senbonninja (senbonninja) wrote in killingtime, @ 2008-05-09 18:15:00 |
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Current mood: | lunatic |
Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed...
Takes place approximately two days (Namoka-time) after Genma at the Crossroads
By the time Genma found his way back to Namoka, he was filthy, bruised, underweight, and had nearly two week's worth of reddish stubble that was trying to be something like a beard. His hair was rank, his feet dragging. His eyes held the hollow stare more usually seen on lone survivors of thousand-man battles.
He was desperate to find Raidou.
On Namoka, the sun was shining, the blue sky studded with fluffy white clouds, and a gentle breeze blew from the west, scented with ripe mangoes and sea salt. Sea gulls wheeled overhead crying gibberish to one another. The docks bustled with activity, and a naked man hung from a block and tackle, suspended by a peg-leg. He was sunburned, gargling some kind of song at the top of his lungs in a language only a few there understood, and occasionally slurring down to passersby, "Have you seen my Genma? He's lost."
Genma scaled the pole with a speed that seemed impossible, cut the ropes that held his boyfriend, dropped them both to the wooden pier, hauled Raidou upright, grabbed him by the shoulders and stared hard into his face, eyes wide.
"Raidou. Listen to me. We have to get married. Right. Now."
It's possible the romance of the proposal was a touch marred by the urgent hysteria that edged his voice, and the fact that he then clung to Raidou like a drowning man and burst into tears.
The stevedores and sailors and passengers and chandlers and others of the docks just walked on by. So long as the two crazy men were occupying each other and not interfering with commerce, there was no need to worry.