sunshineverse | [february and backstory catch-all/open]

Who: Gaara, open!
Where: Various places; primarily starting in Sunagakure and ending up in Konohagakure.
When: The first half of February. If otherwise, dates will be provided.
Notes: Gaara's holiday in Konoha, or: how I learned to stop worrying and love the jinchuuriki. Mingling, top-levels and threadjacking all welcome. If you're not sure if they have CR or what stage their CR is at, contact me and we can work it out! If you'd rather we did a backdated thread, just put up a date first.

[ 1. In which Gaara has specifically sought you out and this is either alarming or business as usual. ]

For politeness' sake, Gaara sent sealed messages to anyone he was invited to visit before he set off from Suna. Not only do those messages give ample warning, but the seals on them are formed out of just enough magnetised sand that they act as radar pings; he can sense where each scroll is to some degree of accuracy. He got lost in Konoha once, and almost started an international incident. This way is easier.

[ 2. In which you just run into him, which is either alarming or business as usual. ]

The benefit of arriving via official channels and through the seals and front gates rather than simply escaping Sunagakure in an adolescent rage like he used to is that he's not being pursued by special ops. Without that added level of paranoia, Gaara is free to wander around as he waits for his sand-seal messages to reach his friends. He has a few more presents to buy, after all. He never bothered to learn anyone's favourite foods, so he's now watching other shoppers to try to guess. Carrying everything from Suna would have been pointless, especially since he only heard about the celebration a week ago. Which is another bonus of being on official leave in somewhere other than Suna: he can use a small curl of sand to hold his bags without causing a mile-wide panic.

[ 3. Backstory wildcard! Pick a date, any date. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

As Kankuro stood in the wake of Gaara's all too formal introduction, he was momentarily distracted from crippling embarrassment by the sudden realisation that... Gaara really did, honestly and truly, have friends.
He'd heard claims, seen evidence, but somehow the reality of the situation was only just sinking in. Gaara. With friends. Social skills.

Kankuro knew he had to make an effort, and so after his introduction to Mayu the former genin with a sister in the academy, he reached out a hand for her to shake, briskly.

That was all the pleasantries he had the patience for, and quickly moved with them to sit at the small table. As he folded his arms across his chest and sat back, he gave Gaara a look -- don't bring it up -- and then cleared his throat.

"How long are you here for?"

Too busy checking the menu - or at least making a passable job of feigning interest - Gaara answered without looking away from the board.

"I'll stay until the mission at the end of the month. You?"

"Two weeks," Kankuro grunted begrudgingly, subtly conveying just how much argument had been put into that specific time-frame. He didn't let that topic hang, though. The last thing he wanted was for Gaara to ask why he was so upset with the length of his position.

Kankuro let his eyes slide over the board, scanning across a few things that didn't seem too inedible.

"What're you after?" he asked, jerking his chin at the board. "I'll get it."

This was him making an effort.

It was a monumental effort by their standards, and he was dutifully rewarded with a Look, a Pause, and then in the most level voice Gaara had ever managed in his life:

"The House special party platter."

Kankuro's fist tightened on the table before his body reacted with only the slightest flick of a finger, almost as if to summon the lethal blow of a puppet that was mercifully sealed in the scroll at his back.

In the split second it took to stop himself launching across the table at the sheer indignance he suddenly felt toward his younger brother he found himself weighing out the pros and cons of twisting his fists into the cloth around Gaara's throat and shaking him bodily. (On the one hand he doubted anyone would hold it against him, but on the other hand he didn't think Temari would ever forgive him ~~but in his defense, Gaara had provoked him~~.....)

He cleared his throat, the lower lid of his eye twitched, and his mouth pressed into a tight line.

"What...?" His voice was steady, controlled, and he stared back into Gaara's almost challenging look with a gaze full of careful fury.

Gaara watched the entire display parade across Kankuro's face with no small amount of satisfaction. So that was the feeling of 'teasing' that he'd wanted to try-- he hadn't been sure it would work. He hid a smile, mouth twitching briefly against the impulse, and turned the menu back over.

"The salt and pepper skewers," he corrected. He'd never have eaten even a tenth of the platter, and they both knew it. "Please."

The dawning realization that he'd been had glazed over Kankuro's face like an angry rash, his skin pinking and his ears burning bright though hid under his hood as they were. His leg jerked to kick at a shin or a chair leg, but the nigh-automatic reaction was more like a distraction as his hand lashed out to flick the little pot of toothpicks on the table violently, sending the contents flying into his little brothers lap.

He stood on that action, storming toward the counter with more anger in his stride than he actually felt. Honestly, he was... actually quite proud; Gaara was always so literal and serious, so seeing him lash out in such a human way was oddly refreshing, even if it was at his expense.

When he returned and sat down, there was a small quirk to the corner of his lips.

Kankuro's outburst drew a few looks from the surrounding booths, but when Gaara's only reaction was to carefully replace each toothpick and then slide the pot back into place with an air of quiet but absolute victory, interest was once again lost.

Not sure what to do in the meantime, he scanned through the menu again, then arranged his shopping on his lap to start re-packing it more appropriately for storage. It was almost done, as far as he could tell, other than his brother and sister's presents, which he'd have to buy later now. He looked up again in time for Kankuro's half-smile, and was almost startled to see it. It had been the end goal, of course, but the theory was different than this.

Automatically, he latched back onto their original lukewarm conversation.

"... Are you staying at the eastern gate hostel?"

Kankuro dropped the smile as soon as Gaara spoke up, as if there was any chance he might have missed it. He knew it was too late, his attempt was futile, and oddly he didn't actually mind. They had to start being siblings at some point, and while doing it fifteen years late had it's issues, this was as good a time as any.

"Yeah, I think so." He hadn't been to check his accommodation yet, but he had the details scrawled on a scrap of parchment that he promptly retrieved from the folds of his robe and tossed across the table at his brother. "What about you? Where are you staying?"

[february and backstory catch-all/open]

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