Neji... okay, Neji is kind of special and stupid, and would not use the word friend, but he likes Inara, he respects her as someone who's thoughtful and good with people, and he trusts her. Outside of trauma game type situations, he likes having her around and thinks she has good judgment. He also likes that, from his perspective, she seems to balance the team out some.

He actually finds her pretty easy to be around. Probably easier than most people, because she feels like less work to be around, somehow.

Her reaction to him dying confused him though. He's not entirely sure how to deal with too much attachment/affection in his model of the team dynamic. I wouldn't say he doesn't like it, or that it's wrong, but he doesn't have much frame work for it. Even most of his positive memories with his family from home fit within a somewhat professional, training system, and revolve around ninja'ing. So sometimes she leaves him a little at a loss, because he does not have the tools, emotionally, to parse that.

How do you think the new skill will work out? XD

Yes, her reaction to him dying was entirely for her benefit -- sometimes she uses physical affection as a tool to make people feel better, but with that it was definitely just. SUDDEN CLINGINESS oh no.

I have absolutely no faith in my ability to play the new skill and don't know what to change, but THAT ISSUE ASIDE, I think it will be interesting! She'll definitely become more deliberate about gauging people's reactions when she wants to make them feel better so that she can come up with working strategies about how to do it. I don't think she'll become more manipulative, though -- although she won't hesitate to read people and see what works best with them, she's pretty up front about her motivations. As for the sex side of it, she still isn't interested in anyone in Aather like that, and certainly isn't going to try to seduce someone JUST TO SEE IF IT WORKS, so... at the moment it's unfortunately kind of irrelevant.

As for the counseling part of the skill, it will probably just make her less hesitant and more confident when she suggests things to people when they're upset, and make her feel less like she doesn't know what to say.

Are there any skills you're really looking forward to Neji getting back?

I'm sure you'll do fine with it. I think you've been doing really well with her so far. :x

Some! I ended up prioritizing the big two because of the losing streak with skill games + Neji kind of having a bad time with the dying and all, and I thought it would help get him over it. But, I'm still looking forward to some of his other skills.

It will be interesting when he gets reading body language back, actually. Even if it will mean more work for me, to make sure he's reading people right, picking up on the right cues, etc. It won't really make him better with emotions or dealing with people in a social fluency type of way, but it will give him a much stronger analytical grasp of it, and I think that since he's really not a complete jerk, it might make him at least a little more sensitive, since he'll be more aware.

Though, in the end, he's just had bad socialization, so it will be a fun balance.

/bonds with over reading people's body language? XD

What games is Inara the most fun in?

She hasn't actually played in that many so far... but she's definitely a ton of fun when it comes to social games like Mother's dress-up ball or the Truth or Dare, which is awesome, because Mau is sort of boring in those games. Go go character balance! I also really want her to end up in a trauma game at some point, because she's avoided them completely so far and it means I haven't got to show that side of her where she's really cutthroat and will unhesitatingly resort to violence or threats of violence against people who are going to hurt the ones she cares about. I feel like I have really good canon evidence for this, so I'm looking forward to a chance to play it out!

Why doesn't Neji think Inara would do well in a trauma game?

It's not exactly that he doesn't think she'll do well as that he's not sure she'll do well, and his ninja-ness prescribes a pretty narrow reaction to dealing with death/killing/injury/etc. Like, he's probably the most comfortable with himself, Vincent and Jaina in those types of games. He doesn't necessarily agree with all of their reactions, but he trusts them to be able to deal with things in a relatively dispassionate way? But like, Obsidian for example—Neji respects him generally, and doesn't think he'd be bad at all to have in a fight, but actual trauma tends to break him, and turn him very protective and emotional. Kyouko can be ruthless, but she also gets sullen and withdrawn, and he doesn't really expect her to contribute a great deal usefully. Spitfire has struck Neji as too sensitive, in the past, and too willing to take on trauma he's not prepared for, which is a problem. He's not entirely sure how Inara would deal with that sort of thing, since she hasn't been in that situation yet like you've said.

Beyond that, he suspects that she might unbalance things with the rest of the team probably wanting to protect her. She's not really new anymore, but she's still the newest Iolite, she's well liked, she's not a combatant type. Particularly like Obsidian (who as noted above, doesn't always handle some people in danger well), Neji wouldn't expect to play as rationally with her in the game. But, I should add that includes him to a lesser extent, and is also a biasing factor in this. Neji would must prefer spare Inara trauma games if it's possible because he doesn't really want her to have to go through with them. And when it comes down to it, that's part of the reason Neji considers himself and Vincent pretty much the optimum team for trauma games anyway. He wouldn't ever express it that way, but he would rather keep most of the team out of that sort of mess anyway.

He... doesn't really mind if Vincent is exposed to nastiness or having to make hard decisions, etc.

ALL THAT SAID. OOC, I think it would be really interesting to see how Neji dealt with Inara in a trauma game, and how he'd react to her willingness to be ruthless.

Would Inara have not wanted to go the self-sacrifice route, if she were in the castle?

She probably wouldn't have -- she really doesn't want to die, and she's really not invested in the Personae's agenda, either. On the other hand, Mal is in the book, so she wouldn't have wanted to sacrifice those people either. It would have been a dilemma! I think in the end she would have wanted to live the most, though. Inara is someone who's willing to risk her life for a cause she believes in, but as I see it, she's not someone who's likely to lay her life down for a cause she is deeply dubious of, although the idea that she was killing Mal miiiiight be enough to pull her the other way, at least to the point that she'd eventually go along with it if she was in a self-sacrificing sort of crowd.

Talk to me about Neji and touch/affection some more! Will he ever get used to it from anyone?

I think it's possible he can?

Neji doesn't have a lot of experience with affection, particularly physical affection. I admit that's sort of inferred, but considering that he spent years 4-14 pretty much hating everyone and definitely not seeking out physical comfort and affection, it seems pretty reasonable. What we see of the Hyuuga also tends to be pretty staid and not really demonstrative. When things are going well, we show it by... training together. And drinking tea. So it just becomes, like, a thing Neji isn't sure what to do with. Most of his physical contact in life is either professional or violent. He's fairly comfortable with physical bodies, but it's in a weird way. Gestures of physical affection, at this point, leave him feeling distinctly awkward. He's not sure how to respond to most of them, and there's this sense of them being sort of undirected? It that makes sense? Like they're not a very purposeful interaction. For Neji, there doesn't seem to be a goal. With hugging, it's only a little awkward. Cuddling would be more extremely awkward.

The exception to this, at this point, is sort of the non-human types of affection. I think that's sort of different, and it might sound weird, but there seems to be more of a point to petting Obsidian or Lark than hugging Inara. Not because he dislikes Inara—like I've said, he does like her, and he's generally comfortable with her—but animals are different, and that sort of demonstrably calms them down. And if they cuddle, well, that feels more like being a bed/pillow/whatever. It's probably something that will help him get comfortable with human touching though? :|a Like, a GATEWAY HUG. idk.

Also, Neji doesn't have anything in the romantic direction at all, which is cool and not complaining about that, but if he did, that would push him in the direction of getting more used to it. Sort of headcanon, since shounen manga! But in a way, I think he would feel less awkward kissing than just hugging or cuddling, because it does seem more directed to him, like there's more of a purpose to it, and it seems more active. So if that were a thing that came up, it would also probably acclimate him a little more to physical affection.

For what it's worth, Inara's done a good job clicking with how Neji does understand affection, like making him tea, bringing him water and a towel after training, and telling him to go to bed because he's overdoing things. I don't know if he'd identify it as such, but it's definitely there, and I think just as he gets more comfortable with that, he'll loosen up some more with her. Even if it might be easier to turn into a dragon. >.>

Maybe that makes sense. There were a lot of words.

Most important people for your characters?

It made sense!

For Inara, mostly Jaina at the moment. There are a lot of other people she gets along with or cares about or enjoys spending time with, but Jaina is by far the most significant mutual support for Inara. As I see it, Inara's someone who is completely comfortable drawing other people out and having them confide in her, but who is very, very hesitant to bring her personal problems to other people. She's just barely starting to open up to Jaina in that way, and there isn't anyone else (now that Mal is gone) that she's likely to talk to in the same way.

Mau has a longer list, but the top three are probably Allen, Josh and Cassie. They're his triad of sanity in Aather, Josh and Allen because they kick his ass when he's being crazy and self-destructive, and Cass because he loev her. Mau is kind of terrible at remembering to take care of himself, so he needs people around who are willing to prod him fairly strongly when he does things like fail to eat or sleep. Also he's become more reliant on touch in Aather to provide him with a sense of direction and reality, so being in contact with either of those three keeps him much more grounded than he would be otherwise.

Reverse?

Hmm. That's sort of hard since Neji is kind of intentionally dealing with people in a way that mostly keeps them from being important. He feels a certain sense of obligation to Naruto and Sakura because of his memories of them, but I wouldn't call them personally important.

It feels pretty wrong to say that no one at all is important to him, but I don't know that anyone is important enough to stand out.

I fail with him that way, I guess. >.>

How did Inara handle Mal leaving?

Inara wasn't all that attached to Mal when he left, so she was a bit worried and upset, but not enough that she couldn't cover it up fairly graciously. She was also concerned how Jaina would take it. But she's disappointed, because Mal in Aather was substantially happier and more open (and would likely be so until he remembered the battle of Serenity Valley 8D 8D 8D) than he was in her memories, and she was sort of looking forward to getting to know him as an amnesiac before the complications of their home situation got in the way again. I think she'll actually be more upset about the situation when she takes her next memory than she was when he got booked.

What's Neji's analysis of Iolite as individuals? What roles does he see each member as filling?

I like this question. He's fairly content with them as individuals, despite their flaws/liabilities

I'd say he kind of sees Obsidian as being like the face of Iolite. Not exactly a leader, but he's been there for longer than most people other than Vincent, and Neji respects him, and he tends to be otherwise well respected. I wouldn't say a mascot either, because that doesn't sound active enough. I don't mean just like a speaker or whatever, and Neji wouldn't always trust him for that because he's not... always... the most rational. I guess he's like. The flag ship.

Kyouko is probably the person whose role he's the least sure of. Other than, kinda being a surly girl. Is that a role though? He doesn't have a problem with her, really, but she's the one with the least clear productive place in his mind.

Spitfire can handle the social stuff. AND HEY LOOK IT WORKED. They won the last game, didn't they? He does see Spitfire as a potential liability at times, though, because he's very emotional, and because Neji sees him as taking on more than he can handle, so that's something that needs to be balanced out.

Jaina is... quite... possibly the moral one. Or the straight forward one. Or something like that.

He kind of sees Inara and himself as filling a similar function in someways, in relation to the team, but doing it differently. Like, he sees both of them as the reasonable voices on the team, but in different ways, that actually might balance out. Inara tends to smooth things over, and be sensitive to people on the team's needs, helps them deal with emotions some, etc, whereas he... does not do that. He's more the critical side of being rational (in his point of view), and the one who has to look at things dispassionately.

Inara is also somewhat like Spitfire, in that she's socially fluent. In a safe way, where I don't use the word safe with irony quotes.

Vincent gets the be the team psycho. Which is a liability in some ways, but useful in others, and Neji realizes that. It's a harder balance than Spitfire in that way. He's smart, and socially fluent in a "safe" way, with irony quotes, and if less moral things have to be done, well, it can be handy to have someone like Vincent around. Neji does see some overlap with his own role and Vincent's that way too, to the extent that if amoral stuff has to be dealt with, it will probably fall to one of them. :|a

Reverse?