I HATE OPENERS [Conor]

“Once upon a time, in a land far far away… And that’s part I’m stuck at.”. The old man with a thick white bush for a moustache said this with pure depression in his low, charismatic voice. He downed another drink and put the shot glass next to 15 other empty ones. Ryūka squinted, not sure what to say. “That’s…” he answered the man, nodding slowly a few times with his head, “...though, man.”. The old man didn’t react to the words spoken by the Genin, who was sitting next to him on the counter of the bar. The younger man was just sitting there writing, sipping on his cocktail that he didn’t even know the ingredients of. It just had a moderate amount of alcohol in it, which Ryūka knew he could take, as he kept sipping on the straw.

The old man continued from where he left off, not minding Ryūka but not responding to him either, “When my wife Lisa left me, I was sure that I would have had enough pain and passion in me to keep going with the book. I thought that the fact that it hurt meant that it was working, and I thought that hurt could fuel, sustain me for my artistry.”. Ryūka awkwardly nodded, trying to withhold from saying anything so that he didn’t look interested anymore, and maybe the old man would have let it go. He didn’t. Ryūka wasn’t even sure anymore if the man was talking to him, or perhaps if he was too drunk to seperate his thoughts from speech. “My first girlfriend Remi though, she was a piece…”. He went on. Ryūka tried to focus on his writing, shaking his head occasionally.

God I hate bars.

It was the only thing he'd been thinking for the past hour. Alcohol did little to help a shinobi, it dulled the senses and few could function in combat with it. This particular bar was gloomier than most, mainly due to the man ranting about how his wife had left him.

Of all the places, why here

Ikigai would have never come here by choice, but Hakai had voluntold him to help out the bar keep as he was an old friend. So here the shark skinned boy stood wiping tables stained with rings from thousands of cups that had already left their mark forever.

Seemed pointless, but whatever.

And then the man knocked his 16th glass over in drunken stupor. "Dammit" He'd say under his breath as he tried to clean it with his sleeve, not that it would do anything more than smear the mess further.

Ikigai would audibly groan as he traveled to the bar with his rag and began to clean the man's area. "Don't you think you've maybe had enough?"

Ryūka chuckled, barely controlling his mouth enough not to do a spit take. He swallowed, and excitedly waited for the man's answer to the bartender's (as far as Ryūka could tell by the limited amount of attention he gave to the situation) rethorical question. The man didn't even turn to look at him. He was probably either too drunk at this point, or too lost in his own monologue. Nevertheless, he eventually answered, "I do. I really did have enough. Especially in the early days. I kept telling Melanie, that I had enough. That I was too tired of the city life, I wanted to go back to my parents' farm and take over where they left off....". He once again got into a longwinded monologue, but Ryūka stopped paying attention after that. He looked at the boy who he assumed was a bartender, and smiled, "Is he a regular or...?" he asked. The man was still talking of course, but Ryūka was hoping that his voice could be picked up over the man's monotone low voice. He sipped on his drink.

To be fair, Ryūka actually was having more fun here than he had thought at first. He wasn't coming across people like this when he stayed at home, after all. He at first assumed the bartender would be sharing his enthusiasm on the subject, but then he quickly realised that he himself wouldn't have been having so much fun with the man's ramblings if it was his job to clean up after him, take payment from him and make sure he didn't die. Well, maybe making sure he didn't die wasn't exactly in the job detail, but it was appreciated nonetheless. Only at this point did Ryūka realized that the bartender was blue, and looked... Fishy... He didn't want to point it out yet though, hoping to not make things awkward.

The man was incoherent, seeming to have no clue Ikigai was talking about alcohol, and moving to another monologue. Whatever He'd think to himself as he continued to clean the counter, and allowed the man to continue rambling. After all, the man wasn't harming anybody, and it was bad practice to bully a harmless paying customer.

"Is he a regular or?"

Ikigai would shrug at the statement, he'd never stepped foot in this building before tonight. "Can't really say, I don't work here. Just helping out for the night" He'd say as he watched the man look him over, his eyes filled with the usual curiosity of someone's first encounter with a hoshigaki.

As he was talking he'd hear a thud, and after looking over his shoulder he'd see the man had fallen out of his ramblings and into a drunken induced sleep, slumped face down on the table.

"Oh hell"

He'd mutter as he tilted the face to the side, so that if the man god for bid threw up he wouldn't choke and die. "Some people really just need to learn their limits"

WC: 364

Ryūka chuckled again. He took a look at his notebook full of scribbles, and unsure sentences. "Some people know them and want to surpass them." he said, with a smiile on his face so wide he just had to close his eyes. He then opened them back up. "I'm not a regular either, I don't really go to bars. It's just that I saved the owner's life last week -kinda- and he basically begged me to a night here with the tab on him." He closed his notebook and put it back into his jacket. "I must admit, I knew you weren't a permanent staff. To be more accurate, I guessed.". He took one last sip from his drink before putting the empty glass down. "I have seen you at least once in the streets before, and to be honest, you have one of those faces one tends not to forget...". He tapped the headband on his right arm with his left index finger. "Shinobi?". He then made a sudden move to his glass with that same hand. "Oh and also," he put the same glass somewhere closer to the sharky boi. "Could I have another Empellón Cocina’s Fat-Washed Mezcal, please?".


"Oh wait..." he then thought, "I hope there's no fish in that drink's ingredients. The fat isn't fish fat right? Do fishes even have fat? I mean they must, it's like asking if they have bones, they probably do. Hopefully it's not an offensive drink to ask from a... A... Fishperson - orcaboy? I don't even know... Should I ask? No, I can't ask that's even worse... Oh god. Just play naive. This is fine. This is all fine.".

"Some people know them and want to surpass them"

He couldn't help but laugh, after all this man was already proving to be better company than the drunk behind him. Apparently he was here because he'd saved the owners life. And seeing as the owner was one of Hakai's friends, that meant at some level Ikigai felt grateful for what the purple haired ninja had done.

When the empty glass hit the counter the man touched his own headband and asked "Shinobi?" It seemed the two were of the same profession. Signaling in turn Ikigai would pull his headband from his pocket brandishing the kumogakure symbol before speaking on his own. "Yah, I'm a Genin. And you?"

The boy had peaked his interest and he was curious now. In response to the man's question about the drink Ikigai would simply point to the actual bartender. "I don't make the drink's I just clean em."

WC: 518

“Genin here as well. Being a Genin in Kumo, am I right?”. Ryūka smiled, and then it slowly turned into an expression of embarassment. “Sorry, I don’t actually now what that means. I’m quite new.”. Ryūka took out his notebook again, wrote in some stuff that included “I’m quite new.” but even he didn’t know what else. He was kind of tipsy, as much as someone with his age and stature would be after a few beverages of low alcohol percentage. “What does it mean, actually? Do you have anything to share with a newbie?”. He gave his empty glass to one of the staff that walked by him.

"When does your shift end? Soon?" he asked, Putting his right hand on the hilt of his katana, that was attached to the right side of his belt. "It might be irresponsible. You know how they say don't drink and fight, but I feel like I'm up for a mission or something after this.". He raised his hand to call a bartender to him, and then gave his order, "May I please have another Empellón Cocina’s Fat-Washed Mezcal, please? Thanks.". The tall man nodded his head, as he kept taking orders from around him. Ryūka took out his notebook and pen once again. "Sorry, I must have missed it." he said, looking at the other Genin, "My name is- Everybody calls me Ryūka. And you are?". He smiled and waited for an answer.

"Let's see here. Where did I last leave this one? Oh, okay, this is how it went. Pour it up. Drink. Headshot. Drink. Stand up. Drink. Lie down. Drink. I... Something seems off. Maybe it's just that the lyrics don't really match my personality, but I don't know.". Ryūka started flipping through the pages of his notebook, and stopped when he came across a page he felt comfortable with. "Sit down, be humble.". He kept going through pages of his notebook, sometimes unintentionally nodding his head to the rhythm of whatever song or half-song he was reading. "So... Are you a sword kind of guy, or stand back and fling fireballs kind of guy?" Ryūka lastly asked the sharky boi.

"It basically means you get to chase down a lot of stray cats, when you're not playing with your ninja tools" Ikigai would joke, he knew it meant more than that ever since his mission with Shien and Boru, but he had no intention of getting into that with a stranger.

"When does your shift end? Soon?"

The purple haired boy would ask as he reached for his katana. For a moment, Ikigai thought he might be trying to fight him, but Ryuka quickly followed up with the idea of running a mission. Ikigai would turn to the clock on the wall, taking note that it was a quarter till 11.

"Should be out, in a few minutes, We can spar at that training ground behind the bar or something after if you'd like"

Ikigai would say as he used a rag to clean the several glasses the drunken man beside them had left in his wake. "Haven't had any time to train all day, Being lazy always bugged me"

Ryuka then asked about his name.

"My name's Ikigai, nice to meet you Ryuka"

By the time the sword question would be asked, Ikigai would already be in a back room changing out of his work clothes and into his ninja gear, clipping his sword to his hip.

He'd meet Ryuka at the training grounds.

WC: 743

"Nice to meet you too, Ikigai.". Ryūka awkwardly went back into writing without telling anything else. "No one man should have all that power, the clock's ticking, I just count the hours. Stop tripping, I'm tripping of the power.". Then he put his notebook back into his jacket. "So..." he said, after awkwardly not talking for a few more minutes of not speaking and just writing, "Let's bail.". He downed his drink, which was admittedly already almost finished. His mind and body were ready for a fight, either against Ikigai or whatever bandit they happened to find in the way.

The pause wasn't awkward at all, mainly because as stated in the last post. Ikigai was not there. He'd been changing out of work attire and into his ninja gear in a back room, during this time Ryuka had decided to pass the time by scribbling in his notebook. When Ikigai had finished changing, putting his headband on, and clipped his katana's sheath to his hip he'd meet the purple haired genin back in the bar just in time to see him down one last glass and slam it on the counter.

"Lets bail"

The blue skinned boy couldn't help but feel like this spar may be in poor taste, afterall his friend had, had a few. But he needed the training if he wanted to stay on top at the academy, so he shook the guilt out of his head before opening the door. "After you" If the boy went, he'd allow him to pass through first before moving in front of him to lead the way to the training ground. If he did not, Ikigai would simply shrug and exit first, still leading the way to the training ground.

Either way, they'd end up at the training ground. It was a simple earthen field that complimented the village they resided in. Kumogakure was pretty much boulders and trees after all. It was nothing out of the ordinary and the perfect spot for two swordsman to duke it out. Placing one hand on his katana's pommel, and the other on his hip he'd look to Ryuka before challenging him. "I'm ready when you are, Ryuka"

WC: 1010