☼1☼ [Video | Action for New Bark Town]

[gentlechild]

[Action: New Bark Town]

[For those in the vicinity of New Bark Town, Itachi is standing at the beginning of the road out of town, staring at it with a hard, closed-off expression. Internally, he's trying very hard not to panic, and having good success at the attempt. In a very short time, he's gone through multiple massive upheavals of life as he knows it, and it's all starting to catch up with him.

(This may have resulted in some unpleasantness with the woman who'd insisted she was "Mom." Fortunately, she'd still given him the things he needed before tossing him out of the house.)

The Growlithe at his side barks at him, then catches his pant leg in her teeth and tries to tug him toward the road. She's impatient to get underway, even if he's not. Her tugs intersperse with barks, playful jumps and wiggles. Why won't her trainer play with her?]

Give me a moment. If you want to run around, that's fine. [The look he turns on her obscurely conflicted.] They say we have a long way to go.

[Video]

[The feed starts out with blackness, and some ambiguous shading at the edges -- red, ivory, gold, and there's an odd clacking and growling sound coming from somewhere very close by.

Which is revealed, a moment later, to be the inside of a puppy mouth. Itachi's Growlithe is biting his Pokegear, playfully tossing it a little ways with a flick of her head and then pouncing on it again with a delighted yip. Apparently her trainer is boring and she needs to amuse herself.]

Stop that. It isn't a toy. [He reaches out to try and take it from her, and that just prompts her to dart a little ways away with it, tail wagging furiously. He's starting to play!

The video feed records a brief chase around the spot Itachi has picked to spend the night on the road. Itachi is having to adapt to the complete lack of his chakra, which draws out what would otherwise be a fairly quick process. And when he finally does recover the poor Gear, he wipes it off with an expression of distaste while the Growlithe yips in the background. Yay! They played! Such fun!]

Oh. It's been recording.

[Embarrassment flickers across his face and he shoots an unreadable look at his Pokemon, then reluctantly looks at the device, addressing whoever is watching this.]

... I don't suppose there is a way to erase this.

Comments

action

[fukkinawesome]

Fuck, really?

[Don't look, there's a six foot two dude covered in scars with a tiny rabbit nearby. Looking pissed]

Does everyone have a more awesome killer animal than me?

action

[gentlechild]

[Maybe he's not the tallest person Itachi has ever seen in his life, but he's close. And definitely looms over the lean, barely-teenage ninja.]

Being small doesn't mean it isn't powerful.

[Take him, for instance.]

What does it do?

action

[fukkinawesome]

[He's used to being taller than most people]

It's a rabbit. Talking about mean things makes it cry. I had to hug it three times to make it stop crying at me.

It cries a lot. That's what it does.

video;

[punches]

No, it's a live feed.

[ It doesn't click in Sakura's mind right away that she's speaking with Itachi since he appears younger than she last remembers him. ]

Oh hey--do I know you?

video

[gentlechild]

[Of course it is. He's not lucky enough for it to be anything else.

The girl doesn't look familiar, though.]

I don't believe we've met before.

video

[punches]

[ Staaaring intently. This is a conversation better suited for the loud mouth or Tenten, not really someone like her who tends to deliver bad news straight.

That and she's still not sure if she's trying to see someone from home when she looks at him. That's happened before, she's heard from others. ]

Do you have a name? [ Sakura asks while pressing a button on the PokeGear to try to pull it up as well. ]

[video]

[ajustcaws]

...nah, unfortunately, you can't.

But think of it this way, now you know to use it for... actually, I'm not sure if there's much better than cute videos of puppies.

video

[gentlechild]

I hadn't been intending to use it very much at all. It doesn't seem terribly secure.

[He's pretty unhappy that his face has been broadcast all over, as a matter of fact. It's not very ninja-like, and he's feeling a little paranoid.]

video

[ajustcaws]

Hm... yeah, I guess that's true. It's the best way to keep in touch with people, though, and I think there might be ways to make it secure? I'm not really sure how they work, though.

[...the Rocket filter is a special case.]

video;

[lullabytes]

Not so far as I know...once something is on the network, it stays here...

So you should be a little careful about what you say.

[ So you don't make a fool of yourself, she means, not to like...be paranoid........... ]

video

[gentlechild]

[Unfortunately, paranoia is sort of a way of life.]

I'll have to keep it away from her, then.

[Since his new Pokemon seems to like playing with it... Or maybe she just likes seeing him react.]

video

[lullabytes]

Mm...some of the Pokemon really like to play with the gears...I think it must be fun for them somehow. Or maybe she just wanted attention...?

[ That could always be a cause, too... ]

I'm Chiaki Nanami, by the way...in western order.

video;

[voidedrogue]

Hon, if there was a way to erase videos I'm pretty sure half of the gear's network would be blank.

[ Besides why would you want to erase CUTE PUPPY TIME...? ]

Re: video;

[gentlechild]

So this happens a lot, then.

[Well, that's slightly better. To be unremarkable is sometimes a benefit. His dignity still feels rather ruffled, though, that an embarrassing game of keep-away with a puppy has now been broadcast for everyone to watch.]

video;

[voidedrogue]

Yup! Lots of pokés seem to like thiefing their master's gears.

[ SHRUGS. ]

At least yours was adorable in the process, rather than some embarrassing or super deep and personal shit.

video;

[codeforhope]

I'm sorry, I don't think there is.

[Chihiro feels the pain of Pokemon being overly curious with the Gears. He has half a mind to try to invent a sort of "child" safety lock for them so trainers won't have to worry about Pokemon starting videos all over the place.]

I wouldn't worry too much about it, though...I don't think anyone minds.

video

[gentlechild]

Hm. I mind.

[But it's at least reassuring that the answers he's getting seem to be that no one really cares when things like this happen. It's better than ridicule.]

She'll need to be trained better.

video

[codeforhope]

Mm....well, that shouldn't be too hard to do. You'll just have to work with her a little, that's all.

action;

[loveisanopendoor]

[The poor Princess is still completely and utterly befuddled at her situation; but at the very least, it looks like she might not be alone in being confused in all of this! She's got her cute little Charmander in her arms and is just about to get going with her backpack slung over her shoulder, when she sees Itachi and his cute little Growlithe!]

Aw, yours is a puppy...how cute! There really are a ton of different ones out there, huh? If I wasn't so confused, this might actually be really neat! I mean, I want to get home, but, y'know, there are so many questions that need to be answered, like, "How did we get here?" and "Just where the heck are we going?" and "What are we doing here?" and I'm already just asking waaaay too many questions out of the gate, aren't I?

Sorry about that, I guess I'm just a bit jittery...but I'm ready to get started, at least!

[She scratches the back of her head; her poor Charmander is looking fairly ready to go, itself! It probably didn't realize it had such a flake of a trainer..]

action

[gentlechild]

[She talks a lot, doesn't she?

Itachi lets her, until there's a pause in her words. Why not? Some people just do that.]

What I wonder is why. It's a strange thing for them to expect us to do.

[And he's still rather aggrieved over that "Mom" person back in the town.]

[loveisanopendoor]

[Yeah, she does that, I'm afraid! You might have to get used to it.]

It is, but I mean, maybe it'll be easier to just kind of go along with it? It's really weird...but there's no way to get answers than to go out and look for them, right?

Are you okay? You seem kinda, um, distraught over something...

video;

[sitdownbecider]

[Oh no, another poor unfortunate soul got themselves a growlithe.]

Hope you've got yourself a boatload of energy. Them growlithes never seem t'stop movin'.

video

[gentlechild]

I appreciate the warning. [He says it dryly, but there's already a certain germ of affection for his exasperating but charming new companion.] You wouldn't have any experience with managing them, would you?

video;

[believeit]

[Naruto had been watching the video, laughing at the random Pokemon giving its trainer a hard time, though when that face appears on-screen he freezes, staring wide eyed before grabbing his gear properly and slamming buttons to reply.]

Itachi??! You're back! Oi, why'd you go ditch me like that?!

video

[gentlechild]

[Who is this guy?]

I've never been here before.

[He looks sort of familiar, but Itachi can't place him. Maybe just a chance resemblance to someone else?]