Re: Money to make, love to lose

Wed Dec 04, 2019 11:18 pm

Since Susanoo is a final eye tech, you cannot actually learn it until you have two other MS jutsu. Want to choose something else?

Wed Dec 04, 2019 11:26 pm

Edited! Don't know why I thought that only meant the final form was the final tech. Says that absolutely nowhere. But it's fixed!

Wed Dec 04, 2019 11:28 pm

Approved.

Wed Dec 04, 2019 11:32 pm

Chili Secrets

The diseased man’s skin had left such an impression on his mind that he could not get it out of his head for hours. He was trying to figure out exactly what had happened to make his skin to do that. Was it truly disease? It had to be, what else could it have been? He remembered the man’s skin, looking as though it was going to fall off at any time. While he may have been curious, he was also extremely ignorant to most things to medical and he had no clue as to what could have happened to that poor man to make his skin look as though it was rebelling against the rest of his body. Taichi shrugged it off as best as he could and listened to the river as he walked along the sandy banks on the river’s edge. He thought about the medical field and thought how important that would be for a criminal like himself. If he could perform his own medical procedure, that would help a ton in many situations. Whether it was healing yourself or a friend. He then made the decision that he was going to make that another focus of his. He was going to try and get himself proficient in the medical field to become a more useful ninja to any team that he could possibly join. Who knows, maybe there was an offensive use to the medical techniques.

As Taichi thought about the medical field, he figured that he would have to get a few books the next time that he reached a town with a bookstore, figured while he walked he could start reading at the same time. Or take frequent breaks from walking to read his books instead. He had been getting better with the multitasking during his travels, it also helped him keep his mind busy on things he wanted to think about, rather than what his depression wanted him to think about. The suicidal thoughts had subsided for the most part, but his depression was always around the corner, waiting for a weak point. But the books that he had brought with him had been a huge help when it came to keeping his mind at somewhat ease and constantly thinking about something. The best thing about the books that he had been bringing with him, they were all different types of books. The book he was currently reading was about different types of fire style techniques. He had been focusing on the fire style since that was his element, but he had been recently looking into the Earth Release techniques also. He wanted to work on both Earth Release and water release was next. He was getting dang close to being able to buy the Senju DNA. He was getting so excited with all of the missions and the growth that he had been going through. Soon he was going to be trying to learn even higher ranked techniques, the S ranks. He had learned a few A ranks, and now it was time to aim even higher.

Taichi had been walking for a few hours after receiving the money from the hooded man with the diseased skin when he found himself in the middle of a larger town, larger than he was used to seeing, especially for the land of rivers. He looked around at the architecture that blew him away. The buildings were much larger than the other towns that he had past through on his travels. He was also surprised at just how many people were walking in the streets here, there was so many people compared to even Suna. He walked over to one of the restaurants right off of the main road and just as he was about to enter, he looked to the side and there was a piece of paper taped onto the inside of the glass. He shut the door and began reading the piece of paper from the outside of the restaurant.

The sign was advertising to the people of the town that the son of the head chef at the Tamari Chili company was visiting their town to do a cookbook signing and demonstration of how they make their chili. Taichi was interested for he did have quite a knack for cooking. He read the sign a little further to see when the event was and where. He found out that the son was going to be visiting the City Hall that afternoon to do the demonstration. Taichi thought how cool would it be to be able to make such a famous chili himself. It would most likely be much cheaper and he could even try and sell it if he ever wanted to make an honest living for himself. Taichi noted the time and place and went into the restaurant.

When he walked in, he was sat down immediately by the hostess. He greeted her and she did him. She asked how his day was going so far, he answered quite well and asked her the same question. She said good, Taichi did notice that she was lying. He could see her eyes were ever so slightly widened and her breath was slightly elevated and exasperated. Taichi asked if her shift had been particularly busy and hectic. She answered yes with a nervous chuckle. Taichi said that he was sorry and he hoped things calmed down a little for her. The woman gave out another nervous chuckle and thanked Taichi and asked if he would like anything to drink. Taichi asked for water and she was off to get that for him. Taichi opened the menu and he began looking through it, deciding what had sounded and looked good to him at that moment. As he read over the menu, one thing did stick out to him and that was the breakfast burger. This burger was a ½ lb. beef patty with a fried egg and avocado on top. Taichi knew that that was exactly what he wanted.

The woman came back to his table and placed the water on the table, when she asked if he was ready. Taichi answered with a yes and placed his order for the breakfast burger. She nodded and asked if there was anything else that he wanted to add to the burger. Taichi responded with tomato, lettuce, and pickles, make sure there are no onions on the burger. She asked if he wanted regular fries on the side and he said yes. Taichi did not like raw onions on burgers, or at all for that matter. He felt like they were amazing if caramelized, but nasty raw. Taichi thanked the woman and gave her his menu. She said no problem and she had left the table again to go push the order to the kitchen in the back. Taichi looked out the window that was directly next to him and he thought about how much fun it would be to be able to make such an amazing batch of chili from scratch. Especially if he started gathering herbs that he found on the side of the rivers. He had been noticing a ton of herbs had been growing on the banks of the river, but he never really gathered a ton because he did not do that much cooking on the road. He decided that when he got the recipe from the demonstration today, that he was going to make the decision to cook for himself more often.

Taichi received his meal and he was very pleased with the product that he had received. The bun was toasted, as all burger buns should be. The patty was perfectly seasoned and cooked, the egg had already begun oozing the yolk all over the burger. Taichi was so excited that he gripped onto that burger and took a massive bite, loving every second of the experience that he had when he did bite into that burger. He checked the clock to make sure he wasn’t going to be late for the demonstration. He saw that the demo was going to start in less than an hour so he finished his meal and he was on his way out the door after thanking the waitress and paying her for the meal. She thanked him and they went their separate ways. When he got over to the city hall, he noticed that the son was already right outside doing the cookbook signing. He figured he could always use another book and it seemed to be small enough that maybe he would buy one. When he saw the price, he decided against it. But waited in line anyway because he had time to kill and he wanted to say hello. He got to say hello to the man and they all went inside City Hall for the demonstration. Taichi thought it was interesting that they were using City Hall, util he realized that it was a community recreation center as well. The small hall at the entry of City Hall all of a sudden became a massive auditorium with a set up on the stage that the man was going to be demonstrating the cooking of the chili for all who attended. It seemed that there was quite the fanbase in this town because there was almost one hundred to one hundred and twenty people inside the auditorium to learn this recipe. Taichi watched as the man took the stage and introduced himself. His name was Akira and he was the son of the great Eiichi who was the head chef to the Tamari chili company and he was going to demonstrate how they make their famous chili.

Taichi was excited to see Akira create their recipe in front of the audience, and he was being very attentive. The man went through the whole demonstration and it was a marvelous and lovely sight to watch someone be able to have such agility with the knife as he was chopping all of the various vegetables, the fresh herbs and spices during the preparation step for the meal. He was also quite impressed with the speed at which the man was able to prepare that whole recipe and do it so efficiently. Taichi was, however, perturbed that they did not give them the secret ingredient that they put in their recipe. It was a specific blend of spices and Taichi wanted to know what they were and how much of each. The demo was over and everyone was invited to go to the front to try the chili.

When Taichi got up to the front, he asked Akira what the secret blend of spices was. He said that he couldn’t tell me because it was in fact, a secret. Taichi didn’t like that answer, but he relented and shook his head and thanked Akira for the demo and for the wonderful chili that he had prepared. Akira simply smiled and thanked him for coming out to the demonstration. Taichi smiled back and nodded as he walked out of the City Hall.

Taichi was still wanting to know what that secret blend of spices was, so he waited until Akira left the City Hall, and he decided to follow him. Taichi trailed the man to the inn that he was staying in. When he saw which room Akira was in, he went over to the inn door and knocked. When Akira came to the door, he seemed slightly nervous at the fact that Taichi was standing outside the door. Taichi asked one more time for the secret blend of spices, which Akira stayed strong to his word and did not give him. Taichi then activated his Sharingan and placed Akira under a genjutsu, allowing Taichi to contrl his mind. He made Akira write down the entire recipe, including the secret ingredients and give them to Taichi. Akira of course complied due to the mind control and gave it to Taichi. Taichi then released the genjutsu and just before leaving, Akira had asked what just happened. Taichi explained to him that he had forgotten his pen at City Hall and he was just returning it to him. Akira shook his head in relief and thanked Taichi for returning his pen. Taichi smiled, said no problem, and left the inn. Taichi went to the store and gathered the ingredients he was going to need to make his lunch. He was going to make it on the road, because he was sure he still had a long trip ahead of him before returning to Suna.

WC: 2100

+2400 Ryo & 5 stats
+545 toward Dragon Fire Technique (Completed) Progress is on previous page
+1555 toward A-Rank Chakra Shroud (2208/2500) Progress is on previous page

Thu Dec 05, 2019 11:17 pm

Thu Dec 05, 2019 11:23 pm

Thu Dec 05, 2019 11:39 pm

Rob a Caravan

Taichi was leaving the home of Dirty Dan when he could feel the land of rivers calling out to him. He decided to take a small break before his long journey ahead, so he found a large tree directly next to a river, set his things down. He leaned against the tree and began staring into the waters of the river. His mind immediately roaming and wandering in the subject of beauty that surrounded the waters and the animals who inhabited them. The way the sun would glimmer off of the surface of the water, and the sounds of the birds chirping as they bathed in the waters. He didn't feel more at home anywhere than in the land of rivers. The sands of the desert, Taichi felt were always very unwelcoming. Sure it was warm and it would be great to visit, but he never really felt like he belonged there, he never felt as at home in the terrain. He felt that the abundance of water was what lured him into the land of rivers. The sandy terrain of Suna and the land of wind provided very little natural water sources. Unless you go very south, that is. But that was not something Taichi wanted, because then he would have to travel the entire desert if he ever wanted to go to the forests of Konoha or the land rivers. He was sure he was going to move, he was not long for Suna as it was. But as it stood today, he was even shorter for that place. But as much as he loved the rivers and the waters they possessed, he felt it was time to return to the sands, maybe track down some merchant caravans. Merchants would often use parts of the land of wind to get through to the land of fire or rivers. They did this even though they knew that missing ninja and bandits wrought havoc on those lands, anything to save a few Ryo in travel costs Taichi figured. But they also figured out routes that would allow them only one day passage through the sandy terrain, so they would be less likely to be hit by bandits or missing nin. So the key to gaining any loot from the caravans, was catching them.

Taichi had a few spots that he had been scouting out prior to raiding Dirty Dan’s outposts, he saw plenty of tracks that made it seem to be a trade route. That was actually how he found Dirty Dan’s outposts in the first place, was studying the trade routes that allowed single day passage through the deserts of Suna. When he was following the paths through the sand, he often found empty alcohol bottles and different types of wares that would fall off of their caravans. Taichi figured they never stopped to pick up the wares that fell because it would take a full day of non stop movement to get through the deserts in one day, from the sun rise to sun set they would have to move one hundred percent of the day to make it to the other end without being struck by a thieves best friend, the night.

Taichi packed up the books he had gotten from the book store when he was walking with Aito, Dirty Dan’s son. After ensuring his books were all packed, he hit the road again, ready for another adventure. As he walked toward the deserts, he could feel the terrain change around him. Not only with the obvious sights and the feeling of the sandy road underneath his feet, but the chirps, calls, whines, and rushing of the water were all but a distant memory as he got deeper into the desert. As the beautiful sounds from the land of rivers faded, the silence of the desert began to take hold. The only sounds he could hear was the empty winds blowing onto the dunes of sand that surrounded him. The sun was directly above him at this point, so he reached into his backpack and grabbed a small piece of cloth. He wrapped the cloth around his head, keeping the sun from hitting his head directly. He unzipped his sleeveless vest and put it into his backpack. He felt his feet into the sand as he walked off of the beaten path to cut across a section of sand so he could reach his first waiting spot.

He walked through the sand into the night, he knew that he wasn’t going to get a caravan that night, at least he was pretty sure he wasn’t going to. He reached the first site that he was going to stake out and stay there the next day, waiting for a caravan. He was mentally prepared for the next day to be a long day of just sitting and waiting, but if he was able to catch himself a caravan, that would certainly make the wait worth while. He reached a small valley that had been created by the winds and the sand of the desert. He was sure to cover his trails in the surrounding area making it less likely that the caravan would see his prints leading up to the top of one of the walls of the valley. He stood on the tall mound of sand, looking down at the limestone road that had been used by many caravans in the past. He set up his camp, which was a blanket that he had rolled up in his backpack. He unrolled the backpack and laid it out on the desert sand. He laid down and he looked up at the stars, thinking about the land of rivers and how peaceful it was to fall asleep directly next to the waters. He continued to think about the waters, thinking about the sounds the water made as it flowed through and how it would occasionally splash up onto his face, when he laid directly next to the river. He loved that place and couldn’t wait to go back.

He looked into the night sky and he marveled at the stars for a little while, while he may not have been able to be in the exact place that he longed to be, he could still look into the sky and enjoy something that the place he loved and the place he was in both had in common. He did remember back during the time before Suna’s destruction and it being overrun with criminals and mercenaries, he would often climb up to the roof of his parent’s house. He would love to stare into the sky, it was almost like his own secret place, it was a place that the worries of the world could not reach him. He would imagine himself being on top of the clouds, just floating through the sky without nary a worry and with absolutely no strife. He would have loved to have been able to be a cloud, even if it was just for a day. Just floating above the problems that man had generally brought upon themselves. He would be able to look at it from afar, but he would ultimately be able to escape from all of the world’s problems. With this thought, Taichi could feel and see his vision begins to blur and he was beginning to lose his consciousness. As Taichi was excited to be falling asleep, he was also very weary due to the fact of him being out in the open with no one to be keeping guard. But he was hopeful that he would make it through the night, but if not, then that would mean he would be able to just die and meet Hana once more.

His consciousness was reaching its limits. The clouds in the sky, being illuminated by the moon, were beginning to blur together and forming large figures in the sky that were moving around, almost as if they were dancing. The dancing turned into thrashing around, Taichi had fallen asleep, but he couldn’t tell it yet. The thrashing figures in the sky began to catch fire. The fire had turned into an inferno. Taichi could hear the screams of Hana, the noble, and the assassin. Taichi had killed quite a large amount of the grunt bandits, but these ones were different. These guys were killed by a personal vendetta. Did Taichi need to kill them? Not all of them. But either way, the scream was recorded in his brain and was beginning to join the chorus that had been formed with all of the ones he had seen either burn to death, or crushed to death and then burn to decay. Taichi thrashed about for a little while, but finally his body calmed down and he was able to sleep for the rest of the night.

The next morning came and Taichi was slowly waking up from a night’s rest on the warm sand of the desert. The night could get quite cold, but the clothes that he wore kept him warm enough to sleep through it with no real discomfort. When he finally stood up, he stretched out his body and began collecting all of the things that he had laid out on the floor, then he was ready to begin lookout for the caravan. While he was sure that he wasn’t going to see anyone for a few hours, he decided to stay put, just in case any caravans had decided to brave the night before and got lucky with a head start and no bandits coming to take their goods over the night. Taichi stood on the sand, waiting for a caravan, but also trying to keep his mind busy, this way it wouldn’t wander into the realm of depression that he was constantly fighting. Taichi thought about the water in the river once more. The clear water that allowed him to see the river bed clearly. The fish that he had seen swimming through the rivers, rushing with the waters and watching them as they quickly hopped over the walls of rock that had been formed along the river. He looked back up into the sky and he watched the clouds as they floated overhead.

“Oh to be a cloud. Get away from the recurring pointlessness that he went through on a day to day basis. Nothing that he did actually mattered, nothing he did carried anything of note. Taichi felt like this about most things that most people did. What were people going to remember in a couple years? A missing ninja that carried out contracts and then probably died in the side of the road one day by some other missing ninja who got a drop on him? No. The world was not going to remember him from any other clown that had decided to become a Missing Nin because they couldn’t handle becoming village shinobi? No. He was going to go through his life, then one day die, after he was able to put the fear of God into the village Kage. The ones that had destroyed his home and put an end to his possible happy future with his family. So why couldn’t he do the same to them?

Taichi had been waiting for half the day, and the sun was beginning to bake Taichi alive. As much as he wanted to move his position, the spot he had chosen on the wall of the sand valley floor. He wiped the sweat off of his brow and continued to watch towards the North North west area. Usually the caravans worth anything, were coming in from the west and heading to Konoha. Konoha being as big as it was, it usually didn’t export that many items, just imported. This being known, Taichi didn’t spend much of his time in the area of Konoha, one because there are a lot of village ninja that covered that entire area and it was much less likely for him to get into a fight with a whole team, sitting right here in the desert.

He was beginning to become impatient, trying to figure out just what was keeping a caravan from coming this way. After a few more hours and the night began to fall again, he decided to get back up when the night fell, and he began walking backwards to another site that he had known about being used as a caravan trading route. Taichi watched as the sun began to set underneath the giant mountains of sand that surrounded his area. The colors of the sky were something to behold, he loved watching the purple and oranges colliding with each other with a few wihte clouds being speckled within the sky, being filled with all of the different colors that comprised within the sky. He pushed himself to keep walking, even though he was tired. With him not sleeping very well, he knew that he was going to be tired, but he knew that he needed to keep pushing if he was going to get to the second place in time. If he was able to get there quick enough, he might even be able to catch a caravan resting there before they even left for the next day of traveling.

The caravans preferred to use the small valleys that were created by the sand and wind because the mounds of sand would act as a blocker and barricade to the wind that would otherwise bombard all of the caravan drivers and more importantly, the animals that drug the caravan wagons to their destination. Usually the wind wouldn’t bother them too much. But at times, with too much aggravation by the sand in the hide or eyes. The animals did tend to be more unpredictable and less likely to be obedient.

Taichi continued to walk along the road, determined to get to the site before the sun rose. He pushed his body, legs beginning to get tired. He had been walking and / or running for the last ten hours. But he pushed himself further, if he was able to catch a caravan, he thought about possibly returning to Suna for a little while. Maybe train some techniques, or maybe even try and make some money in the village ripping off the bandits instead of constantly being on the road. He also thought about possibly uprooting from Suna and running off somewhere, he honestly didn’t even care where, as long as it wasn’t another desert.

He continued to jog when he began seeing a small glow, the glow was not strong enough to be the sun, so that left one option that Taichi was hoping to be true. Taichi continued to get closer to the second valley and he began walking up the mound of sand that acted as the Eastward wall of the valley. When he reached the top he looked down toward the road way that was below about twelve meters. To Taichi’s delight, there one was. A decent sized caravan with what looked to be four wagons and had very few passengers. Taichi was surprised that there was only one guard. Usually caravans that travel through the land of wind, they have three to four guards. Taichi would not complain, that would make this caravan a much easier target for him.

Taichi rested his body for a few moments, to make sure he didn’t cramp up when he actually initiated the siege of the caravan. As he rested, he thought to himself. “No killing, no killing, no killing. You are better than that. Just creep into the caravan, steal some money from one of the wagons, and be gone.” Taichi wanted this to be easy, he had been killing too many people for his own comfort lately and wanted to calm it down just a little bit. He slowly got up from the sand and he readied himself to sneak into the caravan. Taichi slid off of the valley wall and quietly slid down the sand.

Taichi reached the ground and he went up to the rear wagon. He looked inside and it seemed that everyone was asleep. Taichi checked the other wagons and everyone seemed to be asleep, even the guard. Taichi nodded his head in disgust. “You are supposed to be guarding these people and you are in the land of wind, which right now, is not the wonderful place as it used to be. Now it was full of lawless criminals, like himself!” Taichi thought to himself as he began searching one of the middle wagons, which is generally where the driver’s own valuables were stowed, which is why they were protected by the front and rear wagon. When he opened the door to the wagon, the hinges began to creak. Taichi checked to make sure he didn’t wake anyone up. When he was sure, he opened the door the rest of the way and he began checking the locked box that was lying in the middle of the wagon.

He grabbed a lockpicking kit that he had picked up at one of Dan’s outposts and began to pick the lock. This made some noise, but wasn’t enough to wake anyone up, so he figured that he would be okay. He got the lock open, and when the lock released, the top of the lock box popped open, which made a slight thud sound. Taichi was unsure if that was enough to wake anyone. He looked around quickly and saw no one stirring around. He went back to the lockbox and grabbed some of the money that he had found inside. When he went to shut it, he heard small footsteps coming around the wagon. Taichi’s heart sunk down and his stomach began to churn. He turned his head to face the source of the noise. When found the source, it was a small boy. He didn’t look to be any older than three and he was looking directly at Taichi. Taichi waved hello and the boy reciprocated. Taichi knelt down in front of him and put his hand on the boy’s shoulder. “You should be in bed, little one.” The little boy nodded his head. Taichi told him to go back to bed and the little boy nodded and waved goodbye to Taichi. Taichi, being so relieved, waved back to him and quickly fled the scene.

WC:3068
+3600 Ryo, +7 AP, +7 stats
+292 to A Rank Chakra Shroud (Completed) Previous progress above and previous page
+1500 to Katon: Demon Lanterns (Completed)
+1276 to Katon: Blast Wave (1276/1500)

Fri Dec 06, 2019 12:01 am

Don't shoot the messenger

The innocent man had been released and Taichi felt that his job was done. As he was leaving the town, he heard someone sprinting directly towards him and gaining on Taichi. He quickly whipped around and readied himself for a fight. He saw Daichi, the man that Taichi had just saved from being put into jail for something that he hadn’t done. Daichi embraced Taichi and thanked him for saving his life and career. Taichi patted Daichi on his back and said that it was truly no issue. Daichi was in tears due to his fear of having to go to jail. Taichi responded to the man’s thanks with a nod and a smile.

“Every man should at least be allowed to a fair trial, no matter what the evidence or what stories are told, a fair trial should be allowed no matter what.”

With that, Taichi smiled at him and placed his hand on Daichi’s shoulder. He said that he was welcome and to have a great day. With that, he turned back around and he began walking down the road.

As he was walking down the road, another interesting person of note past directly by Taichi. Usually Taichi didn’t care too much about who are what crossed his path, as long as they weren’t trying to bother him, but this guy, this guys was different. Taichi had a bad feeling about the man that had walked by him and was worried for the people of the town that he had just left.

Taichi walked over to the man and he asked him who he was. The man turned around and it shocked Taichi. His face looked to be rotting off of his head and his skin looked as though it was actively running away from the rest of the man’s body. The man had put his finger up to his lips and hushed Taichi. He continued to explain that he was just passing through and see a healer that has told the man that he could heal the walking corpse. He pulled out his wallet and outstretched his hand toward Taichi.

Taichi was confused and asked him what the money was for. The man responded that he just wanted Taichi to stay quiet about his presence and not tell anyone in the town that he was going to be staying the night there. Taichi shrugged his shoulders and took the money. He thanked the rotting man and he turned back around, heading down the road. He wondered just why the man wouldn’t want people to know that he was there. He also wondered why the man’s skin seemed to be running away from him.

Taichi figured that it truly didn’t matter and he was just glad that he was able to make a little money by literally just asking a man why he was in a certain area. He just wished that more money would be able to be made that easily. With that thought, he continued down the road alongside the river. Whistling and breathing in the marvelous and cool air, filled with the gorgeous sounds of the rivers.

WC:522
+500 Ryo; +1 AP; +1 Stat
+244 towards Katon: Blast Wave (Completed) Progress above
+278 towards Katon: Great Fireball (278/1000)

Fri Dec 06, 2019 12:05 am

It's not an addiction

Taichi had finished at the noodle shop and was looking for something to do for the night. Taichi had been traveling for days without really stopping. But tonight, he was going to spend the money and actually get a room inside an inn. The last week or so he had been sleeping outside in various areas, be it under bridges, along the river, deep in the woods, even up in the trees. He loved being in the outdoors and he was enjoying having the ability to do whatever he wanted and perform all of these tasks and making the money that he was making. The money he was making was good and it was going to be helpful to him extremely soon, all he needed was a contact for how he was going to be able to buy himself the transplants that he needed. According the people that he had talked to in the past about transplants, he had just enough money for him to buy the transplants that he was looking for. Not to mention all the training he had been doing while on the road, he was going to start growing exponentially if he could just keep up this rate of growth, training, and money making.

While Taichi had been focusing so much on traveling and making money, he hadn’t been spending hardly anything. He was trying his best to save up every single penny that he had, trying to push as far as he could before going back to Suna where he was less likely to make some good money. Taichi was walking down the street, looking for an inn that had an open room. While he was looking for an inn, he found a bar that was having a poker night. He saw the pot was totaling out tonight at 500 ryo! Taichi figured why not and headed on into the bar. He walked in and walked up to the bartender and asked them if he could buy in to play a little poker.

The bartender smiled and nodded. He told Taichi which table to go sit at and took Taichi’s money and traded it in for chips. Taichi thanked the bartender, they both said their salutations. Taichi sat down at the table and he looked around at the other participants of the game. There was quite the variety of people at the table. He greeted everyone and they all greeted him. Taichi was dealt his cards and they began to play. As the hands were getting laid down, Taichi won some and lost some. Poker was something he had only played a handful of times. But he didn’t honestly care about winning or losing, all he cared about was doing something other than walking and reading. Finally the last few hands were played and Taichi miraculously won the pot. The bartender walked up to him and handed him the stack of ryo and congratulated him. Taichi rose it in the air and the whole bar cheered. Taichi then followed that up with going straight to the bar and drinking through the night, figuring what harm could mass volume of alcohol in one sitting really do?

WC: 530
+500 Ryo; +1 AP; +1 Stat
+530 to Katon: Great Fireball (808/1000) Previous progress above

Fri Dec 06, 2019 12:10 am

Simple Delivery

Taichi was just about to go town jumping, when he stopped into the local market to grab the ingredients he was going to need to make the chili recipe while he was on the road. He was reading the new chili recipe that he had just received, again and again until it was totally imprinted in his mind. The secret ingredients were all common herbs, but the thing that Taichi was most interested in was the proportions and the amounts that each of the spices were needed to make the chili as good as the batch that Akira had made earlier that day. While he was in the market, he was browsing through the shelves, trying to find all of the ingredients. He wasn't able to find the Saffron, so he asked the lady at the front counter and she told him exactly where they were. When he saw the price his jaw dropped at the sight and the thought that such little tiny herbs could cost so much. Taichi grabbed them anyway because he was sure they were important to the recipe. He checked to make sure that he had everything he was going to need for the recipe, he would read down the recipe and make sure that each and every item on the list, was present in his basket. After confirming that he had gotten everything for the recipe, he walked over to the front counter and began placing all of his items onto the conveyor belt so they could be scanned in. Taichi walked over to the register after emptying his cart out onto the belt. The woman at the register greeted him and asked him how he was. He said he was fine and asked her the same question and she said that she was in the need if a delivery boy, but couldn't find anyone. Taichi looked out the window and saw the help wanted sign, he asked if there was anything he could help her with and she nodded her head in excitement and said that there was. She told him that there was a family in the next town maybe a two to three hour walk from the store. She was hoping that he would be able to deliver their groceries to them because they were elderly and couldn't come and get them. Taichi accepted the task post-haste and he headed out the door with both sets of groceries. Taichi was excited to be taking on a task that was so easy, it wouldn't be as easy as when he was given money for just responding to an ad to put a funeral together, but it would still be pretty easy. He saw the archway that lead to the exit of the town and he was ready to hit the road for the elderly couples home. He thought for a moment as to why they couldn't just get groceries inside their own town, but he didn't worry about it too much. He focused on the road and began his short journey.

He was walking along the river that was directly beside the road when he decided to whip out his chili recipe one more time. He continued to read it so he could get it memorized when he heard noticed that he was already beginning to near the next town over, he was amazed at how his body just went on autopilot while his mind was so focused on the recipe and his own thoughts that he hadn’t even realized the fact that he had walked for so long without resting. He was only a few more minutes out of town so he decided to put the recipe back into his backpack. He zipped the backpack back up and threw it over his shoulder. The groceries still in his right hand. When he threw the backpack back over his shoulder, he heard a woman yelling for help. It was very faint and quiet, so he was thinking it was an older woman. Taichi, still with bags in hands, sprinted over to where he heard the noise. When he arrived, there was an old woman and man lying on the ground dead. Their bodies laid out on top of each other on the porch of an old shack. When Taichi took a look at the address that was written on the mailbox in front of the house, he reluctantly checked the address on the bags the shopkeeper had given Taichi just before leaving. When he saw they matched, he realized that he had a choice to make, he could either go back into the other town and tell the shopkeeper that the people were dead, or he could continue down the road and forget about any of this happening. He wasn’t too keen on the idea of having to go all the way back to the last town because that would have him stay the night there, and he wanted to get a little farther that day. So he decided that he was just going to leave it alone and forget that any of this even happened. He looked through the bags of groceries and grabbed what he wanted. He left the rest inside the elderly couple’s house on their kitchen table. Before the authorities had arrived on the scene, Taichi had already left and was long gone from the situation. While he did feel terribly for the elderly couple, there was not a whole lot that he could do to help them since they were dead, and he was sure that the authorities on the case would be able to find the murderers who had killed the poor old man and woman.

Taichi continued through the town and he readied himself for whatever he was going to find there, maybe it was some money, or maybe someone crazy, or better yet. Maybe the next adventure he was going to find was something paranormal. Now that would be an exciting day for him.

WC: 1000

+2 stats +1000 Ryo +3AP
+192 towards Katon: Great Fireball (completed) Previous progress is above
+808 towards Katon: Phoenix Fire (808/1000)