endgames | 002 -- [Action || Voice]

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002 -- [Action || Voice]

[After a good week of mostly having his nose stuck in his journal, Shikamaru is fairly satisfied that he knows it forward and back. As for half of the information he's gotten out of it? Not so much. But thinking is troublesome, and he's tired of trying to figure out what to do with what he's learned.

Thus, Thursday morning on sees him doing very little at all, besides sitting around on a bench stationed alongside the path between Seventh Heaven and Good Spirits, watching the clouds go by with a content grin on his face. Ah, that's much better.

Sometime into the evening, before it gets dark out, he lights a cigarette and opens his journal.]

...So anyone know how to play this Pai Sho game? [ It's going to be his earworm until he finally gets to play, dammit. B| ]

[Filtered to Akimichi Chouji, Uzumaki Naruto, and Aburame Shino || 95% Unhackable]

Oi, let's get something to eat later.

[OOC: Forward-dated to Thursday, when there's good weather again. |D]

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[Honestly, this makes the situation all the more questionable to him. He'll have to do more digging, but it's hard to believe that that's random.]

Makes you wonder if there's a world that doesn't know war.

Not that I've heard of. Although... I do know some people here who've said that the last war their country had been in was back in their grandfather's time.

[There's some faint awe and jealousy in that.]

Good for them. Hopefully that doesn't mean they're just overdue for one.

Are you at war where you are too?

On the brink of it, at least. Nothing's gotten nasty yet.

[He's not looking forward to it when it gets nasty.]

Ah - well, that's good. If it hasn't started yet, maybe it can be stopped.

[From the way the war council was going before he showed up here, he doubts it. But all Katara gets is a shrug and a small smirk.]

Nothing's impossible. [Contrary to what he said, there are two tiles that move much like a certain piece in shogi. He moves the Lily tile into place, creating a nice string of harmonies and securing a decent number of points.]

Oh, that's a good move. [She frowns at the board, trying to decide where to place her remaining tiles, and make the best use of the new circumstances.]

So what's your war about?

[This isn't exactly sensitive information in his world right now, but he can think of a few people from home who'd be better off not knowing it. He'll be as vague as possible.]

Power, mostly. I think when it comes down to, most wars are started over something like that.

Yeah. No kidding. [She sets her piece down - it's a good move, if not the best one in the long run, making a nice use of the new board and scoring several points.]

And you're fighting in it?

[Probably.] Maybe. Who knows.

[The game probably shouldn't take much longer now.]

[She takes that as a yes.

And... sets her piece down in an almost surprisingly good spot before she looks up at him.]

I'm sorry - I don't know what it's like to be in a war that's just starting. For me, it's something that's just... always been. But I hope everything works out all right.

Heh. No way of knowing until I get back, but thanks.

[It is a pretty good spot. Better yet, it gives him the opportunity to make a move that will allow him to count her tiles among his points when he places a White Lotus tile down.] You said the war's over though from the point in time your brother comes from though, right? How far are you behind him?

A few months. [Frowning at the board now. She doesn't like to lose.]

You really are very good at this.

[Staring, staring, staring... ah-ha! A move which, will not save her, but will at least let her lose with some dignity. She takes it.]

I just like games. [There's a shrug.] But that's a good thing to look forward to. Did he tell you if it ends in your favor?

Yeah. It did. [That will never get old to say. Ever. There might as well have been two giant blinking neon signs randomly appearing over Katara's head broadcasting the words 'RELIEF' and 'JOY' for how blatantly her emotions manifest themselves in those three words.]

Then congrats. I'm sure it'll mean more once you're actually home.

[A hand moves up to curl loosely over her heart.] Thanks.

[And for an instant a hard light comes into her eyes.] Yeah, it will. I've still got things to do. [And that light leaves.] But it's good to know. It's... really good to know.

Edited 2010-09-26 23:25 (UTC)

[Maybe he'll ask more about this war one day. For now it seems like he has more than enough though.

He makes one more move.] One hundred points.

[Yeah, she saw that move coming. D:] You win.

[But she takes it with good grace.] Well, now you're all warmed up for Iroh.

Thanks for that. [He moves to gather up the tiles.] You should play more often. Not that I know much of anything about this game from what you've shown me, but you weren't exactly bad at it yourself.

[That makes a silly little smile quirk up her lips for a moment.] Thanks. It was kind of fun. Maybe I will.

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