01 - Arrival

[stirs_the_leaves]

Characters: Sasuke Uchiha; Open
Setting: 3-up: Floor 1, Floor 4, Floor 25
Format: Prose preferred
Summary: Sasuke has just arrived and is none too pleased with any aspect of his situation.
Warnings: none yet

Opener: Costume

Towers. Exploded worlds. Bullshit.

This entire thing would be unbelievable enough if he wasn't also wearing this ridiculous costume. He feels like Naruto: orange slacks and orange shirt. ...And ridiculous fuzzy orange fox ears perched on a headband on the top of his head; a damn tail pinned to the slacks. No amount of tugging or pulling has managed to remove any of it - even his katana can't cut through whatever this is made of - and no amount of scrubbing in the bathroom sink will clean the whisker marks off of his cheeks. Fuming. He crumpled up every one of the notes he found - welcome tower, and candy quota - and chucked them into his trunk. This is not acceptable.

Floor 1, Cafeteria

Whatever else Sasuke disbelieves, however, he's not long able to ignore his stomach. He'd like to disbelieve himself right out of this place - if he gets hungry enough, will he wake up? - but that doesn't seem to be working just yet. And if this place is any kind of real, be it illusory or prison or whatever else, he'll need his strength to get out of it.

He's seated at one long table, alone, in a corner of the room, spoon stirring idly through the oatmeal he was given. It's not worth trying his luck on something else; for all he knows, there's poison in the rest of it meant to make him ill.

Floor 4, Lounge

Glass walls and nothing to see.

Sasuke's attempted a kai to cut through whatever illusion this might be more times than he can count, but outside the glass, nothing but fog and clouds. Whoever or whatever is behind him goes ignored, including the comforts of soft chairs; he stands at the window, or wall, or whatever it is, staring out into nothing.

Floor 25, Meadow

At least it's quiet here. His guard is up, somewhat, and his ears are piqued for sound and movement, but to the outside observer he lays at ease on his back in the flowers a few yards from the stairs, hands behind his head. Staring at the ceiling, for all the oddness of a ceiling over a field.

Comments

Lounge

[stirs_the_leaves]

Sasuke was expecting to be stared at once or twice in this ridiculous getup - he wondered how Naruto could stand it, all this orange and all the sideways looks - but this stare felt different. And he could feel it, something in the sudden pause of movement that accompanied it, something that felt different than the expected slack-jawed gawks.

He turned, one eyebrow raised just slightly even before he caught sight of the other boy. Romeo's costume made the other rise to match.

"...Can I help you?"

[myblueskies]

Romeo realised he was staring and gave him a small smile. He bit his lip because he had to remember his promise to Itachi ans so he thought he should probably tell Itachi that he was here before he told Sasuke... because if Sasuke got mad at Itachi, Itachi might forget to be a good person.

"No sir! I'm okay! You're new right? You got a costume too! Do you got enough candy? Do you want some of mine?"

[stirs_the_leaves]

At first, Sasuke just blinked at the sudden spout of words. Then he smiled, warming up immediately to this boy. Romeo reminded him of some of his favorite students at the academy, always helpful, team players.

"That's all right. I found a few handfuls in the cafeteria earlier." He'd found out quickly that adding candy to the pumpkin lessened the tightness of the costume he was wearing. A test, he expected. It didn't feel that different from an element of ANBU training, or a chuunin exam, once he got right down to it.

"I am new, yes. And... yes, it seems quite a few of us are in costume recently." Sasuke's world didn't have a Halloween, so this entire ritual's meaning was lost on him. "I'm Sasuke. You are...?"

[myblueskies]

Romeo smiled back, most of the memories Romeo had of him was when he was littler than Romeo was now, but he smiled the same. "It's nice to meet you mister Sasuke! I'm Romeo!" He took some candy from his bucket and put it in Sasuke's anyways. "It's one of the bad people's games, but if we work together they wont hurt us this time!"

[stirs_the_leaves]

Sasuke's brows knitted in concern and confusion. This time? He crouched down a little to put himself on the same eye-level as Romeo. "It's nice to meet you too, Romeo." Even with these circumstances?

"Do people usually get hurt when these bad people play games?" The more he heard about this place, the unhappier it made him.

[myblueskies]

Romeo nodded, "They do, that's why they play them. They like making us sad." He didn't want to make Sasuke sad though! He had to help keep Itchi's brothers spirits up!

"Don't worry mister Sasuke! We just got to keep trying to beat them!"

[stirs_the_leaves]

[ooc: SO SORRY for slow! Had life events pile up with writer's block! ♥]


Much as Sasuke's brows knitted a little more, a smile played about his lips anyway. The kid's optimism and enthusiasm were endearing.

"I'll be glad to help with that. And to do whatever I can to keep anyone from being sad or hurt."

He held out a hand; a quick spin of Sharingan told him this boy was probably harmless. "Would you like help gathering candy for your friends?"

no worries <3

[myblueskies]

Romeo grinned, he had known Sasuke was a good person! He had seen him in Itachi's memories and knew that just like his brother he would try his best to be nice and kind, even if it was sometimes difficult because they lived in a bad world!

Romeo nodded, "It's always better to work together!"

[stirs_the_leaves]

"I'm glad to help, then."

He straightened, gathering his own bucket and giving a quick ruffle to Romeo's hair. "How many friends are you helping out with this?"

[myblueskies]

"Lots! We have a group of lots of kids who help each other out when bad things happen. My friend Ken is the leader! There's maybe... well there's more than ten!"

Romeo can't count very high.

[stirs_the_leaves]

That lifted Sasuke's spirits a little to hear. Reminded him of home... Helping each other not for selfish reasons, but for a unity of protection, or so he hoped was the case here. With children, it usually was.

"I'm glad to help you gather candy for all of them, then."

[myblueskies]

"That's really nice of you sir!" He smiled and began looking under the cushions. "I knew you were a really good person!"

[stirs_the_leaves]

That caught Sasuke's curiosity a bit. "Oh?" He hoped the boy wasn't a little too trusting. "What makes you say that?"

[myblueskies]

Romeo paused, because he had to keep mister Itachi's secret! "You look like a good person sir! I knew when I saw you!"