Title of the topic [Open]

After speaking, Daiko felt a kunai fly by him, which gave him quite the scare. He jolted in place, and looked over at Rei with squinted eyes. She wasn't even looking when she threw it... Rather than say something witty, Daiko just decided to stay silent and hope that another kunai wouldn't come flying at him. He then followed her to wherever she would be taking him. 

Following her, he liked the look of the little shop they had entered. The whole place smelled like delicious meats, and Daiko knew it would be pricey. He just hoped that his friend would be able to pay his bill, because there was no way he would be able to pay it. He was very hungry though, so he just decided to wait for food to come. Rei ordered something called a sampler, which Daiko assumed was a platter of meats for them to try. His stomach grumbled, the aroma of the eatery making him all the more hungry with each passing minute.

Putting his hand on his stomach, he looked over at Rei. "How long until the food comes out here?" He sank in his chair slightly.

[[2212]]

A short stocky lady walked over, placing a glass of water in front of daiko as was standard for the initial welcome into a restartant. Instead of placing the small starter glass in front of Rei however she placed a tall glass of ginger ale. "Hello hunny. Sister wasn't Hungry today? oh. Well, Never mind. Good afternoon sir." She winked at Rei, giving the suggestion that she understood the girl was clearly on a date. Reial however was fairly oblivious of this suggestion. "Well. Your sampler will be there shortly of course. Do we know what you'd like for your meal rei rei?"

"I'd like the special as always. Daiko?" From a small pocket on the side of the table she pulled a menu, passing it to the boy so he could pick out his meal. A first glance would confirm the assumption that this place was not exactly as affordable as he'd hoped.

meanwhile...

"Heh. I suppose it is a little bit like a spell sword or something huh?" The man's sour glance turned to a genuine smile. Through the power of charisma the girl would slowly shift this man's opinion from highly negative to at the very least neutral.

"I'll be done with this soon. Could you close the forge and put it out?" With a nod the man would slide the cast iron door closed, closing the ventalation to cut off the oxygen. The flames would die down within the next few minutes. her fingertip traced the three points on the blade once more, finishing off her work by adding chakra to add the effects she needed, and lifting it up she tested the balance of the blade. "I think it's perfect. "


(3325)

Daiko picked up the glass of water placed in front of him, taking a sip of it. Setting it down, he is handed a menu, and he looks at the options. Sighing, he saw the prices. Looks like he'd have to be sleeping outside tonight. Looking up from the menu, he asks for his food. "I'll have some Yakitori and some Takoyaki." He nods, happy with his decision. Handing the waitress the menu, he looks over at Rei. "Do you know her well?"

Daiko then sits back in his seat, waiting for their food to arrive. He didn't really know what to talk about, so he figured he would just ask Rei more things about the village. "So, Rei... What more about this village can you tell me? I'm interested to know what kind of features this place has, as well as what the landscape is like. Also, is there a candy shop around here somewhere?"

[[2368]]

The waitress nodded at the boy, taking the menu and heading off to place their orders. Rei waited patiently for the woman to disappear, hands folded in lap as was always her habit. This was the place Reial took her sister for lunches every tuesday and thursday, the reasoning less because of neccessity to eat as something more practical. This was Ash's favorite spot. With rei being the only one of the pair who could navigate effectively around the city, part in due to Ash never actually paying attention to where they were, this gave her a remarkable gift. Tuesdays and thursdays were quiet reflection time. Ash wasn't allowed to talk from the time they walked into the restarant until the food was placed before them. "Yes my sister and I come here often. it's the only time I can get her to shut up and sit still. Twice a week on tuesdays and thursdays. "

"Hm? WEll not a whole lot. Theres the castle. That's where the queen lives. We're mostly protected by the queens royal guard. Been that way for years from my understanding. You'll notice that the village is set up in a spiral. Ash always has trouble with that part. Um.... I'm sure theres a candy shop. You'd have to ask my sister. "


Meanwile.

"This is.... " The card store owner lifted the blade up the moment it was handed to him checking every minute detail while beaming a bright smile at the girl. He was beside himself with surprise. "I know i just keep saying it but Ash I'm thoroughly impressed."

"If you think that's impressive just wait for what I do next. " From the bag at her side once more she'd begin pulling out items, setting small baggies of various parts upon the large black colored anvil she'd just used for sword making. These seemed to be metal also, though not as thick and cut precisely, most likely with the child's home dremel. Each piece was painted an off white color. The final bit she pulled from the bag was a hair band. "So. For my next trick..... Real working Nekomimis. "

(3680)

Daiko nods slowly, looking at the girl. There was a candy shop. Daiko's dreams were slowly coming true. He could only hope that eventually he would be able to feast his eyes on the might strawberry candies, the pride and joy of everything he had ever learned. His mouth watered as images of strawberries and giant slugs drifted through his mind. Shaking his head, he remembers that never happened and it was just all in his imagination, and it didn't really matter whatsoever. He did have a craving for some strawberry candy, though. It was all he could think about for that short period of time.

Looking over at Rei, and looking down at the table. "So... I think I might need to get back to work after this." Daiko looks around slowly, making sure nobody was listening to him through the sounds going on in the restaurant. "I need to train one of my chakra natures. It's been pretty difficult, but I think I can get it done today." He then sat back in his chair, humming. He really wanted that food to arrive. He was getting even more hungry that he was when they first entered. It was bad.

Just as he was about to eat the table in front of him, it seemed that the waitress was coming with their food. Daiko's dishes of takoyaki and yakitori arrived. yakitori was like a kebab with glazed meats on it, while the takoyaki was dough balls with octopus cooked inside of it. The takoyaki was topped with a special sauce, as was the yakitori. Licking his lips, Daiko prepares to dig into his food. He first wanted to wait to see what Rei had to say, because once he started eating he would not stop until the plate was clean.

[2669]

The two platters of uncooked meat were sat before rei who simply smiled at the waitress. A few pieces were placed on the grill in the center of their table, a warm crackling sound meeting the girl's ears as they began to cook. To be honest this was one of her favorite parts of the week. "Which nature do you want to train? Maybe you can do it while we eat?"

Meanwhile...

"Um. Ash. I'm not even sure what those are but they look... cyberpunk?" Examining the bag the man noticed they werent in any particular set up. There were just random off white pieces of various shapes and sizes inside each of the small baggies with no discernible method to their placement.

"Ah. Yes yes. You remember. It took me a little time to draft up the creation of these however I remember one time seeing my idol, Aios the cosplay queen of Amekagure wearing something similar. They were sooo cute I couldn't handle it. I think they also had some effective function, though i'm not terribly sure what. I suppose I'll figure it out upon further analysis of the se..um. Ninja magic. " She began to connect pieces together, using hot glue to hold the conscruct in place edge to edge. She'd considered using sauter however..... She hadn't actually ever seen someone sauter before. It was a shame that was easily fixed.

"Yanno. That glue wont hold up as well as some sauter. I have a kit inside if you'd like." With a nod she scooped all of the pieces up, tossing the glue gun into a large metal trash can off to the side( she'll buy a new one later if its needed) and rushed inside. The man took his sautering iron and metal, firing it up and they began. As Ash handed him a couple pieces he used the small stick of sauter to combine them together like a three dimensional puzzle.

(4006)

Daiko looks over at the girl and scratches his chin. She proposed the idea of training his nature right here, but he didn't know how well he could do that. He wouldn't want to draw in too much attention, or burn the entire place down. That was the only problem with some of this. He didn't know if he was going to end up creating too much fire. So, he put his hands together and attempted. Nothing happened. Frowning, he popped a takoyaki in his mouth. It tasted great, and he was happy that he could have some food in his stomach for the moment. He put his hands together once more, and tried again to create some fire. All he could manage was making his hands a little bit warm. Meh. He figured that he would try again later.

He raised the kebab to his lips, taking a small bite out of some of the meat. It was very tender, and he could take a bite with ease. It was delicious. Smiling, he put it down. "I'm training Katon." He said, close to a whisper. He noticed in front of him there was a small grill, with fire in it. Being a fool, he attempted to have his chakra reach the fire in the grill. He notices that the fire gets a bit bigger. He grins, and decides that he'll try after he eats more.

It didn't take very long for him to finish the kebab. It was delicious, and very easy to chew. After he was done eating his kebab, he tried once more to make the fire rise. This time, he found the trick to doing it, and the fire grew a good deal bigger. The meat was touched by the fire, and spit juices over at Daiko. Blinking, he laughs slightly. "Huh. I guess I'm figuring this out little by little." He pops another takoyaki ball in his mouth.

[2992]

She'd nod at his comment, using the chopsticks on her left to pull off one of the pieces, which folded over the wooden tool as she lifted it off. The small bit of flesh was cooked just to the edge of rare, the center a deep beautiful red color. She dipped it in the sauce provided in a tiny white bowl and brought it to her lips, blowing several times before taking a small nibble. "Best food in town. I swear."

Meanwhile...

"Uh. Does this one go... Here? " The shop owner was fitting the finished works together now, seven large pieces that were all different shapes and seemed like they'd never fit together perfectly. With a shake of her head Ash took it from the man, sliding the left ear into position to show him.

"No no. It's like this. See this piece is an ear. It slides over this housing as such and that will allow it to clip into place here on the head band. Also be sure that it isn't too far down. It needs to fit snuggly into this piece here or they wont move. " The detail in which she'd crafted each piece was stiffling. There was maybe a fraction of an inch gap, most like there due to the decision to use sauter instead of hot glue, but each piece was set perfectly to work into the others. The man placed the sauter up against an outside corner, the warm metal melting it easilly to hold the piece in palce. After a few quick moments the ear was perfectly set in place and ready to be tested. He continued this quickly, putting every piece exactly where Ash had explained and once done they looked at their work. "Perfect. Now for the final touches. I'll need to sand down the corners and then buff them out, then do the seals."

"why dont we work together. You can use your ninja magic while I use my sanding block." It was an easy decision. The two nodded in unison as they started, the rough sauter work being buffed out and removed to leave perfectly clean edges as ash concentrated on the more important parts. Her pointer finger slid along the edging of each ear, in the first seam, that which would be the inner ear were they real. She needed to get this just right to ensure they did what they were expected to do, and more so because she... wasn't terribly sure what the sealing formula did, only the exact shaping and formation. Rei would probably know but that was irrelevant. With a soft blue glow the ears perked up, coming to life for a moment as she finished her seal work.

"Perfect. Now for the most final part. " Taking the Nekomimis she'd place them snuggly on her head. The two ears shifted left to right several moments and then it happened. It was like a burst of energy flowing through every inch of her body. It was remarkable.

(4508)

Daiko continues to eat the meal in front of him, thinking about how he's going to use fire to his advantage. He looks down at the flame in front of him intently. It will be hard to master such an element, though it is a very beautiful thing. The fire was flickering and licking up to the meat, cooking it for them. Daiko sits back in his chair. Eating a couple more takoyaki, he rubs his hands together. He was dead set on learning how this fire works, and how he could learn katon from it. He closed his eyes, and pressed his hands together. He picture fire in his mind. The fire in front of him was a good reference if he forgot what heat felt like. He slowly breathed in, breathing out just as slow. He knew that if he didn't learn it now, he would never be able to. So, he kept concentrating. He could do this, and he knew it. Learning fire was just a small step in the direction of becoming a ninja that could make a name for himself. Nobody knew who he was. He was just some kid that rolled in from who knows where. That's not what he wanted. He wanted to be feared in every village, posters of him up on every bounty board. Or maybe the opposite of that. Maybe he wanted to be a kage some day, and run a village. Looking off into the distance, he imagined what he could do if he was kage of a village that meant a lot to him. Maybe if there were some village with volcanos around. He didn't know why, but he felt that it would be pretty amazing to live in a place with volcanos everywhere. Smiling, he sits back in his chair.

"This is some amazing food, Rei." He smiled at the girl. "I usually just eat cup ramen and fruit." He laughs, not at all joking. He lived a very sad life. But, tis the life of a poor ninja. He looks up at Rei. "So, I'm trying hard to do this Katon.. But, it's pretty tricky. I don't want to burn the food, but I'm trying to make that flame bigger." He points down at the fire in front of him before putting his hands together and attempting to channel chakra from his hands to the fire. The fire grew a little bit, but not by much. Smiling, Daiko looks up at her. "See what I mean? I'm just kind of afraid I might make the fire too big on accident. That wouldn't be good, and would probably cause a scene." He pushes his hair out of his face, and eats a couple more takoyaki. He had to think of what he was going to do in order to learn fire. He knew that there would have to be some sort of final thing to confirm that he had it in him to do so. Looking at the fire, he deeply wondered what it was that he had to do.

[3505]

"Wh.... where do they serve ramen in cups? I've had quite a few exotic ramen dishes but they've all been served in bowls. Do you mean like a small bowl? I had Quail ramen once. Two small quale egges poached in the liquid then you open the top and pour them in. It was good except the gold flake stuck to my teeth. " As she consumed another piece of the succulent meat she considered the idea of serving ramen in a cup. Maybe it was low carb ramen that used Cabbage instead of noodles with a small bit of venison cooked in duck fat. that could be tasty she supposed. "Yea... Please dont burn the place down. Try concentrating on just a small portion of the fire on this side. " As she spoke she pointed to the side of the grill away from her food. She wasn't a fan of over cooked meat, though if he did make a mistake she could always get more. The bill would be under twenty grand so she wouldn't mind shifting this from a light lunch to a slightly heavier endeavor. Thinking about it it could actually be pretty acceptable. If she lost a few pieces of the special maybe she could get some duck or ox tail. The idea made her stomach growl, causing her to place several more pieces of meat onto the checkerboard like grill with small bits of vegitables overtop. Cabbage and mushroom would be incredibly delicious and savory to her palate. "actually just take your time and concentrate on the center... yanno to ensure the effect is less noticable. OX tail, ox tail ox tail ox tail.... It filled her thoughts as shew watched the boy manipulate flames. She could almost taste it.

"yanno. This is kind of nice. I know I'm going to hear it ten fold when I get home... But having a little time away from ashareial is really good for my nerves and blood pressure." One of the mushrooms rolled off, catching in the grating. While the assumption would be this having a negative effect Rei's eyes lit up at the action. She always ordered whole shiitake mushrooms instead of the slices. The slices always seemed to get too mushy when you palced them on the meat and too dry otherwise. The whole mushrooms would absorb the juice coming off the top of her meat strips to plump them just a bit, and then their circular shape would do its damage dropping them off to get a nice char. After a few moments she'd snatch up the tasty morsel greedily, not stopping to let it cool before popping it in her mouth, yelping at the pain as she chewed. It was exactly as expected, completely delicious.

Meanwhile...


"Well. Do they work Ash?" The old man slid back his chair, standing up slowly, one hand easing the pain in his back from years of hard labor as he pushed himself up, filling the room with groans and small cracling sounds as his bones shifted and popped. He walked towards the end of the large white topped tables they used to play various games, a coating over the tabletop allowing dry erase markers to write on them and be removed without damaging the furniture, and walked towards the front, one ear turned to her her answer. They'd both finished their drinks, much to the old man's dismay as he lifted the clear glass bottle to his lips, only to be met by an emptyness. He had just the thing however.


"They werk perfectly. I think nowever I have one more piece to finish. " She followed suit, sliding the chair back by pushing the toes of her feet into the ground, challenging the popping of old bones with the loud screech of metal on stone flooring ringing out. From a large pile off in the corner of the shop, back behind the lockers on the far side, she grabbed several pieces of wood, placing them each standing up in between where she and the shop owner sat. She studied each piece, looking for flaws in the design. Each looked about perfect, mostly because she'd recently replaced the old wood working scraps he kept around in case members wanted to make terain or miniatures for random games they enjoyed with scraps from her own work shop. Now where there was once old weathered and discolored scraps of goddess only knows what kind of wood, say perfect pristine white logs of bulsa wood imported from the village hidden in the leaf. Where else would you but wood from am I right?

"Oh hoh. A girl after my own heart young rei. Are we doing some chisel work next" He asked as he returned with two slightly smaller bottles. One was pink and one blue, the two bottles thinner all around then the cokes they'd just had with brightly colored labels featuring strange anime style characters. He set one down in front of each of them, Strawberry for himself and for the tiny puppeteer her favorite, blue mellon. The necks of the bottles curved inward in a way that would seem strange to those who didn't know why. The top had a plastic cap with an inner bit that they both knew was a mechanism by which the glass ball keeping the carbonation inside would be pushed out to grant them access to the deliciousness.

"OF course. You know me. If you'll grab the tools I believe we can make fairly quick work of this one. My preferences are as always very particular but the actual wood work itself will be completely covered by some material I ordered from Amekagure so if we make a mistake it isn't a big deal. This was the time. She would be working on her greatest creation yet. The cosplay queen of Amekagure had with her at all times a puppet that reminded ash of her sister. The construct talked and acted exactly like the responsibility loving sun sister, being the voice of reason for the pair. She'd seen it more often then she would ever actualy need to be able to figure out how to craft the puppet, though it took her time to order the realistic skinning and Kumokagure plating needed. Good old Sakura corporation. With these finally hidden away in her room it was time to begin the crafting of the puppet look alike to her greatest idol. "This masterpiece is what I like to call the Twin puppet Aios Ai. A puppet used by my idol that looks exactly like her."

(5608 begining wc for stats at 4500 so sword and nekomimi made, 1108 wc for stats)