second; text

[eyeforaneye]

Who: Uchiha Sasuke+YOU
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: SS Huntress
When: Jan. 31

A few things.

There are a good number of fighters here or people otherwise trained in combat. I'm interested in observing people's abilities or training, or at least discussing what they can do. Spars could also be arranged if you want some exercise.

Secondly, I'll take recommendations for good literature available around here.

Finally, if you know how to knit or crochet then I'll offer you up to ten credits to watch you create something.

[ Yeah, this isn't weird. For anyone interested in action he'll be holed up in his room on the Huntress! ]

Comments

[theshabbiestofmen]

I don't know. I suppose different friends call for different reactions.

[Sirius has his faults, but he's no idiot. Still, Remus is glad to latch on to the other topic of conversation:]

I'm sorry, by the by. It can't be easy, to be on your own. I know I'm glad for James and Lily.

[eyeforaneye]

I don't have much experience with that. [ With having friends in general, honestly, and it's genuinely just an honest statement rather than anything self-pitying. It's not like he's doing any work to cultivate friendships so you get out of it what you put into it. ]

Your apology isn't necessary; I'm accustomed to how things are. Who are James and Lily?

[theshabbiestofmen]

James is one of my closest friends from home. He'd come before I did. He was the first to figure out what I was, all those years ago-- I've known him since we were eleven. Lily is also from our school, a very nice woman I know a . . . little less well.

[He knows his Lily, twenty-one and brash, mother of one, but this is not her. This is a far younger version, safe and protected and a little suspicious of James.]

[eyeforaneye]

I see. So they're your comrades. [ Old classmates, people he grew up with... It's a familiar story, anyway, and gives Sasuke better perspective. ]

You're lucky to have them, especially since I assume they're also dragged into your war in your world.

[theshabbiestofmen]

[He nods.]

They're both incredible in the field. Or they will be, anyway. They're both far younger than I am.

[Three to four years, and it feels like an eternity.]

[eyeforaneye]

You are older than you seem to be.

[ Is this a compliment or an insult... ] The only person here that shares my home world is considerably older than me, however, so I feel that unevenness in reverse.

[theshabbiestofmen]

[Well, he does have grey in his hair. He'll just . . . take it as neither.]

How much older?

[eyeforaneye]

Seven years, it seems.

[ A lot. ]

[theshabbiestofmen]

Have they told you anything of your future?

[eyeforaneye]

[ His future needs to remain under wraps forever, tyvm. ]

No, she's spent seven years away from our home and has aged in that way. I was the one that needed to tell her how our war ended.

[theshabbiestofmen]

Is that-- sorry, seven years traveling in your world and away from home, or bouncing around from world to world?

[eyeforaneye]

[ Imagining Ino defecting from Konoha is so ludicrous that his mind hadn't even considered that possibility, and he actually chides himself. ]

From world to world. She speaks most often of Paradisa, if you've heard of it.

[theshabbiestofmen]

I have.

[Briefly, and he hasn't much heard of it, but he nods.]

God. I've spent four months here and I don't know how much longer I can stand it. I can't imagine seven years.

[eyeforaneye]

I suppose it depends on the number of your attachments. She had plenty but was able to foster new friendships in other places quickly as well.

... though already the cultural differences are also a pain.

[theshabbiestofmen]

How so?

[His mouth twitches despite himself, somewhat amused.]

Beyond not being able to fight everyone.

[eyeforaneye]

It's difficult to explain a lot of things about my world and about what we're taught as shinobi. I'm not gentle, friendly, or likable, so it leads to more conflicts than I want to deal with.

[ That bluntness will never let up. ]

... don't smirk about it; I can see you.

[theshabbiestofmen]

I'm not smirking, I'm smiling. It's a fascinating conversation we're having, I can't help but smile.

[That's not even trying to be a convincing lie.]

Are you taught to be blunt, or is that more you? Wizards aren't taught to be anything, beyond what minimal emotional control I mentioned, but that's more growing up than anything.

[eyeforaneye]

...

"A shinobi must always put the mission first. A shinobi must never show their tears. A shinobi must see the hidden meanings within the hidden meanings. A shinobi must follow their commander's instructions. A shinobi must prepare before it is too late to. A shinobi must never show any weakness."

[ He recites the rules like it's nothing, like he'd just learned them yesterday instead of nearly a decade ago. ]

Still, it's more me.

[theshabbiestofmen]

[Well, doesn't that sound intolerable? Remus' smirk fades, his expression growing serious.]

Can you actually do all that? It seems as though you'd break, emotionally speaking, sooner or later.

[eyeforaneye]

Many of my peers failed to follow those rules. Those guarding emotions were ones I was able to fall in line with much more easily, but...

I suppose I didn't stick to my duties either. [ Again Sasuke sizes up Remus's expression. ] You seem bothered.

[theshabbiestofmen]

I just-- I can't imagine that's healthy. I'm not saying I'm a candidate for the most emotionally healthy person, but-- fighting in my war, I don't think I'd survive if I had to keep it all to myself all the time.

[eyeforaneye]

No one ever said that the goal for a shinobi was to be 'emotionally healthy'. We're raised to do certain specific tasks and some of us are very effective.

Still, personal goals often get in the way of becoming an ideal ninja.

[theshabbiestofmen]

But if you're not emotionally healthy, you'll break, and thus become entirely inefficient.

[But now he has an image of child soldiers, built to be disposable and easily replaced. Which is, frankly, sort of what the Order members are-- they're twenty on average age, and more of them are dying every day. Remus sighs and rubs at his face.]

Sorry. I don't mean to argue your culture.

[eyeforaneye]

[ ... there's a rare and quiet sigh to follow those words, an acceptance of Remus's opinion that briefly lessens his severity. ]

Don't misunderstand me. I'm a product of that culture and it molds how I think. However...

I hate my world and the state that it's in.

[theshabbiestofmen]

Ah.

[Well. He glances at him, and there's no pleasure at having won the argument.]

I'm sorry. I imagine we're headed that way ourselves, frankly, for as long as this war stretches on, and the prospect . . . it's terrifying.