05 // Voice

[sole_choice]

I was just kidding before! I didn't expect REAL prehistoric animals to start showing up! A-Ahem...

*There was some muttering before he spoke up into the walkie-talkie properly*

Is there a place where more people are gathering together to try and keep safe in bigger numbers? If so, I'd appreciate some general directions there because I just spent several hours getting out of a tree and down a small cliff to try and keep out of reach and another two getting back up when things decided I still smelled like prey.

Given that this is supposedly a dream world, this will let up and change eventually right? Dreams, even nightmares... they don't go on forever...

Right?

Comments

[1000marshmellos.livejournal.com]

Under a tree!

[sole-choice.livejournal.com]

Under a tree? Under what tree?

That isn't helpful, you know!

... are you alright at least?

[1000marshmellos.livejournal.com]

Oh. Some tree, not really sure where! There are a lot of trees.

Of course I'm fine. A little hot, but fine.

[sole-choice.livejournal.com]

What am I thinking? It's you, of course you're fine. *Was that the hint of a relieved sigh?*

How exactly am I supposed to stick close to you if I don't know where you are, anyway?

Your signal sounds pretty clear compared to some others... maybe you're closer. I'm out of that tree and down the cliff again, so I'm going to search around a bit.

*He paused slightly, looking for something to talk about so he can try and follow the signal strength*

This almost seems like something right out of Choice, doesn't it?

[1000marshmellos.livejournal.com]

I am close to a cliff bottom....

Ah! Shou-chan! That's the best idea! We should play Choice here in the jungle. Live Choice. We've never done that before...

*Well, to Shouichi they hadn't and that's all that really mattered at the moment, right?*

So the setting is the jungle and we don't have any troops... so we'll have to fight one on one. We can hunt for each other and battle! Or, well, restrain the other somehow. No time limit!

[sole-choice.livejournal.com]

Wh-wha-What?!

Wait a second!

*He swallowed hard and shook his head to himself. Why had he opened his mouth? Now that the other man had it in his head, he wasn't going to take no for an answer... This was the worst sort of circumstances to try and play live Choice, what with the environmental threats being as real as they were, but...*

Fine. I agree to the field and time-limit. And we don't have much choice with participants...

Format... *He paused, considering* I'll agree to a Capture format as well.

I can't believe I'm doing this...

[1000marshmellos.livejournal.com]

Excellent. We should also give one another an extra clue as to our current location. Let's see...

*There was a pause as he looked around, humming, trying to decide what to use as a hint.*

There are some strange flowers here... odd markings. They look like a larger form of an iris.. remind me to get some of these! I want to uproot them and see if I can get them to grow, they might be some sort of prehistoric variety!

[sole-choice.livejournal.com]

*Extra clue? There was silence as he frowned and glanced around as well, looking for some sort of unique indicator to his surroundings. That was when he remembered the monkeys high in the trees above him*

The cliff I just climbed down from has a tree growing out of it almost perpendicular to the face near the top and there is a nesting group of thieving monkeys there.

*One could almost swear they heard his stomach growl over the transmission*

[1000marshmellos.livejournal.com]

Ah... Shou-chan? Are you having tummy problems?

We really can't play a fair game if you're going hungry. How about you stay where you are and I'll come find you and take you to get food. I've been staying plenty stuffed with all of the wild fruit and nuts around here.

And you thought botany was useless compared to engineering~

*There was a definite laughing tone to his voice. There was the sound of leaves brushing - he was already on his way to find Shouichi.*

Have you had much water? You should be keeping hydrated in this weather.

[sole-choice.livejournal.com]

Eh? But the... Nevermind. I did find some food on my own, but when it was a choice between giving it up or getting thrown out of the tree, I chose the former.

There is a stream not too far away, but boiling it has been harder than I thought it would be. And there's been dew water collected from some of the bigger leaves up in the tree...

[1000marshmellos.livejournal.com]

Tsk, tsk. I should have taught you about water vines.

I'll show you when I find you. I'm getting closer, now~

*Luckily, they really hadn't been too far from each other. Within the next few minutes, leaves would be rustling a few yards from Shouichi and eventually Byakuran would be visible. He'd abandoned his shirt and rolled up his pants to keep cool and was using his jacket bundled up as makeshift bag, tied up with a severed vine. In his hand was a long stick, one end filed to a point, the other end filed to more of a blade-shape.*

[sole-choice.livejournal.com]

*Shouichi himself was down to just a thin, sweat-and-stream soaked t-shirt and his uniform pants had been torn in several places as well as being dirt stained. His jacket was hanging from one hand, a large, heavy stick in the other as he turned to face the approaching noise.

The relief that flooded his face was genuine when he saw Byakuran.*

You look like you've been holding up pretty well.

[1000marshmellos.livejournal.com]

Of course I have. Who do you think I am?

*Lilac eyes surveyed the area... hm. Nothing around that he was looking for; they'd have to head back into the jungle. First things first, though! He crouched and untied he vine he had around his bag, opening it up and digging around... after a moment he produced an orange and some brazil nuts still in the shell.*

Hungry?

[sole-choice.livejournal.com]

Like you wouldn't believe.

Thanks.

*Shouichi took the offered food and started in on that orange pretty much immediately as it was the easiest to get into*

I was wasting my time worrying about the likes of you, wasn't I? *Said slightly grumbly* What did you want to do? I've gotten in touch with some people and I have a general idea of where they are, but it's a ways off...

*He sat on one of the large tree roots that lifted up and out of the ground while he ate, observing the other - this was all so... surreal...*

[1000marshmellos.livejournal.com]

I think you well know that you shouldn't be worrying about me, Shou-chan.

Personally I don't think we need to meet with other people to survive. I've been doing just fine on my own.

*Byakuran spread his coat out - there were some more oranges, some bananas, roots and more nuts. Also, there was a medium-sized flat rock that he'd found as well as a small sharp rock. He took the nuts and one by one, he'd set them on the flat rock and start tapping at them with his sharper rock to open them up. All the while, his back was to Shouichi.*

After you eat up we should get back into the jungle so we can find some water. There are vines that grow throughout places like this... the roots themselves are poisonous but they store water that's perfectly safe. Funny how something can be so poisonous and harmful on the outside, but on the inside they're sweet and safe, isn't it?

[sole-choice.livejournal.com]

*Shouichi really only heard the last half of what the other man had said to him, eyes wide and staring from behind smudged lenses. He pulled off his glasses and wiped at them with his shirt before replacing them.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, the irony of Byakuran's words triggered pangs of guilt and anxiety, the double and even triple meanings far too easy to put into place, but Shouichi was worried about the much more immediate sight before his eyes. Large scars marred the other man's pale back, a pair of them at just about his shoulder blades...*

Byakuran-san... those scars...

[1000marshmellos.livejournal.com]

Hmm? Scars?

*He glanced back over his shoulder, gaze focusing on Shouichi for a few quiet moments before he shifted his eyes downward. Even with his head craned, he could barely see anything but the look was mostly just for show. With a shrug and a smile, he returned his attention to cracking shells. He got about a half dozen of them done, when he turned to hand them off to Shouichi.*

What about them?

*Certainly couldn't deny something he hadn't bothered to hide~*

[sole-choice.livejournal.com]

*Shouichi actually stood and walked over, stopping just behind Byakuran, green eyes fixed on his back*

When... h-how?

[1000marshmellos.livejournal.com]

Mmm... I really don't think it's important, Shou-chan.

*Perhaps if he made it seem like it was something traumatic, Shouichi would leave the subject alone. Thus, he grabbed his shirt that was rolled up, resting on his jacket and he shook it out, stood, then pulled it over his head, effectively covering up his scars. It wasn't too much warmer with that on anyway, he'd deal with the heat.*

[sole-choice.livejournal.com]

.... m-mm....

*The fact that he'd never seen those before, didn't know about them or hear about them... That shouldn't bother him, right? He was keeping plenty from Byakuran, after all... He looked away and went back to eating, taking one of the nuts opened for him and chewing on it silently*

If you think we can manage on our own, I should contact that person again so they don't worry about keeping an eye out for me...

[1000marshmellos.livejournal.com]

Then do so. Meanwhile, we should go find some shade and relax a white after we get some water.

*Idly, he smoothed down his shirt, content to wait for Shouichi to finish eating. Neither of them had anywhere to be, afterall! Why bother rushing to go nowhere?*

Feeling better?

[sole-choice.livejournal.com]

*Shouichi pretty much ate everything he'd been handed and nodded when asked if it had helped*

I don't know if I can really relax in the given circumstances, but food and finding water and not being alone is helping. Are those vines fairly common and easy to identify then?

*Even as he asked he was pulling out the phone-turned-walkie-talkie again to contact that man from before once they were on their way. He had to focus on what had to be done now, not those scars and what it meant that he'd been so surprised by them, damnit.*

[1000marshmellos.livejournal.com]

Only if you're a silly botany major~

*Byakuran knelt and bundled up his jacket again, tying it with the vine and slinging it over his shoulder as he stood and ventured back in to the trees, stick in hand.*

I'll tell you once I see one. After this I might just start carrying a knife around with me. Haven't needed to for a while!

[sole-choice.livejournal.com]

*Shouichi rolled his eyes and followed after the white-haired man, keeping up without too much trouble*

May be a good idea actually. Apparently things like this just occassionally "happen" around here. Though the man who told me that said he'd never seen anything that was this drastic before at least. It should be over in a week... if he was right.

[1000marshmellos.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. Good thing I came to find you then. Some scary beast would have absolutely eaten you by then. That would be such a shame..

*Who knows how serious he was being. He had pretty good poker face on.*