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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.]
[Action]
[Action]
[Action]
And that was not... It was hardly even a chuckle.
[He's not sure when the last time he laughed was. It's hard to just break into it.]
[Action]
I seeee. [Elongated 'e'. He's talking faster now, slurs a little more pronounced.] Then we need a joke. Law! Do you know any jokes?? We're gonna need good ones... If his face's stuck like that, think what the part of throat that can make sounds like that is like now.
[He bends his fingers, like a swinging door.]
Creaky.
[Action]
Itachi, partner, he can feel the sulk from over here. He's going to playfully nudge the ninja's shoulders with his own.]
I don't know. My jokes aren't very good. Or clean. [He's honestly like Sokka. But saltier. Smiling at Itachi.] But if I can get a smile out of you, I'm willing to give it a shot.
[Action]
[He isn't now, true, but he has been.]
And I'm not sure you'll have much luck with jokes. It's hard to laugh when I know you're trying to force it out of me.
[Action] 1/2
We just gotta think of a good one... I dunno many. It's strange to believe that I don't tell many. That's Masaomi's thi...
[Action]
Alright alright alright. [He rubs his hands together, anticipatory.] You've heard of the five second rule, right??
[Action]
[Teasing. Well Law is. Annnnnnd raising an amused eyebrow at that.]
... not really...
[Action]
Itachi sighs inwardly (not out loud, that would be rude) and shakes his head in response to the question.]
[Action]
What do you think's up with that, though? Do you think the germs are like [he slips into a flourish that can only be an impersonation of Masaomi, complete with hand motions like he does when he's into something] "we must leap all over that!" but the Germ King is like "NAY! FIVE SECONDS WE MUST WAIT."
[And like the dork that first told it, he breaks into laughing straight as he's finished. He has the grace to hide his snickers behind his hand, st least. This joke is so much funnier to him now for some reason, rather than corny.]
[Action]
wut.]
[Action]
It's not really what Itachi was expecting in terms of a joke, which might be what gets him. That, or Law's reaction. The deadpanned look from the pirate and the fact that it's Shikamaru doing this just makes it better.
The ninja lets out a small chuckle. More of a "hmm hm" really. Hardly a real laugh, but it's something for him.]
Is that a childhood saying? I'm afraid I never learned it.
[Action]
Uh-huh... [Okay one more snicker gets through. He's good now.] It's, uh. Well we all drove Iruka-sensei nuts with it and all the moms 'cept Kiba's.
[Action]
... wow. It did get a chuckle out of him.
But you know? He's going to refill his cup. Because. More alcohol needed if there are going to be many more jokes like that.]
[Action]
You all seem to have been rather close from the start.
[He's still amused by the way Law's reacting, really. Shikamaru's brand of humor is harmless and appreciated.]
[Action]
Nahhh. No one hangs out with dead lasts 'cept other dead lasts.
[Most of them, especially the ones outside that four-man bracket of theirs but even within it, weren't that great of friends so early on.
Or so Kishimoto likes to tell it.][Action]
He's also going to just drink and listen just for a little longer. It's hard imagining Shikamaru as a dead last even though he can see him sleeping right through class.]
[Action]
You and Chouji, though. You've always been close.
[Action]
[He put no effort into school, so that was exactly what he deserved. Irritation gives to fondness. It was Chouji, Naruto, Kiba, and him. He kinda like being a dead last, actually. Liked hanging out with the other "losers". They were weird, but interesting.
His mother screeched at him every day for his grades, though. His old man... You know, he always seemed disinterested, but come to think of it Shikamaru can't remember them ever having real words about it (he probably knew all along) like Chouji and his parents. He takes a swig from his cup, trip down memory lane cut short.]
But you're right about Chouji. [He's grinning again a second later.] S'always been me and him, since the beginning.
[Action]
[Since we're taking a trip down memory lane and all.]
Raised practically together, huh?
[Action]
[Itachi says the name a bit absently, just recalling it.]
That was your instructor, correct? [He remembers because he was Sasuke's as well. Because he'd done a certain amount of research on the subject.]
A good man. Not terribly strict, but good.
[Action]
[All of the above? Shikamaru scratches his head awkwardly. To be honest, he got to appreciate him more working at the Academy then he did attending it.]
Shit he was kinda violent, though, now that you mention it. [A nod at Law.] He was always yellin' at Naruto or me for sleepin' or skippin', and throwin' things.
[And he really can't help but snicker again. Not because he's proud of being such a pain, but because it's impressive their teacher didn't just skip formalities and tie them to a chair the moment they walked into class. Talk about patience.]
Really good teacher, though... It's nothing that he didn't do, 'cause I was awake when he didn't think it.
[Action]
Sneaky. [Approving sip!] What kind of things were you learning when he thought you were conked out?
[Action]
After all, these are the ones that were left to shape his brother after he'd taken everything else away from him. These were the faces he saw every day instead of his.]
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