032 -- [Voice || Action]

[endgames]

[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.]

Comments

[generalflirt]

Give me some credit! Being solid's one of my eight virtues.

[endgames]

[He snickers pretty hard at that, slurring his words again too.]

What's the other seven?

[generalflirt]

Top, secret.

[With a deeply foreboding tone]

[endgames]

[A deeply foreboding tone that goes straight over his head. Masaomi is rewarded with a confused and unfocused look.]

So gimme the bottom secrets??

[generalflirt]

Come on, you're a ninja, you know about secrets!

[endgames]

[...

Then loudly:] Weren't we talking about virtues?

[generalflirt]

Yeah, Secret Virtues.

[endgames]

Oh. [He leans back on his hands, wobbling some and feeling both heavy and floating at once.] But now I wanna know...

[generalflirt]

You could try to guess, my man, but I'm not sure you'll ever get them.

[endgames]

S'okay. I'd probably be disremembered... Haaah, that's too troublesome.

[He rolls his head with a loud sniff. His eyes are still watery, but he's stopped crying for now.]

[generalflirt]

[...Pfft. He reaches down and touches the guy's forehead]

We should get back to the apartment, chief.

[endgames]

[He flinches, more caught off-guard than bothered.]

Not yet. I have to tell Ino about our dads tomorrow, 'cause she doesn't know... [His speech turns into a whine.] I don't want it to be tomorrow.

[generalflirt]

[And then he hesitates, his body feeling more than a little cold.] Dads?

[endgames]

Pops and Inoichi-san... They died. [Choking on his snicker makes it more of a sob. It doesn't take long at all for him to start crying again.] It looked like a mushroom.

[generalflirt]

[...Ah. That's something he didn't expect to happen. First his mentor, then his soldiers, and then his father? Ino's father, too? His eyes get a little cold as he looks down at him, his lips turning into a frown and then a grimace. He doesn't have a framework for how to handle this, and once again he curses Chouji's name for not giving him a heads up for it. Even if he rationally knows that it makes sense to keep him in the dark]

[endgames]

[His shoulders sag, and he goes ahead and lets himself flop on his back (winces because he didn't braces his wings for it) in the sand now. Sitting up is too troublesome.]

"I wish my old man was here," is what I would think when it was me here, and things were messed up. Luceti's messed up and Uchihas are messed up and I didn't know how to do my laundry... I wanted to talk to him always.

[It's when he goes to wipe his nose that he realizes he's crying. He covers his eyes a sleeve and rolls on his side, back turned towards Masaomi and laughing once, hysterical and feeling more than a little sick.

If he had been with his dad this whole time, he'd have been dead before Shikamaru had thought of any of that.]

[generalflirt]

You know I can't relate to that. [He mutters that quietly and sourly. It's not about him, it's about Shikamaru. He's got no idea how he should respond to that and really, he knows he doesn't have one word to say to his garbage father despite what bis friends - particularly Katara - have tried to push onto him. But in this moment, knowing that... whatever his name is ... is dead, he can't help but feel that maybe, just maybe, he should care.

And yet, he still doesn't. He just feels bad for Shikamaru]

[endgames]

[Again he laughs, but the sound is swallowed up in a sob. Yeah, he knows. Most of his friends can't. Naruto and Neji's are dead. Kiba's left. Katara's too, for different reasons.

He was really lucky, not just to know his dad but to be loved by him. Any other day, that's the thought that's going to propel him forward. Right now, it just makes it hurt more, like a physical barb in his chest, and all he can do is curl in on himself and cry.]

[generalflirt]

[Sigh. And he makes his way to come and sit next to Shikamaru properly. He goes and puts an arm around his shoulder, at a loss for anything else at the moment and second-guessing even this]

[endgames]

[Even sober, this would probably be the one time he wouldn't turn away, ashamed someone thought he needs something like that. This time, he does need it. He knows he does, or he'd probably do something (case in point: he already has).

That's probably some kind of accomplishment. First thing he figured out without his dad.

Seeing as he really got most of his grief out by himself at the store today, it doesn't last long this time. He keeps his face pressed into his sleeve still anyways, laying and not wanting to get up. He thinks if he moves, he'll be sick.]

'm sorry. [Is what he eventually gets out, voice croaky.]

[generalflirt]

Mmm. No, Shikamaru, I'm sorry.

[Sorry he's not emotionally stable. Sorry he didn't just get wasted. Sorry he doesn't know how to react. Sorry he went home only to suffer. Sorry that he did suffer. Sorry that his world has so many problems. Sorry that they're still in Luceti, a please he knows that his best friend doesn't want to be. Sorry hat he now is wondering if his friend would rather stay here with him.

Sorry this is all he can do.]

[endgames]

[He seems to get it. Maybe. The words seem more profound than they were, when Aang said them before.

He rolls his head a little, to look at Masaomi, and honestly... Honestly he's just really glad he's not alone right now, and one side of his mouth quirks up, more sincerely.]

I'm sad. 'm not dying.

[generalflirt]

You're also drunk enough that if I had a wig on you'd kiss me.

[He said making the most inappropriate joke ever when their faces are this close]

[endgames]

[He wrinkles his nose, grossed out trying not to laugh because his chest hurts now, from the crying. He only partially succeeds, turning his head to look back at the sky again.]

Nooo. But I might throw up on you.

[generalflirt]

That's pretty rude. [He sighs here. How will he get him back, now...]