Appointments Post ( II )

[generalflirt]

This post here is for personal conversations which should happen but one or both of us doesn't want to put up a new post/log and thus we will just thread it out here. This can be used to thread with Masaomi anytime and anywhere. This can either be in person (with action), or via the journal's call feature (voice and/or written).

When replying to this post please mark in the subject line when and how it is taking place EX:
[Action, March 11th]
[Voice, September 8th]
Written, June 10th]

(Link to old one here)

Comments

[generalflirt]

You can only say that because you are cool!

[Now he's just whining. Pettily.]

[endgames]

Your story is changing. [He yawns.] I'm just being me, besides. It's not like I know shit about these things.

[Because really. Can you see him knowing how to handle any other part of the relationship? Until two days ago he didn't even know he could manage that much.]

[generalflirt]

Just like being clean.

[GO SHOWER.

HE lounges a bit though]

[markofthebrave]

Oh, well- [blushing very, very faintly, Katara makes a small hand motion. The fog clears away from them., their own private circle of clear air.] Better?

[generalflirt]

Like I said earlier, you might even call it romantic.

[He smiles, and then... well, he wants to sit.]

That said, I'm going to take a seat.

[ He has no idea if she wants to go or not (maybe the confession means she doesn't want to stick around him, too awkward for her) but he's going to start to walk towards one of the benches after motioning for the fact he's going to do that. He lets the invitation if she wants to come hang in the air. He wants to seat either way He would sure like her to stay, but.]

[endgames]

[Siiigh.

He's still kind of half-slouched from before and attempts to prop himself up with the one elbow. He's not very coordinated right now so it takes a couple tries to sit back up. But A for Effort.

Or at least a B-]

[markofthebrave]

You did not say that.

[It's said with a small smile, but she follows him over to sit next to him on the bench, concerned.]

[generalflirt]

Did too, I checked the transcript. [And... seat. Ah. He sighs in visible relief at sitting again and arches his back a bit to lean against the bench's back more. There's a crack. Apparently he was stiff too]

[markofthebrave]

And there isn't any transcript.

[She tilts her head and looks at him.]

Are you okay?

[generalflirt]

I'm sore. I'm tired. [And he tilts his head back to look up at the sun. Man, the sun. He's missed the sun. He wonders if Aang told her that it was a perpetual night in Vaskoth] But I've spent the last several days in a deep darkness, and so to darkness [sleep] is the last place I want to return.

[markofthebrave]

Do you want to talk about it?

[generalflirt]

[He's still staring up at the sky and he considers... just a moment before he makes a noise of agreement]

Mm, if you want to hear me tell it.

[generalflirt]

[Masaomi groans. If he's going to be like that... He stands himself, wincing a bit as he gets to his feet and then offers his friend a hand up]

[markofthebrave]

[Katara sobers further.]

Of course I do.

[generalflirt]

[He keeps looking up at the sky - even in their "bubble" it's pretty hard to see it clearly through the fog. But... he can still see it. He considers what he should be starting with. His mouth opens and closes before, finally.]

...Burnt flesh smells really bad.

[markofthebrave]

[She gasps in quiet, private horror even as her eyes sharpen, looking him over for burns. Her hand automatically doesn't stop, it goes directly to the necklace she never takes off.]

I know.

[generalflirt]

[NO BURNS. Or at least, no obvious ones. Lots of bruises, a few cuts which haven't healed entirely]

Mmm. [Of course she would. He knows they fought the Fire Nation and he knows that her mother died for it. But that's almost beside the point right now. He looks still from the sky, but now raises his arm to look like he's reaching for the sky. The left arm, which has her bracelet on his wrist]

I probably knew that already, honestly. I mean, I'm friends with Gold, right? You saw way back on the farms. [He uses a Typhlosion, a fire badger. He burns the Third Party to ashes if he can help it. Maybe he burns them too fast that the smell never hit him before, he can't be sure] But... I guess I never thought I'd be lighting humans - or things which were them once? I don't know what you'd call it, haaah....

[Lighting them on fire]

[markofthebrave]

[Katara went very, very still.

Her heart, on the other hand, didn't. She felt like it was drilling through her chest.]

What? [She licked her lips, every muscle in her body tense.] What are you talking about, Masaomi.

[generalflirt]

...The virus has three stages. Three... types. In the first stage, people just look like they're getting the flu. Second stage, they gut crazy and super strong. I could deal with both of those, just knock them out. Put them somewhere to wait to get better, right? Or just... run.

[And then he licks his lips.]

But... the final one. In the final one, Katara, people are falling apart. They're dead, Katara. You can see it in their eyes, and I saw- their organs are liquid. But they're still walking, still trying to kill us or infect us or whatever they want to do.

[And he bites his lip, inhaling, before he speaks again-] And... And those ones get up, even after they're down. Even when you break their bones. Even fatal wounds. I was guarding the hospital, I couldn't afford to lose.

[And he breathes one more time before-]

So when they were down... when they were what should be called "dead" - I burned the bodies, to make sure they wouldn't get up again.

[endgames]

[Shikamaru takes it with relief, plainly grateful.] Thanks.

[When he's up he puts a hand on Masaomi's shoulder to steady himself, then frowns and leaves it there for a moment. Not walking off just yet.]

How are you? Really?

[It's a question he's gone back and forth on asking. Some of it is obvious - that Masaomi is clean makes the fatigue on his face stand out more. He knows not all of it can be from fighting.

Skills and abilities are obvious. Sometimes, though, he has to remind himself that his friends aren't ninjas in any sense. Masaomi included.]

[generalflirt]

[He's silent, just a moment. He wants to retort: How are you? But instead, he just...]

Does your academy prepare you for burning corpses, Shikamaru? Those last three days, I had to burn them do they wouldn't get up and kill us.

[endgames]

[Yes. But it didn't mean anything, every time he's been around one or touched one, or done it himself. So he doesn't say that.]

If you were hoping for tips, they don't have any good ones.

[His hand is heavier though, holding Masaomi's shoulder because he can't share his sympathy in words.]

[markofthebrave]

[She'd heard about the breakdown of the disease from her work with Trafalgar, but medical notes didn't describe it with the same emotion as this. And all of her research supported what he was saying to be true - walking dead.

The virus had killed them.

But they could still feel.]

I see.

[Tentatively, she put her hand on his shoulder.

Breathe.]

That sounds horrible. I'm sorry that you had to do it.

[generalflirt]

Aaah. I sort of figured.

[With... a light smile. Which doesn't have anything to do with anything, but it's easy, really, to smile]

[generalflirt]

Mm. [It was. And he lets his arm down now. To his side, but his arm (that one or the other one, whichever is the opposite of the shoulder her hand is on) to rest on top of hers. He still is, perhaps stubbornly, looking up at the sky]

I did have to. [He did have to.

He exhales.] If I was a "hero," I'd probably be dead.