eswareinmal

Entry tags:

RD12

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.

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James's grin died. He couldn't impress somebody if they didn't even understand what he was trying to impress them with. His arms fell to his sides and all of the umpf seemed to have left him.

"Well they do magic...There's not any stories about wizards where you're from?" He shoved the toe of his sneaker under a small stone in the path and flipped it out of his way. "Name's James." He didn't tack on The Great and Terrible for once.

"Even if I hadn't raised myself, child soldiers aren't typically sung to sleep with fantasy stories," Sasuke muttered, watching the stone as it moved. "The closest we got was tales of elite ninja to emulate."

"Well that sucks."

No, really? It hadn't really sunk in that Sasuke might have been made a knight for a reason. Not everyone got wild cards. Some of his and Horas's friends had disappeared to become soldiers back when they had only come stumbling out of their teens.

"That's what Once Upon a Whatever land decided I ought to be."

"Not really, in perspective."

He gave a humorless smile, but followed the topic of conversation. "So...I infer you manipulate elements." Like someone who only performed ninjutsu and genjutsu. Sort of. "And that's not common here?"

Sasuke was of the opinion that lack of ability to manipulate chakra made you pathetically vulnerable and basic training wasn't something to be proud of, but he was also told he had exceptionally high standards for that sort of thing.

James rubbed his neck. "Elements? Eeehhh..." He was no mage. He'd learned that the hard way. "More like..." The 'wizard' made a few gestures with his hands and muttered some gibberish. Between them, a small flicker of energy appeared, light blue and softly glowing. He placed a hand against the barrel he'd been propping against and seared the magic into its surface. Then, he repeated this, only using a stone from the road instead. After imprinting it with his spell he stuck it to the side of the barrel where it held fast.

"Tada!" James folded his arms. "Cheaper than nails."

Interesting. It looked like chakra, but it was totally external--lighter, somehow. And he had to admit the fact that the rock and barrel stuck together without him directly pumping energy into it wasn't something he'd seen before.

"Weird," he murmured, looking back at the rock and barrel. "Will it stay like that or wear off?"

JW looked at his palms before brushing them off on his knees. "It ought to stay until I take it off. Ought to."

He turned his attention back to Sasuke and tipped his head back a little. He'd shown his trick. He needed to know what level of avoiding or sucking up he needed to apply to this stranger. "What's a fire knight do?"

"Unreliable?" Sasuke snorted, the corner of his lip pulling back into a smirk. "Or do you just suck?"

The request turned the tables a little, though. Sasuke hadn't actually gotten a chance to test out his powers yet--while he could feel his chakra flowing through him like usual, calling it up for the sharingan was taking way more effort than it should, and there was the matter of the rug spontaneously catching fire when he'd gotten angry, right after his arrival.

But he kept his face flat and carefully dismounted, wrapping Amaterasu's reins around the barrel.

He tried not to focus on the fact that he only came up to JW's pectorals. If that.

"In theory, this should--" he made the appropriate seals and took a deep breath, feeling the chakra heat in his stomach. So far, so good.

"Fire element, great fireball!"

Exhale.

And--

a fireball the size of a peach sputtered from his lips, hovered in midair for a second, and smoldered out of existence.

A hot, shamed flush started to creep up his neck, unbidden. He tried to keep his face neutral as he glanced up at JW, although he could feel the tension that meant he was grimacing.

"It's usually much bigger."

JW actually recoiled because any time he'd tried to play with fire, bad things happened. Like his roof disappearing. He lowered his arm long enough to witness the little flame before it piffled out. Although the look on Sasuke's face was pretty priceless, fire was fire no matter how small. It could wipe out a whole village if nursed correctly.

"Dayum. You still got your eyebrows 'n everything."

The fact that he'd recoiled was somehow worse than the fact that his power had been easily cut to a fraction of its usual potency--if that pathetic little bit of flame was enough to shock, Sasuke felt a little bit sick for the state of the rest of the kingdom.

Of course, apparently he wasn't faring all that much better himself.

"I could clear a dozen trees in five seconds when I was twelve," he grumbled. "I don't know what's wrong with it, but it looks like I'm handicapped."

"Maybe you have whassa-- interdimensional jetlag?" He shrugged broadly.

He prodded. This Sasuke character hadn't melted his face off yet...maybe he could be something of an ally. Not a friend, because James didn't have friends. he didn't! But still, somebody that wasn't an outright enemy. He put on a lopsided grin.

"I'm sure it'll come back!"

"Jetlag...?"

Sasuke looked up--and up.

Fuck. JW was even taller than Juugo.

"Not likely. My chakra's there, I just can't mold it. Probably a seal."

Feeling tiny and vulnerable, Sasuke remounted Amaterasu, although it angered him that his pride was so easily ruffled--after all, it wasn't size that mattered, it was the punch you packed. And, sealed chakra aside, Sasuke definitely packed the bigger punch.

"You look chipper," he muttered, leaning forward and resting his arms across the horse's neck.

Cha-kra? The hell was that? It sounded like something Noelle would be interested in. He rubbed his neck again and thought about that.

"The hell would they seal your fire or whatever if you were supposed to be a hero? Aint that like...ordering somebody to protect you and then cuttin' off one of his arms? Man, this place is such shit."

He was suddenly glad he'd been saddled with powers instead of having something important taken away.

Sasuke turned up his mouth with a shade of smugness. "Maybe they didn't want me burning down the entire kingdom in one go. It's not like I've met any real competition."

He knew he shouldn't say it--shouldn't tempt the fate that so loathed him, but he almost wanted to know what would happen.

James tapped his chin. He thought he remembered somebody else with fire, but he hadn't seen them in some time. He shrugged his bony shoulders. "Could be. You seem like a nice guy, so I'll give you a warning-- the people in this town are nuts. If anybody gives you anything for free, be careful."

He was still pretty butthurt over the Ball of the Beast. What a way to treat the folks that are supposed to be saving your world!

A warning--Sasuke turned to listen, but when James spoke, he rolled his eyes and gave a little scoff.

"That's it? Nobody ever gives anything for free. I'm not an idiot." Unlike the townspeople he'd met so far--even worse than the girls from Konoha in all their simpering and fawning.

"Yeah? Then whacha ridin' that hairy Cadillac around for? Did you look in its mouth first? How d'you know it's not gonna eat you as soon as you fall asleep?"

It wasn't a very good example, but the power of butt-hurt knew no end. The wizard folded his arms and shrugged.

"I'm just sayin' is all...these people have expectations." He sort of felt bad for Sasuke. If he didn't know what a wizard was, he wouldn't know to be afraid of beanstalks or to run the fuck away from delicious-looking houses. "Check out the library and see if you can't find a book about fairy stories."

"Don't insult her," Sasuke muttered--he had no idea what "cadillac" meant, but assumed from the tone that it wasn't meant as a compliment. Amaterasu seemed to sense it as well, and gave a small, displeasured-sounding snort.

He tipped up his nose and looked down it at JW--or, as down as he could. "I'm assuming they're expecting some kind of service from me. That's what they told me when I came in, anyway. But if I don't want to do something, I guess I can scare the shit out of anyone around me by breathing a spark or two."

James opened his mouth to let out another half-baked smart ass remark, but shut it. The guy had a point. He gave a little nod and stepped out of his horse's way.

"That's right....Put the fear of God into 'em!" THE FEAR OF SASUKE. "But still, though. There's dragons and shit here. They can breathe fire a lot better than you."

"Presently," Sasuke said, irritated at the mention of his power. But dragons were something he knew, so honed in on that. He'd already made a favorable impression, which had been almost too easy.

"We have stories about dragons where I come from." He shifted--his ass was starting to go numb from sitting so long in plates of metal, but he wanted the extra height. "Legend says our daimyo are descended from them. But ours are associated with water, not fire."

JW had no idea what a daimyo was. He shrugged his bony shoulders and turned to go on his way. He remembered that he needed some glass bottles for potions.

"Good luck training, Godzilla! Stay away from gingerbread houses and you'll do fine!"

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RD12

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