Multipup! Or: Jack sucks/is lazy at HTML

[boston_bruiser]

Voodoo’s back.

He’s been back for a couple of days by Bar’s reckoning, but you wouldn’t have seen him come in. As a matter of fact, you wouldn’t have seen him at all before now. He made sure of that.

He doesn’t remember much of the Overworld assault. He likes it that way, if only because he doesn’t like recalling what little he does remember. Far as he’s concerned, whatever’s left to do is in Freeman’s hands.

But. He’s back in-Bar, he’s still on active duty back home, and he needs to burn off some energy. And it’s Tuesday.

Time for Fucking Fifties.

Fifty handstand pushups, a hundred jumping lunges, fifty mountain climbers, fifty one-legged side hops, fifty eight-count bodybuilders, fifty one-legged squats, and fifty pullups, repeated five times through. He’s in the gym, working his way through it.

He was feeling lazy today, so he’s barefoot and clad only in a pair of faded sweatpants.

Rage Against the Machine’s on the stereo. The mun wouldn’t be surprised if it could be heard Bar-wide – Voodoo’s always liked his music loud.

---

That…thing, whatever the hell it was – it’s gone now, long gone.

And that’s just the way John likes it.

He’d be back in his own world right now, but he’s reluctant to leave without Jim and Kate, and even more reluctant to face the Marshal on his own. Lawman or no, John ain’t trusting the man as far as he can throw him until he’s got a feel for his character.

He’s taking a walk out by the lake, pausing every so often to take in the scenery.

---

The Camelephants are in five days, now. Bolin’s technique is solid, and so is Mako’s, but Hasook is still the same apathetic waterbender he was two days ago, still the same weak link.

It frustrates Mako to no end. And when Mako is frustrated, he trains.

Those who venture out back might see him practicing some firebending forms by the lake in a style that resembles a curious mishmash of Northern Shaolin and Western boxing. Really, though, you’d have to pull your eyes away from the flames billowing around him to make the distinction.

Come say hi. He won’t bite.

[OOC: To make it easier on all of us, please specify who you're tagging in the subject line. Thanks, and have fun!]

Comments

[boston_bruiser]

"Oh. That makes sense."

He taps Bar for another Lion-Turtle. He nurses this one.

"Are they, like, spirits?"

[abitofawildman]

"Give us another, if you'd be so kind."
Bumi joins Voodoo in sipping, because...one isn't really supposed to chug these things.

"They are indeed. Pretty powerful ones too, if you believe that sort of thing."

[boston_bruiser]

"Well," Voodoo says, still nursing his drink, "I ain't heard of either of 'em. But it makes sense."

When you operate in the ocean, you learn real damn quick to treat her with respect. Yes, her.

"You heard of Neptune? Or Poseidon? Same dude, different name."

[abitofawildman]

"Nope, can't say that I have. Are either of them a black koi fish with a white spot on their head?"

Bumi might have just tapped his forehead for reference. Say nothing.

[boston_bruiser]

Voodoo shakes his head. "Uh-uh. God of the seas. Romans called him Neptune, Greeks called him Poseidon. Us Navy boys've kept somethin' of a likin' to 'im."

[abitofawildman]

"Good idea," he says before taking another drink. "Can't be too careful. The Water Tribes've always had...had a strong affinity to Tui and La. Tui was the Moon Spirit before it was Yue. Water Benders are more powerful at night, and most powerful at the full moon.

They say, they say that the Moon was the first Water Bender, and from her the people of the Tribes learned to push and pull the water of the ocean." He pauses to look at his glass. "Or well, those that can do that sort of thing anyway.

I make all new recruits on my boats give an offering over the side to both Yue and La, especially if they don't have no Water Tribe in their background."

[boston_bruiser]

Voodoo nods along with Bumi's explanation. "Good shit, man. Good shit. Gotta keep her happy. Don't pay to piss her off."

Voodoo takes another drink.

"D'you guys do line-crossing ceremonies?"

[abitofawildman]

"You mean when people travel across the median for the first time?"

[boston_bruiser]

"Well, for us it's the equator. But yeah."

[abitofawildman]

Bumi swirls his drink, watching as the liquid continues to spin long after the glass stops moving.

"Yup. Variation on the Water Tribe tradition. Otter-penguins become Shellbacks. It's a very solemn and sedate occasion, I assure you."

[boston_bruiser]

Voodoo processes this for a few seconds.

Then he goes into a bout of crippling laughter which, at its end, leaves him wheezing and wiping tears out of his eyes.

That was a good joke, Bumi.

[abitofawildman]

It doesn't take long before Bumi joins him in laughing.

"The...the...the best," he says trying to catch his breath. "Are the Northern Tribesmen who think that since they've already made the trip before enlisting that they're somehow excused from it. Nothing makes me laugh harder than watching a stuck up bender get dragged on deck and slimed with eel-kelp."

[boston_bruiser]

Voodoo's head has met the bartop by now, and his fist pounds it with every gale of laughter.

"I'mma...I'mma...die...die laughing..."

He snorts, straightening up and wiping the tears out of his eyes.

"My first time, on the Nimitz...I had to kiss King Neptune's belly. With lard 'n engine grease on it 'n everything."

He shakes his head, tears brimming his eyes and a smile on his face. "Shit was nasty, man."

[abitofawildman]

"Really? Because that sounds delicious," says Bumi through a particularly shit-eating grin.

"I was seventeen and on the Senlin when I officially crossed Median for the first time. It didn't matter that I'd done just that at least three dozen times by the time I was toilet trained," Bumi says with a laugh as he reaches for more Fire Flakes. He doesn't seem the slightest bit put out by the fact that he was treated just like everyone else. Instead he sounds damn proud.

"We had an enraged Yue and La and were forced to appease them with undignified behavior. Singing of songs, eating of bizarre foods, eel-kelp crawls."

He pauses to sigh.

"Our Yue was a couple years older, but of equal rank. Appeasing her after lights out was good too."

[boston_bruiser]

"Well well well," Voodoo says with a smirk, taking some Fire Flakes of his own. "Looks like you guys are a lot more relaxed when it comes to fraternizin'."

He pops them into his mouth. "Not that shipmates fuckin' shipmates don't happen - it does - it's just that we've got real strict policies in place against it."

[abitofawildman]

"Make no mistake, our policies are strict, and were at the time too. They had to be considering two of the three nations had major reservations about women being in the UF at all.

Having said that, the wine was flowing pretty heavily that day."

[boston_bruiser]

Voodoo snorts. "Yeah, I'll bet." He pops some more Fire Flakes into his mouth. "So. Vance. You'll spot her pretty easy - kinda brown-skinned, beaten-up jacket that's fuckin' shrunk like a motherfucker, hair pulled back with a headband, and she's taking care of twins these days. Like I said, you'll find 'er right quick."

[abitofawildman]

"Twins, huh?"

That bears some consideration. He will think while he drinks. On the one hand, possibly problematic. On the other...Bumi's great with kids, if he does say so himself.

[boston_bruiser]

Voodoo nods. "Yup. Fraternal. Hope and Eli're their names. Think they shut down some kinda reproductive suppression device in their world a while back. Long story, 'n I couldn't tell it as well as she could."

[abitofawildman]

"Reproduction suppression device? I don't know that I like the sound of that."

Contraception is one thing, but that sounds more like shutting down the drive all together. Where's the fun in that?!

[boston_bruiser]

Voodoo nods. "From the sound of it, it suppressed sex drive and hormone production as well as preventing fetus development. Might be more to it, but shit, man - 'suppressing sex drive' was scary enough for me."

[abitofawildman]

"Monkeyfeathers," he curses under his breath before downing the remainder of his drink and knocking on Bar's top for another.

"I've seen some sadistic things in my life, but..."
He doesn't have the words.

[boston_bruiser]

Voodoo nods. "From what I can figure, it was set up by an alien empire who were trying to tell whether humans were worthy of adding to their collection."

He snorts. "I think you can figure how that one went."

[abitofawildman]

"Aliens continually make a habit of underestimating people, don't they?"

[boston_bruiser]

"You know it. Her fiance - wait, forgot, her husband now - he's this pasty-looking guy with this special suit of armor. Forget what it's called, but his name's Gordon Freeman. Anyway, he was pretty much the catalyst in topplin' the whole fuckin' thing. Not bad for someone who looks like a dog chewed on my old AP Calc teacher."

He pops another mouthful of fire flakes into his mouth. "He's still out on-mission, so watch where you step in regards to him."