OPEN POST 2021

[siberia]

1. Post here with the character you want to play with in the header or body
2. Put your prompt in the body of the comment (or leave it to me - i don't mind coming up with something!)
3. ????
4. Profit

IN THE MOOD FOR:
    
    
    

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Comments

for brumbo... cracks knuckles

[epitaffio]

[He didn't feel much, in his last moments. Well, the body didn't. There was the faint impression of something hard and cold underneath his head, a warm-ish pool expanding beneath him, colder droplets hitting his face. Far more clearly, he felt small, smaller than ever, somehow less than he had ever been before; the sensation was odd, but ultimately, before he went, he was able to put a name to it: crushing loneliness.

What he knew, rather than felt, was that he wouldn't be able to hold on much longer.

When Doppio regains consciousness, his senses have traded places, as far as clarity is concerned. He understands quickly enough that what he feels underneath his hands is sand; he realises, not long afterwards, that what's tickling his ears and weighing down his hair is the gentle tide ebbing in and out. What he's far less sure of is why he was apparently napping with his head turned towards the sea, or how he got here, or... where here is.

He sits up with a grunt, getting his wet hair away from his line of sight.]

How long have I been here...?

[It... wouldn't be the first time he's come back to himself to realise he could have died. He thinks. The thought comes to him slowly, but he's increasingly certain of it. Now, he just needs to... to do...

... Do... what? All he knows - and he has to strain himself to know it, but he does - is that he was waiting for a call, but that's a given. That's hardly something he needs to remember.

When Doppio can't recall where he's been or where he needs to go, a call always comes. It's one of those sure things in life.]

[unfastens]

[ he's less surprised to be here. It's nowhere he's been before - not exactly - but it's a place he's seen before, he thinks. After King Crimson cast him down and Giorno pulled him back up, whenever he closed his eyes for too long, he came here. Of course, when he woke up, he'd hardly remember where he'd been. Now he remembers. The smell of the sea and the sound of the waves are almost familiar. Like home.

This isn't home, though, and Bruno knows he'll never wake up there again.

Unlike before, he has his bearings enough to sit up instead of lay on the beach in a daze and blearily stare at the too-pale sky. A moment ago, he'd been fighting for his life (well, Trish and Giorno and Mista's lives, really, and Fugo, too, even if he wasn't there); despite that, he finds himself feeling oddly calm. He's been ready to die, he supposes. More than that, he has faith that they can succeed without him. His part is over. Now, he just has to do... whatever comes next.

He has no idea what that might be. "Getting into another fight" would certainly not have been his guess, either. But as he pulls himself to his feet, he hears a voice from a ways down the shore - a little too far to close the distance, but very much close enough for him to see and hear who it's coming from. For a moment, he thinks it's Trish and feels his heart start dropping into his shoes. Then he realizes it most assuredly isn't. This person is... ]

... I see you're a liar.

[epitaffio]

[Sometimes, there is no need for Doppio to make assumptions; the call comes before anybody else arrives on the scene, and he's caught up in short order. Sometimes, he has to improvise, do his best to choose between fight or flight (and oh, how it wishes it were flight, or literally anything other than fight, every time), knowing that the choice he makes will likely dictate how much stickier his current predicament will get.

This occasion, he quickly realises, falls under the latter umbrella. He may be disoriented, but he knows Bruno Bucciarati when he sees him, and while he can't be certain he assumes that Bucciarati recognises him as well. The memories are still trickling in - he tracked down Secco, his customary luck kicked in, Bucciarati saved him but he was clearly unwell... If Bucciarati knows who he is, then that must have happened afterwards. Or was he bluffing from the very beginning? Either way, how did he find out? Was it something Doppio did?

It's hard to choose when he can't quite remember what terms they even parted on.]

M... Me?

[Depending on what Bucciarati knows, playing dumb may only make the situation worse, and Doppio doesn't even know what the situation is. He wasn't even near a beach before, was he? No, no, that had been in the morning, but then he got on a plane to--]

But this isn't Rome, [he mutters, genuinely lost.]

[unfastens]

[ does he really, truly know who Doppio is? No. He knows what happened afterwards, in the coliseum - he knows that he brought someone he thought was Trish, and when he woke up, Requiem had scrambled all of their souls, he was in the Boss's body, the Boss was in Trish's soul, and someone else was in his body. To be honest, he doesn't recognize the boy (man?) in front of him right now at all. When they'd met, his eyesight was gone and his ears could no longer hear - he could only see the vague shape of his spirit, most likely thanks to Sticky Fingers. Now, their real bodies are gone. When he looks at Doppio, he recognizes the ripple of his soul. ]

That's right. You're a long way from Rome.

[ there's no sympathy in his voice, just cold resentment. Bruno doesn't need to know specifics to understand that this man is connected to the boss, took advantage of Bruno's crippled state and his fondness for Trish and twisted it to his own ends. He would have killed her. He could have killed so many others. Was he to blame for Abbacchio, too? There's no way of knowing, but the possibility alone sets a fire in his belly, and his eyes narrow. ]

You're confused. I can tell just by the look in your eyes. [ sand crunching beneath his shoes as he starts making his way towards Doppio. ] Would you like me to explain?

is doppio never not confused, to be fair

[epitaffio]

W-Wait a second, I...

[If this isn't Rome, where are they? And how did they get here? He has to retrace his steps, try harder to fill in the gaps - There needs to be a call, there is always a call--

Rome. The bizarre state Bucciarati was in. He was... Right, he was meeting with someone, and Doppio took advantage of the circumstances to figure out who and where, and... something was seriously wrong? The Boss was somehow able to make Bucciarati think he was Trish?? But they made it deeper into the Coliseum, and yes, someone was there, and...

What next? Something happened next...

Doppio steps back as Bucciarati approaches, looking around uneasily. Not a phone in sight - no, there is a phone booth off in the distance, and so many nearby that he could suddenly notice, so many miraculously functioning seashell-shaped phones half-buried in the sand - and he knows that Bucciarati's question is a trap.

Stairs. There were stairs. He wasn't supposed to... Did he go up the stairs?]

you raise a good point

[unfastens]

[ it's less a trap and more a warning. Bruno doesn't really care what Doppio says, frankly - he doubts there's anything Doppio could say that would alter his intentions at the moment. It had been his duty to stand firm and hold the line when the rest of his squad might falter. Part of being an effective leader and decision-maker is being able to kill your emotions when you need to.

Now, though? The time for that is over; ironically, they're clawing their way right back out of the grave Bruno put them in. There are countless questions that he needs answers to, yes: what happens to him now? are Trish and the others all right? did Giorno succeed? But he can guess that those answers will be elusive at best. Doppio, on the other hand, is right here in front of him. ]

No.

[ Punching the shit out of this guy won't accomplish anything, but he'll be damned if it doesn't sound incredibly appealing right now, and that's exactly what he intends to do if Doppio lets him get close enough. His fists are clenched, and he is not slowing down, regardless of how pitiful and confused his opponent appears.

Bruno is kind-hearted. But he didn't climb ranks in Passione being kind - he did it being ruthless. ]

wow i sure typed those words correctly in the order and fashion i was supposed to

[epitaffio]

[Doppio doesn't have a plan. Doppio barely has a clue, when all is said and done, and while he's hung up on trying to piece together what he remembers - he's not sure if he was at the top of the stairs or not, but he was-- somewhere, and he felt so tired all of a sudden - Bucciarati is already making a beeline towards him, and and he only gets as far as raising his arms defensively when he gets hit right in the face.]

Ugh!

[And just like that, he's back on the sand.]

What the hell, man?! [He plants his hands in the sand, lifts himself halfway up -] I really don't know what's going on, I swear! [ - and he sounds, he truly does, like he might just be on the verge of tears.

It's not just from the pain. No, the pain is... inconsequential, actually (and that reminds him, wasn't there something else that didn't hurt as much as he thought it should, not that long ago, not so much missiles obliterating flesh as pellets tearing through paper)? It's more the panic that's mounting, the increasingly incoherent picture that is being painted. Bucciarati knows something, but Doppio can't even begin to remember how that could have happened, because the last thing he remembers...

No, wait. The next to last thing he remembers...]

... Boss...?

[He doesn't mouth it as silently as he means to, but that's not the only way in which his body acts without his conscious approval. For some reason, the memory being stirred makes him bring a hand to his chest.]