trainingwings | (no subject)

[If you happen to go out to the edge of the forest in a certain direction, you'll find Neji there. Frustrated with Luceti and what it means to be trapped here, he's taking it out in time-honored Team Gai fashion - by beating the shit out of whatever inanimate object no one appears to be using. In this case, it's a tree, which is definitely looking the worse for the series of blows he's directing against it. Nothing fancy for now, no Gentle Fist, no jutsu. Just good old-fashioned beating until he's exercised out some of his overflowing frustration. And he's talking while he hits -- just letting it all out here, so he can be calm and collected later, each emphasized word coming with a blow to the splintering tree.]

This... this damned hellhole, why did they have to decide it was a lark to grab everyone now of all times? I need to be home, I need to be fighting where it's going to do some damned good...

[Of course, he thinks no one can see him. Going to correct him on it?]

Player Name: Del
Are you new?: Y
Character Name: Hyuuga Neji
Character Fandom: Naruto

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Definitely sounds familiar. Maybe the rewards of victory and the motivations are a little different, but in the end, only a little. It shows in his voice, that understanding.]

I know how that goes.

They changed it during the Game the year I was chosen for the Games.

[Because it's interesting.]

If the boy and girl from the same District were the last alive, they could both win. They'd never done anything like that before.

Hm. We compete for promotion in a similar way. But the winner of the competition isn't always the one promoted. They have to display technique as well.

[Dryly] Although deaths are only incidental, not required.

No one really cares about us once we win. Or even once we die. The Victor has a year of tours and interviews. And they're set for life, never have to compete again.

But people... forget about you. After that year's Game.

[She looks at him. It's a fair enough trade. Information for information.

Not for the Games, but her Academy was the same way. That the best physical scores didn't always go to the fastest runner. Sometimes it was endurance. Or, as he said, technique.

Whatever they're looking for.]

What sort of promotion is it?

[Information for information, and it isn't as though he's giving away village secrets.]

Advancement within our ranks, and prestige between our countries. A country whose contestants distinguish themselves gains status, and those who show poorly lose face. Each village rewards its best contestants by making them team leaders. Chuunin.

Chuunin. [She doesn't get the pronunciation quite like he said it, but she tries.]

Best we get, really, after that year, is becoming a mentor. We teach future tributes how to survive.

[A pause.] Are you one? A chuunin?

[Close enough he'll do without correcting her.]

Tributes? That is an ... interesting way to refer to combatants.

I'm actually of higher rank than that; jounin, elite. I take the most difficult missions.

It sounds better than "sacrifice."

[And she almost winces at how that sounds. The Capitol gives them all the ability to fight. And District Two is loyal to the Capitol.

She is loyal to the Capitol.]

You're very good. I watched you for awhile.

[A moment's pause.]

I take it competing is not... voluntary, then. Or is the... tribute willing?

[A dip of his head at the compliment, even if the second part of that is a little unnerving. Was he that locked into his frustration and anger?]

Thank you.

There's a public ceremony. We call it a Reaping. Names are drawn from a glass bowl. After a name's drawn, someone else can volunteer to take their place.

[A pause.]

In my District, it's an honor. [She's said that before. She'll say it again.]/small> We always have volunteers.

I see.

[An honor, is it? Sounds like a bitter honor indeed. But sometimes there is honor in death, if the death serves a purpose. In this case, though, it sounds as though the only purpose could be sparing another. In a game where you die and you lose...]

So you volunteered, then? [An intrusive question, perhaps, but he's curious.]

I was chosen at the Reaping, but the others knew not to challenge it. If I hadn't been chosen, I would have volunteered.

I was proud to represent District Two.

I see. [So... voluntary, at least. That's something of a comfort, considering how she ended up.] Fighting for your people... there is a pride in it.

There is. [Because there has to be. or the whole thing is a waste of a life and nothing more.]

Is that why you fight? For the pride in it?

[Dryly] I fight because that is what I am. A ninja is a living weapon. A fighter for clan, village, country.

[A pause.

She isn't making fun of him. She's fully sincere.]

So. Yes.

[And because she's sincere, he gives her a sincere response.]

Pride is a part of it. But it isn't the only factor.

I'm also very good at it. Someone has to fight, and for my home's sake, one of those someones should be me. To protect others...

[He can say this because Gai isn't around. If his teacher ever found out Neji had actually listened to those ridiculous lectures...]

Someone has to fight.

[It's a quiet echo.]

We're trained to fight. From five to eighteen, we're taught that there's no greater purpose in life than to be chosen for the Games.

[He turns that over, mulling it for a few moments.]

Just for the Games? What do those who are not chosen do?

They become Peacekeepers.

Sometimes they take other jobs, but they usually become Peacekeepers. And most of their skills have been learned for nothing.

Peacekeepers?

[Not hard to guess that that's some kind of police force or similar, but guesses aren't always correct.]

... That seems wasteful, I have to admit. For us... our skills are used no matter what rank we achieve. Even the lowest, the genin -- they serve as they can.

We don't have armies. The Peacekeepers answer to the Capitol, and they might have some force, but the Districts don't have anything like that.

[No armies? Ninja forces aren't exactly traditional standing armies, but they're the same concept; the idea of not having such a force at all seems alien.]

So you train up all these young people to fight, and then do little or nothing with them afterward? It seems... rather pointless, if you'll forgive the observation.