middleofsomewhere | The Waking of Neran

The Waking of Neran

"Good morning Voidtreckers and passengers. Today is day twenty one of the month of Orchestra. We will be arriving in System #78961112094711 later today and the dressing carriage is open for your use."

It is indeed, with thick winter coats, hats, scarves and gloves in all sizes. There are also some bags suitable for carrying food, for anyone who wants to add to the festival food with more food!

They have the morning to prepare before another announcement.

"Shortly arriving in System #78961112094711. The weather is extremely cold, voidtreckers and passengers should wrap up warm and wear their SCA's at all times. Arriving in ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one."
The train shakes as they leave the void and they will see dark skies with glowing flecks of light falling down around them. It's only a glimpse before there is rock to both sides as they enter the landing area.

The Waking of Neran

... ARRIVAL TO OSIGA

THE VOIDTRECKER EXPRESS PULLS INTO AN OPEN HIGH-STACKED PARKING STATION, FILLED ALREADY BY A VARIETY OF VEHICLES. Darkness and the cold spills into where they pull in, lights and signs around to guide the Voidtreckers who exit the craft where they need to go, elevator and teleporting systems available to choose from.

For those turn their gaze to where the cold comes, they will see a view of the world: a landscape of mountains lit in burning bright blue. Like Christmas and city lights, they can be seen in the far distance, and the sky too glows with a shimmering, falling blue. It looks like a slow rain, while farther up, the twinkling of actual stars can be glimpsed.

This will be their view of the world for three Osiga days - 210 hours, give or take.

The lower floor widens into a train-like station, shuttles ready to take them into Osiga proper in short five minute rides. They just need to figure out they need to scan their SCAs at the turnstiles, which will beep with approval, and send a map to their SCA of the grotto.

With a handy dot to their hotel.

... THE IRUE GROTTO

HOTEL. THE EXTERIOR OF THE HOTEL IS STONY, A WALL OF UNEVEN ROCK WITH SLITS FOR WINDOWS CLIMBING UPWARD. It gives off a sparse, cold impression, but the interior is anything but. Inside the floors are smoother, a carpet in the middle of a lobby, and the walls are decorated with colourful paints and endless rugs and furs. There's seating, a roaring fire in one corner, and lighting set to a cosy mood.

There's stairs that can be taken, but also elevators. The bedrooms are much the same as the lobby, with paints and furs all around - the furs especially covering the beds, along with hand stitched quilts. In the centre is a fire pit, set with heatstones than wood or coal, and extras in a container by a wall with safety instructions of how to move them (with tongs and gloves).

Outside the rest of the grotto can be seen, a mish-mash of layers closer to a labyrinth. There's curtains for privacy, and also a screen to help blot out the sound.

FOOD & SIGHTS.

NOW, THE IRUE GROTTO CAN BE EXPLORED. The grotto is easy to get lost in, with stone stairs and archways doubling as bridges to lead to different levels, but always with something to see. Museums and art galleries fill most of the lower layers down, a few shops between of traditional trinkets and garments for those who come out interested in taking a piece of Osiga back with them. There are also day classes, with candle-making a big one on the first night.

Water runs through constructed streams, small but always in travel. They fall off into small waterfalls, eventually gathering into pools that always ensure drink is around. But there's also drinking spaces around, wall coves where servers mind the drinks, and people gather around on crouched seating. Privacy isn't a big deal in Osiga; visitors welcomed into conversation freely. The drinks favour the strong, spicy and sweet. Their traditional drinks are a fiery whisky and a sweet creamy milk drink flavoured by spices that taste very much like cinnamon and nutmeg. It is strongly alcoholic though there is a non alcoholic version as well. There are other drinks available of course from other planets but visitors are encouraged in a good natured way to try the good stuff.

And let's not forget the food. Most traditional Osigian dishes are spicy yet sweet, fatty, and largely meat. There are also food baskets all over, filled with wrapped snacks free for taking, or to add your own. Never let your neighbour go hungry. What will you find, dipping your hand in: a treat, or a mistake?

SORS PARKS, OPEN SKIES. THE FARTHER FROM THE HOTELS AND STATION VISITORS GO, THE MORE THE SKY BECOMES VISIBLE, AND WITH IT THE FALLING SNOW. Except this isn't snow, and those who venture out will figure this soon enough. There are sors parks up ahead, hard to miss for how they glow a brilliant blue, tall erratic sculptures shaped like an abstract mess. They're cold, even colder than the rest of the grotto, and near every entrance are wooden racks with coats and scarfs hanging from pegs, a bucket of heatstones to stick in pockets.

Keeping company is better than not. Anyone who goes in alone will find the chill uncomfortable to those who have someone else nearby, SCAs working stronger together. Paths somehow stay free from being covered in the icy mess, and every few yards are grit bins with small bags to put the contents in, instructions as to what to do.

And that's to throw them at the sculptures, into the air, and watch as the hardened ice disperses into a fizzle of lights. The sight is considered beautiful, and especially fun for kids and couples.

... ANAN & THE MINISTRY

It's maybe an hour or so after their arrival when a message comes through the comms on their SCA's.

boop beep boop beep / boop boop boop/ boop boop/ beep//
beep beep / boop beep//
beep beep beep boop/ boop boop boop/ beep beep/ boop beep beep / boop / beep boop beep/ beep/ boop beep boop beep/ boop beep boop/ beep/ beep boop beep/ beep beep beep//

"It didn't close the hack. I think your Voidtrecker Express likes me." Anan sounds almost triumphant. "Glad you all came. I'm at the drinking space next to the Irue Museam of Osigan Art."

For those that wish to go and meet her, they can.

... THE WAKING OF NERAN

NIGHT ONE: REMEMBERING. It's hard to tell when 'night' begins when the world is in darkness and there are more hours in the day then they are perhaps used to. But things begin to wind down a little, the art houses and museums close and the day activities are wrapped up.

People begin making their way to the main streets where the parade will go. Some people may have made candles throughout the day but there are also long candles for sale and 'fire' bearers carrying large torches to light the candles. The main lights are all turned off, plunging the streets into darkness lit only by the candles and the faint distant glow of sors.

The parade itself has large lit floats, literally floating above the ground, the lights are in intricate shapes. There are light dancers- people dressed completely in black to blend in to the night, with ribbons of light doing feats of acrobatics to music- instruments and volcaless voices weaving melodies.

After the parade passes by people move to the streams, where their floating candles that can be lit and sent on their way. There are designated areas for the tall candles to be placed- almost shrine like with areas to pray or think or sing- the helpful guides will assist anyone and are very open to the different ways people from various worlds and cultures may wish to remember their dead.

Afterwards people are encouraged to drink, eat, spend time with the living and swap stories of the dead. Dance and sing. It is upbeat, joyous and the tears are meant to be cathartic.

NIGHT TWO: PERSEVERING. After another day of activities- or resting and recovering from the excess of the night before the grotto again is ready in anticipation. The side of the grotto open to the sky is packed with people, ledges and railings packed with people. Even the buildings on this side of the grotto have opened their doors to allow people up on their roofs to watch the firework display.

Sparklers are sold, as are snacks and drinks and a voice comes through speakers throughout the space.

"NERAN! On this night you fight!" The crowd cheers. "Hear our dedication, return to us! For tonight is a night of COURAGE!"

The crowd cheers again and the fireworks begin. Loud and colourful, beautiful shapes, almost like dances in the sky. It's loud and it's busy but the atmosphere is great, throughout the night within the crowd there are marriage proposals, declarations of new jobs, decisions to travel the void. Bravery and courage abound- helped probably by the strong whisky that is flowing freely.

NIGHT THREE: UNITY. The festival continues, though it's a slightly later start on day three for many who are nursing hangovers, having a well earned sleep in preparation for the final night or just frantically trying to remember what declarations they had made the night before.

But the activities are still happening throughout the grotto- though the guides might advise any obvious voidtravellers that they may wish to nap before 'night' time, especially if they are not used to day/night cycles this long. The final night doesn't stop til sunrise after all and no one wants to miss the sun rising!

As the time comes for the party to start every square and every street is packed, music blares through speakers. Traditional Osigan music mixed with styles and music from other planets in the galexy. The traditional Osigan music has many layers, deep bass instruments that seem to make the ground itself rumble.

There is dancing, led by guides and locals. They are big circle dances, loud energetic and done in unity. There are callers who keep everyone in time and remind them of the steps but it is mostly an exercise in organised chaos.

But very fun organised chaos. There's extra chairs and benches set around for people who would rather watch or need a break from the endless swirl of dancers. There's plenty of water in large barrels for people to help themselves and other drinks are available to buy.

The party goes on for hours but eventually the music stops and there is an announcement that they have an hour left until sunrise. People begin moving out to find the best spots to watch. Up high on the cliffs people spread out rugs and blankets and settle, waiting.

The atmosphere is one of anticipation, people passing around drinks and snacks. Then there is a hush, a cry as for the first time in a month the first ray of light streaks across the sky.

Neran has awoken. The sun has returned once more.

OOC NOTES

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It was more than just him, but evidently her timing with the train had been just perfect for this sort of thing.

A bit of a smile tugs at her lips before disappearing again, her shifting to hide her face somewhat into her layers. "If you want to say that. I outlived two of those younger than me." Neither were particularly great situations and she was continually surprised that Tsunade somehow continued to live and not get destroyed by something by the time she'd passed on her own. Joke's on him, she did outlive her child and one of her grandchildren.

A... cryptid. "Mm. I can understand that much, if, if I were to entertain the idea of anything intimate again it would have to be a particular type of person. But I think everyone is like that? No one goes out there looking for anyone that gives them just the time of day and a sweet word." Except some do, but let her be naiive in that particular circumstance.

Right. Back to the normal conversation. Enough of that. "A whole universe sounds overwhelming, if I'm honest. But we only had the ability for our world and even then it was difficult to get from country to country." Even if she was one of the people usually dragged along for the ride. "I am, however, not fond of the cold. How a place can be colder than Kirigakure in the winter, I do not know, but this place has managed it." She doesn't do cold well, has he noticed.

Yondu grunts a little at that, before removing the knit blanket from around his shoulders. And while it's not too much more, he shifts over to put it around her shoulders. "I'm sturdier than y'all. I can take bigger temperature extremes." Obviously not to ridiculous levels, but he could get away with wearing this outfit in hot or cold with little discomfort. But then he adds.

"It's just always somethin' new? It's hard to put a name to it. I cain't really get it on the train but I hear these stories from all my buddies. About these important relics they carry an' their weight on the world. Or bein' a cosmic prince from a lost world. Or a couple of people part of a tragic family that wanted to end a war."

He gestures to her.

"That's how I get to do it now. I don't really like seein' worlds on their next to worst day. Even if we save 'em, seein' 'em in that state? Knowin' they got there? Starts sappin' the life out of ya. But this?" He gestures at the departing teens, and then down at what look like some sports players of some sort riling each other up. "This is what's out there."

He wads up the paper he'd been eating his snack out of and tosses it from afar into a garbage can without bothering to walk over there.

Oh. Oh. Her cheeks turn a bit pink from that, but she's quickly regaining control of herself and reaching to pull the blanket around her. "Thank you. I... Konoha was never a place remotely like this, nor was my clan's homelands. I never had reason to be accustomed to cold."

Important relics, cosmic prince, tragic fa-... ah. Of course he would. She's quiet for the longest time as she turns everything over in her mind. He's not... wrong. Her attention focuses to the leaving couple again, almost jealous of how happy they seem at this particular moment. And that sports team... It's almost like she's stuck in her own mind, in her own world. "Perhaps you have a point. I've been so busy focused on the negative of what's around me, about what's happened in my life, that I don't notice the good around me when it's there. I should be... I suppose lightened by the things here." Even if it's hard for her to do so.

"It's hard to do." She states simply enough, whether it means she understands or not, is up for debate. She pulls the blanket closer to her, attention shifting to the ground for the time being. "I'm a mess, aren't I."

"Startin' to gather that, since Tobirama came rollin' up all furred out. Figured y'all are cold as hell."

But aside from that wry comment, he says. "Only messy people know how to handle messy situations. Not a person on the train don't got some level of mess. But uh... yeah. It's how I keep my mind off my own issues."

And boy does he have them. Of guilt for the shit he pulled, the mourning of still-living friends who he lost by his own idiocy, of the fleeting sick thoughts that he was at his most valuable as a possession. There's a cesspool in there. But then he hears someone else's story and it's many things. An escape, an opportunity to help, their personality through their given story, and a dose of normalcy.

It takes him from being a break in pavement to a bracing stone on a gravel road when everyone is broken like you.

"Honestly, he always had a fur collar, even in our home village." But wearing more fur tracks for him and she's hardly surprised to hear any of that.

She takes a deep breath to steady her nerves, taking it in. He's not... wrong, everyone is a mess in some way or form. Though she's fairly certain her situation is far from normal from most everyone else she's encountered thus far.

"Perhaps we should find some place warmer to continue this conversation? Somehow, I feel, you might want to know a little more than the surface level things I've told you before." And she would kill someone right now for a fire or something similar enough. "And I think a drink might be order, hm?"

He ends up cracking a grin despite the dour mood, sticking out his blue tongue a little from between his sharp teeth.

"Alright, lets get you somewhere where you ain't gonna turn into a Mito-cicle on me. That'd be a hell of a thing to explain." Besides, that weird food is just fatty enough to soak up alcohol like nothing else, so he might as well continue being irresponsible.

Sir, please, you are reminding her of other people and that's somewhat helping her mood. Rude. She can't help but roll her eyes with a smile and turns towards the direction of that hotel thing they're staying in.

"I'm sure I've managed to get myself into enough trouble and been more than enough of a headache to Tobirama to add more onto his plate." Her tone at least has shifted properly, sounding far, far too amused. "They do seem to have drinks similar to what I've known, which makes things a little easier on how to prepare them." They are not having cold sake, is basically her point.

He is an alien, so he has no idea how to prepare them. But he's drank warm alcohols before because he is well-travelled and a two-legged garbage compactor that would try most things, so long as they were probably not poisonous, once.

(Probably being the operative word.)

"I might have been doin' him a favor then, I'm sure he's more bored by lack of things to do than he lets on." He's assuming because Yondu gets very bored during down time. But he follows after, figuring that he should get indoors anyway and take a break rather than people watching.

Perhaps she should take a note from him to try some things new once or twice, but that's for later Mito to figure out. For now, she's focused on returning to the warmth and having some company to round out this entire world that has turned her feelings conflicting.

"I'm sure he can find more than enough to occupy his time without my adding onto it," she adds, though her tone never changes. She knows that despite everything, they're still family, that despite their disagreements it'll be figured out in the end.

"You know, perhaps their celebrations did me some good. Time to reflect and properly grieve without everything else of responsibility weighing on me." She'll let that stand for now, hands finding their way to hiding within the layers of her clothing once more. "But I shouldn't remain stuck in the past, it does no one any good. And not what anyone would have wished for me to do." And she sure did that for decades.

It's rough, thinking of losses and, heaven forbid, bravery from a man that's a coward in everything emotional. Someone who could scoff in the face of gods, even knowing he might get his ass crushed, but has to gather himself for a tense emotional conversation with one of his children.

One of. What an odd way to think after all this time.

"I can confirm the past ain't no place to live." He uses his foot to hold open the door for her when they get there, somewhere between polite and gentlemanly and being a blue heathen. "Been residin' there for a good long time. Not real good at diggin' myself out of it."

And it's too dangerous to ever have hope for anything involving the future. Hope is vile and hazardous and constantly leaves his hands burned whenever he tries to pick it up again.

Everyone else was better at emotions than she was, how to cope and how to deal with them. She had been a mess for ages after every one of her moments. And even now, she knows she's no better now than she was then.

She good naturedly rolls her eyes as he holds the door open with his foot of all things, but takes the offer either way. "I know it isn't and yet here I am, still living in it. When I know the past is so far behind me at this point." She knows no one she lost would want her living like this and yet she can't help but do so. It's almost pathetic, in a way. The strong matriarch of a clan, the first wife of a kage, and yet she continues to act like this. Pathetic.

"Neither am I. I know none of them would wish for me to live like this. But I cannot... help it, I suppose?" She probably could if given proper reason. "I know he in particular wouldn't want for me to be like this. To move on, to be happy. But how do you do that when it feels as if your entire heart was ripped out? It's certainly pathetic, I know that."

"You had somethin' real good in your past. Even if it hurts." The apparently untouchable, invincible Hashirama and if he hadn't had his own untouchable, invincible soul in his past as well. Nothing or no one would ever overshadow Stakar. His duty as a father had always come first when he fell into it, but for as much as the past hurt, he also remembers the moment Stakar freed him. Even with his own heart aching from the loss, he hangs onto how the man's face looked that day.

Only Mito's story, while still tragic, was much luckier. He'd want to live in that kind of past, too.

"As long as it's helpin' the future, too. I ain't the best to offer advice on that one. Too big a sin for me as well. The only times I well an' thoroughly ain't livin' in the past is watchin' my kids learn. Or just have their own fun."

"I got lucky." She states rather bluntly, she has said it time and time again that she had. It could have been much worse, if the alliance had ended up the way Hashirama had initially wanted it. The Hokage having been someone else... She can't let herself think like that anymore.

She takes a deep breath to steady herself for a moment, right.

"I do have to admit, it was quite a sight to see my granddaughter in charge of Konoha, even if I never thought she would." The one to not end up dying by some fate or force, it seemed that she was a fighter and she had known deep down that despite her flaws, that was how it had been meant to be. "Honestly, perhaps I need a proper drink at this point. There's no reason to keep my appearances here, no?" Even if she's nowhere near as bad as her husband and would never have allowed herself to get to that point.

"Have at it, I could always use the blackmail material." It's a tease but he hopes she realizes that it is.

But he just follows alongside her, heading to wherever and pretty much letting her choose the destination. "There's nothin' wrong with 'lucky'. You had somethin'. You was happy. You clicked with somebody. I see it around here, but rarely back home." His son and Gamora. Stakar and Aletta (the main solid reason Yondu never made his own admissions there). "I figure that this train musta snagged a bunch of folks that experienced them miracles somehow. Even if they lost someone."

Like with her. A good chunk of his friends along those lines were also of the parental persuasion, or at least heavily invested in family.

"Don't disregard lucky. Call it 'fortunate'. Better word for when shit works out decent." He almost points out that the train could maybe bring him, but he's snapped once at someone for giving hope that might tear someone up. He won't do the same for her, even if it feels possible given all he's seen.

"It won't get you much here!" She can't help but be a brat in return, knowing full well blackmail of her isn't worth a damn thing on the train. Even if it is a joke.

Hopefully it isn't too odd of a thing to lead him to her room for the time being, knowing full well that it ought to be empty at this point and it's safer than elsewhere if there's going to be drinking involved. She opens the door finally and motions him in before closing and locking it out of habit before perching on the edge of the bed.

"Fortunate. I could have always ended up with a snake in the grass Uchiha, I suppose." She's only mildly bothered by that prospect, though part of her wonders how that would have worked out in the long run. Even if it's an absolute moot point at this time.

"I believe there's a few bottles I'd collected on the table nearby, they should be warm by this time." Had she planned that part? Probably. Does she care about stripping out of the majority of the millions of layers to get down to shorts and shirt before making her way towards the bathroom.

"Feel free to have at, I just need to change into something I'm far more comfortable in than these pants and shirts." Even if it's only the sleepwear, which she'll forever be bothered about.

"I could get me a box of candy from the train shop for it, don't think I wouldn't." He looks around for some kind of chair and ends up just sitting at the end of the bed. Hopefully he won't bother any of her roommates should they wander back in at some point.

He does watch as she sheds nine hundred layers but not in a leering way. In the faint thought of 'I just go to bed in this shit sometimes to avoid taking off my layers' way. He sleeps fully clothed more often than not- even when his uniform is drying after he cleans it, he's in full train gear. He wants to jump up and be ready to act at the drop of a hat.

But, you know what? He doesn't need to say everything that pops into his dumbass head.
He picks up a bottle to sniff testingly while she's in there.

"Madara really did a number on y'all, goddamn."

"I doubt it would even get you that much!" She calls from behind her before finally disappearing into the bathroom for the moment. Mostly to change like she actually said. It doesn't take her long before she's wandering back out, hair still down and wearing what really is just a yukata but seemingly some kind of silk. It's more her style and she seems far more comfortable in it than the ten million layers or the train uniform.

At the comment about Madara, she pauses for a moment, letting out a soft huff of breath. "Despite being an attractive man, which is the one and only thing I will ever concede about him, his personality and actions made him disgusting." Which probably says more about the man than anything else. Luckily that bottle is, very much, some kind of sake.

"I would have been his wife, inevitably, if he had been the hokage." Thankfully he hadn't. Either way, she's perching back on the edge of the bed, somehow managing to not sit on her cascade of hair. "But after what he did to Hashirama, what he did to the village, and by extension to me? There's nothing but ill-words for him."

"Goddamn, even the piece-of-shit was pretty? I cain't outdo nobody." This also a joke, because contrary to all his commentary he has no ill-will for his appearance. It's hard-earned and honestly these scars and broken features let him maintain a threatening air when he needed it.

Plus they remind him of the times he disappointed people that deserved disappointing, or won fights he had no business winning. Yondu will absolutely get his ass beat and nose bloodied to slip a bomb down someone's shirt as his enemy is making a show of him.

He pours himself a cup and then her one, before settling in with it. He drank up a storm yesterday so he'll likely take it easy. He notes that giant red mane of hers is indeed actually a lot Kyoko's. Like she could pass for a relative of the girl's almost. ~~And to think, that shit never stops growing.~~

"What happened after he was gone? Were ya able to console your man on it?"

"Before everything happened, yes. But there's much more to make someone attractive than their physical appearance. To be perfectly frank, Hashirama himself was fairly normal in appearance, but it was his soul and personality that made him attractive." She will be the first person to admit to that, even if some might disagree with her. "I much prefer what someone has on the inside." Even if she's pretty sure mostly would consider her physically attractive, that's not the point in this.

Scars prove a life well lived, a battle well fought and won, or at least survived. The fact anyone gets out without any scars will forever boggle her mind. He wouldn't be the first she's seen with scars.

Quietly she takes the cup, lightly swirling it in her hand as she thinks over it. That night, the day after, it had been a lot for all of them.

"I had to. I was the only one that was really there when it happened, I had to be, to seal the nine-tails to stop the destruction, to stop what had been done. It... took quite a bit in doing it as, despite our world, Hashirama always wanted to avoid taking someone's life unless it was necessary. I had to tell him, time and time again, that it was necessary. That it was unavoidable." She takes a sip of her drink, letting the burn in her throat ground her somewhat. "On top of the attempted quarreling of the demon threatening to destroy me and escape, despite being unable to do so. I still have parts of the seal still on me, even if the proper bit of the seal has long since disappeared."

He gestures to himself. "Eh, don't worry about it. I'm actually fine with all this-" he gestures down at himself. "It gets me around, it throws a punch, it takes a punch, and it holds food long enough for me to make a nuisance of myself. It's just an old habit I got into when people tryin' to provoke me thought it meant somethin'."

He'll always make light of it. Almost his whole crew was in as ruined a state as him. Even Quill- he might have been more handsome, but he certainly had a few holes poked in him.

But he listens to the sad story, what she had to do, and frowns. It occurs to him how to tell a different kind of story later, but he doesn't want to mention that one here. Instead he just thinks on what kind of toll that had to take. Well... here he is, dragging her through the past a little more.

"So what all happened after? With the village an' the like?" at least he could bring that up.

"Practicality," she muses quietly, it's something she can appreciate. Someone can be pretty, but if there's no substance then does it really matter? Does it matter if they're pretty if they can't take a hit?

She takes another drink, thinking over the timeframe exactly. It's... been a bit since she's really had to recall this particular part.

"Relative peace for a bit, if you can believe it. Or as much as could be done during the time of the other villages being founded and all of them wary. We had our first child. Which was quite an event in and of itself as we weren't entirely sure how the seal would hold up during that time..." Tense all around, honestly. She shrugs with another drink, oops. "It ended up holding. The best way to keep the beast from becoming free and loose being to filled with love and I had that in spades during that time. Eventually, I went with Hashirama to seal away the other eight tailed beasts, which he used to try and foster peace with the other villages."

"Yeeeeeaaah, I think I'd be kinda foggy on the whole two critters inside me thing, but luckily 'pregnant' is never a state I had to deal with in any capacity- nope, wait... on one escort mission, I looked out for a lady. But othern' that, y'all sound like you had an adventure."

And they protected everyone, brought them together, managed something with each other. Sounds like a happy ending.

"Stakar didn't exactly want that kinda united front but Ravagers were their own kinda community. I know he threw his back into makin' it all work. He an' his wife, Aletta... an' I mighta liked her husband quite a bit but she was real good with a sword an' real light on her feet so I decided to treat her with a healthy amount of respect and not even think about goin' there." Which isn't true. He'd have not been brave enough to approach Stakar even if he hadn't been married. But it's a funny enough way to put it.

"The most exhausting time of my life, I can tell you that." She has to hide a laugh behind one of the sleeves of the yukata, she really doesn't regret any of it when she looks back on it. "Something like that. The other beasts all presented their own problems, but when you've already dealt with the strongest of them, it wasn't that bad." Some of them were absolute pains in the asses, but that's beyond the point right then.

A happy ending at that particular point in time, there's worse later down the line as he's already more than aware of given previous conversations.

She's quiet as she listens to him, leaning back somewhat as she takes another drink. Stakar and Aletta, names she's filing away for later, just in case. "Generally anyone that's light on their feet and good with any sort of larger weapon is to be feared, in my experience." Unless they're the samurai, but they don't count. "A community is still a community, isn't it? Whether it's meant to be organized to that level or not. That's the thing about sentient beings, it seems, always looking for a group to belong to..."

"Yeah.... well, bein' a Ravager was good for two kinds of people that could fight. The ones that didn't have no home to go back to, or the ones that looked out at the sky an' saw everywhere as their home. I was a little bit of both, and it worked out for a whole lotta people same as it did me."

Of course he prefaced it with 'that could fight'. Stakar wouldn't have wanted to condemn people that couldn't hold their own since there would always be people after them. And probably the only part of Yondu's mind truly at peace, that's always been at peace, is that he's at home wherever he's standing. Sure he might be awkward around a person, but right now in a strange hotel room he's not been in for more than a short while he's as comfortable as someone who visits on the regular.

"Hey, fightin' the big guy first and wreckin' 'em usually makes an impression on all the lessers. So how'd you take care of 'em?"

"... Admittedly, I'm a little envious. While I got to travel, it was always for some sort of business or some sort of purpose. I was never really "free", as it were. Always had an eye on me either from my own clan or from the village." Which she supposed made sense, being an Uzumaki was painting a target on your back when you're easy to identify from looks alone. But she can understand not wanting to condemn people who can't hold their own. While shinobi were meant to fight, there were those who did... other things. Or the types like the medics.

While she may be a chameleon of some sort, blending into her surroundings to at least look like she belongs, in reality she doesn't. She knows it, she has always known it, but it's better to look and pretend to be confident even if you aren't.

"We had no choice in starting with the biggest, but I suppose the point stands." She sets her drink off to the side to flop back onto the bed properly, folding her hands on her stomach while looking at the ceiling. "How we took care of the others? It depended on the beast, each of them has a different powerset. The kyuubi was usually blunt force, but also seemed to have a fire affinity at times. Then there were others like the nanabi who had the ability to fly and use blinding powders. Each had a different appearance, as well. The kyuubi, a fox. Nanabi, who I just spoke of, a rhinoceros beetle." She huffs out a soft breath, she doesn't really miss that one in particular. "Usually the idea was to get them caught in some sort of trap, to try and wear them down or catch them unaware in order to seal them. Their seals take time with the vast amount of chakra they all have."

The Waking of Neran

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