The Workshop [P, Yasumi]

She seemed to have spoken purely as a expression and had not actually meant what she had said. Good, that was a much needed relief. Max only wanted her to be filled with positive thoughts and feelings. There was enough negativity in the world around her and the career she had chosen, she didn't need to get any more from her free time or inner thoughts. 

Max would again simply embrace Yasu's desire for a tactile expression of affection. Her face pressed against his, her eyes would nearly meld into one, the effectiveness of ones perception coming into question at such close distance. As she spoke about aspiring to greatness, she mentioned Max as being a good shinobi. Max would smile, and right as she began to pull away he would wrap his little arms around her and give her a hug. "Thank you for your kind words. I want nothing but the best for you, Yasu. I didn't mean to be mean. I.. I have a lot of stuff going on in my head right now. But you are right, no regrets." There was a gleam of happiness in the boys eyes, albeit momentary and fleeting. 

Once she was away and back to working on her puppet Max would simply continue reading, gazing over on occasion and any time he heard her huff, sigh, or otherwise seem frustrated or in need of assistance.

Surprised as he hugged her out of his own and then she chuckled and cuddle him for a while longer and she enjoyed him taking in the closeness as good as he did. She would smile at him once more and answer: "It is totally alright Max thank you for caring so much about me, you are the brightest light for me here so far so if something is bothering you, don't worry you can talk to me about it. Or I will bring your mind away from it, whatever you may prefer." She would gladly see the happiness in his eyes glowing like a new born sun in the morning hours of each day.

She would return to her puppet once more now slowly working on adjusting the finger joints to another and he fitting joints she had mapped out. It was so much easier to put the glue to it when you could especially pin point it via chakra. She was almost amazed at its workings. Now if she attached her strings to it she could already make the fingers bent back and forth a little. Slowly she would levitate one over to Max slowly poking the tip of his nose with a playful: "Meep", added to it. "It takes shape."
She would then go to attach the fingers to the hand palm she had made and then took a closer look at it. Moving fingers, clenching them, slowly spreading apart it all worked just fine. Slowly she would put it on the working bench where it would slowly crawl back and forth at last attaching the hollow arm and letting it pull up and putting a screwdriver into the hollow arm so the hand would walk it over to Max: "Look it works, my lefty walks as he is supposed to." She would almost cheer while the hand jumped a little making the tool ramble inside the arm.

WC: 321
TWC: 2509

Yasu was a wonderful person and a friend to Max, but he simply couldn’t tell her what was going on in his head right now. Some of it had words to describe it, others did not. Ultimately though, it all lead back to the same event. He couldn’t tell her yet, as this was too close to the chest for him to let her in yet. Perhaps in time, but not yet. He had barely felt able to tell those closest to him…
 
Upon seeing her work through the process of puppet crafting, he would note that she was doing a fairly good job. All of the needed parts to move were being worked on and it seemed like she was picking it up fairly quickly. A natural it would seem.
 
Max would continue his reading, but just as he looked up to check Yasu’s progress a floating hand would poke him in the nose with a “Meep” sound followed by Yasu stating that it takes shape. “Good, it looks like the puppet is coming along rather nicely,” Max would say, his smile beaming at Yasu. He was happy to have her company, and she truly felt like a nice change of pace. She help him not think as much about his losses when she was around, her positive attitude melting away many of his negative feelings. He knew that they would become close friends if given time.
 
It looked as though she was finishing most of the mechanical parts of the hand, the puppet able to move freely under the control of her chakra. She would then attach the hollowed out arm, and test whether or not it worked. The screwdriver went in and it walked along the table over to Max. The rattle back and forth of the object within was indeed staying it. Max immediately considered that the rattle would give away that there had been something inside, but she might not have intended to keep the object inside a secret. Plus, he didn’t want to take anything away from her success. Should she want it to be quiet later, she could just stuff cloth or such inside and give the object less room to move around.
 

Max would clap, happy that his friend was both successful and happy with her work. “It seems that you are a natural talent to the puppet building process. Shall we mark this down as the first successful puppet of many soon to come?” There was a sincerity in both his voice and eyes that spoke volumes regarding how he had actually meant that, not merely stating it for her behalf.

She would smile happily as he seemed happy and content with what she did and she was happy as well with what this had turned out to be. But Max's thoughts were right this would need some silencing as soon as she found some nice fleece or something like that. "It needs some stuffing but after that it will be nice", she would say and let it dance a little in circles. Then she would pause it and look at Max. "Would you mind me building something else? It would help me to get home more easily at least I think so and I suppose you will find it amusing in the end", she would smile at him innocently and then take up her stuff and pull out a rubber ball, a light bulb and some extra rubber also some wire and glue.
"Oh? By the way? Would you like to cook together today?", she would look over her shoulder while she was fixating the ball. "I am an okay cook at least and I have been told that and it is quite fun to cook together." Slowly she would map out lines on the bald so that it soon would look like an eye printed on the ball. "We could go shopping first and after that I will make you, your most favourite food? Since I want to learn it anyway so that I can A make you happy and B want to have something to always get on your good side with", she would chuckle because she would not think he would ever get that mad at her.
But one could never know, he had become quite serious about her and the stupid thing as well.

WC: 288
TWC: 2797

Max would agree to letting her build some more. “Sure, if you think that it would be helpful. I left most of my day open so that we could work on whatever you would like.” After he said this she seemed to smile and pull out some interesting items. What would she do with the rubber ball? Max was intrigued enough to watch intently, looking to see just what she had been planning. Right as she was working on it, she would turn and ask about cooking some food. Max hadn’t cooked anything in a long while (and those things were very simple), and now that he thinks about it he hadn’t really eaten much either. “Uhh, sure? I don’t see why not. I could use some food to be honest."
 
When asked about his favorite meal he would take a moment and think. Candy was delicious, but he really couldn’t cook candy…. Could he? No, that isn’t a meal. What would he prefer to make? Such things were actually rather hard to think about. He generally didn’t do much cooking, instead going out to various vendors to eat. He didn’t have any recipes that came to mind. “Uhm, I don’t know. Can you make fish well? I like eating fish.” While this didn’t really completely answer the question since there were so many ways to prepare fish, Max would simply nod and hope that such an answer would suffice.
 

Yasu seemed to have been making the ball into an eye. He wondered what that was for, but surely he would see if he waited.

She would smile at him as he said he had taken the whole day just for her. Having him around made even scariest places feel more like home. When she was around him she had this warm feeling around her and she was happy. So she was even happier when he agreed to cook together and made herself a promise to blow him away with what she was able to do. So when she had cut out the Eye she took out the new formed lid and started to install the bulb into it which was so much easier now that she did not need to get inside with her hands too much moving that around.
"Fish sounds very good, I could make Matjes", she said thinking about it, "This is pickled herring filet with crème sauce apples, onions and a little vinegar maybe. Eaten with jacked potatoes I am sure you will like it. I loved it as child because it was a rare exception to what we usually had we made it from our grandmothers cooking book, it was always a lot of fun", she chuckled as she tried infusing the lamp with her chakra and yes the light went on. Perfect she had not been sure about the wiring now she needed to put in the dimmer to regulate the light while she was humming a little. "You know Max I have recently met a quite handsome young man almost right out of prison", she would start to talk about a really fun meeting she had.

"While singing I had totally lost track of my surrounding and almost fell off the wall I was balancing on an like the flash he had appeared nearly out of nowhere and pulled me back up again", she chuckled and blushed a little, "Kind of embarrassing as well but also totally surprising to have someone talk that openly about things like that." While she was talking she cut the frames for the wings and made fitting holes into the ball so they could be attached to it and still flapped for style.

WC: 350
TWC: 3147

Matjes? Max hadn’t been very familiar with different foods and such, but luckily enough for him Yasu explained exactly what it was. It sounded rather tasty, though Max knew that he didn’t have the needed ingredients. They would certainly have to go to the store and buy things to prepare the dish, but he didn’t mind. It couldn’t cost more than the foods he normally purchased around the village. Preparing foods at home did tend to be cheaper than going out to eat oftentimes.
 
“Wait, a handsome man right out of prison? Who? Most people don’t survive being imprisoned here… so that by itself is surprising.” Max wondered who could manage to avoid execution or worse, being turned over to the Rot Forest as an everlasting defender of the village. It is likely a messy process, and probably rather unpleasant for the prisoner, but it is much more effective than just killing them outright. It deters others and offers protection from enemies.
 
Max honestly was baffled, as he had witnessed people executed for simply trying to leave Kumo for a better life. If people are being let out of prison, Maku must have some interest in the prisoner. Either that or Mortarion was growing softer… no that cannot be it. Mortarion was as far from soft as one could be. He was an example to look up to. True power to protect those you care about… the boys mind wanders for a moment, thinking about his Lord Kage Mortarion. That... that was it! The boy immediately started to connect the pieces in his mind. Akuoy, Lord Mortarion’s second was practically identical to the man. Perhaps Akuoy was… a clone? Max’s eyes would be wide, his revelation now clear in his mind. Max knew that Akuoy wasn’t merely a Shadow Clone, as he seemed to have his own mind. That was the secret to it all. He would need to learn just how his Lord did it. THAT would be his next step in finding an answer to his current dilemma.
 
If Mortarion can create life so can I.
 

Max’s attention would return to Yasumi, her talking about being embarrassed. Max hadn’t thought about such things often, but he wanted to know what made her feel that way. “The last time I was embarrassed I lost my arm and leg. I’ve only grown stronger from the encounter, and the embarrassment serves as a lesson for next time, no?” Max would smile, though his phantom limbs would become sore when he thought about Maku. “One must be careful in a dangerous situation, but you have lived and learned. Minor embarrassment is much better than the alternative of any serious damage.”

She would blink surprised at Max statement about the Prison and then gently smile at Max once more while she was still cutting out the wings four to be exact. "He is not just anyone as far as I know at least he said so", she would pull up her bag again and pull out some light synthetic leather. "He seems to be the head of some special team of Shinobi. I have met one of his subordinates a Hiyu, biggish and with a huge sword. Kind of impressive guy he said his unit was to patrol the land and the territories Kumo gained in war to keep them save and he named that young man as his commander", she chuckled and started to melt the leather into the plastic. Recalling both Nobunaga and Kyson it seemed so much more unlikely that the younger one was the one in charge and not the older one, but it would have its reasons.
A chuckle would rise from her throat as Max spoke about the embarrassment and turned to him: "Well it was more like an awkward because he was so good looking and about my age", she chuckled and shook her head, "And he likes music too, I hope I can meet him again, but what am I blabbering about stuff you might not even wanna hear." She would attach the first pair of leathery wings to her read eyeball an turn to Max: "By the way Max I know this will sound kind of weird and I really don't mean that in appropriate", she would raise her arms a little and smile at him, "But I love you."

If the young Shinobi was observant he would see her coming, going in to place a kiss on top of his head before turning to her work again which was now gluing black feathers to the second pair of wings while humming innocently.

WC: 321
TWC: 3468

Max wasn’t aware of any special team of shinobi… perhaps something more secretive than even he is privy to? He didn’t know the man with a large sword. In fact, the only man with a large sword he knew was Senshi himself, and Max knew that it was not his brother. So there is a group of people solely to keep watch on Kumo’s conquered lands? Such an interesting revelation.
 
Shortly thereafter, she said something that Max had not ever expected to hear. She said she had loved him.
 
Love wasn’t a word heard often in the harsh land that was Kumo. In fact, since his family was gone there was only one person that he had ever truly loved, and one person that he knew had loved him back… that was Senshi. Max was so stunned by the words that he couldn’t move… couldn’t react. Yasu came over and placed a light kiss atop his head before returning to her work.
 
Max had no words and his eyes grew wide in confusion. He couldn’t say it back… as he knew that it would be speaking falsehoods. Every person that Max had become close to had died. His family, his friends… even Senshi. Max had since then started shutting people out more, not allowing anyone to become any closer to him. His soul had grown dark and bitter, the violence and death in the lands around him seeping into his being and turning him into a monster slowly.
 
The boy was more like Mortarion than he had ever truly imagined. Everything he touches rots away and death follows him like a shadow, ever present. Perhaps he truly was the heir of Mortarion’s rule…
 

It would take him a moment, but he would finally find words. “Yasu… you don’t want to love me, for it will only lead you to pain and suffering before an untimely demise. I… I do care about you, as I don’t wish anything bad to happen to you. That is why I honestly suggest you not grow too close a bond. I don’t want to see another person close to me die.”

Yasu had turned to work on her puppet again fixing more feathers to the wings in front of her and while they dried she went to take the eyelid to fix it in position so it could be opened and shut easily. This was a little bit of fiddling with everything while she carefully listened to what Max said and thought about it. What did she need to tell him to lighten his mood? What was she to say to proof him wrong because he was wrong with what he said at least that was what she believed so when she had listened to the end and thought about it for a moment or two she was almost done but not yet. Slowly she would pull herself something to sit on facing Max with a warm but strong glow to her eyes.
"You can't honestly believe people die because they love you, people die of many causes, but love ain't one of them", she would shake her head. "Because they loved you and you loved them they stay alive, they stay remembered. Loved is always seen as a quite twisted thing. Love makes people worry and put their needs behind the needs of others. Loves makes us stronger and more enduring. Love can't kill us she aids us. Hate kills both physically and psychically, depression kills slowly from the inside but love does not. It is said some people do murder out of love or commit stupid mistakes out of love, but the ones who murder do not do it because love requires death just because they think it is required and the ones that do foolish things like putting their loved ones before themselves they don't die from love either but because they face someone who does feel love to someone else and therefore their loyalty lies somewhere else. Their love or admiration does also give them strength and in the end it comes down to the abilities of everyone. People die when facing obstacles their abilities cannot match. An enemy an accident or just simple end of their days when their breath runs out. None of this is your fault Max, none." Now she was the one giving a tremendous lecture in a sweet but stern tone. Like she knew it from her brother when he wanted to imply to her that he would not take any buts from her but still make sure she knew he was not mad at her or anything. Also she was a little worried about Max it was not good to have him live this thoughts.

WC: 434
TWC: 3902