Post-Event Blues

[lucetimods]

Who: Everybody, everybody!
What: The battle is won. Now what?
When: The eleventh, twelfth, and onward
Where: Luceti
Summary: With Zompano dead and the cultists routed, Luceti is restored. Kind of.
Rating: F for Feels

On the eleventh, things were slowly breaking down. Memories of their true lives were breaking through. The village, scarred by the battle with the cultists, began to rebuild itself. Community buildings that had vanished were returned to their rightful places. The battle dome was uncovered from the earth that had covered it. Hundreds and hundreds of fake homes slowly faded away. Paved roads gave way to trees and grass. It was an incredible sight for anyone who was willing to sit aroun and watch it happen.

Things wouldn't be easy for the villagers, though. The memories perpetuated by the last ten days would not be easily removed. The feelings and hatreds it had created would take time to conquer and remove. Perhaps, in a way, that was Zompano's nastiest trick of all. The village itself may heal from his invasion, but it would take far more than a few Shifts to fix the people left behind.

Towards the end of the day, their wings returned. Much like some of the buildings, they seemed to just reappear, as if they had never been gone. Their barcodes became visible again as a singular reminder that they were, ultimately, just the property of another entity who as a whole were not much better than Count Zompano.

By the twelfth, the village looked as though nothing had ever happened. Sure, the contents of buildings might have been messed up or destroyed during the battles, but things were otherwise as they were supposed to be. The night before, people would have had to find their old beds to go sleep in, as they no longer possessed the old ones granted to them in another life.

The village was peaceful.

Modly Note: That wraps up the event. As noted in the prose above, you have the option to play up the after effects of the event more than in other ones. While it won't have the same impact universally, the Shift was constructed in such a way that people may have difficulty shaking off the emotions they developed during the event. In effect, it was a cruel send off to Luceti so they would have to deal with the loathing and hatred that came with the less desirable parts of it. Of course, that means the feelings of familial bonds will also persist for awhile as well. It's up to you, as players, to decide how much or little to play with it!

Comments

[therewerefifty]

That honestly takes her by surprise. Chouji hadn't seemed the type to play secretive ninja... but after blinking a moment, she smiles with near amusement.

"You shinobi really are everywhere. I didn't know that. But I've met quite a few of you already."

[16autumnroad]

Makie isn't the only one surprised. Chouji's own father doubted his suitability for the vocation for a time, thinking his son perhaps too soft-hearted. Underneath the kind heart and the love of butterflies, though, the legacy of his clan and their techniques are very important to him, as is fighting to protect his friends, his clan, and his village.

"There are a lot of us. Which ones have you met?"

[therewerefifty]

"Let me think..." She's met them all over the place. And most of them wear those headbands...

"Shikamaru, of course. Lee and his...teacher." Father? They look similar, but she can't be sure. "Tenten. Temari. Konan." Is she missing anyone? Probably. She smiles. "And of course, you."

For real this time.

[16autumnroad]

"Gai and Lee do look a lot alike, huh? And they act even more alike."

"There are actually quite a few more of us. I'm pretty sure Luceti has taken more from my world than any other." That's an interesting thought, and not a particularly reassuring one. Thus far, they've been lucky with enemy nins. Itachi, Konan, and Nagato are not actively seeking to harm anyone. And Sasuke comes from a time when he supposedly bears no ill will either. Things could get messy very quickly if different people, or people from different times, were brought to Luceti. No sense worrying now, though. Chouji is just grateful he and his teammates are together.

/coughs

[therewerefifty]

"Perhaps they find you interesting." The science for any other possible reason is well beyond Makie, so she stays with a light comment. "Have any of the people from your world returned home again?"

[16autumnroad]

"Supposedly the world is pulling people in on its own, rather than us being chosen by people." Chouji isn't sure how much of that he believes, but generally follows Shikamaru's lead when it comes to analyzing the situation.

"A lot. I was here once before, even if I don't remember it, went home, and came back a year and a half later. Shikamaru was only gone for about ten minutes to spend a few months at home. I didn't even realize until after he got back. Others have come and gone a couple times." He frowns. "Some have actually returned home. Asuma-sensei was here twice, but he's gone again." Not that there's anything for him to go back to, which is the problem. Asuma is going back to be buried in the ground and then revived to fight against his village and his students.

[therewerefifty]

"Only ten minutes..." Makie blinks. That's a very short time to have gone for so long. The concept of time there is a little dizzying. "Is it very hard? To come back and find you've been here before?"

[16autumnroad]

"It's just strange. I always felt bad when I met someone who knew me before, but couldn't even remember them." That wasn't the worst of it, though.

"I think what I minded most was that I wasn't here sooner. Shikamaru was here two and a half years before I arrived the second time. A lot of that was without me. Ino was here a year and a half. I would have been here for them if I had a choice."

[therewerefifty]

She smiles a little. "I understand. It's hard not to be there for someone close to you. Especially in a situation like this... I think I'd have hated to arrive and found the person I care about on their own."

[16autumnroad]

"Exactly. And Shikamaru and Ino are my teammates. We aren't just friends, we've also worked together and relied on one another for years." He tilts his head in consideration, though. "No one's really on their own here, though. People in Luceti are pretty good at looking out for each other."

That was as disconcerting as anything else, actually. That they'd built lives for themselves here, with people Chouji had never met. He wouldn't have wished otherwise, it just didn't feel right that he didn't know.

[therewerefifty]

"They are." It's a fact she found surprising at first, but less so as time went on and she realised fully the nature of Luceti.

"I haven't met Ino, yet. Do shinobi often work in three man teams?" After a moment, she blinks as another thought occurs to her. "You don't have to tell me, of course. It's just curiosity on my part."

[16autumnroad]

She isn't asking about anything that's not common knowledge in Chouji'is world. No secret techniques or training methods, nothing that isn't known even to the civilians. There's no reason not to answer.

"Always. Or at least, that's the standard starting team size, though it gets shuffled around later as needed. When we graduate the Academy, we're put into three-man cells under the command of a jounin, a more advanced ninja. He's responsible for continuing to train us. We've been a team since we were twelve."

[therewerefifty]

"It sounds well organised." She wonders if shinobi in her own world are organised along the same lines. Hard to know when you've never really seen one. "I didn't realise you started so young. Although...I suppose I should have known better." It's not like Shikamaru is exactly very old.

[16autumnroad]

"Ah, yeah. We start training at six, and then once teams form, our first bunch of missions are really easy stuff. Mostly household chores, heavy lifting, or catching lost cats." He grimaces at that one. Even years later, Tora is a nightmare of a cat. "They wait till we can work together at least a little before sending us out on anything dangerous."

At least in theory. Team Seven did get that one C-rank that somehow turned into an A-rank.

[therewerefifty]

"I see." She looks amused. Catching lost cats? "Is it something you choose? The training? Or is it a ...a hereditary duty?"

[16autumnroad]

He's been thinking about this a lot today, given a conversation with Prim early in the morning. "I always knew I was going to be a shinobi," he says thoughtfully. "Shikamaru too. I guess we did have a choice in the matter, but we come from ninja clans. I'm supposed to inherit leadership of mine, and someone else would have to take over if I hadn't become a ninja."

[therewerefifty]

"Your world's ninja...are not so different from samurai, in that regard." She looks at the table. "It's form and honour that require an heir to keep the traditions of the house.

What happens to you if you don't?"

[16autumnroad]

"I don't know. If there weren't someone to take over in my stead... I don't like to think of the clan ending." Chouji loves his clan. He does place value on tradition, and he respects his father and the generations that came before him.

"I'll be the sixteenth head of my clan. The Akimichi clan has existed and worked with Shikamaru and Ino's clans since long before my village was even founded. I wear the same kanji on my armor as those before me, swear the same oaths, pierce my ears as a reminder of those oaths. Following traditions is important, but I don't mind those." Except the ear piercing years before it happened, when he was very young and complained of how he hated pain. Now, a shinobi, that pain is such a minor one, but the earrings are still a reminder. At least, when Shifts don't interfere. His ears were pierced the whole time, and he remembered nothing, not even that Ino was important to him.

[therewerefifty]

She smiles. "It's...good to be proud of your heritage and traditions. It sounds like you have a life you're content with."

[16autumnroad]

He gives that all the consideration it deserves. "Before coming here I couldn't imagine anything else. I think under different circumstances, I could maye be happy cooking or farming. As for home..." Chouji shakes his head. "It's the middle of a war there. I can't be content until that's over."

Being here is a strange kind of limbo, as things are put on hold indefinitely. Chouji has given up on holding off on his life until he does go home, but the knowledge of things left undone weighs on him each time he thinks of it.

[therewerefifty]

A war...

That's a new piece of information.

"Who are you warring against?"

[16autumnroad]

"It's different from previous wars, because this time all the shinobi nations are allied against another threat. They're dangerous, but at least we've managed to unite all the separate forces." Time to downplay the war. Chouji doesn't want Makie worrying any more than she already will. And the number of casualties they've taken... his teammates' fathers...

The only way Chouji manages knowing that the war is half over and awaiting his return is by putting it on hold completely. He can't think too hard about it here.

And he does believe in Naruto, in all of the comrades fighting by his side. He has to believe they'll win, or there's nothing for any of them to go back to. Everyone from his world would be in the same position as Neji, as Asuma-sensei, as Kushina-san and the Yondaime, but without even the hope of life going on for those they love.

[therewerefifty]

Just that small piece of information tells Makie it's complicated beyond an easy understanding for someone not of that world to begin with. Her look is measuring, threaded with worry, but there's very little she can do.

"I'm sorry to hear that," she says simply. "I hope you manage to end it swiftly when you return."