Meeting a new teammate (P, NK)

Corvin had received the message telling him of his new team arrangements. One of his teammates, Hiroshi, had a reputation for antics that made Corvin reluctant to meet with him. However his other teammate was from the Aburame clan. He had heard many stories of their style and was eager to meet with him. Having sent out a letter to meet with him in the village, Corvin walked around the street where they were set to meet.

Corvin, as usual, was within his prized puppet Anima. Anima stood over 7 feet tall and nearly 5 feet wide at its widest. All of this was covered by a black cloak with red trimmings. The cloak had a high collar covering everything below the eyes and a hood which Anima kept up at all times when not battling. To someone not knowing any better, Anima may very well just look like a very large hunched over man rather than a puppet. Around its waist was a small belt which held two simple rolled up scrolls, and on its left arm was a Sunagakure genin headband. When he first designed the puppet, Corvin worried that he would get cramped staying in it for long periods of time, but he found that it was actually quite comfortable and protected him from both heat and cold very well. It was this site that Hirako Aburame would find when he arrived for their first meeting.

It would seem as if a living shadow was walking among the sun bleached streets of Sunagakure, but this was no shadow. In fact, it was a boy, Hirako Aburame, clad in all black. He wore his usual long black pants held up by a lopsided belt and black T-shirt. Over this a worn duster of black was draped over his body and around his neck shone the headband of a Sunagkure shinobi. The duster itself was open in the front and reached down to the very tops of the boy's ankles, so as not to impede motion too much. On his left hip was a katana that was held within a slightly singed sheathe. Strapped to the genin's upper right thigh was a ninja tool pouch that had a scroll right above it that housed Hirako's main weapon as a shinobi. The only thing missing from the boy's ensemble were his black sunglasses that usually adorned his face. The young genin had decided that it would be rather impersonal to wear them. After all, he was off to meet one of his teammates.

Earlier the Aburame clan member had received a letter from one Corvin Kinzokutei about meeting. Naturally it struck Hirako as odd that it would only be him and Corvin meeting and not the other member of the team, Hiroshi. Not that Hirako really cared either way. As long as his team members were semi competent then he did not mind. It was these thoughts of team members that passed through the genin's mind as he rounded the corner to where the letter described the meeting was to be. Scanning the meeting space Hirako saw nothing that he would have expected Corvin to look like: a few sojourning merchants, a creepy cloaked man with a rather large physique and a stray dog digging around in some restaurant's trash heap. Figuring that the other genin was a bit late Hirako leaned against the building's corner that he had just rounded and waited. While waiting he absent mindedly ran his right hand through his raven black hair that often got a fair amount of sand in it. Waiting was always the worst, but it seemed like there was nothing to do save for wait and wait he would.

Corvin watched as a darkly clad boy rounded the corner onto the street where he was waiting. He boy was the first person he had seen since arriving that could possibly be his teammate. However, the boy did not come up to him, instead choosing to lean against a nearby building. It occurred to Corvin that even if his teammate could see his headband, Anima in no way looked like a genin waiting for the first meeting with his teammate. He silently smiled as several ideas for pranks ran through his mind, but he was just as unsure what he was looking for either. He decided that it would harm nothing for him to ask the darkly clad boy whether or not he was Hirako. He suddenly found himself somewhat nervous. Even hiding within Anima, he felt a little exposed standing there in the street. Swallowing his trepidation, Corvin walked Anima over to the darkly clad figure.

"Sorry to bother, but I am waiting for someone who I am meeting for the first time and I was silly enough to not give a description in my letter. Would you happen to be one Hirako Aburame?" Corvin was careful not to stand too closely. Anima was rather large and he knew that people got uncomfortable with it looming down at them. He found himself smiling at the boy, but immediately smacked himself for trying to smile at someone through a puppet.

Don't stare.....Don't stare.....Don't stare......Don't stare!!! This was the only thought that was moving through Hirako's mind as the hulking figure of what the Aburame could only assume was a person, but it was much larger than any person he had ever seen. Of course Hirako's thoughts betrayed him when he glanced over at the....person? Unfortunately it seemed as if the giant was lumbering over to where Hirako stood. Not moving a muscle or showing any emotion Hirako gazed at the hulk of a person as it spoke. However, the words coming from the man were weird-there was no way that this was Corvin. Raising an incredulous eyebrow Hirako heard him out and simply stood there for a second before speaking in a slow deliberate way: "I am indeed Hirako....are you..." Hirako was going to say human, but thought better of it and continued, "...Corvin Kinzokutei?" Hirako could not bring himself to say anything more as he did not trust himself to say anything appropriate. Thus, he hoped that, if this was Corvin, that he would explain his rather odd physique.

Corvin could not help but giggle a little. He could tell that his appearance and the deep, proper tone the puppet gave his voice had taken Hirako off guard. Again, the thought of playing a prank ran through his mind. However, he knew that he would not like it if anyone played a prank on him, so he restrained himself. Instead, he opted to try and be as proper as his puppet made him sound. "I am indeed Corvin Kinzokutei. More accurately, I am within the puppet that is standing before you." Corvin had Anima lower its hood and open up the black cloak to reveal the puppet's true form. It had the body of a large tortoise but the head of an elephant, the large shell giving most of the girth of the puppet when cloaked. After showing what the puppet looked like, he quickly closed and buttoned the cloak back up not wanting to look like a giant flasher in the street with his cloak open to this boy. "I am, or at least hope to someday be, a puppet master. Sorry if I made you uncomfortable."

As Corvin spoke a messenger bird perched on Anima's shoulder. Reading the message it delivered carefully, Corvin sighed. "It would appear I am being called back to the Chuunin exams. I will have to cut our first meeting short, but rest assured I am eager to get to know you once I return." Corvin bows slightly as a way of apology before setting out for the village gates. He tried to think about all he had learned in the short time between the rounds of the exam. He had learned much and gained a few friends who would be rooting for him. He just hoped he could live up to their expectations. He would give it his all and make sure that even if he lost he made his opponent work for it. If nothing else, he would make sure to make it a memorable fight.

(Exit)
(WC: 814, +4 Stat points)

Approved