Not Unlike A Good Meal [IO, NK]

As a child, Isaribi hadn't had much to do, in an existential sense. Really it was either wander around in the neighborhood, getting into all kinds of trouble, or sit in the house, or do work of some kind. There hadn't been the kind of money put into her area of town that there had been for places like the theater district or that little zone around the archives. Urban development was sort of a passion of hers, or at the very least, it was something she'd been allowed to hear about when she had been in jail. Long hours that would normally have been spent scratching at the white walls and losing her sanity had instead been well used, eavesdropping on some impassioned guard talking about streetcars and desire.

At the man's words, she was tempted to roll her eyes, but stopped herself. Of course, he couldn't understand. That vast gulf that separated human experience was a barrier even she could not cross.

"Honestly, I don't really know. I figured going back to whatever I was doing before was a bad idea, so I've just been running little errands of my own, you know? Getting food to people, making sure the Jaws and the church don't get too much territory, that kind of thing. No jobs, nothing major." And yet, when she was in the jaws, her fury and frustration hadn't really had a real outlet. Then, were these little things an outlet? Dubious, at best. After a couple of seconds of hard thinking, she came up with something.

"I wanna get caught up with all the shit that happened before I got out. All my crowd, all them I grew up with, they're all gone, to the grave or out of town, so I figured maybe I'd try to catch up or something." She glanced up at the stone faces of the kage who had come before the current one, indicating that they were what she was most curious about, though the reason why was something she kept to herself. The village, after all, was the same from her perspective as it had been when she went to jail. Motivated by the same old shit, fought over by the same old parties, so on and so forth. What had the others done that had caused this to stretch on and on? Why hadn't any of them changed the status quo, or rather, had any of them tried and failed?

[WC 411]

Listening to her story, or at least the parts she allowed herself to share, Akaboshi couldn't help but wonder how much the woman had lost, or how many people of her past were no longer around. "Yes, going back to the old ways is something I would advise against" he softly spoke, simply stating his thoughts, aware it was not his place nor business to make any suggestions or even try to tell her what to do. Eventually she would find her way, a new direction to follow, perhaps even a goal to work towards. "It's easy to repeat the same mistakes of the past, but I believe you to be smart enough to do things different this time". The woman paid a price, whether or not it was justified was not for him to decide.

The topic of their conversation slowly shifted, but not before she mentioned a purpose, something new for her to do now that she got out of prison and back to the normal world, for as far as the one they were living in could be called that. Get out and be around other people, so to speak. "Although there are things and people you have lost, this could be a fresh start". The ones she used to know, people that could be considered friends or even family, were all gone, leaving her with an opportunity to learn about everything that happened while being locked up. Catch up, as she so called it. 

Not much longer after finishing her sentence, almost simultaneously, she would glance at the stone faces of the previous Hogokage, making Akaboshi believe that the individuals who had been crafted and put on display were part of the many changes the woman could possibly be curious about. "How many do you recognize?". Some of them she might remember, while others would be nothing more than a vague memory or even completely unknown.

(WC: 320, TWC: 2137)

(Exit)

(TWC: 2137)
Claims, using 25% max stat discount:
- 2062/2062 Black Hollow

Akaboshi wrote:(Exit)

(TWC: 2137)
Claims, using 25% max stat discount:
- 2062/2062 Black Hollow

Approved