body heat

[meeem]

THE BODY HEAT MEME


Post with your character! They're now stuck in a very cold place of your choice. It can be anything, such as a freezing chamber, a cavern or a small cabin in the midst of a blizzard. The choice is up to you.

Comment around! Now your character has some company in this bone-chilling environment. The two of them share two things in common: clothes completely unfitting for this weather (be they summer clothes or even lingerie) and a blanket. A blanket? Yes, just one warm blanket and no other ways to escape the cold. The two of them will have to share it in order to stay alive in this weather. Don't worry, you're sure to find a common language in this terrible situation!

So, uh, have fun, I suppose. Try to not freeze to death!

Protip: friction and body heat are both excellent ways to fend off cold.

Comments

[juinjutsu]

Hm.

( he ducks under a low-hanging tree, overburdened with snow. one he passes it, he hits it with a palm-open air strike, which causes the snow to drop between them in a curtain, thus making it easier for her to pass beneath it without needing to stoop. )

I never have. You'd have to show me.

( one more thing he never had time for. nothing frivolous or fun. he knows full-well how it shaped him. )

[burningchains]

It's easy to learn, you'd pick it up in no time.

[Honestly it's just piling up snow into something vaguely round and decorating it, so she doubts that he'd be able to mess it up.

In theory, his knocking the snow down is the right move. In practice, however, Yona finds quickly that the new pile of snow is softer, she sinks in even more when her feet step into it, and with a matching sinking feeling she knows she's in trouble. When she tries to keep going, pull her foot up, it sticks. Trying again with an annoyed huff doesn't get her any farther and she knows, for better or for worse, she's going to have to admit defeat sooner rather than later.]

Neji.

[She says his name softly to signal him to stop, reaches down with her bare hands to try to dig herself out.]

Is there a different path we can take? The snow is getting too deep.

[And she's only 5'1 it's a problem.]

[juinjutsu]

( he turns at the call of his name, and once he realizes her plight he moves to assist her, stooping to facilitate the process. he digs the snow out from around her, and then offers his hand so he can pull her forwards. )

No.

( he's picked out the best he can. the byakugan helps — he can see the ground beneath the snow, and determine which is the shallowest area to walk with that alone. once she's free, he exhales in a sort of resigned weariness. starts unslinging his pack from his shoulders so he can carry it freely instead. )

Get on my back. I'll carry you.

( the added weight will mean almost nothing. he and lee train with far greater amounts than this. )

[burningchains]

[She knew it would come to this eventually, but that doesn't make it any better. She's already gotten to the point where her body was starting to slow down thanks to how cold she is, but she had hoped she could hold out just a little longer, just a little farther, and maybe by some miracle make it to shelter before she had to admit defeat.

Even know she frowns at herself, at this shortcoming she can help no more than the color of her hair, and wants to say no. She wants to tell him she can do it on her own, but she knows better. To argue would only waste time, keep them both out in the cold longer than is safe, so once her feet are free, once he tugs her to him, she just nods sullenly.

Maybe she's pouting, but she's putting her hands on his shoulders all the same and pulling herself up onto his back. Jae-Ha carries her like this with no issue, but this is different. For some reason, this feels like she's only weighing Neji down.]

I'm sorry. I'm really slowing you down now, aren't I?

[juinjutsu]

You aren't.

( in all honesty, he could probably move faster now. there's a moment of consideration, and then neji climbs up on top of the snow, balanced by chakra and will. it's little different than water, and takes only the barest amount of concentration to keep himself out of it. he barely even leaves footprints, where before they'd both sunk down. he'd been breaking the trail for her, knowing she couldn't do what he did. now, he doesn't need to worry about it.

though his chakra signature might linger in place of physical footprints, if anyone follows them it will simply look as if they both disappeared into the sky. helpful, should anyone wish to track them. if it's a shinobi of equal or greater talent to him, they may be in trouble — but then, that's always the risk. )

I train with weights much heavier than you, in more adverse conditions.

[burningchains]

[She leans in close to try to consolidate the added weight of her body, forehead resting down on his shoulder to keep the cold air out of her face once they start to move, and his explanation is... well, it isn't so bad to hear that. It's better that she isn't more of a burden and if he's not struggling it makes her feel just a little less guilty.]

I can't imagine anything more adverse than this. You must be very strong.

[It's more an observation than a compliment, really, but it is a compliment all the same.]

[juinjutsu]

( the uncharitable thing to say would be that she must then lack imagination. instead, he just shakes his head faintly. )

The world is a big place. There are always things that are hard to envision.

( peace. freedom. a life that isn't steeped in blood and pain and suffering.

his hands warm against the outside of her thighs where he holds her. )

Strength is relative. Physically, it's useless without the discipline and temperance to use it.

[burningchains]

[It wouldn't be the first time someone didn't spare her feelings in order to tell her the truth. She knows she was sheltered, that she was a princess with no skills or strength to fight with her own two hands for the people she loves, so hearing it from someone that she trusts wouldn't be painful.

She trusts easily, for better or worse, and that's why when Neji's hands are curled around her legs thighs she doesn't think twice about it. She just slips her arms more securely around his neck, leans into him to share her warmth with him and, honestly, to seep a little more of it out of him.]

Have you ever thought about what you would do if you didn't have to fight, Neji? If you could just live peacefully?

neji hyūga | naruto | ota

[juinjutsu]

No.

( he has considered what peace might be like, but in those considerations he is always dead. as long as he has the byakugan, he will never be free of fighting. and he is not a man made to sit idle, either. even if he could make a life for himself in some quiet place, even if he could pretend himself to be anything else but a tool for war — the first whisper of conflict in some far-off place, duty would supersede self. he would go to the fight. to protect others... that is what he learned from naruto.

he's silent a time. then, )

I used to think my purpose was vengeance. All I did lead me to that point.

( he would have killed lady hinata, had the jōnin not interfered. and for what? it would have meant nothing. he would have been executed by the clan, and lady hanabi would have been the new head of the hyūga, and nothing would have ever changed. a life for a life. simply more blood stitched into the ground like sutures in flesh, vivid red.

he watches the ground as he walks, though he occasionally activates the byakugan to mark their progress. )

I was stopped by others in fulfilling that purpose. Eventually, I learned to find another. But it means that I couldn't exist in peacetime. Few shinobi could.

[burningchains]

[She understands that better than he might think, but for very different reasons. For Yona it's a question of not being sure where her path should lead her because she isn't sure anymore what's for the best of her kingdom, which fight is the one to throw her weight behind. Chasing Soo-won out of the castle seems like an impossible feat at the best of times and there are so many more people outside of those walls that need help.

Corruption is everywhere, and so is hunger. Isn't it worth more to save lives than get her revenge? Soo-won isn't going anywhere and the problems she can solve with her own two hands and a little elbow grease.]

If you were able to put those feelings aside and find something else, you should feel proud. It isn't easy to do.

[Without noticing it she's hold onto him a little tighter, almost like if she just hugs him a little more she can try to take away any lingering pain he may be feeling. It sounds like a lonely way to live and she knows deep in her bones that she's been lucky to walk the path she has with people she loves so much, her little hand crafted family she can always trust to be by her side.

What would have happened to her if it weren't for Hak? If it weren't for Zeno's ability to look on the bright side and cheer up everyone around him, Jae-Ha's knack for bringing them all together, Yoon and the way he acts like everyone's mother? With Shin-Ah a silent protector and Kija so eager to stand by her side, she'll never be alone again.

Neji, though. Does he have anyone like that? Will he be alone again after this mission ends?]

You could stay with me when this is over. If you wanted to.

[juinjutsu]

( he wears that validation uncomfortably, like an ill-fitting shirt. he doesn't need it from her — not when it was lady hinata's life he nearly took. it isn't that the praise is meaningless, it's just. he has come so far past it that it seems egregious somehow.

his fingers flex briefly against her thighs. )

Princess... I appreciate the offer, but I don't think it's a good idea.

( he just doesn't have the heart to settle down, after it all. wandering is perhaps the only way to stem the tide. )

[burningchains]

[If he were to voice any of that, she might be able to put him at ease. She isn't settled in any one place, after all. She travels with Hak and the dragons all over a kingdom she loves, a kingdom that's broken in ways she didn't even know existed, and they never stay in one place for long. It's too dangerous to, too dangerous to even stay in towns for more than a night or two.

Her life is living on the road with people who have become a makeshift family, fixing the problems her beloved father allowed to crop up in a kingdom she loves just as much. Rebuilding her kingdom is her only goal, and she can't do that from a castle she had to flee.

But he doesn't share any of it, and she doesn't know how to tell him there could still be a place for him in their strange band.]

I don't agree, but I won't force you.

[juinjutsu]

You couldn't, even if you wanted to.

( she is a benefactor, presently. the price of this contract will go to his village, to help them rebuild. but if he so chose, he could leave her here. who would even know? it's a cruel thought, and he shakes his head after a moment. the checkpoint station is up ahead, visible now with normal sight rather than the byakugan. it will be a welcome place to rest.

at least she recognizes the sway a royal's decree can hold over a common man. she makes a promise of it, i won't force you. but his loyalty is to no king or country, it's to his small hidden village, to the hokage that presides there. to his clan.

to lady hinata.

he adjusts his forehead protector unselfconsciously, fingers tracing the lines in the metal denoting the shinobi alliance. )

The checkpoint is up ahead. We will rest before we continue.