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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.]
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.]
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[She sits back on her heels, holding something that is probably starting to develop its own culture and writings systems by now.]
Shikamaru?
[He looks... different. Is he shorter? She sets down the ex-food and rises, closing the fridge door.]
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Not sure if that's mold or one of Chouji's food experiments.
[He's smiling, genuinely for once, but he obviously looks worse for wear, like someone who's had a long night.]
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[She shoots a look at it and wrinkles her nose.]
Unless he's trying to grow penicillin, I'm pretty sure it's destined for the trash.
You look pretty rough. [Flat-out, because she's a doctor and she claims the privilege.] Need a little help?
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Scrapes and bruises, though? Of all things to make a girl huffy.]
Yeah. If you could.
[He smiles sheepishly. He's not bothering Ino with more than he has to today.]
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... I've been told people can be sent home for a time and reappear.
[A non-sequitur? Not really. Just... confirming, before she says anything further. If he has...]
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You're a little behind on the times... Not that I don't get it. I've wanted to avoid them too.
[...has been ever since he got back from the draft, at that.]
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She takes a slow breath.]
... Ino and Neji?
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But that's him, not Sakura. He doesn't stop smiling.]
Yeah.
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Then, finally, softly,]
Shikamaru, your father... I'm sorry.
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Why? [Still he grins, and it's not even forced anymore.] It sucks, but... I'm proud of him, you know?
[Maybe it won't stop hurting at all, he realizes. Like how after he was shot, his gut would ache sometimes when it rained. But even with all of that, his father poured his sweat and every brain cell into the war. Even in the end.
It sucks. It sucks so much. But it would be an insult to Nara Shikaku - to the legacy of his father - to let that get him down forever. He's going to remember it and carry that pride with him wherever he goes. And so Shikamaru breathes, and closes his eyes to avoid that green gaze.]
Besides, I didn't come here for sympathies. I wanted to thank you.
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The way Neji has. The way any of them, back home, still could. The battle's not nearly over.]
It sucks. [She can agree with that much at least, wholeheartedly.
But she can also, at least, give him a little help in feeling better now, even in a much milder way.]
Sit down. [And she moves to pour him a very full glass of water.] And drink that. Thank me for what? [It's always easiest to retreat into being a medic.]
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He sets the cup down and thinks over his words, few as they are.]
For not telling me.
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You're welcome. [And she considers adding more, but it's not like he's unaware of what her reasons were. No one needs to have that hanging over them. It wasn't her place to disrupt his life here.]
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But that doesn't need to be said either. He does have something else to say to her, but he'll let her concentrate on her job first unless she beats him to the subject. He nods, and sips more on his water.]
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Just relax. I'm going to give it a bit of a nudge.
[The core of a hangover is dehydration; he's had the water, now she's just going to encourage his body to distribute it most efficiently. She rests a hand against his forehead, and begins the process. It's not difficult, as healings go -- nudges to the body to operate more efficiently. After a few moments, the hangover should start to fade.]
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Thanks... That's definitely an improvement.
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You're welcome. I don't imagine I need to give you the usual lecture, do I? [You'd think that more ninja would be reluctant to get themselves compromised with alcohol, but in her experience, it isn't the case. She's gotten very good at the sort of treatment she's just given him.]
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Only if you want. Promise I'll try not to sleep through it.
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I think I'll spare us both. Unless you make a habit of it...
[She fixes him with a brief, half-teasing stern look.]
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Habit, no. Not like that.
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[But that's where the teasing ends, and once she's gotten his system hydrating itself efficiently, she draws back, uncertain of what to say next.]
I... I couldn't tell Ino. You understand.
[She couldn't be the bearer of bad news, couldn't come dropping into this place and shatter the serenity her friends had found here with devastating news. But the guilt still hangs over her for keeping secrets; a part of her wants to babble apologies, wants to perform some sort of atonement for essentially having lied to everyone for these past months.]
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That's another reason why I wanted to talk to you today.
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I'm listening.
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Relax. It's nothing you have to worry about.
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All right. What is it?
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1/2
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