What's the difference between self discovery and self destruction

[iamtetsuo]

WHO: Tetsuo Shima and YOU
WHERE: Any city; just place it in the subject line or mention it in a thread. He'll be doing a lot of roaming around.
WHEN: Month of September
WHAT: Catchall open log for chaos or general activities - Tetsuo's been unleashed on America and intends to play garrys mod with it. If you wanted an excuse to fight an out of control psychokinetic, here it is
WARNINGS: General villainy (property damage, violence, possible drug use mentions, theft...) and potentially interrupting Kanedas at the end of threads

[It's a brand new month, and a brand new start; and with it comes so many brand new ways to find trouble.

You can expect to find Tetsuo engaged in normal shenanigans, like any ordinary sixteen year old. Things like threatening natives! Causing accidents or generally ignoring all traffic laws! Raiding drug stores! Hanging around on park benches or generally wandering aimlessly! Suffering from extreme migraines! All this and more in your hometown!

He's taken his motorcycle and psychic powers and hit the streets of America on a quest for ... you know what, we just don't know. The good news is, beyond checking churches for Crane, and making sure that his (glove-covered) wrist could say CRIMINAL from here until forever, he doesn't seem to have any set goals in mind on what to do. All that's clear is he can do what he wants, and he's not taking no for an answer to anything.

Feel free to fight him, talk to him, join in, what have you -- you're free to stop him but he's going to either run at the end if it's clear he can't win, or get you out of the way somehow. If you'd like to change this, talk with me and we can work something out.

I'll throw starters out on request, but please feel free to make your own. If you'd like to fight, check out his permissions first, but this is a general invitation to fight without any preamble or excuses.]

Comments

[iamtetsuo]

[HEY. You mean 'necessarily intense'. That's the phrase you're looking for. That's the only way Tetsuo does anything, after all. Well, that or 'moodily apathetic', but we just skipped past that stage.

He's trying to not make it obvious that he's watching her out of the corner of his eye, trying to work out what she's doing that he isn't. He's not the best at this kind of thing; he's more intellectual than kinesthetically gifted in general, but what he lacks in natural talent he more than makes up for with blind stubbornness.

He'll skip these rocks all day until at least one goes more than once. Which this one also doesn't, but it's got a lower angle this time at least; it looks close.]

[deadtective]

[aww, he's getting so close! Hazel notices him semi-subtly eyeballing her after a while thanks to her ingrained paranoia; this sparks a new challenge for her as she tries to make it really clear what she's doing without it being obvious that she's trying to help.

her next stone only makes two skips because she's too busy thinking about everything else. shit. gotta stay focused or she won't be able to talk nearly as much shit.]

[iamtetsuo]

[Okay. So she's gripping it differently than he is, just slightly. And throwing out and down...

He tries again.

And this time, he matches her stone skip for skip.

YES.]

[deadtective]

[instead of throwing another rock, she puts her fingers in her mouth to give Tetsuo a loud and celebratory whistle. she seems genuine about the whole thing judging by her smile, even if it could easily be read as sardonic.]

Ladies and gentlemen, he can be taught!

[iamtetsuo]

[The waves eat any chance at lingering ripples, but he doesn't even need the proof.

Even if it was sardonic, she gives a lot more immediate positive feedback than he's used to, and it shows - this time, now that he's not dedicated to sulking his face completely lights up at the encouragement. Usually, this'd be around the time someone did something extremely impressive right after just to show him up or show off - doing well was met with not being yelled at for failure instead of any approving reactions. This isn't the first teacher he's had here to show him real approval, but it's still not something he's remotely used to.

Even if she had to practically twist his arm to learn it, now it's officially fun. Maybe ... he doesn't need his powers to do this?

Now if he can get more than two - he shifts his stance like so, facing at a slight angle. Grips another rock like she did. Not being frustrated helps a lot for his ability to actually pick up technique - it almost looks like he'll get three, but ...no.

Be proud of him anyway, Hazel.]

[deadtective]

Shit, that was really close.

[she tosses another of hers out again with a laugh, for the fun of it rather than any need to compete; it was really satisfying to watch them skip out across the waves regardless of how many hops she could coax out. that said, she rolls her shoulders slightly as she's forced to admit in an offhand sort of way...]

You're picking this up waaaay faster than I did.

[iamtetsuo]

Maybe I'm better at this than you.

[Ah, so that's how long it takes for his newly developed ego to catch up.]

[deadtective]

Careful, man. You start hallucinating like that and you're going to forget where the ocean is when you throw the next one.

[which one of them has done five skips already? which one of them has the power within their burning soul to reach six???? yeah, that's what she thought.]

[iamtetsuo]

[Take the null off and he'll show you who can get the most skips, Hazel...]

You think so...? Watch me.

[Wha? Just one skip?! Bullshit!]

[deadtective]

[WHAT DID SHE JUST SAY ABOUT CHEATING that she can't replicate]

See? You have to come back to this reality first.

[iamtetsuo]

That's something I've been learning about this place, Hazel.

[oh that's it throwing another one TWO SKIPS THERE SEE HE'S AWESOME]

I make my own reality.

[deadtective]

Yeah, some people get lucky like that.

[which is an awfully sober response for her, but she doesn't allow for much time for anyone to really notice. the next one she lets loose gets five skips and then - and that it totally would've had that mythical sixth if the wave hadn't curled over it at the wrong time.

she gently but insistently nudges Tetsuo in the ribs like he could have possibly missed that. see? see? that was going to be fucking six, it totally counts, she's godlike.]

[iamtetsuo]

[Yeah yeah YEAH he saw it already.]

You want an award for hitting a wave or something?

[Except godlike beings don't get laughed at. What the hell do you know, Tetsuo, you can't get past two skips. Don't be an asshole.]

[deadtective]

Hey, you're the fucking king of that. Just thought you should know your throne's in danger.

[YEAH TAKE THAT. her cheeks puff out petulantly and she hurls her next rock with more force than is necessary; it slices through the water in an ungainly fashion, but at least it manages a respectable three jumps. thank god.]

[iamtetsuo]

[Eventually he'll get three jumps and THEN who's the master of hitting waves huh?

Another two. Damn. Why is this hard?! Yet another thing he has to get better than her at... c'mon let him cheat let him cheat you know you want to have to listen to him gloating for ages let him cheat. Except she didn't hit a wave that time, and he can roll with that at least.]

You missed.

[deadtective]

[her head snaps to look at him so sharply it's a wonder that there isn't an accompanying snap of bone, expression caught somewhere between the previous petulance and disbelief. i-is he serious? IT WAS A FUCKING JOKE.]

You're not supposed to hit them, asshole.

[iamtetsuo]

[The fact he's laughing harder pretty much speaks for itself here.

Got you.]

[deadtective]

[. . .



he's kind of beat up, so throwing rocks at him is currently out of the question. she can, however, kick up a spray of sand right in his dumb face without any twinge of conscience. and that's exactly what she does with an impressively strangled noise of anger and frustration because, surprise! Hazel's just as easy to wind up as Tetsuo is when you know what buttons to push.]

[iamtetsuo]

[Vengeance is such a sweet thing.

Until he gets sand in his mouth. Then it's salty, gritty, and has him sputtering and coughing.]

[deadtective]

[now who's laughing, asshole? it's Hazel, and boy is she laughing. it's a wonder she hasn't toppled over yet with how hard she's going.]

[iamtetsuo]

[Oh you bitch.

Well two people can kick sand around. How old are these two again?]

[deadtective]

[old enough that they were allowed out of the house unsupervised, apparently.

one of the great perks about being dead is that she can't feel the discomforts of sand to the face anymore. go on, sling as much as you want, she'll just power right through it!! which is actually why she drops down into a crouch briefly to scoop up as big an armful of beach as she can manage. you better ruuuun, shitbag.]

it always comes to this doesn't it

[iamtetsuo]

[Spits out the last of the sand, glaring.

Fuck no he's not running. He's getting his own ammo, though he's at a slight speed penalty to bending down to get it. For crying out, what's this girl made of?! She doesn't ever seem to react to a thing!

On second thought, don't take that null off Hazel, that's a bad idea.]

it's kind of inevitable

[deadtective]

[oh man, is he bending down too? what a perfect opportunity to just chuck her entire burden at him. Hazel aims it less at his face and more to (hopefully) get a good portion of his back too, so that when he stands up some of it will inevitably slide into his pants. there's no retaliation she's afraid of, so this plan really has zero downsides.]

[iamtetsuo]

[Behold Tetsuo, destroyer of traffic, public menace.

See him give an undignified yelp at Hazel being able to do this before he does. See his eyes widen as he immediately straightens, winces, and then realizes he literally has sand everywhere on him now.

He does throw all his sand at her, too, but gah!!]

You -!