RD12

[bondsoflove]

Characters: Sasuke and whoever else!
Open? Very.
Where: Somewhere really conspicuous in the middle of Schwanheim.
When: RD12, morning.
What: After getting a bit of sleep and realizing that throwing hissy fits isn't going to get him anywhere, Sasuke is more emotionally regulated and determined to gather as much information as possible on the thorns, the king, getting back home, and anything else anyone will tell him.
Warnings: Sasuke's filthy mouth and jackassness?


His entry into the kingdom had been explosive, and frankly he felt it was justified--extenuating circumstances and totally unfamiliar territory aside, he had enough people after his hide to put him on the perpetual defensive, and that wasn't factoring in his physical state. He'd been on his feet for three days following his brother's trail, and finally the exhaustion had caught up to him. He'd passed out in the room he'd first found himself in, because he knew it better than risking anywhere else, and in the morning things felt...

Better.

Not okay, but better.

Almost on a whim, he'd decided to put the armor on. It took him a few tries to get the pieces fitting together right--back in Konoha, only samurai wore armor and it didn't look anything like this--but once he'd gotten it all settled, he was pleasantly surprised to discover that it was light and comfortable. It rang when he moved, announcing his presence like a bell. Something else he had to get used to, but he liked the way the light glinted off the pale metal.

And he apparently had a horse, too. He'd been bowed at and ushered to the stables and introduced to her, a gorgeous mare with a coat like brushed copper, and she'd leaned in and nuzzled his neck after one whiff of his fingers.

He named her Amaterasu, the goddess of the sun.

They took to each other like fish and water, and by the time the stablehand had finished showing him how to saddle her up and mount, his spirits were higher than they'd been in a long time.

It took barely a nudge to get her to move at a comfortable trot out of the stable, and another to turn her towards the sound of voices. The more people, the more potential sources for information.

Bonding with the horse and well-fitted armor aside, he still had a mission to finish.

Comments

[goldeneyeball]

People moved when the Wizard came into town. He wasn't very well liked ever since the whole skull-for-a-face and table-flipping stunts that had fallen in the earlier season.

Or maybe it was just his personality.

He had a bag slung over one shoulder and a small sprig of sweet-smelling grass tied to one antler to try and cover the acidic smell his potions left in his clothes. His vision wasn't so good, but he thought he saw a familiar face in the crowd of cow-eyed villagers so he headed that way.

A wizard couldn't have too many contacts, right?

[bondsoflove]

He recognized that face, although the last time he'd seen it it had been distorted by the orb that sat innocuously around his neck under his chest plate.

Lip caught between his teeth, he nudged the horse over close enough to speak. She obeyed smoothly, and gave a small snort when he pulled her to a stop. He massaged her neck as he looked down at the man and his gold eye, taking it in.

Sasuke was still taller, but not by nearly as much as he would have liked. The thought unsettled him.

"Our conversation didn't get you in trouble," he said, once he was done assessing.

[goldeneyeball]

JW broke into a broad, snaggly grin. "It is you! See you got outta that hole or whatever. Where were you anyway?"

He guessed by the severe lack of chaos in town that Sasuke hadn't murdered anyone yet. He was only a little disappointed. James looked the horse up and down. His mouth tugged downwards slightly. Now why weren't wizards given horses? Hmf.

[bondsoflove]

Though inwardly disgusted at the state of the man's teeth, Sasuke kept his face carefully neutral. He didn't miss the envious look that had been shot at his horse, and already protective of her, he tightened his grip on her reins.

"Somewhere in the castle." He inclined his head towards where he'd come from.

[goldeneyeball]

"Lemme guess what they said you had to be." He rubbed his jaw and leaned against a nearby rain barrel. James never did finish his joke. His mind drifted elsewhere and came to rest on another thought path. "Where you from?"

[bondsoflove]

"A fire knight, apparently," Sasuke replied, unaware of the intended humor--he was too busy focusing on the little twinge of discomfort at the fact that he could still almost look JW in the eyes, even with him slouching.

He frowned, and sat up a little straighter. "Fire country, but I no longer have ties there. Aside from my mission."

He could still see the corpses of his family lined up, miles and miles of them, if he closed his eyes and didn't concentrate hard enough on keeping the ghosts away.

Dragging his head out of the dark corners of these thoughts, he glanced up and down the thin, crooked body. "How tall are you?"

[shadedsunlight]

Sasuke wasn't the only one hitting the town for information. While Ginia knew the majority of the Schwanheim natives were dough-brained idiots, now and then there was a useful bit of information that came around after a bit of shifting through the rumor mill.

Unfortunately, today proved to be on the unhelpful side when it came to gathering new information, and there were still many villagers frustratingly persistent in discovering the true "secret" of the "scandalous" relationship between sage and rogue. There's a small group of gabbing girls following Ginia, dressed in her armor as she walks down the street. When their cries for attention and their constant-route blocking grows too irritating, Ginia uses her newfound abilities to turn invisible and continue walking unseen.

[bondsoflove]

Well, that was interesting.

Scanning over the crowd, she'd caught his eye because of the armor and the fact that she was being followed by what seemed to be a functional amoeba of women, all chittering nasally and pink-faced.

He was about to turn down an alley to avoid the girls when the one in armor suddenly, inexplicably, vanished.

Activating his sharingan--he noted, with some uneasiness, that it was taking more effort than it had in years--he watched for the subtleties that would tell him what direction she'd taken, if nothing else. A disturbed cloud of dirt and slight fluttering of cloth--he nudged Amaterasu's sides and followed at a distance.

People who had something to hide almost always had more valuable things to say.

[shadedsunlight]

Ginia breaths a sigh of relief as she leaves the group behind, walking at a slightly slower pace to remain better hidden from everyone. No one notices her as she walks around people and minds her steps, trying to minimize the amount of dust her feet kick up or rocks she might kick.

She turns down into a quieter and less crowded side-street, leaning against a wall to stretch and enjoy the peace and quiet.

[bondsoflove]

He waited until the side-street was empty, and both entrances were clear of passersby before dismounting and tying his horse to a post. The clanking of his armor would announce his presence, and he didn't want her to startle and flee--wasn't sure he could keep up wrapped in metal like he was.

"I know you're there and I'm not going to hurt you," he said, as soon as he turned into the street. The slight dip in the dirt told him approximately where her feet had landed, and he trained his eyes in that direction.

[shadedsunlight]

Ginia glances over when she hears his clanking approach, less surprised at his presence and more at the fact he can see her even at his distance. Her hand drops down for her knife and closes around it out of old habit more than anything else. The handle of her knife is relaxing through her thin gloves and she watches him approach closer before moving her hand away and unstealthing.

He's not a knight she knows or recognizes, though there are plenty she doesn't know in the city. A nod of her head is offered as a slight greeting.

[ladysarmour]

[ Sansa has begun to embrace her role as princess, if only a little. And a true princess reaches out to the people, loves them and wins their love in return, so here she is: shopping in the market. She stops at a clothmaker's stall and chats with the proprietor a while, buys a length of ribbon and moves on. At a produce stall she buys an apple, perfectly crisp and tart when she bites into it. After just a moment's hesitation she buys lemons too, though they are costly, and has them sent up to the castle. One man gives Lady a strip of raw red meat as a gift.

(It is no coincidence that her manner and speech imitate Margaery Tyrell's.) ]

[bondsoflove]

[She moves like the daughters of feudal lords, delicate and fragile and lovely. Nothing like the hardened, battle-ready girls he's used to.

But in past experience, rich girls tend to have heads full of fluff, so he automatically turns up his nose and makes to ride past.

Something tugs at the back of his mind, though. A similarity he can't quite place.]

[ladysarmour]

[ Sansa turns and gives him a lovely smile, taking careful note of his appearance. Armed and armored, astride a fine bronze horse the kind only a lord or a lord's son would ride. ]

Good morning, ser. Are you a newly-arrived hero?

[bondsoflove]

[She speaks clearly and loudly enough to get his attention, without being so shrill as to pierce his eardrums like the other girls in town. So he stops and looks down at her, at the long red hair and carefully ladylike smile.]

Yeah.

[yumemi_no_ou]

Speaking of fish and water, Shin was still feeling like one out of water. Modern dress, and a slapped together wheel chair that really was just the most suportive chair Aralu could find him welded onto a frame with wheels was plenty, but with how eerily homogeneous the native population was, he stuck out even worse.

Which is why he was a little startled to see what appeared to be another Asian teen. On a horse.

... the heck.

Pardon him, Sasuke, he's kinda staring.

[bondsoflove]

Sasuke felt it before he saw it, his senses telling him someone was focusing their energy in his direction and his hair standing up on the back of his neck. He turned his head to look, and over the crowd of females gawking from a barely-disguised distance, he found the source fairly quickly.

It helped that the guy stuck out like Naruto on laundry day.

He looked like a civilian--strangely clothed, but similarly built to the ones he'd taken missions for in his adolescence. For the sake of familiarity, he paused within earshot, and glanced down at the young man in the chair.

"What? Haven't you ever seen a horse?"

[yumemi_no_ou]

The part of Shin who hung out with Gijs far too much nearly retorted that it was odd to see an ass ride, but he bit it back. No need to spread his bad mood all over the place if he could help it. And besides, he had be staring.

"You don't match the locals," he explained. "It caught me a little off guard."

[bondsoflove]

"Neither do you."

Sasuke looked him over, pausing at the legs--they looked normal, if slightly atrophied, which implied damage to the nerves rather than muscle disease.

"I take it we're the only ones."

[yumemi_no_ou]

"Not the only ones, but close to it," Shin nodded, frowning a touch at the look over. Yes, he was used to it, but it didn't mean he liked it. If he could just get his back brace he wouldn't need the stupid chair so much and he could walk like a normal person. ... mostly. Slowly. And with a walking stick. But that was still better than being stuck in the chair.

... yes, he was bitter. He was always bitter when his back hurt.

[thefunsister]

After their little adventure, Rose found that she felt rather lost. Schwanheim was so much like the Homelands, but it just wasn't home without the people she knew and loved. And back home, a war was raging. She should have been there.

She wandered through the village, for the most part bombarded by incredibly boring people who admired her for her title and knew nothing about partying. No fun to have there. At least when she neared the stable there was someone slightly more interesting around.

"You don't look like a native," she pointed out, smiling amiably at the stranger. He was very pretty for a boy. Not really her type, wasn't she wasn't exactly looking for that sort of entertainment.

[bondsoflove]

The smile looked honest, though Sasuke knew better to take it at face value. He glanced up and down at her, taking in the fiery hair and soft, foreign features.

"Gee. What makes you say that," he replied, dryly.

[thefunsister]

She laughed wryly. Apparently he was in about as good a mood as she was.

"It was the horse," she joked. "He told me while I was coming around the corner." It was obvious enough from appearance alone that neither of them had been born here.

[bondsoflove]

"She," Sasuke corrected. He didn't share her smile--though he could appreciate a little snark.

"How long have you been here, then?"

[thefunsister]

Rose shrugged. Horses weren't really her wheelhouse by any stretch. Idly she glanced around at the other horses. There were some pretty ones here, and for lack of anything better to do she thought maybe she would go for a ride. If the last couple of days was anything to go by she might need to brush up on her skills.

"Just a few days," she answered. "I'm still settling in." Which was to say, bored.