onerous | IC Inbox

[He kind of hates that it seems like he's always asking this, especially since one would suppose rooming with Rock Lee would give him the answer.]

Tell me you're still in one piece.

[--okay, not a question. The point stands.]

[Hello to you too, Neji. She answers with a vaguely amused look and doesn't look too worse for wear, despite some bruises.]

Worried? [But she nods] Yeah, I'm fine. Lee got me out once everything started messing up, and I kept myself alive since.

Things just keep getting worse and worse, huh... What's happening with this city? [It's a rhetorical question, of course, but Yuri crosses her arms over her chest and frowns, looking thoughtful]

[Not at all, it's just that the city went to shit and everyone he knew from his world vanished along with whatever order CERES had set up, save for his team which only made things that much more nerve-wracking.

He huffs. Worried? No.] Whatever it is, I can't say I hate it. [Could be better, but that's just life.] I'm not looking forward to CERES' response to their problems, but that they're having them is good enough for me.

[Son of a bitch even looks a touch upbeat-- what how did that happen.

No wait--] You haven't been locked out of your apartment or anything, have you?

[She stares at him a moment, not sure if she's okay with how happy he is over their entire situation. The inmates are running the asylum now...] It'd be better if we didn't have to suffer for it though. I'm glad to see you're cheered up by it.

[Not all of us our ninjas who can adapt to most situations, Neji!!] Ah, yeah. [She starts a little at the question and answers automatically, looking a tad embarrassed. She scratches her cheek.]

I'll have to get someone to carry me up through the open window or something to get in. It's a bit of a hassle, but... [She shrugs. WHAT CAN YOU DO.]

of course it'd be. [Excuse her for feeling the need to point that out.

He's about to point out he's not exactly beaming, this is more the byproduct of comfortable familiarity with disorder and distress but.

Yuri had to interfere by being honest. It's Neji's turn to look mildly surprised.] I guess a problem with the doors would be as common and as harmless as we can hope for. Should i... call for Lee?

[Someones gotta remind you, Neji.

But she shakes her head at the offer] No, I don't want to disturb him if he's busy. [She eyes him through the video though.] But, if you're free...?

[Maybe they can figure out how to get her door open from the inside while they're at it.]

[As much as Neji's first instinct is to say that Lee would never call coming to Yuri's aide a disturbance, his second instinct alerts him to the fact that he's subjected to the relationship through no will of his own.

Yuri gets a short-lived, but potent, blank stare.

It's followed by that small sigh of resignation that tells him, yes, this is actually all his fault.]

I'm not carrying you through a window. Meet me in front your apartment. I'll just open the door.

[She raises her eyebrows at that stare. YES NEJI? SOMETHING YOU'D LIKE TO SHARE WITH THE CLASS?]

You don't have to if you don't want to. [A token offer of a way out, even if they both know he won't take it. Ah well, she tried?]

But I'll be there. I'm already outside the building anyhow... [So, you know. Meet you there?]

[It was a terrible thing to note he didn't have anything better to do at the moment. Yuri gets a nod, and Neji ends the video.

And a couple of minutes later, he's leaping down from one of the low rooftops to greet her by the residency.

Well--

'greet'.] How long have you been locked out?

Hi.

[hello to you too, Neji.]

...Long enough. [~~AKA the day ratio change messed me up and technically she's been homeless for like ever now but for the sake of Yuri's dignity we'll just say a day or two~~]

I didn't want Lee to worry. [Was Neji aware their relationship was official now? She's sure Lee must've told... just about everyone by now or something. Or maybe things got too busy for declaring their love from the rooftops-- She hopes it's that option.] And I was sort of hoping the apartments would go back to normal again soon and open up. My keys don't work anymore. [So this isn't her fault, okay? It's CERES.]

[As long as she wasn't sleeping in any park benches like a wino or anything. He's gotten enough to worry about with that, didn't need to add Yuri to the slowly-growing pile.

'Didn't want Lee to worry'. Another huff, this time a little drier. 'Good call', he wanted to say, because his ears likely wouldn't have been able to handle to abuse this morning.]

Looks like you're stuck with leaving the door propped open if you want to get back inside, then. At least until you replace the lock. [Or something? Does he look like a damn handyman to her?] You could call Lee over for that. [It's a chore that's below him- Neji doesn't think he needs to spell it out. He nods and they get going to her apartment door.] You've been here longer, Yuri. Has CERES ever been this disorganized before? Nothing of theirs seems to be working properly.

[Yep-- shut like literally everybody else's.]

Well, it's not like anyone would try to break in. [I mean, they could but who would want to? There are more interesting people and places to try and attack.

Yuri purses her lips and considers the question before slowly shaking her head.] No. Things would go haywire a little while--like with the robots not too long ago, but nothing to this scale. Something must be going on internally-- there was an announcement, right? Mosley was fired, and she said something about 'corporate sabotage'? ['She' being the CEO whose name escapes Yuri at the moment.]

And it looks like we're all stuck in the middle of it.

[That's what everyone thinks, and then robots bust in to drag teammates to the underworld.

And anyway. Again, Neji is reminded that Yuri would be a hell of an awful ninja.] Really? [--okay, anyway.

The door is literally more important than whatever Yuri keeps saying.

The veins around his eyes swell and pinch. His pupils, finally, come into focus, the strain of the dojutsu making them dilute. Byakugan, just like that, comes back to life. Neji reaches a hand to the lock and ponders why he volunteered to do this in the first place.]

[Yuri frowns sharply.]

'Really' what? [WHAT PART OF THIS IS HE 'REALLY'-ING ABOUT?

She's never seen the Byakugan at work before, and it makes her tense in surprise.] What's...? [She begins, then pauses, deciding questions can wait until after he's done breaking into her house.]

Everything you said is something everyone should know. I haven't been living under a rock.

[Which is stupid-funny, because hey, that's his ultimate destination.

It doesn't take massive concentration to channel chakra through to get the locking mechanism to click open. Neji starts answering as he pulls the door open for Yuri to step through.] Byakugan. It's the bloodline limit of the Hyuga Clan. You hadn't seen it because I hadn't used it.

I shouldn't be able to, not after my death. However, as I've said... I'm not complaining.

I was trying to start a discussion. [Christ, Neji do you even know how conversations work.

Whatever talk of the Byakugan is way more interesting anyway, and with a murmured 'thank you' she steps inside. Her apartment doesn't look too terribly trashed; she'd never had many decorations or anything anyhow, but there are a lot of dead flowers and stuff scattered around from Lee's flowers being tossed about by various appliances.

She looks at it ruefully and sighs, beginning to pick them up. She pauses briefly when he mentions his death--they never did really discuss it, and she still remembers what she saw there--but then continues] It's interesting. What does it do?

[She'll have to ask the rest of Team Gai. Neji refrains from asking how many successful conversations she's had by informing people that water is wet.

The (lack of?) mess doesn't even get a second glance by Neji. Either he's a polite enough house guest or he's too used to certain someones trashing the living room for what is, as far as he can tell, no good reason.

He won't, however, help with the pickup unless Yuri really seems to want the help. Hey, he's already done his part. The Byakugan smooths out until it's resting once again. Neji gives a one-shouldered shrug.]

It allows me to see [...everything?] the chakra pathway system in people, through objects, targets at the distance, what's around and behind me.

[Gods, he'd missed it.] I felt like I was practically blind before.

[SOME PEOPLE DIDN'T GET THE MEMO ABOUT THE ANNOUNCEMENT NEJI GOD. Why does she consider you a friend again?

Honestly though, she's impressed by that ability and it shows on her face as she watches him with interest.] It sounds amazing.

[Wait, so-- Her brow furrows a little] Why did it suddenly come back? Was it recently?

When the last batch of newcomers came, we could see... code beneath our skin while in the ViViD level. I think that was when CERES property first began to malfunction. It came back then.

[No, when he'd revived the last time, his Byakugan had thrown a small fit and reared its head. But it hadn't lasted.]

CERES must have lost the memo that the ability no should longer belong to me.

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9/13; video

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