1st Sandstorm [Video]

[fifth_kazekage]

[Gaara awakens abruptly on the beach. The journal is next to his side, open and recording. He sits up too quickly and stifles a quiet groan of unease. The sand around him shifts and stirs, seeming agitated.]

......

[After a short while, he rises to his feet. He looks down and acknowledges the journal with a brief glance. A slight shift of

Comments

[Voice]

[its_troublesome]

[Had Shikamaru not been an observant type of guy, he might have missed this, it's so quiet. Going through the journals feels like an endless pitch of noise some days...

Point is, by the time he's noticed, Gaara has already stepped away from the journal and he's not sure how far he's walked from it. It looks like he's at the beach though - it's not likely to be anywhere else, what with that sand. He'll give calling him a shot anyways.]

Oi. Kazekage-sama. You still there?

[Voice] 1/2

[fifth_kazekage]

...?

[Voice] 2/2

[fifth_kazekage]

[From this distance, he can only vaguely make out the voice, but hears the address. An ally?

But there is no one around.]

......

[He walks back toward the journal, unsuspecting of its use.

Silence.]

Reveal yourself.

[Voice]

[its_troublesome]

[Ah. He doesn't remember, then.]

Take a look in the book. It's a communication device.

[Voice]

[fifth_kazekage]

[The journal is talking to him.]

......

[Gaara bends down to pick it up, feeling somewhat foolish, like he expects to get tricked. Journals don't talk on their own. How can they serve as a communication device?]

[Voice]

[its_troublesome]

[If he keeps the journal open, he's bound to see the little picture window with Shikamaru's own video feed. He raises two fingers.]

Yo.

[Voice] I’m still alive, I swear! Apologies for the lateness! orz

[fifth_kazekage]

[The… journal is talking to him.

Actually, more like Shikamaru Nara is talking to him. From inside the journal.

Gaara wonders whether or not he should suspend belief. Maybe just for a moment.]

You could be an illusion.

[Or not.]

[Voice] It's okay! Welcome back!

[its_troublesome]

If I were an illusion, I'd pick a better way of contacting you, sir. The journals just make things more troublesome.

[Voice] tell school to stop killing me x.x

[fifth_kazekage]

This method of communication already requires suspending reality.

[The respectful address takes him back just slightly, but he doesn’t show it.]

So you are also on this… island?

[Voice] /kicks it for you ):

[its_troublesome]

You get used to it. But no - I'm further in the enclosure, past the mountains.

[From where he's at on the beach, Gaara probably should be able to see said mountain range if he looks.]

[Voice] more like *violently beats to death* XD

[fifth_kazekage]

[He lifts his head to gaze out over the horizon, locating a mountain in the distance, after a few minutes.]

…And the others? How many are there?

[Filtered] fffff XD

[its_troublesome]

[He'll go ahead and put a filter up now.]

Not a lot. Of allies... there's five of us from Konoha, including myself. [As this is before a few people showed up timeline-wise, anyways.]

...your sister is here, as well. Sorta.

[Filtered]

[fifth_kazekage]

[Teach him how to do that! \o/ Technological derp.]

I have made contact with Naruto and your teammate, Ino.

[A startled blink.] Temari? [A frown quickly furrows his brows.] Explain what you mean.

[Filtered]

[its_troublesome]

[He'll be sure to do that! Soon as he knows if you're kill him or not for what he has to say next. This is gonna suck.]

...there's a certain group of people - they're the ones responsible for why we can't leave the enclosure at will. They're called the Malnosso; they view themselves as scientists. [He disagrees.]

Sometimes they kidnap people from the village to experiment on them. Temari's been missing... so it's likely she's with them.

[Filtered]

[fifth_kazekage]

[YOU ARE GOING TO DIE NOW, SHIKAMARU.

…Not really.]

Malnosso… [The name of the enemy.] Scientists? Hmph.

[His voice turns cold.] For how long. And what kind of experiments.

[Filtered]

[its_troublesome]

Ten days. And... they vary. Various physicals tests, some mental ones... they can go so far as to alter memories and the personality, though the effects ware off eventually.

[Not that that makes it better, in his opinion.]