endgames | 028 -- [Voice || Action]

Entry tags:

028 -- [Voice || Action]

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.]

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[He'd be right about that guess. Shikamaru's thoughts also mirror Aang's in the telling of this story - betray the world's best chance for peace for a necklace?

...it strikes him for the first time that they really were kids for that. Katara has matured in the time he's known her - when they first met, she reminded him of a civilian so many times. But this is probably the first instance he's realized that there would've been a point in their journey where she was even more naive than that.

It's kind of a trippy thought.

But this is a small thing in the end, he can note. Not even a major battle. The way Aang tells of getting the necklace back makes him smile too. It reminds him of how he liked to solve his problems back in the day.]

Clever.

[It did seem so much simpler than. Most of the problems back then seemed so relatively solveable. But it probably helps that Zuko wasn't much older than them and always had good in him.]

Thanks. She was real happy when she got it back and I got a kiss on the cheek. [A moment to laugh.] But if I find your thing, I think I'll just go with one of those handshake things.

Ha. More like a high-five, or a fist-bump.

Okay! I think I know those.

[He holds a sophisticated pose with the pipe for the moment before pulling out another box to look over.]

They're a staple in the bro code.

[Shikamaru snorts at Aang's pose before sticking his pipe back in his mouth, sorting through the bottom of this bin. There's some disposable lighters here, but that's it.]

What's a bro code?

[Cups. This box... is just... cups. All cups.]

[He pushes the pipe to the side of his mouth with his tongue, so he can talk.]

A sacred, unwritten code of honor between guys.

Oh. But I never learned it. Is it like being honorable to girls?

No. That's being a man.

[He exchanges boxes now.]

This is about placing a value on the camaraderie between men.

Oh, if you say so. I place lots of value on my friendships already!

[He tries to skim through the next box, which is mostly photo albums.]

Boy friendships are different from girl friendships though.

They are?

Subtly.

I guess I try to be kinder with girls... but Toph's kinda different.

Heh. Some girls are tougher, just as some men are weaker. But there's still differences in how they think, fundamentally.

It's why when you're little, boys like to play with boys and girls like to play with girls.

That makes sense! Now that I think about it, that's probably why the monks raised boys and girls in different temples. I didn't have any girl f- friends who are girls until I met Katara... and then Suki and Toph.

[...ha.]

If they were anything like monks in my world, I'd guess they had higher aspirations.

But close enough.

Yeah, I think there were a bunch of reasons! But it still makes sense to think of it like that. So I have to make sure I'm doing the right things for my friends who are guys, then.

[And then he switches to his next box.]

Pretty much. To get back on point - hugs are for girls [okay other times are okay but Aang isn't far enough indoctrinated to yet grasp the complexity] and hand shakes are too formal. That's why guys give high-fives and bump fists. It's the manly show of friendship.

Wait a second. [He drops the box he's holding, which luckily doesn't have anything breakable, and the pipe droops out of his mouth. This is a very important point. Something that absolutely must be clarified.]

I don't hug guys?

You're what - fourteen, right?

Y-yeah, give or take a hundred years.

Mind and body. All that counts.

[He pockets the pipe and moves onto Box 3, which has things like swiss army knives and such.]

It's fine. Going into adulthood there's better ways of acting.

[He quietly picks up the box he dropped and rifles through it some more.]

Oh, I see. So it's a maturity thing. [He tries to avoid those kinds of things. Especially being part of Team Hugatar.]

You grow into it.

[Shikamaru is just talking for the sake of talking at this point.]

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