[ She speaks slowly, almost as though uncertain, because she... really does not want to offend Nagato or embarrass him. She is simply trying to be sure she is understanding what it is he is saying before issuing any certain reply about it, particular the issue about deer feces and humiliation. ]
You didn't properly fence them either and, as a result of your negligence, animals did as animals do. They sought food prior to the winter -- in this case, what was left of your crops -- ate them, and... defecated in your territory.
[ And she... really isn't understanding this. Try though she did, she honestly doesn't; she isn't. (Nagato is angry at whatever higher powers are in place because animals encroached upon his soured crops and pooped?) It's almost as though he's blaming the animals for the crops being soured... or that because his crops are soured and have likely been defecated upon, that farming is some terrible thing or --
Maybe he stepped in it?
It's a thought. It makes the most sense, too, and she could scarcely blame him. She would be angry, too, were she in his situation and, to top it all off, she had stepped in animal feces. Regardless, she should be clear and polite, as is her intention. She isn't looking for a fight. She's looking for... logic, for sense in a world full of nonsense, and it seems the harder she looks, the more nonsense she finds. ]
It is not my intention to offend you, Nagato, so please don't take this the wrong way, but... as you know, animals do not have functioning toilets. They would not know how to use them if they did because their intelligence is generally below that of the average human being. When they have to go, they go, where they may be. They are not generally aware that doing so would upset or offend human beings; those that did the deed in your territory most likely have not seen a human being before either.
Now, I won't say these 'gods' couldn't make the animals defecate if they wanted them to, where they wanted them to, but unless there are several hundred pounds of animal feces composed as mounds within your territory, I do not think the animals or any higher powers present meant to humiliate you, Konan, or anyone living in Amegakure. I simply think they... well, they clearly had to go.
[ Her face is perfectly straight. Were she not so perplexed, she might have laughed, but there is gravity about this situation, about his words and hers, and she is mindful of them even as she continues to speak. ]
Having said this, if whatever higher powers are present wanted to humiliate you, I'm certain they would think of more creative, effective ways to do so than making animals defecate on your territory. Come to think of it, I recall reading something back on Gaia about animal feces being used as a potent fertilizer...
[ She shifts calmly, quietly.
That might have been a tad inappropriate. ]
Nevertheless, I believe you have a point in so far as animal husbandry and the utilization of natural resources goes, but I disagree with your take on farming. How is preparing fields back-breaking work for shinobi, whose abilities exceed that of the average human being? If you can make copies or clones or -- whatever you call them -- and utilize water jutsus, then... I don't see the problem. Properly maintained fields are not that difficult to continue maintaining, nor do they take a substantial amount of time to maintain if more than one person is working them...
[ And all this she says from experience, having worked with Kisame and Itachi in the fields and in their gardens -- vegetable and flower alike. She has learned a lot by doing so and from them and enjoyed spending time with them, working to make their lives a little easier and do her part. (She doesn't ever want Kisame or Itachi or Sasuke or... even L to know hunger like she has and if getting her hands dirty and calloused means preventing this from occurring, she's damn well ready and willing to do it.) ]
Those who have farmed the land won't be eating over-salted venison with the texture of rawhide come winter. Should a famine occur, and who knows with these 'gods', they will have provisions enough for themselves and those that live with them to live comfortably and eat well. They will not have to worry about tracking wild animals or upsetting whatever balance exists within the wildlife here... and in a world about which we know so little, isn't it best to be prepared? Even if it does mean doing a little work... or even a lot.
[ Pushing a few stray black strands from before her eyes, she pauses again. ]
And that isn't to say I'm content with doing nothing but farming! I doubt Kisame and Itachi are either, so... we don't. I've been thinking of taking Kisame up on his offer to train me, if he hasn't forgotten.....
The Amegakure of this world is a near-tropical climate that seems to be relatively warm year round. I have plenty of food from the forests. I would like winter materials should a cold spike come, but my family does not want for meals. The deer were consuming my wife's garden -- which is of paper flowers, not of vegetables. I think I cannot over-state the fact that the animals of this world are unnatural. Everything within this world is not so sincere as it appears. We are in a fabricated universe where the dead are alive -- where I, who am dead, am alive -- where gods and demons manipulate minds, and where even the most natural-seeming, benevolent entity or life form may be . . . other than what it would appear.
The gods have thought of more creative forms of humiliating me. They wedded me to people and gave me false memories. You were present for the nonsense they caused me on the day of my birth. They recently wedded me to Yukari.
Well, I suppose those were the oni, but you will note a pattern of humiliation. Subjugating my will and altering my actions. Harassing me.
The reason I believe farming is not the most practical manner of acquiring food at this exact time is because, as you may be aware, this world just engaged in a war. Our abilities must go toward defense and perhaps even offense. Our abilities, our iron, our weapons . . . farming is energy, but beyond that, a truly long, sustained agrarian lifestyle requires that the climate remains suitable. It relies much on chance. You must have an exact amount of sunlight and rainfall.
You must pray that your land will not be flooded, or go dry.
The first yields will be meager.
Furthermore, many crops are only available during certain seasons. You harvest at specific times. This is not a ready, consistent food supply -- or at least not more so than the humid climate of Amegakure which I have previously mentioned.
I do not know what the conditions are where you are living, but for me and for my family, I will wait before I dedicate myself to such toil.
I do not intend to remain in this world if there is any way that I may escape.
As it happens, my own nation in my world was destroyed by too much focus on agriculture and industrialization.
I have seen green lands tilled and irrigated into deserts.
I do not know that this will happen here, but I am not committing myself to any year-round endeavors of agriculture until such time as I decide I am committed to this world itself.
[ Disconcerting, his words. Valeria takes a few minutes to process them before she speaks again. Confusion, and perhaps concern, not-so-subtly lace her words, her tone. ]
You say you are dead. I do not understand. If you were dead, you would not be speaking to me right now, Nagato. You would... be dead.
[ "Be dead" because she doesn't know if this world has a Lifestream or if Nagato would return to it or what. She doesn't know if there's any truth to that -- that people, when they die, return to the Planet's Lifestream. AVALANCHE certainly seems to believe that there is, but she... she isn't sure, not about that, but this... this is public and, after taking a moment to consider, she decides there is no reason she should not be open about issues she has turned over and over in her head, with her thoughts, her knowledge...
So she speaks frankly, the tone of her words set to what most who know her well would classify as "professional" or... perhaps "involved", riding the line between the former and personal. ]
I do understand that this place -- whatever and wherever it may be -- is, indeed, unnatural. It is recognized by Akatsuki and the shinobi of Konoha as possessing the form of the ancient world -- of the world from whence you all hail -- except that it lacks the appropriate population and historical figures. That is my understanding; that, in and of itself, is unnatural.
[ Loose black strands fall from their place behind her ear as she inclines her head slightly forward; her gaze drops, presumably to the floor. ]
Before I found myself here, I had never heard of Akatsuki. I had never heard of Konoha, these lands, the villages, of "shinobi" and the system which preserves them. I knew nothing of your world. Even now, I know very little. I do not know how I came to speak this tongue, for that matter. I've never heard of it, let alone heard it before I myself began speaking it, and I certainly never studied it.
Believe me when I say I understand what you mean. I do, more than you know, but my answers are few and my questions are many. The latter's number only ever seems to grow. I don't know where we are. I don't know why we're here.
[ I don't know what I will go back to.
And it scares her because she knows the world does not wait for anyone. Surely time has passed on Gaia. Surely her absence has been noticed. Were she spirited back to Gaia right now, would she find her fellow Turks waiting with their weapons in hand? (Turks do their job.) If President Shinra gave the order, would they? (The commander said it himself.)
They're family, but --
She has found something similar here and that, too, scares her because it cannot be; they cannot be. ]
Until such a time as solid evidence comes to fore --
[ She nods slowly, turning her thoughts because she doesn't want to continue with that train of thought for fear of uttering them. She doesn't want to think about going back to Gaia or Kisame and Itachi leaving and never seeing them again, about being alone again and failing... to effect change, to make any sort of positive difference in the world and prevent tragedies like her own from occurring. It seems to her as though she may be on the brink of another tragedy and she doesn't want to think about it.
She pushes ahead. (She doesn't want to lose them.) ]
I will not acknowledge these alleged gods as gods. I will, however, acknowledge them as higher powers. If they are indeed responsible for the series of truly unnatural events that have occurred, I cannot grudge them that, but they are not my gods and I am wary of using the term to define any being regardless of my present situation.
With the exceptions of Yukari's companion and L, I think we have all suffered some form of humiliation at the hands of some higher power -- presumably the aforementioned alleged gods. These... "oni", as you call them, have not proven particularly courteous either.
It seems to me, however, that these higher powers -- the alleged gods and the oni -- are more of a threat to Akatsuki than the shinobi of Konoha, who were also brought here against their will and have been subjected to such humiliation as you have experienced. Neither the alleged deities, nor the oni, seem to differentiate between Akatsuki, Konoha, and those who do not belong to either faction.
[ She pauses, tucking those loose strands behind her ear again. Her eyes, lifted previously whilst she was speaking, flicker softly in the light. ]
I understand your concerns about farming and the issues you have with doing so at this time. I am not entirely certain what to say with regards to them. We do not want for meals here. We have had little to no difficulty in caring for the fields or the gardens we have planted here and I... somehow doubt, if these alleged gods are indeed responsible for our presence here, that they intend our stay to be a short one; however, I have neither seen, nor spoken to them. I do not know their intentions or their reasoning or whether they are, in fact, responsible for our presence here or the -- [ She frowns. ] -- sudden, unnatural change in the date, for that matter.
Has your Hitomi been affected as well, Nagato?
[ She pauses yet again, though much more briefly this time. ]
As for Konan's paper garden, might I suggest fencing it?
[Eugh, that prospect doesn't sound attractive. Good thing they've been doing their farming, huh? Kisame decides to poke his head into the conversation, just briefly; it wasn't a matter of farming or not here, after all, but a matter of an offer that had completely slipped his mind until now.]
I had forgotten about it, but I'm still game if you decide that you are.
[ A smile appears on Valeria's face as she observes Kisame's image on the Hitomi's screen. It's funny talking to him over this device when she can hear every word he says perfectly from his place in the next room. She leans slightly forward; she props her elbow on her mattress and holds her head in her hand, then -- ]
This doesn't mean I have to call you "Kisame-sensei", does it?
[Kisame's image is a bit odd; he's looking at the screen with amusement, then turning away from it--to raise a hand and grin at Valeria through the door between the rooms, fully acknowledging the ridiculousness of not just going into the other room to talk to her. Maybe he's just doing it for Pain's benefit?]
Nah. I mean, you can if you want? But that's your choice.
[He's chuckling at the question either way, completely missing the gutter-potential undertones it carries. He's never been the glasses-wearing, prim and proper teacher type, has he?]
[ Valeria turns her head from the Hitomi's screen to one side and looks at Kisame through the door between the adjoining rooms. Wrinkling her nose at him, she smiles wider still and... softens, if only a little. It's that grin of his; she's used to gutter-potential undertones going straight over his head and landing a couple thousand miles away. (She should be thankful that they do, but sometimes....) ]
I think I'll stick with "Kisame".
[ A moment passes.
She nods and looks back to the Hitomi's screen. Deep, sentimental thoughts? No, none here. Not at all. Honest! ]
After all, I don't call Itachi "Itachi-sensei".
[ And here, she pauses. Her mind turns against her. Her lips part slightly; she lifts a hand and the screen goes black. The feed is cut pending a nervous laugh. ]
[ She speaks slowly, almost as though uncertain, because she... really does not want to offend Nagato or embarrass him. She is simply trying to be sure she is understanding what it is he is saying before issuing any certain reply about it, particular the issue about deer feces and humiliation. ]
You didn't properly fence them either and, as a result of your negligence, animals did as animals do. They sought food prior to the winter -- in this case, what was left of your crops -- ate them, and... defecated in your territory.
[ And she... really isn't understanding this. Try though she did, she honestly doesn't; she isn't. (Nagato is angry at whatever higher powers are in place because animals encroached upon his soured crops and pooped?) It's almost as though he's blaming the animals for the crops being soured... or that because his crops are soured and have likely been defecated upon, that farming is some terrible thing or --
Maybe he stepped in it?
It's a thought. It makes the most sense, too, and she could scarcely blame him. She would be angry, too, were she in his situation and, to top it all off, she had stepped in animal feces. Regardless, she should be clear and polite, as is her intention. She isn't looking for a fight. She's looking for... logic, for sense in a world full of nonsense, and it seems the harder she looks, the more nonsense she finds. ]
It is not my intention to offend you, Nagato, so please don't take this the wrong way, but... as you know, animals do not have functioning toilets. They would not know how to use them if they did because their intelligence is generally below that of the average human being. When they have to go, they go, where they may be. They are not generally aware that doing so would upset or offend human beings; those that did the deed in your territory most likely have not seen a human being before either.
Now, I won't say these 'gods' couldn't make the animals defecate if they wanted them to, where they wanted them to, but unless there are several hundred pounds of animal feces composed as mounds within your territory, I do not think the animals or any higher powers present meant to humiliate you, Konan, or anyone living in Amegakure. I simply think they... well, they clearly had to go.
[ Her face is perfectly straight. Were she not so perplexed, she might have laughed, but there is gravity about this situation, about his words and hers, and she is mindful of them even as she continues to speak. ]
Having said this, if whatever higher powers are present wanted to humiliate you, I'm certain they would think of more creative, effective ways to do so than making animals defecate on your territory. Come to think of it, I recall reading something back on Gaia about animal feces being used as a potent fertilizer...
[ She shifts calmly, quietly.
That might have been a tad inappropriate. ]
Nevertheless, I believe you have a point in so far as animal husbandry and the utilization of natural resources goes, but I disagree with your take on farming. How is preparing fields back-breaking work for shinobi, whose abilities exceed that of the average human being? If you can make copies or clones or -- whatever you call them -- and utilize water jutsus, then... I don't see the problem. Properly maintained fields are not that difficult to continue maintaining, nor do they take a substantial amount of time to maintain if more than one person is working them...
[ And all this she says from experience, having worked with Kisame and Itachi in the fields and in their gardens -- vegetable and flower alike. She has learned a lot by doing so and from them and enjoyed spending time with them, working to make their lives a little easier and do her part. (She doesn't ever want Kisame or Itachi or Sasuke or... even L to know hunger like she has and if getting her hands dirty and calloused means preventing this from occurring, she's damn well ready and willing to do it.) ]
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[ Pushing a few stray black strands from before her eyes, she pauses again. ]
And that isn't to say I'm content with doing nothing but farming! I doubt Kisame and Itachi are either, so... we don't. I've been thinking of taking Kisame up on his offer to train me, if he hasn't forgotten.....
[ Man, could she use a drink about now. ]
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My crops?
The Amegakure of this world is a near-tropical climate that seems to be relatively warm year round. I have plenty of food from the forests. I would like winter materials should a cold spike come, but my family does not want for meals. The deer were consuming my wife's garden -- which is of paper flowers, not of vegetables. I think I cannot over-state the fact that the animals of this world are unnatural. Everything within this world is not so sincere as it appears. We are in a fabricated universe where the dead are alive -- where I, who am dead, am alive -- where gods and demons manipulate minds, and where even the most natural-seeming, benevolent entity or life form may be . . . other than what it would appear.
The gods have thought of more creative forms of humiliating me. They wedded me to people and gave me false memories. You were present for the nonsense they caused me on the day of my birth. They recently wedded me to Yukari.
Well, I suppose those were the oni, but you will note a pattern of humiliation. Subjugating my will and altering my actions. Harassing me.
The reason I believe farming is not the most practical manner of acquiring food at this exact time is because, as you may be aware, this world just engaged in a war. Our abilities must go toward defense and perhaps even offense. Our abilities, our iron, our weapons . . . farming is energy, but beyond that, a truly long, sustained agrarian lifestyle requires that the climate remains suitable. It relies much on chance. You must have an exact amount of sunlight and rainfall.
You must pray that your land will not be flooded, or go dry.
The first yields will be meager.
Furthermore, many crops are only available during certain seasons. You harvest at specific times. This is not a ready, consistent food supply -- or at least not more so than the humid climate of Amegakure which I have previously mentioned.
I do not know what the conditions are where you are living, but for me and for my family, I will wait before I dedicate myself to such toil.
I do not intend to remain in this world if there is any way that I may escape.
As it happens, my own nation in my world was destroyed by too much focus on agriculture and industrialization.
I have seen green lands tilled and irrigated into deserts.
I do not know that this will happen here, but I am not committing myself to any year-round endeavors of agriculture until such time as I decide I am committed to this world itself.
At present, I assure you, I am not.
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You say you are dead. I do not understand. If you were dead, you would not be speaking to me right now, Nagato. You would... be dead.
[ "Be dead" because she doesn't know if this world has a Lifestream or if Nagato would return to it or what. She doesn't know if there's any truth to that -- that people, when they die, return to the Planet's Lifestream. AVALANCHE certainly seems to believe that there is, but she... she isn't sure, not about that, but this... this is public and, after taking a moment to consider, she decides there is no reason she should not be open about issues she has turned over and over in her head, with her thoughts, her knowledge...
So she speaks frankly, the tone of her words set to what most who know her well would classify as "professional" or... perhaps "involved", riding the line between the former and personal. ]
I do understand that this place -- whatever and wherever it may be -- is, indeed, unnatural. It is recognized by Akatsuki and the shinobi of Konoha as possessing the form of the ancient world -- of the world from whence you all hail -- except that it lacks the appropriate population and historical figures. That is my understanding; that, in and of itself, is unnatural.
[ Loose black strands fall from their place behind her ear as she inclines her head slightly forward; her gaze drops, presumably to the floor. ]
Before I found myself here, I had never heard of Akatsuki. I had never heard of Konoha, these lands, the villages, of "shinobi" and the system which preserves them. I knew nothing of your world. Even now, I know very little. I do not know how I came to speak this tongue, for that matter. I've never heard of it, let alone heard it before I myself began speaking it, and I certainly never studied it.
Believe me when I say I understand what you mean. I do, more than you know, but my answers are few and my questions are many. The latter's number only ever seems to grow. I don't know where we are. I don't know why we're here.
[ I don't know what I will go back to.
And it scares her because she knows the world does not wait for anyone. Surely time has passed on Gaia. Surely her absence has been noticed. Were she spirited back to Gaia right now, would she find her fellow Turks waiting with their weapons in hand? (Turks do their job.) If President Shinra gave the order, would they? (The commander said it himself.)
They're family, but --
She has found something similar here and that, too, scares her because it cannot be; they cannot be. ]
Until such a time as solid evidence comes to fore --
[ She nods slowly, turning her thoughts because she doesn't want to continue with that train of thought for fear of uttering them. She doesn't want to think about going back to Gaia or Kisame and Itachi leaving and never seeing them again, about being alone again and failing... to effect change, to make any sort of positive difference in the world and prevent tragedies like her own from occurring. It seems to her as though she may be on the brink of another tragedy and she doesn't want to think about it.
She pushes ahead. (She doesn't want to lose them.) ]
I will not acknowledge these alleged gods as gods. I will, however, acknowledge them as higher powers. If they are indeed responsible for the series of truly unnatural events that have occurred, I cannot grudge them that, but they are not my gods and I am wary of using the term to define any being regardless of my present situation.
With the exceptions of Yukari's companion and L, I think we have all suffered some form of humiliation at the hands of some higher power -- presumably the aforementioned alleged gods. These... "oni", as you call them, have not proven particularly courteous either.
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[ She pauses, tucking those loose strands behind her ear again. Her eyes, lifted previously whilst she was speaking, flicker softly in the light. ]
I understand your concerns about farming and the issues you have with doing so at this time. I am not entirely certain what to say with regards to them. We do not want for meals here. We have had little to no difficulty in caring for the fields or the gardens we have planted here and I... somehow doubt, if these alleged gods are indeed responsible for our presence here, that they intend our stay to be a short one; however, I have neither seen, nor spoken to them. I do not know their intentions or their reasoning or whether they are, in fact, responsible for our presence here or the -- [ She frowns. ] -- sudden, unnatural change in the date, for that matter.
Has your Hitomi been affected as well, Nagato?
[ She pauses yet again, though much more briefly this time. ]
As for Konan's paper garden, might I suggest fencing it?
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[ Hm.
This woman is not someone he knows to any real degree.
Kisame and Itachi trust her, and she appears harmless enough, but to what extent would it be appropriate to speak of these matters?
Death, yes.
Still in mourning for yourself, Nagato?
It is far too private to go into a discourse over. ]
Yes.
In the world I come from, I have already died.
In the actual, true world, I am no more.
[ Pauses. ]
Many of the dead are alive here.
Others . . . I saw them die, and mourned them myself, yet they are inside of this world. I am not at liberty to say who.
I suppose it is very personal for them.
What does this mean?
That in the world of my birth, I am in the grave, yet here, in this unnatural world, I am alive?
But though I have life, if I have no will, then I am a mere puppet.
I would be nothing.
The combination of the awareness of my death -- and my lack of control of myself in this world . . . is the worst.
No matter how tempting or pure this world may appear, therefore, I feel certain I must resist it.
But if what I do in this world is without meaning, and I am dead in the other world, then do I have a future?
I am unsure.
I cannot know until I return to my home.
I would rather have an answer once and for all than exist in a between-life: that is no life in any sense of the word.
I cannot tell you of the "powers" at work here.
[ And he does think they favour the enemy; it isn't something he can necessarily provide certain evidence of, but . . . ]
Their actions would seem to benefit Konohagakure.
My allies and I suffered far worse during their false marriages.
[ And then -- Madara's comments on this subject -- ]
We were made to look foolish in a way that others of you were not.
This is complicated to explain, but it is the truth.
My Hitomi . . . no, but I know of the Hitomi of another which has exposed me, or hidden facts from me.
[ As to the papar garden, he only hms.]
It was fenced, but not adequately enough. I will work on this in time.
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I had forgotten about it, but I'm still game if you decide that you are.
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This doesn't mean I have to call you "Kisame-sensei", does it?
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Nah. I mean, you can if you want? But that's your choice.
[He's chuckling at the question either way, completely missing the gutter-potential undertones it carries. He's never been the glasses-wearing, prim and proper teacher type, has he?]
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I think I'll stick with "Kisame".
[ A moment passes.
She nods and looks back to the Hitomi's screen. Deep, sentimental thoughts? No, none here. Not at all. Honest! ]
After all, I don't call Itachi "Itachi-sensei".
[ And here, she pauses. Her mind turns against her. Her lips part slightly; she lifts a hand and the screen goes black. The feed is cut pending a nervous laugh. ]
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