（ orochimaru, her mind supplies instantly. she knows that he helped in the war. she knows that he was once her master's precious comrade. but she has read the reports on what was found in his laboratory before he was driven from konoha, photographs of vivisected bodies and horrific experiments. people like yamato were the lucky ones. 'lucky'.
and then, she's still furious over what he did to sasuke. the agony of the curse mark, the psychological torture and the years with him that orochimaru took from her and naruto.
no amount of mercy would stay her hand.
she pulls up both her legs, heels balanced on the edge of the seat, wrapping her arms around her knees. the chair is large enough it seems to swallow her up. ）
Often... bad people will do just enough good things to make people doubt themselves when it comes to discerning their intent. It sounds to me like that's what this vampire was doing.
（ danzō, too, comes to mind. ）
As for me... there's a man in my world who wants immortality at any cost. He too fears death. He's hurt or killed many people over the years, many of whom I knew and cared for. He helped us win a war, but I don't think that will ever be enough to make amends for his actions.
[He listens to her with his full attention, likewise not surprised by anything she's telling him. There are plenty of people like that in the world, vampire, or human, or ninja even.]
It seems we know similar people. This vampire is trying to create the perfect being to find immortality.
[Wanting to be immortal, to be perfect. To find a way for whatever mixture of vampire and human can live with all of the powers and none of the weaknesses.]
Do you think it would make things right? If you could get rid of him.
（ her smile is almost more a baring of her teeth. ）
Depends on your definition of 'right'. Nothing will ever give back the lives he stole. Maybe the people he hurt would find some peace in his being dead, but peace isn't the same thing as having never been hurt at all.
（ she exhales, and then lets both heels slip off the seat of the chair to the floor with a faint thump, muffled a little by the soft-soled silicon of her shoes. ）
But if it meant he couldn't hurt anyone else, it would be worth it.
（ she's never really been good at accepting sympathy. it's hard to see yourself as deserving of it when all the people around you have seen and suffered so much more, so she just fidgets a moment in brief discomfort, and then shakes her head. ）
Kind of a depressing topic, huh?
（ a flash of self-deprecating humour. ）
Well, if your vampire ever shows up... I'll help you if I can.
[He at least doesn’t press it. It isn’t as if he takes sympathy well, only he knows what he is supposed to politely say when receiving it maybe.
He thinks about giving her (unintentionally) a Sasuke line: “It’s something I have to do on my own.” It is really, but he hasn’t forgotten how disgruntled she gets when it seems like her skills aren’t taken seriously.
So she is spared, and perhaps he is spared from being punched.]
Then I should thank you. I’m not sure if it’s better or worst if he should be here. As long as he isn’t on the Frontier, I suppose that’s the better choice.
（ it's so weird to be around someone who Learns??? who are you. who did this. what is happening, actually?? it's all so strange and wildly emotionally healthy, literally couldn't be her world, excuse her.
but she just gives him a bit of a tired, sideways smile. ）
Without dismissing her entirely, he returns to what he's doing so that he isn't wasting valuable multitasking time while he doesn't requiring giving her full and serious attention.]
A long time ago, it was a planet with continents and many countries, and all of them had names. After the humans destroyed themselves and the ecosystem, it became a dangerous and desolate place until the Nobles established their own civilization. A lot of the planet remained wilderness or desert. They simply called it the Frontier and divided it into cardinal regions.
But aliens came from space, wanting conquest, and their war with the Nobles destroyed much of the remaining land.
（ why is it always aliens, honestly? staring directly @ ōtsutsuki like 'ho, this u?'
she scoots her chair a bit closer, enough so that she can use the stool she'd formerly sat on as a footrest while watching him work. there's something soothing in it, just sort of existing in the same space as someone else. the thrum of the machines, the familiar scent of a laboratory... it's maybe the closest she's felt to being at home outside of her own door in the shadowlands.
she laces her fingers over her abdomen, leaning back in her chair. it's almost a deliberate uncoiling of tension — whether or not he realizes it, he's setting her at ease.
humans destroying themselves, huh...? where has she heard that before? the shinobi world nearly tore itself apart over land and resources and revenge long before the villages were ever settled.
she studies him in profile for a long moment, and then gently — ）
Is that why you're so protective of them? Humans, I mean.
[She is relaxing in his presence... This is wild to him, someone people always do a lot to avoid or run out of town. But he just continues to work, not wanting to disturb the surface tension of their presently peaceful pond and startle her away with awareness.
Even after she asks he question, he is quiet for a long time. There are a lot of reasons for what she asks, and all of them are important to him. One is simply that it feels like the right thing to do for him.
（ there's a context here she doesn't understand. maybe it's a fundamental lack of knowledge about his world or how it works, the nature of vampires or how they reproduce. after all, the only things she knows have been cobbled together piecemeal between d and augustine — that ominous statement about absconding with beautiful women. are they all like that? they must be, or else he wouldn't hunt them.
she won't say she's not curious, exactly, but something about his tone discourages further question. he's been so open, so willing to answer her or give her information, that the sudden recalcitrance is almost surprising. how can she do anything else but respect it?
she hasn't always known better, when it comes to the autonomy of those around her. some lessons are hard-won, but it's why after a moment she says: ）
Okay, how's this for another question? Tell me about the hat.
（ it's lightly said. maybe a bit clumsy, but clearly handing him a way to change the subject if he wants to.
talk about the hat, d. it's ridiculous. she loves it.
hopefully the hat's not also The Result of Trauma, please, she'd die and sink right into the floor. ）
[Sakura really did try to find a conversation worth having, and he really didn't want to startle her from being comfortable. And yet. Here he is, saying words, as usual. This is why he mostly chooses to say nothing instead.
He's kind, but doesn't quite know how to connect sometimes with the people he always holds at arm's length. Her not pressing is fine; he hadn't necessarily wanted it to be a full conversation, only an answer to a question. Regardless, it may be a conversation they ultimately return to when she passes through his door.
He pauses long enough to glance in her direction, and then he looks at the hat where it still sits after being removed.] It's only a hat. [Imagine if he had given a tragic hat backstory. He goes back to working with the data.]
（ is it a joke? she lifts a hand to her mouth to stifle a bit of a giggle, because she's genuinely not sure if she's supposed to be laughing or not, but at least it dispelled the obvious Traumelephant in the room, you know? ）
Might look nice with a feather. Maybe one of those harpies...?
also wow that sure is a tiny nugget of validation that just. turns her a very unfortunate cherry tomato red, and she is actually... kind of speechless? l'il bit? she just sort of bluescreens in a flummox. who says random... cute, thoughtful things like that out of nowhere?
congrats, d, she has absolutely nothing to say to that. ）
[Ok, so maybe the black and pink don’t clash as badly as initially thought.
He only glances at her quickly again to make sure she hasn’t died, but he is satisfied with the lack of response. He can really just say things without inward reproductions, huh? (This is a lie; the parasite in his left hand gives him a lot of shit, but she has not had to meet that thing yet. She unfortunately will later probably.)
Even though silence doesn’t bother him, he can actually make conversation sometimes. Wow!]
What makes you so interested in my hat?
he and d in the same room would be hilarious. negative talking.
[Ah. Sweet Sakura… He pauses and gives her his undivided attention like before.
But debates whether he wants to say too much because of how she avoided darker topics. It’s not… that dark, but still. It isn’t fashion. And it’s also quite telling of his personal limitations… sort of.]
Not exactly. The weather and temperatures on the planet are controlled artificially in different regions.
Vampires are weak against sunlight. It burns them into dust because they are creatures of the night.
（ 'sweet' he says like her dumb shinobi brain didn't just go into fucking overdrive latching onto that weakness like a baby's palmar grasp reflex. sakura, who makes a habit of winning her fights by pretending weakness or feigning stupidity until the enemy quite neatly does her job for her: all ears.
and she does hate it, a little. the way she immediately recalibrates what she knows of him, shuffling around information, sorting it into neat files. weaknesses, which had before only had humans now has a second entry. not like it matters here, in this land with no sun — but it's knowledge. knowledge, more than anything else, has been the thing to keep her alive.
she wonders if it's the same for augustine. ）
I see. I suppose it makes sense for the power you've described to have a drawback.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cw... orochimaru??? (medical experimentation/torture refs)
and then, she's still furious over what he did to sasuke. the agony of the curse mark, the psychological torture and the years with him that orochimaru took from her and naruto.
no amount of mercy would stay her hand.
she pulls up both her legs, heels balanced on the edge of the seat, wrapping her arms around her knees. the chair is large enough it seems to swallow her up. ）
Often... bad people will do just enough good things to make people doubt themselves when it comes to discerning their intent. It sounds to me like that's what this vampire was doing.
（ danzō, too, comes to mind. ）
As for me... there's a man in my world who wants immortality at any cost. He too fears death. He's hurt or killed many people over the years, many of whom I knew and cared for. He helped us win a war, but I don't think that will ever be enough to make amends for his actions.
（ we don't talk about boruto. ）
no subject
It seems we know similar people. This vampire is trying to create the perfect being to find immortality.
[Wanting to be immortal, to be perfect. To find a way for whatever mixture of vampire and human can live with all of the powers and none of the weaknesses.]
Do you think it would make things right? If you could get rid of him.
no subject
Depends on your definition of 'right'. Nothing will ever give back the lives he stole. Maybe the people he hurt would find some peace in his being dead, but peace isn't the same thing as having never been hurt at all.
（ she exhales, and then lets both heels slip off the seat of the chair to the floor with a faint thump, muffled a little by the soft-soled silicon of her shoes. ）
But if it meant he couldn't hurt anyone else, it would be worth it.
no subject
[It may not be right per say, but it feels like something he should be doing to in the long run.
Confronting the vampire who created them all and who continues to try to keep a piece of them alive in some twisted way.
Is that wrong of him to do, being half of a vampire himself?]
I’m sorry for the ones you’ve lost. Even if it had only been you to have known them, I think that would be enough.
[To make their lives worth it, he means. Simply existing and having been known by another.]
no subject
（ she's never really been good at accepting sympathy. it's hard to see yourself as deserving of it when all the people around you have seen and suffered so much more, so she just fidgets a moment in brief discomfort, and then shakes her head. ）
Kind of a depressing topic, huh?
（ a flash of self-deprecating humour. ）
Well, if your vampire ever shows up... I'll help you if I can.
no subject
He thinks about giving her (unintentionally) a Sasuke line: “It’s something I have to do on my own.” It is really, but he hasn’t forgotten how disgruntled she gets when it seems like her skills aren’t taken seriously.
So she is spared, and perhaps he is spared from being punched.]
Then I should thank you. I’m not sure if it’s better or worst if he should be here. As long as he isn’t on the Frontier, I suppose that’s the better choice.
no subject
but she just gives him a bit of a tired, sideways smile. ）
Why do they call it 'the Frontier', anyway?
（ maybe this will be a lighter topic...? ）
no subject
Without dismissing her entirely, he returns to what he's doing so that he isn't wasting valuable multitasking time while he doesn't requiring giving her full and serious attention.]
A long time ago, it was a planet with continents and many countries, and all of them had names. After the humans destroyed themselves and the ecosystem, it became a dangerous and desolate place until the Nobles established their own civilization. A lot of the planet remained wilderness or desert. They simply called it the Frontier and divided it into cardinal regions.
But aliens came from space, wanting conquest, and their war with the Nobles destroyed much of the remaining land.
no subject
she scoots her chair a bit closer, enough so that she can use the stool she'd formerly sat on as a footrest while watching him work. there's something soothing in it, just sort of existing in the same space as someone else. the thrum of the machines, the familiar scent of a laboratory... it's maybe the closest she's felt to being at home outside of her own door in the shadowlands.
she laces her fingers over her abdomen, leaning back in her chair. it's almost a deliberate uncoiling of tension — whether or not he realizes it, he's setting her at ease.
humans destroying themselves, huh...? where has she heard that before? the shinobi world nearly tore itself apart over land and resources and revenge long before the villages were ever settled.
she studies him in profile for a long moment, and then gently — ）
Is that why you're so protective of them? Humans, I mean.
no subject
Even after she asks he question, he is quiet for a long time. There are a lot of reasons for what she asks, and all of them are important to him. One is simply that it feels like the right thing to do for him.
But another...]
My mother was human.
[His voice is low, and it's all he says.]
no subject
she won't say she's not curious, exactly, but something about his tone discourages further question. he's been so open, so willing to answer her or give her information, that the sudden recalcitrance is almost surprising. how can she do anything else but respect it?
she hasn't always known better, when it comes to the autonomy of those around her. some lessons are hard-won, but it's why after a moment she says: ）
Okay, how's this for another question? Tell me about the hat.
（ it's lightly said. maybe a bit clumsy, but clearly handing him a way to change the subject if he wants to.
talk about the hat, d. it's ridiculous. she loves it.
hopefully the hat's not also The Result of Trauma, please, she'd die and sink right into the floor. ）
no subject
He's kind, but doesn't quite know how to connect sometimes with the people he always holds at arm's length. Her not pressing is fine; he hadn't necessarily wanted it to be a full conversation, only an answer to a question. Regardless, it may be a conversation they ultimately return to when she passes through his door.
He pauses long enough to glance in her direction, and then he looks at the hat where it still sits after being removed.] It's only a hat. [Imagine if he had given a tragic hat backstory. He goes back to working with the data.]
I paid good money for it.
[Maybe an attempt at a joke...?]
no subject
Might look nice with a feather. Maybe one of those harpies...?
no subject
Are you asking me to kill a creature just for one of their feathers for my hat...?
[He glances sidelong at her briefly.]
no subject
（ look it's ~fashion~, d. just roll with it. ）
no subject
Upward…?]
Are you offering to buy me one then?
no subject
oh no.
oh no. she's practically beaming at him in return, utterly pleased with herself. ）
I'm getting you a pink one.
（ yep. that's it. signed and sealed. ）
no subject
He again glances at her out of the corner of his eye.]
I don’t mind.
[Pink, that is. It will clash badly with the black, but he isn’t afraid of pink.]
It will match your hair.
you almost got an itachi tag instead and that would make this thread wild
also wow that sure is a tiny nugget of validation that just. turns her a very unfortunate cherry tomato red, and she is actually... kind of speechless? l'il bit? she just sort of bluescreens in a flummox. who says random... cute, thoughtful things like that out of nowhere?
congrats, d, she has absolutely nothing to say to that. ）
i would have howled with laughter NIISAN!!!
He only glances at her quickly again to make sure she hasn’t died, but he is satisfied with the lack of response. He can really just say things without inward reproductions, huh? (This is a lie; the parasite in his left hand gives him a lot of shit, but she has not had to meet that thing yet. She unfortunately will later probably.)
Even though silence doesn’t bother him, he can actually make conversation sometimes. Wow!]
What makes you so interested in my hat?
he and d in the same room would be hilarious. negative talking.
A girl can't ask about fashion? Geeze...
（ yes, that hat is fashion. very fashion. much gothic. ）
two traumatized prodigies who have a lot of love who don’t talk
I see.
[Her fashion knowledge. Unfortunately, he is a stupid guy.]
I wear it for utility. It protected my skin from the sun.
should i be asking what happened to d's mom...........
（ look... she currently has no idea vampires are weak to the sun, okay. not even a thought in her head. ）
it’s okay probably…
But debates whether he wants to say too much because of how she avoided darker topics. It’s not… that dark, but still. It isn’t fashion. And it’s also quite telling of his personal limitations… sort of.]
Not exactly. The weather and temperatures on the planet are controlled artificially in different regions.
Vampires are weak against sunlight. It burns them into dust because they are creatures of the night.
that's the opposite of reassuring
and she does hate it, a little. the way she immediately recalibrates what she knows of him, shuffling around information, sorting it into neat files. weaknesses, which had before only had humans now has a second entry. not like it matters here, in this land with no sun — but it's knowledge. knowledge, more than anything else, has been the thing to keep her alive.
she wonders if it's the same for augustine. ）
I see. I suppose it makes sense for the power you've described to have a drawback.
（ everything has a cost, after all. ）
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)