Mission: Shadow a Queensman [Solo]

Missions Spec.

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When Yuuma had agreed to accept a mission that had been extended to the Shinobi headquarters, he was ill prepared for what the mission would entail. Had he been warned that he would be standing a cold waiting room in the evening waiting for over an hour, he might have been less impressed. Less so when the officer that had originally prescribed the mission finally joined him in the room. A rather tall but square man whose jaw was firm and covered in a finely groomed fur. White peppered hair and beard adorned his head, offset by the sag of the man's cheeks that gave him a rather odd looking face as if only his head had aged and the rest of his body was still set squarely in it's prime. The voice matched the body, loud and boisterous. Yuuma quickly learned that the man's name- or at least what he preferred to be called- was "Comstock". The young man had little time to learn much else as he was promptly marched to another section of the Queensman building, where he was given what was essentially a trainee vest that he could put on over his jacket in order to stay warm. He was then marched from the building alongside Comstock and into the cool night air of the city.

"Ahhh. Isn't it brilliant? A nice fresh powder of snow. I haven't seen something like this in many years!" Talking to Comstock was nearly embarrassing if only because of the sheer volume at which the man spoke. It was as if someone had turned him up to eleven and broke the dial. "Breath it in, young man. If you were to be a Queensman, the night air might very well become as familiar as a fish to water!" Comstock practically shouted his responses to any question Yuuma might ask, drawing eyes to the two of them as they walked down the street. Comstock had a kendo half propped on his shoulder that swung with animation behind him as the burly shouldered man tread. "Yes indeed. Good evening! Hello!" He would say to people as they passed by. Some felt intruded upon in their conversations, while others offered a friendly return to the large guard leading the trainee about the city. "Vigilance!" He would exclaim as they rounded a corner. "One must retain a wary eye if one serves as a noble member of the Queensman!" Yuuma considered himself a patient man, but the endlessly loud talking was beginning to grind even on him. So when the two of them would hear shouting in the distance, it was almost a relief. 

From around the corner stumbled a man gripping a backpack and looking hurriedly around.  Upon meeting eyes with the pair, the man would turn around and begin to quickly escape the other direction. Yuuma was able to soak in the detail readily and felt his body respond to the instructions his brain shoved down the pipe. A perfect opportunity to try his new jutsu that increased his speed and allow him to close the distance to the mugger quickly. His mind turned pages in memory to recall the hand seals he began to mimic until the distinct feel of a wooden slap from the kendo crosses the backs of his hands. "Enough with that nonsense!" Comstock said, pulling his kendo back to his shoulder. "Have you no thought, boy?" He followed up with, seemingly unconcerned about the potentially escaping crook.

"I was just going to use an ability I just le-"

"Try using the abilities that you were given from birth, and didn't have to attend an academy for," Comstock responded, motioning down the way the man had run to see that the balding escapee seemed to have fallen over on the ground. "When you begin to draw on those powers, it is as good as drawing a blade. Tell me, young man, would you draw a blade to chase down a drunken old man?" The words spoken now were different somehow than before. Something in his tone told Yuuma that he was quite serious, and after a moment though, Yuuma felt the shame that accompanied the older man's words. "Just because you have an ability at your disposal doesn't mean it is necessary to be used at any given opportunity. You must afford yourself more faith than to blindly rely on tools. There might come a day, after all, where you might find yourself in a dire situation where the tools you have worked so hard to hone may not be available to you." He added though the falling words fell back into the older man's typical loud tone. "Come along then, let us make sure all is well." Before turning back to the street they had been traveling, the man offered a nod and a pat on the shoulder to Yuuma.

Feeling the shame slowly leave him, Yuuma would do his best to recompose himself to address the situation before them. As they approach, they would see the man holding on to some manner of a backpack, having fallen down drunkenly and passed out. Yuuma sighed, looking up to Comstock for guidance on what to do next, expecting the man to move forward and seize the backpack. When Comstock simply looked back at Yuuma, Yuuma took it as a sign that it would fall to the trainee. Stepping forward, the youth would grab for the pack, only for the older, balding man to suddenly come to life in the struggle, protesting at the loss of his newly acquired ill-gotten gain. "Now now, Ula, be nice to the young man, or he'll have to drag you to the drunk tank," Comstock said, hands on his hips. The warning was apparently enough to sate the resistance the older man had to offer, relenting the pack with a series of drunken grumblings. Standing, Yuuma looked back to Comstock just in time to see another man round the corner. It quickly became evident that this pack belonged to him, as once the man spotted the small gathering, the angry trudging through snow began.

"Where is that old man?! I'll stomp his face in!" The man exclaimed. Yuuma stepped forward, offering out the backpack to the man, who snatched it away from the young trainee. "Well praise be, you folk are useful for something after all!" The man yelled, attempting to push his way past Yuuma to get to the now scrambling Ula, who had miraculously sobered up extraordinarily quick when his mark had found him. When the man felt the hand of the youth on his chest holding him back, he paused to turn his angered gaze back to Yuuma. "What's this? Green's got some balls trying to stop me." The smell of alcohol washed over Yuuma, who was quickly becoming aware that Comstock had no intention of intervening in the ordeal.

With a strong arm, Yuuma put the man at his arm's distance from him, turning back to look at the old man who had made it some distance before looking at the would-be offender of an assault was it not from Yuuma's intervention. "You got your stuff." Yuuma murmured over the dull roar of the breeze. "Why don't you just let this go." A shift of clothing revealed a hint of metal around the neck of the young man, revealing him to be Shinobi. Once this revelation was realized, the man took a step back, huffing out another insult before turning to continue back down the way he had come. 

"Good show, lad!" Came Comstock, accompanied by a rather thunderous pat to Yuuma's back that set him slightly off balance. "In the words of a wise man, "talk softly, but carry a big stick". The people of the city look to us for protection, just as they look to you." He said, speaking to his own training. "Even if we do it in different ways, the important part is the job is done, and it's done right. As long as that happens, I don't care what manner of hocus-pocus you have to do to get it done." The words from Comstock struck a chord with young Yuuma. Here it was again, his own ideals displayed before him, and this time not in a youth hoping to make a difference, but instead a person of measurable influence. Someone who actively sought out young shinobi to teach them the ways of the Queensmen. This was not just an educational lesson in law enforcement, it was an olive branch. A symbol that diplomacy was not yet dead, even to those who have lived long enough to watch Hoshi transform into something new. Something beautiful.

"Yessir, you got it."

"Good! Now let's be on our way. We have a whole city to cover!"


[Mission: Complete]

Mission Target: 1,000
TWC - 1,469

Claims:
Mission Rewards
Putting all WC towards Time Reversal Jutsu - [1,879/2000] - Previous progress here.

Approved