markofthebrave | [ Action, Written, Video ] .057

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[ Action, Written, Video ] .057

[Sneeze and you break it filter to CR at around 4 am this morning.]

I'm back. I'm fine. I hope everyone's okay. Good night.

[So then Katara wakes up much, much later and will be just puttering around the house for a while for those who are inclined to catch her in serious conversation. She sends notes to Trafalgar and to Gelda to let them know that although she's back she feels like she needs to take a few days off... she's still very tired, and as of yet not feeling like being around people.

All that changes, however, on Wednesday. She needs to get out of the house, she needs to do something life-affirming and fun... and isn't it fortunate that she's been working on building several ~~insane~~ ~~monstrous~~ intense snow tracks for people to go sledding on? She decides to go check on them and to bring her journal with them.

Finding that their structural integrity hasn't been too damaged without constant maintenance and that the cold weather still holds... she decides that today is the day to show them off.]

Hey, everyone - I've been working on something the past few weeks and if you like sledding then... [She trails off and flips the journal over so that the journal feed will reveal three sledding tracks. She's made good use of all the snow in the past month or so, the clearing is very nearly bare of it - instead, there is the very large one, made completely of tunnels and requiring snow-cut stairs to ascend and once dared will necessitate a few on-the-walls themselves turns, there is the slightly less large one that seems to be composed mostly of sheer drops, and there is the normal-sized one that is essentially one long spiral down to ground level.] then grab your sleds. Don't worry, I've had a few people test them and they've held up just fine! It's south of the barracks, by the river.

[OOC: If anyone wants to come sledding, please do! Threadjacks of all sorts are welcome!

Also, if I could get those who attend the school, work in the clinics, or attend combat medicine lessons to give this a quick glance and offer input, that would be awesome! \o/!]

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[A shrug.]

I didn't ask. [That would have revealed far too much, and besides - she looks down for a moment - he wasn't exactly very nice.]

He wasn't the friendliest guy I've ever met.

I remember.

[She said something to that effect earlier. Shikamaru makes a 'hm'ing sound, and goes to drink from his cup.]

[She was just saying there wasn't any way to confirm your speculation, but then... you're not really that concerned about it, are you. As soon as you realized who it wasn't...]

...so who was it that wore the "purple butt bow?"

...several people. The leader of that village himself, for one.

[He thinks about something for a second, deciding he may as well say it.] Orochimaru was a legendary ninja, one who originally came from Konoha. He defected when they realized he was up to no good. He's tried to wipe us out at least once since then.

[She absorbs that quietly.]

I see.

[He swears more good things have come out of Konoha than bad, Katara.]

Then there's his right-hand man, Kabuto. This guy with glasses who helps him with what he does. [He doesn't remember him having a butt bow, actually, but whatever. Doesn't count.] And then there were his strongest and most dependable followers after him: the Sound Five.

[Shikamaru tilts his head now, bringing up his hand to catch his chin as he looks out the window.]

They're all dead now, that last bunch.

That doesn't matter here.

[She watches him carefully. She's not sure this is any different than any other thing they've talked about, but there's something faint about his tone that makes her pay closer attention.]

Which is why I mention it.

[A nod.]

Anything else?

[Of course there is. It's just complicated.]

...Uchiha Sasuke also defected there.

[...oh.]

Itachi's brother.

[The one he'd left alive. He'd... defected.]

[A nod.]

He was like as I said - lured by the promise of power. Orochimaru just wanted him as a vessel - he surely knew that, but didn't care.

He had to have left him too, once he got what wanted. [Because he's Akatsuki now, isn't he? And Orochimaru reportedly was set against that faction.] I don't think he ever associated himself like the others seemed to. He's too aligned with his own pursuits.

[...yeah, she can tell that you're a big fan of this guy.]

I remember that he was here before - Sasuke. He helped out in that fight with Trafalgar.

Mm. He's here again. I haven't ran into him yet.

[Still looking out the window here.]

[...putting some pieces together.]

Someone else for me to avoid, huh?

[He finally looks back to her here, expression too blank to be grim, but not enough of anything else to be anything but serious.]

Please.

...how bad is it?

...there are worse people out there. [He can admit that.] But he's not much better.

After he left Orochimaru, he put a team together and tracked down and killed his brother. He was then offered his brother's place in the terrorist group Akatskui, which he took. It took that much for him to be officially declared a missing-nin. Had it been anyone else, he would have been in the bingo book before that.

[And she remembers in that conversation, where she was trying to decide what to do about Itachi, how he'd told her that the Hokage had spared someone who deserved it. Because of two people. And that was why what happened with Itachi wouldn't happen again.]

What made him so different?

I think the elders had something to do with it in the beginning. The Uchiha were a noble clan, with a powerful bloodline limit... [He's told her about the Sharingan before.] As the sole survival, it would be valuable if Sasuke ever returned.

But as more time passed, I suspect his teammates feelings played the larger role. They wouldn't give up on him.

[Even given everything that's happened and their promise to stop him, he still wonders if they really have yet.]

[And then Katara makes some Reasonable Conclusions, based mostly on tones of voice and her familiarity with him.]

His teammates are friends of yours.

Mm. [He doesn't usually pass on other people's business unless it's necessary, but it's not like it's a secret either.] We all attended the Academy together. I think you met Naruto once.

Not... really. I mean, he stayed here when you guys were all kids, but I don't really know him.

[That's said almost absently, as she continues to turn things over in her mind.]

[That was the only time he could think of anyways.] Right.

[The silence that follows isn't empty or reflective. There are more questions to come, he knows, so he pauses, not wanting to get ahead of her.]

[But she just shakes her head.]

One of these days, Azula or Zhao or someone will show up again - or maybe even Long Feng, and I'll end up having to warn all our friends again about them. And you'll want the whole story and I'll have to disappoint you - they're just bad guys. Nothing dramatic about it.

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