The Workshop [P, Yasumi]

Max had known that Yasu had reached genin rank since he was the one who had proctored her exam. She had planned on becoming a puppeteer, and so Max thought it would only make sense for him to share some of his equipment and tools to help her build her puppets. With that in mind, he had sent her an invitation to his workshop.
 
 
On the back of the letter was his address, in case it was needed to find his home.
 
The building sat behind his home in Kumogakure, looking very reminiscent of his first shack in the Kumo Cemetery. Knowing that not everyone was as fond of working with… well, the medium he typically uses for his puppets, Max would try and clean the place up a bit, using scrolls and Storage Displacement to clean up several of the more gruesome bits of his operation here. No matter how much he cleaned though, the blood stains on the wooden work tables just would not come out. Well, it was no matter and he wouldn’t waste any more time on it.
 
Max would around, making sure that everything was here. He had a tendency to let his tools and notes sprawl all over his workspace. To others it would look cluttered and messy, but to his mind it would put everything out and allow ideas to flow without hesitation. Many times now he has come up with interesting devices because he had seen something that he normally would not have and had the spark of creativity strike him.
 
Max would sit down near the door and read a medical text as he waited for his company to arrive. He wasn’t sure when she would get there (he didn’t know what all was on her schedule for the day) but he had no reason to waste any time that he could be using to study. Plus, it had been hours before the time he had suggested. He likely had some time to burn.
 
Assuming that Yasu did come he would welcome her, “Hi, Yasu! How are you today? Glad to see you got the invitation. Wasn’t sure that I had the address right.”
 
Max’s house was large, or at least it seemed that way to the small shinobi. In reality, it was a simple two person home with a nice amount of yard space in the back, but to little Max it was far too much space and the house always felt empty… He lived in a house all to himself it would seem, as nobody else could be heard making any sounds within its walls. There were books and papers all over the main living area. He hadn’t cleaned this mess up, as he still had much work to do with it and he didn’t expect company to be inside his home. A crack could be seen in the floorboards, though what caused it was not abundantly clear. The wood didn’t look aged, and there was nothing else in the area that could have fallen to cause such destruction.
 
The boy would walk Yasu to the backyard and out to his workshop. The grass didn’t look as though it had been taken care of in some time. It wasn’t completely overgrown, but it was higher than it would be if properly maintained. Max just didn’t seem to have the time to deal with it at the moment.
 
The wooden shack behind his house looked aged, but it still held well. Inside one would see various trinkets and such lying all over wooden tables and shelves. Most of it looked like it was probably just junk and items that were thrown away or considered broken by others. These were the best bits to work with, at least in Max’s mind. Max enjoyed finding the unused and unwanted and bringing them purpose, bringing them life and meaning once again. A life spent working within a puppet or being tinkered with in a workshop had to have been a better existence than being buried in a trash heap somewhere. At least, that is only what the boy could assume as they were just trinkets. It wasn’t as though the objects talked to him… that would be weird.
 
There were several stains on the tables and floor, and a very faint scent of decay would permeate the air, as Max hadn’t had the time to properly ventilate the workspace since cleaning it up.
 
“Well, here it is. This is where all the fun stuff happens. You are free to use anything in here that you would like to. Having access to all of these tools helped me greatly in building my most recent puppet. Hopefully it will help you just as much.” The boy would say this with a grin, happy to have some company.
 
“If you have any questions feel free to ask. I’ll be right here ready to help if you’d like.”

Yasumi was sitting at the breakfast table when her brother came up holding a letter n his hands directed at her. Surprised but happy she would take t and skim through it. After that read it again closely only to jump to her feet with a happy squirm jumping up and down a little like a little girl totally excited and it took her some time to deliver the message on it to her brother. Max had invited her over to his house so she could get a look at his workshop to built puppets. Neza would look at her with amusement striking his face as he saw her instantly grabbing things and throwing them together.

She was so in a hurry that he had to remind her to at least eat her breakfast. Like a hungry wolf she gulped it down, bracing her brother with a hasty kiss goodbye and a quickly muttered: "Bye, will be home later, don't skip dinner because I am not there!" He would roll his eyes and then go about his business. Yasu had slipped into her shoes and then taken all of the stuff she had collected on flea markets and other random occasions that she thought could deem useful for her thoughts and she had taken the plans she had scribbled together, although they looked semi catastrophic.

With a good mood that was kind of intoxicating or at least hopefully spreading like the flue she would jump down her street and looking at the address from time to time she would pause look around walk a bit again, ask someone get a pointer, walk on and this way reaching that home. It was still morning so she had not wasted too much of her time with him by searching and now she stood in front of a house kind of wondering how huge the family was that lived her.

Soon after she had made him aware of her presence Max would answer the door and be braced with a wide smile on her face: "Hi Max! I feel amazing and so excited about your invitation. Thanks for having me over!" She would bent towards him and gently squeeze him into a hug nuzzling her cheek into his hair in the process before letting go of him once more and smiling at him in an excusing fashion. She could not help it he was just so huggable to look at least this would be her defence for doing so.

Looking around the house Yasu could tell that this had been a house for two a long time and then she remembered him saying something about a brother at the New Year's celebration. Looking around now it would rather seem as if Max was the only one living here. Maybe that was why he had been feeling down when he talked about it. The young Sora herself could not really go on imagining herself without her brother there but she bit her lip not wanting to ask about it now and spoil the mood anyway, maybe someday he would just tell her anyways.

For now she was admiring and following. Curiously she would step out in the backyard and then follow up into the workshop. With big eyes she would look around at all the stuff and tools around. This was some kind of miraculous wonderland or something for sure. Slowly turning around in care of not hitting anything she would stare in amazement at everything in here. In between her wonder she would come across the bloodstains as well. First she deemed it to be paint but a closer look and a sniff at it spoke another truth. Well maybe he had hurt himself while working.

"This is amazing", she then said slowly putting down the backpack she had carried with her inside the things she had collected and smiled at Max nodding: "I am glad you let me use this wonderful place of imagination come to life. An as a matter of fact", she would pull the arm of a display dummy out of her bag and put it on one of the work benches and after that let follow the wooden finger of a presumably life sized marionette: "This marionette's hand has lost its palm do you think I could use the display puppets hand and maybe the arm as new addition to those fingers? I have a bunch of different ball joints brought with me to maybe aid in connecting both but I kind of never worked with those before", she looked at Max with a grin and a rub over the back of her head, but well this was, what she was here fore wasn't it?

WC: 787

Max would simply accept the hug, not bothering to try and avoid the interaction. Max would lead her to his workshop as planned, noting her enthusiasm. She seemed to be extraordinarily careful not to bump anything or touch his stuff. “You need not be so careful. This is a work space, and these things are meant to be handled. If you are concerned with breaking things, know that anything that breaks under the strain of a slight bump from you isn’t likely to be the best material to work with in crafting a puppet.” Max would try to reassure her that she is welcome to relax a bit. This was a place where the concerns of the outside world could be lost on you, allowing one to focus purely on the task at hand. Of course, Max hadn’t been so lucky as of late to allow his concerns to be lost in his work.
 
“Thanks! I’ve built up quite the collection of things over the years. You would be amazed at the stuff people leave behind and discarded.” The boy would say this as he fiddled with some metal wiring that he had scavenged from an old fence that he found. He would set it back down and watch as Yasu immediately started working. No time wasted it would seem. He was pleased to see someone so interested in his favorite pastime. Puppetry was a wonderful thing, allowing both problem solving and artistic talents to flow freely.
 
So, she had found some scrap parts herself and decided to use them instead of building from scratch? Max could already tell that he liked her line of thinking. “Yes, that could easily work as a base to attach the fingers. How much of a range of motion do you want to get out of this limb? Do you seek a full range of motion, a more human range of motion, or do you want to limit the motion to only certain areas like the fingers.” Max would ask this as he gathers up some tools he thinks that they might need. He also heads over to a pile of scrap metal and grabs a few choice pieces to help craft any joints Yasu might want in the puppet.
 

“A full range of motion would allow the most flexibility, but it comes at a small cost. Not only will it require a bit more work, but because it has more moving parts there are more places that can fail under stress and wear.” Max would say, trying his best to try and explain what he had learned through trial and error. 

She would nod at his remark about her not to worry about bumping into stuff because it should be able to take a small hit or else they would not use anything. Well it was more the worry of making a big mess that nobody needed. Still glad to hear that her would not mind at all. Her eyes rested again on the small Chuunin and once again she was wondering how such a small person would have so much lived through yet. He was strong like a pillar but still he looked so fragile to her that she was almost scared for him to be a Shinobi.

Back to her Idea he seemed almost instantly behind it and already pointing out things she had to look after when thinking of her puppet. She would nod at him while she was thinking of what she wanted her puppet to do. "Well you see, I don't really want it to do much. Motions reaching to about human extent", she would put her own hand on the table so she could demonstrate its movement. "I want it to be able to crawl on its fingers and I want it to be able to carry something about the size of a kunai inside the hollow underarm", she would gently knock on it.

"The most important thing with this is that I want it for training purposes. It does not need to be very difficult to handle or very flexible out of the ordinary. Because it is harmless well almost harmless, since it can always be prepped with an explosive tag to be set to explode", she would smile at Max, "I suppose when used that way it will be torn many times but I will get practice by fixing it until I can almost do it by heart and blindfolded", she would laugh a little at the thought of herself blindly assembling the puppet.

WC: 321
WC: 1108

Max would listen to her thoughts, attempting to piece it together in his mind how he would make it. Then it donned on him. He was thinking about how HE would craft it, but a puppeteer is a person who should be comfortable with making their own tools. Despite his desire to map it all out, he would have to allow her to bloom into her own craftsman… or craftswoman, whichever is the proper term here.
 
“Alright, so if you wanted to give it the ability to move much like a human arm, how would you design it? Where would you place hinges and joints to get the desired effect?” Max knew that she had brought some supplies, but since he was a puppeteer he had more than enough to share with her anything that she needed to make her idea come alive. “Also, make sure that you measure everything very carefully. It is best to measure twice, but only cut once. You waste much less that way, both in time and material.”
 
“I suggest you take a look at your own hand, and attempt to replicate each point of motion in the design on your head. I also have some hu-.” The boy would cut off, trying to avoid bringing up where he had gotten most of his puppets base form from. “I have a skeleton that you can use to help look at the structure of the hand as well. If you need it for reference or feel like it would help you only have to ask."
 
He would also bring out a medical few medical texts, though one looked to be on basic anatomy and physiology. “I also have these if you would prefer just a picture. Since this is your puppet, and I don’t want to steal any of your success away by doing too much, I will let you take the lead here and I will continue some of my studies. If you need help finding anything, or if you have any questions at all feel free to ask. I am here to help.” The boy would finish this with a smile and crack open his books.
 

He would be reading “Advanced Medical Techniques: A Guide to Mastering the Body” while waiting to assist her in any way he was able to. 

She would listen to him talking to her. He seemed even more into building the puppet than she was and she felt rather excited about it already. So she would carefully pay mind to what he said and as the suggestion was to look at her own hand she would do so clenching her fingers a little while looking at it and then smile a little knowing what he wanted her to think of. After a moment she would look up at him and then shake her head. "I don't think I will need a skeleton for this, what I have is quite clearly mapped out I suppose", once again she would watch her hand close and open again.
[color=#0b6121]"All fingers but the thumbs have three joints. The first joints are the tips that get attached to the midsection so that they can move up and down like a handle, so would the mid section to the base section. The Base section gets attached to a place on the Hand with a ball joint so the fingers are able to spread a little apart. The thumb should be almost the same just skipping the middle joint only with a tip and base, but with its placement on the side have a little more freedom of movement", she would rotate her own thumb a little.

Then she looked at the display dolls hand again she had brought with her. [b]"I will have to saw of the fingers and carve out the space for the ball joints to fit in. And then make a cut to the arm so it can also be adjusted to stand up straight or lay low to get below things maybe, also a simple up and down handle for this nothing too freaky, the hardest part should be the sawing for now", she would look at her hand in a worried matter. She was still not confident in writing and now she would want to take a saw into it?

"I might need your help with that though because well I am still not doing that well with my left, although I do have improved since we last met", she would chuckle a bit and then hold pausing for a moment looking at him, "I was very surprised to have you exam me, first I was so nervous because I did not want to fail your expectations. Oh this would have gotten so embarrassing." She would laugh a little happy that she indeed had made it without worries.

WC: 421
TWC: 1529

Max would read over his book, allowing her to sort out how she wanted to attack the task at hand. She seemed to be focused, keeping attention to the details and making mental notes while speaking aloud.
 
She seemed to have a firm plan of action in mind, and with that she would ask for help with the sawing. Max looked over, puzzled. Why would she need help sawing? If she was here building a puppet, she had to have learned how to use her chakra to form control threads. At least, Max had assumed that she knew this whether or not she actually had. He was going to have to break this habit if he planned on teaching and leading a team. There would be no room to assume when lives are at risk.
 
“Yasu, are you capable of forming Chakra Threads?” Max would ask, trying not to sound mean or disheartening. If she was going to be a puppeteer, this was a skill she would need to have.
 
Max hadn’t made his chakra threads visible in what had felt like ages, but sure enough he would focus the chakra to the points in his fingers, only making a few to demonstrate. “These threads are rather useful, beyond what you may think initially. Yes, they can be used to control puppets as that is their primary function, but they can also be used to manipulate other non-puppet objects too. Here, let me show you.” With this done, Max would attach his strings to one of the books sitting next to him. With minimal effort on his part (a few quick finger movements) the book would rise up, moving around in the air like some sort of magic trick. It would be even more interesting if he hadn’t been revealing his threads, which would have made the book look like it had been floating of its own free will.
 
“Your chakra is a powerful tool, and these threads pin it to objects so that we can manipulate them in the world around us. While a puppet is typically crafted for such a task and therefore more efficient, any object can be used as a makeshift puppet.” Max would then set the book down and shift his threads over to the saw, moving it around. He would demonstrate this for a few moments before setting the saw down and focusing on Yasu, “How did you think I managed to craft all the time and keep this delicate physique?” The boy would chuckle, laughing at his own joke. It was the truth though. He had not developed a strong body because he had used his chakra to do most of the manual labor.
 

“If you don’t feel comfortable using the saw with your threads I can help you like you have requested. I would suggest you improve your control over the threads though, as any puppeteer worth his salt should be able to achieve such a task. If you get skilled enough, you may even be able to use several tools at once to rapidly produce a puppet.” With this last statement he would send aother smile Yasu’s way. He had no intent to discourage her, though this was a valuable skill and any shinobi of Kumo would find themselves needing all the skill they can get. 

She would look at Max and smile fondly: "Oh yes I can, I usually teas my brother with it by levitating my stuffed bear into his face and things like that. This had gotten one or two funny reactions out of him." She would say while trying to do some cut markings on that dolls hand so that she knew where to cut it while he was talking further. At the cue of him that he was demonstrating something she would look at him closely. It was interesting to see how he could manage and manoeuvre a book without even touching it only strings attached. Tilting her head she would look at it with a soft smile she had not thought of t.

She would chuckle a little: "Well I thought you were a child I mean children even rather active ones do normally not really look too buff", she would look at him closely but then nod. "I seem rather uncreative not to have thought about that I am sorry", she would bow her head to him. "I will try it", she said now attaching her own chakra threads to the pen she had been using to mark the puppet. Indeed this was exceedingly easier than doing it manually. "I am so stupid to not have thought of this sooner. Since I trained my chakra like a maniac it is the most prominent force I have", she would shake her head again at her own thoughtlessness.

Now this would become rather relaxed. She would let her strings do the magic of working although it felt a little like cheating but well this was something she trained for and therefore it was not really playing foul because she worked hard for it and it was part of her. So now she was operating her Chakra threads to move the saw to separate palm from arm and then fingers from palm so that she had everything organized.

WC: 326
TWC: 1855

Max would wait, allowing her to decide how she wanted to proceed. When she decided to use her strings to manipulate the objects around her, Max would smile. She was coming along well so far, and he was grateful to have a student so quick to pick things up. But then he heard something upsetting. His smile shifted to a much more stern expression.
 
“Yasu, I don’t ever want to hear those words from your mouth again! You are not stupid. Never confuse lack of training or experience for stupidity. The inability to learn, THAT is stupidity. You can call it many things like “being green”, or inexperienced, or a rookie mistake. But never, and I mean never call yourself stupid in front of me again. Am I clear on that? I have yet to meet a Kumo shinobi that I have considered stupid. Have I met people that were reckless? Yes. Have I met people that were a bit slower to learn than others? Yes. Would you like to know why I’ve never met a stupid kumo shinobi? Because a stupid Kumo shinobi won’t last very long in this world.”
 
Max would realize that his tone and demeanor had shifted after this speech, and after relaxing a bit he would continue.
 
“Judging by how quickly you mastered the ability to make seals with one hand, you don’t seem like one who is incapable of learning. Do you honestly think that you are stupid? I don’t, but if you truly feel that way than I wouldn’t be able to teach you much. A stupid student is a poor student, one that likely wouldn’t have made it to the rank of Genin. I do not intend to come across as being rude or mean, so if I have done so I apologize.”
 
Max wasn't entirely sure what had come over him, this feeling clawing up from some recess deep within his mind. Was this how friends treated one another? Did they yell at them and scold them over such minor things? No, Max might have stepped out of line there... but something about it just drew forth such serious feelings of emotion. He wasn't entirely sure what was happening. These outbursts of his were clearly getting much worse....


Max would look Yasu right in the eyes, whether or not she met his gaze. “I aspire to greatness. My friends, they all aspire to greatness. The shinobi of Kumo and the land itself aspires to greatness. Do you aspire to greatness? If so, know that there is no room for stupidity in such a land, nor is there room for self-doubt.”
 

Max would be speaking to Yasu, but his words would ring clearly in his own ears almost as if this was not simply directed at her, but also at himself. He had been riddled with doubt these past few weeks… but no more. He was a shinobi of Kumogakure and he would have to shed those feelings on his path forward.

While she was working on her puppet Max suddenly started talking again. Quite quickly this would turn almost into preaching. Not really knowing how to deal with it she would let him talk and talk while she would gently scrape out the hands attachment places fitting them to the ball joints for optimal use so that this would fit quite nicely together while contently listening to what he said and how he got into what he said. It was almost fanatical but still she endured it until the end when she would look him into the eyes slowly putting the tools at rest walking towards him until she was close enough to reach him.

Slowly she would manage to show him a confident smile again: "Do not worry Max, me calling myself stupid is not really me calling myself of low worth or me having low self-esteem. It is only that, the short coming to light, that what I did was not the brightest idea or that there could have been a more clever way to do it. I like myself and I don't really think much of it and I would not have if you would not have made such a fuss about it", slowly she would bow down and gently put her forehead against his and nudge her nose against his.

Her blue eyes were gazing at his grey ones looking deep into his eyes while they were so close: "But don't worry I don't aspire to be any less than great because I want to become a good Shinobi just like you are. So neither you nor I have to have regrets about any of this", she would take a deep breath and back away from him once more, "But I will try to not used this word again if it causes such great dissonance with you. You seem even more pained about it than I could ever be." She would look over her shoulder again to smile at him.

WC: 333
TWC: 2188