deernet | voice; un: taka

voice; un: taka

[ Sasuke thought about asking this through text. He likely should have, because his emotions have been strong lately, a lot stronger than he wants them to be, and his anger has been nearly as quick and hot as it was when he was on his path of revenge. But it feels cheap somehow to ask such an important question via text. He can't do video due to his eyes, so he tries to keep his voice even to conceal just how much this question means to him.

The feed is silent for a little longer than is probably natural, but he's still figuring out how to us his omni, so. Y'know. Be gentle here.

Finally, it picks up a sigh that almost sounds annoyed. ]

How did the world treat orphans where you're from? Was there an age where someone was considered a child versus an adult? Were there children who were considered unworthy of help or were the rules in place blanketed towards all children?

[ There's a pause where he realizes he should make it seem like this is less about, y'know, him, and more about curiosity on how to help kids here maybe. Uhhhh... ]

... Would there be things from your world that you would want to see offered to the children in this one?

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[ Somehow Sasuke's unsurprised that Mako's city handled orphans in a similar manner to his own; orphanages that did absolutely nothing for anyone and children suffering because a government didn't step up and do what they probably should have. Maybe a lack of targeting specific types of children who suffered, but...

It's probably fucked up that he feels comfort in hearing the familiar more than he does the worlds that handled it better. ]

Mm. Age not mattering seems to be the thing that surprises people the most here when I speak to them. There's some idea that the younger you are, the more awful it is. Maybe war torn worlds have more similar flaws to one another.

[ Unseen by anyone but Zuko, Mako's mouth twists. ]

I don't get that. Why is some thirteen-year-old scrambling to find food on the street any more sad than a five-year-old? They're both hungry and cold.

[ Sure, it's personal. Sure, plenty of people looked right past Mako because—

because he was already eight, and looked older,

because he was a firebender,

because he turned his bone-deep sadness into anger, and used himself like a weapon,

because there were a hundred other kids like them and when you've seen one grubby, hungry face you've seen them all.

There are a hundred reasons, and none of them make any of it okay, and Mako is so used to it that he's forgotten to be angry about any of them. ]

I guess they think the five-year-old usually isn't as capable of getting work. Once you're old enough to get an income, they stop seeing it as their problem whether or not you can get dinner.

[ Or so he assumed. Maybe that was why no one checked on him after everything; he was old enough to be a ninja, to get a salary from missions. The money from his family could last him until it was steady enough. What else did a kid need?

He sighs and there's a sound on the other end that may be him rubbing his face. ]

Or maybe it's just because they tend to look more helpless in general. Who knows.

Kids were getting an income where you come from?

[ Which could mean a lot of things. Mako and Bolin technically had an "income" if you counted the protection from the Triads and the food they were sometimes given, or if you maybe wanted to count the yuan they hustled up from people on the street.

It doesn't sound the same, though, and Mako's curious. ]

Sometimes being younger and cuter helps you out with stuff like that. My brother got a lot of money by looking cute and helpless at people.

Yes, once they got work. Any funds you received you got to keep. We didn't have an age limit on when one could be employed, it was just hard to find people to hire you. Unless you became a ninja.

[ The best way to make child soldiers is to have it be the only option for kids with absolutely nothing!!! It probably says something that he hasn't even questioned whether or not that's really a bad practice. ]

I guess that makes sense. People never believed I was helpless, but they knew my clan's reputation. [ And no one would've ever thought Naruto helpless knowing he was a jinchuuriki, so he never saw it through him, either, now that he thinks about it. ] But Sakura used to be able to bat her eyelashes and get people to do things for her all the time when she was playing up being useless.

[ Sakura again. Mako makes a mental note of the number of times that name has come up, wonders at it. ]

It pretty much only works until people don't think you're cute. Once Bo got old enough, nobody would give him the time of day. How many of you were there?

Orphans. I mean.

Mmm, Sakura gets away with it still sometimes, but I don't think it's because people think she's cute. At least not in the same way. [ He will absolutely never admit to the jealous undertone in those words. ]

I... don't know. Sakura wasn't one, she was just on Naruto's and my team so she sometimes ... helped us. But Naruto and I were the only orphans who weren't being taken care of by the orphanage or another shinobi family.

...because you had jobs.

[ Mako's putting some of these pieces together. ]

What was so special about you two? Something about your family?

They were afraid of us. My clan had an unshakable reputation and Naruto was considered a demon. We weren't considered safe enough to be around others.

[ Mako's breath catches, audible and sharp, a frizz of static across the Omni. ]

...yeah. I get that. Once you get a reputation like that, you don't get away from it.

Mm. It's... difficult not to fall into their expectations.

[ He pauses after, knowing that at least one of them had stopped themselves from becoming what everyone assumed they'd be. His voice softens just slightly, quieting a bit. ] But Naruto managed to defy what everyone thought of him in the end. Now they see him as a hero. So I guess you just have to be stubborn enough.

[ Mako snorts, small and humorless. ]

That's it though, right? You have to become a hero, and then it's a whole new set of expectations. No one's going to get away from it, not even kids. I don't want any kid to have to grow up the way my brother and I did, but it's not—I don't know. It's more normal than people think it should be.

You fall into them? Their expectations?

You're right. It shouldn't have to be the only way out. Naruto always dreamed of being the greatest Hokage our village had ever seen, but it shouldn't have been the only way to make people start to see him as someone worthy of respect.

[ Did he... Oof. He's quiet for a second, thinking of how to answer that, before he sighs. ]

Mm. If he was going to be a hero, someone had to be the villain, right?

[ Mako winces, glad this isn't video. Zuko makes a concerned little trilling sound and presses her head into the side of his. ]

...yeah. Someone has to do the hard thing if you're going to let the people who really deserve it be in the limelight. That's the thing. We can talk about what should happen until we're bending molecules, but should doesn't matter. What matters is what really happens, and that's always going to be down to people being selfish and out for themselves.

Mm. He's hoping that we can change things, give people less... reason to be selfish. But it's hard to imagine.

If he's the kind of person he sounds like he is, he'll probably pull it off. Anyone with that determined who's actually determined?

I've seen people like that pull off some pretty amazing things.

He's got a stubborn streak unlike anyone I've ever seen. And people... listen when he talks. He's the only one I'd have faith in being able to make real change.

[ Mako laughs, a little sound that still manages to convey a lot of affection through all the static it produces. ]

He gonna change things for the orphans, too?

Mm, Sakura is already working to. She... started a program for them. At the hospital. And worked to improve the orphanage and get rid of the corruption in it. I haven't been home to know how successful she's been over the last few years, but she could tell you.

You rely on what she's doing a lot, huh.

[ He will, at some point, ask her. She seems like a knowledgeable person. ]

I don't know what to think about the way people do it here. There are... a lot of them. Guess this is a pretty dangerous place.

She's made herself incredibly valuable.

[ His voice is always a little softer, a little prouder, in an almost uncharacteristic way when he talks about Sakura and he sure does hate it. He clears his throat slightly. ]

I don't know either. Maybe what they have is the best they can give, considering the circumstances.

At least they're trying. I don't see any kids wandering the streets hustling people out of their food. We made a whole racket out of that kind of stuff back home. You should've seen Bolin. He was amazing at it because of the cute thing. Bet Sakura would've been a hit, too.

Somehow that doesn't surprise me. If Sakura could keep her temper under control, she'd probably have been a menace.

Tell her to teach the orphans here, then, maybe they'll end up with more than just handouts.

...orphanage really isn't bad, though. Better than any of the ones in Republic City.

Mm. Better than the ones in Konoha, too. They seem to... care.

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