Question Meme

[playfreebird]

And Neji just passed 5000 comments.

Love me? Or wait, no, ask me questions. And I will ask you questions. That's like love.

Comments

[sticksofthejedi]

How are we?

[playfreebird]

We're pretty good. Neji... has been trying to tell Jaina stuff when she asks, but most of his answers are fairly edited because he doesn't really want to open up to her (or anyone)that much. Sometimes, Neji feels like she's a little bit of a busy body.

For the most part, though, Neji is pretty comfortable with where Iolite is, and with Jaina. :|b

Reverse?

[sticksofthejedi]

Jaina mostly respects Neji for being a cool-headed, logical guy, but there's some things that remind her that Neji is still a teenager. XD (Neji being mad at his room in the castle for making a decision without him, but not having told them what he wanted to do because he agreed with them -- it just rings so very wonderfully teen.) ANYWAY, she genuinely does want him to open up more, and for entirely different reasons than why she's started pushing Spitfire and Inara. With them it's hit her that there's this feeling that they're close to her and important and yet there's a gap in their relationships where they just don't share things with each other.

With Neji, it's because parts of what he does share about himself strike kind of close to home, and...well, he's a teenager and still in those formative years. She thinks it'd be a lot healthier for his development to open up about these things, especially if having a say in what a group does is going to be important to him.

Strangely, their dance together was significant to her -- for the first time she felt truly in-sync with him, and it was all because they cut out the words and just acted. Jaina has no interest in real dancing; in canon she would rather (and does) duck out to a more private setting immediately. She had the notion that if she wants to bond with Neji, it'll be through a mutual skill in combat; she thinks this confirms it.

And out of curiosity, since I couldn't really tell -- what did he think of his dances at the party? XD

[playfreebird]

She is right about that, to a degree. I think it's kind of telling that when Neji works things out with his uncle, the thing we see is them training together. It's a thing. I think particularly for Jaina, it would probably be the best route.

I wouldn't say Neji loved it, but he did actually enjoy it more than most of the other things going on. Neji can be surprisingly physical (ninja?) sometimes, and being able to actually do something was nice. It was still sort of awkward, over all, but as far as things he could be doing at that sort of party went, his dancing experiences weren't all that bad at all. It kind of. Almost. Sort of started getting fun.

How's she dealt with Mal leaving?

[fallinflames]

Sup?

[playfreebird]

Not too much? I think we're in about the same place we were... at some point. I don't know if it's the same place we were the last time I meme'd, but.

Like I said to Jaina, Neji is fairly comfortable with where he is with Iolite right now. He's keeping himself reserved, to a point, but he feels like things are in a fairly functional place. For him as a ninja, which I mean. Is worth noting.

Neji has sort of been contemplating whether or not he should confide a bit more in Spitfire, strategically. Like, he's let Vincent in on some of the bad things,Jaina knows about his father and his seal... but he's not sure what, or if it's necessary. He's getting sort of peculiar about where he tells people what and why.

Reverse?

[fallinflames]

Probably about the same level of settled in and comfortable here. He was really glad Neji took the time to explain his answer in the Green Knight's game. He didn't know enough about Neji at that point to have even come close to guessing at the answer, and it kind of startled him and made him a little uneasy initially because he wasn't aware there was a problem. Which... it isn't a problem, but he understands that now, and everything sort of settled back to normal.

He actually relies on Neji a lot -- though probably not overtly -- to be a steady voice and to not be passionate about things. Neji is the type he'd usually try to get a rise out of, but he doesn't because he enjoys the easy balance he feels around Neji and doesn't really want to disrupt that.

Spitfire does think Neji's new skill is both amazing and kind of hysterical -- mostly because he spent a couple of hours trying to function without hands and was laughing at himself. He sees how it can be very useful, but he's also worried Neji's going to push it too far and too fast and not be able to use it when something's actually going on. Getting a migraine when you're facing monsters because you've been using byakugan to scout gemstones is not going to be okay.

It's... interesting that you mention the memories. I don't think Spitfire has shared that many with Neji either. He might be interested some day in getting Neji's opinion on some of the politics he was caught up in back home, though a lot of those memories are ones he's not comfortable sharing with many people. :|a


The Hokage (canon) shows up at Iolite and demands a report on Neji's new team. How does Neji explain the team members?

[playfreebird]

....Neji flips a tables. Two tables. All the tables. What in the world.

Neji: ┻━┻ ︵ヽ(`□´)ﾉ︵ ┻━┻

Or. Not, but seriously, he'd want to.

He'd probably spend the most time talking about Vincent, since he's sort of the politic force behind the team, and because he's not entirely what you'd call safe...

Obsidian would mostly be a practical run down of abilities with a quick explanation that he was mostly polite and practical unless you did something to make him protective of the team.

Jaina and Spitfire would be possible combatants, but generally not deceptive as such.

Inara is non combatant, and probably described as someone who smooths things ever.

Everything would be about as curt as possible. Neji's not full of warm and fuzzies for politics back home at the moment. He does remember Gaara's speech, which points to a change, but it also highlights where things actually are, visions for the future aside. That will probably not change until he remembers Naruto beating him in the Chuunin exams. That memory will be pretty pivotal in that way.

How does Spitfire see people's roles in Iolite, as a team?

[fraternalorders]

Is Neji still grumpy about Emerald?

[playfreebird]

Yes, but less than he was. He worked some of his crankiness out on Lloyd. And Lloyd said he owed him something, which helped soooome.

At the same time, he's probably got more general dissatisfaction with the situation because he's tried to explain what bothered him to both Jaina and Lloyd, and to some degree both of them just seemed not to get it. They were both like, well, if you have a problem, say something! And both of them seem to feel he's at least partly in the wrong.

It's frustrating to him because he is mad at himself to a degree for being so bothered by it, but he does not see himself as being in the wrong on this, and he's frustrated because expecting him to say something feels (to him) like missing the point, and like bringing it up would have both defeated the purpose and been a little ridiculous. "I AGREE BUT YOU SHOULD PAY ATTENTION TO ME NOW." But at the same time, emotionally, he really needed to be allowed to consent.

idek if that makes sense. Uh. Back to topic.

The point is, he's less grumpy about Emerald than he was, but he's still grumpy about the situation, and it's still disproportionately aimed at Emerald. (He's glad you guys enjoyed your snake in that token game, gosh.)

How does Itachi feel about Iolite?

[fraternalorders]

Iolite is his least favorite team, and it's mostly Vincent's fault. He knows this is kind of irrational and therefore isn't petty with it, or tries not to be. Like he wouldn't target Iolite in a trauma game just because he could. And he doesn't actually dislike most of the other members. He likes Inara and is neutral on most of the rest of the team. Though he still kind of resents Jaina for the question she asked in Truth or Dare.

So I guess you can say he has a lot of negative associates with Iolite and not enough positive associations to overcome that at this point. :x

What does Neji think of the move to Three's realm?

[playfreebird]

I would say we could play more to fix that... but I am reasonable enough to realize it probably wouldn't help. XD;

Neji... is mostly okay with the move itself. Not going to lie, I think he really is quietly THRILLED to have a bath, and if Jaina can actually make a water heater, she will be his new favorite. The bath is A+.

To a degree, he actually likes it, though, because in a way, he feels like he's on more equal footing with people who have been here longer. Where before people talked about the forest in a way that made him feel new, now he's someone who was in Aather for a significant amount of time before the move.

He misses the trees though. :( Not just the food bearing tree, though that's a thing, but the trees in general. Those were homey.

How is Itachi with Emerald right now?

[sticksofthejedi]

Gosh I don't even remember what question she asked him XD

[dormancy]

SOTU!!

[playfreebird]

Neji's over all being in a comfortable place with Iolite extends to Vincent too, possibly with one or two reservations because it's not like he's unaware that Vincent is a dangerous person, or that he sometimes stirs up trouble with other people/teams. But he's kind of in a place where remembering that is just part of how you deal with Vincent, and it's okay; it's part of the routine, for the most part. It's sort of like getting comfortable handling a weapon? You don't forget they're sharp, but the safety stuff just kind of becomes habit, and he really is... generally comfortable with where things are?

He does see Vincent as an important member of the team, since he does tend to be the political force that keeps things working, and while he stirs up problems with other teams sometimes, he also understands that it's important to have other people/teams that you can use in certain ways, which Neji isn't sure the rest of the team gets or would be comfortable with. So he does see Vincent as a very necessary evil.

...But then, sometimes there is draping. Why is draping happening? He mostly just stands there and tries to be indifferent until Vincent gets bored of him, and is glad that he doesn't seem to ping Vincent in a more sexual way, because that would be orz.

Reverse?

[dormancy]

... No, not relationship. State of the Neji.

[playfreebird]

Damn it. Everyone asks the self-indulgent questions!

[playfreebird]

Okay, okay. I will answer that anyway.

[deadofknight]

Relationship me~~~

[playfreebird]

Ace is solidly in Neji's "likes and respects" place. Which might be kind of hard to see, because Neji has like no system at the moment for translating "likes and respects" into friendship or affection. He's a winner like that, okay. I think park of it is because Ace has struck him as pretty laid back and easy to deal with, at least at first, which meant he was one of the first people Neji was comfortable around. There are too many people wanting things and reacting to things and having expectations and stuff, so it's like, oh wait, this is much more comfortable.

It's a little more than that now, because it's struck him that Ace is actually competent, and in a weird way, detached... maybe the wrong word? idk, he doesn't get worked up over things, which Neji respects. Like, he feels more objective than he first struck Neji, I guess? Because he doesn't seem deeply invested in most of the drama.

I don't think Neji has figured out Ace is friendly toward him yet. XD

Reverse?

[deadofknight]

Neji is solidly in Ace's like box! His internal...revolution thing that I have essayed on at length!1 already...was pretty much internal, and more a paradigm shift than something that completely overhauled everything ever. So he still thinks of Neji as serious and low-key and it's nice to derp around him sometimes because he's a pretty cool guy! And relatively low maintenance, too, so Ace doesn't feel particularly like he really needs to do anything other than derp around Neji and enjoy himself, which helps. He likes Neji even more now that he knows a sense of humor lurks under that serious face. :3

Oh no question...uh... Does Neji enjoy drinking?

[playfreebird]

Oh noes, a question!

Not... exactly. He doesn't dislike it either. He does drink sometimes at social games, though. He doesn't have a lot of outlets in Aather and particularly in social games he feels pretty useless, so he it ends up being something to do. And it does relax him somewhat, which reinforces the behavior.

He hasn't made himself sick yet, or embarrassed himself per se, so it will probably continue to be a thing.

Ummmmm... does Ace have any romantic prospects?

[fraternaldevotion]

. . . Anything new? Besides the fact you don't like me.

[playfreebird]

Not... really. I wouldn't say Neji dislike Sasuke, per se. His most recent memory is making him reassess a little, but the fact is he doesn't remember Sasuke from home at all and they haven't really interacted all that much in Aather. Sasuke kind of got under his skin at first, but since Neji's recovered some skills, he's not as sensitive to feeling challenged.

The thing with Sakura drove home the fact that Sasuke's a great deal less rational than he pretends to be, for Neji. Not that that's shocking, but like I said, they don't interact all that much. Sasuke was just throwing out things that were just... frankly impossible, and clearly trying to run damage control on the situation, and doing it in a way that Neji knew would go nowhere the second Naruto showed up.

Neji might seek Sasuke out at some point because of his last memory to gauge if he ought to be working toward something or operating with that in mind, but at the moment he 1) doesn't see that it would be productive, and 2) knows that trying would cause a political nightmare with other Konoha people, with an emphasis on Itachi, who already hates Iolite, so it's not at all a priority to start picking fights.

Reverse?

[fraternaldevotion]

They really need to interact more because right now his opinion of Neji is sort of neutral. Sasuke's resolution of leaving his world behind sort of made him put everyone he knew/belongs to it in this group of people he should let go of. It's something he does in canon when he left Konoha, because he's capable of prioritizing and redirecting his feelings to something else. So since he didn't have a strong relationship with Neji it's even more easy to do it with him. The last conversation they had frustrated him but he was stressed out, working under little sleep and dealing with a lot of things at once.

AAALSO TELL ME IF YOU WANT THEM TO THREAD. I'm never sure if I should do it or not. If they do and Neji mentions anything about that memory Sasuke might just tell him he has no intentions of going back to their world and that he better be powerful back home, because he sure might have tried to burn Konoha to the ground.

Five things Neji wants to get.