Stopgap solutions. [CLOSED]

[thewarisover]

Characters: Roy and Sasuke
Location: Training grounds, away from the crowd
Rating: G... I suppose?
Time: Morning, December 26
Description: Resonance training, get. Now with Fail!

Comments

[hatedriven]

He'd known from the get go this was a bad idea. Resonation training required at least a minor ability to resonate and this only proved to him that he couldn't, not with anyone. Sasuke had known, when his resonation had fractured with Saralegui, when he'd been having problems since coming back. It felt different than when he'd had issues before, like a wire had snapped and no matter how hard he pulled he couldn't get the ends back together.

When Roy called the break, turned away with his hands raw, Sasuke's breathing was quietly labored, and his eyes burned as though he'd been crying, or had looked too long into a bright light. He rubbed his right eye with the back of his wrist, scowling. The longer they were at it the more frustrated he became, angrier and more embarrassed. His mood was spiraling, and he could feel it collecting oppressively in his chest and stomach: uselessness.

He didn't say anything, swallowing against the pervasive melancholy and pointedly not looking at the general as he looked for his water.

[thewarisover]

And Roy, in the meantime, plopped down on the nearest bench with a bit of a sigh, digging, carefully, for his cigarettes. The first aid kit was also within reach, but he'd deal with that later.

Smoking cured things faster for him than medicine and salve did, at times.

He noticed the way Sasuke was at that moment, of course, but he wasn't about to call the boy on it.

"Sit."

[hatedriven]

He takes his time in responding, having located his water bottle and tipping his head back to swallow about half it's contents and wiping his mouth before moving to the bench and dropping heavily onto it. It's a testament to his own ability to school his expression that he doesn't look as upset as he feels, but it's there in the hunch of his shoulders as his elbows rest on his knees and he glares out across the field. He doesn't say I told you so, but the sentiment still seems to roll off of him in waves.

[thewarisover]

And Roy is, if for anything else, INCREDIBLY perceptive.

"If you're so convinced that this is not going to work, then it's no wonder that it didn't for the moment."

For the moment. This was a man who had made impossible things happen. Death City and all of its strangeness meant little to him, as did this temporary obstacle.

[hatedriven]

"Tch," His eyes close briefly with the scoff, before half lidding to gaze out across the field again. "You say that like I wasn't trying." And his voice betrays how offensive he finds that. Because despite his misgivings, he wanted to resonate. He hadn't realized how badly he wanted it until they were out here and had failed the first time. Without his resonation he couldn't fight, and if he couldn't fight, there was nothing for him.

[thewarisover]

If that had been trying, well: that was worrisome, wasn't it? Roy chose not to respond for a moment, looking thoughtful, nursing his cigarette.

"What's been on your mind lately?"

[hatedriven]

That was a loaded question, wasn't it? Sasuke had everything on his mind, at all times; in fact, since his return, he couldn't think of a single moment outside meditation that he had found any sort of silence. He stares off across the field for a long moment, before his heel shifts slightly in the dirt and snow. He wasn't good at conversation, and he wasn't sure this guy could even understand if he explained it. It was too complicated, too steeped in tradition and his own world.

"Fighting," He says, which isn't a false statement, but it probably sounded predictable.

[thewarisover]

A lifted eyebrow in Sasuke's direction before he turned also, following the direction of Sasuke's gaze.

"Just that?"

[hatedriven]

"What else?" Sasuke dodged, and sank back against the bench, a slouch that was reminiscent of his younger days and would have held more arrogance if he wasn't feeling completely bereft. As such, it looked more like he was sulking.

[thewarisover]

That made him chuckle, low and wry.

"You could do with a little more elaboration, for starters."

[hatedriven]

He keeps his silence for a few long moments, long enough that it seems as though he may not answer at all. But eventually he does speak, though he doesn't look at Roy when he does so, and his voice is pitched low.

"It's been like this since I got back."

[thewarisover]

"Not being able to resonate, you mean?" He lifted an eyebrow in the boy's direction. "You seemed to work fine with Naruto, though."

[hatedriven]

"Hn," Seemed, being the operative word. Sasuke shakes his head, and doesn't look up.

[thewarisover]

"So how did you manage, if you say you can't resonate?"

Keeping up his end of the conversation and then some was a special talent of Roy's. Short answers didn't deter him in the least, especially if he happened to give a damn about the person he was talking to.

[hatedriven]

"It was off," He responds, his voice gruff and short and bordering on impatient. He could still recall the static, like a white noise or burn on the edge of his soul, the sound that remained constant when he resonated. It had been there with Saralegui, and it had been there with Naruto. And on the mission, it had escalated into a scream until something broke. "It felt wrong."

[thewarisover]

"Like you couldn't connect with the other person at all, or like something was stopping you?"

Both would be difficult to get around, but 'difficult' was not impossible.