than he had imagined. His smile brightened under the water, reflecting what light was left. The air bubbles traveling up his body to escape to the surface gave him somewhat of a sensory overload. He spun under the water and let himself sink slowly down, his eyes watching the beautifully crashing waves above him. It was the salt in the water that made him smile the most as it entered his mouth. There was almost too much to take in, so he closed his eyes and just let the water take him deeper. Hitting the beach floor reminded him how close he was to the city still. He opened his eyes slowly and began to blow bubbles up at the surface. If only there was a way to stay there forever. It was peaceful and majestic there. A few more moments would be fine. He let his back press against the sand and he closed his eyes again to take it all in.

Breath would fail him soon and he would have to return to the real world. He wondered what Magik was doing up there now in the nasty dark city world.