More Reflections (P)

In a home that had recently been taken, in a bed that was not her own, a silver haired girl slept, silently breathing as her chest rose and fell. It was amusing, the dread that she felt from those around her, those that she called her family, as they showed her to her quarters. It was amusing, the prospect that she was here, helpless and vulnerable, asleep, with Thane down below them, in view of the window, resting silently, just as did her master, but ultimately out of her immediate reach. Her puppet could not save her in her vulnerable state, but it did not matter. It would be suicide to touch a hair on the girl’s body. For one thing, she was the clan head of the Hyuuga. For another, she was a part of an occupying force, and attempting to hurt her would be, well… Counterintuitive.

This was the most confident and comfortable the girl had ever been while asleep, a stark contrast to her days of She could never escape the dread she felt of coming home to this place each day, but she had very little choice in the matter. Living here alone was all she could hope for, and the wealth that she and her clan possessed was enough to tide her over until she got her bearings. That said, she’d finally put herself up to start doing missions again, something she hadn’t done since living in Tengakure. She knew she needed to start bringing money into the house again, if only to feed herself, but also because she had to show the clan that she was still strong. She hadn’t asked for her brother’s position, but it had been thrust upon her. Like it or not, she had to keep working. To that end, she had spent the majority of the night studying something called a mark seal, as well as the summoning technique, in hopes of finding a way to transport Thane effectively without having to lug him around everywhere. After all, as much as she loved him, Thane was a giant pain in the ass to move, and he wasn’t always needed for combat.

As the sun shone its first slivers of light through the glass panes near her bed, The Hyuuga Heiress rose from her bed, her silver hair a mess, as she began to go through her daily routine, one that had only recently become “Normal” for her. It was much more difficult now than it had been for her at any point in her previous life, but her arms were quickly becoming strong enough to deal with her disability. She lifted herself out of bed and down into her chair, her upper body -strengthened significantly due to her recent loss- doing all of the work as she slumped down into the chair. She pushed her chair towards the bathroom, where she deposited herself into the shower, cursing the damned thing’s lack of support for her to grasp onto, instead opting to retrieve a small chair that she’d found in the store room, leaving her clothes neatly folded at the door. She sat there, sighing as the warm water ran against her face,

She couldn’t help but marvel at the relative ease she experienced in this process now, as opposed to how difficult things had been for her in the past. Even without bars to support her, she’d managed to do this quite easily, and frankly, it was not the most remarkable feat she had accomplished, but this fact would be lost on Aryll for the moment. This train of thought was leading her to a memory of the past, and how difficult this sort of thing had once been for the Hyuuga heiress...

The click of the rotating wheels and the sound of rubber meeting pavement were really starting to get old. Worse still, Aryll’s arms ached from the days of overuse. The sudden need for upper body strength was taking its toll on her lithe, slender build, but already her arms were beginning to grow in muscle mass. She was sure she’d get used to it eventually, but for now, the searing, burning sensation that she felt as her arms screamed for rest was one she had to deal with. Rolling this damned thing up a hill was absolute agony, and unfortunately she didn’t have much choice. It was the only way for her to get to the market, after all. She’d run out of food. Aryll was at a total loss for what to do, so she decided to just go buy herself lunch. She’d never gone grocery shopping, so maybe she would just buy a fuckton of take out and do that. After all, she didn’t know how to cook anyways. She was too much of a gearhead for it.

Whenever she cooked, it always seemed to taste of oil, and really, that alone was enough reason for Aryll to avoid having to cook for herself. Now that she was living alone, Aryll realized, piece by piece, that there were a lot of things she’d never known how to do. She couldn’t cook, she hated cleaning, and she didn’t even know how to shop for groceries. Add that to her extremely limited mobility, and it was a wonder she could survive at all. Thankfully the heiress had plenty of money to spare. Her silver hair was tied up in a bun, hidden by a grey hoodie sweatshirt that she had stolen from her brother’s closet. He hadn’t worn the thing in years. It did a good job of hiding her face, however, which was a godsend, given all the hearsay about the Hyuuga family in Kirigakure as of late. Aryll’s teeth gritted with effort as she pushed her wobbly chair up the hill, one arm lurching forwards after the other. It was absolute agony, and she knew she’d faceplant if she tried to take the hill back down. She was at an impasse, and the only direction she could go was up. It was a massive pain in the ass. Aryll grunted, her effort audible as she tried to force herself up that wretched slope, each arm pulling her an inch or so further.

When she finally reached the summit, something that would never be this difficult an obstacle had she been able to walk. Aryll sighed in relief, looking around at the market she had arrived at. She’d been here many times with Haru, though she’d ever only paid attention to things that interested her. She’d never needed to get food or anything of the sort, and so was clueless. As she scanned the streets, she tried to sneak herself through the crowd without trespassing upon someone, however, her efforts were largely fruitless. It was an absolute nightmare to navigate for Aryll, even with her byakugan, not in the least because she couldn’t steer herself effectively enough to weave around the pedestrians. Among the many market stalls, Aryll saw many, many things, and was clueless as to where to go and what to do. In truth, she’d been rather spoiled all her life. Her only calling was to fight, and until recently, it had been her only concern. Fight, and we will feed you. Fight, and you need not think of anything else. Fight, and you can live with your head in the clouds. It had been her way for a very long time.

She remembered all the difficulty that she’d encountered during things that would be regularly quite routine, in part because she had just lost her last family member, and was quite used to being cared for and to having her every whim catered to, and in part because this new challenge of mobility that she was facing was quite intensely difficult for the proud Hyuuga. She remembered the time when Altar had visited her, the first ride she had successfully bummed, and the first time she had let her grief slip, as well as her facade of Hyuuga decorum. She remembered it quite fondly, to be honest. She was in her element, ordering Altar around to each stand and retrieving food, neatly doling out payments with generous tips to each vendor. While Altar ravenously devoured handfuls of food from each place they came across like some sort of anime protagonist, Aryll seemed to be pacing herself. She purchased one thing at a time and chewed her food thoughtfully, savoring each bite. She was in no rush to eat her fill, and instead chose to enjoy the experience. She smiled at the memory of making sure to run Altar in circles a few times to make sure she had time to finish her food before they arrived, since Altar was eating far faster than her even in spite of pushing her in the chair. She remembered Altar being completely confused by her change in demeanor, as well as her love of “Garbage food.” That particular instance stuck strongly in her mind, for she said something there that she would not soon forget.

”Everyone has two faces. Am I the prim and proper Hyuuga heiress who attends formal dinners and only speaks when spoken to? Or am I the crippled gearhead who eats garbage and bums free rides out of family friends?” She had questioned him. It was strange for Aryll, who wore many faces, to become so introspective like this.

Her mind wandered back to the present, where she still sat, alone in the shower, thoroughly soaked. She supposed she was thankful for small miracles like that. She had asked an aide to watch over the girl that Aryll was caring for while she was away, and call for her if there was any need for Aryll. She trusted that the girl would be fine in her absence, after all, what could possibly go wrong?

As she finished washing her hair, the Hyuuga girl turned off the water and retrieved a towel, drying herself and dressing again. She put her clothes back on and deposited herself into her chair once more. Pulling herself back onto her chair as she cast aside her traditional Hyuuga robes for a pair of oily, stained NINJA pants that were often the subject of much of Aryll’s work on her puppets, paired with a blue tank top and a grey sweatshirt pulled over it all, her hair up in a bun, her headband framed over her forehead, displaying for all of Konoha to see that she was a member of the occupying force. She looked like a gearhead, which was what she was going for. She had some big plans for today, especially with that tournament coming up soon. As she dried her hair, she caught sight of her reflection in the mirror.

The green cross above her forehead was there, as always, unobscured by her bangs. Aryll always tried to keep her hair or her headband over it, but in her private moments, she sometimes caught sight of it and just stared. It reminded her of a different time, and a different life. While the Hyuuga clan had recently become much more liberal and accepting, no longer enforcing the branch code, Aryll had been born before this change had gone underway, back when the Hyuuga were old school. Although Haru had always treated her well when they were kids, she was indeed his younger sister, and as such, was a part of the branch house, whilst that still existed, at least. The seal remained, the method of controlling her with it lost to time, but its meaning, its power, still present. Aryll sighed. The green cross was redundant now, both because she would now be considered a part of the main branch, had it still existed, and because the branches no longer existed, regardless. It was nothing but a reminder of days come and gone, yet Aryll had never saw a need to have the seal removed. It reminded her of who she was, even (Nay, especially) now. If she died, it’d save her clan’s precious dojutsu, but that was really all there was as far as the seal’s usefulness went. It was practically ornamental. Still, keeping it sure seemed to piss off some of the Hyuuga diplomats, who wanted those dark days of the clan to be placed firmly into the past. Aryll keeping the seal was partially her way of humbling them, and reminding them of where they came from and what they once were. When they tried to get high and mighty, she would remind them that when she was but a child, she was ripped from her father’s arms, and this seal was inscribed upon her forehead, a permanent brand to remind her of what she was, and what she could never overcome. It was poetic, it was tragic, and it was everything Aryll needed to justify herself to the stuffy clan elders who seemed to scoff at her and her home. She remembered the day when Haru inscribed a seal of his own upon his visage, that odd diamond that she could see an excess of chakra being stored within. It had been amusing to Aryll, whom had been forced to endure the branding process, that Haru had chosen to subject himself to a brand of his own, of his own accord. Why one would want a seal inscribed upon their forehead for all the world to see, she would never know. Aryll’s had been nothing but a mark of shame for a very long time, and now that she was finally able to remove it, she found that she had grown rather attached to it. It was something that reminded her of herself and her place, her purpose. She was an heiress of the Hyuuga clan, born in the branch house, forced to endure humiliation or exile, loved by her family just the same, and ascended to a leader of the Hyuuga. It all made for a wonderful sob story, but really, it was the least of Aryll’s worries. For the head of the Hyuuga clan, alone in a village without any other members of her family around to support her, the mark reminded Aryll of who she was and what she was here for. The book about the Hyuuga, amusingly, left out a lot of information about the mark upon her forehead. It seemed they wanted to erase it and what it stood for, and honestly, she understood why.

She wheeled herself out of the bathroom, dismissing the aide as she collected her things. As she did this, she reflected on the strangeness of the place she was staying. Living in her brother’s old quarters was surreal, to say the least. Sharing the room with a comatose stranger was likewise just as strange. She wondered if perhaps she should drop the girl off somewhere, but somehow that seemed wrong. It was likewise strange that she had the thought of simply slitting her throat and attempting to make her into a puppet crossed her mind about as often as did her need for caring for the poor thing. It was interesting, how badly wounded she appeared to be, despite having only sustained minor wounds at most. Sure, walking would be painful, but it should not have rendered her comatose for so long. She would have to ask Koz if he had poisoned his weapon, or if he had neglected to properly clean them to ensure they didn’t rust.

Whatever he had done to his weapons, it was not boding well for this girl that she had cared for since the day Kirigakure took to the waters and took this place over. Sure, it would be difficult for her to stand when she awoke, if she awoke, but it should have been relatively easy to recover from such a superficial injury. She supposed she’d have to have words with Xyxer about this especially, in light of his poor behavior during the battle. For now, though, she’d have to be content to stay in this place and care for her, as much as sitting by an unconscious person and waiting for them to wake up could be considered “Caring.”

Back at her desk, she pulled open the blueprints that she had recovered from Haru’s stash. He’d left some of his key designs within this room during his chunin exams, and later, she assumed, during his occasional visits to his dear beloved. Aryll actually giggled once more at the notion. It was quite amusing for her to be in this place, where that girl had no doubt lived, and here specifically, where Haru had stayed, and, she suspected, planned his life after escaping Xyxer’s hold over Kirigakure, if he had it his way. Of course, there was no way to know for sure now, as she was quite sure he would not just tell her, especially on the terms they were on now.

Still, the blueprints were very useful to her, even if her brother’s designs were never intended for weapons like those that Aryll carried. The design he used for some of his earlier weapons, the way he made the steel compact yet retaining its strength, as something that interested Aryll, for use in a project of her own. Aryll’s masterpiece, a beautiful piece of machinery known as Ludwig. Ludwig was the realization of Aryll’s very first design for a puppet. She’d wanted to create this particular puppet from the very start, but lacked the raw materials and technical know how to do so. While Thane was a mess of moving parts, with massive limbs and tails and all manner of limbs, Ludwig is simplicity at its finest. A massive, bipedal humanoid puppet that allows Aryll to fight as if she herself could walk. The massive height advantage of Ludwig gives Aryll an extreme intimidation factor over inexperienced opponents, and the reach granted by his massive height gives her an edge in close combat. She really was starting to enjoy the massive puppets that she wielded in combat. His basic design was simple, yet elegant. Ludwig was a large, bipedal puppet, towering at 10 meters tall, dwarfing Thane in comparison, who stood only at a meager fifteen feet. While Thane was twice the size of the average person, Ludwig towered over them all, twice the size of Thane easily. His design took a notable amount of ques from Aryll’s original, however. While appearing to have only two arms, they are capable of splitting into four separate arms that can operate independently of each other, and have full (Double-jointed) range of motion, even capable of closing their hands into fists both ways. Specialized chakra-infused armor plates cover Ludwig's form, most notably on his arms, which are then most heavily armored.

She made sure to include plenty of pouches for storage of weapons, learning from her mistakes with Thane, who could not use most conventional weaponry. While it was true that Ludwig was bigger, and therefore far more likely to be unable to wield a typical ninja tool, Aryll knew for a fact that he could carry and throw Fuma shuriken as if they were regular shuriken, a fact that would likely come in handily in the future. The cockpit, where the armor is designed to be controlled from (Ideally, at least), is able to open from the front, back, and top, granting enough space for Aryll to easily slip inside even with her wheelchair. While the opening mechanism is easy to operate, it is atypical, and almost like a puzzle lock, making it difficult for an opponent to open the cockpit in combat. If entering from the front, the puppet also has a sick wheelchair ramp that can extend out to the ground, because in Kirigakure we like our puppets handicap accessible. There are "Slits" that chakra threads may be sent through in order to control other puppets all across Ludwig's chassis, so that virtually every angle is accessible to Aryll. The inside of the cockpit is ventilated so that the controller can breathe and doesn’t overheat or anything. Indeed, it’s quite comfortable inside the puppet, although there is no chair to pilot from, since Aryll tends to bring her own. The interior is, all in all, quite similar to that of Thane, albeit far more roomy, it was, all in all, far superior to her original puppet. This design would come in very handily, and using her own resources and a surplus of steel, she could likely have him constructed by the time the Grand Tournament of Water and Fire.

To that end, Aryll sat at the desk that she had borrowed, tinkering with several large slabs of metal, the room surprisingly neat and orderly, compared to where she normally came from. Aryll was typically quite the slob in the privacy of her own quarters, leaving everything, gears, cogs, wheels and sheets of metal and boxes of entangled wires all over the desk, the floor around it, and most of the room. Here, however, it was remarkably clean, because she was doing most of the work outside. Here, she just needed to work on the explosive plating, and she would prefer to have a comfortable seat while doing so to aid in her concentration. The distinct scent of oil that normally marked her room as a workshop was not present here. She was working very hard to finish this puppet, and as she worked on the plates, she glanced behind her at the piece of metal leaned up against the wall, and for a moment, her mind pulled her away from here, to a sheet of metal covering the floor of her old home, 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. She remembered thinking that even if one stepped right onto the blade, it would probably do no damage. How wrong she had been. She remembered how Xyxer had used that very blade to rip her brother’s head off, to break his neck. She remembered begging for him to stop.

She shuddered at the thought.

Maybe she needed some fresh air. That would probably help her. The puppet was almost done, anyways. Aryll wheeled herself to the window, pulling it open as she sent her chakra threads down to Thane, who lifted her, chair and all, and set her onto the ground, the newly forged explosive armor plates for her new puppet stacked neatly in her lap. They wouldn’t go off without chakra powering them, but all the same, she preferred to take things on the safe side. It was funny, to think that not so long ago, the Hyuuga girl had been welding without protective equipment, with no regard for her precious dojutsu, and now she was fearful of a couple chakra powered plates and a flight of stairs. Really, it was amusing. It was more amusing that they’d given Aryll the room that wasn’t on the first floor, but that might have just been coincidental. Most Hyuuga turned up their noses at one who was lame as she, but with Aryll as the acting head, they could say or do very little, lest they risk displeasing her.

She set the plates upon the hollow vessel that would soon be known as Ludwig, completing his shoulder armor. Presently, there was a right arm, a torso, and most of the cockpit, which, admittedly, was sorta the majority of the torso, save the frame. Aryll was working carefully on the cockpit, because her escape mechanism, which was based heavily on the Body Flicker Technique, was highly experimental, and she feared that if she actually tried to use it as is, she’d probably die. Really, she’d only use it if she ever finished that flying puppet design that she had planned so long ago. The hard part was finding a way to integrate it into the chair, because in order for it to work, she had to actually be able to control herself in the air, or at least, you know, bring a parachute, which would inevitably get her killed if her opponent was worth literally anything.

So, for now, it was basically a useless feature. In the future, it might save her life, give her a second chance in combat to not die, but for now, it was nothing but a party trick. Oh, what else did she have in store? On the right arm that she had constructed, the one that had just created the plating for, she had something she had taken to calling a “Vortex shield,” before realizing the copyright infringement potential. “Return to Sender” was a name that she’d been playing around with, after all, there was no longer any copyright risks on that one, right? Anyways, it was a chakra barrier that could catch and redirect anything from jutsu to kunai knives. It was a very useful defense because it also presented her with an opportunity for offense. All in all, a very useful tool to have around.

Speaking of defense, she was currently working on the kinetic dampeners in the cockpit, which would allow the puppet to spread out the toll that attacks from outside forces took on Ludwig by dividing the damage equally throughout Ludwig’s body, letting him tank just about anything that came his way. Ludwig had all manner of defensive protocols in store, because the sheer offensive power of a giant metal man with four arms and a giant hunk of steel ten meters long seemed to be pretty adequate for Aryll’s offensive needs.

Just in case she needed to make a quick getaway, Ludwig was also equipped with some low impact, high power chakra cannons that would make navigation and avoiding enemy attacks easy as pie, or give Thane, er… Ludwig, all of the speed he would need to close the distance between them and whoever they needed to cleave with their massive blade.

The lack of offensive capabilities in her planning was not lost on Aryll, however. She considered creating new weapons for him, but doubted that she had the time. Instead, she merely considered the possibility of using fuma shuriken, or that weird duplication technique that Angel always used. Or just opening the hatch and throwing shit herself. Now THAT would be a cocky move. It’d be incredibly embarrassing if one fell to a vulnerable cripple like Aryll who wasn’t even using her full capabilities. Still, as amusing as the concept was, she couldn’t afford to be cocky. That was no small source of her life’s greatest problems, and it was a mistake she couldn’t keep making. Arrogance and hubris were among the Hyuuga’s greatest weaknesses, and though she wasn’t completely aware of their magnitude, she still knew that it was a point that needed correction for her.

Oh, right, the puppet.

She’d included two more major upgrades on Ludwig’s chassis, one that she had incorporated within Thane, that being her knock off of the Hyuuga revolving heavens technique, and a newer, more complex variant, which slowed down everything within the sphere. It was the two offensive options that Ludwig had available, though one could argue that their purposes were largely defensive in nature.

All in all, Ludwig was a massive monstrosity, and was not to be trifled with, at least, once she was finished with him. He still had a bit more work, but with all the steel she bought and reforged to the standards of Kirigakure, using Tengakure methods, Aryll didn’t have much longer to go before her puppet masterpiece was finished.

For now, however, Aryll needed to rest. She’d been working on it late into the night, and these explosive plates were exhausting to work on. Still, the smug sense of satisfaction she’d feel when her opponents realized that she’d already upgraded in such a small window of time was one that Aryll couldn’t help but look forward to. Until that moment came, however, she’d have to keep working.

A break was, however, well in order.

She allowed Thane to lift her once again, back through the window and into her room, where the Uchiha girl still slept. She wondered if this poor child was ever going to actually awaken. Aryll didn’t even know her name. Had Kozouru killed her, and was she merely suffering a slow, agonizing death in a comatose state? Was it more humane to pull the plug? Aryll did not know the answer to these questions. Still, the idea of making a new puppet did cross her mind. She had all of the tools here, available to her, after all. It would only take a very small amount of modification, and, of course, the poor girl wouldn’t feel a thing.

Maybe it was the humane thing to do, to end her misery, to stop her suffering?

She’d wait to decide after the tournament, she supposed.


(Exit with Celeste again, same deal as before, she can feel free to interrupt and hang with Aryll)
(TWC: 4837)


+4833 words to Ludwig
+4 words to charity
+48 AP

Approved