[video] a hundred jewels on throats

[ginger_firebird]

Who: Mantis and All
Broadcast: Yes
Action: Bishop
When: Today

It takes a lot of effort to get Mantis acting nostalgic over…anything, really. The bottle of booze next to him is evidence enough, more so the fact that he’s sitting on the floor next to one of the chairs in the bridge of the Bishop. He’s looking down at a stretch of white cloth that has many colors of thread crossing over the back. When he holds it up to the light, one can see the shapes on the other side.

He sighs heavily and lowers it before turning the cloth around. On the other side are the proper images sewn into the fabric, such as they may be called an attempt at embroidery. There are five men, one woman, and a dog stretched across the cloth. Mantis looks down at them and sighs again. One of the men depicted is a simplified version of his own face, mask and all. Next to it is the image of a blond man.

“I made this. It took too long, but I tried. Me, Liquid,” He points to himself and the blond man, then to a bald man, the blonde woman, what might have been a cowboy with better skills, and a man with a black bird shape on his head. “I might have mentioned these other former co-workers of mine to some of you. This was my team back home, such as we were.”

Then he laughs and holds the image of the dog close to the camera. “I actually met this one when I was a kid. It was such a long time ago…” His voice trails off for a few seconds and his head droops down. Then it just as suddenly perks back up. “I liked this dog. When you’re not used to people being friendly towards you, animals are very good to have around.”

Comments

[goldenglasses]

[Vash hides a smile. Go to bed dude!] What was the dog's name?

[ginger_firebird]

[No. You go to bed, Vash. Mantis is having a good time in alcohol's warm embrace.]

DD. It was short for "Diamond Dog". He was the official mascot and animal worker of a mercenary group that called themselves the same thing. Half wolf, too.

[goldenglasses]

Could he find diamonds?

[ginger_firebird]

No, he was the attack dog to their boss. He was this bear of a man, very angry, but there was a boy kept on that base who was angrier than everyone.

[goldenglasses]

If he was a teenager I could believe that. [Teen boys can be scary!]

[ginger_firebird]

Twelve, if I'm remembering right. We are nearly the same age, but he was a bit taller than I was. Certainly more enjoyable to be around than a collection of angry adults growling as their way of communication.

[goldenglasses]

Twelve. So young. I wish you both could have lead a less violent life.

[ginger_firebird]

I don't think he could have avoided it. For me, it was accidentally finding out how overwhelming hate was and learning to turn my own against others. [He stares at a spot somewhere above the communicator and leans back against the chair.] We were happier together. It made joining his cause as an adult feel like the natural thing to do.

[goldenglasses]

I'm glad you guys found each other and some happiness in it, but I still wish you didn't need to have all that violence.

[ginger_firebird]

[He raises the bottle in a toast and lifts the mask away from his mouth to take a swig directly from it.]

If only. We got good, we got paid, and we could get what we wanted. Hell, we had three other fools who thought Liquid's ideas were good ones. And Ocelot.

[He shuffles around the cloth and holds up the image of the blonde woman.]

Did I tell you about Sniper Wolf? She loved dogs and occasionally her marks. Her and Ocelot both knew how to handle guns, but she preferred rifles over close range weapons.

[goldenglasses]

Falling in love with her marks? That sounds like it could make work a bit difficult.

[ginger_firebird]

No, she killed them all pretty efficiently, love or not. Her current fixation is- Or was, a scientist on the base. He helped her feed the half-wolf hybrids and the wolves that hung around and she actually appreciated that.

[goldenglasses]

Huh... [That's a lot to take in.] You have a lot of interesting people in your life. [Can he say friends?]

[ginger_firebird]

[Colleagues, to put it nicely. Liquid was the only one who really hit that 'friend' status.

Regardless, Mantis laughs, his whole body shaking as he leans over sideways.]

That is the most mild way anyone has ever put it. She and Octopus were two of the really normal ones on the team.

[goldenglasses]

I'm afraid to ask how Octopus got a name like Octopus.

[ginger_firebird]

Disguise master. He could look, sound, and act like anyone. We were all shocked when-

[His mirth fled from his voice, but not entirely from his body. He remained in his tilted over position. His grip on the embroidery tightens.]

He was the first to go. When it all went wrong. We should have stopped everything right there, but Liquid was so sure it would be all right. Just a freak heart attack instead of something worse.

[goldenglasses]

I'm sorry. [What else could he say?]

[ginger_firebird]

Honestly, we all deserved worse than what we were about to get. Octopus got off lightly compared to what ends the rest of us pushed towards. Or at least, I assume so. I ended up here after losing my fight.

[goldenglasses]

No matter what someone has done, no one ever deserves death. No one has the right to kill another.

[ginger_firebird]

There is truth to that, but I always broke bread with the unkind and the violent. Our kind tend to attract one another. Perhaps that is why my fate was what it was.

[goldenglasses]

Perhaps, but here you can change that.