savetheearth | one part closed, one open

Entry tags:

one part closed, one open

Who: Richard & OPEN
What: Things before endgame
When: 25th & 27th March
Where: All around! See headers.

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PARTIALLY CLOSED; Tony Sparado | Park | March 25th

"... Okay, let's see you try that one again."

He wasn't about to comment on the fact that the younger man just knocked him flat on his back as he pushed himself back up to his feet, shaking off the faint twitch of embarrassment. Richard cleared his throat and picked up his sword, checking it for dents and - once again - finding not a single one on the flawless blade.

Still not sure of whether or not he should be finding that a matter for concern, he gripped around the hilt and set himself into a defensive posture.

"I'm not gonna go as easy on you this time."

(ooc: open to any observers who want to catch him and/or Tony afterwards)

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OPEN; Business District | March 27th

Carefully juggling a cup of coffee, a plastic bag with a few essentials he grabbed from a nearby general store, and a newspaper, Richard's attention had been caught by the news stories scrolling across the display of televisions in an electronic's store about five minutes ago and he was still standing there, watching the ticker bar roll by and reading the subtitles as they flashed up on the screen.

With the situation in Neuschwanstein getting worse (that tower looked like it was going down any day now), the death of Alicia Kerren and the subsequent expulsion of the American ambassador from Brazil didn't offer any better news.

"Well, shit," he muttered to himself, taking a sip of coffee. "World's goin' to hell in a handbasket."

(ooc: any time between the 25th and 27th is also open to anyone wanting to contact him via network or his cell phone o/)

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Out on the street Julien comes down out of the sky, backwinging and flaring his tail to kill his momentum. He's the size of a small horse with tremendously big wings, kicking up a powerful amount of air. It's a dramatic sight, if Richard's turned around. Even though he's been back through Locke a lot, people take cell pictures.

There's no way he doesn't hear a bird of that size coming, so he watches the landing with his head faintly tilted and one hand lifted up to shield his eyes.

"'S up, Julien." It's just a guess, but who else is it going to be? Last time he saw the guy-- bird..? it was just the wings that seemed to be a problem. His disappearance makes sense, now.

It's possible for Julien to move and fly a whole lot more quietly. There's no call for that now, though, and regardless it's hard to land without making a spectacle.

"Richard, galu." He rouses feathers on his neck and complains. "This jetlag is going to kill me. You know Christmas Island's just about twelve hours different from here?"

Richard hesitates, a little surprised at the topic of choice, then he laughs and rubs one hand around the back of his neck. "Yeah, I knew. You making the trip a lot?"

He didn't know birds got jetlag.. but there must still be a lot of human in there Or something like it.

His voice is different, just subtly richer and stranger, vaguely like he's speaking through a tube. "All the damn time. I think I found the biggest mushroom in that whole jungle. It's about this big across."

Reared up, he opens his wings most of the way, causing some more attention from bystanders. Julien's wingspan is around fifteen feet. "If I can't find any bigger, and I'll have to make sure, then that's probably the thing to check out. Not that I can look now, since it got dark..."

He lets out a low, impressed whistle, both at the size indicated and the sheer size of Julien himself. When all this is over with, he swears, he's going to write another book. How could he not, when he already has a foot in the door?

"I guess a flashlight isn't gonna do much for you," he comments thoughtfully, wiggling the fingers of one hand as if to demonstrate the specific difficulty. "You thought of taking some other people to have a look at it?"

Julien folds his wings against his body again, stirring the cool air.

"Yeah, I'm looking into that. Preferably people who... well, did you catch Saretha talking about maybe these monsters are on our side? Ish? Or we need them anyway? I'm making a face." He says that because he's incapable of doing so anymore. There's a fixed faint suggestion of a smile in the cast of his beak. "Anyway that thing hasn't done anything really bad, and it would be hard to kill, and if we did we couldn't un-kill it... man, I'm rambling." He feels like it should be night. It's possible Julien is not getting enough sleep.

'Making a face'. He has to try very hard not to laugh and covers the curve of a smirk with one forefinger casually lifted up against his lips until he has his expression under control.

"Yeah, you are," he replies, not even waiting a beat. He scratches his arm lightly. "But yeah, I saw that. You think there's some kind a' truth in it? I mean.. feels like every one of those things has been fucking shit up rather than bein' particularly helpful."

Yes, yes. Julien ignores that.

"Honestly, I don't know. I got hurt in Vegas. I lost friends both times. But..." He pulls his feathers closer to his body, making himself look a little smaller and skinnier. "Our 'friends', the aliens? Whatever's going on it can't be as simple as they wanna make it out to be. And I'm as sure as anything that going and trying to bomb them is a bad idea."

He nods. Richard's seen people he knows get hurt too, but he can't say that Julien doesn't have a damn good point about their so called 'friends'. Dropping his hand down, he sighs and shakes his head.

"Nah, man.. you're right. Things being too simple just makes me fuckin' suspicious. Worst thing is it all sounds great when they're saying it. You don't even think about it."

"Geoff is really charming. I want to like him. I do like him, but that's not surprising, if I'm known for anything it's liking everyone." He's being facetious; 'likes everyone' isn't even in the top five anymore. "But I still remember how when I talked to him, he lied about if he has or can get to any way to change people like Tiny could. And I know what Badri can do. It's all... we can't trust them. Saretha was saying it's been their influence riling up the snake and the crab. Might be right."

"Yeah... I like him too," Richard mutters, quite seriously. He does like Geoff, but he's never been able to put his finger on exactly why he likes him. They've never even spoken.

"But if you're right, if Saretha's right, then we've been fighting the wrong fuckin' things the whole time."

That kind of thing is unsettling. Julien wants to find excuses for Geoff and believe he himself is innocent and constrained, but he refrains, at least out loud. He is inclined to like people and think the best of them, but there's a point where it just doesn't feel right.

"It's possible. I really don't think those things are our friends, but honestly, also, fighting them we tend to take heavy casualties too. Which opens the ever so happy possibility that we're all being played."

Richard's own natural distrust of people - particularly people who seem to engender trust by their very presence - makes it a little easier for him to think of reasons why Geoff shouldn't be taken at his word. Yet, he still finds it difficult, even uncomfortable to do so.

"'Friends' might be asking too much, considering the circumstances," he mutters, pushing one hand through his hair. "What would be the point of it all, in the end?"

He has an idea.. but it isn't a pleasant one.

"Well, people've been making movies about aliens since like the fifties." And almost all of them are hostile. "These guys, if they actually are aliens, they're very human, but historically humans finding other humans with less advanced tech tends to go just one way, too."

"Yeah... never ends well for the less advanced side of the equation." Then, there's the whole issue of 'if you don't understand it, kill it' that is so pervasive in human society overall. He has a feeling that he knows who would come off worse if they actually went into a conflict.

"Anyone tried playing some Slim Whitman yet?"

Julien slicks his white feathers closer to his body, making himself look smaller and smoother. "It really never does. So... caution, I guess."

"Slim Whitman? I'm sorry?" he asks, putting his head to one side in a very birdlike gesture.

Richard pauses.

"Shit, did I just date myself with a movie reference?" Quoting popular culture is something he does without thinking fairly often, though it has become a lot worse lately.

"That's an old one. Slim Whitman makes the aliens heads explode. Not surprisin' really."

"I think you did, I've never heard that one. All right, I'll be very general and hope for water and or the common cold to come to our rescue," Julien says indulgently. "How old is that one, anyway?"

"Uh.. nineteen.. ninety six? Nearly twenty years. Shit." He sniffs, scratching the back of his head.

"Definitely datin' myself. I need some new material."

"Oh, yeah, I was like seven. Weird, huh? Twenty fifteen..."

"Ugh, stop, you're gonna make me feel old."

Richard tries not to think about his age too much. He missed so much of his childhood because of his own stupid mistakes that feeling like an adult is something he doesn't often enjoy.

"Why? How old are you, then?" Julien tilts his head one way, then the other. His eyes are a lot keener than human eyes, but he can't see everything.

"Me? Uh. Thirty-four."

He's never sure if he actually looks that age or not. These days, maybe more so than he did before. Sometimes he feels about fifteen years older.

"Really? Huh." It would be polite to say he comes off as a little younger. Julien holds off. "I feel like you've been networked for quite a while."

After the successful blow, which truthfully had come as a bit of a surprise to Tony as well, he'd hopped away a few paces to give Richard some room to get back up. He chuckled, delighted that it was clear he was improving rapidly despite his earlier uncertainties.

"Hah, you really want me to knock you over again huh?"

Arrogant little brat. But it's all in good fun. Casually he spins Rebellion in one hand, before darting forward at blinding speed to try for another go. Astoundingly Richard's sword has held up remarkably well against the onslaught, given that Rebellion isn't exactly a light weapon by any means one would think a katana wouldn't be suitable at all to deflect it.

"I want you to try," he challenged, taking his time in the space that Tony gives him to find his balance again and get into a steady posture. There's something damn special about the sword, he knows that much, but at this point he's not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. The sword doesn't break. That's good.

He can live with not knowing why.

As he blocks, this time, the sound of metal on metal rings out and he slides back a little way across the grass. He shoves forwards, aiming to push the kid off-balance and gain some ground.

"Remember, you asked for it."

Tony pushes back, laughing in delight. He's not had a lot of opportunity to really practice his sword skills, and as a result he's having a blast. Something about melee combat was riveting, exhilarating even. And though a small part of him wonders and worries at how into it he gets, it's a quiet voice compared to the elation.

Either way, he's having far too much fun to quit. Hopefully Richard feels the same.

When they both fail to give in to the parry Tony pushes back, using the force to push himself away and land a good distance back. He dances in place a little, and gestures for Richard to come at him.

Richard can't say he doesn't feel the same. The exhilaration of it pulsing through his blood and making him want to push himself further, just to see how far he can really go. With his strength, speed and stamina at their peak he knows he's at least a good match for Tony even if he may not beat him should they ever come to a genuine fight, but in a spar he can more than hold his own.

He watches Tony push back with a small, challenging smirk and a brief roll of his eyes.

"Don't showboat, kid, it's bad form," he taunts, darting forwards with his katana raised up to bring another blow down against him.

Fortunately a genuine fight would likely never happen. Tony isn't the type to lash out in anger, and if he feels himself at risk of doing so he'll leave long before he tries to throw a punch. There would have to be something severely wrong with him for that to happen.

The doppelganger is another story entirely.

"Why, jealous?" He taunts right back, laughing as he dashes smoothly out of the way, swinging his own blade around in a wide arc in retaliation.

That the doppelganger has never come across Richard is probably a good thing.. though there's no doubt that the creature knows that and has been avoiding the man for that very reason.

"Jealous? You wish I was jealous." He laughs, bring his sword up to block. "You ain't got the stones to handle the kind of swag I'm truckin' around, li'l man."

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