thenearshore | [ OPEN ]

Entry tags:

[ OPEN ]

Who: Jae-Ha & OPEN
What: He wants to spar! Or learn new techniques. Fite him.
When: April 29th evening
Where: The far shore (after an announcement on the network!)
Warnings: The Hazel thread is nsfw rip

[Certain recent events have made Jae-Ha all too aware that the superhuman strength in his right leg couldn't solve all problems. Would you believe that? He has a leg that can break through everything and let him soar through the sky, and it's not the answer to all things.

Really, though, it's more startling than it ought to be. There are more and more people that he's meeting that are precious to him, and the ones closest to him become closer every day. There's no time that he can afford to be a liability. He needs to be doing his best. So, earlier in the day, he'd sent out a simple message on the network from his name: I'm looking to test out my skills and grow a little, as well. If you have anything to share or you just want to do the same, let's meet up. ♥ That's followed by the directions to this particular spot that he's waiting in now. It's pretty wide open, just a bunch of grass, dirt and rocks scattered in an opening of the trees, the closest temples a fair distance away, and so hopefully he shouldn't be getting in anyone's way.

Whenever anyone has the chance to arrive, he's busy stacking a huge pile of rocks that he's collected from the area. Some are bigger than others, none are large enough to be considered boulders, but he sure is making some sort of... pillar, here. Well, he had to have a plan in case no one showed up. Once someone does, he doesn't turn away from his work just yet.]

Why, good evening. Did you get my message, then? I was beginning to worry I'd be out here alone all night.

(OOC: If you want to plan anything specific, you can PM me or hit me up at

nipponpon! I'm down for all sorts of spar/fight/learning shenanigans as well as just casual conversation. c:)

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

I apologize, I got slightly lost.

[Guy's not sure what he can really offer in terms of his own skills, but he's curious what Jae-Ha's are. And now that he's arrived, what exactly the pile--pillar?--of rocks is for, exactly.]

What are you building?

Oh, it's you!

[Now that he's finally turned over his shoulder to look, he can stand up tall with a bright smile. That fellow he was way too drunk with at the picnic! Yes, he remembers. Mostly.

Placing one hand on his hip, he glances back at his pile of rocks.]

I plan on testing how much I can kick through, so I'm trying to stack it as thick as possible.

Oh, hey! Nice seeing you again.

[This isn't entirely truthful; it's actually a little bit awkward seeing him in person again. But he hadn't connected the name to the person, so there they were. And he didn't actually have any issues with Jae-Ha, so it was all good.]

Ah, you're a martial artist? Want some help?

[Regardless of the answer, he'll head over and...silently judge the rocks or something.]

[Meanwhile, if Jae-Ha has a problem with awkwardness, he doesn't show it at all. This is because he has almost no shame, and sees nothing wrong with all of the stumbling and joking that had happened. Reaching down to pick up another large rock the size of two heads, he moves over to carefully set it on top of the rest. This pile is... nearing his height.]

I should be fine on my own, unless you're truly eager to help. You're welcome to stay and witness my beautiful kick, though. Since no spar partners have arrived, I'm left just to this.

Beautiful kick...I'd like to see that.

[He'll be the judge of that. Though Jae-Ha seems pretty confident in it, so it may very well be as described.]

I'm fairly sure I'm no good at hand-to-hand combat, or else I'd volunteer.

I wouldn't mind fighting even against a weapon. It might be good practice, since we can never expect what might come at us.

[Plus, his leg is strong. But... He steps back from the pile to look it over. There's a large amount of rocks at the bottom for a base, but with how tall it goes, it is now officially Jae-Ha's height.]

This may be a good starting point. You should stand behind me a bit.

Good point. I didn't bring anything, but...hmm.

[That's a pretty big rock pile. He glances back at the trees before nodding and moving back and to one side, just in case being directly behind him isn't a good idea either.]

[She teleports in with a flutter of sleeves and watches Jae-hae build his.. er...pillar?? For whatever reason.

Well, she doesn't interrupt, hands folded neatly behind her back. Maybe it's important?? Fuck, what does she know. Maybe it's going to become a monument to Hazel. She doesn't want to distract him.

But then he's speaking to her anyhow and she giggles in response] Don't stop on my account! You can finish up first-- Or I can help! It's a very lovely... [She struggles a moment.] Pile!

Maybe another time?

[He's not against it. Besides, if Guy is lost, maybe he'll have to guide him home. For now, he waits until Guy is well out of the way and then jumps just enough to kick straight down the center of this rock pile with his right leg. It splits all of the rocks in two, crushing some of them, so basically he looks like a big show off.

But he really has no idea how far this strength goes. He can feel it, a bit, but...]

So that wasn't enough... [Man, now he ruined all the rocks. He glances back at Guy.] There must be a better way to do this. What do you think?

Hello, Sanzang dear. You didn't come here because you saw my request, did you?

[Man, that teleporting thing really scares him, but thankfully he didn't jump out of his skin this time. He's expecting people right now, after all. Glancing back at his rock mountain, he places a hand on his hip.]

Don't worry about this. I'm only trying to see how much I can actually kick through.

I did! I was curious, you see! I've never seen you fighting or anything before, and getting in lots of practice is always a good idea, right? [Hand-to-hand style of combat doesn't seem to be the norm here when touching an ayakashi means getting blighted, after all.

Sanzang eyes the pile with much more interest now] Your kick is that powerful? How amazing! You can kick through all of this?

[ Nothing feels any different in the night or even when he slowly blinks awake. There's no startling jolt that gives him the memory and there's no sudden wave of emotion, there's just a slow fading in of something in the back of his mind. It's strange, and at first it's just a feeling. He pushes himself up in just the same way that he did back then, and it's that thought that gets him to pause.

Then, he plays it back like a movie. He remembers a man who was certainly his predecessor, whatever that meant, and he remembers being struck and hearing those desperate screams for life, and he remembers thinking that his heart hurt far more than his face did. The emotions come now, a rush of everything from overwhelming sadness at seeing that face when he jumped away to the fear that this meant something, that he did something wrong to remember this. But he can't stop thinking about it. Chains around his wrists and ankles and that incredible desire for freedom, the unwillingness to give up, the wish that he could take that man with him and free him from the stupid rules of that village.

Pressing a palm over one of his eyes, he moves to get out of bed. He normally wouldn't share this sort of thing, but if this memory ends up being a danger to Hazel— there's no way he isn't feeling these feelings too. The more he thinks about it, the worse it gets. His desire for freedom finally makes sense, but is this really okay? ]

Hazel? [ Somehow, his footsteps manage to bring him to his door again, barely giving a single knock before he cracks the door open. ]

[Hazel isn't expecting a good night's sleep, but only because he never is. Being unable to sleep for one reason or another - nightmares, traveling, threats of monsters at any moment, simple discomfort - is routine by now, and a couple weeks in the same comfortable bed in the same comfortable house aren't going to undo all of that overnight.

He is not, however, expecting to be woken up this time by a sharp pain in his chest. It's sudden and strong enough to rouse him, and he's sat up and clutched his own shirt hard before his mind catches up with his body's sudden need to be up— Jae-Ha? It's the same feeling he gets when Jae-Ha is sulking about something or other, but at a magnitude he's never felt before. Hazel has no idea what it could mean, but nothing he thinks of as he hastily climbs out of bed is particularly good. Not this feeling, heavy in his chest.

If something's happened to Jae-Ha— for a moment he's frozen by the thought, brought back by the voice at his door and a knock. He's across the room quickly, letting the door swing open while his hands reach automatically for Jae-Ha, to pull him in. If he's just sad this is going to be ridiculous, but for now Hazel just wants to know that he's there and- relatively- normal.]

What's goin' on? [why is he having 30 heart attacks??] Somethin' happen?

[ What's going on is a good question. When before everything had been completely blank, there were suddenly these images, standing out as the only thing he had to go off of. He's pulled in but he doesn't react very quickly, hunching over into the grab and loosely placing his hands on Hazel's shoulder. ]

It's just— I remembered something about my past. A short moment.

[Jae-Ha seems out of it, but of course he'd be right after waking up like that— so his slow reaction doesn't bother Hazel nearly as much as what he says. It's like all of him has turned to ice, before he comes back to himself and pulls Jae-Ha more insistently into the room. They're not going to do this in the doorway, for god's sake.]

How? [Ah, wait.] No, don't think about how. Do ya feel alright?

[Please don't turn into a monster right in front of him, thanks, he'll be upset.]

I don't feel any different at all. It's simply there now, as if it always was.

[ Slowly, he follows Hazel's tugging into the room, his own face serious as he tries to think. Panic dies down a little, but it's still there persistently enough to feel. On top of that, what the memory actually is-- he hasn't even begun to think about that beyond what he feels thinking back. ]

This isn't the sort of thing that would happen slowly, is it? If it were dangerous, I like to think something would have happened already, but... How would it just come to me, without any of my thinking?

[Hazel will tug him over to sit on the bed while he talks, but doesn't sit down with him immediately. He's too wound up now to sit there calmly, so don't mind him stepping back to pace the length of the room and back. The feeling isn't as leaden in his chest now, so that's better, but it's still there, so that's not. Hmm.]

I don't like wonderin' and best guesses. Nothin' good comes outta those. [Why isn't there a guide to this stuff, he wonders for the nth time.] How do ya know it isn't gonna trickle in 'til it's too damn late? Gettin' blighted takes time to get worse—

[He waves a hand dismissively, then pauses to touch the back of his own neck. Blighted— well, he isn't, so is that a good sign...? He doesn't know what became of the god attached to that ayakashi shinki the other day, but it must have been unpleasant. Other than his chest, he feels perfectly fine.

So.]

It just came to ya? Sure as we're havin' this talk, it just up and made itself at home?

[It's horrible to see Hazel fidget like this, because he knows the worry. And he knows what fears must be going through his mind. But he has no idea what could possibly shake them away. It's very possible that this is the start of something very terrible— was he too curious? Did he think about it too much?

As he sits on the bed, he idly rubs at his wrist with his opposite hand.]

I wouldn't even say that it came to me. It was just there. [How does he explain this exactly—] I woke up, and normally there's only this hazy cloud when I think back. It all starts at the school when I got here.

This time, I remembered waking in the dark, long before that. My predecessor was there... [He had a predecessor? He still doesn't know what that means, except from what he can guess, but he definitely thought of him as that. He drops his hand away from his wrist and glances over to Hazel to check on him.] Normally, when I try to think of the past I feel the urge not to. But with this...

[Without a doubt, he's on edge. On some level Jae-Ha has to talk about this and he knows that, but every word out of his mouth about this memory, every second that ticks by that Hazel knows is still seeing Jae-Ha with his thoughts consumed by this— just plain "worry" is an understatement. Every pause is the calm before the storm - every itch against his skin is blight coming back.

His pacing has slowed somewhat, but now he keeps rubbing his neck. This is absurd—]

Predecessor? [Not something like a father, or a teacher? What could that mean?]

It doesn't feel like it's warnin' ya to stay away?

[He guesses, but what else could it be? He knows the feeling Jae-Ha is talking about, since he's felt it himself when he remembers Jae-Ha's last moments. But they sure are talking about this freely, here and now.]

The one that had this leg before me.

[ He says that quietly, half afraid it might cause something just from coming out of his mouth-- but no, there's no hesitating thoughts, no sickness in his stomach aside from at what he now knows, and nothing stopping him from continuing. Quietly, he stands up and moves over to Hazel to grab his arm. He is still uncertain himself, but he didn't come in here to scare him like this. It seems... Okay. So long as he's careful. ]

If I try to think beyond what I saw, then I start to feel nervous. I won't push it past that feeling, so I think it should be okay.

The one who...? [What is he talking about? Had the leg before him? It's just a leg. Are scaly green legs hereditary in his family, or something?? That still wouldn't be called a predecessor, would it— God, he doesn't understand any of this.

But he's finally stopped from pacing, and looks at Jae-Ha with a mix of confusion and concern.]

If that's the case, it's a powerfully rude awakenin'. [Send a notice in advance, or something...! Then, he hesitates - there's more to this feeling in his chest than just worrying about having a memory, isn't there?]

As long as it doesn't bother ya, will ya tell me about it? [and also,] Should be sittin' down.

[gosh!!]

[It'd been a day since what...happened with the latest ayakashi problem. Details were still vague on the specifics but the ayakashi had discomforted Psyche for reasons she couldn't fully place (or, simply, she'd repressed down for the moment). All the same, the fact she hadn't even been able to lay a scratch on it bothered her and made her a bit restless.

[As such, when she got Jae-Ha's message, she figured it couldn't hurt to work some of that out. It was good practice to work off someone anyway, she told herself. She blinked, though, as she saw the pillar of boulders, staring in curiosity, before she smiled a little and responded]

Evening, and yeah, I did. You said you were looking for someone to improve your skills with?

Your pacing was making me just as nervous.

[It's a light sort of teasing to distract from what he should share. Right, that tells him a lot, it explains a lot... Lightly, he tugs Hazel to sit down with him.]

I could. It's a bit heavy for so early in the morning, though, so I'll have to ask if you're sure that you want to hear. [Like, he knows the feelings already came across, but that's still a bit different...]

[Rude, he must compulsively fidget... He gives Jae-Ha a look, but there's little weight behind it as he sits beside him.]

I'm not made of glass, I can take it. [The feelings did already come across, but besides that, exactly how much of his own baggage has he unloaded on Jae-Ha recently? Fair is fair. He wants to know.]

[ don't be rude about it... Jae-Ha actually doesn't seem to mind, too caught up in all of this as he crosses his legs up on the bed. His fingers brush lightly over his own right leg as he looks down at it. ]

I thought of it as the room I always slept in, but I was chained down by my wrists and ankles. The man I mentioned earlier woke me up that night with heart breaking, desperate screams while he threw punches. [ he has to word it so flowery, too... But really it's just that he feels so bad for that man. ] He told me he nearly wanted to kill me.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Page 1 of 23

[ OPEN ]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Completely unrelated to this here's a thread for Hazel 4/30... Child abuse mentions...

waltzes in

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject