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TERRACE Draft - Day 1

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

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Yeah? [Curious, but flat. To the point. His eyes narrow a little and whole he keeps the same pose, his expression changes dramatically]

It was a war. There were losses. Heavy ones, in numbers alone, and Shikamaru was leading a large portion of the army for most of that.

[It's still not time to dwell on it, the fact that each number is a name, each name is a person, and some of those people were friends or family. Chouji hasn't talked to anyone except Sakura about the more specific, personal losses. Even then, they danced around the subject, offering support without overt discussion. Shikamaru lost more than either of them.

This will do for a start.]

Yeah? That's surprising. [Shikamaru's one of the most capable people he knows, the idea that he would have the most casualties is just weird for him to think about. His eyes go a little wider but he nods all the same.

It must have been something out of his control, he supposes.]

They raised an army of the dead, as well as a bunch of clones with the ability to impersonate our own soldiers. Making us fight people we loved and respected, infiltrating our ranks... [He's still angry at the tactic, the past week nowhere near enough distance when he's been keeping most things to himself. He aches from fighting Asuma and from losing a friend and two men who were like uncles. And he's talking now. The bitterness in Chouji's voice fades away into something dull and quiet when he continues.]

Well over fifty percent in less than two days. The casualty rate. [No one can make it through odds like that without loss. Even if Chouji doesn't say who, he trusts Masaomi to infer that Shikamaru has someone to grieve for. Add into that Shikamaru's strong sense of responsibility, and the death toll weighs even more heavily.]

"You're screwing with me" He says before thinking. It's something which comes out before he can filter anything in his brain or before he can process the information internally. Because, of course, that percentage is insane - absurd, you might even go as far as to say.

Linda, for her part, simply screws up her eyes as she tries to think about what that actually means. Like, for example, how can dead people fight? Impersonating she understands well enough, but that other thing just seems silly.

Of course, Chouji is not screwing with him, and pulling a hand up to the neck of his vest, he tugs at it slightly and nods. No, fifty percent is insane. No one would come out without losing someone or another treasured, and if Shikamaru got the brunt of it, his individual unit probably had even more losses proportionally.

Chouji waits before he takes the initial reaction as genuine disbelief, Masaomi's nod countering the words before Chouji has to insist that he's telling the truth. It's even worse, actually. Not in terms of power balance, because Konoha wouldn't stand a chance otherwise, but in scale.

"Not just Konoha, either. It's probably distributed evenly because we were allied and our forces mixed. All five of the major hidden villages have sustained that kind of loss." Of course that leaves the question of who they were fighting against, but then, an enemy who can raise armies of clones and corpses does not need to have a significant presence in numbers prior to his attack.

Another pause as Chouji considers things. "He knew about raising the dead before I got here, and I only told him one other thing when I arrived. We fought Asuma-sensei the first day, Shikamaru and Ino and I." That was bad enough, but at least there was some sense of closure or resolution. The large scale loss of life and the loss of his father are infinitely worse. Shikaku-san was the one who always helped Shikamaru through things like this. Who's going to do that now? Chouji doesn't know how, and it hurts.

"Shikamaru's sorting through the rest of it for the first time." He shakes his head. Chouji is still sorting through it too, hasn't let himself process everything. He realizes now that he was waiting to make a decision first. Chouji wanted to know how much he ought to tell his teammates before he dealt with anything, carrying their grief for them and walking on eggshells in the meantime. He doesn't have to decide for Shikamaru anymore, but now he wishes he did.

Okay first things first: The revelation that they fought Asuma again makes his eyes widen. He thinks back on when Asume went home, that reaction--

And then he adopts a more serious expression. And with his eyes narrowed, he nods again. He's not sure how to respond or why Chouji is infodumping on him - or why the infodump is so vague but... he'll figure out in time what's up here.

"The only person who's ever been good at helping him through things is his father." He frowns. "We'll have to pick up the slack here." And Chouji will have to keep doing it if (when) they eventually go home. He's not saying it. This is the closest Chouji will come to telling Masaomi exactly who died unless asked outright.

Even now he buffers it with the word 'here.' As if it's temporary. As if Shikaku will still be there to help when Shikamaru goes home.

Edited (what are verb tenses?) 2013-05-06 13:13 (UTC)

And then his expression flatlines. Yeah, his dad is the only one who can handle it, huh? We'll have to pick up the slack, huh? Where was Chouji when Asuma showed up. Where was his dad when Asuma left to die. Where were either of them when Hidan showed up? Where was anyone from their world to handle any of that? Ino was around, sure, but what good has she been. Temari was around, fine, but what good has she--

He's being unfair in this moment, and he knows it. Which is probably why after a moment of having a very, very flat expression to follow up his solemn nod-

He plasters a wide smile on his face so naturally that few would doubt that flat look even happened. It doesn't meet his eyes, but the snort which comes with probably cements the easy image.

In fact, he slips up to his feet all in one movement and he puts a finger under Chouji's chin as he leans down toward the guys's face, still grinning.

"Hey, hey. Smile. We got this, my man."

Chouji's eyes narrow. Smile? That piece of advice isn't going to go over well at this point, nor is Masaomi's grin. Not when Chouji can still picture the look on Shikamaru's face at the attack on headquarters. Maybe it's equally unfair to hold Masaomi's casual attitude against him when Chouji hasn't been entirely forthcoming. He knows this on some level. Chouji doesn't snap, but his voice is strained as he answers, "I'm glad you're so confident. I'll let Shikamaru tell you the rest of it."

And he doesn't smile.

Ordinarily Chouji appreciates optimism and does his best to maintain it, but he just can't seem to manage that. Not right now.

"Sure thing, big chief."

And he cackles one more time, motioning for Linda to scurry up onto his shoulder. He's still snickering a little as he makes to lightly punch Chouji in the shoulder - a sign of companionship, clearly - before going to walk off. The grin remains plastered on his face the whole time, either way.

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TERRACE Draft - Day 1

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surprose

'hooray!' seems an inappropriate response given the content of our tags

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Probably would be

Re: Probably would be

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