16autumnroad | [Voice / Action : Forest, 3/17] Arrival

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[Voice / Action : Forest, 3/17] Arrival

Kai! [Sudden absence from the battlefield prompts Chouji's immediate attempt to dispel an illusion.]

Why won't the genjutsu break? It must be too strong. [Not to mention that genjutsu and fine chakra control are not his strongest skills. Pain should also work. It's hardly the preferred method for breaking illusions, but it's more reliable for anyone whose chakra control isn't near perfect. He reaches for a kunai, but none is available. Unarmed and unarmored in a genjutsu that could be used to do pretty much anything to him; somehow that isn't surprising. Chouji is starting to worry though. He crouches down, snatches a jagged rock, and slices open his left palm. Still nothing.

Unwilling to simply sit and wait, he pushes off lightly, leaping into the trees. Chouji conceals himself as well as he can among the branches, only now noticing the journal lying open on the ground below. Shivering from the cold, a twinge of pain between his shoulder blades makes Chouji twitch, wondering if the attack he's been braced for is finally coming. His eyes widen as he looks over his shoulder to see a pair of feathered wings. A little desperate now, Chouji makes one final attempt at breaking free. He stabs his thigh with the rock. Still trapped, he resigns himself to staying here until someone manages to free him, letting the stone fall back to the ground. Chouji keeps watch for any further signs of danger on the off chance the genjutsu's caster slips and gives something away.]

[Chouji can heard over the journal; he will pick it up as soon as he receives an answer. He can also be found in the forest or anywhere in the common areas of town after he eventually makes it there.]

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[ Oh, right - it's that time again, when new people start to speak up. And that word does ping something, although Ikki's admittedly still not completely clear on how all this jutsu nonsense works. ]

Genjutsu? The ninja kind? [ She knows that much, at least. ]

[He stops to look at who's asking for a second, then responds with a smile and a friendly explanation.]

Yes, the ninja kind. Genjutsu are the ones that create illusions. [Which should make it fairly obvious why he initially suspected one, given the unfamiliar location and the wings.]

Then you're from that world! Riiiiiiiiiight? Do you know Shikamaru and Lee? They're super, super nice! I like both of them a lot!

Ummmmmmm, and then there's the tai-one and the nin-one? Lee thought I had ninjutsu when we met, but I don't, I'm just an airbender!

[He laughs.] Yes. They're both friends, and Shikamaru's my teammate.

That's right. ...Airbender?

That makes you Chouji!!! I've heard about you! [ From Lee. ...Who blabbed. Chatterbox style. ] Shikamaru's my favorite ninja! [ Because your teammate made the seven year old shadow puppets the first time they met, and no one can top that. ]

Yep! It's like this. [ Ikki props the journal up on the living room table, where she's situated currently - she had been doing math homework, and may or may not be using this an excuse to avoid it for a bit longer - and uses the trick she most often preforms as an explanation - she bends a ball of air between her palms, and feeds marbles from her pocket into it.

After a second she collapses the air, and grins, catching the marbles before they fall. ] It's something from my world!

You're right! I still don't know your name, though. [That declaration startles another laugh out of him, and Chouji absolutely beams at Ikki. Anyone who likes his best friend so much is alright by him.]

That's really impressive! [And it is. It resembled nothing so much as a miniature kaiten, and as far as he knows that's a technique that no one manages at Ikki's age. Even if things are different in her world, it was cool. The marbles were a nice touch, too.] If it doesn't work like ninjutsu, how do you do it?

I'm Ikki! It's nice to meet you, Chouji!! [ Chouji's been automatically relegated to the "safe to talk to freely" group - although admittedly Ikki isn't the most discerning about that sometimes - due to being grandfathered in by the other Konoha ninja she knew, which probably shows. ]

Um...it's just something you're born with! There's also fire, water, and earthbending! But I can only use airbending, because that's what I was born with. To make it, though, you have to be in touch with your spirit! I've been learning since I was really, really little.

Good to meet you too, Ikki! [He adores her already, so he'll be glad he's trusted automatically.]

Be in touch with your spirit? Is that hard? It's great that you've already learned to do so much with it. [He'll just assume Ikki knows all kinds of cool tricks. In fact...] What's your favorite thing you can do with air?

It can be hard sometimes, I think! Korra had lots of problems. ...Is having, I mean! [ Goshdarned time shenanigans. ] But, I grew up on Air Temple Island, so it's something I've always had there, which I think means I got a head start?

[ Also airbending is not very much like the bending Korra's done before, or at least not how she uses her other bending principles. ] And that one is EASY. I love my glider! It lets me fly, 'cause you bend the air currents under the glider - Uncle Sokka made me the one I use now, 'cause my one from home didn't come here with me!

Growing up in a ninja village, in my clan, probably gave me a head start too. [Not that it did much good, according to Chouji's Academy scores, but he never really minded. Not when he had Shikamaru, Kiba, and Naruto next to him the whole time.]

I can definitely see why that's your favorite use for your bending. I'm glad you've got a glider here now.

What's your clan like?

And yeah!! I'm glad, too! It was my Christmas present from him, you know? And he made it just for me! Which I think makes it special.

We're never short on good food. It's our favorite thing. We like butterflies too, since they're the symbol of our clan the way deer are for Shikamaru's. My father taught me fighting techniques and what duty to the clan and the village means. What about you? What's your family like at home? Can they all airbend?

Yeah, I think you're right about that.

Oh, I really like butterflies!!!!!! Do you have one that talks like Shikamaru's big talking dear?? And my family...

My mommy can't airbend. She's an air acolyte. Only me, my sister, my brother, my daddy and Korra can airbend, in our world. A long time ago, before I was born, the fire nation destroyed the air nomads. Only grandpa lived, and...then he had daddy, and daddy had us.

My family is really great! Really, really great. Daddy's on the city council, and he's smart and serious and always looks out for us. Jinora reads a lot...she loved the library here, when she was here, a long time back. Meelo's funny. And I have a little brother who's only a week old or so. Rohan. He's so tiny. Mommy looks after us all. She's really nice.

No, we don't have any talking butterflies, only the ordinary kind. I wish we did, though! "Chou" means butterfly, you know.

[Chouji takes very careful mental notes as Ikki speaks, trying to remember everything even as she rushes from subject to subject. He wonders if part of being an airbender is the ability to breathe less frequently, because she never seems to stop for that.]

I'm from a place called Fire Country, but in a different world. I'm sorry to hear about the air nomads.

Your family at home does sound really great. You have some family here too, though, right? [She mentioned "Uncle Sokka" after all.]

I didn't know that!! Ikki's an airbender name, though. It's like a breeze!

[ She's always liked her name, and she spins now, nearly dropping her journal but managing to hang on to it. ]

I know about the Fire Country - a little bit, anyway. What Lee and Shikamaru has said!

And yep! There's grandpa and Katara, who's my GranGran back home, and then Uncle Sokka, and Bolin who's not related to me but he's like a big brother...and Aunt Suki, who used to date Uncle Sokka.

[Chouji chuckles as Ikki spins.] I think your name suits you.

Oh, you're friends with Lee too? [This doesn't surprise him a bit, and he smiles.]

That's good! I'm glad you have so many people here, Ikki. No one from my family is, but Shikamaru and Ino are like family. [Ikki is so young and enthusiastic; she shouldn't be here at all, away from her parents and siblings. Since there's no helping it, though, he is entirely sincere when when he says he's glad she isn't alone.]

Yeah! I met him when he first got here. He fell from the sky, you know? Reaaaally worrying way of coming in. But it's okay, I helped with his landing. [ As did several other people in several other timelines. ]

Because you're teammates? It's good that you have them! I'm sure Shikamaru and Ino are really glad that you're here now.

Lee fell from the sky!? [That is a very concerning way to arrive. Obviously Lee is still in one piece, though, if he's talked to Chouji already today.] It's a good thing you were there to help.

We're teammates, and so are [were. That one no-longer-accurate verb tense brings everything back into horrifying relief for a moment before Chouji manages to dull his reaction. Shikaku and Inoichi are gone now. His own father is the only member of the previous trio left. Out loud, he barely falters.] our fathers. We grew up together and were in the same class at school before we were teammates. [Even if they weren't as close to Ino until after the formation of Team Ten.]

I'm happy I'm here for them.

"Yeah! He just fell from the sky. I dunno how they did that, but I made him an air disc thing to land on. It worked out in the end!" Although he'd seemed...less than concerned with the falling from the sky thing. Ikki had been a bit worried the second she realized it was happening. "He's really brave, though. He kept saying he'd figure it out and it'd work out as he was falling."

"So you've been friends for a really long time?" Ikki looks impressed, and intrigued. She doesn't catch the reaction - or at least doesn't realize why Chouji had it, because...well, she isn't even totally aware they're at war. "It's definitely a good thing! Having people here helps. I mean...I know it's bad to want people stuck with you, but I think it's good."

"Oh, an air disc? That sounds really useful! I don't know if any of our ninja have wind jutsu that would work so well for catching people." He is still very impressed by Ikki's abilities, given her age. Chouji was in the Academy at that point in his own life, and he wasn't exactly the most impressive student.

He shakes his head and chuckles at the description of Lee. Lee's bravery is the kind of stubborn courage that constantly skirts the line of foolhardy, and his dedication makes every situation a potential training opportunity. "You're right," Chouji agrees simply.

"We have." And Chouji nods immediate agreement. He doesn't even want to think about being here without his teammates, and while they've been here without him so long? He wouldn't willingly be anywhere else right now. "I know what you mean. I'm glad that I'm not here on my own, and that I'm here for them now, even if I arrived a little late." More than a little, really.

"Daddy used to do it a lot. I'd never done it before, so - " Well, she was just glad it had worked. There hadn't been time to get grandpa ~~who was also Gore anyway~~, so she'd had to do it on her own. If asked, she'd say she wasn't the best airbender - she had faith in her skills, but she was learning still, and her grandfather and father were masters. And Jinora had more experience...although Jinora also hadn't had ten months training under Avatar Aang.

"People just arrive late sometimes. I think Shikamaru's really happy you're here, though. He told me a bit about both of you when I first met him. That was...wayyyy back on the day I first go here. We were at the fountain, and he did a shadow puppet show." Technically, Ikki tries not to talk about that, because keeping people's powers a secret was something she'd been asked to do - but Chouji clearly already knows Shikamaru's shadow thing, so she doesn't mind saying.

"You're very good at rising to the occasion and acting when it counts, then." Ikki might still be learning, but she was competent enough to rescue one of Chouji's friends ~~in one of the many, many timelines~~, and that's the part he'll focus on.

He laughs delightedly at the revelation about Shikamaru's shadow puppet show. "I bet those were the best shadow puppets you've ever seen. He'd be good at that. I hope it helped you settle in" Chouji knows where Shikamaru got his soft spot for kids, and seeing that he's been indulging Ikki here sends another wave of reassurance that things haven't changed, no matter how much Chouji missed.

"That's because I'm grandpa's granddaughter!" And her father's daughter, and her mother's daughter - Ikki's the sum of all her parts, and she's very happy about it.

It was the best shadow puppet show ever - and though she hadn't realized it, that meeting had come shortly after the Asuma of the time had left. "It was! We were talking about the animals in your world and mine. Mine are like...combinations of your animals, mostly! That's what Shikamaru said." She's pretty enthusiastic about relating this information - Shikamaru is pretty smart, in Ikki's humble opinion, and she takes almost everything he says as Fact.

Chouji smiles. "You're a credit to his legacy." He has no idea who Ikki means by her grandfather, but he does know about trying to live up to his father and his clan.

"Really? What sort of combinations?" Chouji tries not to picture Akamaru with wings, or a toad with fur. Chouji is not about to disagree with Ikki's assessment of Shikamaru; his first instinct when in need of strategy, advice, or information is always to ask his best friend.

"I hope so." Ikki's still smiling, but she quiets down just a hair. "He's one of my most important people. And he's the Avatar...so there's a lot to live up to."

"Liiiike, a polar bear dog! And a spider monkey!" She'd show him drawings, but she doesn't have any on her at the moment to display for the journal.

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[Voice / Action : Forest, 3/17] Arrival

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