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video; un: taka
[ While he's trying his best to keep up his usual even, monotone façade, anyone who pays attention to detail will notice that Sasuke's looking a little more on edge. Maybe disoriented, even.
He clears his throat slightly before speaking. ]
For those who have been learning taijutsu, ninjutsu, and genjutsu, I may need to put lessons on hold temporarily. I've been having... memory lapses and apologize to those who may have come to the dojo and waited for nothing.
I will pick up lessons and take on any interested new students once I feel more like myself.
[ He frowns, his hand reaching up to rub at his temple, the way one does when they're getting a headache behind their eyes. ]
Unrelated: if I'm understanding the timeline correctly, those of us who have been here the longest would be coming up around a year in this place. Given the influences of the moons and seasons leaving the possibility for repetition, what sort of things were happening this time last year? What should those of us who arrived after be prepared for?
He clears his throat slightly before speaking. ]
For those who have been learning taijutsu, ninjutsu, and genjutsu, I may need to put lessons on hold temporarily. I've been having... memory lapses and apologize to those who may have come to the dojo and waited for nothing.
I will pick up lessons and take on any interested new students once I feel more like myself.
[ He frowns, his hand reaching up to rub at his temple, the way one does when they're getting a headache behind their eyes. ]
Unrelated: if I'm understanding the timeline correctly, those of us who have been here the longest would be coming up around a year in this place. Given the influences of the moons and seasons leaving the possibility for repetition, what sort of things were happening this time last year? What should those of us who arrived after be prepared for?
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Rival, then. [ WAIT. HE KNOWS THIS. ] You've been mentioned before. I didn't realize the riff was quite so old or so... simplistic.
[ He says like his rivalry with Naruto wasn't started over absolutely fucking nothing when they were seven. ]
His irritation with me stems from a friend of mine making a remark about his dojo while advertising my lessons. And my being a "pretty boy." [ The tone shows just how lame he thinks this is. ]
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Mostly because he's never quite sure how to describe Johnny's wild, wild ridiculousness. ]
.. very specific ideas about how men should look or act. [ Try 'toxic masculinity' on for size, Daniel. ]
I don't doubt he has offended countless people here already just by being himself. He never seems to know how to hold back an insult for once. Or how to respect another person's style of teaching.
[ Daniel sighs, shaking his head. Of course Johnny would latch on to insulting someone else's teaching style all over again, just like he had back home. Except this time Sasuke was the victim. ]
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[ He's actually probably the same age as Jiraiya and Orochimaru now that he thinks about it. He is definitely more like the former from the stories he's heard, though.
There's a soft snort that escapes him, because yeah, Johnny has definitely offended a number of people from what he's seen. Some of whom don't find it as amusing as Sasuke's let himself. ]
He's annoying. But he's done some good. He helped to organize a tournament for the dojos. It gave our students... a great deal of motivation. And he was fairly adamant that no one was to kill anyone else, which is more than some teachers I've met.
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So I've heard.
[ It's like he attracts karate talk or something, in fact, considering the sheer amount of people who mentioned the tournament to him in the past already.. ]
It makes sense though. I mean, don't get me wrong. Johnny is a total buffoon, but he's no psychopath. [ Though Daniel is noting the way that Sasuke, despite the other stuff he says, does go out of his way to say something positive about Johnny.
It speaks in favour of Sasuke's personality, even if Daniel notes nothing about it out loud. ]
How have you found the experience of teaching students here so far?
[ He might as well ask, since Sasuke seems reasonable enough - and Daniel is kind of considering doing the same thing. ]
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If he was going to remark on it, though, he gets distracted by the question instead. He doesn't know why it gives him pause; maybe because he's still getting used to being the teacher instead of the student. ]
Mm... Rewarding. The people here are dedicated. Chakra control and jutsus are difficult to understand and even harder to execute. But they don't shy away from the challenge.
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It does sound like they're dedicated. [ That's what he remarks out loud instead though. ] On the other hand, I suppose this place really quickly teaches people why it can be so important to know how to keep yourself safe.
[ No matter which method you opt to use for it - like Sasuke's chakra control and jutsu. ]
Still.. it is nice to hear your experience is good. This place seems so awful at times, it could use more good things like that.
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[ He hesitates, thinking of maybe leaving it at that, because when it comes to this place, Sasuke almost starts to sound like an optimist. It's not a role he's used to being in and it makes him feel kind of gross.
What is it that Sakura's always telling him to do, though? Act the opposite of how he's feeling if he wants to stop being such an ass? ]
I don't find it so awful.
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[ That is, at least, something Daniel has learned ever since showing up in this place. The fact that his own experience back home isn't exactly the default, and that people arrive here from quite the variety of worlds - and most of them deal with worse evils than just a psychopath karate teacher.
Still, Daniel sounds amicable as he says it, and he even elaborates a moment after. ]
You see, where I come from, there isn't.. [ His voice trails off for a moment.
Mostly because he isn't even sure how to put all of this into words. ]
All the monsters here, and the odd powers everyone gets, and the strange things that happen here.. We don't have anything of the sort where I come from. Nothing we'd call 'supernatural'. [ Since he's aware that what's supernatural to him is very natural to others.. ] It's been quite the adjustment-- no, actually, I'm pretty sure I'm not even done adjusting to it all yet.
[ A little honest there at the end, but he makes it sound light, downplaying just how hard it's been at times. Because please, you don't show vulnerability in front of people younger than you, old men aren't supposed to bother young people with that stuff. ]
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It's a great deal to take in. There are things here that have been... overwhelming. [ Mildly traumatic is the phrase he's actually searching for here, probably. ] Some things you never quite get used to.
But even with the dangers, it's a place for a second chance. For those who need one. It makes it hard for me to see it as awful because of that.
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I've heard as much too.
[ Which seriously makes him wonder just how bad some worlds out there could be, if this is the prefered alternative, despite all the monsters and.. well, everything else going on. ]
I don't blame them one bit for grabbing onto that second chance with both hands. If it's a chance for them to be happy, then.. they should take it. Even if it's here. I know I belong to the more lucky group that actually has something waiting for them back home.
[ .. granted, who knows how 'lucky' that is.
That means people like Daniel himself are stuck here, after all. Far away from all those things waiting for them. Rather urgent things too, in Daniel's case.
He's not entirely sure which of the two groups Sasuke belongs to either. Or maybe he's something inbetween. It's hard to determine, just by what the other is saying here. ]
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[ Sasuke's own circumstances make it hard for him to pin point just how it makes him feel about the whole thing. While he's certainly not interested in leaving this city, has even come to care about it in some way, he's seen the struggle for people who have wanted or even needed to be back in their worlds, the way they end up having to balance the life they're forming with the life they're being forced to put on hold. ]
I don't think your instinct would be to see this place as awful if it was. Those of us who have nothing to return to have an easier time finding the good here, I think. That sounds more lucky to me.
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[ Maybe it means being lucky in different ways, and unlucky in different ways. Lucky to be able to see the good sides of this place - but unlucky to have gone through hardship back home. Lucky to have something good in your life, but unlucky to be stuck without it here.
He guesses there's something to be said for either side.
It's heavy though, thinking about it that way, and Daniel slowly exhales. The thought sure have been haunting him, but he'd like to not linger on them for too long, not out loud. It makes him uncomfortable to talk about it too much. ]
.. I mean, this place sure isn't a beach resort, so in that sense we are technically all unlucky. [ Because they ended up here, and clearly not in the many beach resort worlds out there that suck people in from other worlds.
Which clearly exist.
Okay, he's obviously just joking to try and lighten the mood a tad. ]
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What is a "beach resort"?
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Because even though Daniel knows not everyone in this place is accustomed to the same things, it still sometimes catches him by surprise to hear someone ask about something that's so natural to him.
Still, it's the sort of surprise he easily gets over, instead speaking up to explain. ]
Imagine something like a hotel or an inn. [ He's.. not entirely sure which ones Sasuke's world has, so it's better to cover his bases by just saying both. ] Except there are many of them together, alongside restaurants, entertainment venues.. and a big, sprawling beach, probably complete with a water park. It's the sort of place you'd go on a vacation.
[ That's a good enough explanation, he.. figures? Hopefully the other can understand it, even from his own world's context. ]
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That sounds awful. I'd rather be somewhere with less people.
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Not much of a people person? [ He instead asks. ]
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[ Living so far away for a long time from people, huh? There's got to be a story behind it, though Daniel is way too tactful to just dig straight into that.
There's a good chance it's not a fun reason, after all. ]
Especially since people all seem to live so close together here. Which I understand, given the constant monster threat. [ It makes people stick together. But-- ] It must also make it a lot harder to avoid crowds or a lot of interaction with other people though.
[ And yet Sasuke is also voluntarily seeking it out, considering what he spoke of earlier. What he offered, even just now. ]
It's admirable that you're still doing your best to help people out, given those circumstances.
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But everything about Trench makes him have to go against that. Which is just another layer of exhaustion in itself, especially when he's had to work really hard to learn how to not piss people off.
Obviously it's a work in progress. ]
It's survival. Corruption and beasthood are a danger to all of us. If I can do something to help people to gain control over even a part of it, then I should.
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Thankfully Daniel is too tactful to point that out, especially when he has zero reason to be a brat around Sasuke, as opposed to people he has a history of doing that stuff with. So he just leaves that in his thoughts, even though it does shape his opinion of the other in this moment. Atta, Sasuke. ]
Not everyone would, even if they should. [ That's the only thing he says instead. Close to what he means, but with less of a strong edge to it in case someone here might have a trouble with being called nice. ]
I do hope you still make sure to have some moments for yourself as well though. Having balance is important.
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But he knows that statement is true and so he can't argue it. So he gives a small grunt of acknowledgement at the words, shrugging his shoulder. Maybe he would call people like that fools, but it wasn't so long ago that he would have said Not my problem and fucked right off. He doesn't feel he has room to pass judgement on it.
Instead, he focuses on the idea of self-care, and there's something in his features that softens a little at the comment. ]
My wife tells me the same thing. She forces me to take breaks, even if I fight it.
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[ There's such a knowing tone to the way Daniel says it. Sasuke's marriage is probably much, much younger than Daniel's own, judging by the other's physical age, but that doesn't mean that some marriage experiences can't be universal, regardless of the world or the length of the marriage.
Daniel just knows that if his own wife were here, she'd be kicking his ass. ]
Take this from experience-- it's easier to just not fight it too hard. They're usually right about it.