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[firstroar]

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[firstroar]

[well! you know! humans don't usually...do this!!!

after a beat, softly:] You really are someone remarkable.

[blackfire]

Please do not call me that.

（ it is not something he would have said aloud. instead, the message is a transliteration of the intense and jagged flash of self-loathing that cuts through his reserve. if he were at all remarkable, he would not have failed. ）

[firstroar]

[oh, ow-- that actually kind of stings on his end, and Blue wasn't expecting it.]

...I must warn you, though...this kind of communication has pathways close to the heart.

[blackfire]

I am aware.

（ of course he is. that was a lapse in control, and he will take pains not to endure it a second time. ）

I apologize. It was impolite of me to reach out to you without warning.

[firstroar]

No - this is...how it works. Normally.

That is, it's what I'm used to.

It was only a surprise...because no one calls to me this way anymore.

[Blue is far less keen on being so guarded, so there is the faintest suggestion of loneliness from that thought. Itachi's lucky he can't get the whole psionic serving of it, really.]

[blackfire]

（ he is aware of that loneliness, the way it clings in the cobwebs of their conversation like something spun out of sorrow and grief. it is like a drop in an ocean of the very same — itachi has been alone most of his life, but loneliness did not truly take root in him until shisui died, and then it was a wild, cacophonic thing that slipped beneath his skin like a knife-blade, twisting into muscle and sinew and grating on bone.

it is a pain he can only endure. he does not know any other way. ）

I thought it prudent to make the attempt. Our next mission may require it.

[firstroar]

It's a worthwhile skill, yes. There are others you may be able to reach, as well.

[Finn, most certainly. there are inklings of psionics throughout the station Blue hasn't wholly acquainted himself with, too, but he can't speak to them directly.]

[blackfire]

Perhaps.

（ he likes finn well enough, but he does not wish him having a viewscreen into his brain. blue at least he is aware he can — tolerate. if there is a need. ）

[firstroar]

Is it causing you much strain? I've never known a human to communicate this way...I hope it doesn't come to harm you with the effort.

[blackfire]

It is not an easy or simple task.

（ he won't downplay it. however — ）

However, you are doing most of the work. I am simply focusing on being heard.

[firstroar]

[hm...]

That initial call...that should be the worst of it. Now that I'm focused on you, I can handle the rest easily as listening.

[blackfire]

Does this tax you?

（ no concern eddies the mirror-sheen surface of their connection. he is not worried — pushing blue physically and pushing him mentally are two very different things. he is only curious. ）

[firstroar]

Far less than most anything else. This is fine, don't worry.

[blackfire]

I was not.

（ something nebulous threads through the connection, like sunlight dappling through leaves. it may not immediately register as amusement, but it is. ）

I have some estimation of your strength, after all.

[firstroar]

Do you, now? [oho?] In comparison to what? Or...whom?

[blackfire]

I have spent much of my life around those with considerable power. Does your ego require stroking, that you would ask me to elaborate more specifically?

（ his words are not chosen quite as carefully, quite as inoffensively as when that slight barrier of thinking before speech exists.

this is conversation and he's rawdogging it, whoops. ）

[firstroar]

It is more that...I don't know of many worlds out there who possess this kind of power or communication. Whether or not it's unique, or...takes a great deal of power...

[blackfire]

（ hm^TM ）

Then I misunderstood you. I was speaking generally, given our past experiences of each other. I had a sound idea of your strength the first time you entered my dreams.

（ however... ）

There is a clan of individuals in my world who specialize in this form of communication. I worked with one for a time.

（ a yamanaka woman, a veteran of the third war whose name he had not troubled himself to know. no one in anbu addressed each other thusly when in combat, and he had never seen her outside of it. ）

[firstroar]

['sound idea,' huh. that'd be more than Blue has of late regarding his own limitations. all he knows for certain is it seems to be less and less by the month.]

Not of your homeland, I assume?

Does that make them your enemies?

[blackfire]

Why would you assume that?

（ it is not defensive. curiosity curls around the question like a cat wending its way between feet, insistent for attention while simultaneously prepared to shy away from it. ）

[firstroar]

What little you've spoken of the way your world works...the number of conflicts... It seems as though lines are drawn pretty starkly between these clans.

Or was that wrong? Was it...the wealthy against the laborers? [you got some bougie friends, Itachi?]

[blackfire]

No. It seems I have given you an incomplete impression.

（ mostly bc he is a filthy liar of omission, oop. ）

Villages are comprised of many clans. The one I spoke of is loyal to Konoha, as mine is.

（ he is lucky that this conversation has gone on now for some time, it has given him a better gauge of the bulwark needed to keep his emotions from bleeding through. and it has also made him a more capable liar in this realm — there is no indication that his clan's loyalty was ever in question, nor his own feelings towards them. ）

[firstroar]

[there's the mental approximation of a huh as that reframes his own picture of things.]

So despite the differences one clan may have from another...they coexist in one place?

[...]

That isn't so strange, given where we are. I wonder how long I will be surprised to learn it's true elsewhere...?

[blackfire]

Yes. It is our duty to put our loyalty to our village and country above whatever interpersonal relationships our clans may have with one another. My village was founded by two clans that had warred for decades, and set it aside in the name of peace.

（ casually not admitting one of them is his own. he has not said the name uchiha here, and will not. it is his to hold, close against his chest like the press of a knife. ）

Is your confusion that I would willingly submit to association with telepaths?

[firstroar]

You or...most anyone here.

It seems to be human nature to be so guarded against communication like this. Fearful, even.

Perhaps it is justified. Any power has the potential to be corrupted...but I don't know if it is corrupt at the onset.

Even so... [even so, fear of the unknown is natural. and even in knowing it...not everyone is keen to keep company with those who can perceive feelings so naturally. as though...those feelings would somehow no longer belong to them, even when they truly are.

perhaps if Blue had memories of a human life, it'd be easier to empathize, but he's been estranged for so long. it's why it was Jomy who reached out to humanity, to appeal the Mu case.]