npc || amun [ @ hierarchy ]

[nightnpcs]

( ping ping ping. or, y'know, whatever your phone chime is. the face of a man who looks like he's never smiled once in his entire life appears on your screen. you may have seen him before, while you were busy surviving a storm or battling reapers. no matter. you might as well bask in his impromptu company now, because his appearances are few, and his indulgences even fewer. )

Allow me to make this clear. For those of you who wonder still: I am the Hierarchy. You do not come to us; we summon, invite, and hire. Order is of the utmost importance if you wish to survive, and time is of the essence. Do not waste mine.

( behind him, movement. if you squint, you may notice strands of greying hair near the door, though the person it belongs to remains off-screen. )

Your personal troubles are your own. If you expected us to hold your hand, do think again; there are far greater affairs to attend to, so do yourselves a favor, and look for soulmates. We've prepared an application for you, easily accessible from your device's home page. Should you need additional information, perhaps it's time for you to practice self-reliance.

I will not be answering questions.

( and the feed cuts, abruptly, without greetings or a name. )

ooc note

► Amun will not be responding, though you're absolutely welcome to react, comment and discuss amongst yourselves on this post! Other NPCs might show up!
► This is, more or less, Tinder for Soulmates o/ You'll find the permanent post (aka phone application) right HERE! If you're interested, simply fill out the form and comment on the post, and bam. Browse, swipe left or swipe right, and have fun! This is not mandatory.
► Forms and replies should be posted ICly (yes, even if it's located in the OOC comm -- you may choose one (1) thread for october's AC) .
► Another character may post in your character's stead. Additionally, feel free to have their Shadow influence their blurb!
► The application offers all the information your character needs to know! To recap: All that's required for another Restless to become your Soulmate is for them to enter your home, touch your Tethers upon invitation, and from then on, a piece of their soul will merge with yours, fortifying your Self. As a literal extension of your being, they'll easily gain access to your thoughts if you let them (or if you're careless), they'll experience your pains, fears, and joys on weaker levels, and their voice, touch and overall vicinity can become great soothing weapons against your Shadow. However. If two characters already share a powerful bond and one incidentally touches the other's Tethers, it's an accidental done deal. You may thank Naruto's player for this.
► You may have multiple Soulmates!
► If you have questions regarding the app, redirect them here!

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[craters]

（ she feels the thrum of his chakra on approach, a pinprick of vivid, dark light in a sea of formless grey. it's less like a cold breath ghosted across her jugular these days, even if she wouldn't actually describe it as warm. even with all the changes it's undergone over the years, it's still familiar — but she's gotten so used to it being barely there, like the twinge of an old broken bone, that having sasuke within what feels like easy reach is almost alarming.

she hasn't quite figured out what to do with that yet.

still, when he approaches she's just finishing up with a surgery, a young woman with compartment syndrome to the lower leg. if they'd left it any longer, she would have lost it, but between surgical intervention and medical ninjutsu, she'll be back on her feet in only a few weeks.

sakura is scrubbing her hands and beneath her nails in a bucket of soapy, water, pink froth like a mist across the bubbles as the blood is rinsed away. in light of the soulmate discussion, there is a young, naive little part of her that's wondering if he's here to talk about it — and one that's a little older and wiser that knows he isn't.

she shakes her head, and gives him a smile. ）

Hi. Why don't you go first? I haven't done much outside of these four walls in a few days.

（ 'four walls' is generous, seeing as how one is mostly crumbling down, taped off with cotton sheets, but hey. it's home. ）

[chokuto]

[He lingers on the fringe of the makeshift clinic, out of the way, unwilling to cross into that space both in part due to his understanding of the delicate work of a medic, and because it does not feel like he belongs. It would be a trespass, somehow, to enter without Sakura's invitation.

Only once she's gone to the sink to clean her hand and offers that smile — and within it, he can see telltale shadows of fatigue — does he move closer, ducking beneath one of the cotton sheets.]

You've settled in here. [There must be better places for a clinic. Then again, those locations would not have the need that this one does, in the busy heart of the port where so many others are coming and going.] ... Naruto and I investigated a territory called the Barrens, near the mountains to the northwest. There wasn't much to see. It's almost entirely in ruins, but some buildings remain intact. It's dangerous; we encountered hostile creatures the mission posting termed 'gargoyles'. [A word he later verified himself.

He debates, then, whether to divulge the rest, but if there is anyone who needs to know, it's Sakura. She'll be around Naruto as much as him — if not more.]

Naruto lost control of the Nine Tails. He didn't attack me, and he still retained cognizance of the situation, but I don't know exactly what triggered it. It may happen again.

[craters]

（ she's tidying up as he speaks, and has just started to fold a clean sheet when he mentions kurama. she freezes, her fingers spasming on cloth that's more grey than white with how old and careworn it is. ）

That... shouldn't be possible anymore. Naruto is a perfect Jinchūriki now. He and Kurama are partners.

（ her tone is twisted up with worry, but the truth is... she can't help the way fear curls in her gut at the possibility. she loves naruto, she truly does, but certain reactions are still preprogrammed from a life in konoha. it's not even the kyuubi she fears, exactly, it's... what it means, for naruto to be losing control.

(if this truly is death, then... there could be another uchiha here as well, someone strong enough to conceal their presence. obito was on their side at the end, but she's less certain about madara and his plans for the tailed beasts.)

she puts the sheet down. her right hand creeps to the bicep of the opposite arm. physically, the jagged clawmarks have been healed for years. but mentally... the mind remembers pain, and carries it forwards. the moment she realizes she's doing it, she forces her hand down, exhales sharply and rounds on him, her expression set. ）

Tell me everything that happened. Maybe the trigger isn't something that would stand out to you.

[chokuto]

[He watches Sakura clean, standing fixed in the center of the room with a rigidness that belies the discomfort he feels in her space — but the topic narrows his mind onto more important matters than the dynamic of their tenuous relationship now. Keen enough to notice the touch to her bicep, he doesn't have the context to understand what that means, translating Sakura's demeanor as nervousness nonetheless.

Naruto's power has frightened him before, too, when they were children. It seemed unfair that such a rash, foolish person could be capable of such an immensity of strength and determination, when Sasuke has fought ruthlessly for every inch of progress in his own skills. The fear wasn't for his own life; it was that he would be left behind, again, in someone else's shadow. That he would be weak and powerless forever.

Mismatched eyes drift to the side, studying a hole in the wall, a cut-out piece of bleak sky visible somewhere beyond. As he speaks, he begins unloading the items from her requested list onto the worn, wooden table nearby, emptying the satchel that he carries.]

We were ambushed. I noticed first, and I was able to counter an attack meant for Naruto. However, when I attempted nature transformation, something went wrong — either the chakra was unavailable to me or the seal was imperfect. [He's still learning one-handed, after all, and he hasn't time to practice since coming out of prison and being ripped from a Shroud in the "afterlife".] I was knocked down. It wasn't a life-threatening assault. I still had my eyes.

Naruto transformed then, and he threw the creature off of me. It's possible that seeing... [a teammate? friend?] Seeing someone defend him caused the change, especially since I lost my advantage in the process, so to him it had seemed as though I was harmed. He's sensitive to people's lives, and he must have forgotten that I'm more than capable of defending myself.

[craters]

（ she listens to the dispassionate retelling, leaning back against a low desk, crossing her legs at the ankle. her weight is supported mostly on her palms, fingers curled around the desk's edge. when he says seeing someone defend him, her grip tightens just enough that the wood creaks. ）

I very much doubt he's forgotten.

（ naruto... as much as she teases him, he's not a fool. he knows that he and sasuke are the two most dangerous men in their world, and he's always been so sure of sasuke's skill. that's not why.

how is it that someone can see so much, and be so blind?

her chin touches down briefly against her suprasternal notch as if trying to duck beneath the shadow of some dark memory, and then she releases the desk to fold her arms. it's less a defensive gesture and more a determined one, for her. ）

When you left... I wanted to become stronger. I wanted to be useful, so I wouldn't need to rely on Naruto or — （ on you, but sasuke had been gone, and she can't make herself say it. instead, she purses her lips together before she forges ahead. ） anyone to protect me. That was my goal. （ selfish. she's always been selfish. ） Naruto wanted to get stronger, too... but it was always about bringing you home. It's not about your competence, Sasuke-kun. He worries about you because he cares, not because he thinks you're weak. No one knows you aren't better than us.

[chokuto]

[The frown pulls at his mouth, a pinched and stern expression no new sight to his face, visible even half-turned from Sakura and meticulously sorting out the items on the table one-handed. He listens, even as his posture suggests that it's a distracted listening — or a reluctant one. The discussion of such vulnerability and personal goals is not one he's used to having with her. Even with Naruto, it's difficult. An immense obstruction in the healing of bonds he'd cut so deeply, so severely. He doesn't make eye contact throughout her words.]

Then it's going to be a serious problem if he loses control over something so innocuous. I was never in danger. He should have recognized that. What happens when it's you who is attacked in front of him? When it happens in the city, where he could damage his surroundings and civilians unable to defend themselves? He won't get over that.

[Unaware yet of the solution of soulmates, which is for another conversation because all our threads are apparently about Naruto...]

... He should avoid any combat for now. If possible, he'll need to be stopped from picking up missions from the notice board. [Stop Naruto??? From helping people??? Good luck suckers.] I'll think of something else in the meantime.

[craters]

（ she gives him a sour, faintly incredulous look. everything she said, and that's his takeaway? ）

He's not going to avoid combat. And he's not going to stop taking missions. （ sasuke r u okay do u have a fever ） Rather than making decisions for him and being determined to do things your own way, you could try talking to him.

[chokuto]

[When have you ever seen them talk to each other about their problems, please, Sakura. What is talking. This concept does not exist. Fists only.]

It's only a temporary solution. I said I'd find another way. [Just not soulmates.] Do you truly think telling him this problem is going to help? He already knows he lost control. Saying that he is a danger to himself and others won't make him feel better, it's liable to make him feel worse. He'll blame himself.

[His item-sorting loses an edge of calmness; Sasuke tosses the bandages into a pile, only for the roll to tumble over the edge of the table. With a sigh, he circles around to retrieve it.]

If we aren't going to agree on this, fine. My goal was only to update you on the situation.

[craters]

You're misunderstanding me. （ she's talking about feelings, and he's talking about actions. they're completely bypassing each other's intentions, and there is a brief spike of annoyance that it falls to her to pull them back to center. ） I'm not saying we should tell him he's a danger or try to make him feel guilty, I think we can agree he's dealt with both of those things enough. I'm saying you should talk to him, as a friend.

（ she follows him around the edge of the table, and when he straightens up with the bandage in hand, she reaches to take it from him. one hand takes the tattered fabric, and the other curls against his wrist. it's not a restrictive touch, it's meant to be bracing, there and gone like a whisper. it isn't as though she's unaware what she's saying is hard to hear. ）

You not being in danger doesn't mean he can't feel you are. It doesn't matter how innocuous it was, please remember that Naruto still lived for years with the thought he was going to lose you to Orochimaru, or something even worse. That's what he's fighting against in his own heart. It's not as simple as anyone being in danger driving him to that point, it's you. And if you don't want to admit or acknowledge that, fine, but it wouldn't hurt for you to be a little more understanding, either.

[chokuto]

[It's you. The words are almost as physical as the touch, a ghost's graze across his wrist, lingering like static on the skin. He stares down at the worn boards of the floor between them. He thinks, unfairly, Why me? It is not a question he voices to Sakura here and now. Not when he has asked before, obstinate as much as ruined in the face of the answer — because it simply feels too difficult to believe that he could merit the care or attention Naruto holds for him to such severity when there are hundreds more deserving.

And why, now, it still feels so difficult to accept as real. There is no way to return to the days of their childhood as burgeoning shinobi, where their missions as Team 7 were the brightest spots of his life and the darkness of his past had blurred out of focus. He cannot simply revert to that person he once was, as Naruto appears to want him to do. He can't even begin to imagine how he would after all that's happened. It would be a betrayal to those he's hurt, Sakura and Naruto included.

He turns away, expression briefly skewed by emotion, forced to confront Sakura's words. Isn't he trying to understand? Maybe he never will; maybe he is too permanently disconnected from them. What more do they expect of him than this? 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐞?]

... If I talk to him, I'm going to say the same as I've already told you. It's worse if it is what you suggest, because it's not rational behavior, and I can't predict what will cause him to lose control again, or know how to stop it except to reassure him that I'm fine. [Wouldn't the solution be more distance between them, instead of less, if Naruto is so affected by him? It is as they all learned as shinobi. Then again, Naruto is cut from another cloth. And Sasuke already did try to sever that bond — knowing his own predisposition for harm and pain and that terrifying reliance of their friendship tethering him to the world.] We'll see.

[Shouldering the satchel once again, Sasuke faces away completely.]

I'm going.

[craters]

（ how many times has she watched him walk away? it always leaves a scar. she's surprised, actually, that he lingered this long. that he came at all. she had always hoped things would be different after his release, but she's had a year with barely a word from him at all, and maybe the truth she hasn't wanted to face is that he's just never liked her very much at all. maybe they were only ever bound together by circumstances, and none of what they went through ever meant anything more than what it did in the moment — when they were children, faced with the cruel reckoning of their own mortality. she knows now that trauma can shape the bonds you have with others. was she clinging to her idea of him, or her own life?

but then, how can she explain the bond he and naruto have?

she's always been the odd one out.

she forces herself to turn the bandage over in her hand, and begin re-wrapping it. almost, she ignores his departure entirely, but just as his last footfall hits the threshold, she says — ）

Sasuke-kun. Just remember, we're always your team. No matter what.

（ she says it softly, more because she's giving him the chance to pretend she didn't speak at all than out of any demure sense of humility. he'll ignore her anyway and leave, jʋst liƙe ɑlwɑʯs. ）