oo1 | video

[bondsoflove]

 [A boy, thin and haggard, trembling. His face is drawn and pale and he's twitchy, glancing to the side every few seconds like he's waiting to be attacked. 

Considering he entered Siren's Port an hour or so after midnight, this isn't that much of a surprise.

He's still feeling a little sick, although it's as likely to be psychosomatic and aggravated by malnutrition as the actual lingering effects of the pull.]

The weather. [His illness, the things he's seen--creatures, humanoid, black holes of power. Other creatures, malformed and disgusting. He doesn't want to talk about it.] Is it always like this? 

[Cold. It's not that he's never been exposed to it, but it's a rarity. He's used to a perpetually warm climate, both from the areas he's been traveling in and his birthplace.]

Comments

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[reassures]

[...Wow. That's a face she wasn't expecting to see again.]

If you mean the actual weather, no. But it's going to get colder before it gets warm again.

Where are you?

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[bondsoflove]

I don't know. It's a big city.

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[reassures]

There are signs. Look around.

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[bondsoflove]

Why does it matter to you?

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[reassures]

It doesn't.

You're obviously not doing well though, and I've known people that would want you to have help. So I'm offering it-- no strings attached.

You can be stubborn after you're off the streets and have something in your stomach.

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[bondsoflove]

[Trust no one.]

If you need to qualify that there are "no strings attached", I'm inclined to be more suspicious, not less.

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[reassures]

If I said I expected payment, would you be anymore inclined to take the offer?

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[bondsoflove]

Depends on what you want.

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[reassures]

You can owe me a favor. Is that good enough?

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[bondsoflove]

No. I don't want to be in debt and have no idea what I might owe.

[reassures]

That's exactly why I said there weren't strings attached. I'm not interested in money, and you don't want to owe me, so can't you just take what I say as it is?

[bondsoflove]

Money is hardly what I'm worried about owing.

[reassures]

I'm telling you, I don't care about you owing me anything.

If you don't want the help, then fine. I can't force you to do anything. Good luck with Ino. [Because for some reason that girl is head over heels for you. :| ]

[bondsoflove]

[That gives him momentary pause.]

You know Ino.

[reassures]

Yes. And Naruto, and Shikamaru.

Itachi, too.

...It seems like a cousin of yours is here, as well. Otherwise Ino is the only one left here.

[bondsoflove]

...Aniki was here?

[And suddenly, nothing else matters.]

[reassures]

[She can't help but pause a little at that. She'd... never actually heard him talk like that before.]

He was.

He isn't here anymore, though.

[bondsoflove]

Where did he go?

[His chest is painfully tight. Itachi was here, in the same place, and now he's gone.

Sasuke's questions will have to continue to fester in the black hole his brother left behind, unanswered. ]

[reassures]

I don't know. I wish I did.

...Anyone that says he "went home", though, isn't paying enough attention.

[bondsoflove]

Are they in danger?

[reassures]

I don't know. It depends on where they ended up.

If they are, though, it's probably nothing they can't handle.

[bondsoflove]

Itachi died.

[reassures]

This world doesn't follow the same rules about death.

[Though... hearing that he's dead hurts. Maybe he wouldn't be back if he'd died in his own world. Maybe...

No. Nill knew that was probably the best thing that could have happened. It just didn't make it easier to hear.]

People who die here usually come back to life.

[bondsoflove]

Does it follow rules at all?

[He doesn't want to set himself up for expectations that will never be met, but he craves it. He wants so desperately to talk to Itachi again--the thought that he could come back to life, be here.

It's tempting.]

[reassures]

A few. Not many.

[If it gets his hopes up, though, Nill doesn't mind staying there. The last Sasuke she met was miserable constantly - if this one has something to hold on to, then Nill doesn't mind not telling him everything.]