Re: Catching a Contract

Sun Nov 10, 2019 11:06 am

Hikari, while being slightly rude. Did not sincerely do anything to indicate he did not appreciate Akihana's hospitality. Though as Mar expected he was not interested in a job at the chunin. "Our friends name is Hiroaki boys~ Forgive him, like many a traveler he's not used to all the attention. Give him some time with our little family unit and I think he'll change his tune." He remarked, pretty sure that no one was going to get offended but wanting to be clear that he acknowledged how they felt and that there was no misunderstanding to be had.

Then the boy asked to train, Mar considered pairing him up with an excersize against Nectar. Who he knew was quite fast and at the very least a tiny target to hit. But the little guy (with wings) was having a good time getting to meet his friends and in particular was hitting it off with Eliwood. So instead he devised a similar solution in the vein of Akihana. "Sure, you've got the two best tutors in the world right here. Let's see what level you're at kid." He performed the shadow clone jutsu, with his doppelgangers quickly flanking the young man. "Thanks again for teaching me that one Akihana."

They walked over with the boy to a part of the restaurant with a little more space. Moving a pair of tables to the side for some extra room to work. One of the clones offering. "Ok, take your new kunai out. But keep it in some kind of sheath. Now this will be a simple test of making sure all of your fundamentals of taijutsu and weaponry are solid. I want you to get into a combat stance. I'll be looking for how you place your feet, the angle you keep your body, and where your eyes are. We're not going to be leaving this circle, but your goals gunna be to tap the knife against one of us clones. Don't try and cut me, but if you do that's ok."

"As a bonus." Mar tossed out a thousand ryo from his new check to which one of his clones cought. Placing it into his jacket. 'If you succeed, I'll give you a thousand ryo." He sticks his tongue out now in a playful manner. "Don't worry if you can't succeed tonight, this offer stands for as long as you are our apprentice. Oh, and I'm not about to hurt you either. But if I see you making mistakes in your stance or anything I might give you a push to show you why you can't do that. Ok." He walked one meter away and got into his own stance. Facing his pupil from the side to minimize the profile that his torso gave and make it harder for him to target any specific organs or weaknesses. First he shifted into a stance representative of leapord style kung fu, with his right hand highly raised and the other bent at his side. Before deciding to test the boy with some more offensive tactics to test his discipline. His right hand lowered much more and his center of gravity shifted to be more like that of the dragon style. He'd be focused on breaking his stance and pressuring him rather than counter attacking. But let the boy have the first move.

"Whoooo!" Mar cheered as Akihana brought in loads of supplies, cash, and sweets for everybody in the room. Practically cheering on his psudo employer with a small applause believing that she deserved it and wanting to hype her up for being a strong caretaker making sacrifices for the group. Even he got an envelope and was surprised to hear of it's origin. Blushing slightly. "Wait, Ms.Nesbit actually?.." Not only had Mar offered to do it for free he'd gone through the steps of replacing her ovens light and several aging components to add several years to this life span. While this act had perhaps been good the decision was ill fated as it took him several times longer than he'd originally predicted to finish. He expected she'd leave the house while him and his shadow clones could attack it at every angle.

But nope, she and her three kids all stayed right around the domicile and he could not get so much as a minute of unsupervised time with the four of them around. He'd stayed up working well until 3AM while she was waiting to make dinner. He'd gotten so embarrassed he did not even think of pay and in fact gave them a coupon for a special family promotion that the chunin was running that day. Which was the only reason he was able to leave before sunrise. "Oh, very generous of her." It largely covered the price of the parts he would have had to buy if he was not a god in the workshop. As of lately Mar had been getting better and better at metal work with his own two hands. Being able to ignore the heat and shape metal with nothing more than a pinch had it's advantages.

As Nectar had been moving around the room he could not help but to stop on Akihana's outstretched finger for a spell. Chirping with delight like a purring kitten for a couple of seconds before going to finish his greeting. Seeing how sour the bear was at his... affectionate landing Nectar's instincts kicked in and he fluttered with great haste back to the waiting Aki. Naturally seeking her out for protection with all the warm vibes she was giving off. if she did not hold out a hand or anything he'd literally land on her shoulder and hide behind her ear. Tail feathers trembling. He'd managed to snatch a roll for himself, which was bigger than his body. Eventually pulling half of it off to demolish in a few satisfying pecks. But this did not stop him from coversing with Eliwood.

"That's wonderful! Come on comeon!" He excitedly pledged. "Lay out whatever you want on that 21 string! Mar, bestie!" He called out, reminding his contractor about something important. "Oh yeah, hey Eli. Check it out, I finished the little project you gave me." Taking out a small scroll he unsealed two objects contained within. One was an unimpressive looking instrument made from hand carved plywood with a lot of mistakes. It did not feel new and was made from mostly refurbished parts. A lot of it was chipped, and it had the faintest smell of engine grease from his workshop. "Uhh, heh heh. This one I made for practice, it happened to break a couple of times in that process. But it's a good thing I offered you two right?"

The other one was wrapped up in a sheet to preserve it, the engineer poked it a little bit closer to the young man with an eager looking expression in his eyes. "Open it." He asked. What he revealed inside was likely the most magnificent instrument Eliwood had ever gotten his hands on. "I used a sitka spruce along the top, an eastern lightning country rosewood on the back and sides. The neck is all mahogany, and I inlayed it with Abalone. It's this semi precious sea snail shell I had in abundance when I was off in a mission out there saving baby seals. Nectar, the superhero over here. Spotted a whole colony and I thought it would really make a difference."

"The toner on the outside is aged, and stain resistant. I figured your probably gonna be out on the road when you play a lot. So that'll give it a longer life. I wanted to go ahead and put some chakra into the material, but I really did not have much of an idea of what you'd like. So I made it just more durable to the elements than usual. You could sink it all the way in water and clean it off a few days later and it'll be brand new. But don't try and beat somebody over the head with it as it's still very much made out of good old indoor wood. To keep it best I recommend using the storage displacement technique. I can show you that now if you wanted."

And yet still he went on explaining the finer details of the instrument. "I used a slim taper neck which should reduce the fatiague of playing it for a long time. I'm also told that design promotes speed, I can't really explain it as a player cause my strings skills are pretty basic. I've really only touched the ukalalee. Oh, and if your chakra control is great I know this handy little technique where you can put chakra in your fingertips. Eventually you'll run out of chakra but until then you could play without calluses for hours and hold razorblades without getting a cut. Kinda makes them a little bit numb still but that's the trade off."

"Somthing else I was happy with was that because of the chakra I could seal in a really nice scent. If you wanted to try that out." he offered, the aroma was a fresh, manly cologne. Admittedly made with some seal extracts, but some of the finest in the world. The smell was like a hard beach, cracking toundra mint that was also soothing. Rubbing off slightly on his hands as he held it. "I used a bass enhancing forward scalping X bracing, so that will really improve your sound. Best if you've got good acoustics of course. I considered making it electronic, but that would have hurt the wonderful acoustic sound it had by this point. Plus speakers can be kind of hell to set up if I'm being honest... Lastly, there's a dovetail joint along the neck to perfectly transfer sound to the body. And of course."

He removed a cap that was placed on the special tip that featured a small candle. Before strumming along some of the base strings which caused it's color to change and it's shape to adjust slightly. "That there is a chakra flame. Burns at just double room temperature, can light you up just enough in a dark room, and obviously it looks amazing. And all the metal components are stainless steel so it's rust proof. So yeah, it's top of the line. You won't be able to buy anything better. Thanks again for the training." He presented it finally. There was not a single detail he did not take pride in.

Noticing subtle signs that Seiichi was hiding his anxiety, Mar got up to help. Picking up the crates with very little effort as he had about the strength of an elephant dormant within. When he went back to try and prepare some stuff for the bears he asked. "Oh, I'll come with." wanting to get him a moment alone. As they retrieved the meat he tried to reach out to the scarred ninja as a friend. Above all else he did not want his tutor to be alone while suffering any kind of great anxiety. "Hey, have a breath man. You can train with us now or whenever, I bet the kids gunna be here a long time. If you want or need to go somewhere. I understand, no obligation here." He reminded him.

"What do you think of the kind anyways? Certainly not the most personable of the group. Already I can tell he's got some things eating at him. For one he's got a cough, and it seems like he doesen't believe he'll make it for very long. When I see that, and the pronounced amount of chakra he's got, familiarity with work. Well, we know he's a missing nin. But we might be dealing with a full on run away. Akihana must have a similar story to him, I hope he'll open up about it someday soon to find a bit of relief." He conversed with his friend in private. Wanting to both engage him in conversation so his mind would have something to latch onto that wasn't bulls*** and confiding within the man who also had interest in training the boy. Mar just hoped it was ultimately for Hiroaki's good. And that they weren't pushing him further into danger.

Sun Nov 10, 2019 12:55 pm

Mar Byrd, that man was getting more and more incredible. He kept on surprising Hiroaki with his many talents. Typically a ninja, village or not, only stuck to one thing that they were good at. Hiroaki for example, had only ever known to be good with a sword. He wasn't the type to be pumping out Shadow Clones and the like. Unlike what was displayed by the rest of the group, Mar Byrd had knowledge of Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, Swords, Machinary, Cooking, Animals, Weapons, and more. Not only that, but he seemed like a real pioneer in the making.

Of course when Akihana had offered that one basic Katana he would help himself to it. No one had any claim or statement of obligation to have it. That being said, Hiroaki went and took it without saying a word, without meeting someone's eyes to give them a reason to challenge him. Hiroaki would slide it in to one of his many sheaths. The first one he always filled first was the one along the back of his waist, between his butt and back. His main fighting stature consisted of him pulling it out fast from there and holding the blade sideways.

Hiroaki was getting pumped, Mar had finally acknowledged starting some training. Though Hiroaki was not expecting the training to take place inside of the restaurant. "If something here were to get broken, don't blame me", he said as he were pocketing the ninja pack and kunai's. He kept fiddling with the hilt of his blade that laid in it's sheath. Hiroaki took back what he thought earlier. He could love a well designed sword or at that a shitty one that still could be used. Mar beckoned him over to the area that had it's tables and the like moved, still inside of the restaurant. Hiroaki followed him, he never declined a training session yet.

Mar and his clones were spread out over the area. He had told Hiroaki what he had expected of him. 'A proper stance, huh?', he thought. Hiroaki had picked up many different forms of combat while he was traveling. He particularly liked a stance that was similar to a fencer's as they were more light on their feet. Hiroaki following that course, kept his body thin in the eyes of whichever Mar was talking. His right leg being the closest to that Mar and his left leg being the furthest. Hiroaki kept his hand on the blade that was on the backside of his waist, ready to pull it out at a moments notice.

Hiroaki was a man, maybe not in the eyes of Mar, but a man. He had the mentality of someone far older than his actual age from all of the things he had seen. He could imagine what techniques Mar could use against him. Because of this, Hiroaki ran out different simulations in his head at light speed. He imagined him waiting there, taking on the defensive. That would give Mar the advantage of deciding how to attack, but would allow Hiroaki to cover most of his body with his eyes. The only problem with that was, he was outnumbered to the point where he would not be able to cover most of his body with his hands. He could hope that Mar would attack one clone at a time, but Hiroaki's motto had changed from, 'That and a little luck'.

Hiroaki looking at one of the Mars, flashed him a quick smile. "No kunai's here", he said. He quickly dashed to the moved table, which one of the four clones was next to. He jumped above the table landing with one hand on its surface, holding his weight. With his other hand he slashed at the clone, knowing that it would dodge. Hiroaki wasn't above playing dirty, if he was outside it would already be a game over. He would have slashed the ground around him to spray dust into all of their eyes. The clone would dodge he was sure, Hiroaki would spin hand to hand alternating between table and sword trying to land a hit.

By that time the rest of the clones would most likely be on him. So, from there he would jump down, closer to the clone he was attacking yet away from the other three. In a 360 motion he would ring his blade across which would do two things. First it would cut the leg of the table clean off, which he would grab with his back hand and two slice at the clone's feet which he was sure the clone would dodge by jumping into the air away from him. While the clone in front was in the air and the clones behind him jumped onto his body, he would throw the leg of the table that was behind his back at the clone in front of him.

Hiroaki, getting pulled to the ground would laugh and cough in a rage. At that point he didn't care if the leg made contact with the clone or not, if his offer of money would be void due to the damage of property, or even if the clones on him turned out to have malicious intent. Hiroaki was having the time of his life. With that he fell to the ground and would stay there. He would listen to Eliwood's music, enjoying the tunes. He would even hum along to them until he started to drift off into a weird half sleep.

(Taking Ninja start pack, 2 Kunai, and Katana)
(WC: 918 | TWC: 4156)

Sun Nov 10, 2019 4:59 pm

Once the ninja tools were distributed, the boys eventually began to pair off and move away from the group. or in Mar's case, several of him took to the scene, some clones moving off with Hiroaki to show him a few tricks of the trade while Seiichi took his leave to go feed the bears. Akihana would have offered help with that but she felt the man needed to make good on his words. Besides, Mar, probably sensing the scarred man could use some company, followed him into the kitchen soon after, leaving Akihana, Eliwood, Nector and the bears siting around the booth.the first tray of pastries had long been demolished and a good portion of the second had disappeared too thanks to the work of both human and summons in the restaurant.

As Eliwood and the hummingbird spoke of collaborating on song bad melody, the green haired monk being given the chance to use his new sitar, Akihana relegated herself to the corner of the booth, half tucked behind a giant bear now happily licking cream off its chin. A soft smile played on her lips as she remembered Yaju's wolf pack devouring her cooking in a similar fashion many years ago. Yes, ever since returning to the world, this was the most at home she had felt. Surrounded by good food and good company.

Even if Maku wasn't here.

His absence wasn't too bad though, If fact, if there was one thing predictable about the man, it was the fact that he wasn't usually going to be around in all the important moments. He had pretty much said so over and over again.

But there was one other person who had promised to be around... and he wasn't here. Absently, Akihana reached with her right hand to her left ring finger, aiming to twist the sizable diamond on the ring that digit used to sport once upon a time.

Only to realize that just like its giver, the ring too was no longer with her.

(Potential Exit, unless anyone wants anything else)

Total words: 2,283

Claiming: 11 stats (to stamina)
Claiming: Chakra signature memorization of Seiichi, Eliwood and Hiroaki
Claiming: http://naruto-role-play-rpg.forumotion.com/t40610-pheasant-hunter (1,500/1,500)
Claiming: http://naruto-role-play-rpg.forumotion.com/t38987-hidden-trinkets-technique (500/500)
Claiming: 83 words to charity

Sun Nov 10, 2019 6:18 pm

Seiichi kept on his trajectory to the kitchen. He needed to make sure the animals were fed so they wouldn't go crazy on all of them. As he entered the room Mar joined him. Seiichi assumed he could sense his frustration by the things he said.

"He'll be ok... the problems not with him." He took a deep breath and started to run water in the sink. He splashed a little on his face and let the cold seep into himself. Taking his shirt he patted the water away and looked at Mar. "A run away huh?" He smiled a bit, "aren't we all?" He asked rhetorically. "He has a place here. It's... just been a long day. I'm going to go in the back and get these guys some food." He gestured to the bears.

He would leave Mar there and walk to the large freezer that was through another door. Looking through a few crates he pulled out three large frozen stakes. He stood there for a moment and let the cold air have its way at him.

What is wrong with me... he asked himself. He had no control over the rage that seemed to be inside him. But he wanted his family to feel comfortable around him. They were the closest thing to him since he left Yumegakure. And even then he never really had much for human contact.

He took the meat and threw it on the counter, ran water and placed the meat inside. Started up a pan with a little bit of oil and eventually put the meat on once it was thawed. Spicing it up just a little he would place it on a plate, one and a half for each... this should make them happy he thought as he placed the trays in front of the large creatures.

Seiichi would then make his leave out the door. If they came out he might watch them train a bit and jump in if he felt the urge. But for now he had a desire to think, to sit and think it was a strange notion for him. Though, listening to the music also seemed to help him focus on things other than his rage...

[Potential EXIT]

WC: 375
TWC: 1158 (EDITED: forgot to count my first post)

[Claiming 5 stats: +5 Health // 1158/2000 Golden Eye]

Sun Nov 10, 2019 10:28 pm

Eliwood was speechless at the sight of the instruments mar produced. The practice run had its quirks but was clearly just that, a practice run. The final product however was remarkable. The level of detail that went into it boggled his mind. The fact that Mar would go so far as to produce something of this caliber in thanks for some quick lessons was humbling. He took the instrument in his hands and almost felt like crying.

"Mar this gift is too much. You simply are incredible!" He strummed the strings once and was greeted with that familiar hypnotic sound he had longed for.

"You were right Nectar the abalone was indeed a nice touch." He admitted to the bird, "definitely worth it. I am grateful to you both."

He would sit down and begin tuning it while he idly watched Hiroaki spar with Mar's clones. Once it was ready the restaurant would fill with hypnotic tunes, aided by Nectars singing voice. The dusty old guitar he was used to could not compare to this. Like Akihana he would fade off to the sides and continue playing for a good while. A clear smile plastered on his face.

(EXIT)
(WC 198)
(TWC 802)

Claiming 4 chakra

Finishing Needle Hell

The other 300 words can be lost in the void forever idc

Mon Nov 11, 2019 10:49 am

Approved of appropriate claims

Wed Nov 13, 2019 6:08 pm

Mar gave a proud smile, patting Eliwood on the back as he passed. "You look like you could be every bit the musician that this Sitar was made for, and twice the ninja. If you have anyone else make your equation, I'll feed you to the bears." He remarked playfully. Continueing on to his young protige. Who seemed to have an excellent grasp on his fundamentals. "Ok, ok. Room for improvement but I can definitely see you are aware of technique." Focusing his attention on a test hidden within a test. "You stand like a fencer, though your opponent isn't armed. In regular combat, this would still leave you at the advantage. I'm gunna teach you a few things to make your technique more adaptable. Just like a jutsu, no tool is ever the best because of it's strength. But about how it counters the opponents strength." He let the kid come at him.

Though the other clone was not expecting the boy to come for him. He was half looking at the fight during his conversation with a touch of interest. Getting to see the action. As the boy got closer to him. His tongue played around in his mouth until the perfect second. Where he shot out a molar with pressurized air from directly at the knife's base. Aiming to disarm him. Before bringing a hand to his mouth which hurt a great deal. "I couldn't exactly practice that technique without using clones to keep from loosing my teeth. But I've got a working theory about what might help you going forward." The real Mar said. Appearing with a flicker of his body behind the boy.

"When you trained, I'll bet he regiment they tought put a lot of effort on you. What you were learning, what you were contributing in fight. There are advantages to this. Usually those who are trained mostly under their own effort with less guidance have better fighting mechanics. They can execute their end very well. Like singing a song. This is really common for ninja you'll see, they perform jutsu by memorizing a technique and performing it all at once." He whistles, bringing Nectar over to land on his thumb.

"Nectar here can perform hand signs just by flapping his wings." The Valk was happy to perform a few. Which looked slightly more like he was dancing interpritevely. "What I've seen in almost every summoned creature is that they were actually tought jutsu and combat more intimately. In his case. In the nest. He's learned from other people as a chick. More than from himself. So, when he fights. It's a duet, he's constantly viewing his opponent and reacting to what they do in the moment. When we spar, he knows every move I'll make before I even do."

"The lesson is this, sometimes you should take fights slowly. In a matter of speaking, focus on just one thing at a time. When you landed on that table. You should have seen what I was going to do. Then still used your surprise advantage to finish what you've begun. Now I will admit, sometimes you will be in a duel with someone more experienced than you. Or atleast with counters to your techniques. A viable method then if you have comparable speed is to blitz them down before either of you figure out what's going on. Instincts are faster than thought. But thought is more powerful than instict. Which you use is up to your personal talent. And decision in the moment. So we'll try to sharpen off the weakness of whatever is your poor suit."

Wed Nov 13, 2019 10:54 pm

Hiroaki opened one of his eyes to stare at Mar. The man kept talking about how Hiroaki could improve his techniques. This to him sounded like a long lecture which he was not interested in. Hiroaki rolled over on the floor looking around the restaurant. What he was interest in was if there were anything to quench his thirst in this fine establishment. "Dear sirs or madam, you wouldn't happen to have anything a bit harder to drink", he would ask. He picked up his body with his arms, forcing himself to take a stand.

With a drink or not, Hiroaki would take a seat at one of the tables in the restaurant. He would put his Katana back into its sheath and place it on the seat next to him. The tip of the sheath pushing against the seat while the hilt of the blade rested against the back of the seat. He was done with training once the lecturing had came up. He was more of a hands on person, liking to figure things out for himself. He took out his notepad from within his cloak, setting it onto the table in front of him. He took out a pencil licking the tip of it before he began to scrawl out onto the pages.

Having too much interaction, Hiroaki wrote in his notepad to cool down. He wrote up many different things in his notepad from unsent letters to ideas for weapons and so on. Wherever his mind drifted he would write it out so long as it wasn't anything that could give any person that wasn't him reading it any bad ideas. Hiroaki currently wrote about a dashing pirate who went from country to country stealing riches. He wrote:

"With the cutlass in one hand and the rope allowing him to stabilize himself along the ridge of his ship in the other, he glared down all his foes. Not a single one would raise arms against the man for they had faced total defeat. The defeat where they would oppose no one anymore for they lost faith..."

Hiroaki realizing that he was lost in his writing had looked up and observed what everyone else was doing. If he had alcohol with him he would take a swig from it as he browsed his sightings, seeing everyone doing their own things, observing them and noticing their behaviors. Hiroaki would look at his blade beside him. 'Soon I will make it three, maybe more', he thought. He liked being armed to the teeth. It allowed him to have a more variety of attacks. Hiroaki would stare off day dreaming while the pencil in his hand was tapped against the paper.

(WC: 451 | TWC: 4,607)
[potential exit]

Claiming:
Ninjutsu 2nd specialty (WC 2000/2 = 1000) half off for being trained
Water Element (WC 2000/2 = 1000) half off for being trained
Advanced: Storm Release (WC 1000)
Lightning Release: Lightning Arrow (D-Rank: WC 500)
Raiton: Swift Cutting (D-Rank: WC 500)
Dirty Fighting (D-Rank WC 500)
23 stats (will be spent towards chak and speed)
Ninja Tool Pack, 2 Kunai, and Katana (Taken from Akihana)

Thu Nov 14, 2019 5:31 pm

Mar raised an eyebrow as Hiroaki lost interest very soon beginning his monolog. The engineer could talk for hours and hours on end about anything that he felt facinating, though he understood this could bother some people it made him grimace in practice. 'Damn kid.' He thought to himself as his lecture was cut short by the vagabond rolling away to look for alchohol of all things. Mar, now dismissing his clones into pillars of smoke. Remained self absorbed in his head for a few more minutes before actually processing the words that came out of his mouth.

"Alcohol kills brain cells, stay away from it entirely if your brains still growing." He sermized short and to the point. Not feeling like going to fetch him an alternative beverage given the minorely rude act he'd just received himself. He sat down, giving the kid some time to himself while happily observing Nectar and Eli's duet. The sound from that Sitar was out of this world and it made his knee's shake to see both things combined at once. All of his friends together, how he wished that it could stay like this forever.

But he had to think of a future, so before long he was sending out some texts to a number of his contacts in the black market to see if there was any work that he and the boy could get down to tomorrow. Eyebrows raising in surprise. Nearly a half cozen missions were ready to be completed tomorrow if they were so fast. Some with higher payouts than anything he'd attempted before. Even if evenly split, this would give him more than enough funds to complete his suit of armor and then some. He could scarcely imagine what the boy would dream to do with his own share.

Ambitiously, he texted back confirming that he was on the case for every last case. Grinning. He eventually moved to help put the dishes away and was sad when he realized everyone was soon to go. Having one more idea to finish the night off. "Hey everyone, smile." He suggested, holding out a disposable camera in reverse and catching everybody in frame at once. Making a peace sign with his fingers off in the corner. They were a strange unit, but like his family none of the less. He chuckled, wondering if Eli even knew what a camera was or where he'd even hide this thing. In a few months they could all be known as fugitives...

(
6,216 Words. +31 AP. Taking Over Ninjutsu as my main spec, it will now be taijutsu. (3000) (Leaf Gale (375) Dirty Fighting (750) Flaming Impact Fist (750) Neck Chop (375) Hiding In Fire Technique (750)
)

Thu Nov 14, 2019 5:41 pm

Forgot to claim 3000 ryo from Aki earlier in the thread

As well as a starter kit and 2 kunai