Danger zone

[whyamisobritish.livejournal.com]

[A cat-eared Liquid is walking through the halls, tail lashing. There is a half-empty bottle of bourbon in one hand and something else in the other.]

[He is shouting at no one.] Yes, I know he was an imbecile! We fought every time we were in the same room! We spent full days insulting and punching one another! He drove me mad!

[He takes a swig from the bottle, then leans against the wall.]

God, I miss him.

[He hangs his head as he laments]

We were just beginning to tolerate one another now and then. Why did the idiot have to disappear? There were times when he...I could almost say he...wasn't so bad.

[His face crumples into an expression of unbearable sadness.]

We never even finished watching his ridiculous film.

[The object he holds is a video of Top Gun.]

((Drunk, kitty-ified Liquid misses xmas_is_here. Laugh, commiserate, steal his bourbon.))

Comments

[identitycircuit.livejournal.com]

While watching you disgrace the name Liquid Snake with a bottle of alcohol and an idiotic action movie? You certainly have forgotten who you are.

[whyamisobritish.livejournal.com]

I know exactly who I am.

Just for that. Just for that, Brother.

[He shoves the video under his arm, grabs the other Liquid by the wrist, and starts hauling him down the hall]

You are watching it with me.

[identitycircuit.livejournal.com]

[Drunk brick shithouse, meet stubborn sober brick shithouse wrapping his own hand around your wrist, pulling both of them to a stop.] And now you're channeling Catherine. It's a bit too disturbing to see.

[whyamisobritish.livejournal.com]

[He pulls, but without much leverage] She's right! In this pile of ludicrous garbage there is beauty!

[identitycircuit.livejournal.com]

Brother, are you even listening to yourself through that haze?

[whyamisobritish.livejournal.com]

Not entirely. It seems better that way.

Just why are you here ruining my idiot-yearning fun?

[identitycircuit.livejournal.com]

[... nope. Not going to touch that.]

Because you're putting yourself at risk for how your looking for it. I wonder, how many people here would enjoy taking advantage of you in this state?

[whyamisobritish.livejournal.com]

I'm drunk, Brother, not defenseless. If all it took was getting me pissed to make me worthless in a fight, I'd deserve the beating.

[identitycircuit.livejournal.com]

I'm not talking a fight. Or have you never matched wits even sober against someone such as Ocelot?

[whyamisobritish.livejournal.com]

All the alcohol in the world wouldn't make me trust Ocelot.

[identitycircuit.livejournal.com]

[Liquid started laughing, bitter] And yet it made you openly mourn our Brother, giving them ammo against you.

[whyamisobritish.livejournal.com]

Anyone who hasn't noticed by now is hardly a razor sharp mind.

[identitycircuit.livejournal.com]

[Liquid pulled him close, teeth bared in his face] Don't you understand, you idiot? You are showing just how deeply you cared for him. You are opening showing a wound and asking others to come dig their fingers into it. And they will. Do you think Ocelot's the only one who would love to play with your emotional state right now? Father could do so as well. Talib could do so. You are handing all our enemies the tools to take you down, and almost begging them to use them. And you still call yourself a Liquid Snake!

[whyamisobritish.livejournal.com]

[Liquid's ears flatten against his head, and he swings a hard punch at his alternate's face. It happens to he the hand with the additional weight of the bottle behind it]

Shut up!

[He's partly right, even more irritatingly]

There's nothing anyone can do to me, and Talib is no longer a threat!

[identitycircuit.livejournal.com]

[That punch was nothing, even with the strength and bottle weight behind it. It was nothing next to watching his alternate openly display his pain.]

There isn't, Brother? [Liquid turned his head, spitting out a mouthful of blood. Annoying penny taste.] Then why did you punch me for that?

[whyamisobritish.livejournal.com]

Because you're a bastard.

[Logic.]

[If it had been Novel, punching him would have made Liquid feel better.]

[identitycircuit.livejournal.com]

[Liquid leaned in again, face near his] But I'm right, aren't I. It's not just others that can use your pain against you. If I wanted to, I could twist you up and spit you out right now.

[whyamisobritish.livejournal.com]

[Liquid snarls, his tail bristling]

I'd like to see you try.

[identitycircuit.livejournal.com]

[His lips turned, the smirk not even halfway nice]

There are rooms you can go to where he'll be there.

[whyamisobritish.livejournal.com]

You bastard.

A shadow of him.

[Oh, but he could have more than that - a room could give him back anyone he wants. Everyone he misses.]

[They could give him better than reality. That could invent a father who is proud of him.]

[Calmly, he sets down the bottle and the video on the floor by the wall.]

[He straightens up and punches his alternate in the stomach]

[identitycircuit.livejournal.com]

[Liquid laughed, the sound briefly interrupted by the punch.] Isn't that what you're looking for right now? A shadow of him to share that movie with? [He turned, his own hand coming up to punch his alternate in the face] Wasn't that what you were trying to find in me?

[whyamisobritish.livejournal.com]

[the blow across his jaw just feeds Liquid's rage]

You're nothing like him!

[he pauses in mid-counterattack]

Wait, that's a compliment.

[identitycircuit.livejournal.com]

[Liquid snorted at that, grabbing his wrist in midair and pulling him close] If I wanted to, I could take you to one of those rooms and watch you waste away as your desires were fulfilled. Maybe indulge one of mine and have a true body to fuck you with. But in the end, you would be a shell of a man, clinging to a falsehood... and that's when I would drag you out of the room to live in reality.

[whyamisobritish.livejournal.com]

[Liquid's tail lashes]

I'm not so easily caught. I don't retreat into fantasy. Don't forget, I have desires in the real world as well, dear Brother.

[identitycircuit.livejournal.com]

[And another laugh]

Brother would be there. Ready to fight you and fuck you and laugh with you and start over again. Father would be there, ready to praise you when you won. Mother would be there, ready to hold you under her wing and speak your real name. Hal... everyone you've met would be there to give you your perfect life. And everything would be wonderful, wouldn't it?