IC INBOX [kaisou]

[asipofbride]

This is Wolfwood. Leave a message and maybe I'll get back to you.

username: N.D. WOLFWOOD

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Comments

[ornamentals]

[with the door held open, kni hurries inside ready to shuffle off to the side and wait for wolfwood, but his steps slow as he stops to stare. the bustling crowds of holiday shoppers is intimidating and joined by distant speakers cracking out some pop trash song about santa claus, kni is unknowingly feeling very similar to wolfwood right now.]

You always want to smoke.

[even if he's noticed wolfwood smoking just a little less around him, the smell of nicotine is tricky to shake. kni moves to stand closer to wolfwood when they start walking.]

Why is that?

[asipofbride]

[ Wolfwood makes his way over to a helpful map kiosk--comparing the things on his list with the places on the map, picking out his order of attack and storing a few extra places away for his own personal perusal. it's a bit of a circuitous movement, but... as long as they flow with the river of bodies, it should be fine, right.

Wolfwood points out their stops--Kni's a genius, and if he can do 'don't get shot' math like Vash can in his head, he can probably do location math just as easy, and then it's time to walk and get asked invasive questions. ]

It's a habit I've had since I was a scrap of a kid, I guess. Used to smoke bug stingers 'cause it dulled the crap of the day, and then when I got older, there was a lot more crap to dull.

[ and hey, maybe getting to erode his body on his own terms is a weird, masochistic way of taking a little power back. Win win. ]

[ornamentals]

[wolfwood shows him the map and all the noted destinations are committed to memory easily. he's surprised to see just how big this mall is, and even more so at the number of shops crammed inside of it. between looking over the map and raising his head to take in all the glittering decorations in theme with the season. tinsel and garlands wrapped with slowly blinking lights that move in time with the music playing overhead.]

Bug stingers? Aren't those usually poisonous?

[he never had a chance to learn more about the native inhabitants of noman's land, so he's left to wonder.]

[asipofbride]

Yep. If you eat the stinger it has a knockout effect--so smoking the stinger just diluted that feeling.

[ he says, casually, as if that's a normal child activity as he begins to vanguard their charge--or perhaps it's more of a surly saunter--into the belly of the beast, beginning to scan around for the first of the stores. his eyes linger a little, on the bright lights, the decorations, and the... general commotion that seems to be happening deeper into the mall. people sure are congregating. ]

[ornamentals]

I wonder if there's anything like that here that would have a similar effect.

[maybe he's curious enough to try. or watch someone else try first.

and yeah, there is definitely something going on here. more people flocking towards what kni recognizes as the general center of the mall. the atmosphere is jovial and energized and when a small gaggle of kids only a scant few inches taller than kni rush by, kni steps closer to wolfwood. his hand moving out to grab the edge of his jacket as he watches the other kids weave around other mall-goers, their voices fading in with everyone else's chattering noise.]

I can see why Vergil didn't want to come here.