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?"

[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]

"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?"

[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.

[goldeneyeball]

Fire country...James couldn't recall hearing about any place with that name, be it back home or from his fellow 'heroes'. Though it made sense for a 'fire knight' to come from a 'fire country'. He wondered why he didn't have a 'fire horse' but he supposed that might be hazardous to the surrounding buildings.

The knight's question surprised him and pulled him from his own far less grizzly day dream. He lifted a brow and replied, "Tall enough." He looked down his nose at Sasuke and then grinned. He was a deal shorter than the wizard, wasn't he? "You can measure if you want."

[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]

Sasuke didn't think about the redundancy of his earlier statement until it had come out of his mouth--in his native language, "katon" for fire release and "hi no kuni" for fire country were two totally different concepts.

But it didn't matter, because he disliked the smile on the wizard's face and the tone he took with his comment. Lip curling, he tightened his fist on the reins and Amaterasu whinnied softly.

"You don't have much girth to back it up. A strong wind would knock you over."

[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.

[goldeneyeball]

"Don't need it. I'm a wizard." He lifted his hands and made a wiggly-fingered gesture at the shorter man. Impressive. Mhm.

Months ago, if anyone had told him that he would be parading that title around like it was a sash at a beauty contest, he would have told them that they were crazier than him. But here he was.

[bondsoflove]

"The concept is unfamiliar to me."

It was said with a tone that strongly disliked this state of affairs and demanded it be rectified. Sasuke hated not knowing things, and the whole goddamned kingdom seemed to be comprised of some antiquated, mythical country with a culture he had no idea where to even start with. He assumed, based on the weaponry, that a knight was some kind of soldier, but he hadn't clarified that either, and it irked him to go around with a title and purpose he couldn't understand.

[goldeneyeball]

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.

[bondsoflove]

"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."

[goldeneyeball]

"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."

[bondsoflove]

"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.

[goldeneyeball]

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."

[bondsoflove]

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?"

[goldeneyeball]

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?"

[bondsoflove]

"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."

[goldeneyeball]

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."

[bondsoflove]

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."

[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.) ]