endgames | 036 -- [Voice]

((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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It's natural selection itself. Some have even called it "divine providence." Not the sort of thing I can imagine nature spirits wanting to get too close to.

Didn't fuss them any before, when they were possessing people.

Maybe not, but they didn't possess me at all. It might mean something, or it might not.

Ha. [He didn't know that.] Touché.

Who knows-- it could end up working in my favor someday if it is true. But I'm not in any rush to confirm it either way. I'll let other people try their luck on that front instead.

[WELL GOOD FOR YOU GAI, but that makes you useless to what he's digging for and he sucks at small talk. 8||]

Fair enough.

[He'll leave it at that then.]

[Sorry, Shikamaru, Gai isn't about to let the conversation end that easily, not when he still has a few things that he's curious about.]

Have you tried making a pact with any of them?

It'd be wasting a resource not to.

Then I'll take that to mean you've been successful.

[Translation: go on.]

I wouldn't bother asking people if failure was the more likely result, would I?

I've heard that it is with some of the spirits. Hyt in particular-- he's said to be the hardest to learn from. Supposedly he's picky about who he decides to teach.

He is.

Any idea how many people he turns down as opposed to how many he agrees to teach?

Dunno. Never managed to get in touch with the elusive one.