synflux | November/December catch-all

[He rasps put a laugh, and immediately regrets it because ow, his head. His head. Still, Sylvain half-turns to look at Yato and grins. It's the smile someone flashes when they know what someone else is probably actually thinking and don't mind.]

Ate something I shouldn't. And I knew I shouldn't but I couldn't say no.

I know, I know, it's not that exciting.

[Hopefully Sylvain's marbles didn't get too rattled when Yato landed on him. That's make him feel bad and a touch guilty. For now though, he peers curiously at the redhead, then up the bank, then back down to him.]

Not exciting, perhaps, but still curious. Were you leaning over to be sick in and fell in, or...?

[He's trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together while wondering if maybe he ought to hurriedly move out of the way in case Sylvain needs to upchuck. No offense, bro, but that'd be a bit much for a first meeting.]

[None would be taken.]

Nah, the last thing I remember was staggering down the alley over there-

[He gestures, the alley over there, the one with the slightly weird odor they're not going to explore, because all alleys have weird odors.]

And then I ended up here, passed out, woke up and then you came along. [Change of subject, as Sylvain tries to get up and groans, this is such a bad idea but he can't just be a ditch redhead, no, he's not a mushroom log - he is a man, and should go die in a bathroom instead of in a ditch.]

What's the worst night you ever had?

[He nods, regretting the gesture immediately and letting out a faint groan. His head's still spinning slightly, or maybe it's the world that's going around. Either way, he plants both hands on either side of his head to help it stop.]

Glad you didn't take a tumble, at least. It sucks majorly. Would not recommend. Ugh...

[Once everything seems to be wobbling less, he makes another valiant attempt at speaking, hands dragging down the sides of his face.]

Worst night? Lesse... musta been after a steady week of fighting, having my partner quit on me and my sister ditch me to go back to Dad, leaving me with no weapon and no money after I drank it all and made myself sick from getting into a bar fight. Wars suck, man.

[Ignoring his own problems for a moment, he grabs Sylvain by the back of the shirt and tries to help heft him into an upright position, grunting as he does so. It's the least he can do right now for landing on him, honestly.]

Wa-

[He was saying that a little too loudly and a little too quickly, and as Yato grabs the back of his shirt Sylvain decides that now isn't the time for talk, no, now is the time for quietly getting upright as best as he can. Otherwise, things might become disgusting and this thread would have to have a quick scene change or have 500 euphemisms slammed over the top of it.

And why beat around the bush when there's something more interesting? So: he gets upright. Sylvain closes his eyes for a second and wills the world to stop moving (he misses food, he misses ice cream, he liked the taste of tacos, he wants to try more) before he opens them again.

And then Sylvain looks at Yato.]

Wars do suck. Something like that happened to me once, except I was the one who ditched, and it was my father telling me to go patrol a border for a few weeks.

[Hold it in, Sylvain! You can do it, man! Or just let it all out and we'll roll with it. Either is fine so long as Yato's boots are left out of the picture. He likes these damn things, okay. And it's not like he's trying to make things worse, so hurling would just leave him feeling bad.

Peering curiously at the other man while he steadies himself and goes through the lunch menu they all wish they could have, his hand moves in steady circles in what he hopes is a comforting gesture, or at least one that'll ease the sensation of the world spinning on a top. He's been there plenty of times and boy is it rough.]

Heh, sounds like we've both got some stories to tell, huh? I'd say shame on you for doing the ditching, but I dunno the circumstances. Hopefully you didn't leave someone to fend for themselves, though. That's a little bit shitty.

[Though he gets the feeling their circumstances were likely different enough that it wouldn't be like it was with him, at least.]

Not by choice.

[It's a quick response, which was almost a mistake because whew, he shouldn't be making sudden movements at the moment. He's just...closing his eyes, breathing slowly, fishing in his pocket for some iron pills to knock back like they're poppers.]

But no matter what I chose I would've been leaving someone behind. Funny how that works, isn't it? [Ha ha...ha, fuck him. Anyway, he can breathe, iron pills popped, Sylvain's going to try to stan- probably not a good idea, that's not a stand, that's a stagger.] Doesn't matter where you go or what you do, there's no easy choices.

Ah, yeah. Been there, done that before. Sucks when all your options aren't the greatest.

[Grimacing at the other's misfortune, he places one hand to his head to steady himself as well. They're definitely talking a touch too loud for the way his head is still throbbing, but at least it's subsided somewhat since impact.]

You're right about that, for sure. Life rarely grants you an easy path to the future. You gotta pick your way through the brambles to reach your goals. [Once Sylvain is more or less upright, Yato follows suit with a slight shake of his head. Too much distance between him and the earth should he pitch over, frankly, but they can hardly sit there all day.]

[He sways like a tree that's precariously close to toppling over, but that doesn't matter. Well, it does, but Sylvain trusts that even now, his reflexes are good enough that he can go vomit in the opposite direction of his help, and he'd flash a grateful smile if that didn't seem risky at the moment. For one thing, when was the last time he had a drink?

For another-]

That yours?

[You know, the hoverbike, over there, the cool thing. Unless stopped, he's going to slumpingly stagger his way over to the bike.]

[Should the breeze decide to blow Sylvain over, at least Yato's there to try catching him. It might be more of a miss than a hit, especially if something's up, but he could still try. That's what friends are for and they're ditch-forged buddies now! Almost like drinking buddies, but not quite as fun.]

Sure is. Just got her today. This is my first time out, too.

[Hence the crash. He wants to check on his precious bike anyway, and so follows after Sylvain with a slight wobble himself. His head's stopped spinning, thankfully, but his legs ache a bit.]

Whatcha think? Pretty cool, huh?

[You know what? If he keeps moving he'll ignore things like vertigo, and this is a good distraction. Sylvain whistles, appreciatively, and immediately has regrets because owwie. Ouch. And he nearly says, "I had a spicy drink and that's what did this to me. I'm not normally this much of a mess." But what's left of his manners says no. No. Don't make this weird, the guy won't believe you.]

She is cool. [And then he kneels to, first, get a better look, and, second, he's a tall guy and being less tall feels like a good idea at the moment.]

She got a name yet?

[Sometimes you just gotta power through it or die trying. Hopefully not the latter in this case, though. Yato's been there plenty of times over the years, he knows how it goes. But he also understands that often you just want to maintain what little bit of dignity you have left, damn the consequences.]

Name, huh? [With one hand on his hip, he regards the vehicle with a contemplative look.] Not yet. I wasn't aware people named these things. Maybe you can help me decide on one! My naming skills are pretty basic, I have to admit.

[Hence why he named the boy he found after snow when it was snowing...]

Yeah, of course you gotta name your mount- [Yeah, the second he says it Sylvain knows he said the right word, but he perseveres, just plows right through it.] If it does a good job you can praise it, and if it crashes like...well. [What they're looking at.]

It's easier when you've got a name to curse, yeah? [But enough about the value of a name.] How bad's your name sense? [How bad could it be?]

Oooh, yeah, like a horse or something, right? [Thankfully Yato lived through eras where horses were common, so he knows what Sylvain is getting at.] Humans do name their ships after women, too, so it makes sense they might name their vehicles as well, now that I think about it. [And he does like the idea of giving it a name to curse. There will probably be a lot more crashes after this.]

True, true~! [Sheepishly, he scratches at the back of his head.] Well, when I was naming my shinki - my divine weapons - I named one Sakura for the trees we met under and another Yuki for the fact it was snowing that night. [He's terrible at it... Maybe he should name this thing after the bush it landed in.....]

So...what you're saying is if we leave it up to you, you'll end up calling it Shrub.

[Look, somebody had to say it. Okay. This is repayment(???) for getting him out of the ditch, or- something, look, this is an intervention. They can do this.]

Okay.

[He closes his eyes and breathes in, which is totally because he's focusing and not because he's willing away the headache. (Hangover tea is going to be such a gamechanger when Sylvain one day discovers it exists. It is not this day.)]

What's your favorite color? [Starting there, because, after all, everyone loves a good Color Noun/Verb/Sometimes an Adjective. There's an entire genre in which people run around in spandex and call each other by those names, after all.]

Hey, that's not a bad idea...

[HE'S TOTALLY TEASING OKAY, he doesn't really mean it. Mostly. Though it would be a constant reminder of his first screw-up. That could be handy for teaching him to drive better.]

My favorite color, huh...?

[That's such a tough call for someone who's been around for a millennia, since all colors begin to hold meanings. But he thinks about the things that means something to him, namely Hiyori, and it's her eyes that come to mind first and clearest.]

I'd say pink. Like a deep, gemstone pink. [This seems like a good place to start, although perhaps not with pink itself? Maybe some other synonym or variant of pink... Maybe even a jewel color itself? He doesn't want his cool new bike to be called the Pink Avenger or something. That'd just be silly. And while he is silly himself, this is serious business!]

[There's only really one response he can make to that, isn't there.]

We're not naming it Pink Shrub. [They weren't in the first place, but there's an obvious place to go and by gosh, is he going to go there.]

You call it that, and your bike'll go out of its way to find the nearest cliff to drive over just to end it all.

[Yep, and frankly Yato's in full agreement. That doesn't sound even remotely cool. Not even in an ironic sort of way.]

Haha, yeah, I'd completely believe that, honestly. If someone tried to name me that, I'd jump ship, too. There's a limit to the lameness one can take being called, and that far exceeds it. Gonna have to come up with another naming scheme.

[Back to the drawing board, in that case.] Hmm... How about... "Sapphire Edge?" That's got a kind of neat ring to it, yeah?

[...while it's not the worst name he's ever heard, that's partially because he's heard some atrocious names in the past, some of said names being mentioned in the last few minutes, actually. It's very...

It gives off an energy. Sylvain has to mull it over.]

You'd just end up calling it Saph all the time. [Is that a pro or a con? To be decided.]

[It certainly beats referencing his poor bike's plunge into a bush, that must be said. Although it's also true that Sylvain makes a fair point. "Saph" has some connotations that Yato's not sure he's keen on.]

Fair enough. I mean, we can always shelve that idea for now and save it for a back-up. There's gotta be a good name for her out there. Sure as hell is enough words to pick from.

[Although that variety is part of the problem. TOO MANY OPTIONS.]

[Yeah lmfao imagine ending up being called Shrubby or something variation thereof, couldn't be this bike, she doesn't deserve it, someone would have to really fuck up with a stupid name like Shrubby or some variation thereof. Thank the Goddess that they're all competent people and nobody here would end up being called Shrubby.]

Uh. [Okay, okay, he's going to sta-

Stay kneeling and gently poke the bike, nudge it a bit.]

Got a song you like?

[Instead he's cursed with the name... Well, fair enough, he supposes. It was his bad driving that landed him into trouble, not the bike. So why should she be graced with the shame of being shrubbery? Should he end up with said moniker following him around for all eternity, then so be it! He can handle it.]

A couple, but I don't know the name to them. Never had the opportunity to listen to much but the radio on occasion. [Alas, once again, he's a poor god whose only indulgence is an old-style smart phone. He's behind on all but the print media.]

How about... Hurricane Yori? [Hold on, he'll explain.] Kinda based on my girlfriend's name, but also the fact she's a wrestling fan.

[It's fine, don't worry about it, right now they can live in the joy of being ignorant about being under mistletoe with each other and pretend like all they have to look forward to is drinking, driving, and occasional kaiju missions.]

You know her better than I do, but I know if I tried something like that I'd end up single. [He'd end up single anyway - self sabotage is a bitch - but that's besides the point.]

[Can you imagine the pair of them, stuck there until the next mission, unwilling to acknowledge the white-berried elephant in the room until it comes time for them to roll out? Or maybe someone will miss them before then. So hard to tell.]

Err... Yeah, you might be right. There's a fine line between honoring someone and mocking them, and that might be toeing it a bit too closely... [Hiyori probably wouldn't care for being named after a natural disaster, at least.]

...I've got it! I'll name it after her favorite wrestling move: Jungle Savate!

[You know what?]

Yeah sure, you should do that. [Absolutely, 100%, Sylvain is very supportive of this.] The next time you're swerving into a ditch you can shout jungle... [Slight dramatic pause.] ...savante! And act like you meant to do that when people ask.

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intertwinedfates - 2024-12-27 00:17 (UTC) - Expand