（ 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.
Vampires have many more weaknesses than they want to acknowledge.
[He sounds kind of 😒 about it. Luckily, he is only half vampire. And—it isn’t lucky technically, but an advantage—he has been… modified further than that.
So even if she knows this little thing, it doesn’t completely mean he’s handing out sensitive information.
Also? He trusts her. He does not trust this place, but at least trusts her.]
（ she gets up out of her chair, bending at the hips to stretch out the tension from sitting curled up in a chair for longer than her usual periods of inactivity and makes her way over to the machine set to dry the plasma, and peers at it a moment, checking various panels and panes. the temperature is almost in the final stage. it really is a speedy process, huh? ）
Thus the hat. （ and then because she cannot help herself — ） The big cloak too?
[Rather than return to the computer, he also stands up to begin working on the shell of the pill while she is elsewhere. It all seems to be going alright... but he's wondering if the catch will be they do not last long here actually, like a lot of other things.
It makes sense even if it's frustrating.]
Yes.
[And... the leather, the scarf... really, now that she may think about it, not a lot of him is left exposed except his face and his left hand. Wow. Very gothic.]
It's coated in something water-wicking as well.
[Sakura is learning that vampires SUCK (haha) actually.]
（ we are not soulforging your blood pills, d. that's like... extra cannibalism.
she's gonna be over here (doing things) i'm not going to describe bc what even is a science can i eat it. productivity!! ）
'Something'...? Ominous. You know, every new thing I learn about your world, I have to wonder...
（ he's painted a bleak picture, overall, even if mr 'embodying cowboycore dystopian rock music' carries it well. but his kindness keeps catching her off guard at every turn, even in moments like this where all he's doing is indulging her. ）
[STOP, HIS PILLS. It's okay, now he's forced to drink blood...]
It's a chemical lacquer which makes it waterproof, [he clarifies. It's a bunch of advanced science he isn't sure if she cares to understand or not.] Equivalent to covering bedding, or ships, or sails with pitch or wax to keep them from getting too wet.
[He glances at her for a moment in all his currently undone dystopian rock cowboycore glory, and then he's thoughtfully quiet.]
It isn't so different. The Frontier is a dangerous land full of deserts or forests swallowing the ruins of an advanced civilization. A place where humans cluster and try to survive.
（ it hits a note he couldn't possibly understand. that's the history of the village, isn't it? except, the thing that brought them together wasn't so much as the ruin of civilization but an attempt at creating one to begin with. everything moves in circles.
she still remembers the ruin of konoha, after pain's invasion. ）
What about things like animals? Plants? How much would you say is left...?
[For the outside casing to set, he has to wait, but this gives him time to continue talking to Sakura really. He leans against the desk at the waist, folding his arms over each other across his middle.]
Some are left. Most of the animals are mutated, the descendants of animals affected by radiation or genetic modification. There are plants in the forests, or maybe in the hidden oases only a few can find. The flora can be dangerous sometimes.
[If he looks like post-apocalyptic cyberpunk Old West cowboy it sounds like it's because he has to be, or he'd be dead.]
Finding land untouched is difficult, but not impossible. Seeing it is...
[He doesn't finish, but he sounds a little wistful.]
（ their experiences are almost opposite, diametrically opposed in a way. she doesn't live in a ruined world, but the memory of konoha in a shattered crater have never left her. nagato may have restored the dead to life, but it was still days digging people out of the rubble, terrified and trapped. civilians, who couldn't so much as use jutsu to free or to protect themselves. she remembers the way despair had raked her soul, and thinks... that must have been a little like the world d was born into.
a lot of things about him have set her heart to hurting, but this is the first time she's had to blink and look away, suddenly furiously interested in the machine beneath her hands. ）
Part of, um, my soul room... it's an area near my home. Konohagakure, 'The Village Hidden in the Leaves'. It really lives up to its name, sometimes it's so green it's hard to believe it's real. I could show you, if you'd like...?
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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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.
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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.]
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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. ）
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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...?]
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Might look nice with a feather. Maybe one of those harpies...?
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Are you asking me to kill a creature just for one of their feathers for my hat...?
[He glances sidelong at her briefly.]
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（ look it's ~fashion~, d. just roll with it. ）
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Upward…?]
Are you offering to buy me one then?
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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. ）
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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. ）
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[He sounds kind of 😒 about it. Luckily, he is only half vampire. And—it isn’t lucky technically, but an advantage—he has been… modified further than that.
So even if she knows this little thing, it doesn’t completely mean he’s handing out sensitive information.
Also? He trusts her. He does not trust this place, but at least trusts her.]
I can walk in the sun, but it is not comfortable.
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Thus the hat. （ and then because she cannot help herself — ） The big cloak too?
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It makes sense even if it's frustrating.]
Yes.
[And... the leather, the scarf... really, now that she may think about it, not a lot of him is left exposed except his face and his left hand. Wow. Very gothic.]
It's coated in something water-wicking as well.
[Sakura is learning that vampires SUCK (haha) actually.]
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she's gonna be over here (doing things) i'm not going to describe bc what even is a science can i eat it. productivity!! ）
'Something'...? Ominous. You know, every new thing I learn about your world, I have to wonder...
（ he's painted a bleak picture, overall, even if mr 'embodying cowboycore dystopian rock music' carries it well. but his kindness keeps catching her off guard at every turn, even in moments like this where all he's doing is indulging her. ）
How does it compare to here? Generally speaking.
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It's a chemical lacquer which makes it waterproof, [he clarifies. It's a bunch of advanced science he isn't sure if she cares to understand or not.] Equivalent to covering bedding, or ships, or sails with pitch or wax to keep them from getting too wet.
[He glances at her for a moment in all his currently undone dystopian rock cowboycore glory, and then he's thoughtfully quiet.]
It isn't so different. The Frontier is a dangerous land full of deserts or forests swallowing the ruins of an advanced civilization. A place where humans cluster and try to survive.
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she still remembers the ruin of konoha, after pain's invasion. ）
What about things like animals? Plants? How much would you say is left...?
（ flowers, she thinks instinctively. ）
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Some are left. Most of the animals are mutated, the descendants of animals affected by radiation or genetic modification. There are plants in the forests, or maybe in the hidden oases only a few can find. The flora can be dangerous sometimes.
[If he looks like post-apocalyptic cyberpunk Old West cowboy it sounds like it's because he has to be, or he'd be dead.]
Finding land untouched is difficult, but not impossible. Seeing it is...
[He doesn't finish, but he sounds a little wistful.]
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a lot of things about him have set her heart to hurting, but this is the first time she's had to blink and look away, suddenly furiously interested in the machine beneath her hands. ）
Part of, um, my soul room... it's an area near my home. Konohagakure, 'The Village Hidden in the Leaves'. It really lives up to its name, sometimes it's so green it's hard to believe it's real. I could show you, if you'd like...?
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