how did this even happen...

[mooneye]

It wasn't a bad sort of place. Lots of things to do and people to see. Plenty of freedom to dart over the rooftops and down the alleys--or out of the village and into the woods and rocky wild places beyond. Obito liked Michi no Sato.

He had stopped for lunch and was eating at a table outside the restaurant, watching people walk past. The food was good. The cold breeze was nice. Ah, yes. Years and years trapped in a cave with a crazy old man and a bunch of plant monsters--it had left him really able to appreciate the little things.

[ooc: here is an AU Obito in his twenties. Got through the time with Madara, and Rin's death, but didn't go completely evil after all of it...]

Comments

[mooneye]

There was a little flash of surprise and temper before he broke off into a laugh. "You're very direct."

[facevalue]

"Is that a problem? I do not think I am wrong." Through it all, his expression doesn't waver, sketchpad resting lightly on his knees... though his real body beneath the earth is ready with his scroll should he need a few ink-beasts.

[mooneye]

"Not at all." He shrugged. "Though I am not always weak and useless, it has been a problem in the past. And emotion was certainly the cause." He paused, thinking. "But, we all do our best, hm?"

[facevalue]

"I have heard that stupid opinion before," Sai agrees pleasantly. "So you are one of the people who let your emotions control you?"

[mooneye]

"They get the better of me once in a while. For the most part, I do all right with them."

[facevalue]

"Ah. I do not have that problem, yet I cannot help but feel as though I am missing out on something."

[mooneye]

"You might be." He thought back on his own bonds, the good and the bad. "I don't know. I do think things would be easier without emotion, but it can be just as pleasant as it is awful, I guess."

[facevalue]

He hums thoughtfully again, clearly taking the other's words to heart. "Ah, tell me, do you have bonds here in this place?"

[mooneye]

"Not so much." He shrugged. "But I'm still fairly new here."

[facevalue]

"How unfortunate. I have seen many people of your pathetic clan walking around here. Is there a reason they do not like you?"

[mooneye]

"Some of them like me. Others don't. It seems to depend on what kind of world they come from, exactly."

[facevalue]

"But you do not have that thing called a 'bond'?"

[mooneye]

"No." He shook his head. "Not here."

[facevalue]

"How unfortunate." Sai tilts his head for another smile. His cheeks were starting to get a little sore from all this smiling, but he had read that it was the easiest way to gain someone's trust. "Ah, but perhaps we now share a bond, yes?"

Though what to title that bond, he wondered...

[mooneye]

"You and I?" he smiled. "...Yes, if you like. It might be the start of a bond." And, after a small pause. "You don't need to smile just for me, by the way. Since you aren't feeling anything, are you? Unless you're doing it just to practice..."

[facevalue]

"Does it not look natural?" His expression folds as if it had never been there, and both hands come up to touch his own face. "I have been practicing, but it still does not look quite right..."

[mooneye]

"It could use a little work." He shrugged. "I'm sure you'll get the hang of it eventually. But this seems more natural."

[facevalue]

"But this is not an expression at all." He lets his hands fall to his lap as he stares up at the other male. "I was reading that in order to facilitate a conversation and trust between one's partners, one should attempt a friendly smile."

[mooneye]

"Oh." Now he understood. That made sense. "I appreciate the effort. But since I know you're not feeling anything, don't worry about it now, hm?" He paused, thinking. "Animals don't smile. If two wild things became friends, or if they became enemies, it would happen naturally. Without smiles, or pretending. Why don't we try that?"

[facevalue]

That makes him blink and tilt his head, staring at the other. "You think us animals, then?" The other man certainly possessed the same kind of power and grace as... well, perhaps not a cat, he revised his earlier opinion. With that hair, it had become more clear with the sketching. A lion, predatory while appearing to be lazing in the sun.

[mooneye]

"I think of myself that way." He said, shrugging. Or at least, not totally human. One of Madara's creatures from the dark, not exactly a man but not quite anything else. "So if you wouldn't smile for an animal you wanted to make a bond with, then there's no need to smile for me."

[facevalue]

He makes a small, thoughtful sound, a hand coming to his chin as he genuinely contemplates that. "I wonder, do animals appreciate smiles?" he muses, seemingly to himself.

[mooneye]

"...Dogs might." He considered the question himself. "Dogs smile too, I suppose."

[facevalue]

"A dog..." In an instant, his sketchpad is open again, a quick several strokes against the page before he presents the image of a four-legged canine. "I do not think they smile, either."

[mooneye]

"Don't they? I thought when you scratched their ears, they did." He considered that, thinking of Kakashi's dogs and shaking his head, frowning. "But I don't like dogs, myself. I could be wrong."