036 -- [Voice]

[endgames]

((Backdated to February 4th))

[It's been a long time since Shikamaru's failed a mission. All right. Failure might be too strong a word for this one. He can actually laugh at that. This isn't like when he was twelve. It's a personal embarrassment, not something that's going to keep him up at night, sick to his stomach.

A failure is a failure though, and that makes it a pain in the ass. He'd apologized to the MSF personnel profusely, and requested to be put on a different mission to make up for the screw-up. They'd looked nonplussed about the whole thing and stuck him back in Luceti, but eh. Shikamaru decides to keep his journal close to him anyways, in case they take him up on that. It's for this reason he doesn't go out to do any of the things he probably should. He passes the time by flipping through the journal instead, and thinking over the last mission.]

[Voice]

When I first came to this village, I remember going out. Left or right, it seemed anywhere I looked someone was using that so-called "filial magic". ...Haaa. [He scratches his head, and there's a smirk in his voice.] That's an exaggeration, but you get it. That was years ago, though. It seemed like it was becoming less common until that incident last year, when everyone got possessed.

Anyone learning anything from those guys now? Seems like the kind of thing that would spark interest, especially with one extra spirit hanging around.

Comments

voice;

[ura_no_ura]

Mm, I suppose you can say filial magic hasn't really come up in conversations since I've been here...

[ There's also the fact that Kakashi hasn't exactly been particularly social, especially after Luceti Valley and that horrible mistletoe incident. ]

voice;

[endgames]

Sucks. The rest of 'em you'll have to work for, if you want to start anything with them.

[He said "chatty" before, but that's not the right word for it. The filial spites communicate with feelings rather than words. Invisible as they all are, you have to be tuned in to the things around you to pick up their presence. Even for ones like Eferin and Nala, who like to make themselves known.]

voice;

[ura_no_ura]

Elaborate on "work for."

[ Kakashi doesn't mind a bit of hard work, after all. Especially if it might mean an increase in powers to offset the decrease in ability, no thanks to the power-dampening conditions of Luceti. ]

voice;

[endgames]

You know... seek 'em out. Get friendly, or at least make a good impression. It takes time to actually learn the stuff too, on top of that.

voice;

[ura_no_ura]

Mm, I see. I wouldn't have expected that it would happen overnight. Learning new techniques take time.

voice;

[endgames]

Mm. It takes anywhere between a couple of weeks to months to get a grasp of it, depending on what you're doing.

voice;

[ura_no_ura]

Hmm, that's not too bad.

voice;

[endgames]

You'd like Tsinku.

voice;

[ura_no_ura]

[ Yeah, Kakashi really needs to brush up on his understanding of filial magic. ]

Which one is Tsinku?

voice;

[endgames]

Electricity.

[Including lighting, though that's only like half the reason.]

voice;

[ura_no_ura]

[ There's a slight pause and then -- ]

Interesting.

[ In other words, Kakashi is definitely going to make it a goal to try and meet Tsinku somehow. ]

Have you learned any filial magic?

voice;

[endgames]

Some.

voice;

[ura_no_ura]

What kind?

voice;

[endgames]

Eh... I've forgotten almost as much as I've learned, at this point. Currently it's just darkness and electricity.

voice;

[ura_no_ura]

You can use electricity?

[ Hear the note of surprise in Kakashi's tone? He's actually pretty pleased to hear about this. ]

voice;

[endgames]

[In response, Shikamaru holds up two fingers in front of the journal window, about an inch apart from each other. A small charge of static electricity shoots between them a moment later. With a shrug of his shoulders, he drops his hands back down.]

It's no chidori or anything.

voice;

[ura_no_ura]

[ Or Raikiri for that matter, but it's still electricity. Kakashi's impressed. ]

Interesting. [ A beat. ] You know, something just occurred to me. Have you ever bothered to learn any elemental jutsu?

[ Though Shikamaru does usually rely on his kekkei genkai, having more in his arsenal could only help him, not hurt him. ]

voice;

[endgames]

One.

[...two if he ever gets canon updated, but for now the one. No earth walls here.]

It's been a while since I've practiced it, come to think. [Which makes his heart hurt some, but he should get back to it.] Would you like a demonstration, Kakashi-sensei?

voice;

[ura_no_ura]

Yeah, that'd be great. Are you free this afternoon?

voice;

[endgames]

Gonna see someone in a bit. Let's meet in a couple hours. There's a clearing behind the building.

[You know, the spot where there's not much trees about. Moro shouldn't be fussed if she finds someone there.]

voice;

[ura_no_ura]

Alright. I'll see you then.

action;

[endgames]

[Shikamaru takes his time, since he expects Kakashi to do the same. After he's finished with what he needs to do, he wanders around a bit until he finds a big enough stump of a log suitable for his purposes and drags it back to the clearing. He'll be taking a rest sitting on it whenever Kakashi shows up.]

[ura_no_ura]

[ A good fifteen minutes later, Kakashi arrives. They never did set an exact time, after all, so Shikamaru's actually lucky he's not forty-five minutes late. ]

Yo.

[ Said in greeting as he approaches. ]

[endgames]

[IT'S COOL. He may have been enjoying the time to himself, he's not had a lot of it lately.

Though he wasn't exactly alone for all of it.]

Yo. Thanks for coming before it got dark out.

[That's deadpanned, but no really, thank you...]

[ura_no_ura]

It wouldn't be as enjoyable if it were dark.

[ The demonstration, he means. Kakashi crosses the space between them until they're just a few feet away from one another. ]