TERRACE Draft - Day 1

[lucetimods]

Who: All Draftees
What: Arrival at TERRACE
When: The first day, from 8AM to the wee hours of the night
Where: TERRACE!
Summary: Information post here
Rating: Varies on thread, please mark explicit material.

This post covers the first day, before the attack. Remember, characters here are not expecting an attack and are under the impression they will be going to Region 1 to fight. During this day, draftees will be restricted to T6 and T7 and not permitted access to other areas.

Be sure to tag this post appropriately: [canon] character name

Comments

[endgames]

[Just hours ago, he was home.

Not home home, but the Land of Lightning is a lot closer to it than Luceti, as it goes. One second there was the adrenaline rush of combat, and the next he was coming to in a tunnel. Now he's up in the sky of all places?

Even with the Luceti memories trickling back in and overlapping the ones from home, it's disorienting as fuck.

He'll eventually piece together that he wasn't gone for longer than fifteen or twenty minutes. Luckily he woke up with his clothes beside him, albeit looking like they've seen better days, and had the presence of mind to take them with in the transport. He's not in the New Feather pants for long, at least not after a shower (and no he does not care who sees, thank you very much).

Once he has his head on as straight as he's going to get it, he makes himself busy. At some point he reasons he'll need one of those Shift Affliction shots, and there's the matter of his weapons. Stops to the mess hall and the bunk room happen, searching out familiar faces and just as importantly: making sense of what's going on.]

[yourhatred]

[There's one familiar face here that will seek him out as soon as his chakra signature is recognized.

He might avoid it more in the village now, but here Itachi's one Sharingan is active and searching. There's too much to worry about here to bother playing blind.]

Shikamaru.

[He's a shadow in the crowd in the mess hall, one moment a few tables away and the next just a few feet from his target.]

[endgames]

[Shikamaru's turned to face him, eyes hard, in the same instant he hears his name. It's not that that has him reacting instantly, or even the proximity, but the single Sharingan.

...oh. That's right.]

Yo.

[yourhatred]

[Itachi gives a polite nod of his head.]

I won't ask if the draft finds you in good spirits, but I hope you are at least well on a physical level.

[endgames]

[Shikamaru eases up, just enough to be casual and pass the previous tension off as nerves. He rolls up a sleeve to flash where he got his shot earlier.]

No afflictions that'll be a hindrance out there, if that's what you mean. This is security. [He tugs the sleeve back down and nods forward, looking at Itachi's other eye.] Is that...?

[The journal window doesn't pick up details that great, and their conversation a couple weeks ago feels longer ago now than it should on top of that. He's trying to figure out if that's a symptom of the Shift, or something else.]

[yourhatred]

[While having also gotten his vaccination against possible shift ailments, Itachi sees no need to flash his own bandage back. That's not what Shikamaru is most concerned about at the moment anyway.

He shuts his bad eye, continuing to peer at the other ninja through the red one.]

There are techniques those in my clan are capable of performing with the Sharingan that are too powerful to use without paying a high price for. Returning me to the world of the living did not restore what I gave up, nor should it have.

[deathsdoctor]

Shikamaru. I have something for you.

[What's heavily armed, carrying medical supplies in a backpack, and far too energetic for this altitude than is humanly possible?


You got it.]

[endgames]

[Shikamaru just finished up getting his shot, so Law catches him by the booth. Not looking up, he rolls his sleeve back down and responds deadpan.]

Goody. A ticket outta here?

[deathsdoctor]

Sorry. This thing hasn't been stamped yet.

[Equally deadpan as he holds a piece of paper up.]

But it's papery. It's a Vivre card.

[endgames]

[Shikamaru doesn't touch it yet, reminded vaguely of chakra paper. He looks sideways, from it to Law with sharp eyes.]

What's it do?

[deathsdoctor]

[Shikamaru will notice that for a guy on the go that there's something odd. Law has very freshly clipped nails. Law, on his part, notices a certain reduction of height.]

Several things. Mainly it will point without fail to me, no matter what. Like a compass - only instead it's connected to my lifeforce, and so I act as true north.

Interestingly enough, if you tear the card in equal twos, both halves will still point to me. But if you take one half and tear them into little pieces, those little pieces will now point to that big half without fail. So if there's anyone you want to find you without fail, you can give them a small piece and it will guide them to you.

The paper also functions as a measurement of the strength of my lifeforce. While it can't be burned or destroyed by saturating it with water, it will burn on its own if my life starts to dwindle. Injury, sickness... that sort of thing. As I recover, it replenishes itself. If it burns away completely - I'm dead.

[16autumnroad]

[Chouji wasn't able to find Shikamaru just before leaving for the draft, and he feels some amount of relief when he catches a glimpse of the familiar face in the barracks. It's not like his best friend to disappear prior to something so important.]

Shikamaru!

[That relief fades into concern, though, when he gets close enough to really look at Shikamaru. His clothes are a mess, and he was outfitted well the last time Chouji saw him. Then, as Chouji closes he last few yards between them... is Shikamaru shorter?]

What happened?

[endgames]

[TWO INCHES. Shikamaru hasn't noted it yet - his whole life, he and Chouji have always been about or near to the same height. Being fresh from the showers, the missing scars on his abdomen struck him harder, their absence bringing some Luceti memories to the surface.

By the time Chouji's found him, he's asked around and made better sense of things, but he's pretty irritable. That visibly fades to relief the second he sees who it is. A familiar face - a face from home - is a welcome sight right now.]

Chouji... [Sorry if that question needs repeating. He's uncharacteristically at a loss.] Hey.

[16autumnroad]

[Chouji is still sensitive about how much he's missed. He couldn't forget the visible reminders of it even if he tried, and one of them has just vanished. Shikamaru looks the way Chouji remembers him looking, without the subtle differences wrought by over two years in Luceti.

Shikamaru being back to normal is cause for alarm rather than relief, though. Something big must have happened. His lack of response confirms this.

Chouji puts his hands on Shikamaru's shoulders before repeating the question.]

What happened?

[endgames]

[That's the question he's been asking himself since he got here. Faced with it out loud, though, he's forced to come to an answer about it.]

...the revival of the Ten-Tails. That's what you didn't say before. Wasn't it?

[I went back.]

[16autumnroad]

[Chouji's eyes widen, and he stops and stares for a minute.]

...Among other things.

[If he hadn't had this conversation with Sakura upon his arrival, he wouldn't know what to say to Shikamaru right now. Since he already figured out a way to compare timelines without giving away too much, though...]

I told you that I gained back all the weight I lost, right? I got an extra boost of chakra from someone with plenty to spare. Did you?

[Shikamaru has experienced the war now, but is he from as far along as Chouji is? Does he know about his dad? Chouji isn't sure he wants to hear the answer.]

[origami_ninja]

[Konan has a gift for Shikamaru. She doesn't know if he's taken the time to go through his journal to get oriented yet, so she'll just assume he hasn't had the chance.

There are several sets of coloured paper - one red, one blue, one orange and a few white ones. She's carefully organized them for everyone she wanted to give them to. A few sets were set aside for the Konoha nins. She pledged Ame's support to Konoha once, and while she may be dead back in their world, she's alive and able to help here. She'll give them to the Suna nins as well, since they are Konoha's allies.]

Shikamaru.

[endgames]

[He found it a clever idea when he first saw it. Then he got busy, and then he got gone, otherwise he'd have approached her about it straight away after transport.

As it is, she catches him coming out of the armory. Lucky, lucky. They managed to get his trench knives all the way up here. Whether that was out of the ether or the smithy in Luceti, he's not sure, but he doesn't care too much either. Lost in thought, his head nevertheless jerks up on the alert as soon as he hears footsteps.]

Oh. It's you. [...this whole thing is still disorienting, but he's a little more comfortable by now. Enough to be polite and reasonable. He nods.] Sorry. I forgot you'd be on this one...

[origami_ninja]

[Rather than let the papers flutter over to him, she passes them over by hand. It's a small gesture of manners.]

These are for you. I'm not certain if you had the chance to hear my announcement. If not, I can explain what the coloured papers are for.

[endgames]

[He takes them, spreading them in his hands so he can see each color.]

Go ahead.

[origami_ninja]

Red is to indicate that someone is hurt. Orange is for danger, and blue indicates a safe zone where it would be all right to sit, rest, and have something small to eat. The white ones are for messages. I can ensure they're delivered to the correct people.

[Simple and subtle. Just the way she likes things to be. She knows she doesn't have to mention to Shikamaru that she can use the papers as an extension of her senses.]

Feel free to distribute the sets of paper accordingly.

[generalflirt]

[And just after they arrive, Masaomi (who has the Rhydon ball in his hand, having found Shikamaru left it at home and...]

Hey bro.

[He says, tapping him on the back of the head shortly after they arrie]

[endgames]

[He feels like he blinked and someone put his brain in a blender.

Still on high alert from the shinobi war, he turns around in an instant feeling the pressure on his head and-- recognizes Masaomi, thankfully. After a second of saying nothing, that seems to startle some comprehension finally. Masaomi. White cotton pants. That would mean...]

Hey... [Distracted. He looks away from him to give this area a second look, but no. This place is still unfamiliar.] This isn't Luceti.

[generalflirt]

You went home? [Wait, he's not in clothes???? What??? Or is he? I don't even know. Oh well, he tilts his head to the side]

[endgames]

[Yup. New feather pants. Not having had the opportunity to change, he has his regular clothes in hand, although they look like they've already been through a war zone. More telling than any of that with him shirtless, however, is the absence of the scars on his stomach.]

...Yeah. [A pause, because that's a harsh truth to be hit with. If he's here he's not there.] Same world, anyways.