endgames | 032 -- [Voice || Action]

[A ninja walks into the bar.

Okay, that's getting ahead of the story. Let's backtrack then. Not too far. Everything he's been through in the past two weeks doesn't need to be said. At least, this isn't the place for it. What's important to mention is that on March 27, Nara Shikamaru left Luceti, gone back to home and to war. He returned on the same day and got thrown into another, and coming back to day-to-day life in this village after has felt almost unreal.

It's been nearly two weeks, but it wasn't until today that any of it definitively sunk in. All of the deaths. Everything they've lost - that he's lost. That the fighting is over, even if the war isn't.

You wouldn't think moving on with your life would be the scariest thing about that.]

[Voice]

Yo. [The greeting comes after he's gotten a grip on himself, so lackadaisical you wouldn't know the difference.] Some of you might've noticed that old pizza place was being remodeled. It's taking longer than I thought, but I've been working on turning it into a convenience store since November. It can probably open soon.

I'm gonna stock it with the basics. Milk, bread... staples like that for when no one wants to walk all the way to the grocery. So what snacks and drinks do you guys want? I'm not going to the trouble of getting things it turns out no one likes. That way, they'll just sit on the shelf to collect grease and dust. That's gross.

[He waves lazily, like he gave up on the motion halfway through, and reaches over to switch the feed.] Lemme know.

[Filtered to Trafalgar Law || Unhackable]

Hey. Got what you asked of me too.

[/end Voice]

[Several hours later... A ninja walks into a bar, and for the first time orders not Mountain Dew, but Genshu sake. A whole bottle.

Convincing himself to drink is more difficult than ordering it, however. Shikamaru sits at the bar for a while, spending more time staring into his cup than lifting it to his mouth. It's not like he's in a rush. He made a point not to tell anyone what he was up to, just that he would be back late and would get dinner on his own. Eventually though, he does get to drinking. It's a lot easier once he's started, and he loosens up. He won't be at the bar long after that, called away on an errand which leads him down toward House 22.

(ooc: threads with Law and Masaomi will be canonically last for this part)

The next day... he has a hangover. And it sucks. 8|

But he has people to talk to. Sakura and Asuma are both on his list, if they're home. Ino is last, and not without Chouji to go with him. Anyone else in the building is welcome to run into him on this day too, of course.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

What, and keep him from distracting the boss for hours at a time? Pass. But seriously, kid, what are you? Fourteen?

[When you're hundreds of years old, it gets very hard to remember the appropriate ages for Mundies that aren't already adults. Kids are baffling.]

[His look sours.] Don't even know anymore.

[He was probably like nineteen when he left, plus two months at home, and now he's back in a younger body-- screw keeping track.]

[Well. He considers that.]

Well, hell, I figure if you're old enough to not know how old you are, then you're old enough to drink. What's your poison?

[He blinks. Oh sweet. Wasn't expecting to win him over that fast.]

Genshu sake. [With a nod of thanks.] You can leave the bottle.

[It's been awhile since he was in Japan, but he does remember sake. He taps his chin thoughtfully before ducking down to grab it.]

Going for the hard stuff, eh? Draft hit you hard?

[His dad used to joke talking to your bartender was like talking to your barber. Like some sort of honesty was involved there, even if that's a weird comparison.]

The one before it, maybe.

[Okay, that gets an eyebrow.]

What, they doing them back to back now?

I went home for a little while, right before it. There's a war there too.

Ah. War. What is it good for?

[he drummed his fingers to 'absolutely nothing.]

I recently came back myself after one big battle. Everyone was there. Even the Tin Man.

[His turn to arch an eyebrow.]

Tin Man?

Yeah. A man made out of tin. We did time together.

Hm. Yeah. He sounded ominous enough.

Anyway, we all died. Hell of a way to go. [He doesn't sound that upset, though.]

Dead-dead, or Luceti-dead?

Dead-dead. I already did Luceti-dead.

[He meant the whole come back from the dead thing, but at this point he doesn't about the clarification either.]

Sucks.

That's life for you. So what about you? There a point to the war or is it just politicians being assholes to each other?

End of the world. We lose, everyone gets brainwashed or killed in a genocide.

[After some deliberation, he pours the sake into the cup.]

Ah. Been there, done that.

[He reclines into the shelf opposite of the front counter.]

Kind of a pain how often that happens.

Didn't think schemes like that were so common, until I came here. Now it seems like everyone's seen ten or so guys like that.

I've saved more than a few worlds myself. And once, all of existence. You're welcome for that, by the way.

[Now he gives Jack a skeptical work.]

Not sure how it extends that far.

Most of you guys don't get it, seeing as you're slightly more interesting than run-of-the-mill Mundies, but there's thousands of worlds out there, each connected by portals and other means. I've been to tons of them, personally. Sure, I ain't ever been to yours. Not that I remember, anyway. But it's out there, somewhere.

And me? I saved all of 'em, cuz the guy who invented all of 'em was gonna write the big ending finale for the whole shebang.

[Wow, that's kind of wild to think about. So he's a fictional character then?]

Would that have done in the writer's world too?

I'm not following you. The guy was in the Mundy world, same as the rest of us.

[Action]

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