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

[16autumnroad]

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.]

Comments

[16autumnroad]

When Masaomi arrives, the exchange between them hammers home exactly how much time Chouji has missed. That's the part he's having the most trouble adjusting to. His teammates have been here without him for so long. They've built lives for themselves in a place he doesn't know, with people he's never met.

The mental image of Shikamaru, of all people, as an industrious housewife is incentive enough to conjure up a smile regardless. He keeps it firmly on his face when he goes to meet Masaomi.

After all, if Masaomi is Shikamaru's best friend here, he must be a good guy.

"Welcome home," he answers.

[generalflirt]

"Yes, dear."

And he kicks off his shoes as he comes in. He would have anyway, given his Japanese heritage. Actually, he was starting to when the exchange started. But the second voice registers immediately thereafter. Chouji.

Oh well. The smile remains on his lips and he skips two steps into the main room and flops onto one of the beanbag chairs. Going to the bedrooms? Nah, he's cool.

[endgames]

Shikamaru no doubt gave Chouji a short rundown on Masaomi prior to this, summarizing his faults with a poorly hidden fondness (he's a punk and an ass sometimes, but he's a good guy). If he knew what to expect out of this scenario, he'd be taking his time with it instead of standing out here already.

"So, uh. Intros." Once Chouji has made his way out of the room also, Shikamaru jerks a thumb to his roommate. "Like you've figured out, this is Masaomi. He's the person I'm closest to here."

[16autumnroad]

Shikamaru doesn't often mention the depth of his attachments to people. That means he has a reason for including information Chouji could infer well enough on his own. It must be for Masaomi's sake, and he recognizes the same consideration and reassurance that make him so comfortable around his best friend. Chouji could never hold that against Masaomi. It's just as well that Shikamaru wasn't on his own in Luceti all this time. Time to stop wishing he'd been here sooner.

Chouji also takes a seat in the living room, his movements slower and more deliberate than Masaomi's. "It's nice to meet you, Masaomi," he says politely, accompanying it with a friendly smile. "I'm Chouji."

[generalflirt]

Chouji - yeah, he knows Chouji. Katara's ex, Shikamaru's best friend, and someone who he spent months alternating between resenting and admiring. In the end, it came out on top as admiring, honestly. Which is probably why he stands in one movement from his sitting position and pulls into an overblown 45 degree angle bow.

"The pleasure is all mine, Chouji-kun. Masaomi Kida, at your service."

[endgames]

It went better than expected. Even if he wonders if it can be that simple, Shikamaru slowly smiles watching them from his spot here. It's the most genuinely happy he's been in weeks.

"Masaomi's one of the people who met you before, actually." Shikamaru explained earlier (or will in the above thread) that Chouji was in Luceti before, even if he doesn't remember. "We and seven others teamed up on a draft."

[16autumnroad]

The sudden gesture takes Chouji by surprise, and he bursts out laughing. If he were standing, he would return the bow, but as it is Chouji just grins at Masaomi.

He grimaces at Shikamaru's next bit of information though, at ease enough to be honest in his response. "That's almost as bad as how much I've missed. The parts I didn't miss but can't remember." The idea of forgetting people he's met, whole months of his life, still doesn't sit well with Chouji. It wouldn't with anyone; he remembers the tension he heard in Sakura's voice and assumes that part of it is due to those gaps. Troublesome mission briefing to catch up is right. He just isn't sure whether it will be more troublesome for Shikamaru or for him.

Sighing, Chouji turns back to Masaomi, his assurances halfway between joking and exasperated, "It's not that you're forgettable, I promise. No offense intended by the gaps in my memory."

[generalflirt]

"Hey, it's not skin off my back. It's not like we were in love or anything."

He says this casually, easily... and perhaps as a bit of a jab. Not as much as Chouji, but more at fate. He knows the other man won't get it, and he hopes that his cocky little laugh he gives immediately after - as if it were a great joke - will dispel any hint there was seriousness to it. But he knows Shikamaru will get it, and perhaps because of that he keeps a smile plastered on his face as he flops more than sits back in the bean bag chair.

[endgames]

Ouch. It's probably not coincidence, no, that they haven't heard from Katara. His eyes flicker back towards his (new) room, to his journal. That's got to be best left alone, for now.

"Not like you don't have the chance to get to know him again, either."

[16autumnroad]

To no one's surprise, Chouji doesn't get it. He does notice Shikamaru's reaction, watching his friend intently for a minute. Chouji couldn't tell what Shikamaru was thinking when he looked away, and he doesn't ask. He'll leave whatever undercurrents he can't read well enough alone. There's more than enough to deal with already.

"Yeah. Starting over is fine, I just don't know who I was friends with here before. I wouldn't want to hurt anyone." He knows how poorly he'd react to being forgotten, and he'd like to lessen that blow wherever possible.

Chouji shakes his head and shrugs, preemptively waving off any potential offers of help as well as setting the issue aside for now. "I'll talk to Ino later. She might enjoy the excuse to gossip a little." His fond smile shows that he didn't mean any criticism of their teammate. One of the boys offering himself as a willing audience is a rare enough occurrence, though, that Chouji doubts Ino will decline.

[generalflirt]

That makes Masaomi honestly snicker. Gossiping with Ino, huh... that'd get him in trouble depending on what she says, but it's nothing Chouji wouldn't find out eventually anyway. He lounges more in his chair, reaches into his pocket to pull out something, but he's being dramatically slow about it.

"And you get the room with the fridge."

Well, fridge teleporter. Details.

[endgames]

Shikamaru grins and pulls at his chin. "We're switching rooms, actually. He's taking my old one."

Which will leave Chouji with the only room in the apartment with a window. Shikamaru hasn't gotten around to explaining the fridge yet, other than that it was a birthday present.

"He can keep the food closet, though."

The food closet being the only other thing in the previously spare bedroom. It was an idea of Chouji's the first time he was here, where they stashed things like canned goods in case of an emergency. That he would have explained. It came in handy when the Kin'corrans were around.

[16autumnroad]

Chouji still isn't entirely sure why Shikamaru would willingly give up the only room with a view of clouds, so he assumes it has something to do with the birthday present. "Was the fridge a gift from you?" he asks Masaomi.

He chuckles at the offer of the closet, teasing, "So that I can cook the food in it for you if necessary?" Chouji knows Shikamaru's eaten well enough in his absence. The muscle he's put on says that clearly enough. All the same, he's pretty sure Shikamaru wouldn't mind someone else doing that particular chore if he's been doing it for himself in the meantime.

"If you want help moving the rest of it, just let me know."

[generalflirt]

And he cackles at that, rocking in the beanbag. And with that he's pulled out-- a yellow baseball? It's Linda's pokeball, actually, but he just is tossing it up int he air and catching it now, idly. Yes, it's his gift. And he nods to confirm that, but lets Shikamaru answer Chouji's other points for now.

[endgames]

"You take over the cooking from now on, and I can handle the moving."

That he only has to cook when he wants to is very exciting news indeed, enough to give Shikamaru a rare display of enthusiasm. Besides, he doesn't own much more than some personal items and a large collection of games and puzzles.

"...just make sure there's still apples left over if you use 'em, or Linda might get irritated."

[16autumnroad]

Chouji grins. "Deal. It's no extra work to cook for another person or two, and it's silly for everyone to fight for space in the kitchen at meal times." He shrugs one shoulder and adds, "I already offered to cook for Temari sometimes anyway." They had a good talk, and when food came up in conversation it seemed like the right thing to do.

Tilting his head to the side in confusion, he says, "Of course I can leave apples. I wouldn't take all of someone else's food. Who's Linda?"

[generalflirt]

And there is it cue. Masaomi grins and catches the ball on his hand. He clicks the button with his thumb and in a flash of red light his partner appears. She flips in mid-air before touching down and giving a little "pii" and a wave. After that though, she hops a few times up onto Masaomi's head, because she's clearly too good to pay attention that long.

"That's Linda."

[endgames]

"She's a Pokemon, and Masaomi's partner." Helpful, right? He hopes so. It's a subject he's getting better at explaining, but he's by no means an expert. "Kinda like what Kiba has with Akamaru."

[16autumnroad]

He's visibly startled by Linda, but only for a moment. Chouji breaks into a smile at her greeting and returns the wave. "Hello, Linda!" And the comparison to Kiba is apt enough with Linda's current position, considering how long their friend carried Akamaru on top of his head.

"More like a nin dog or more like a summons?" Chouji asks for clarification, given her sudden appearance. He has no idea what a Pokemon is, of course.

[generalflirt]

Masaomi, not knowing what either of those actually entail - or well, he knows a nin dog, but he suspects Akamaru might be unique of those - doesn't answer. Instead he pets the mouse lightly under her shin, due to the fact she opened one eye and arched a mouse eyebrow at the idea of being compared to a dog.

[endgames]

"Ehh... Neither. The comparison is just the nature of their relationship."

Kiba's bond with Akamaru goes beyond partnership, after all.

"She can go into the ball, but she still lives with us. It's a pain. I told Masaomi 'no girls' when he moved in, and he broke that rule in less than a month."

He says this with a grin though, and a placating hand motion to Linda. He kids.

[16autumnroad]

He nods. That makes sense. Different worlds would obviously function differently. And now that he thinks about it, Chouji's guessing that the ball isn't actually like a summons scroll. He is openly curious, and his next questions aren't for Shikamaru. "Does the ball send her somewhere else or does she change size to fit in it? Do you mind being in the ball, Linda?"

Shikamaru's attitude toward girls hasn't changed. "Is Linda less troublesome than most girls, then?" Chouji asks, grinning.

Finally, Chouji gets around to something that isn't a question. To Masaomi, he says, "The offer to cook extends to you, and to Linda if she's interested in prepared foods in addition to apples."

[generalflirt]

"Oh no, she's more. Much more, I only know a few worse." He says this easily, considering if he should add on his joke - 'and two boys in this room are in love with them' - but decides that would be too heavy, too dark, and too confusing for the newcomer. He could also answer the questions about the pokeball, buuuut...

Well, Linda is speaking up then. She starts to articulate, with hand gestures and piis that of course she would like more things than apples if he can manage things which taste good and aren't obnoxiously fatty - oh! And no bitter things. She wouldn't mind something spicy, now she thinks of it...

"Appreciate it, my man."

[endgames]

As unintelligible as that might sound, you get the gist of it after awhile. Shikamaru seems to understand Linda, regardless.

"Now you're in for it. She'll be after you making things more than we will."

Shikamaru's side-eying Masaomi all the while, appreciatively.

[16autumnroad]

He can't really begrudge the lack of answer to a couple of his questions, given that he's once again broken with Shikamaru's 'one at a time' instruction. A smile at Linda, though, is Chouji's only response to Masaomi's assertion that she's incredibly troublesome.

Chouji glances between Shikamaru and Masaomi during Linda's long speech, noting the lack of confusion or curiosity on either of their faces. The eagerness comes through loud and clear, even if he can't understand a word she just said. "I don't mind. One of you will have to translate those requests, though."

A person would have to have a much harder heart than Chouji's to say no to Linda, especially when she appreciates the same thing he does. How could Chouji quash someone's enthusiasm for food? He's grinning at the electric mouse again.