endgames | 033 -- [Action]

[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.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Sona did not want to answer any questions. [Something Mia knows from general experience. The answers didn't matter to the goal.] What did you ask about?

There was a lot of things. [He sobers some, reflecting on it. Most of his questions ended up being irrelevant, but to focus on the one he was getting at when he brought this all up:]

At the time, I was also still interested in that new section of the tunnels we found on October. In the memory wall, it's said the residents before us left something behind. Since the spirits have been here for so long, I tried to make them understand I was looking for such a thing.

They got weird about that, though. No one wanted to talk about it. The best I got out of one of them was that something had been locked away.

And now, you believe they were talking about...this. [A hand motion that manages to draw in the entire week of trouble.]

[Really, what more is needed than that.]

Yeah. [If how strongly they seem to feel about it wasn't evidence enough, he knows one more thing too.] And we were the ones who let it out.

Next you'll tell me that in order to show their contempt for that poor decision the spirits decided to take away our autonomy for a while.

[If only she wasn't half-serious.]

Jeez, I hope not... [He rubs the back of his head awkwardly.] It's weird enough that they used us to get after Twila.

Do you really think they succeeded in that? [He would know better than she.]

[And here he gives her look, twitching his big, dark wings. Evidence enough, most likely.]

Well, look at you. She's still there, with you - they didn't "get after" her.

[...huff. He sighs.] This "her" thing again...

Oh. ...Does it bother you? I think I am just used to calling spirits one or the other.

I'm not possessed by a girl, that's all I have to say about it. [HE FEELS AWKWARD EVERY TIME NOW...] I don't think it has a gender.

Probably not. Not in the way we do, anyway. It's just that when you have more than a handful in your head all the time, you start to call them one thing or the other out of habit.

"More than a handful"...?

Oh. Ah. [Extending one arm, Mia smiles sheepishly as her three djinn appear along it.] At home, I have quite a few more as companions. These three made it here with me. They talk.

[Oh wow. Shikamaru looks at each one peculiarly.]

What are they?

They are called Djinn. [The frontmost one bows, inasmuch as an armless little blue creature can bow, and the other two start squirting water at each other.] When they choose to ally with my friends and me, their abilities as elemental spirits enhance ours.

[Someday she intends to be a strong enough healer not to need them.]

[Shikamaru nods back at the bowing one. That's kind of incredible.]

And they talk in your head?

[Before Mia can address it, one of them says an indignant, "We talk out loud!" before trying to douse Shikamaru. Mia makes a face and quietly dismisses them all again.]

They talk inside my head too.

[He makes an unimpressed face, then raises an eyebrow at Mia when they're gone.]

I never would've guessed.

It doesn't give people a lot of confidence to think that their healer hears voices. [Two of them help her in battle almost exclusively, and the third is for emergencies, so they don't make too many appearances.]

Ha. No, I get that.

[It's more of a compliment, weird as it sounds. He didn't notice. She hides it well.]

[Months of practice. Years of them. And they don't show much interest in talking to others.]

We can also use their combined abilities to summon the greater elemental spirits, but I haven't been able to do that here, even when we are outside the barrier for drafts and missions.

[That's because there's something that keeps them from doing that. He remembers hearing about it, though he never learned much.]

What made you decide one was a boy or a girl anyways?

You know, I'm not sure I could tell you. Some of them chose for themselves after a while, I should think.

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[action] THEY DELVED TOO DEEP

[action] The only thing left to do is talk about social justice rights of large-winged people

[action] they should not sit in the front row of movie theaters

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