Logs:The Burdens We Shoulder

The Burdens We Shoulder
Dramatis Personae Amo, Akihiro
In Absentia Erik	2024-09-02 "Something tells me there won’t be more than one winner."
Location <MOJ> Champion's Circle - Mojoverse
Originally this was intended as a place for the games participants to relax and hang out in between events, but that idea quickly fell by the wayside when their initial participants were all too dead and/or traumatized to do any hanging out. Still. in preparation for hosting a bunch of Earthlings they've taken their best stab at what Earthers might enjoy for a little R&R, which has led to this... place. It's looks like it was kind of a bar, once. There are tables to sit at, though half of them come pre-knocked-over; there are several broken bottles and broken pool cues lying around (no pool tables in evidence.) There are numerous guns. Several of the bottles behind the bar are filled with bullets, a couple more with gasoline; some do have alcohol but none of it is drinking grade. There is also a game of darts. If there ever were any employees there are not anymore, but a very large number of cats are in residence here. The building doesn't end so much as just truncate like it's some kind of movie set. The open back of the "bar" opens up onto, a road that for some reason has a large ramp leading to nowhere. There are a variety of vehicles out there with keys in the ignition and though it's usually hard to tell this from a look, they have the indefinable air of cars that will explode at the slightest provocation. Maybe it's the unnecessary racing stripes. The ‘excitement’ from the games today has long since unfolded, another Brotherhood win. The “bar’s” lights are off, the light from the giant fake sky providing enough of an ambient glow that maybe gives the room a quiet or, at the very least, a less-stimulating feel to it in comparison to the noise and lights from earlier. Amo is gathering the broken bottles and pieces lying around the room, a rocky armor protecting her fingers from any cuts. She’s sure to give the cats plenty of pets as she mills around, and also carefully pull them away when they try to nose at any of the broken glass. She’s picking up one of the cats at this point once it’s attempted to paw too many times at the pile of glass she’s assembling, armor rippling up her arms in preparation for any clawing, and cradles it close to her chest when it doesn’t try to scramble away. With her other free hand she shifts the pile of glass further away. Drinking grade is subjective when you have a healing factor, and Akihiro is doing his very level best to prove that by occasionally taking swigs from a bottle that smells closer to ethanol than everclear. Whatever the liquid is it has the man swaying softly on his stool and watching the cats dart around. “They really half-assed this whole thing.” he grumbles, taking one last swig before rocking up onto his feet and depositing the bottle on the bar top. His gaze sweeps around the room before settling on amos, “I’m not sure if I’d let them see you doing that. Might think we eat it and send that up instead of food next time.” Amo’s eyebrow ticks upward in Akihiro’s direction, “The glass or the cat?” She stops piling the glass together and gives the cat a few more scritches, before depositing it on a further side of the room. She wanders closer to the bar top and grabs the bottle, allowing the rocks on her palms to fade. She sniffs the bottle once and yanks it away, blinking watering eyes. She lets out a whoosh of a breath, and the skin around her eye pinch when she looks between Akihiro and the bottle. “This do it for you?” She places the bottle back down. “Ah do-“ the Words catch on Akihiro’s throat as the bottle goes back down and he relaxes. “No, but it’s one of the nicer times I’ve been kidnapped. Loses the luster eventually.” He leans his elbows back against the bar and looks up, “Usually it’s humans that do it though, so that’s new. You guys holding up alright?” Amo’s eyes narrow briefly, “Nicer times?” She echoes, and she leans with her back against the bar top, her fingers tapping against the edge of it, “So. Multiple.” She nods a few times to mentally process it. She shrugs a shoulder at his question, “We’re holding. How ‘bout you guys?” “Likewise holding up.” Akihiro sighs. “If they don’t get us some real food soon things are gonna get ugly. Especially if I have to keep healing. Pretty sure I’m gonna start wondering if these guards taste like chicken.” He chuckles softly like it might be a joke, but there’s a hardness to his eyes that suggest he may not be. “Think we might have to actually kill our way out of here if we want everyone to make it home though. Something tells me there won’t be more than one winner.” The corner of Amo’s mouth twitches downward, and she scans Akihiro thoughtfully. Her tapping has paused, and she tilts her head forwards from her sideways position to get a better look at him. “Eh. Dunno. There’s people here in the same position we’re in.” She glances around, warily, and some armor ripples across the back of her neck. She brings her head back up, “Seems risky is all. Kill who? Then what? Still bubbled.” “Plans are great, but sometimes you have to just move based off feeling. I’m sure they have slaves that know things they aren’t supposed to. It’s just a matter of getting the information, starting a revolution, and getting out while you can. Did something similar in Iraq in the eighties.” Akihiro doesn’t seem to mind if they’re listening to him, his demeanor is still casual like he’s talking about sports. “The universe isn’t as nice as you all want it to be, and sometimes you have to make decisions that’ll keep you up at night. I know not everyone can handle that, so I’ll do my part and shoulder the burden where I can.” Amo’s eyebrows pinch together, and she’s silent for a prolonged moment. She lets out a long breath before speaking again, “Right. You been around the block, yeah?” She turns to give a cat that’s approached them on the bar top some attention. She encourages it to plop down so she can run her fingers through its fur. “That why you’re part of the Brotherhood?” “A few times.” Akihiro dips his head in an affirmative nod, reaching up to scratch one of the cats behind it’s ear. “I’m part of the Brotherhood because Eric saved me and brought me into the Mutant Liberation Front. He’s been like a second father to me. Might not have agreed with everything he’s done, but I trust his vision. I’ve been fighting my whole life, almost a century. It’s all I know.” Amo hums at this, one that seems to indicate more of an understanding. She glances towards him again, searching his face, and shakes her head, “Whoosh. Long ass time.” She says in an impressed sort of way, then a quick smile tugs at her face, “Dermatologists hate him.” She blinks a few times, then tiredly drags a bar stool closer, and sits on it. She continues to pet the cat, rhythmically, “Would you even wanna stop if you could?” “Was planting the seeds of it. Had my garden, animals, the homes I helped build. All gone now.” Akihiro cranes his neck forward as the cat jumps onto his shoulders and starts pacing back and forth. “Fate has something else in mind for me than peace. It may be for me to atone for my sins by dying here. Only time will tell.” Amo lifts her hand away when the cat moves, and rests her elbow in the spot where it once was. Her eyes track the cat on his shoulders. “The rate these games are going…Fate gonna have to try real hard to take you out.” She taps a finger against the bottle he’d been drinking from earlier, “Unless balloon animals got teeth.” She lets her head rest on her fist, “If you make it through this, could be worth to give it another shot. Life n’ shit.” She says, lightly. “Or you could keep fighting. Just… seems like you got a long life ahead of you bro.” “Things haven’t gotten real yet.” Akihiro shakes his head as much as his stooped position will allow. “Don’t let them lull you into a false sense of security, if this is all the games are they wouldn’t have had to kidnap us, or pick strong fighters. No, they’re planning something big. I’m sure Charles can afford the best therapists once you’re back though.” He lets out a long sigh and gently picks the cat up from his shoulders, which promptly squirms itself free and pads away a few steps before circling back to rub its cheek against his leg. “I’m wanted. The government wants me. Canada wants me. Interpol wants me. I’d have to become a ghost, and that’s no life either.” The rocky texturing blossoms on Amo’s shoulders, then disappears, in an antsy sort of way. She huffs out a breath, “Well, shit.” Her idle tapping has returned and she glances around at the corner of the room, “Don’t give’em any ideas.” Her mouth pulls into a slight wince at every thing named that wants him. She tilts her head side to side, unsure, “Sucks.” She lands on. “Hope you can stop one day. Easier said than done, but.” She shrugs a shoulder. “Still.” “As long as we win.” Akihiro says resolutely, turning to look at Amos now. “Some of us don’t have a choice. Charles subscribed to our dream once, he just wasn’t willing to make the sacrifices needed.” He turns and starts to walk away but suddenly stops and looks back over his shoulder, “Not of himself, anyway.” With that he walks away, humming the tune to Hohei no Honryou.