open

[battlefieldbrat]

Who: kakashi and YOU??
Where: various locations around aldrip
What: catch all log with bonus glitch shenanigans
Warnings: none most likely

we work out

[it's a (relatively) cool evening in aldrip, and kakashi is in a small clearing in the woods, doing his exercises. first he runs through a set of basic katas, flowing easily between each pose. then, it's sword practice time. his practice is basic, but clearly well-worn and well known. finally, he takes out the throwing knives. he tosses them at a tree, landing them in a neat vertical line.

he can be interrupted, just announce yourself. it's for your safety, really.]


it's getting smol in here

[one day, if anyone happens to come by kakashi's place to help take care of dogs, or just happens to walk past kakashi's house in general, they might notice something odd. the dogs are congregating around something...or someone...in the center of the yard.

upon investigation, one will find a small boy, who surely can't be older than three or four years old, sitting amongst the dogs. they are giving him lots of attention, nudges, licks and the like, but rather than giggling or fussing like a normal child kakashi is very solemnly trying to give them all pets.]

Let's see...You can be Bull, you can be Goldie, you can be - hey, stop pushing in line! And you can be...

[it seems that, finding himself in a strange place full of friendly dogs, he's decided to keep them. all of them. and once he has the BEST PACK OF DOGS EVER, maybe he'll figure out where the hell he is.]


now bring it back, old-style

[another day, kakashi wakes up and....oh. huh. suddenly he's twenty-six instead of twelve. how did that happen again?

nonplussed, he decides he might as well get on with his life in aldrip. the dogs are out next door just as he remembers, toph's house is next door...toph. the one friend he never managed to kill, it'll be nice to see her again. and he is the responsible type. so...

he feeds and waters the dogs, giving them their typical ten-at-a-time morning walk through aldrip. he might even wave to those he knows as he passes by.

once that's done, he reports to the casino as usual, walking in as though he belongs and taking up point in a shady corner. every now and then he steps in to stop an altercation or calm down a rowdy customer, but for the most part he hangs around in the corners, seemingly reading a small orange book and not paying attention at all.]

Comments

smol. meet smol

[solitarysoul]

[10 year old Levi is not sure why he was headed in this direction, but finding a yard full of dogs is exciting! And kind of scary? Dogs could be dangerous, but this other kid seemed to be happy?]

A-are these all yours?

bring it back

[laserguy]

[He's not hallucinating the grown ass adult walking a bunch of dogs at once, right? Right. Oh, and it's not the whole dog thing that's giving Scott pause, it's the fact that this dude looks a lot like someone that he knows. Except that person is a kid, younger than him even and what the hell??

...Oh shit, it's the glitching, isn't it?

He knows, he understand and wow, okay. Now he gets how weird it was for others when they dealt with him, not that Scott likes to think about it too much. He just wants to be himself, no one else, even if they are other versions of him with memories not his own.

Okay, he's totally waving at Kakashi and walking up to him so he doesn't have to think about his own crap.]

...Kakashi, right?

[battlefieldbrat]

[kakashi pushes impatiently at a particular dog's nose until it shifts over, so he can see levi properly. in kakashi's world, ten years old might as well be an adult.]

They're all mine now!

[he says firmly, leaving no room for negotiation. he found them first dammit, they are his pack now.]

[battlefieldbrat]

Hm...right!

[oh and right off the bat he sounds way too cheerful. young kakashi would probably die before he used this tone of voice.]

It's Scott, right? I remember you. What's up?

[his one visible eye is crinkled up like he's smiling. just a cheery meeting between two friends, yeah?]

[solitarysoul]

Oh...okay.

[The 'mine now' kind of implies they weren't before, but Kakashi pretty firm about it so he won't argue.]

That's a lot of dogs. Are they nice?

[battlefieldbrat]

[there are at least three dogs trying to lick kakashi's face right now, if that's any indication of friendliness.]

Of course. All dogs are nice.

[spoken with such matter-of-factness.]

[solitarysoul]

[Levi is 100% positive that's not true. He's seen some scary dogs. But he doesn't say anything because he doesn't want to argue. And these dogs do seem nice. He moves a few steps closer.]

Do, um...w-would it be okay if I pet them?

[battlefieldbrat]

[kakashi fixes levi with a stern gaze, which is probably ruined a bit by the kissies he's getting.]

As long as you're nice.

[solitarysoul]

I'm nice! I don't like to be mean to people! Or, um, dogs? I never really played with any.

[battlefieldbrat]

Hn. You can come in, then.

[he says, having no clue if the gate is even locked (it isn't) or anything. if levi enters the yard, several dogs will swarm him, not aggressively but merely searching for pets and sniffing him curiously.]

[solitarysoul]

Okay!

[He smiles and enters the yard. As the dogs swarm him and he makes a little yelp noise, but it's pretty clear they're not trying to eat him so he starts petting. He tries to pet each one equally but they don't really cooperate for that, as expected.

Levi laughs.]

They're so soft!

[battlefieldbrat]

Yep, soft and warm. [a beat.] And vicious in battle!

[that part...doesn't quite track. not with these overly friendly dogs, anyway.]

[solitarysoul]

[Levi bites his lip.]

I-i don't really want a battle.

[Were these dogs just pretending to be nice? Or...dogs protected people, right? Hopefully that's what the kid means.]

[laserguy]

[Oh, Kakashi remembers him...? That's kind of nice, actually. Scott knows that he didn't really remember much when he glitched into his other selves, but guess all this weirdness affects people differently. Makes sense. Well, he's glad, because that means he doesn't have to reintroduce himself and stuff. It's just kind of weird looking up at the older man now.

Not to mention, he's already pretty different from that quiet kid. He's cheerful and that's so weird. Maybe that's a good thing though, like his young friend leads an okay life despite being trained as a ninja at an early age. It's nice. So, that weird forced smile from earlier turns more genuine as Scott looks at him.]

Yeah, that's me. Just uh, wanted to say hi and crap. Nice day to walk your dogs.

[He wonders how the memory stuff works... but oh well.]

[battlefieldbrat]

Not you obviously. Against the bad guys.

[battlefieldbrat]

Isn't it just!

[he scratches the back of his neck, still crinkled into a smile.]

It's funny, I woke up this morning and it's like no time has passed at all. Don't even seem to have missed a day with the dogs. Isn't that weird?

[fieldtrip]

[ Toph, of course, doesn't have visual indicators for recognizing someone at a different age, and however good she is at recognizing people from subtle body cues, it's not enough to translate to what feels like a completely different person.

She's later getting up than Kakashi, and at first goes about her morning lazily, not noticing anything amiss. When she starts fully waking up, sipping her tea, she gradually spreads out her senses for wider awareness, and then jolts as she feels something odd.

There's somebody new over at Kakashi's house taking care of the dogs. Toph plonks her tea down decisively and immediately strides over. ]

Who the heck are you, and where's Kakashi? [ she asks rudely, popping up around the corner. ]

[battlefieldbrat]

[kakashi glances up from his dogly duties and can't quite help a smile from forming on his face. toph in all her glory, just as he remembers her. he continues rationing out dog food as he calls back to her, all cheery in a way kakashi would never sound like.]

How can I put this?... [of course, his voice is deeper, too. a man's voice.] Uh, for me it's been a while, but it's nice to see you, Toph.

[fieldtrip]

What the...

[ It still doesn't entirely compute at first. But she never forgets a voice, and although it's different, that part is recognizably different. It's just so weird, even with everything else that's happened here already -- this is a new one. Toph's expression scrunches in skeptical disbelief slowly shading into incredulity.

She folds her arms stubbornly. Toph's too level-headed to jump to rash actions, but she's not going to take it as given, either. ]

Seriously? Prove it.

[battlefieldbrat]

Ah, really?

[finished with the feeding, he walks up to her properly, looming over her simply by nature of being stupidly tall.]

How should I prove it, then?

[fieldtrip]

[ Toph at least partly believes it's him already, even if he sounds weird, because she assertively pokes him in the arm.

Partly harassment for being suddenly so much taller than her. ]

What's the first thing I made you do as my employee?

[battlefieldbrat]

Hmmm, let's see.

[he taps his chin, apparently thinking back to days gone by.]

Was it...melting snow with fire jutsu?

[because for some reason he remembers that bit really vividly.]

[fieldtrip]

Yeah! [ she blurts out, suddenly all of her skepticism vanishing into gleeful enthusiasm. ]

It is you! Wow, you're old and tall and you sound like an airhead. What's up with that?

[ But she doesn't give him a chance to answer, because she launches herself at him for a hug, more vertical than horizontal, trusting he'll catch her. ]

[battlefieldbrat]

[wow, that's all it took? he should be grateful, he supposes, as he startles a bit at her enthusiasm but catches her easily, wrapping his arms around her in a supremely awkward hug, where he doesn't seem to know what exactly to do with his arms now that they're there. that much hasn't changed, it seems. nor has his general sense of fitness - he's all muscle, baby.]

And you're very short! Much shorter than I remember. What's up with that?

[should she go reaching for whatever reason, his mask is on as usual, but his bad eye is now covered by his ninja band.]

[fieldtrip]

[ It's great when your friend is a walking lie detector, because it means she believes you when you tell the truth really fast. She also doesn't have anything to say about the mask or headband, and she rarely acts like a blind person by asking to feel things, at least not when the earthbending is on.

Toph doesn't care about the awkwardness -- she hugs Zuko on the regular, and now Kakashi, so she's used to it -- and she hops neatly back down to the ground after an appropriate length of time, bouncing on the balls of her feet. ]

Laugh it up, beanpole, I bet I could still send you flying. For real, though -- what happened, you discover how to lighten up sometime in the last ten years? [ To someone who conceptualizes people mostly through their voice, Toph can't miss that big glaring change in overall tone. ]