Like the Barenaked Ladies

[bartenderizing]

Who: Shizuo and OPEN
When: August 7th-13th
Where: Specified with each prompt
What: Let's just say that it's been quite a week.



I. Ra's Third Destruction - August 7th (Temple of Ra)
[ It'd been a while, and Izumo hadn't shown up at the bar. Like at all. Which was starting to get Shizuo very concerned. Enough that he did something that he would otherwise never go about doing; Actually invite himself to Mikoto/Ra's temple. Imagine his surprise when there were two giant and neon purple, pink and green centipedes crawling all over the structure and already having started to break through the walls' integrity. ]

Ah... Shit.

[ There's no borderline, which meant something happened to Izumo. Which has the blond looking to see if he can grab someone to run assistance. And him without those damn gauntlets that were made for this exact thing. ]


II. Double Vision Delivery - August 7th (The Far Shore)
[ While not in the best state right now, Shizuo was walking down the paths and across the Far Shore with two people that were in far worse shape than he was. If being comatose and snoozing away counted as worse shape, at least. Which meant anyone could see the awkward scene of Shizuo trying to carry the two over one shoulder, as his other arm hung limp as a wet noodle at his side.

Look, it's weird and out in the open for anyone to see. That can't be helped. It's less awkward than the destroyed temple. ]


III. Double Cross's Delayed Debut - August 8th-10th (Double Cross Bar)
[ This was about the time that Double Cross was supposed to officially open for business. It was certainly supposed to be one of these days. However the bar had this thing going on where, despite the time it was actively being renovated, people could still be served if they showed up and Izumo was around. The supplies were in, everything was cleaned up and that wall of photos had started to get filled out.

Now there was a different blond in place, manning the bar. Not that everyone noticed when they first got in; after all, they looked similar enough for some people. The main thing is that they sounded different. Shizuo's voice was deeper, despite being the thinner/more waif of the two. The other is that this blond wore a black vest instead of a nice suit jacket, though both were suitable for a bartender's uniform. ]

Welcome.


IV. Poor Man's Football - August 9th - 13th (Abandoned Temples)
[ Hearing strange and loud sounds from the abandoned temples is nothing new. Unless you haven't been here for long, it was a regular enough occurrence that it usually meant someone was training or working on something.

This time, though it was hard to tell when or how he got them there (or from where,) there was a junk car and motorcycle on the temple property. Given the notice for being crushed, they weren't stolen from someone who would actually care enough to miss it. Neither had wheels, and judging by the lack of shattered fiberglass and filaments, the lights were also gone.

Today's disastrous sounds were coming from Shizuo, currently bound with one arm in a sling, trying to kick the motorcycle carcass up to bounce up onto his knee. The trick isn't kicking it up- it's managing the height and angle to easily get to his knee. Just as the difficulty for any other football trick is. ]

C'mon. I know I can do this...


V. Cat Tower Tribulations - August 9th - 12th (Aine's Temple)
[ After getting his shoulder looked at, and 'advised' to wear the sling again for a few days, there was a new challenge that started presenting itself. For, at the temple, there were two sets of problems. By two sets, that meant two striped kittens that went by the names Eun and Min. When he wore the sling for all of the first two days after the ablution, they weren't a problem because he was mostly sleeping that time away. Now he was moving around, and with one arm unable to stop them, it wasn't long until they realized he was a moving cat tower.

The problem is that he didn't know they were there until he saw something, and that only alerted him to one of the felines. If he saw the grey striped one, then the brown one was probably on his back or something. This was probably one of their more favorite games. ]

Oi, stop- Dammit, not again.

[ Help. ]


VI. The Wildcard
[ Come up with something, anything, for this time period if none of the other prompts fits. You can either just toss that in, or plot with me at demonia ]

Comments

V!

[darkestbefore]

[ It's Shizuo's annoyed exclaation that draws Yona to investigate, although the sight that greets her has her stopping just inside the doorway to blink at him for a moment before abruptly bursting into giggles. Min was currently precariously perched atop his head, her tail dangling down between his eyes while Eun clung, limbs splayed, to the back of his shirt as he turned in a circle and tried (in vain) to retrieve them. ]

You make a very good tree, Shizuo.

Re: V!

[bartenderizing]

[ He could only guess that Eun was somewhere on his back. The active and known problem was Min, who figured out that he couldn't really get her with one of his arms. So she'd keep moving out of the way of his grasp. Then, when he finally got her, the other reached the top. ]

You could stop laughing and help out. I'm really not in the mood for being a tree right now.

[darkestbefore]

[ She's still laughing, but she does come forward and beckon at him with her hand. ]

Then you'll have to come down here so I can reach them. Otherwise I shall have to start climbing you, too.

[bartenderizing]

[ He's not bending over for her to reach his head yet, but he'll get closer before turning so his back is to the redhead. ]

The other's back there, yeah? Grab her first, otherwise we'll have to just repeat this all over ag-

[ Again, as cut off by a certain tail flicking right into his mouth before Min jumps and slinks out of his reach. Cats. ]

II

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun has absolutely seen weirder in his time here, and he probably would have let Shizuo walk on by if he hadn't noticed exactly who he had over his shoulder. After a brief pause (...and note of how similar this guy looks to Izumo, who Shun might've mistaken him for had he not had ample experience in the matter of distinguishing people who look extremely alike), Shun heads over with a somewhat wary air.]

You're going to drop one of them at this rate. [He doesn't sound overly concerned about the fact, but he is eying off Mikoto in particular.] Though I'm surprised they're staying down long enough to be carried.

Re: II

[bartenderizing]

It's fine if one of them does.

[ Given the setup, Shun's eyes on Mikoto would be the correct guess on who that victim would be. Luckily that was also the sturdier of the two. ]

One's been asleep for a few days already, I think. If Izumo was gonna wake up, he'd have done so a while ago. Anyway, I can't really carry one on each right now.

[revolutionfalcon]

I know that, but having to pick him up again would be more trouble than it's worth. [It seems like Shun isn't terribly fond of Mikoto, but also sounds more mildly annoyed in regards to him than anything worryingly negative.

The fact that they've been like this for a while is a bit concerning, though. With a glance at Shizuo's obviously out-of-commission arm, Shun eyes up the two men over his shoulder and then, with no further prelude, reaches his arms out rather pointedly.]

I suppose I owe at least one of them enough to carry them around. [With his seemingly skinny frame, it may seem like an odd offer, but Shun seems very certain of himself, and it's difficult to tell what his actual muscle definition might be given the large coat he's wearing.]

[bartenderizing]

[ If muscle definition meant anything, then Shizuo looked lucky to be able to hold himself up at this point. Shun is right about it being more trouble than it's worth if Mikoto fell, though. He'd put up with the trouble for his lookalike, though. This was a double standard that Shizuo was fine with having.

There's only one thing that had him really accepting the offer without question. And that's the actual question he had. ]

... Which one is it that you owe?

IV

[thevanguard]

[ It had definitely been the sight of a motorcycle bouncing into the air in the distance that had caught his attention from a good distance away, enough that Yata had to come investigate. When he finally reaches the particular abandoned temple all the noise is coming from, he skates along the top of one of the walls, hopping his board over piles of rubble or fallen beams until the cause of all the ruckus comes into sight.

And then he just stares in confusion for a long moment. ]

....What... are you trying to do, exactly?

[bartenderizing]

[ He lets the bike carcass hit the ground when someone comes along and asks that question. The sling was easily visible, though otherwise the thin blond seemed to be in fine enough condition. ]

You know that trick players do with repeatedly bouncing a ball upwards with their knee and foot? I'm not supposed to use one of my arms, so I'm trying that out.

[thevanguard]

[ Okay, on one hand that makes sense, but on the other... ]

....Why with a motorcycle?

[bartenderizing]

The car proved to be too large to reliably hit upwards, and I'd end up losing a ball.

[ You saw how high the motorcycle went. Imagine how that'd go. ]

II.

[sing_for_me]

[It was a strange sight, but it didn't take Alex very long to stop staring and run over to the overburdened man.]

What--what happened?

[She asks as she's already reaching for one of men over his shoulder. She looks over the blonde carrying them as well, noticing his arm.]

Are you alright?

[bartenderizing]

[ It's- It's probably bad that the first thing he was thinking at that moment wasn't of the two unconscious men he had on his shoulder. He's a little confused when looking at the woman, who was over half a foot shorter than him, who was already reaching for one of the unconscious guys.

Funny enough, despite being as thin as he was, he didn't seem to sound as burdened as he looked. ]

Yeah, I'm fine. Their temple, ah, turned out to not be the safest place for them to be sleeping away. So I was going to bring them over to the temple where I'm living.

[sing_for_me]

[That didn't give her much information, but they didn't seem hurt, just unconscious. Alex took the lighter of the two, pulling his arm over her shoulder.]

But your arm--

[It didn't look like it was..working.]

[bartenderizing]

[ He might've protested or voiced some kind of concern, but honestly? The one she grabbed was Mikoto (the two over his shoulder were about the same height and weight to one another, but the redhead was easier to grab by the positioning.) If he fell, that'd be just fine. ]

Ah, yeah... I rose it up too high, so I guess I hit a nerve or something. It'll be easier to use again after a while.

[ Yes, normally that would be painful. Normally. Shizuo doesn't exactly follow what's normal (as indicated by carrying two men that were his height.) ]

Caaaats

[lookingforhead]

[Celty heard about the troubles at Ra's temple, but she kept being diverted by other things rather than being able to lend a hand. Likewise she saw the impacts of Shizuo's training from afar but was always busy with one thing or another.

So when she finally runs into him it's a few days on when he's dealing with a particularly nefarious pair of foes. She stopped by the temple to pay a visit, and when she heard his distress she doubled her pace to see what was going on.

But the sight of it made her pause and then double over in silent laughter.]

[bartenderizing]

[ It's in his attempt to twist and reach over at the grey cat that Shizuo spots the doubled over figure. Which was also enough of a distraction for the cat to get out of reach and Shizuo's field of vision.

... She was definitely laughing at this. There was no mistake about that.

Geeze. There goes any potential image he may have had. ]

When you're done laughing, it'd be nice if you gave a hand.

[lookingforhead]

[Don't worry, she still thinks you're cool and also frightfully strong, Shizuo. But it's nice to see this gentle side too. It helps to ground him and make him more human.

She persists in her laughter a moment longer, but soon she's at his side helping to pluck the eager kittens from his back. They seem uneasy at first but the trust he has in her is picked up on by the mountaineering felines. Soon enough one is nuzzled in her arms while the other perches on her shoulder.]

II

[shiitan]

Are you kidnapping those people?

[There were two possibilities here. Either he actually believed that, or he was just being a pain. One of those were considerably more likely than the other.]

[bartenderizing]

[ ... Was that meant to be a joke? Maybe. Probably, right? ]

Yeah, something like that. They gotta go where someone can keep an eye on them.

[shiitan]

[Pffft. He went along with it. Ross didn't show his amusement, though.]

And where is that?

III

[wadoichimonji]

[You know what Zoro could go for right now? A ton of sake.

Like, enough to kill a man ton.

So of course he's walking into the first bar-looking place he finds and sits at the bar, only to see a familiar face manning it. He smiles at Shizuo and waves enthusiastically.]

Hey man! Didn't know you worked here.

Re: III

[bartenderizing]

[ Familiar face indeed, though it takes Shizuo a bit to recall why or who it was. Of course Shizuo was no longer in the beach attire, but in that classic bartender suit, with vest instead of a jacket, and naturally those same sunglasses.

Also one of his arms in a sling. Details, details. ]

Ah hey. Didn't know you came here. Ah, I bet it's cuz Izumo was always holding the place down when you did.

[wadoichimonji]

[Zoro shrugs.]

I don't actually, I just felt like a drink outside of home for the night.

[He signals to Shizuo's arm with his head.]

What happened?