033 -- [Action]

[endgames]

[In anticipation of a witch hunt, Shikamaru left the village a solid week or more ago for a spot he could wait things out and do as he liked. After John's report to the village, he trained with Twila's powers some and checked out the barrier. He never forgot that looming detail - that a deadline was approaching - but it wasn't the loudest though to linger in his mind.

"I've let your new attitude and wings slide, because we're friends. But it's starting to make you do things you wouldn't normally in a bad way. You should get it together."

It's troublesome but not untrue, which means that comes before anything else. Control is the name of the game here. Twila catered to his apathy, and while there's something nice about not feeling sad or anxious anymore, until they split ways he's going to be the one calling the shots. And after that week... he is for the most part, and ready to take care of things.]

[Since it's hard telling over the journals how much things settled in the village, so on June 9th he makes his way back on his very best behavior. Best. Maybe. PROVOKE HIM AND FIND OUT. He's still possessed by the start of the day, but in general, Shikamaru can be found attempting to mind himself while doing any of the following:

1. Observing people from high up places and making weirdly realistic shadow puppets to pass the time
2. Exploring the new parts of the tunnels
3. Searching out anyone he might have been an ass to, because he should make up for that 8|

One way or another he's back to normal by the end of the day, so people might find him in CH1 too after the fact.]

Comments

[strangelyliteral]

[She raises an eyebrow before he continues with the explanation. Power dampening. Hardly applied to her anymore, anyway.]

Huh. I'll give it a shot.

[endgames]

[He walks in, then stops just within it. Yeah, Twila seems quieter to him. There's a sense of uncomfortableness that lingers, but the overlap is gone.

Shikamaru looks to Anya to see if she follows/feels the same.]

[strangelyliteral]

[Anya climbs down the ladder after him, contemplating the change in sensation as her feet touch the bottom.

There's definitely a noticeable change. The way Twila's emotions had twisted with hers seemed to draw back. Still present, but not enveloping her. She needs a few moments, to blink and adjust.]

Yeah. This helps. It's -- different. What about you?

[endgames]

Mm. I feel more myself.

[He'd taught himself how to overrule Twila, in the week he spent off on his own, but--] There's no second opinion to push back at mine, anyways.

[strangelyliteral]

It was like - wearing a coat, or something, and now I've been able to unzip it and push back the hood. Or like being in one of those full body costumes. I'm still wearing it, but it's not me anymore.

[endgames]

[Come to think of it, he's never met her normal, has he? There was some unspeakable bond before... He never thought oddly of it, because it seemed natural at the time.

It's faded here, nearly absent, and that should make things awkward. Instead, it makes him glad for her. This is probably her first reprieve.]

Feel any differently about putting that outfit up?

[strangelyliteral]

More blah. [As the realization of her own state of mind starts to sink in.] More like me, again. Normal, human. It sucks. I mean, coming down here was my choice, and, I don't think it was a bad one. It just, it still is a nice outfit. Not that having it on out there will change anything.

[endgames]

Besides what I mentioned. That guy that got on the line wasn't joking that we could end up dead if we stay like this.

[But that's not something he wants to dwell on either, just facts that have to be made.]

Honestly, even after I've thought about it some, I'm with you. I want to control my own life, but I don't want Twila gone and out of it. Catch my drift?

[strangelyliteral]

Right. Twila needs us. [That word - need. Anya didn't want to be the one doing the needing.] There has to be another way. Kind of like, 'hey, I want my body back, but drop me a line sometime and we'll talk?'

[endgames]

If it stays around like the other spirits, I've already determined I'd like to make a pact with it.

[strangelyliteral]

How does that really work, anyway?

[endgames]

It's simple enough... The even-tempered ones like the company, and teaching.

[He met all of them at least once, save for Hyt, who was always the one he searched for. Yay irony. Tsinku, however, was the only one he still had a pact with prior to this.

He wonders if things will have changed now.]

In my experience, finding them has always been the toughest part, and some are more agreeable than others.

[strangelyliteral]

They seem pretty easy to find right now. Or at least, they did.

[Though she's not sure what she thinks about the whole pact making part. This magic was nothing like what she was used to - spells and ingredients and incantations. It somewhat reminded her of Willow at the top of her magic game, which wasn't exactly a comforting thought either. The way her eyes had gone dark. Had she been that way? No - she was sure she hadn't been that bad, or Buffy would have tried to kill her rather than just tell her she was dead.]

... But it's not like it has anywhere else to go. Twila just wants what it's been denied, and more.

[endgames]

Existing will have to be enough, if it values self-preservation as much as I think it does.

[He doesn't know if Twila gets what exactly is happening - what the Malnosso will do if things stay like this. But through its own way of communicating, it likely feels the threat.]

[strangelyliteral]

I value it. Twila will just have to deal.

[endgames]

[His sentiments exactly. Shikamaru looks around the tunnels now, contemplating the feelings of his "coat", to borrow Anya's wording again.]

If you sat down here long enough, I wonder if it'd just leave...

[strangelyliteral]

I get the feeling it doesn't like being down here. Being suppressed. If I had powers I wouldn't want to be anywhere near here either.

[endgames]

That's one thing, yeah. There might be something else... [He shakes his head.] Not that we're gonna find out one way or another here and now.

[strangelyliteral]

-- What else is there?

[endgames]

Something I heard about before. [Or got an impression of.] That something had been locked away.

[strangelyliteral]

They said that they never heard of this spirit before this happened, right? So ... logically that might be it.

[endgames]

[He heard it from the spirits himself, actually, but the point still stands.]

Yeah. That's what I was thinking could be the case - that it was locked in these tunnels, more specifically.

[strangelyliteral]

If we poke around here, we might find something.

[endgames]

Mm...

[Yeah, they could. But raising his head to regard the tunnels again, his feet don't want to move forward, as if Twila could root them there.]

You up for it?

[strangelyliteral]

... Kind of mixed feelings, but I'm thinking that if it's something Twila doesn't want, it might mean something. So I can at least try, right? Something to do with my time.