028 -- [Voice || Action]

[endgames]

Hi. [The journal feed starts unceremoniously.] Noticed the village is getting back into the swing of things. Either that or those who are sulking are doing so more quietly. Good luck with that, whichever.

But hey. I'm looking for a lighter that I misplaced. Anyone comes across it, lemme know. Thanks.

[/end voice]

[Through the afternoon and evening, Shikamaru can be found in various places around the village: digging through things in shops, searching through grass and shrubs and so on. He hasn't been around the village much in the last two days, busy elsewhere with his deer.

Now it almost seems like he's making up for it. One minute you might walk past him digging through the trash behind a building, only to go in to find he's inside already (probably asking if the place has a lost and found). Someone's busy.]

Comments

[etudes]

[ she gasps (just slightly though, what is kotomi and displaying extreme emotions). ]

Wow, Shikamaru-kun is really, really good at this game.

[endgames]

[Here he is holding out that was sarcasm. Was it? He'll pretend it is even if it's not, just because it makes him smile.]

Care to beat it? Or you can pick a new game if you like.

[etudes]

[ Sorry, Shikamaru, Kotomi doesn't even know what sarcasm is. .. Or, well, she probably does, but she can only give the dictionary definition then. ]

No, I think I can beat it. After all, sometimes people hold their breath, so.. I think everyone is existing right now.

.. Does that beat it?

[endgames]

[Thus why he pretends]

Oho. Yeah. Looks like you win.

[etudes]

[ There's a near-happy sort of sound, even if it's a little quiet. ]

Wow, I've never won anything before. This is a big accomplishment for me..

[endgames]

Really? [He peaks back at the journal.] Nothing at all?

[etudes]

[ she shakes her head to herself before she talks on. ]

No, nothing at all. .. But.. it might just be that I never entered any contests either..

[endgames]

Doesn't have to be a contest. There's board games, for instance...

[etudes]

Oh, I've heard of those 'board games'. [ don't treat them like some scientific kind of thing, kotomi. ] But I've never got to play one myself. Some of them sounded a little fun.

[endgames]

"A little fun", she says. [Mutter, mutter. Sigh.]

Board games are awesome. You should go to the Item Shop right now and pick one.

[etudes]

...

Shikamaru-kun likes board games that much? Enough to say they're 'awesome'?

[endgames]

Heh. If I weren't currently occupied with something important, I'd drag you out to play a few. That's how cool they are.

[etudes]

That's okay. I can wait until Shikamaru-kun has some time to play them.. .. I don't know who else I'd play a board game with, after all.

[ well, not that she doesn't have friends (by some miracle..) but with kotomi being kotomi she figures maybe none of them like playing those games. ]

[endgames]

[He hasn't exactly followed the line of logic. She told him she had friends before, so why not?]

There's always your other friends.

[etudes]

But.. would they want to play board games? It's possible that they don't like it as much as Shikamaru-kun does, right..?

[endgames]

Probably. [He likes them so much he'll play them alone if he has to.] But even so, most people enjoy them as a once-in-a-while activity.

[etudes]

So how do you tell whether someone enjoys them like that or doesn't? .. Or.. do I'll just have to go ask everyone personally?

[endgames]

Asking such a thing isn't a big deal. You could do it over the journals, in fact. Something like "is anyone interested in this game?" works fine.

[etudes]

.. But.. if I do it over the journals.. [ her voice drops, as if she's telling a secret or is afraid anyone else will hear (as if dropping your voice would help anything then, kotomi..) ] .. then bullies might hear.

1/2 Apologies for slowness, I've been sickish

[endgames]

[Oh this sounds very grim indeed.]

[endgames]

[Shikamaru speaks in his normal tone. Take that bullies.]

Kotomi-chan. [He remembered.] I'm going to let you in on a secret that will change your life.

Bullies are dumbasses.

[etudes]

[ And with Kotomi being Kotomi, she takes it at face value and gasps, she really is surprised.

... Except then she realises she still doesn't know.. ]

Um.. w-what are dumbasses..?

[endgames]

One of the stupidest sort of person you will ever meet.

Bullies are the lowest class of this type. Yet you can deal with most by having good friends, and not paying them mind at all.

[etudes]

Wow, Shikamaru-kun really knows a lot about this sort of thing...

Can it be that you had to deal with a lot of bullies before?

[endgames]

School's are full of 'em. They left me alone for the most part - and my friend too, when he listened to me. Chouji had a lot of bully problems before we were friends.

[As did Naruto. ...but you couldn't really solve Naruto's worse than bully problems.]