Sweep the Leg (P)

Aryll Hyuuga sat at her desk, tinkering with several large slabs of metal, her room a total mess. Gears, cogs, wheels and sheets of metal and boxes of entangled wires adorned the desk, the floor around it, and most of the room. The distinct scent of oil marked her room as a workshop. Haru hated it, of course. He often complained of the smell corroding the house and making him feel as if he lived on the streets. Big talk from someone who seems to have forgotten his room in Tengakure was exactly the same. The only difference was that Aryll was better at building shit then he was.

As she pieced together her masterpiece, her brother loomed in the doorway for a moment.  He knew that Xyxer would be coming to see her soon, and there was no doubt in Aryll’s mind that he despised these visits. She didn’t care. He did this to himself, after all. Xyxer had been there when he had not.

As she worked, she glanced behind her at the piece of metal leaned up against the wall, extending out of her room and into the hallway, and into the adjacent closet. The huge sheet of metal was probably twenty feet long, and blunted, as if it had yet to be sharpened. Even if one stepped right onto the blade, it would probably do no damage. It’d taken Aryll no small amount of effort to feed this in through the window and then forge it further from inside. Her brother said not a word, for there was nothing to be said. This was a project for work, after all.The blade was absolutely huge, and just as one might decide to inquire about what would wield this monstrosity of a weapon, one might notice the mechanical arm upon the desk, barebones in construction, unarmored and exposing circuitry. It was a work in progress, and she’d only just finished the fingers, but the thing was plenty large enough to wield such a blade effectively.

Standing from her desk now, Aryll stepped over the blade and stood in front of the window, glancing out to the streets of Kirigakure, down below. She watched the street for a familiar head of blue hair. Spotting friends in Kirigakure wasn’t hard at all for a Shinobi, as everyone seemed to have crazy ass hair colors. It was like a big game of spot the protag.

The Mizukage sat cross legged on a wooden bench in one of the many parks that were dotted around the village. It was a custom for him that had never changed despite which village he resided within.. he felt tranquil in the wooded areas with lakes. It almost felt like he was home, if he truly had an understanding of what home was. He'd drifted between three villages at this point in his life, so the definition had become blurred, the meaning hazy. Some folk said home is where the heart is, which just procured more of a problem for the male. His body was strewn out across the entirety of the bench with people who walked by barely paying any attention to him due to him shutting off his chakra. To them, he was merely another tired individual, and it was thankful his hair was mostly hidden from the view of others due to his head hanging over the top of the bench, with his hair moping behind it.

Staring idly into the stormy sky above him, he almost felt as if he could enjoy the scenery. This.. this was a place he could call home. However, his quiet mind was soon shaken by a thunderous snort, and then some guttural words that signaled the consciousness of the beast, "You'll never have a true home, Betrayer. Who would want to call you an ally, when you're known for slaughtering the helpless of your own village?" The beast snorted once more inside of him, and the hand of the male twitched somewhat. He was not used to being in a situation that he could not handle with a copious amount of violence, and quite frankly, that pissed Xyxer off. He had beat the creature once, and yet now.. he was vulnerable to it. He could not beat the creature to death because he'd look like a complete fool caving his own face in, declaring through his broken teeth and disfigured face 'A-ah wu-wun'. Of course, the beast already knew this, and so it was that Hachibi continued to prod at him, "Admire Shimagakure while you still can, Xyxer. I'll be destroying it soon and returning to Kumogakure." He snorted once more, having done his duty of irritating the male into no longer being able to rest. It turned out that the interference was quite a blessing in hindsight, as he had completely forgot about his routine meeting with Aryll to ensure she was doing well, and of course, not being a slouch in her studies. Xyxer would loathe a student who could be the greatest, yet never met that potential due to their own inhibition. Shaking his head as if that would clear his mind of the beast's untamed thoughts, his calloused hands pressed against the back of the bench with his palms flat so that he could essentially throw himself up, not allowing the comfort he was in to distract him from the goal in mind. Tugging on the lapels of his leather jacket, he started to make his way towards the residence the Hyuuga duo were currently in.

As Xyxer carefully pushed through his villagers, he'd grown somewhat more malleable around them, yet he still did not allow people to bump into him. If anyone was to even attempt to push their way past him, he'd shoulder block them on principle, because after all.. who could respect a leader when even the common folk could push them around? Thankfully, that did not occur for this little journey he was currently on, making his way through the crowds, just outside of the building at this moment in time. Each time he passed a warm body, he felt the urge of the creature inside of him to throw his body into them.. to check them so they knew who the strongest was. It was the bestial nature of the bijuu that played on the instincts of Xyxer, and it came close to working a few times.. but the display would not reveal Xyxer how he needed to be seen. He'd be seen as a more terrifying individual, that was indubious, but he'd be giving into his own bestial nature and become more bijuu than man. More savage than the monster he was already held in comparison to. Pushing the thoughts of duress out of his mind, he continued to focus on the goal of simply getting into the building for now, his chakra still suppressed as it had been from the start. There was no need to show off for now.. yet, of course, Samehada had been collected at some point from the side of the bench by Xyxer, and was now held on his back by the sash. That may have been a bit of a tip off on who the figure was, and perhaps a key reason as to why nobody had dared to bump into him.

Once he pushed his way through the front doors of the building, which were unlocked due to the notably low crime rates in the very progressive village, after all, it was a very progressive and futuristic approach to crime with most morally questionable acts, at least to the extent of being labeled crimes by the village, resulting in a progressive and angelic imminent meeting with one's creator. Most religious folks lived for the day they'd meet the Great One.. and it was merely the duty of the very accepting people to ensure they met them as soon as possible with little impediment. Regardless, that was getting off topic. Xyxer pressed down onto the handle of the door to swing it open with the push, moving his form into the house after wiping his sandals off on the welcome mat just inside the door. He shut the door behind him, after all, he was no savage and Hachibi would not let him live it down if he acted like such an uncivilized person. He felt the raw chakra of Haru in the same household, and he was almost excited for the games that were about to unfold. Oh, the wonderful games! Yet, Aryll was the focal point for now, and so he'd simply climb the staircase up towards where she had been the last few weeks; the workshop.

The girl had developed a keen interest in creating things, an interest Xyxer himself supported as it created a lust for life, one that her brother did not seem to share. She wanted to be able to create, while her brother would rather regenerate.. it appeared Killer B's sick rhymes had infected the thoughts of Xyxer like secondary smoke from the Hachibi inside of him, yet it was irrelevant. Xyxer flooded chakra within his body for a few moments to disturb the chakra suppression he was doing, hoping that he would develop an ability to form some kind of mental impediment in his head later on, of course, he did not want to be retarded.. moreso to be able to seal off the beast's foul words, or at least attempt to. Hell, he would love to form a mental barricade of sorts, so he was now intending to learn this via flooding his body with chakra until he felt himself develop some good ol' dementia.

As his walking culminated to the top of the staircase he took a sharp left and continued to walk through the halls of the relatively decent looking household. Boy oh boy, though, did it smell of metalwork and lubrication. Aryll sure was dedicated to her work to the point she had likely lost all sense of smell. She probably had disgusting, black, oily hands like some sort of engineer in a far off world, working on their magnum opus to drive glorious on the fury road. Nodding his head lightly to Haru as he passed by the Hyuuga, he couldn't resist the smirk that started to develop on his face during the brief gesture. It was barely anything, yet to the two of them, they both knew the intent behind the smirk. The gentle gloat, and the whisper of superiority. He was the brother here, moreso than Haru now.. and they both knew that, and that was the game that was being played. Haru did not bother to react to the gesture, he expected nothing more from the monster masquerading as a man, yet his eyes bore deeply into Xyxer's own. Something boiled within him.. this male.. this creature had taken away Aryll's grandparents.. and now had the audacity to meet with her. Who would do that? Where was the decency in this man? Although Haru remained steady and calm on the outside, he was far from it internally. The struggle raged, and his own demons felt like the only way to defeat a man of Xyxer's standard was to stoop to his level.

Opening the door of the workshop, Xyxer pushed his way in, making sure to wipe his hand off onto his conveniently black pants leg so that the potential oil smear did not show too much. He'd grown accustomed to having to wear exclusively black clothing around this area with all of the oil spillages there seemed to be. He even faintly recalled the day he had ran his hand through his hair once and developed a depressingly slick hairstyle.. it had took him a whole three days to wash that oil from his hair, and he was sure that each day his ANBU had chuckled at his expense. It was a damned life, he acknowledged, speaking out loud to the girl who was likely engrossed in her work if she had returned to it from the window, "How's the blade coming along, Aryll? Did you get any inspiration from Tidebreaker?" He questioned with a faint grin, showing his interest in the hobby while also demonstrating a willingness to aid her in her goal. He stood just inside of the doorway, the door fully open to allow some light into the rather bleak room.

I kinda' feel like it's important to note here, that he still wanted to form a mental barricade of sorts, and as such, he continued to flush his body with chakra until he got the right configuration.

Aryll’s white eyes narrowed as she surveyed the streets with her Byakugan, having succeeded at her game of spot the protag. It was hard not to in this case, as not only was did her target sport blue hair, he also carried a ridiculous sword on his back at nearly all times. Aryll sometimes wondered if Xyer would develop scoliosis from all the strain the thing put on his back, but never bothered to ask. Ninja anatomy was a confusing matter, especially when the ninja in question was made of water.

She watched him near the house, pushing his way through the crowd, making his way to their doorway. She stepped over the huge blade once more, crossing the room and retrieving a towel, wiping the oil from her hands. Xyxer would have heard her talk about making a weapon such as this for quite some time, but she’d only recently gotten ahold of the proper materials to make her dream a reality.

The blade was twice the width of her arm, and nowhere near the necessary sharpness, as she hadn’t had nearly enough time to get it to where it needed to be. It was basically a blunt piece of steel with a handle, which she’d intricately encased in a rubber and nylon grip, formed for the hand of a huge titan of a being. You could see that each aspect of the instrument was lovingly and painstakingly crafted, as if it weren’t an instrument of war but a work of art.

Xyxer’s entrance wouldn’t surprise Aryll, who was working on sharpening the blade. Nevertheless, she would not react at first, until he spoke. His question as to the inspiration of the weapon was expected, but she smiled all the same. After all, she was quite proud of the project.
”Indeed.” She affirmed, dragging the comically large file she’d crafted specifically for sharpening the damn thing. ”I now possess a deep appreciation for how fucking long it takes to keep these things sharp.” She joked, crouching over the blade. ”Could you hand me the blowtorch over there? There’s a spot I wanna do a quick fix on. The weld isn’t holding.” She explained, running her hand along a crevice in the blade, pointing to a shelf to Xyxer’s left and holding out her free hand.

While standing within the confines of the room, he watched as the girl made her way around the room as if it was as clear as daylight to her. It was around about this time that Xyxer started to truly understand the ability for a pirate to see below deck perfectly well when they wore an eyepatch.. this girl was practically nocturnal with the absence of light in this room. Shrugging his shoulders as it was not his life to lead, he watched the girl start to sharpen the blatantly dull blade, somewhat amused. Such a frail, small girl was attempting to create such a large weapon of destruction, one she clearly had no hopes of wielding with her own two hands. It never made sense to Xyxer as to why people would rely on others, when he had done the same he'd always been left feeling emptier than he had started.. perhaps it would be different for the girl since the creature she'd trust would be inanimate, incapable of truly betraying her. Xyxer shook his head when the girl cussed, speaking out almost instantly to scold her for her rude words before the Mizukage himself, "Aryll, please! Don't throw decorum out the window alongside sanitation!" Xyxer noted quickly, waving one hand towards the varying gadgets that lay around the room, the multitude of oil spills and, of course, the gigantic dull blade that was probably the centrepiece of attention.

Once Aryll directly requested his help, who was he to deny her aid? After all, that seemed to be the primary reason for him coming here in the first place. Kind of like how a boy scout often approaches an adult to get aid with their rope tying badges.. only this time it was about weaponry. Ninja weaponry. Well, it was hardly discrete so maybe not ninja, but it was some sort of weaponry there was no doubt in that. Xyxer shifted towards the main shelf where she had left the blowtorch, picking it up lightly with his left hand. There was some hesitation as he held this item, a few wild thoughts running through his head that wouldn't currently be described, yet the application of the tool as an instrument to make people talk became slowly clear to him as he felt the heft of the item, and the strength of the flames that would be provided. As Xyxer was unsure on how to go about this, he picked up a spare piece of metal that didn't seem to be getting used for anything from the table before he made his way towards the crouching girl.

Holding both of the items out towards the girl, he shrugged his shoulders a little when handing the scrap metal towards her, "It seems like a smart idea to use that metal to join the breaches rather than creating a weakened spot. If anything's uneven, just sand it down afterwards to give off a more pristine finish." Xyxer suggested, remembering the first time he had held Tidebreaker in his hands. The first time he had forged the bulking weapon.. it all seemed like a lifetime ago to him now, and technically it could be seen as such. Yet, it remained one of his favourite memories.. the creation of a weapon that would create him. That was ironic.. the things people created often ended up creating them, at least, in the public eye. He paused for a moment while he was on that thought, glancing down towards the girl with silver hair, smirking to himself.. perhaps she'd be known for creating comically oversized weapons that couldn't harm others.

He took a step back, not wanting the blowtorch to even risk hitting him with the sparks. Once he was a step or two backwards, he'd lower himself down into a crouch himself, angling Samehada on his back so that it spread over the floor instead of prodding directly into it, the white bandaging soaking up some of the oil, much to the disdain of the monstrous weapon. As he watched the blade, he'd start to speak once more before she started the operation, "You should really put on a welding helmet, if something fucks up you'll potentially lose an eye, or even worse the entirety of your face. I've seen stuff like that happen, you don't want it to happen to you. You'll look like one of those kids from Kumogakure." Xyxer quipped lightly, intending to hurt the beast inside of him due to his knowledge on it's wish to return home. All Xyxer heard in response was a faint snort, one of derision rather than anger.. and that annoyed the male more than he could say. He wasn't acknowledging his insult, and that apathy.. it pissed him off. Shaking his head a little, he continued to stay on hand in case Aryll needed any help.

Continuing to flood his body thoroughly with chakra throughout the entire ordeal, his mind focused on sending the chakra through his pathways and tenketsu up towards his head, somewhat to his brain. He focused on short bursts to begin with until he became comfortable with experimentation in prolonged exposure to the chakra, attempting to work on different aspects without actually killing himself. He understood that using different hand seals could alter  the experience and make it more likely to work, but he was unsure on whether he wished to carry out any hand seals within the confines of this room, potentially risking the death of all inside. It'd be funny without a doubt, but would it be worth it just for a jutsu? Even if it was a mental barricades jutsu, the one he was currently learning in each of his posts?

Each rake of the file across the blade elicited a ringing, scraping noise that echoed throughout the halls of the home the two Hyuuga inhabited. Xyxer’s shrug would go unnoticed by Aryll even in spite of her byakugan being active, as she was currently using it to “Zoom in” on the breakage in the blade. She caught herself cursing all too late, and shrugged in response to Xyxer’s scolding. This happened quite frequently, as Aryll possessed the mouth of a sailor intertwined with the formality of a proper Hyuuga, which made for an interesting set of airs and graces.

”I have no idea what you are talking about.” Said Aryll, not looking up from her work, although it would likely be quite obvious to both of them as Aryll’s dojutsu made it nigh impossible not to see the mess around her. ”It’s not like you’re gonna get sick or anything. It’s just a little oil.” She retorted after it became immediately obvious to her that there was no denying the mess.

Xyxer’s suggestion to use additional metal to join the breach rather than simply weld it over would usher Aryll deep into thought as she tried to figure how she’d go about joining the two. Being completely honest, Aryll had acquired this hunk of metal from some builders that had been commissioned to build a skyscraper for some rich asshole with too much time and money.

It was really just a pillar of Tengakure steel when she found it, and she’d filed it down this far with, well, it had taken her awhile, to say the least. Still, she wondered if she’d left it too large. She could barely move the thing with her chakra threads, despite her chakra being quite potent.
”I see your point, but the damn thing’s already too heavy. I need to chop it down a bit as is. I was thinking of cutting some holes in the end so I don’t sacrifice reach.” She said, eying up the blade. ”Also, I don’t have anything that could melt that steel. Those sheets are just what I cut off to get it down to this size.” She added as if it had just occurred to her.

Still, for now, the blade needed a fix, so away she’d go, pulling on a pair of rubber gloves and welding the spot, fusing the steel in an unholy matrimony of murder and white hot sparks.
”I’ll be fine. There’s a medical ninja downstairs, and I’ve done this before…” She’d say as she worked, fusing the blade in a jiffy, setting aside the welding tools. ”See? No sweat.”

”Besides, no amount of physical trauma could make me look that bad.” She added, joking lightly at the expense of a village that was not there to defend itself.

She looked at the giant ass blade now, pondering what she should do to reduce the weight.
”You’ve forged shit like this before, right?” She’d ask, her hand on her chin, as that was what one did when thinking deeply. ”Should I reduce the length, or sacrifice from the weight of the blade itself and cut it down a bit?” She asked. ”Maybe I could serrate the bottom. It’d cut down on weight and give me some utility.” She said, nodding as if she’d just given herself sage advice.

”For, you know, if I need to skin a giant beast or something.”

Xyxer listened to the comeback of the kid, laughing under his breath at the retort. It reminded him of so many of the students he had trained alongside in Kirigakure, as well as the lesser students in Tengakure. He was unsure where he would place this girl at this point in time as she certainly demonstrated a willingness to use puppets like shinobi of Tengakure.. in fact, Xyxer was unsure on whether he had actually ever seen a puppet user in his home village. The true Kirigakure.. He sent one hand out from his side towards the girl's shoulder, pushing her weakly to ensure she didn't fall over the blade or slip in the oil, but still to get his point across. "I'm made of water, Aryll, oil is pretty bad for me." He joked, because let's be real.. if he was to be beaten by the second hand oil of puppets, he probably deserved that death.

Watching the girl fall into thought with his words, then deliberate on them before vocalising her own thought, he simply let his eyes fall onto the work in progress once more. She detailed what she wanted to do with the blade, and they were interesting ideas for sure. There were many things you could do with a blade, and many more things you shouldn't do with one. He wasn't entirely sure what she meant by cutting holes at the end of the blade to help her retain reach, and frankly, he was too worried to ask in case she seemed like more of a weapon expert than himself. Simply nodding and pretending he understood what she meant. Of course, the blowtorch would be a bit weak compared to the scrap metal.. they'd likely have to find another way to fix the patch up later on, yet Xyxer was a bit busy himself, after all, he was learning a jutsu on the spot.

Watching the sparks fly against the face of the crazed girl, he was amazed how anyone could risk their face during such an act. It required a whole new level of barbarity to not care for your appearance, and that was a lesson the Tadashi brothers knew too well. Appearances were important in the modern world, after all, how many fat ninja did you see these days? Xyxer saw very few, if any at all.. granted he lived in Kirigakure, which was probably biased against fat people given the anaerobic conditions given the storm that surrounded them all. He barely even heard what she was saying over the violent blasting of the blowtorch as it worked it's way over the metal. Heat had never been a welcomed condition to Xyxer, sweating was pretty bad for a Hozuki, even if he did technically soak it back in. Haru allowed his sister to work in such dangerous conditions, without proper protective gear? He almost started to think he didn't care for his sister at all, or perhaps he was just that confident in his healing ability to restore her to full health. It was a shame he wasn't capable of doing that with his grandparents when a fortunate accident had befell that family.

The beast grunted inside of him once more when another jab at Kumogakure was made, affording the male the knowledge that he was still watching, because after all.. what would the Hachibi be doing? He was stuck in this flesh prison, and he was forced to watch a girl forge a blade with a length that almost matched the width of his tentacles. The grunt was all that was said for now, but there was more to come later from the demon.

Upon Aryll's questioning of forgery, Xyxer's head lifted and dropped for a moment, nodding towards her question fluidly as if he was merely bopping his head. He pushed his body up from the crouch, dusting his legs off as he walked towards the blade itself to inspect it. The first thing he checked for was the structural integrity of the blade, as that was key when it came to clashes, and of course, the actual impact the sword was capable of. Running his hand along the flat of the blade, he'd gently rap at it every now and again with his knuckles to see if any chiming or ringing sound was evoked from the worked metal. Towards the tip of the blade, the metal wobbled more than the thicker parts of it, a clear indication of it's inadequacy due to it's lack of thickness. That would be bad during a fight, and Xyxer knew it would likely cost the girl the entire weapon if it was to come down to it. "Both, lose some length and weight for now. I doubt anything you can currently create will be able to wield such a heavy weapon efficiently, and efficiency is key when it comes to weaponry." Xyxer stated, rapping his knuckles against the upper half of the blade once more before continuing, "Serrate the bottom if you wish, it'll make it easier to cut through ropes and wires if you ever enter a situation where that's required. Perhaps even make a hook in the tip of the blade so that you can yank weaponry or shields from your opponents using your puppets superior strength. A harpoon of sorts, so that it also does more damage on the way out."

The male's cruel nature had started to slowly emerge, and Hachibi felt it rising within the male. He was giving sound, murderous advice to a young girl who was not even a part of his family. Was he truly trying to breed a village of apathetic murderers? Gyuki was unsure, but when the girl's next words spat out from her lips, he found himself protesting towards Xyxer, ushering him into one of his rages if he could influence him that much, "She's threatening us. She wants to skin us. We ARE the giant beast! Whether we want to accept it or not, you've forced me to be a part of you, and I will remain until you die, and I will remain long after." Gyuki stated matter of factly, no derision in his voice, as if he was simply explaining a battle stratagem to his council, "This girl may want to kill you, Xyxer. She may seem young and naive, but she's plotting. She wants to use that blade to pry me out from your broken body, and the irony will be even sweeter when you help design the blade that becomes your undoing. She'll release me, and I'll kill everyone. It's what I am."

Xyxer lifted his hand up towards the nape of his neck, pinching it lightly before rubbing his hand over his flesh for a moment as if he was simply confused. He had became rather efficient at hiding his thoughts with his actions, after all, it wasn't too difficult if you were consistently detached from your actions and thoughts. His eyes momentarily flicked over the blade that Gyuki was trying to make Xyxer believe would kill him, but he'd suppress it for now, all the while continuing to fluctuate his chakra in order to further learn an ability that would aid him in the sealing of that voice. That horrible voice that picked away at his mind. He knew being a jinchuriki would not be fun and games, but he didn't think it'd annoy him this much. Nothing had annoyed him this much.. and that was likely because he could handle his other problems. He could not handle this.

"Noted." Was all Aryll said in response to Xyxer's claim of oil being bad for him. It was all in good fun, and just to screw with him, though she doubted he'd care. She was so caught up in her work that she did not even notice him laugh under his breath. His visible discomfort from the heat would also be disregarded by Aryll, who was completely engrossed with her work. As she  finished her fix, she admired the clean weld for a moment, before setting aside the torch.


At Xyxer’s mention that her creations would not be able to wield the blade, Aryll glanced over at the arm of the puppet she was building. Huge, powerful hydraulics adorned the arm, with circuitry exposed. A few strings extended from her fingers, lifting the huge arm and ferrying it across the room until it reached the grip of the blade.


”Mind your feet.” She said, as the arm came to life, animating and grasping the blade with its long fingers, making a fist around it so large Aryll likely could have fit inside the massive mechanical arm’s grasp. Mustering all of her strength, she jerked her hand upwards, and the arm lurched with effort, lifting the blade a mere few centimeters off the ground, before her grip gave way and she lost the arm, which dropped harmlessly to the floor. ”Shit.” She uttered. Defeated, she returned the arm to its place on the table.


”It’s still a work in progress.” She defended halfheartedly. The truth of the matter was that Aryll was trying to build too big. She was designing constructs that she herself could not yet handle, and yet she continued on anyways. Go big or go home, as they say. ”Okay, so I’ll cut down on the length. Shame, the reach of this thing would be terrifying, and it’ll be incredibly difficult to find another piece of metal to fit these specs…” She monologued, nodding in assent to Xyxer’s advice.


”Right. I’ll serrate the end, that should cut down on the weight at least a bit, and I’ll think about putting a hook at the end. I don’t know if I’ll ever need it, though. Not even you carry swords this big into battle.” She continued, standing there, pondering the weapon.


Xyxer’s feigned confusion would be interpreted by Aryll as his being unsure of what to do with the massive weapon. Aryll didn’t blame him. These things were supposed to be the simplest of weapons, but making them was proving exceedingly difficult.

”I’ve been looking at this wrong” She said suddenly. ”I’ve been trying to make a huge hunk of metal into a sword. There’s no way I can lift this, but I can make it work. If the base length is less, I can still make it extend to the full size.” She rambled, jumping over the blade and sitting at her desk, where she quickly drew up specs for the weapon. By interlocking the steel and manipulating the joints with her chakra, she should be able to extend the whole thing and cut the weight nearly in half.

”What do you think? Is it workable?” She’d ask Xyxer, showing him the blueprints, which would look like a madman’s script as her handwriting was absolute garbage and her thoughts seemed to jump from one place to the next without a proper segway.

As soon as Xyxer heard the slight creak that hinted at the transport of a rather cumbersome object, his eyes lifted upwards from the stationary blade, following the neon blue chakra threads towards the object they were transporting.. a part of the puppet she was making. His thoughts stopped for a moment with his eyebrow lifting upwards to feign a questioning expression. To be frank, he was rather impressed that she was capable of lifting such a hefty weapon using what appeared to be delicate strings, and for a second he even considered redirecting his own path so that he too could learn the ways of being a puppeteer. After all, ventriloquism looked pretty cool, and it was hella creepy so that'd just add to his genjutsu. However, it was around about this time that Xyxer started to notice the effort on the face of Aryll; the strain that almost seemedto rival the activation of the byakugan in Hyuugas. Clearly, it was not as easy as it appeared to be since she was struggling to such a great degree with the lifting of the weapon, and it was just further proof that she was not currently capable of using the blade with this puppet.. but perhaps that would changei n the future, when more circumstances developed and she had more practice with her puppets. After all, as people in another universe say as the location didn't exist in the current one, 'Rome wasn't built in a day'. Of course, Xyxer had no fucking clue what Rome was, but the sentiment remained the same.

When he saw the strain double on the girl's face, and her hand twitch with the threads dissipating from her fingertips first before following through to the rest of the arm, he acted on instinct. Xyxer was more animal-like in nature than most others, and so he reacted to his instincts more often than most, so this was an instantaneous response. Semi-running towards the falling machinery, he avoided the gigantic blade that stopped him from simply moving in a straight line towards it as he had to go around the blade to ensure he didnt end up decapitating himself on the dull edge. That'd be a terrible way to go, albeit hilarious. Once he reached the arm during it's descent, he dropped down into a crouch so that he had a strong center of balance and wasn't able to tip over easily, and, well, you don't lift with your back. Xyxer practiced a high degree of work safety, and although he was not technically at work, he'd be damned if he wasn't safe. The exposed circuitry, which was thankfully not operational at this point in time, fell into his awaiting hands so that he had the entire hunk of arm in his grasp, resting on his torso and across his left shoulder so that the joint hung over his shoulder. Ensuring that the arm wasn't going to fall when he moved, he stood up from the ground, tutting, "Tch. You've got to be more careful you reprobate. If you fell through the floor alongside the arm, you'd have probably been crippled or something." He spoke with a light grin, moving the arm towards the desk it had been on. Putting it down slowly so that it wasn't a sudden drop, he slid it across the surface so that it rest on the center, distributing the weight of the arm adequately to avoid a collapse.

While he had been doing that, Aryll had been speaking about a work in progress, but he simply shrugged it off. "It'd be terrifying for you, trying to swing such an unbalanced weapon is just asking for trouble." He noted regarding the excessive length. She even commented on his line about a hook, shrugging his shoulders as if it wasn't too big of a deal, "Humans aren't the only thing you'll be combating in that thing, Aryll. You've got to factor in all kinds of crazy things that happen. I hear that an Uzumaki boy of old had giant frogs that carried weapons. I imagine you wouldn't turn your nose up if you found yourself in that situation with my trusty hook idea." Xyxer quipped, turning around with a faint smile still. He lowered himself backwards towards the desk, resting his hands on the edge of the table to support himself while he rest in the room.

The girl spoke oncem ore as if she had just been the recipient of a 'Eureka! That's it!' idea. It was interesting to watch someone so small jump over a blade, yet he didn't bother to laugh. Not yet at least. He tilted his head momentarily so that he could watch as the girl drew up plans not too far from himself, keeping his eyes on the random assortment of scribbles that seemed to leap all over the page to different sections. The words didn't even appear to be words at all, but rather stick men that were crudely drawn. He started to wonder if Aryll was dyslexic, but he wouldn't make any mention of that. He'd simply have to have her tested at a later date, maybe she just had difficulty with writing things, it was a crazy world after all.

When she revealed the script to him, he'd simply nod towards it in agreement, looking back towards the blade as he tried to see the interlocking areas with his minds eye. "Sure, it seems like it could work if you do it properly. By properly, I mean don't go about dropping things. Haru would kill you if you start throwing around bulky things like that, just like that arm." He joked with Aryll, chuckling.

He continued to flush the chakra throughout his body, and it was just then that he forgot something.. he forgot the reason he had been moving the chakra throughout his body to begin with! Eureka! That's it! Ironically, he had now learnt how to block out memories, and he wasn't entirely sure why he wanted to block out anything, or why he was trying to learn this technique, but he had now learnt it. That was all that mattered now, of course.

Aryll’s second attempt at picking up the disembodied hand of her puppet-to be would be interrupted by Xyxer, who caught the construct himself and saved the floor from being crushed. Aryll’s threads, which were actually just moments short of catching the arm themselves, would thankfully not tangle with his feet due to their badass utility ability of being semi tangible. They would not trip Xyxer, but they’d probably tickle him or something. If Aryll had been more experienced, Xyxer would have accidentally been trapped by Aryll’s strings. That sure would have been a Skillful Achievement with a Human Body. Aryll would note this information, as this was a technique she should study.

Xyxer’s scolding fell on deaf ears. Aryll, waving her hand as if to dismiss the possibility of such a thing. She was invincible, after all.
”Like that’d ever happen.” She’d say, shrugging off his concerns. ”I’ve lived through too much to go out like that.” She said sagely, her tone surprisingly dark. ”Be careful with that, it isn’t finished. One twisted wire and the whole thing will be fucked up.” She added quickly as Xyxer set down the arm. She might be invincible, but her creations may as well have been her children for the amount of care she put into making them.

Xyxer’s mention of it being terrifying for Aryll to swing such an unbalanced weapon made Aryll giggle a bit.
”I’m not the one swinging it. This thing is balanced for something a lot bigger than you and I.” She retorted, nodding to the arm on the table. Although that fact was probably obvious at this point, she was still happy to repeat it, as she was quite proud of her creations.

Xyxer’s defense of the hook caused Aryll to ponder once more. Giant enemies with giant weapons were a real concern, but Aryll didn’t know if she herself would ever go up against such a foe with this particular creation. She was nowhere near that level yet, but Xyxer’s sentiment that it might be useful to her was quite heartwarming. ”I’ll consider it.” She’d say, to affirm that his advice was indeed appreciated.

As Xyxer read through her notes, Aryll’s eyes were trained on his face, looking for some sort of reaction. She loved when people shared in her excitement, and Xyxer had never seemed all too enthusiastic about her area of practice. While she wasn’t able to wield the massive weaponry that Xyxer could, she could still emulate it. What she lacked in physical strength, she made up for with her raw chakra and her natural ability to control it. With her increased situational awareness thanks to the Byakugan, she could make herself a deadly asset in close combat using these creations.

His affirmation that it could work was all Aryll needed, and in an instant, she began hastily drawing out areas to cut on the large steel blade with a black marker, measuring and outlining proportions and incisions to make.
”He can go fuck himself. We’ve got more than enough money to take care of any damages, and I wouldn’t have to work up here if he’d give me the basement as a workshop.” She replied, ranting a bit and displaying some obvious resentment. ”He only tolerates me doing this up here because it’s a part of my job, and he knows I’d leave if I couldn’t.”

As Xyxer was having his own moment of Eureka, Aryll noticed the wiring on the arm was tangled. Hopping over the blade once more, she untangled them with a delicate hand, twisting a few and intertwining them into a braid of multicolored, plastic wrapped metal filaments. There was something beautiful about it, creating something of this scale. Even though she hadn’t even acquired the materials for the other arms, or the legs, or the cockpit, she already felt as if she’d poured a part of herself into this creation.

”Do you think I’m overdoing it on the size?” She’d ask, running her hand along the giant mechanical fist. ”I wanted something that could cross the battlefield in a few strides, crush the opposition under its feet, but… I dunno, I feel like I won’t have a way to stave off an attack if someone can slip past the giant sword and onto the cockpit.” She babbled, once again enthusiastic to be talking about her art. She looked at the diagrams once more, tracing her fingers along the place that might have been the torso, where the cockpit resided. That was the place she needed to protect. ”...Maybe a few extra arms? Nobody said I have to make the thing look human.” She spouted, looking at the diagrams again.

”I could make them rotate independently of each other, so I could fight on two sides at once. Or four.” Aryll mused, intrigued by the idea. ”The only thing is I’d need some way to improve my visibility. I can only see through the front of the cockpit right now, because I didn’t want to use glass. If I want to fight at all angles, I’d have to create a way to better utilize my byakugan.” She said, folding her arms, deep in thought. ”I have no fucking clue how I’d do that.”

While Aryll barely seeming fazed about the dangers of dropping gigantic hunks of metal onto the floor that would likely collapse under the weight, she had done another terrible act. Oh, sweet merciful lord, was it terrible. She had swore again, which caused Xyxer to turn around to face her in protest once he had put the machinery down. "Stop swearing for fuck sake, Aryll! You're setting a bad example!" He protested towards the deaf ears of the girl, throwing his hands up in an attempt to demonstrate frustration the best way he could without any violent actions.

Xyxer listened to the girl stating the obvious that she was not the one to be wielding the monolith of a blade. Well, no shit kid. It was practically twelve times her entire size. In fact, the thought of her wielding the weapon almost brought a smile to his face if it wasn't for the sheer absurdity of that image. His forever appraising eyes darted from the lithe girl towards the, for lack of a better term, hunk of scrap metal. Not much had been done to it as of yet, but the idea was already declared for what would become of the metal. She wanted to shape it into a weapon that could be held by her puppet, and by god the puppet would have to be incredibly strong and tall to wield such a blade with any modicum of decency. He barely even saw the use in having something that large as the reach advantage would be nullified as soon as someone got into the guard of the puppet, yet alas, they were going to talk about a circumstance such as that later on.

Around this point, he started to draw out from the room as the dim light allowed his thoughts to impact him more than they usually did. Lifting one hand from beside him, prying it from the tarnished wood that it had rest upon moments earlier. He turned his hand around so that his knuckles faced the ground beneath him, angled towards his feet with his fingers curled into a gesture that could be seen as a half clench. His eyes warily scanned his trimmed finger nails to search for any dirt that had collected under his nails. Of course, there was very little under the nails of the weaponry master. At most, small chips were on the tip of the nails due to his consistent scratching grip on the hilt of his weapons, or of course, on his palm. He lifted his fingers a little more to resemble more of a quarter grip. Now, Xyxer was inspecting the joints of his fingers for the callouses he indubitably had since he was consistently shifting heavy weaponry. Tidebreaker alone was enough evidence of his training regime, and he was training daily to ensure he never tired, he never broke when the situation called for it. That was how he could defeat the Hachibi, and it was his strength. "Those are weird thoughts to be having." A strange voice snorted form the back of his mind. He could swear that he could feel the heat of the Hachibi's breath against the back of his neck at this point. Had he just imagined the vapor it would breathe against him? He wasn't entirely sure, but he was starting to understand he was feeling different. Somewhat.. detached from the area he was in. It wasn't uncommon for Xyxer to not feel like he was truly there, to believe he was merely an observer in the world. A hand that moved where it pleased and changed what it liked.. yet this was.. different. He wasn't the hand in this situation. He wasn't sure what he was, but he knew it wasn't human. No change would be apparent yet, but he could feel a slight shift. The gentle wash of a tide against the naked skin of your shins. The gentle froth of water cleaning your feet. It was a welcoming feeling, yet it was delayed.

Rolling his shoulder bones back against his flesh, he stretched somewhat to ease up the tension he was feeling; his shoulders pressed against one another as if he was trying to hold a strand of hair between them. Aryll had started to talk once more, but Xyxer was having some mild difficulty making out what she was saying. From what he could decipher from her words, she was talking about her brother in a rather rude light. That was rather amusing. In fact, it was pretty damned funny given the situation they had been in when he had returned to the village. There was so much hostility in this house, and yet they still remained here together when she didn't visit his house. He could only imagine what happened when he was no longer in the household, but he imagined it wasn't anything too pleasant if this was how she talked about her brother around him. He started to speak slowly, his words more carefully placed than they were the earlier times as if he was actually deliberating on what to say, but it was simply Xyxer attempting to retain focus and concentration. He hadn't felt this calming wash before, yet he was enjoying it.. yet he did not feel like he should be. "Just because you have the money to counteract your foolish ways doesn't make it a viable excuse for continuing with those actions." He stated bluntly with his mellowed out words before following up on what he just said, "If that's how strongly you feel about the whole situation.. then why do you stay? It makes no sense to remain where you feel unappreciated." Xyxer had to admit, he was feeling great. There was a weird sense of freedom inside of him, rising, bubbling. Freedom.. that was something he had lacked for a long time. He'd been caged up inside of this village for so long that he had almost forgot what it was. The name itself left him hungering.. ravenous for another bite at that delicious word. Freedom. That was what he wanted. That was what he needed, and he was going to gain a modicum of it sooner than he expected.

Shifting his back off from the wooden table at this interval, he rolled his head around so that he could feel the light cracking of his neck under the varying positions of pressure. Rolling his neck had never felt so good before, it felt sensational to the point of comfort. It was as if he was sitting in a warm bubble bath, simply melting in with the water and floating around lazily like a true Hozuki. The steam allowing him to elevate even while inside the tub so that he could experience the floating feeling all at once.. the warmth, the absence of weight, the fluidity.. all of it was rushing towards him as he rolled his head around for what were only a few seconds in real time. He stopped not too long afterwards once the feelings started to die down and he listened to the girl speak once more about overdoing things.. potentially. It didn't have to look human.. that was right. Xyxer didn't have to look human either, he could be the beast he knew himself to be.. the slight cooing.. the feelings that were washing over him.. the work of the beast inside. Whether it was the effort of the true Xyxer, or the manifestation of a literal demon inside of him he was unsure.. all he knew was that they were winning, and they were going to be allowed to bless him with their power imminently.

A slight frothing occurred from his body, then a bubbling that started to ooze out from his skin and flesh, warming his muscles delightfully as it carried on out from his person through his clothes, albeit not harming them in any way. Samehada itself seemed to be experiencing the same feeling as it's tongue rolled about the inside of the bandaging that housed it currently, the warm feeling covering the two of them together as Aryll was deep in thought over her next contraption, or rather, how to properly put together her current one. The chakra started to bubble and coagulate against him, pushing and rising from him as if it was the beast itself vying to get away from the vessel it was inside. It tried, oh boy did it try to get out from the male, but the more it pushed away from him, the more defined of a shape the chakra formed around the body of Xyxer. It had started as merely a few glowing pustules on top of him, which then developed into a thin blanket that consistently elevated from him, and now.. it was turning into a more defined person. A person with the dimensions of an ox, as mild horns had started to form from the chakra at the top of his head as if they were acting like a mantle for him himself, a new call sign.. A tail started to lift up from the back of Xyxer, raising up above his form to stretch towards the roof as if he was stretching his own appendages out. It felt.. so relaxing, and so freeing. Yet, he was starting to feel some form of anger.. hatred bubbling within him as if he was the beast himself. Perhaps that was the trade off of the form.. sharing a degree of poignant rage alongside the creature that granted you such a vast power. However, he did not care for now, as his new form started to experience the world from inside the confines of the inky room. "How long do you plan on being caged inside of your little workshop, Aryll? Don't you.. want to go out and work on your puppets there? The weather is lovely." The changed male stated, feelign as if he was about to growl, yet he did not. There was some degree of decorum in him at least, yet this was only the beginning of the future, and what may be the start of his own end.