Within a Heartbeat (open to Hoshi nin, pls NK ;-;)

Elspeth and Anton treaded onwards, through vast fields, thick forests, salt marshes, freezing landscapes. Her puppet supported her most of the way, carrying the brunt of her weight and making it easier to walk. Anton, on the other hand, carried most of their stuff, including a special type of vanilla leaf tea. Two strings came out of her index finger, manipulating the T-94x puppet to help shift her body around. Eventually, in the distance, the walls of their destination came into view. "Hey, Anton," she said, nudging him gently. A cacophony of sounds from nearby insects grew louder with every step, and she could hear their voices. Why she could talk to bugs, she had no clue, but it was a useful skill that she wasn't about to look in the mouth.

"Who's that?"

"That's a human."

"Is it dangerous?"

"No, it's an Aburame." there it was again with the Aburame. What was it, anyhow? Was it a group of some sort, or an ability? The duo approached the gates and stood still, waiting for someone to either come down or shout at them from above. There were better times to find out about Aburames, she supposed. Right now, all she had to do was wait patiently.

(WC: 208)

Nvm I'm good

Fortunately, she had not arrived significantly earlier in the day. A jumbled mess had arrived a few hours ago while Jeisuta was on guard duty, and he had somewhat randomly selected those he interviewed one after another.

Now though, the line had all but died.

Just one remaining for now. Then back to patrolling the upper gates.

No pressure.

He glanced outside again.

A young woman, travelling alone. Unlikely to be a threat, but you never know. Could be a smuggler or something.

Quiet, too. He'd seen a lot like that, lately.

He shifted in his booth briefly, the cramped spaces could really get to one after a few hours. Especially the wiggly people.

He stuck his head out the window, the only active booth at this quiet time of day. Waving at her, he said "Visiting? Come on over, I need to chat a sec with ya. What's your business?"

"Visiting?" The ninja asked. "Come on over, I need to chat a sec with ya. What's your business?"

She looked over at Anton, who was shifting the bag from one shoulder to the other. "My name's Elspeth Montgomery," she called up, cupping her good hand for increased volume. "I'm a self-taught ninja here to heal from some training injuries, and to, well... Make friends?" the last part was said a little quieter, as if she was embarrassed to admit it. In the past, friends were a foreign topic, and it was strange to have not one but several people she considered friends. A cold wind blew past and she shivered a bit. A heavier coat seemed more and more like a sound investment. "This over here is Anton. He's a civilian." She pointed with her good hand to the puppet keeping her upright. "This puppet is literally just here to support my weight because I can't walk all that well myself yet." she added. "If you feel uncomfortable with it, I could put it away." It was in everyone's best interest if she cooperated and was as nice as possible. Besides, the ninja looked like he had had a long day, and there was no need to add to his stress level.

(WC: 212
Total: 420)
Blaze it

So THAT's what that thing was. Not that he ignored it because he didn't know what it was, earlier or anything like a good guard would

"Umm, you don't have to hang back like that. Here, I'll come out then."

Jeisuta got up from his seat, swiveling his chair. Office seats were such a wonderful thing until they rolled out the door.

Opening the booth, he walked out and approached Elspeth until he was a respectable distance away, let's guesstimate a distance of about 3 meters.

"Wondered what that thing was. You can keep it out, I'd rather not have you in un-necessary pain, and the hard liners would not want a body on the streets. Might ask you platonic questions about it later, just because I've not seen many of those contraptions. Oh, yeah, how long are you planning to stick around for? Where do you come from? I just need to know as a general thing, if it is not highly important, we don't care too much here, but I got paperwork to fill."

He sort of could relate to where she was coming from, he had joined Hoshigakure himself basically as a loner. Luckily, he managed to get on with other kids relatively easily, but boys behaved very differently, being much simpler beings.

Hearing a sound behind him, Jeisuta glanced back. He waved at the ninja who was up to replace him. A little early perhaps. He turned back, to pay attention to Elspeth.

As he walked out to approach her, she awkwardly scratched the back of her neck with her good hand. She wasn't used to people being near her... Willingly. And once he said the puppet was okay to keep out, she almost collapsed in relief. "I don't know how long I'm staying around for, yet. I guess I'll decide when the time comes, you know?" she said. She took a breath before continuing. "I come from the Land of Iron. None of my family are samurai, though... And I'd be happy to talk to you about puppetry and my puppets anytime you'd like." Elspeth added thoughtfully. She turned to Anton. He held up a hand before speaking up.

"My name is Anton, I'm from a small town in Tornado." he said. "Uh... I don't know too much about the whole ninja shtick, but I'm interested in some of the religious sects?" He paused, tilting his head as he shifted the bag from one shoulder to the other. "Do you think you could tell be about some of them, or do you know a place where I could learn more about it?... I don't know anything else to add." he said, ending awkwardly. She turned up to the ninja to see his response to their answers, wondering what he'd say.

(WC: 218
Total: 638)

"Alright. We aren't too picky about lengths of stay here. There are a surprising number of immigrants that come here, just because Hoshigakure accepts refugees. So, I'll just mark you down somewhere as a visitor, we can always go change your status later if need be.... Wait, is that ventriloquism?"

Jeisuta gestured at the puppet.

If she talked about that, he would listen, then nod agreeably when she finished. "The religious sects are an... interesting case. I wouldn't advise talking to them straight off the bat, many of them, well, it won't matter if I'm not allowed to let you in. Some, we ninjas have to hold at arm's distance, unfortunately. Here, let me grab my clipboard real quick and make sure I got all the questions. I haven't done this much and I'm a bit forgetful. If possible, I really want to let you in and get you patched up."

He scratched the back of his head ruefully.

Zipping back at a snails pace, he would grab his clipboard of interview questionnaires, and a pencil. Quickly scribbling the answers he already had, he walked back over to Elspeth.

"Oh, shoot. Don't take this the wrong way, but, umm, I do need to ask apparently. Are you wanted, for anything? Depending on how catastrophic it is, well, you know. The reasoning for any such actions is just as important as the actions themselves, sometimes you don't have a choice. If you have been up to naughty stuff, its still better we know now than later, people have gotten in much bigger trouble before, and some things can be forgiven."

Ugh, that felt awful coming out of his mouth. He would try again. "Ok, let me rephrase that. If you have gotten into forgivable trouble, or any for an understandable reason, we can probably let you in, but we need to know in advance, and we would need to avoid it in the future, you know."

He tried to smile encouragingly. The bad cop role never really suited him. "Sorry, I wouldn't object to letting you in, but we gotta do those checks."

Honestly, the single biggest ting Jeisuta was feeling in terms of vibes, was that Elspeth was a loner, one who was normally introverted, but getting rather lonely. He wasn't about to ask, but he suspected she had been separate from her home for a while, why else would she be needing help fro the puppet to stay upright? And while he was no geography genius, the Land of Iron was pretty far away, she must have some other reason for travelling as well. Honestly, he felt bad for her, and kind of wanted to offer a hug, or at least a snack, but now obviously wasn't the time. Guard duty came first.

A sudden shift behind him was audible, as he finished speaking.

He turned, and saw the next detachment of gate guards approaching. Specifically, 2. The gate would be fine then, for now in case something happened. Gesturing at them, he made some hand signals to communicate that he was busy, and that they might need to take their posts slightly. It was customary to cover for each other when problems arose, and make it up later, so he should be fine. While it would have been more clear if he had spoken, he wanted to give Elspeth breathing room. She seemed so far to be a nice young woman, he didn't want to start intimidating her, or scaring her off.

"Hm? Oh, when I was younger, I'll admit I did some things I'm not proud of. Mostly arson. But I've grown out of it." she said. A chill wind blew past, and she smelled fresh pine on the air. In fact, she could almost taste it. "...Uh, I hope you won't arrest me for that..." she muttered to herself, scratching the back of her neck. She remembered it clearly as events flashed before her eyes. A cold day, no clouds overhead. A matchbox in her hand, and a satisfying, thrilling rush as fire began to race up and down a wooden frame. She breathed in an out deeply, the scent of pine washing away the memories, and shuddered. Fire both scared and terrified her, and it was with the universe's sense of bitter irony that fire was her primary affinity. Elspeth sighed. Dwelling in the past was useless. The present and future was what mattered, so why couldn't she pull herself out of it?

While lost in thoughts, a blue butterfly landed on her hair. Its wings fluttered back and forward, without her even noticing. And before another word it was gone. "Bye, friend!" she could have sworn she heard a small voice say. Was it an insect, maybe?

(WC: 209
Total: 847)

"Arson? I would never have pegged you as the type."

Jeistua thought this over for a moment, his head tilting, trying to maintain a relatively blank expression. On the one hand, well, arson wasn't cool. On the other hand, err, hands? He himself had done some pretty bad things, like physically assaulting ninjas before, and still been forgiven, sort of. Additionally, he didn't like seeing her not get treated - he thought people who got hurt should be given care, and he certainly couldn't provide it.

Ultimately, guilt of past actions, and compassion for the injured and lonely won out.

"Tell ya what, if you can promise me you won't torch anything that doesn't deserve it, we're cool. Its not like we have wanted posters with your name on it, so there isn't any hard evidence against you. No cops coming by or nothing. If its a compulsion you have or something, we can chat about it later, but right now I think you should come in out from the cold."

It was a figurative phrase - Hoshigakure was anything but chilly, especially for someone from the Land of Iron.

Waving at the two guards who had come to replace him, Jeisuta yelled out (due to the distance) - "I need to leave a bit early, I'll make it up next time." While initially he had not been about to speak, arson was not exactly a violent crime, and certainly one she didn't look capable of now. So speaking his intentions was probably fine. On the off chance she was actually a spy, well, he wouldn't be able to know, anyways. So far, she checked out, so he could let her in. Five minutes of extra guard duty tomorrow would be fine.

"Is the puppet enough, or do you need a bit of extra help? It is a bit of a distance to the hospital from here."

Jeisuta inquired, smiling encouragingly. Again, he would suddenly run off, his clipboard of papers being deposited with the others from previous shifts, to be collected and filed at the end of the day at the Hogokage's offices. Not that those were the Kage's offices. It was mostly a bureaucratic institution, many of the workers didn't know what chakra was. He would return with a map of the city.

Returning, he would offer her his arm, if she wanted. Either way, as soon as they were ready, he would set off at a mild pace, not in a rush. Heading for the hospital of course, so she could recover from her injuries, but on the way past a series of food shops of course. It didn't hurt that he was deliberately walking through a section of town frequented by those unmistakably ninja. This meant they were less likely to be jumped by anti-ninja insurgents, such as those from the Jaws of Grima. It would also potentially stymie any plans, if she was a spy. She seemed too lonely to be a spy though, they tended to be more shifty and less lonely seeming. He didn't want to think that way, but it was needed, after all.

Along the way, he would point out a couple of religious oriented buildings (feel free to describe yourself), along with a couple of major streets leading to other neighborhoods. "That's Busar street, you really want to be careful down there, if you are obviously a ninja. Actually, give me one second."

He would pause in the middle of the street, hopefully she wasn't relying on him too much for support at this particular instance in time.

Quickly, he began circling specific areas of the city map, using different symbols that he created a key for in the bottom right.

"Okay, so the outlined shapes with a circle, are areas with high concentrations of ninjas. The squares are the religious sects, of which many are somewhat hostile to ninjas, long story there. The triangles are the areas where gangs infest the city. They are technically different, so I labelled them as such. So the fewer the sides on the shape, the less safe it is for you. I've just added in my key at the bottom of this map, on the right. Oh, and this map does have the locations of the important locations - including the Ninja offices and Academy, the Hogokage's offices.... Oh, right, the Hogokage is the leader here, of the ninjas. But there is a royal family as well, it makes things more... interesting sometimes."

Oops, he had not intended to stop for that long. Better get going again! He proffered her the map, refolded to be easier for her to handle.

As they neared the market streets, he would speak again, assuming she was still with him of course. "The cuisine here isn't that different from the village I came from, but there is always something comforting about hot greasy food. Let me know if you want to stop and get a snack, I could do with a bite myself."

If she was ok, they would continue on towards the Hospital.

No one ever pegged her as the type for arson. Sometimes, it was as if she couldn't help it. There was a compelling need to burn. "I promise that I won't set anything on fire," she spoke, her voice soft and honest. "And... The puppet's good enough for supporting my weight. But I appreciate the offer." Without warning, her new acquaintance ran off, most likely to drop off the papers that he had filled out. She waited patiently for him to return, rubbing her neck as if it was in pain. As they walked into the city, her eyes widened hugely. It was a bustling place filled with civilians. There was a steady thrum of conversation that followed her wherever she needed to go. When offered his arm, she took it thankfully, but kept most of her weight on the puppet. He pointed out some religious buildings as they walked, ones that towered hugely overhead, ones that were shorter and stout, ones that were decorated past the point of all logic, and even some shifty looking ones that she made a mental note to avoid. After passing what was described as Busar street, the two stopped short. Curious, Elspeth tilted her head. He labeled a map for her, describing locations that were infested with gangs, areas where there were high concentrations of religious folk, and even some areas frequented by ninjas. Once offered the map, she took it and placed it in a barely hidden pocket on her left side before continuing onwards. They passed some food stands and restaurants, where merchants and chefs were advertising their cuisine quite loudly. "I'm not that hungry," she began, "but if you want to get something to eat, I'll get something, too." It was up to the other ninja at this point whether they'd stop and get something to eat or continue towards the hospital. A bug landed on her finger, a little bee, and it crawled up her hand. She was okay with most bugs, but bees freaked her out. She tilted her head a bit, trying to mask her nervousness, and smiled. "Hey, little guy," she said to the bee. It wiggled on her arm and looked up at her.

"Hi! I'm a bee!" he responded. She nodded as if it were a very serious reply. Looking up to her new acquaintance- the human this time, she tried to gauge his reaction.

(WC: 401
Total: 1248)

"It's alright, it would be awkward for only one of us ate, and if you don't need food, those injuries need to be taken care of."

He was in the process of pointing out a few interesting buildings to visit later, when the thought occurred to him.

"Hey, let's stop by th-. Wait, Are you talking to bugs?"

Jeisuta's eyes grew like saucers for a few moments. He had not seen anything that strange before, and there were some weird dudes out there. Only the guy made of threads came close to as weird. He settled back down though, seeing that she acted like this was normal. Maybe it was for her, so there was no reason for concern. It was definitely something interesting, though.

"Must be a ninja ability I don't know about yet. Alrighty, I was going to head straight for the hospital, but it occurs to me.... You seem awful lonely, "Hoshi" as many of us call it, welcomes refugees a lot of the time. Heck, I was one myself a long time ago. I know they let people become wanderers affiliated with the village on occasion, so if you get the itch to explore later, that can probably be done when you are at a safer strength to travel. If you'd like to stay here semi permanently, we might want to sign you up as a registered ninja of Hoshi, that way you can earn missions and train with other people and stuff. People get a little suspicious sometimes, sadly, some shops selling parts are very suspicious and only trust people with an official headband from these parts. If you don't want to though, that's fine, but otherwise we should briefly stop by the ninja academy. What do you think?"

If she wanted to join up, it was a simple matter of turning the puppet and heading down one of the cross streets, to the side of the Ninja Academy. From there, he would walk around to the front, and in through a somewhat convoluted path of hallways, before stopping in front of an official looking office. "In there, is where they process refugees wanting to live here permanently, and ninjas as well. Don't worry too much if you have your papers, they've had those cases before.

(probs best if you NPC this part, just because it involves you and not me at all lol)

If she wanted to not sign up for the time being, he would help her along the rest of the way to the hospital, and inside.