The Summoner and the Schollar (Mar, Seiichi)

"Woof, I sure hope this isn't some kind of trick. I'll *huff* have my old gym teacher step out of a bush and tell me it was all for my own good." Mar muttered to himself in his own humor, arriving to the abandoned mine just in time to meet with his contact. He'd gone out on a limb with a recent business venture, well. One could call it that. He'd been playing poker with a smuggler who'd drank away their last Ryo. Instead offering him a favor to be called in with a mysterious Ninja who could 'help him move up in the world.'

Mar had won the wager of course, he always carried an ace up his sleeve. And he felt sincerely excited for the opportunity. So much so he'd brought some pork buns and more discreetly a small bottle of rice wine. It never hurt to make a good impression after all. The pretext of the meeting was simple. They would join in just 2 days, barely enough time for Mar to make the trip but plenty for the rogue ninja to scout out the location. This was to make sure the armature ninja was not operating some sort of elaborate sting mission.

In exchange, this mysterious ninja warrior would teach him the basics of the summoning technique. His first C rank Jutsu. Mar saw clean through the guise of this lesson. It was his chance to show his potential to a perspective employer. The awesome power was one thing, but his future as a career criminal was the real goal. Of course, he had to be paying attention himself. It would be one thing to join a band of brigands who's motives bely his own. And another to sign on with a pack of wanton hell raisers looking to throw him to the dogs on the front lines.

The sun was setting, at 6:30 PM according to his watch. He breathed a sigh of relief, then called down. He used his full volume without fear. They were so deep into the woods that they could blow the hell out of everything with random hyjinx and go unnoticed. "It's Mar, I'm here for the favor that old contraband dealer called in." He paused for a moment, before remembering the stupid password he'd not taken seriously at all before. "Olly, Olly, Oxenfreeeeeee!" He toddled down the tunnel, a phrase which his contact had most certainly not heard mentioned before this point.

Deep in the wooded area Seiichi sat against a tall oak tree. The sun was setting somewhere in the distance, he couldn't see it through the thick treetops but he could feel the darkness beckoning to him. It was like home. Death all wrapped up in the shroud of stars and a bright light that rules the night sky called the moon. It was as close to death as one could get without actually being there. The mysteries of the woods, all would be explained in the daylight, were just death waiting behind each turn. The creatures that liked to hunt at these times could make the hair on the back of your neck stick strait out.

That was enough day dreaming.

The code words rang out through the trees. "Olly, Olly, Oxenfreeeeeee!". He was close. Seiichi tried to hold back his laugh, of course Maku would choose something like that.. Being sent by him to further his web of contacts he needed to test the new highers potential. Why he needed to show him the summoning jutsu he wasn't sure. Seiichi shrugged, orders were orders. Maybe deep down the boss wanted him to introduce the bears. Show how powerful a summon could be, get yet another member to sign the contract linking them to Yumegakure.

"Alright, I'm here. Cut off that silly saying." He would say appearing from behind a tree only meters from his new hire. Seiichi's figures would be grotesque at this time of day, shadows playing hell on his face, giving the scar that ran down it a more monstrous look. That could have been a reason as well... can this kid be intimidated? though, intimidation wasn't his style. He would only stand there and wait for the new guy to speak.

WC: 298
TWC: 298

Mar grinned, his smile lighting up before anything else in the low light. "Can do, so incognito. Most crooks I meet are all but happy to do their business in public. Of course I've got nothing against the added security, but most I've met find it dangerous to meet where no one could see if you. I dunno, stabbed me and the back and took my dinner?" He hung from a low hanging vine and slowly zipped open his satchel bag. Which, thankfully. Smelled and looked more like he'd been ready for a pick nick rather than for a midnight deal to go sour.

He offered his new cohort one of the buns through gesture alone. if Seiichi seemed interested, he'd go as far as to toss it in his direction. Else wise, he simply finished unwrapping it and waited a spell to take a bite. Eating quietly but seeming no more perturbed. His behavior was due to a lot of things. One was that he was making a first impression and that it was illogical to show weakness when he could focus himself on the task at hand. An escape route was going to keep him a lot safer than a cracking voice and weak looking demeanor.

Secondly, Mar just didn't like to judge those he'd met by the cover. He regularly kept the company of thieves and killers, to him they weren't the crimes they perpetrated but the people beneath their actions. "Good evening sir." He said quite to the point, furthering his introduction. "I'm a scholar, a creator really. Betcha haven't met many Ninja who were professors in mathmatics hmm? I'm a bit of a rare case you see. I never departed from any of the major villages, but I've scraped together my studies of Ninjutsu from men who've walked from them all. 'Secret Techniques' spill easily between comrades of course." He brought his point to a close.

"What I'm getting at is this, there's 14 year olds with a deadlier grasp of ninja magic than I. That I won't deny. But don't think my lack of specialization means I'm a waste of skin. I pick up fast, change comes quickly to a man who needs to stay ahead in his life. Whatever you wanna share, god willing I'll be the perfect student." He eloquently finished. His words came from a true place, and if the more experienced Ninja looked closer it was obvious his mind never stopped even when he wasn't talking. He was picking apart threats, weather the lesson could have begun already, the response to his message and would it could mean. Though he was calm, he took the situation as seriously as possible.

Taking a bit of the role he was given Seiichi payed attention to the young man as he spoke. He found himself leaning against the tree that was only a foot or two from him. Looking at the guy as he spoke, it was interesting how he didn't pass out after talking so much. Seiichi could talk to, but not to people he didn't know, he had a shy side. He enjoyed listing though. The mans credentials where interesting, there wasn't a lot of ninja who would even bother studying mathematics, they would usually leave that up to the civilians. Not to say ninja shouldn't know their way around a math book, they just had more pressing things than to focus their study on it.

The way he talked about himself and flaunted reminded him a little of Maku. But he wondered if he could live up to what he was saying. The perfect student...? He wondered what gave the kid his focus, his drive, for Seiichi it was the constant hate that plowed through his veins, the only way to direct it was by physical exercise or jutsu training, if he went too long without it he was liable to rip someones head off for looking at him wrong.

As he finished his roll buy plopping a thick one inch piece into his mouth, the small bit had a slight crunch to it. If he couldn't make it as a ninja, maybe Maku could higher him as a cook or a bus boy. "Ok, we'll see how much of a perfect student you are. But, don't think it's going to be easy... and don't expect any secrets from me. Even if I knew some, I wouldn't share." Seiichi stood up. "First thing on the agenda. I'll show you the summoning technique. How fast you learn this will determine your status as the perfect student" he was sure to say it in a mocking tone.

Biting his thumb and preforming the needed hand seals he would push his hand against the ground. This was in fact the first time he attempted to summon this specific bear, but he would see how it would turn out. Strings of delicate markings sprawled out on to the dirt bellow and a large bear appeared through a thick cloud of smoke. A sudden roar erupted and echoed through the trees. Only five feet from him was a large bear. She was five feet tall while standing on all fours. Her back was dark brown with thick streaks of black that stretched downwards.  As she turned to look at Seiichi and the new guy her massive jaws gave way to two large teeth that stuck from her bottom and top jaws.

"Why have you summoned me here? What do you want?" It spoke. "Wait, I don't know you." She said, her eyes glaring at him in the darkness of night. Seiichi knew that she could see perfectly. "I'm half tempted to take a bi-"

Seiichi threw her a piece of bread that he broke off before. She snapped at it and swallowed in what looked like one gulp. "I'm showing the new guy how to summon. What better way than to summon someone new." Seiichi would say, "I hope I didn't interrupt anything pressing."

"Of course not, I accepted the invitation didn't I?" She stepped toward the new guy taking a long sniff in the air. "and who might you be?" She asked.

Seiichi looked at the kid through the thickening darkness. The stars were out now and he they lit up the area enough to be able to make things out clearly now. He was wondering how the kid would react..

WC: 619
TWC: 917

[Claiming +4 Chakra]

Mar seemed to completely transform when not only his pride was challenged, but he was given a golden example to work off of. "Just one moment!" he requested in earnest. Hanging an electronic lamp from his bag on a low tree vine and holding out a full note book like he was about to receive a full on lecture in the middle of the wilderness. To him it was a sign of respect, and a critical matter of his thinking process. He'd dug up the notes he'd taken on this particular Jutsu as soon as he'd begun his travel here. The young disciple smirked. Hand trembling just slightly as if he'd had a whole pot of coffee just beforehand. "If I were teaching, I'd be perfectly content with a thousand twitchy bastards like myself." He retorted, not saying anything too self righteous directly. 

"Board into dog into bird into monkey into ram. Yes, the summoning technique." He muttered at top speeds. Hand furiously etching in new observations and tiny scribbles. Anything from a bleeding thumb to the precise symbol that sprouted out in star formation. He began nodding his head, finishing every mirror hand of the summoning star while his eyes twitched to different parts of the page. It was a blueprint, a design for the machine that was his body to input and produce out the desired effect.

Even the presence of the magnificent bear did not throw him off of his game, in fact. It was pretty clear he had no idea it was there. Every last piece of his notes was complete, and the verbal exchange between summonee and summoner. He poured over it all one last time, erasing tiny imperfections and replacing them. Before taking a confident breath and closing his book. "Ahhh!" He screamed like a 8 year old academy girl. Dropping the hell out of his bag of food, which included his every earthly possession and money. But holding onto his book for dear life as he embarrassingly fell on his rear end and crawled away before realizing there was little to fear. Atleast in this moment.

"Uggggg, I'm sorry miss.Anything I can do to make it up to you?" He responded, almost not believing his own words. Was this the kind of wild animal he needed to avoid looking in the eyes lest she felt challenged? No, he surmised. (A lady wouldn't behave that way surely...) Pulling himself off the ground, and hoping to regain his dignity. He got to work. "I think I can replicate your effort on the first try." He said as a matter of factually. He used a tape measurer to distance out how far the black writing would spread. Initialed the proper seal onto a blank scroll of paper, then chucked it into the wilderness. Then, he began stretching. On his knee's, infront of the two of them. Yet to have focused any chakra or performed a single handsign.

He was obviously not thinking like a ninja, but just maby. This could be more of a boon than a bane. He entered the same flow state he had been in moments before during his brief but fiery study session. He brought his hands together. And slid between the firm hand signs carefully and precisely. Before then reaching to the ground and confidently thrusting his palm towards it. His eyebrows raised, holding it for not long at all before he had to snatch up the familiar scroll that lunged out of the ground apparently like a meercat. "Yeah!" He bellowed with great energy. It was a moment of discovery for sure, atleast personally. In another setting, he would have work shopped out the technique from his basic knowledge over days. Trying and failing dozens of times, but here. With a perfect example. His brain sucked it all in like a sponge.
(Claiming Summoning Technique. 500 words spent of 1470 for this thread)

This guy was odd. Pulling out a book and reading through the technique step by step. It wasn't long and he seemed to know the jutsu pretty good. Though, Seiichi had to get past this guy and talking to himself. He was so engrossed in what he was doing that the kid almost didn't even realize or hear the bear speak. He could see the frustration grow in his summon's eyes. Pulling out another piece of bread from his pocket he gave it to the summon as they watched the kid work. It calmed her for a bit.

Food was the way into these bear's hearts. Seiichi had been working with them long enough to know that was the key. Because of this he thought that every summon would have some sort of key, a way to calm the summons or make them more pliable. For some it may be easy, they were friendly and kind, but Seiichi knew that there were some bears that would be capable of demanding human sacrifices. Death always will win. The lords of death required them. It didn't mater how people died, as long as death got its way, this is how Seiichi would see it.

"He is a peculiar child." The bear would say looking at the kid. Though, she would start to wander around the area. Sniffing the air and keeping on guard. Seiichi could feel that she wasn't too comfortable with them yet. At least she wasn't attacking them. He knew that they could do devastating damage if angered.

When the guy was finally finished he preformed the hand signed and summoned the item back to himself. A cloud of smoke and it was it. The kid learned the technique in one go? Seiichi stood there just looking at him. It had taken Seiichi a bit longer to get the nuances down, the right about of chakra, the biting of a finger, not to mention the interaction he had with the first bear. This kid was bypassing all of that and going right for the technique. He did show some promise after all.

"Hm, ok. Maybe you aren't a complete loss." Seiichi would say. "But I can tell you don't actually have a summon yet. What do you think about the bear? I could summon the contract holder if you'd like?" He finished.

The bear wasn't startled at all when the kid kinda freaked out about the bear. And she only shrugged off what he said. This wasn't surprising. This bear seemed to be one of the more rough around the edges. She also didn't say anything to him. Just kept and eye out and looked around the area to be sure nothing was going to hurt them all. Seiichi noted that she was very causeous and not the most kind. But he could see himself working with her for a long time. Not to mention she looked powerful, Me and you can bring death a lot of little presents huh? he thought as he looked at her.

WC: 509
TWC: 1426

There was a deep sigh of relief to follow from Mar. Before he stood up, having not thought much for what would happen should he actually pull it off. Truth be told, he felt pretty manly right about now. He'd honestly been worried that the pair would think he knew the Jutsu already before having joined them. But it seemed like they did not harbor those suspicions. Either that, or his feat of jutsu craft had been pretty typical compared to what they had seen. Regardless, having a swell head this early would not get him too far. So he focused on what would be next. 

"Actually, I had planned on searching for the gate guardian of the Valks of Ventus. If not now then shortly after our meeting was over. There's a very good chance that they could be found not far from our current position." He nods to himself. "This is nothing against you or your powerful associate of course. I'd actually picked them as an option months in advance. As soon as I heard of the summoning technique actually."

He waited for if they had any words then elaborated. "Tactically, it's the best fit for a number of jutsu I want to learn. Beyond that." He looked upwards, putting it into few words. "I'm gunna build a machine that'll take me up to those stars, if anyone or anything can tell me about the air. I bet it'd be in that race of giant birds. If you've even heard of them." Mar had a slightly jelous glance to give at the ninja. He wanted to feed the bear, but he was too worried that the act of doing so would lead to his hand being bitten off. He had no idea of their history, goals, and feelings. But his instincts told him that there was somthing dark at work here not to be tested by him feeding the monster meat buns like he was at the local zoo. Still.

He offered the rest of the tote bag full of buns to Seiichi. "You two can have the rest, if I have to hold this thing much longer my arms going to fall off." He proposed, then he waited. Letting his teacher be the one to work out what they did next. He was perfectly fine with getting to know him and the organization behind him a little more. But at the same time he was in no hurry. A hike through the mountains to discover an ancient and powerful race of ninja birds would be a lot easier with someone who'd no doubt completed the bear equivalent.

Seiichi nodded as the guy spoke. Letting him know that he was paying attention, after all.. he didn't want to be rude. He had heard of the birds and their local nesting places, but this, like many other things, would have to be done alone. He would certainly accompany the man to insure his safety, but the interaction and taking taking the birds for a contract would all be on him. These thoughts went by Seiichi's mind in a blink.

"Ah, I was going to suggest that very thing." He said. "It would be best that we get on the move if we want to make it to the destination at dawn." He picked up the large back that the kid tossed him. "Hold this." He told the summoned bear. It wasn't a smart thing mind you, to tell a bear what to do, but Seiichi needed to convey dominance and the creature must learn and come to respect him. "it has food in it" He said when the animal looked at him with a long glare. It took it reluctantly, throwing it around its neck.

Before Seiichi had come he took a look at the area on a map. He was much better with maps than with directions. He could only imagine, "take a left at this rock, walk 20 meters, right at this tree...." The thought put a smile on his face, it would be crazy to try and navigate these woods with such a way of travel.

"Do you know where to find these birds?" he asked the large bear.

She looked at him for a moment, though the silence that followed was more thoughtful than menacing. "I do.. they are north a few hours from here. I don't know how they will react with my presence, but I am sure I can make do." The creature chuckled. There was no doubt in Seiichi's mind that she would eat one given the chance. He was confident that he could prevent that.

"Then that's the plan." He said dully. "Will you give me a ride?" He bent down and looked at his summon's face. She only knelt. It seemed they were getting somewhere. Even if she was only doing these things because of the rolls she had around her neck, it gave Seiichi something to work with.

WC: 390
TWC: 1816

On another day, Mar might have picked up that these two did not know each other very well. But with the highs and lows he'd gone through recently in picking up what amounted to a new and very useful superpower, and being jump scared by a magical ninja bear. He could not help but be impressed with how Seiichi bossed it around. He'd never have the gumption to talk that way to an animal that could swallow his head in one bite.

Indeed, that was another big reason he wanted to find the Valks, their extreme intelligence was of great renoun. In truth, he was looking forward to match his own wits with those that could keep up. Mar did indeed wonder what he'd need to do in order to compel them to accept his deal. Seiichi seemed to use food as a potent bargaining chip. Mar honestly fretted he'd be called on to perform a 10 year long spirit quest to indebt the Valk race to his actual service. None of the less, results were tantalizing. Already he could imagine soaring through the air, getting to their destination in just under an hour compared to a night long hike. Which, he felt that he could do. Even if it'd be pushing his limits.

 "Excellent, we'll be pretty close to the fire nation then. Even in the dark, they'll be liable to see us before we see them. I did spy one of those creatures when I was just a little guy mind you. It's an experience all it's own." Mar thought back to the odd mix of a robin and a desert hawk. He'd needed a teloscope to make it out. At the time, he thought it had to have only been 8 inches long. But looking back at the event, with the scale of the oasis it had been perched near. He was certain it was atleast as big as Seiichi's companion.

Mar was half quiet along the trip, during the other half he spent a small amount of time humming with a relaxing tune. He had no trouble keeping pace with the creature. Not do to any physical elements but just the fact that he'd been a nomad for most of his days and his work hiking boots were more than up to the task. The vegetation grew thicker, steadily. A dreery Mar looked every few minutes for the sunset that was not soon to come. "So then, this seems like it could be pretty dangerous. What was it like for you to sign up with the bears? Did you have to earn their trust? Put them in your debt?"