Tarrlok (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
disfavored) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
tushanshu_logs2013-11-04 12:45 pm
disfavored) wrote in tushanshu_logs2013-11-04 12:45 pm
Entry tags:
OPEN
Characters: Tarrlok and OPEN
Date: Early November
Location: Around Keeliai
Situation: Tarrlok has temporarily lost all memories of his father. It makes a pretty big difference.
Warnings/Rating: None yet.
[Tarrlok is up to his usual routine - looking at clothes, getting some groceries, generally keeping an eye on how things are going - but ever since he came back from his disappearance, something has been different about him.
While he usually looks somewhat disheveled and deep in thought (a consequence of knowing your own death is soon and all your plans utterly failed), as it is now it looks like a huge weight has been lifted off his shoulders. He looks closer to how he was when he first arrived - proud, confident - but there's something a little off about him there, too. He also seems to be more willing and glad to engage in social interaction than he has been the last few months.]
Date: Early November
Location: Around Keeliai
Situation: Tarrlok has temporarily lost all memories of his father. It makes a pretty big difference.
Warnings/Rating: None yet.
[Tarrlok is up to his usual routine - looking at clothes, getting some groceries, generally keeping an eye on how things are going - but ever since he came back from his disappearance, something has been different about him.
While he usually looks somewhat disheveled and deep in thought (a consequence of knowing your own death is soon and all your plans utterly failed), as it is now it looks like a huge weight has been lifted off his shoulders. He looks closer to how he was when he first arrived - proud, confident - but there's something a little off about him there, too. He also seems to be more willing and glad to engage in social interaction than he has been the last few months.]
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Only finding him in the market district was what surprised, but not nearly as much as the way he watched Tarrlok strut about the place as if had won some important election by a landslide. In that moment Noatak felt his heart drop as if it were made of lead. Tarrlok looked...elated, and happy just to be outside like he owned the place. Didn't he miss his estranged brother at all? That sickening thought dug a hole in Noatak's chest and buried itself there. He walked slowly out to meet his brother, afraid showing himself would crash this dream his brother seemed to be living.
One where everything was infinitely better simply because Noatak wasn't there. ]
Tarrlok...
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[On the contrary, Tarrlok seemed happy as ever to see his brother, as if he were greeting...well, his brother and not someone he considered an enemy whose goals actively opposed his own.
Good thing he didn't wear the mask, or Tarrlok would be very confused right now. One thing still bothered him, though...]
...What happened to your hair? [Because in this world in which Noatak didn't leave the water tribe to do all that revolution stuff, cutting his hair short is kinda weird.]
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My- ? [ Even if it was the last possible thing he expected to hear his brother comment on after yet another month-long estrangement, his hand reflexively shot up and felt the bare nape of his neck. Instead of feeling angry for Tarrlok's out of left field comment, he instead for the first time in a long time, felt a sense of insecurity and shame for how he looked.
A man cutting his hair so short among their people was taboo and looked down upon. Tarrlok bringing it up so suddenly had him under a spotlight he was uncomfortable with. ]
I...[ Noatak felt every word he wanted to say ripening his chest only to rot away on his tongue as Tarrlok eyed him as if they were brothers without pain of the rift between them. This is what he wanted, but why was it so off-putting and had him slow in the tongue. ] I cut before moving to Republic City.
[ That felt like a safe, neutral answer. ]
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Admit it, I've been telling you you should tie it up better for years and you've finally learned why. I knew an accident would happen one of these days. [For years. Because they had been keeping in contact, right?
But Noatak looked awfully upset. True, it'd be odd to walk around with such short hair, but no one else here was Water Tribe except Korra, so who'd say anything?]
Don't worry, it'll grow back.
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What the hell are you doing? Don't screw with me like this!
[Grabbing him tight by the lapels of his too-expensive jacket smelling of some too-expensive cologne he shook him and shouted out everything that had painfully coiled in his chest.
Between them they had their fair share of demons, but even after Amon they never denied their relation like this. Even by their own standards this was sick. ]
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[He doesn't bother trying to push Noatak off, because he's not really threatened by him. Just extremely confused by what's happening.
And then he remembers he spent a good few days as a near-ghost that no one could see or hear, and given how prone people in this place were to disappearing for quite a while, it might have been upsetting. Surely that must be it, right?]
I'm sorry, of course I should have found you sooner. I am fine, though. Everyone who was gone for a few days came back just fine, although the Avatar barely remembers anything, for some reason. I hope she'll be alright.
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No, [ He says so forcefully it veers into sounding like a tantrum. ] No you can't just forget who I am or what I did. No, you're not going to let everything get swept under the rug. You would hate me if I tried something this delusional; you stop this now.
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But I don't understand what's going on right now. Did I do something wrong, brother?
ugh this is so late I AM THE WORST
So it's pure accident that she runs into him in an Earth Sector market, thanking a grocer with a wider smile than she's seen on him in some time. It's more than a little suspicious. He's up to something, as far as she's concerned.
At first she only intends to keep a dubious eye on his activities from a distance, but the bustling market has other plans. Being steady on her feet is of little consequence when her way is blocked by a team of kirin pulling a wagon of newly arrived foreigners. And then a lumbering kedan twice her size bumps into her, sending her past a cart of something that smells infuriatingly of cabbages and very nearly into Tarrlok himself.
She rights herself just in time to avoid actually crashing into him, but not fast enough to hide the look of dislike that passes across her face.]
it's ok ur the best
[He can never tell if Lin is upset with him or anyone in particular, or was just being suspicious of the entire world again.]
...Is something wrong?
<3
Her eyebrows draw together for just a moment as she straightens, crossing her arms.]
Very funny. What are you doing here? Canvassing for votes?
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[It's a good time for a joke, right? Right.]
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A likely story. I'd sooner kiss a walrus yak.
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But enough about walrus yaks. What brings you out here today, Lin?
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But something is wrong. Tarrlok hadn't been the blithe, cheerful conversation type even before Amon--and when he had, he'd usually been less subtle about it. She folds her arms, ignoring his question.]
All right, fine. I'll bite. What are you playing at here?
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There were more than a few of us who did. You're not all that special. But I'm not the first person you ran into today, am I? What do you mean by weird?
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[Yes, this is a universe in which Noatak might actually bother telling Lin about his troubles. Because he's not a terrorist or anything, so he's got no problem with the police force.]/small>
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She shakes her head, a short, abrupt motion.]
Tarrlok. What, precisely, do you think the nature of my relationship with your brother is?
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[Of all the people she knows, Tarrlok is definitely the one most likely to play the long game. But this? This is ridiculous. He's not the type to joke about Amon, and--
And then a thought flickers in the back of her mind. The disappearances. Mako. Korra--
Lin's frown deepens for a moment.]
Listen. What's the last thing you remember before you arrived on the turtle?
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[The Triads, not the Equalists.]
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You really think the Triads are the biggest threat to Republic City right now? That they're the ones Korra ought to be focusing on?
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[Spirits, no wonder Amon was--upset, did he say? It's hard to picture the man feeling something as mundane as upset.]
Like the Equalists, for one. You don't remember them? Out to eliminate bending, led by the brother you just talked to? Doesn't ring a bell?
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You really don't remember. [Korra had given her the simplified version of events, but--] You don't remember why a son of Yakone might have second thoughts about bending, if he were pushed hard enough.