TDM #4

[labyrinmods]

Arrival / Enchanted Garden

Whether it be sleep or death, you feel your eyes close, and as your body begins to let go, you see a barn owl that is flying through the darkness, soon sweeping you across the clouded sky. You feel yourself mouth the words, “I wish, I wish..” and utter your deepest and darkest desire.

When you regain consciousness, you’ll find you are in an unfamiliar place with no recognition of how you arrived here. You have the clothes on your back, but nothing else. No weapons and if you had a particular superpower, you’ll notice it is missing. All you have is a satchel with a piece of bread, a vial of water and a potion. The potion could be red, blue or golden. There are no instructions about these potions other than two words: Drink Me.

Will you drink it or not?

There is a parchment, handwritten, and it simply gives you a welcoming:

“Welcome to my Labyrinth. Per our agreement, you have consented to live your life here for an undetermined amount of time. In exchange, I will grant you the wish that you desire the most.”

You’re in a garden, surrounded by flowers and plants– most of which you cannot identify. However, there are a few that you can make out: honeysuckles & day lilies Time spent too close to the day lily invokes a state of forgetfulnesss. The longer characters stay in the garden, especially if they are close to the day lilies, they will begin to forget important things about themselves. What they forget is up to the player, but longer time spent in the garden can reduce them to a completely amnesic state. Better hurry out and try to find the way out while you can! Honeysuckles will have no effect on characters unless they decide to drink the sap from them. The honeysuckle nectar will give characters a temporary power boost. This applies to characters who have drank their potion or have regained their powers. This might be useful to salvage for later, especially considering the chaos that goes on in Somnius!

It looks like there are plenty of others who are just now waking up from their dream-state as well.. why not go ahead and say hello?

[ The arrival aspect of this prompt is reserved for new characters, but anyone can interact with the garden flowers. The effects will last for a few hours or days. ]

It's Getting Hot in Here

Speaking of chaos, the current state of Somnius is.. not great. It's not by any other means than a natural disaster that is completely a coincidence and not because Dreamers rebelled against the Skeksis and didn't heed to townsfolk warnings, right? Right.

As the weather gets hotter and hotter, the obvious side effects become clear - most notably, the townspeople are closing up shop until the weather settles down. The usual markets don’t open in the wee hours of the morning and even the blacksmith has laid down his hammer during the midpoint of the days, trying to avoid the peak of the warm rush. Anyone trying to speak to the townsfolk about the sudden change in weather will find them oddly standoffish and almost rude - it’s obvious who they’re blaming for their predicament.

Another clearly dissatisfied group of society are the mermaids of Lake Omen, who may be spotted more regularly than usual across the span of the boiling hot heat. While still a rare sight, the warmth of the water encouraged a few more angry and bitter of their kind to poke their heads out and try and find the source of their woes - hand in hand with their usual siren call. It may be possible to have them leave you be if you offer them something a little on the cooler side, but with the weather as it is… It might end up being more of a challenge than anticipated.

The days go by and it doesn’t seem as though the heat is ebbing in the least, the sun blazing in the sky and the shops still kept under tight lock and key. Even some of the town staples - the bakery and the inn - have their doors close to strangers, trying to find some means of keeping cool. As the days go by, characters that have affinity to fire (or any kind of fire power!) may find that their powers are a little… Out of control.

With the sun high in the sky and blazing hot, some fire seems to be going a little haywire across Visium and not acting as it should. Be it burning a little hotter than intended, blazing out of control or simply refusing to work whatsoever, fire powers are acting with a mind of their own. Characters who have fire-related powers, be it their own or through potions, may experience the same hazards, on a scale of disobedience to refusal to work.

Finally, the heat does seem to die down and the townsfolk release themselves from their self-inflicted isolation, but they’re still not completely at ease with the strangers and keep them at an arms length: some things are not easily forgotten, and the damage seems to have been done when it comes to the skeksis. They may speak to characters once the heatwave is over, but will consistently refuse to talk about the Skeksis, the attack or anything to do with the taxes. You had your chance, you blew it.

So Take Off All Your Clothes

Somnius has, from everyone's knowledge, always been nestled around a giant labyrinth built by The Almighty Lord Vaeros, as some townsfolk say. What's so good about a lord who seems to leave a town in shambles and doesn't seem to help? He's sus. Everything about this is sus.

However, one morning during the heatwave, both townsfolk and Dreamers alike will hear a crumble and a crash.. almost as if a wall is broken. The labyrinth has always been indestructible, but as Dreamers investigate, they will find a hole broken through the labyrinth, opening up to a new era. Should you go through the hole, Dreamers will see an area they haven't ever seen before...

Welcome to the New Location: Indigo Sand Grove. As the name implies, the sand here isn't white or.. well.. sandy colored, but instead a beautiful dark blue with the occasional glitter grains. It almost appears black if the scorching sun isn't hitting it just right. Any other foliage or trees seen here will be typical of Earthly tropical beaches with the occasional unidentifiable vegetation. All in all, Indigo Sand Grove and its beaches seem welcoming and not harmful at all. In fact, there are bamboo garden chairs sitting out, enticing people to have a beach party and sun bathe! As soon as characters touch their feet into the indigo sands, their clothing will change into a swimsuit from their home. The swimsuit is for keeps! Enjoy!

The sea is safe to swim in, filled with typical fish that would come from Earth and crystal clear waters. Characters will feel a sense of joy on the beach. It's not a forceful kind of magic, but something about this place really wants you to have a good time, so why not take advantage of that?

I am Gettin So Hot, I Wanna... Hunt Beetles!

CW: bugs, beetle imagery

Along with a swimsuit, characters will find a bamboo net, designed for hunting beetles. You may see that there is a bamboo forest neighboring the sandy beach where characters will find insects to capture with their net. If capturing beetles isn't your forte, maybe just go up to the person you have a close bond with and hit them over the head with your net. The choice is yours.

Among the typical insects, there are three types of horned beetles. Anyone familiar with beetle fighting may see this as an opportunity to find their new pet, but those with money on the mind may find out that the townsfolk will purchase beetles for bonus shards. Here are the types of beetles and their values:

CLICK FOR BEETLES!

Horned Dynastid (Red): 5 bonus shards.

Horned Atlas (Black): 10 bonus shards.

Horned Hercules (Gold): 15 bonus shards.

There will be a ruined down, old sign on the main path in the bamboo forest that lists these types of beetles and their price. Team up together and enter the forest to find a fortune!

Suspicious Message #2

On the morning of the 1st, some dreamers will receive a message from an unknown user.

Who or what has broken your heart before?

They will feel compelled to respond with a truthful answer, as if their brains had gone into a trance, and before they know it, their response will be there for everyone to see. It cannot be deleted or changed. The user will not respond personally, but you get the sense they are definitely reading. Characters who are disinterested in romance can also mention familial or platonic heartbreak. It can also be a devastating event or anything else.

[ This is an additional network option for characters to interact with. Feel free to add a network prompt into any of your top levels. If you do not want to interact with this prompt, simply assume your character did not get the message. All threads are public unless actively privated by characters. We generally encourage threadjacking and engagement, so feel free to mention if threadjacking is fine with you so that others are aware. Note that the NPC will not be actively responding. ]

OOC

Welcome to the labyrinthum TDM! All events are game canon. New characters (invited or not) and old characters alike are welcome to play in it. Existing characters can start their own logs or network posts for the event if they wish to.

New and Old characters are welcome to top level on the TDM. Please state in the header if you are a new or old player! Also, new characters may link their top levels under the new character comment so they are easier to find. Thanks for your cooperation!

New characters will arrive depowered and with only their clothing, and will be given a satchel with a crystal pendant, a communication device, some water and bread and a magic potion. If they drink the potion, they will manifest an elemental, healing or animal transformation ability.

With the exception of Castle Vaeros, characters are free to go as they please, so feel free to place them in any of the locations available on the map.

You can find more information about the game here. Any questions regarding the TDM can go under the comment below.

Unique to this TDM, we have a beetle hunting event. Be sure to comment under the RNG Beetle Hunt to see which beetle your character finds in order to exchange later for bonus shards! One RNG per character, please.

Comments

iii because "disastrously loud" summoned me

[thinhammer]

Cutting through the perfect, poised quiet Sasuke has curated to catch his bugs there comes a sound like a wet clod of paper being thrown at concrete, and if Sasuke turns he'll find the source of said noise is a bundle of orange fabric and brown muck slumped in a heap across the floor just behind him. It looks like a bag of shit, or tossed out clothes, something entirely inhuman which is probably what a normal person might assume it is, but then the thing unfurls like a pillbug and reveals itself to be a boy. It's a boy covered nearly head to toe in thick partially-dried dirt and foliage to the point where only portions of his clothes and skin are on show, but it's definitely a boy nonetheless.

He gets to his feet with a stifled cry which makes sense because he just fucking plummetted from a tree and landed on his back, but he seems to have a lot more movement than he really should. He should have a broken spine. At least.

He brushes leaves from his hair -- or tries to, because they're stuck in the globs of mud clinging to his hair, but his scratching with his hands does, at least, remove a little mud to reveal bright blonde hair beneath -- before he makes the motion of squinting around him without actually doing it. His eyes are screwed shut either from pain or from the dirt crusted around them, so when he speaks next he's facing a nearby tree instead of the stranger he'd been following.

"Aaaaaah, shiiiit.."

He groans, a hand coming up to wipe at his face and just.. making the whole thing worse, really. The mud seems to have mixed with sweat that prevents it from drying rock solid, but when he goes to wipe it on his sleeve he doesn't have a single clean piece of fabric on him so he just ends up reapplying mud to his face.

"I was followin' some bugs an' then saw some, like, wings? Red an' white, I've never seen anythin' like that, and I thought maybe it was a kinda jungle chicken or bird or somethin' and that I could get more money for somethin' like that, but I keep fallin' out of trees whenever I try to jump an' stuff!!! My chakra's not workin' like it should, y'know...."

He wafts a hand at the tree as though he's expecting it to stretch out a friendly hand to him. It does not, so he stumbles forward a bit.

"Shit, where'd ya go.... Oi, you still there?"

FUCKING OF COURSE IT DID i'm wheezing

[fantheflame]

...

" . . . "

/ . . . . . . /

...Sage preserve him,

Sasuke takes in a deep breath, and the ragged sigh he lets out is probably enough to tell Naruto exactly who the fuck it is before he actually says a word, because that sound of aggravation has got to be as familiar to Naruto as his own reflection at this point.

"Usuratonkachi."

And of course, it would be a Naruto without wings like his, which means he probably has no memory of the last couple years they spent... well, let's go with not actively trying to murder one another as at least correct, if not covering all of it.

A beat.

"Did you just call me a fucking chicken?"

[thinhammer]

Naruto isn't entirely sure what he's expecting from this interaction, but it certainly isn't what he gets. The sigh doesn't exactly stop him in his tracks - because people sigh, okay, he had to learn pretty early on after Sasuke left that people just sigh sometimes and it's nothing to get in your feelings about even if it does make your brain feel itchy to hear it - but it alights his nerves like fire on oil; the instinct to tell himself it's nothing rises, but there's a smaller and probably younger part of Naruto that knows that he hasn't heard a sigh like that for years at this point. He should have forgotten what it sounds like by now. He knows he never will.

The name, though. No-one calls him that, no-one would go to the trouble of calling him that ridiculously specific fucking name except one person. Naruto thought he was alone here and had forcibly pushed down the feelings of isolation in favour of throwing himself bodily into what this place encouraged him to do until he found answers and/or a way home... but now?

"Sa...suke...." He murmurs, head turning from the tree to the direction the voice came from. An illusion, a trick? He inhales. It can't be, he'd be able to sense the chakra; should he go Sage Mode to find out for sure? Should he try to catch Sasuke before he runs, or ask him what that whole kage attack thing was about, or ask him if he's okay? Then, the chicken comment. He scrubs at his eyes in anger as his frustration rises and rises, pounding in his ears. Surely if he could see Sasuke then he'd know for sure that this isn't a trick, he's so unbelievably sick of being tricked like this.

"Aaah!!! I said jungle chicken, y'know, an' why would I be callin' you a chicken, haa?!?"

It's not like you have wings, is it, Sasuke?

[fantheflame]

"Because you're as blind as you are stupid, as always, dobe."

That's what Sasuke says, instead of acknowledging the squirming his stomach does when Naruto says his name like that. The yawning empty stretch of space between once-was and now, that space taken up by time outside of time in Luceti, where Naruto had been (obnoxiously) right there, and he had only had to explain shit to the idiot the once.

Instead of following that thread of conversation, instead of asking the question that has long become as perfectly reasonable as it is weird ("when are you from?"), Sasuke follows the one held out in front of him like a beckoning hand.

"You get one guess what else is red on top and white on the bottom. And this isn't one of Kakashi's riddles. It's the same thing that's always on my back, ne? Well, other than your nagging."

[thinhammer]

Sasuke, that's not really fair, the kid is covered in mud. It seems like that comment specifically is what sets Naruto's brain on fire with cognitive reasoning, because he unzips his once orange-and-black and now mostly-brown-with-specks-of-orange-here-and-there jacket to reveal a blindingly white t-shirt with its trademark swirl pattern. He lifts it to his head and starts to wipe away the muck. Good thing he didn't wear armor today because that would have been uncomfortable.

Two bright blue eyes blink through the shade of the forest, and Naruto beholds the face of the person he's been actively chasing, who he's accidentally stumbled on in a bamboo forest in some unknown place where an old lady told him to go catch some bugs. What is his life.

He's got all sorts of things to say and ask along with the thoughts from earlier - should he capture him? Sasuke is a criminal, right? But Sasuke hasn't actually done anything to warrant Naruto pouncing on him (recently, at least) and other than that, Sasuke feels.. different. He looks different.

Oh shit, the wings!!!!!!!!!!

Naruto does a dramatic full-body double take that almost cricks his neck as he leaps into life and starts circling Sasuke, staring unabashed at the limbs protruding from his shoulders.

"They're attached?? To you????" He babbles stupidly, soooooo tempted to reach out his hand and touch one because haha, what the fuck. The last time he saw Sasuke with wings was in The Valley, but these wings are totally different. "They look like your clan thing..." Then, a little more serious, he continues: "Is this some kinda curse?"

[fantheflame]

Sasuke blinks once when Naruto unzips his jacket, half-squints when the stark white of the t-shirt in even the bamboo-shaded sun nearly blinds him, and then makes a face when Naruto brings all that white up to his face and smears it in more muck than Sasuke thinks he's ever had on his own entire body at one time. Gross.

Naruto's blink, those blue eyes, squirms that same fucking feeling in Sasuke's gut that he refuses to let be made visible in his body, or in his own stubbornly grey-black eyes, memories of so fucking long ago, and again, he stops himself from asking that clarifying question. Because Naruto isn't trying to put a kunai in him, or announcing that he won't, or spouting off the same line ad infinitum forever and ever, so maybe he can just. Set that off to the left for now and have this conversation instead. Even if it's obnoxious.

(Maybe especially because it's obnoxious, and he's a little less bothered by obnoxious than exhausting and infuriating.)

Even if being suddenly circled, standing barefoot in a jungle thicket wearing nothing but Konoha-green swim trunks and holding nothing but a bug net and devoid of anything resembling chakra sets every nerve on end, prickles goosebumps up the back of his neck. Part of him is extremely, extremely fucking aware that Naruto is still Naruto and Naruto is still the jinchuuriki and the kyuubi is the dictionary fucking definition of apex predator, even if all Naruto's chakra (and the kyuubi's besides) is as locked down as his own.

Strangely, that part is the part that is shinobi, and only that part.

Every part that is Sasuke cannot find it in him to be nearly so disquieted, and he almost breaks the dobe's nose in a fit of pique just for making him think that train of thought.

But he schools himself. He's been getting better at that.

"Yes, they're attached," he drawls, sounding more Naruto-weary than world-weary. "And yes," he responds to the second, less wearily, maybe with a quirk of smile to his lips, that Naruto did, actually, get to his clan symbol, without needing to be told twice. That's... he's not sure. He's not sure he has the word for it. _{(It's nice, but when was the last time Sasuke had the use for a word like nice?)} "They're the same color as the Uchiha Fan." He pauses. "Not like Orochimaru's curse." Not nearly so personal. "Everyone had them, the last world I was in."

[thinhammer]

The shift in Sasuke's voice makes Naruto scowl like he's being made fun of, even though he's sure that he actually isn't, for once. When he's sure Sasuke is making fun of him, he responds with blind fury and slings his fists around like a child. Or, that's what he used to do, when they actually were children.

But nonetheless he notices Sasuke's voice soften at the edges, like he has more time for the path their conversation is going down when he confirms Naruto's theory about the clan symbol. Naruto doesn't have the capacity to consider if Sasuke is proud he managed to reach a conclusion alone, because Naruto is a lot more than the kid who couldn't get through an exam without copying from someone or the kid who thought that heroes can't die, and has been coming to his own conclusions for some time now.

As it is, though, he'll take it. There's a part of him that knows he should be dealing with this; criminal still makes him feel uncomfortable when applying it to Sasuke, but he knows he should be at least asking him about everything that happened. But somehow Naruto makes no effort to do so, instead soothing the louder part of him that feels like somehow this is familiar. Even though he has never experienced Sasuke with bird wings before and he has never been to this weird place where bugs can be exchanged for money and his chakra doesn't work so he keeps falling out of trees into the muddy forest below.. he feels like he's falling into a rhythm with Sasuke that he hasn't felt with anyone for a long time, and he's loathe to let it dissipate so fast.

"Everyone? So you.. went someplace else?" He's putting two and two together, kind of. He might come out with five at the end, but it's better than only having two in the first place. Or something. "Somewhere like this, that isn't home, an'... an' it gave you wings?"

He scrunches up his face, some mud flecks fall onto his shoulders. "That sounds dumb."

[fantheflame]

Sasuke lets Naruto think aloud to himself, unhurried. Finds he doesn't mind it, hearing Naruto come to conclusions out loud. Especially since the conclusion really is as nonsense as it is completely accurate: who would think their way down this path naturally? Who has space in their schema of normality for world-hopping? (Obito doesn't count.) So the halting path isn't something he can fault Naruto for, really.

Naruto's condemnation, though, is so very Naruto that Sasuke's nose wrinkles for a second, and then he can't help himself. He fucking laughs.

It's soft, and it's rusty from disuse still, but it's not a scoff, and it's not a cackle, and it's completely sane, thanks. It only lasts a few beats, and it's not as bright a sound as most people seem to make out of the action, but it's natural and it's calm. "It is dumb," he agrees. He really can't argue that. "But I was stuck there outside time for a couple years, so. Got kinda used to it."

His free hand settles on his hip, and his stance relaxes. Not that he looked tense before, just ready in that ninja way, guard up but casual. He's still Sasuke, so of course his guard isn't down, isn't even down when he's asleep, but he's not holding himself in that way that he carries around like a mantle. Yeah. He'll take this, too, same as Naruto.

[thinhammer]

Naruto takes a small step back when Sasuke laughs - just one foot, just the slightest shift of his weight - not in fear but in pure shock. Look, for ease it's best to apply the blanket reasoning of 'it's been a while' to most things Naruto experiences when around Sasuke now, but this one really has been a fucking while; Naruto can't actually remember the last time he heard Sasuke properly laugh. Not that nutso shit at Orochimaru's hideout, or that horrible little heh he does when Naruto embarrasses himself or doesn't know an answer that Sasuke does.

The main reason Naruto takes a step back, though, is because something in his chest lurches to hear it, and he experiences the same kind of feeling he feels after finishing a bowl of ramen: more. He wants to hear it more, more, but then it stops and Naruto is left with a weird sort of entranced smile turning his mouth as he stares at Sasuke.

His frame relaxes, so Naruto does the same. When they were children he'd do this - Sasuke would stand upright, so Naruto would too; Sasuke would lean on a desk, so Naruto would too. And if they talked and Sasuke agreed with him, Naruto would keep that moment like a souvineer, proof that he's made an impact, proof that they could be friends.

"Mmh but," He says finally once the.. whatever that was has worn off. "Why've you still got 'em here? 'Cos you were there so long? Like getting wrinkles in the bath, y'know? Or is it a thing here, too?"

A thought strikes him then, and he spins in spot, probably splattering Sasuke with par-dried bits of muck as he whirlwinds around. "Do I have wings?!"

[fantheflame]

Naruto startles, not much, but enough, enough for an Uchiha, eyes dim or not; Sasuke would have to be blind not to see it. Startles at his laugh, and that wriggles something entirely different in Sasuke's gut. He still doesn't ask that clarifying question, but the longer they talk, the less he needs to. So he'll just... not draw that much attention to it.

And Naruto settles as he settles, and there's a familiarity there that is so... very... Naruto.

This is nice. (There's that word at last.)

"Dunno," he answers that first question honestly, head tilting. He's not sure why the wings came with him, but also didn't really find it worth deep questioning. The little edge of smile, remnant from that laugh, remains. Comfortable. Quirks a little bit at comparing it to wrinkles in a bath. That's both apt and childish, and isn't that also so Naruto?

But then the blond whirls, and Sasuke's nose (and lip) wrinkles for a different reason as he lifts an arm to shield his face from flecks of mud. "You're disgusting," he scoffs, flippant and almost gentle for such an insult. _{(It's fond is what it is, but don't tell him that.)} "You don't have wings, dobe, but you do have a fucking coating of mud like you've been swimming in it."

Swimming. Ah, that lights an idea. "C'mon, loser." He turns away from his bug-hunting and back toward the beach. He'd rather not continue chattering with a mudskipper.

[thinhammer]

Naruto pauses in his wriggling, trying to manoeuvre his arms around himself to feel at his shoulder blades for any protrusions that might be there, but ultimately finding none. He doesn't even flinch at Sasuke's comment, both because it kind of feels good to be called such a low pH insult in the face of everything Sasuke has said to him over the years, but also because he's kinda right. Naruto is pretty disgusting right now.

"I wasn't swimmin' in it, y'know, I just fell. A lot. Outta trees. An' in the places people have been walkin' there's a ton of mud on the floor." He explains this like it is perfectly reasonable, because in Naruto land it really is. Bug hunting, bugs climb trees, trees are a good vantage point, chakra should make it easy to jump across branches, but his chakra seems... off?

When Sasuke bids him to follow, Naruto does it without even a second's hesitation, but does not pause in his stream of consciousness either. Whenever Sasuke tried to cease their contact, Naruto would always keep it up just a little longer; it's so easy to fall back into this...

"Hey, does your chakra feel weird, too? I can't get mine to work right, s'like I've used it all up already without any of the tired feelin', y'know."

[fantheflame]

"Announcing your weaknesses out loud remains not the brightest idea, you know." But it's an easy comment, less cutting or chiding than it could be. Just as easy as knowing Naruto is following, is right there, even without chakra sense. "But yeah," he agrees, more quietly, not carrying beyond the two of them. "I can't mold it at all. May as well be a civilian."

He, unlike the other, doesn't say outright that he can't use his Sharingan, but it's as clear as it is unstated.

He also doesn't say anything as they cross onto the indigo sands, but he does watch the other out of the corner of his eye, curious if the swimwear his clothes inevitably transform into will remain muddy. There's also the matter of every inch of him not hidden by clothing. He continues his stride toward the waterline, whatever the change and whatever Naruto's response to it.

[thinhammer]

"Oii, it ain't like I'm shoutin' or nothin' like that, there's no-one around here for ages!" He swings his arm out as if to draw Sasuke's attention to the fact that they're alone. Then, he seems to retract his confidence along with his arm as he realises that a lack of chakra means he wouldn't know if there were anyone nearby until it was much too late, so he changes tactic. "Either way, I don't need chakra to punch someone's lights out, so I don't think it's that much of a weakness, y'know!" He pounds a fist into his palm to make his point, and that is that.

He is immediately distracted by the blinding light and sandy stretch of the beach. The sand looks like nothing he's ever seen before, and as he hops down onto it from the muck of the forest, he scoops a hand up in it to feel it through his fingers. He is blatantly aware of how it looks a similar colour to Sasuke's hair and he's about to laugh and point this out when he notices his hand is suddenly completely clean. He frowns at it, turns to point this strange discovery out to Sasuke, and feels a very insistent breeze across his chest.

Looking down, Naruto sees his own (clean) skin, and his very familiar swim shorts from back at home. He remembers distinctly buying these from a souvenir shop who thought it was absolutely genius to sell shorts with fire on in Fire Country; Naruto had been pretty dazzled by them himself, but that was a fair few years ago at this point, and to be changed into them so suddenly and without warning (or realisation) means the expression on his face is a little mixed.

Then, he looks up at Sasuke, at his shorts, and points.

"This is why you're half naked, ha? I was wonderin' why you were walkin' around dressed like that, y'know!!" He laughs like this is the funniest thing ever to happen to him, and lifts his bare feet in the sand experimentally before racing to catch up to the other boy.

"D'ya think if I go back in the forest they'll appear again? Where d'ya think our clothes went??"

[fantheflame]

Sasuke watches with unconcealed (though ever low-key) amusement as Naruto runs through his own thoughts and realizations out loud, getting to no chakra sense a little late and then chasing it with bluster and bravado that aren't really either of those things. Naruto's trademark overconfidence will always be exactly that, but it's also still real confidence, and Sasuke finds that as nostalgic as everything else. He does puff a soft laugh all the same, less (fully) derisive than a snort, at the assertion that he can solve incoming problems with his fists. Sasuke hasn't been here long; he can't exactly say if that's true, how dangerous this place might actually be or not be under the surface, so he doesn't argue.

He does take in all Naruto's bald-faced fascination with a fascination of his own. In a new place, with a Naruto he hasn't spent years getting so used to for the Naruto-normal things to breeze by in comfortable familiarity, it's so suddenly stark to see how unabashed Naruto is with his wonder. How he can just let all of that hang out in the open.

(He's not jealous, not really, because he's so sure he'd feel at minimum a sane, shinobi amount of vulnerable putting everything on open display like that, but he does feel something like wistful.)

It's so easy to respond to that question with a soft pfft, more amusement than dismissal. "I was just in the forest and my clothes didn't change back, ne?" Not knowing exactly how permanent that permanence is, though, he's at least glad he'd been wearing something new he'd picked up in town before this: if his Uchiha jacket, one of the few things he still had from home, had gotten disappeared on him, he would be pissed.

As it is, he just continues on down the beach as they talk. "Transformed like a henge, as far as I can guess, though this place operates on different rules, so I dunno if they'll change back or not." It's easy, simple conversation.

Right up until they're within distance of the water, at which point Sasuke catches his heel in front of the ankle of Naruto's rooted foot while the other is mid-step, spins his bug net to smack it down over Naruto's head like a hood, and ducks down to bull his back up under the other's chest and roll Naruto's momentum over his body and straight into the drink.

...It's actually surprisingly nonviolent, for shinobi, and for them in particular.

[thinhammer]

Naruto makes a soft hum of consideration at the example. In a henge his clothes just temporarily disappear, but he's in control of bringing them back. Here, however, there's no clear method of having them return - though he does form the release sign quickly, just to make sure. Nothing happens. Figures.

"I guess we just- HYyk--!!!" Is the eloquent sound that comes from Naruto as he's ruthlessly yeeted over Sasuke's head. He should be able to pick up on the sensations by now and know exactly what's happening to him by sheer process of elimination, but to be fair it's been a very long time since Sasuke was physical with him in a way that wasn't Very Clearly A Battle.

He emerges head first, spitting out the mouthful of water he took in when he went down in a rather impressive arc. The yell that comes from him is so loud it probably shakes the trees.

"OOOOII!! What was that for!!!" he howls, then gets to his feet and lunges at Sasuke elbows first, fully intending to knock him backwards into the water.

[fantheflame]

Sasuke's laugh is a fucking cackle, but it's also completely sane.

It also genuinely sounds like real mirth. What's that? Is that - Sasuke having fun?

Surprise!

He is still laughing, though it's lighter and easier than that initial burst completely at Naruto's expense, as he turns those elbows easily with his forearms, backing away light on his feet. It does back him into the lapping of the waves, putting him in up to his ankles, and he knows he's not gonna keep his balance forever. He finds he doesn't mind, tussling easily arm to arm and hand to hand without putting a single bit of vitriol into it.

"Originally it was gonna be to get the mud off. Then I just thought it'd be funny."

[thinhammer]

Naruto is half expecting it when Sasuke turns his elbows away, almost as if he's testing if this apparition really is who it claims to be. The scuffling that comes after is just as expected, like a dance he knows the movements to without thinking about it, muscle memory. Arms fly past his face, miss his stomach, strike his shoulder in a flat push just as he makes contact with a firm bicep… and gradually Naruto's sullen expression turns to one of utter and genuine delight.

It's crazy how much you can miss something so specific without really realising it.

"Yeah, you would find somethin' like that funny, y'know!" He grunts out as they start to spin their blows, Naruto trying to catch a single second where Sasuke's guard isn't working overtime and failing miserably. He's laughing too because of course he is. He giggles when Sasuke misses him, gasps when he gets a palm to the chin for it, outright caws with mirth when he gets Sasuke in the stomach--

And then he's gone! Suddenly, Naruto disappears from sight.

The next thing, two arms come up to wrap around Sasuke's middle and bear hug him backwards into the deeper part of the ocean.

oh good I never get to use this icon

[fantheflame]

Sasuke's face is painted in that cocky, easy smirk from the word go, entertained by Naruto's plight - but it's not long at all before his expression follows the other's suit, teeth showing a bit in a real smile, mirth sparkling in his eyes, and he's laughing just the same, if softer - Sasuke's always been quieter, even if he's learning to open up - as they half-spar and turn each other's strikes and exchange nothing-blows and just tussle like fucking teenagers, for once.

That palm to his stomach blows an oof out of him, makes just enough opening that he fucking blinks and misses it when Naruto slips out of sight. Curses under his breath because god damn it, when has he ever been without his chakra - and then he YELLS when he's grabbed and hoisted right the fuck off his feet into the ocean.

He comes up spluttering and cursing a blue streak, punching a splash of water at Naruto's face as soon as he gets some tread under him. "Cheap shot, Uzumaki!" But while there's bite and there's offense, there's still no ire and there's no bile. There's just Sasuke, snorting under his breath before using a push of his now-waterlogged wings to get some extra oomph into his pounce, aiming to push Naruto's head back under the water under his forearms.

he really said 0:

[thinhammer]

Naruto tries so fucking hard to keep Sasuke under the water for a moment or two longer, but Sasuke's limbs are strong and Naruto is laughing way too hard to keep any real kind of might about his muscles. He lets him go and swims around him in a weird frog-like swim stroke, emerging with a beaming grin just in time to hear Sasuke chide him for his underhanded tactics.. and it only makes him smile wider.

"Can't 'a been that cheap if ya fell for it! What have you been doin' all this time, huh, 'cause you're not any better at predictin' what I'm gonna do!!"

He shouts it without even thinking, and so he isn't expecting the stab of pain that goes through his chest at the words. He already knows what Sasuke has been doing all this time, right? He swallows it down, or tries to.

Being half drowned by Sasuke's forearms is a pretty good distraction though, and he makes a garbled bubbling noise as he goes. He's totally incapable of wriggling free, so instead he resorts to the next best thing and wraps his legs around Sasuke's middle to keep him under the water with him.