someone's not happy

[thatwasours]

So that's it, huh? A half-assed journal to split me off from the other one you've got. And the Moby Dick quote? Original. If I'd known you were going the clichéd route, I'd have offered some suggestions.

"I know you are here to kill me. Shoot, coward, you are only going to kill a man." Che Guevara, before his death.
"Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." Matthew 10:34.
“We live in an age in which there is no heroic death.” Yukio Mishima.
“The special quality of hell is to see everything clearly down to the last detail.” Mishima again.

I could keep going. But the point is, you had an opportunity, and you wasted it. Not that I'll probably see much sunlight-- I know how you are, with journals, and being ignored is fine by me. 

Comments

'sup bro?

[cardboard_boss]

[He's happy to see you, man. Quotes aside he's smoking his e-cigar and smiling softly under his rough features.]

Good to see you, Kaz.

my phantom pain won't stop hurting, hbu

[thatwasours]

Likewise.

[it's strange, talking to this Boss, knowing he's a phantom, a weapon. probably will be a weapon all his life. the man's life as a medic is over.]

[Kaz almost feels guilty that at this point he's backing the copy just so he can send the original straight to hell. the damn medic didn't ask for this, but he's just become another pawn in the chess game. but war didn't stop for anybody else and it's sure as hell not going to stop for either of them.]

You know, watching you makes me wish I still kept a kiseru around. I think it got broken somewhere in Tanzania, and cigarettes aren't a great substitute.

Is it the same for that thing and cigars?

Re: aw Kaz. Venom won't let you hurt

[cardboard_boss]

Thought you hated my smoking.

[Since you often try to take away any chance of him having a cigar. All your health advice talks over the iDroid and back when he was in Costa Rica. Another man's memories but they still stuck. Snake inhaled softly and blew out just above his head.]

It's not as good as a real one but it does the job. [The e-cigar that is.]

[thatwasours]

I grew up in a cigarette shop. Would've been out of luck if I didn't like seeing people smoke. And I smoke. Smoked.

But what you've got, that's electronic instead of organic. It's not what you want it to be, but it serves the same purpose. Might even do better than the real one, but it's not the same.

[his eyes fall to Venom's mechanical arm]

Don't mind me, I'm feeling... I don't know. Reflective. I can complain about the lousy tastes in cigars that you-- [not him, Boss] --used to have, if it makes for better conversation.

[cardboard_boss]

Yeah, it's not the same.

[He remembered the ones he used to smoke in Costa Rica. Those were real heavy, smoky cigars which used to smell of real tobacco and had a kick to them. They'd rot your lungs but Snake loved them anyway.]

Lousy taste, huh? They weren't that bad, Kaz. Could ask about your taste in women. [He smiled softly at that.]

[thatwasours]

The smell was. It used to end up in my clothes too, you know. You'd be gone a week and I'd still smell Habano everywhere I went.

And that's hardly a fair shot, considering my taste in women was 'available'. Sometimes not even that.

[cardboard_boss]

Sorry about that.

[Yeah, he is sorry about the smell. He knows how much you favour the healthy option, Kaz. Hence taking his cigar away from him at Mother Base on his birthday. Ocelot got him that especially.]

Available being have any hot blond that strayed into our base.

[shoulda_toined]

Personally, I'm a fan of: "Dying is easy. Comedy is hard."

[thatwasours]

[just when he thought the multiverse would stop surprising him. talking bipedal rabbit. huh.]

Almost anything's harder than dying, if you think about it. Doesn't really require much participation from the soon-to-be-deceased.

Who said that, though, a stand-up comic? Hard to believe that'd come out of anybody who wasn't bragging about their own art.

[shoulda_toined]

(Oh, come on, surely Kaz would've seen at least some Bugs Bunny cartoons in his day.)

I don't remembah off da top of my head. Ya can't get anywhere in life if ya didn't believe in yerself, right?

yes occasionally but l m a o I DID NOT FOURTHWALL BY DEFAULT, this will teach me to read profiles

[thatwasours]

No, I guess not. And no one else will believe in you, either.

[he squints at the rabbit. wait, it (he?) looks familiar, somehow...]

[shoulda_toined]

(Poses. Bugs thinks of himself as kind of a big deal.)

(Coquettishly:) See anything ya like?

[thatwasours]

[a long, long silence, then in disbelief:]

You're from that one cartoon.

[granted, he hasn't seen a lot of Loony Toons-- he never had a TV as a child, and doesn't see a lot of them working as an off-the-grid mercenary these days, but four years of college in the States? he's seen Bugs before.]

[eats_snakes]

[huh. Kaz wasn't happy. He looked older too.....weird. He wore a beret now?]

Doesn't look so half-assed to me. You've got a username which is kind of alright. [strikethesun? yeah it's ok. just look at his.]

More that could be said for mine.

[thatwasours]

[Kaz's first impulse, immediately, is to hit Snake in the face for everything he's done.]

[But this is a multiverse, this is a different Snake who might make a different decision, and at the very least, doesn't know anything about the future. No sense upsetting the timeline. So Kaz settles for clenching his good fist and pretending this is a normal conversation.]

It could be worse. How would you feel about a naked joke?

[will he let that codename go? never.]

[eats_snakes]

[hey, don't hit him, dude. he's done nothing wrong. yet.]

Naked Snake? Isn't that a little old, Kaz?

[old and rather apt. take the joke, Snake. you were naked at one point. alone and naked with hardly anything to complete the mission with. eating snakes was a way of life back then.]

Want to tell me what's eating you?

[thatwasours]

Yeah, sure.

[why not? if he doesn't give specifics, it's probably fine. maybe. mostly, he's gripped by a sense of curiosity about what the old Boss would say.]

Say you had a friend. You thought you knew the guy, inside and out, the same way he knew you. But then he does something totally unforgivable, wrongs you on the deepest, most personal level. You didn't know he had it in him. Never saw it coming.

[he lets out a huff]

What do you do with him now?

[eats_snakes]

[he thought it was old, ok? he's not naked snake anymore; he's big boss. he sort of likes the new title better.]

Huh? This one of your philosophical questions, Kaz?

[you're going to make him think now? really, Kaz. time to get out a cigar while he thinks on your question. clipping the end and lighting up, taking a deep drag.]

I'd ask him why he had to do what he did in the first place. Everyone has a reason why they do certain things, right? Get to know the reason behind the action.

[thatwasours]

Yeah. Or a hypothetical situation.

See, that's the thing. There's no reason that you or anybody else can figure out why he did what he did. Even regardless of intent, it's an unforgivable action. And he's gone, so you can't talk things out.

[hellburger]

[A fully-limbed Kaz squints and lets out a low whistle.]

Miller, you look like shit.

[thatwasours]

Oh, great.

[his past self had better not pity him, or he doesn't know what he's going to do.]

Don't worry, it'll be your turn soon enough.

[hellburger]

Hey, as great as this whole "grizzled vet" look is ... could you drop me a hint at least?

[A pause.]

And please, please tell me you didn't pick up the beret because our hairline starts to recede.

[thatwasours]

[he lets out a little laugh that doesn't actually sound amused at all.]

No. It's just a hat.

And sure. Hint, you're down two limbs in the future.

[hellburger]

[He snorts and crosses his arms, rubbing the right self-consciously.]

So, a necktie, buckles, and buttons. Ambitious wardrobe choices for only one arm. How long does all that take?

[thatwasours]

[Kaz grits his teeth. was he actually this obnoxious nine years ago?]

Two minutes, including the leg. Thought you'd know that you'd never lose to something like a tie.

[he'll just. not mention how long it took to get it down to two minutes.]