chokuto

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UN: 火
𝐓𝐄𝐗𝐓 / 𝐀𝐔𝐃𝐈𝐎 / 𝐕𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐎 / 𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 / 𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐅𝐋𝐎𝐖
𝟖♣ ( 𝑬𝑰𝑮𝑯𝑻 𝒐𝒇 𝑪𝑳𝑼𝑩𝑺 )

[It makes him curious about this alcohol — his reason for abstinence is primarily the effect on cognition and perception, slurring the senses in a way that may prove lethal, or at least lower his defenses enough to make disadvantage possible. It's just nothing he has ever craved to experience. Yet here, where threats of survival are minimal and with a foundation of trust laid out, perhaps he could try it. Gin.

Tseng's question surprises him, but he doesn't turn it away.]

I don't mind. [It's relevant to the conversation, after all. And — it will help them learn about each other.] Initially, when the concept was first described to me, I expected that I would be more dominant for the reasons I already told you.

[That submission is weakness, and dominance victory.]

Once I understood better what it meant in that dynamic, I found that I... enjoyed surrendering power. Control. [It is harder to admit the other side of it; Sasuke's eyes slip down, and though he doesn't shift uncomfortably there is faint color to his face.] And I enjoyed being taken care of, afterward.

[Because that part had been wholly and utterly new.]

With pain especially, there's a certain mindset that I find. I believe the proper term for it is "subspace." I am no longer — aware of anything but sensation, and my thoughts aren't in the way of that experience. Something like that is rare for me otherwise. I'm used to pain, so my tolerance is high. Perhaps that also helps.

[ what tseng understands of sasuke: that he scans every room he walks into. that his hands are rough from handling weapons, and that he was raised to view submission as a sign of weakness. that he thinks far more than he speaks, that he's serious and taciturn. tseng can understand the appeal of relinquishing control, for someone like that—as well as the appeal of being cared for in the aftermath.

watching sasuke blush a little as he talks about it is... cute, in a way tseng wasn't expecting. it feels like a glimpse under the outward armor, like being allowed to see the softer and more tender parts of himself that sasuke keeps so carefully guarded. tseng nods, smiling slightly. ]

Based on what you've suggested about your world, I can imagine that aftercare wasn't commonplace. [ he's glad that sasuke's outlook has changed, in this place. ] But I'm glad to hear you enjoy receiving it now, because I enjoy giving it.

[ he thinks for a moment, on the subject of pain and subspace. if that kind of play is likely to send sasuke to a mental place where he won't have the wherewithal to use his safe word, then it makes even more sense that cyram would want to supervise, at least toward the beginning. ]

Is there anything you'd like to know about me?

[An accurate deduction. Tseng is clever, in that way he would have found himself naturally more careful around — barring the circumstances they've found themselves in, which introduces intimacy. He was honest before: he doesn't regret it. It may have been challenging at first to consider opening himself up to someone else's control, given his own limited experience, but Tseng has deftly smoothed that wrinkle of uncertainty.

As if some difficulty of tension has passed, he allows himself to lean back against the couch.]

I want to know the same for you — what drew you to the dynamic. I know you've said that you had experience prior to this place, so you must come from a world where it's possible. Is it Earth?

[That one has seemed most common across his conversations.]

[ and just like that, the opportunity to be honest in turn. with anyone else, tseng might deflect the question, offer a half-answer and then send the conversation down a different but parallel track. not with sasuke, though; he promised this much and he intends to hold to it. ]

No. My world is called Gaia. [ which is apparently also something that people from earth call earth, but tseng doesn't know that yet! ] And I came here from a city called Midgar.

[ he pauses to think through how best to explain the meandering trail of circumstances that led him to this, where he is now. a full explanation also requires, perhaps, some context about tseng's career. ]

I was introduced to the concept fifteen or sixteen years ago. At the time, I was a newer recruit to the unit I now lead, and my position largely involved personal security and intelligence-gathering. We had a contact inside a club not unlike the Naked Yolk, one that catered to clientele with specific tastes. [ briefly, tseng's gaze flickers somewhere to the left of sasuke's face, recalling the club, its proprietor, the people who worked there. even before he came to this place it had been a long time since he'd seen any of them. ] At the time, I felt similarly to you—that dominance was about seizing control, not being given control. That submission was weakness and something to be punished.

[ because that was what his life had taught him, up until that point. likely it's what his life would have continued to teach him, if not for outside influence.

the next part comes after a pause. slower, more deliberate. words he's not accustomed to saying aloud. ]

I suspect the madam of the house saw something in me, because as I got older she slowly brought me into her fold. As a necessity of my position I was trained in how to capture and torture and kill, and from her and those in her employ I learned how to use those same skills to bring pleasure instead of pain. [ a nod, acknowledging. ] Or pain for the sake of pleasure, sometimes. In some ways, the fact that I know so many ways to seize control from someone who doesn't want to give it is what makes me appreciate it all the more when I'm granted the opportunity to take control not by force, but by consent.

[Gaia. That one, he doesn't know — and he'll hold onto it, along with Midgar. It doesn't surprise him to learn of Tseng's occupation in the context of everything else he's observed; he knew Tseng was no ordinary man, for the commanding aura he wields was not carved of nothing. He has met enough men with enough violent skills to recognize the pattern in another. Personal security and intelligence — both well-situated in the context of everything else. The attention to detail, the calm composure, the obscurity.

Tseng describes the club and the madam carefully, and he listens, valuing that honesty. He finds himself wondering if it is better that his own world did not have such places; he also questions whether it is to the detriment of his own people, that those emotions are instead practiced violently, mercilessly upon battlefield opponents. He wonders what it means for Tseng that he is trained to torture and kill — how he came to learn these things, and why it is his identity now.]

I can see what drew you to it. And it was fortunate you found someone like that woman, who could teach you. [The giving and taking of pleasure is so new to him, that he struggles to form it into words even now, but he tries, because he wants to. And Tseng will need to know.] I enjoy acts such as — impact play. But I'm not only interested in pain. So... don't feel like you have to do that for my own sake, if it isn't your particular preference.

What was your position called? The one you held before you arrived here.

[ while the statement doesn't necessarily seem to be couched in concern for tseng himself, it's still a kind thing for sasuke to say, and tseng nods his head in acknowledgement. ]

I appreciate that. Please rest assured I very rarely do things I don't want to do. [ and usually those things are on direct orders from his supervisors, at that, none of whom are here with him, and also none of whom would be interested in giving him orders related to his sex life. tseng doesn't smile, exactly, but there is a little warmth in his gaze as he glances at sasuke again. ] My preferences skew heavily towards "whatever will get my partner off," but in point of fact, impact play and other types of pain play are among my genuine interests as well.

[ so it won't be solely for sasuke's sake that tseng does it, if they reach that point—it will be because it turns him on, too. mutual enjoyment. ]

Formally, I am the director of the Administrative Research sector of the General Affairs department. [ which he's aware is the most incredible nothingburger of a job title ever to exist. it was designed that way, after all, so the general public wouldn't immediately be able to clock them as special ops. ] Informally, we are called the Turks. Are you asking because you're curious about my job title, or to better understand what I did in the course of my duties?

[There's nothing in Tseng's response that would cause him to assume an agreement of interests for any pacifying reason. The man is too self-possessed, too confident for that. So he nods his head, understanding that it may be some time before they ever approach such an act but also aware it will be mutual when they do.

And Sasuke understands. Those preferences in himself — they are intricately attached to the enjoyment of his partner, which up to this point has almost strictly been one man.]

... Both, but mostly the latter. You said that your skills were part of why you excelled at — domination. My own world has similar entities who exist in the shadows, for intelligence or other covert purposes. So I'm not unfamiliar with that, even if it isn't something I've participated in directly as an agent myself. [Too busy being an international terrorist trying to take down the whole system. :clown:] I am what you would know as a shinobi. My world is well accustomed to violence and war.

[He thinks of that name, Turks, as he looks across at the other man. It fits into the particular puzzle of his own... attraction, at least. He can't deny that.]

You don't have to go into detail, but I'm curious what your position entailed.

We would call them ninja. [ tseng knows the term, and after the war in wutai he's more than passingly familiar with the profession. it's a curious overlap, although sasuke does look wutaian, with the shade of his hair and the shape of his eyes. he and tseng are alike in that way. ] What an interesting overlap.

[ and assuming that the ninja of wutai and the ninja of sasuke's world are even remotely similar, that gives tseng plenty of insight into what sasuke might have seen or done over the course of his life. at least as far as tseng is concerned, a world unaccustomed to violence and war is one where the skills of a ninja are in much lower demand.

he looks briefly down at his hands, considering the question of detail, and then looks up again. honestly, more complicated than deciding what to say is deciding how much is likely to bore sasuke with context before they even get to the interesting parts. ]

The company I work for is also the de facto government of very nearly the entire world. [ may as well start from the beginning. it is impossible to understand the turks without also understanding shinra, at least generally. plus, technically, nothing he's saying wouldn't be common knowlege to a well-informed citizen of midgar. ] The company has exclusive control over the technology that allows for the conversion of planetary energy into electricity.

Our former president, may he rest in peace, [ tseng says, with a layer of chill in his voice that suggests that shinra senior can rot for all he cares, ] was an... ambitious man who dreamed of greater things, often without regard for collateral damage. As you can imagine, this painted certain targets on the backs of both the president and the company.

[ another pause. this is where he begins to leave the territory of "things any well-informed midgar citizen would know" and begins to enter the territory of... testing the concept of being honest. ]

The Turks were conceived initially as personal security for the executives of the company. Over time, our organization has evolved into a unit of special operatives whose function does include personal security, but also intelligence and kompromat, infiltration, and a few more practical tasks—interrogation, for example.

[ and assassination. he doesn't say it, but he doesn't think he'll need to in order for sasuke to understand. ]

[The entire world? His first thought is — Tseng must have influence. To be a director belonging to such a company would require it. It's enough to make the translations in his own mind, where the ANBU might stand in comparison to the Turks, the company for the government of a hidden village, even the president for the Hokage.

Differences, of course, arise naturally. Energy is not something necessary when it is a feature inherent to existence, and chakra isn't used for electricity regardless. But he's beginning to get a better glimpse of Midgar, which is likely much more technologically advanced than the countries of his own world, so it makes logical sense.

Mismatched eyes drift to Tseng's face as he reads that tone. Former president.]

I'm familiar with... organizations of that nature, although their presence is well-known, at least among those who live in shinobi villages. The Intelligence Division might be the most comparable, since there's a separate specialization within it for Torture and Interrogation. But everything that the people of my world can do relies upon and requires something called chakra, a force of energy. People are born with it, and they can learn to use it, but not everyone will have the same innate ability. Those who become shinobi... they train apart from civilians as soldiers loyal to their village.

[Of course, that loyalty can be bought, changed, corrupted. And rogue shinobi exist plentifully.]

It sounds like the Turks have to act more covertly within Midgar. And you lead them? How many members belong to this group? [He considers this question, chin tipping forward.] Sorry. I'm only asking out of interest. It's the first time I've spoken to someone who comes from a world with similar features, even if it isn't the same. But... if it's too private to share I understand.

[Not that he's going to?? crash into Midgar any time soon? But he'd understand Tseng's reticence still.]

I see. [ it's only a minor overlap, but still one that tseng notes: ] What you call chakra, I know as chi. It is an essential and inherent energy that those of us trained in martial arts can leverage in certain specific ways.

[ of course, tseng's martial arts training—while comprehensive—is certainly not the kind of training a ninja would receive, either in wutai or, evidently, wherever sasuke is from. still, it's similar enough to be noteworthy. the notion of training apart from one's village as a soldier loyal to the cause sounds familiar as well, like enough to tseng's own circumstances that it doesn't strike him as odd.

he shakes his head slightly. ] It's all right. The existence of the Turks is no secret to anyone who pays attention to current events.

[ which may well not be all citizens of midgar, but sasuke is more observant than most and wickedly sharp. ]

There are four of us, now. Myself and three subordinates. Only a few years ago there were more, but a series of... political maneuvers has thinned our ranks. [ he lifts a shoulder in a shrug that's almost careless, but the tightening at the corners of his mouth suggests otherwise. it was not easy, to go to junon and to watch good men and women fall needlessly to enemy fire. ] Many of us died at war. A much smaller number survived and chose to retire.

[Chi is an equivalent he's never heard before, and he commits it to curious memory. But only four? That is less than he's expecting, yet all the more impressive if they are able to accomplish what it seems they can with so few — there's a story in death. He finds himself wanting to ask about this war, but by the look on Tseng's face, perhaps not now.]

War is... destructive, in that way.

[So he isn't surprised. The amount of shinobi who made it to old age, let alone found the privilege to retire, is slim.]

Do you enjoy it? Leading the Turks.

[ it's only a brief question, straightforward, but it still manages to draw tseng up short—in all the time he's been doing this, he's not entirely sure that anyone has ever asked him whether he enjoys it. enjoyment has never factored into it. he was brought into the turks so young, with so few other options; the course of his life has been a steady forging, the way a weapon is forged, to make him into the best turk he can possibly be. the lessons have been brutal and hard-won, and the cost has been immense.

but does he enjoy it? does anyone ask the sword whether it enjoys the kill? ]

I've been a Turk for eighteen years, [ is what tseng finally settles on, after a moment of silence. it's a quiet not of discomfort but of consideration, giving sasuke's question the thought it's due. ] After that much time, I'm very good at what I do.

[ competent, efficient, brutal. and besides that, he owes his life entirely to rufus shinra. the opportunity to prove himself loyal, to pay back the way that rufus shinra put himself between tseng's turks and the firing squad... even if there were nothing else, that would be reason enough.

notably, tseng hasn't said he enjoys it. he's sure sasuke will notice. but it's the best answer he has, for now. and he thinks that sasuke will perhaps understand why, after a moment, tseng gently changes the subject. ]

What does being a shinobi entail, if not acting as an intelligence agent in the shadows?

[No, it isn't an expression of enjoyment, but Sasuke can hardly begrudge that. He does not have to know the man across from him well to understand the difficulty of such a question. Lifestyles that involve the learned art of violence are not often curated by choice. Tseng has already offered more of himself than Sasuke had anticipated for this conversation — which alone makes him feel justified in seeking the man out at all. Instinct, perhaps, played into it.

Eighteen years, though... that's about as long as he's been alive.]

It depends on a person's motivations. For years, I sought only strength and power for my own reasons. [There is a notable hesitation, then, because it isn't a secret but remains a wound permanently scarred —] For revenge. Others work as shinobi to make a living, to survive, whether independent from a village or not. Or they're born into a clan and gifted a certain genetic advantage so it is expected of them to become shinobi.

But usually... it's for war. In the past, the villages of my world — and the countries they belong to — have frequently instigated conflict and fought against each other. So most shinobi are also soldiers.

[He doubts this will be that surprising to Tseng. But his next question may be a strange leap to the left.]

Is age important to you? When it comes to... [??? help] a sexual relationship.

Edited 2024-04-26 21:23 (UTC)

[ tseng is no stranger to the concept of revenge as motivation. like sasuke, he knows how compelling the desire can be, the desire to return all of the pain and rage and desperation tenfold onto the person who hurt you to begin with. like sasuke, he also knows how easily you can be consumed by that desire, how easily you can be blinded. ]

I see. [ the hesitation in sasuke's voice is notable enough to tell tseng that the wounds still hurt. either that, or sasuke doesn't really want too talk about it. either way, tseng feels that now is not the moment to push for more information. ] The parallels between our worlds are interesting. Turks and shinobi... or the Intelligence Division. Not the same, but similar.

[ it's... sort of nice, in a way. that regardless of the fact that they hail from different home worlds, sasuke understands the circumstances, at least to an extent. the turks who make a living, the turks who are expected to become turks, the turks who are also soldiers, whether by choice or by force.

the question does take a step away from their previous topic, but all tseng does is lift his eyebrows slightly in response. ]

It is more important to me that my partner be well-informed and able to consent. As a matter of personal preference I draw the line at sixteen. [ like, he became a full-fledged hitman at 13. that kind of thing can skew perspective. ] Is it important to you?

[He agrees with that sentiment — not the same, but similar. And perhaps there are others here who could share that experience, living in those worlds, but Sasuke doesn't know them. Doesn't trust them.]

I wouldn't say that it's important to me, but I've seen it discussed here. The age at which one is considered an adult. It confused me, because nothing like that truly existed in my own world. Someone's level of maturity and life experiences mattered more, as well as the age they became fully-fledged shinobi. For me, I graduated when I was twelve.

[Still, he often considers his own beginning even younger than that, when his childlike view of the world was shattered by cold reality.]

I'm eighteen now, though I spent time in another dimension and prior to that I was in prison, so it's not something I can say I've accurately tracked. [What is time, really.] Some still consider this to be young — so I thought that I should ask.

Edited (wait i was wrong) 2024-04-28 19:11 (UTC)

[ twelve. not that much younger than tseng's formal training with the turks began, although like sasuke, he considers his own introduction to adulthood to have begun much earlier. still, he can appreciate why sasuke asks—better to figure it out now, than to learn the hard way much later on. ]

I was thirteen. [ and just barely thirteen at that. ] And I'm thirty—no, thirty-one, now.

[ as of several days ago, thirty-one. he mentions it just in case the question of age goes the other way too, with an upper limit for sasuke rather than a lower limit for tseng. (he does not yet know that cyram the boyfriend is millenia-old eldritch horror!) somehow, he doesn't think that will be the case, given the givens—being forced into adulthood so early does tend to change your perception of these things. ]

Prison and another dimension. You've been busy. [ it's a joke, or at least as close as tseng really gets to outwardly joking. he's curious, and the way his eyebrows lift makes that much clear, but he'll leave it to sasuke to explain if he wants to explain. ] I appreciate that you asked, but your age is not a concern for me.

[That quick correction makes him curious, but he doesn't comment further. Perhaps Tseng also hasn't been tracking his own age reliably — or, it changed recently.

And yes, from an outside perspective it's a lot to go through in the last several months... though perhaps prison is the least of what he deserved back then. A story for later, given all it involves. He has told only pieces to all but one person; it's a lot to share, and to him it feels like an unnecessary burden so soon.]

Okay. I just wanted to check. [He sits up straighter.] That's all I had to discuss, unless you have any more questions for me. I can... contact you later, otherwise.

[How does one do this sexual relationship thing, actually??]

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