Curious George at the Hospital (p, inv only)

Mmmm... Sunglasses....

Mujitsu didn't remember much after the guard picked him up and hauled him off. It would only occur to him later that the gate may or may not have been left unguarded. For a long time though, his world was a blissful quiet nothingness.

*********************************************************************************

He suddenly bolted upright.

Where am I?

His eyes adjusted, and he saw an assailant holding a vicious looking needle in a white uniform. Panic overtook him, and he began struggling to get away. Sadly, the heavy covers won the fight, suppressing him so effectively that the hospital staff barely noticed anything astray.

The needle pierced his arm and he felt pure terror, before blacking out again.


*********************************************************************************

"Poor chap, he's had a really rough time of it. Normally they don't last that long, no idea how he kept going when he has the body of a civilian...."

He heard voices near him, speaking in undertones. He kept his eyes closed, trying to hear anything extra in case anyone was sneaking up on him. The madness in his eyes had mostly cleared now; his normal scatterbrain persona nearly in full gear. If it wasn't for the scarcity of his lineage, he would have happily talked about his clan and the longevity they tended to enjoy. No need to encourage more pursuit when he wasn't healthy. The story might be worth the tale later though.

Whatever. He had stuff to do, sights to see, and things to learn, and he'd be damned if he was going to stay in this bed any longer!

His eyes shot open, not from drugs, but from the pure hype he was feeling. He started to scramble for footing in the bed, attempting to clamber out. Sadly, the talking assailants noticed, and gently held him back on the bed. Finally, he was forced to get a good look at them.

Oh.

Right.

The hospital. Exasperated, Mujitsu smacked his forehead, dislodging an IV drip and making his head spin. The nurses cursed under their breath. One gently but firmly reattached the drip to his arm, then scrambled to contain the rapidly spreading fluid. The other took Mujitsu's hand and spoke softly, likely aware that his senses and brain were a little screwed up.

"Did you sleep well?"

Mujitsu was taken aback. He wanted to ask about a ton of things, not a simple question like this.

"I don't know... Probably? Hey, what was that stuff you gave me, cuz that felt good."

The nurse started to answer, but he was already on a roll and cut her off before she could properly speak. He didn't even realize she was intending to speak, the questions were too overwhelming and he had to know.

And how long are we supposed to last in the desert? Are lizards edible? How long are lizards edible for? Because I tried one that I killed a week ago and it didn't sit well in my guts. Did you know black robes can be as cool under the sun as white robes? Is this place Sunagakure? Who was the guy who brought me here? Are you guys always so prone to flash flooding? You should try aquaducts! Say, do you have water around here?

He zeroed in on a strange little bottle of water and immediately tried to down it. The nurse hastily swiped it from his hand, settling it out of his reach.

"Woah, slow down buddy. I'll get you a drink, but we don't want acid finishing off what the desert started."

The speaking nurse left the room temporarily, while the other one kept his beady eyes on Mujitsu, suspicious that he would try something silly. Which was ridiculous! Mujitsu didn't do silly, he did logical stuff, all over the place! The mess had been cleaned up for the most part, though there were stains all over the covers. They formed a nice patchwork actually. Perhaps he would try this method later, as a way of water color painting.

The nurse returned later, holding a glass of beautiful water. It was probably from the tap - which was fine in a developed village like this, but it was still the most intensely satisfying thing he had ever drank.

"Why are they called villages when that should be attributed to clusters of dwellings, not massive developments spanning many tens of thousands of people."

*He gulped the water down in one long chug.*

"Hey, this water is amazing! Did it always taste like this? Maybe the desert water is special. Is-"

His voice trailed off as he realized the nurses looked really tired, almost as much as he did in the mirror on the ceiling.

"Sorry..." He couldn't help wanting to know everything, but sometimes he got ahead of everyone else and that could cause tension.

The nurses sighed in relief. The one that cleaned up the drip earlier spoke this time. "It's great that you have a lot of questions, but we really only deal with the medical stuff. How about we get someone to take you outside a bit later. For now, I can get into the medical stuff with you. She needs to head out to help another patient though."

The male nurse jerked his thumb at the female nurse as she headed out the door. He appeared to meditate for a few seconds - eyes closed, deep breathing - before he took the challenge.

"Ok, what do want to know medically - about what happened to you, what we did, what you need to do, what your body went through... anything really. But I can only stick behind this one time, I'm usually pretty busy. So let's make it good, before we wheel you out into the sunshine for a few hours. And yes, you WILL need to return here to rest."

Mujitsu's eyes widened like saucers as the the nurse absentmindedly picked up a very large needle and examined it tentatively. His shoulders unclenched when the needle went back on the table. He fist pumped mentally, when it was his turn to speak. It wasn't often someone bore the challenge of sating his curiosity. Few attempted, and fewer survived. He may or may not have driven an elderly teacher into madness through sheer volume and scope of questions.

His mind reeled at the possibilities. His face scrunched up in dehydrated concentration as he refocused on the medical things he wanted to know. Another verbal torrent erupted into the room.

"What did me in, was it the lizard I chewed up? How bad was it? Was I supposed to be dead? How long ago was I supposed to be dead? How much rain do- sorry. What did yo do to patch me up? Do you get a lot of cases like me? Can I eat ice cream? Hospitals are famous for serving ice cream. What is th-"

Exhausted, he fell back onto the bed before finishing all his questions. The nurse looked exhausted from listening. Mujitsu thought he saw the man's hair blown back as if he had been blasted by heavy winds rather than someone's overly verbose and inquisitive monoloques. At this rate and volume, he might as well be asking after patients in other rooms down the hallway.

The nurse thought for a bit about life, the universe, and everything leading to why he was here answering some crazed desert bandit's questions on medical practices.


"Ok. So you had heatstroke. Severe case of malnutrition. Dehydration lost you way enough pounds to win a game show, several times over. General cellular damage to tissues across your body from sun damage, overheating, a few surprise bacterial infections, even a few brain problems I'm not qualified to speak about. Oh, and what we in the medical profession call "fucked up livers"."

The nurse took a deep breath. Not to fortify himself, but because he couldn't talk endlessly without drawing oxygen, like Mujitsu apparently could.


"So we had to reverse a lot of the cell based damage and impending organ failures using all manner of medical jutsu. You're lucky we have a pretty comprehensive care package here. The brain damage is largely reversed, anecdotally speaking. We had to flush your kidneys and liver. We regrew patches of skin that were dying from over-exposure to sunlight. We cooled your body and held it to a slightly below average temperature while we did this, just to make sure you wouldn't overheat further. Infections are nothing to medical jutsu. The drips like the one I had to reattach, were to help replenish fluids and help balance your electrolytes. We got you some honey to soothe your throat. "

Another anti-climatic breath.

"It's a good thing you tried to eat the lizard, spines and all, because it staved off your malnutrition a little longer. Most cases we have this severe would have died about two weeks in. Nobody knows how long you were in this state...."

Mujitsu finally had permission to speak. "Almost a month."

The nurse was taken aback.
"Well dayum, son. That was even longer than I expected. You got something special with that body, take care of it. Most of the cases like you never reach us, frankly."

The nurse turned to leave as an orderly came in. The orderly started helping Mujitsu into a folding wheelchair.


"You can have ice cream soon, but it's too rich for you now. You'll throw up, it won't stay down, and that'll be pretty harmful for your recovery. We'll give you ice cream as soon as you are ready, I promise. Oh. Jorge, he's a "bit" of a talker." The last sentence was directed at the orderly as the nurse left the room.

Mujitsu grinned ear to ear, and started trying to wheel out into the corridor, pursued by the orderly. Evidently this wasn't standard procedure.

*********************************************************************************

(OOC: Lots of WC, no idea, doesnt matter right now. I'll update my stat page from the other thread in a bit, though that isn't important either.

Things you could definitely notice, just wandering around:

• One room (this one) has frequent vocal outbursts from different voices
  
• frantic noise responding to a mess
  
• two exhausted nurses leaving on separate occasions
  
• an orderly coming in
  
• then a patient wheeling himself into the corridor without the orderly.
  
• (If you ic overhear stuff, feel free to respond, pref after when he comes barreling out. His scatterbrain nature should be pretty apparent, especially if you actually watched)
  

There's more I probably didn't think of. Go ham!)

Taichi had never been inside the hospital of Suna before, not even before the invasion. When he was a child, he rarely was sick, so his curiosity overruled his better judgement and decided to walk inside. His mother did say quite often that hospitals are the places that will make you sick, so he was skeptical to say the least upon entry of the hospital. Being that this was a lawless type of place, he was expecting the entire place to be deserted or at least, filled with those "back alley" doctors and medical professionals. But when he walked in, he was surprised in the shape it was in, considering the state of the remainder of the village. There were people sti working inside that didnt seem overtly trying to kill you and even allowed Taichi to explore a little bit.

He went down the corridor just looking around, when he began hearing someone speak at a mile a minute. As he got closer to the source of the commotion, he continued to marvel at just how fast this person would speak. From what he gathered from what the person had spoke. He had nearly died in the desert and was currently being treated for malnutrition and dehydration. Being that that was a common occurrence in the middle of the harsh desert that surrounded the village of Suna. Taichi wondered if he'd be allowed to speak to this motor mouth in the room so he could experience first hand what this person's mouth was capable of. He was just about to knock on the door when he heard a wheelchair heading directly for the door. Taichi took a step back and he allowed the person in the wheelchair to pass, with a nurse being just behind him.

As the wheelchair passed his foot, Taichi spoke. "Hello. My name is Taichi and I heard a little of what you were talking about as I was walking by. I believe you are new to Sunagakure? If so then I wanted to tell you welcome, but also give you a little bit of a low down about the village before you are let go from this hospital." Taichi stopped for a second when he could feel the flashbacks coming back. He had his hand inside his pocket just in case this would happen, he had a small needle pointed directly for his thigh, and when the flashbacks came, he would push on the needle, having it plunge into his leg. He felt the pain flood his mind, almost washing the flashbacks away, at least for a moment. He then continued speaking.

"Sunagakure is somewhat of a lawless hell hole right now. The fact that the hospital is in this good of a shape is miraculous to me. As of late there has been a surge of criminals entering the village due to their not being any Lage or any real rules. Or really anyone to enforce said rules that dont exist. There's a man that goes by the name Stark, he runs the place, but has set no laws yet. So when you do leave the hospital, whenever that may be, do be sure to have someone with you or just be careful when you do. It really isnt a place for the less than cautious." Taichi stretched out his hand, waiting for the one in the wheelchair to reciprocate the gesture. While he knew that Stark didnt shake his hand, he was hoping that this one would. He smiled at the wheelchaired one and waited patiently for his response.

Wc: 597

The new body she was wearing felt tight on top of her skin, like she was trying to cram too much into a small backpack. The nurse was about five foot nine, one hundred and forty pounds, and had dull pink hair that fell to her back tied up in a ponytail. To an outsider, she would appear as a normal civilian, though she was well groomed enough to appear as someone with authority. Just the way she liked it. She let a gentle smile come to her face as she walked with spring in her step. Back held high, she approached the room with the new guy and let the borrowed nurse's uniform cling to her figure. To her greater interest, she saw two figures already there- one was her patient in his wheelchair, one was a stranger with abnormally high chakra... Hm. She tilted her head as she stopped about three meters out from the both of them. "Welcome to Sunagakure's general hospital. I am Saki, head nurse, and I report directly to Stark." she turned towards the red haired kid in the wheelchair. "I had to surgically remove the lizard's spines, claws, and a few smaller bones from your stomach. I also helped graft your skin. It's good to see you awake- would you object if I asked for a name?"

She turned to the man who introduced himself as Taichi, before he described the village a bit. As she continued, the persona felt easier and easier to slip into. "What Taichi said is mostly correct- since Mister Stark works directly with- well, at- the hospital on some occasions, it has largely been left alone. Nonetheless, caution is advised when travelling outside. Though as long as you stick to well lit, populous areas, and don't go out of your way to show off wealth or otherwise provoke anyone who might choose to call Sunagakure home, you should be safe."


"That said, I'd recommend letting yourself heal. As is right now, I doubt you could hold off your average academy student. Let your body do what it's supposed to do and you'll recover in no time." she tilted her head. "Though wheeling yourself around might aggravate some of your stitches and other injuries. If you don't object, I could take you on a quick lap around the hospital. I'm sure the orderly won't mind, hmm?" the orderly startled at her sudden question before rapidly shaking his head.

"N-no ma'am." she let a serene smile come to her face.

"Good. There's a beautiful cactus garden out back that's been left largely untouched- supposedly, it's been around for decades, though recently several records have been lost. I won't be able to take you outside the building of course, but there are some windows that overlook it on the first floor cafeteria. Would that be enjoyable for you?" On the other hand... She turned to Taichi. "It's not quite proper protocol to allow strangers back here where patients are recovering. You could bring in diseases, or worse. Is there anyone I need to have a word with up front, or did you sneak back here?" She would wait for him to reply before she spoke up again. "You will be allowed to accompany us to the cafeteria, but if I find you back here messing with patients without the express permission of myself or Mister Stark, there will be consequences. Do I make myself clear?" Her eyes lost a bit of their mirth for a second, to enforce the message she was trying to sink in. She decided not to elaborate on what consequences she'd dish out- after all, the imagination was a very powerful tool. After a moment passed, she summoned back up the serene expression of Saki. Should he convey that he understood, she would nod. "Good. Shall we go?"

[WC: 641]
[Total WC: 641]

AP: 531 - 5 (transformation) = 526

(OOC: For simplicity's sake, I'm gonna timeline things so that Misha shows up after my initial interactions with Taichi, so we don't have to rewrite anything. )


Yeeeeeeeeehaw!

(So much happened in a very short span of time.)

Mujitsu hurtled into the hallway in a blast of air, sound, and exuberance that threatened to reinjure him as badly as the desert. He barely saw an unknown person waiting outside, as he popped a wheelie to turn the other way down the corridor. Oops, he nearly hit someone. Make that two - there was some guy with glasses, papers, and a disapproving frown approaching at 12 o'clock who nearly got bowled over. Assuming he was a civilian and not a secret overpowered ninja of some kind.

2 seconds into his adventure and he already needed to slow down. He could hear the newcomer speaking so he skidded to a halt and then started reversing. The orderly expected to have to run across the hospital to corral Mujitsu, and burst out the door in hot pursuit. Neither party expected the impending collision. Mujitsu won, as the orderly had just turned the corner and had no momentum.

WHAM!

The orderly staggered as Mujitsu's wheelchair slammed into him. Mujitsu's eyes went wide. Whoops.

He deftly spun the wheelchair around, and started to apologize, but the other fellow was still talking so he just mouthed the words silently. Jorge the orderly looked winded and pissed off, but not otherwise hurt. So the mad chase ended almost where it began, with the unknown fellow (Taichi) introducing himself, the orderly and patient right outside the room they burst out of moments earlier. It was all over so fast, the other fellow didn't really get a chance to stop talking. It was like those scenes in disaster films, where an oblivious narrator speaks to a large audience, unaware of the tragedy about to befall them all. This time, the tragedy would be chaos incarnate.

Taichi, huh.

His eyes roved all over, eyeing the other fellow. It would have been suspicious except that the same attention was applied to literally everything else he gazed at too. Tall, slim guy. White spiky hair. Blue eyes. So basically, the village heart throb, yeah? Standard looking clothing, but clothing hardly made the person and he barely paid attention. It appeared this man had stories to tell of his new village.

Attention span notwithstanding, Mujitsu was always up for a low down.

He listened with rapt attention. His mind raced. He knew shit went down at Sunagakure, but he had no idea it had devolved into a criminal haven. It could be worse. He could be an upstanding citizen of society, not one of many petty thieves working the streets like peddlars. Stark though....

Before he could ask about Stark, another voice almost startled Mujitsu from his wheelchair. It wasn't sharp or anything, he was just jumpy and didn't expect anyone else, despite this being a hospital for a major city. He turned around carefully, at normal rates of acceleration again, and carefully avoided running over the orderly in any shape or form. He backed into the room he had left slightly, so that he wouldn't be a further obstacle in the hallway, and so he could turn to see everyone involved.

A kindly looking nurse had stopped a few meters away. Perhaps this was because of the mad scramble in the wheelchair. Mujitsu tried to look genuinely apologetic as he listened to her too. After a few sentences he started wiggling slightly in his chair, like he was itchy, or a bomb about to go off. In reality, he was just getting a case of the "wiggles".

Where she really got his attention, was when she said she removed some lizard parts from his body. Cool! Now more aware that he could verbally run over people, not just physically, he stuffed the question down and waited. More and more questions piled up, just like earlier. Time was ticking, but he did his best to focus on what the head nurse was saying. He had to have an outlet though, so the wheelchair started vibrating back and forth slightly.

He quickly responded when she asked for a name. Made sense. He remembered passing out in the rain, with nary a word to whoever picked him up.

"Me? Mujitsu."

He sat on his hands as a physical reminded to bottle up for just a little longer. The wheelchair stopped wiggling back and forth and instead started bouncing up and down slightly from his legs. Fortunately, it wasn't one of the squeaky wheelchairs, or Mujitsu might not have made it out of the hospital alive.

More words about Stark. Now he was even more curious who that was. Then she basically said he wasn't supposed to have wheeled himself out and about. Urk. He'd have to settle for wiggling in place then, if he was helped around. Could be worse. He might have killed for this kind of help a week ago, after all.

There was no hiding the look of horror that crossed his face when she mentioned the cactus garden. It's a well known symptom of desert travelers: PCSD. Post Cacti Stress Disorder. His eyes widened, and his head rapidly shook back and forth. He had the impression that interrupting her would be a bad idea, but he also needed to communicate his intense need to avoid cacti as long as possible. 57 cacti in the desert, and none of them were pleasant experiences. Less so when you needed them to fill up your waterskins. As much as he wanted to wiggle around and be freeeeeeee, he also had an enduring dislike for cacti now, similar to spiders. Fuck them buggers.

His spidey senses doubled down on the "do not interrupt" idea, when she attempted to intimidate the first newcomer, the tall man. Mujitsu had no idea how the other initially reacted, since he was unwilling to take his eyes away for the nurse. Some people were a lot scarier than they liked. Hopefully she wasn't one of the scary people who ate folks alive or something, and was just defensive of the hospital. It could be hard to tell sometimes.

Finally, she asked if they could go. Mujitsu nodded furiously - his enthusiasm for travel was readily apparent to anyone who had seen him in his time out of bed. As soon as she asked if he wanted to head out...a cheer broke out. More words came out in a gush, like a verbal volcanic eruption.

Yaaaaaay!!! Sorry Jorge, can he get an extra break after I ran into him, miss? Who is Stark? What is Stark? Or the guy who brought me in, can you tell him thanks for me? Do I look like I already reopened any wounds? Sorry to Jorge again. I have little money right now, so I guess robbing me wouldn't gain much.... Is there something I can look at besides cacti? Because I had to get water from way too many of those... things. And it hurt. Especially when I tried to eat one. Couldn't beat the heat yanno. Wait, you also patched me up? Thanks so much, I thought I was a goner for sure!"

He pumped his hands in the air momentarily to punctuate his words.

"Lizard parts though.... I thought that was one of my missing ribs? I think the lizard was a guy. I'm just wondering how much I was able to digest of that lizard. Or the other ones for that matter. Was it dumb to eat so many lizards though? I was running low on food."

He looked briefly sad. Then an awkward moment would pass in which the hyper guy looked to be in quiet contemplation.

"Can I see him?"

He was referring to the remains of the lizard as if it was a whole, living and breathing organism. Maybe the desert had permanently baked his mind a little. Of course, right now he wanted to see soooo many things, that it would be pretty easy to keep him occupied.

As the hyper one and Taichi talked, allbeit quite briefly. Another figure walked up to the both of them. Taichi didn't recognize this woman, which didn't really surprise him. He hadn't set foot inside this facility before, so he would be surprised if he had recognized anyone. Just after Taichi and the hyper one had finished their brief conversation, another individual entered the fray. She was fair and had beautiful red hair. Taichi realized that he had never seen a woman with red hair before. How strange that was. He listened to her voice, she sounded kind yet stern. But there was something interesting about her awkwardness when she first began to speak. Taichi was always looking for interesting quirks and oddities in people. 

While the hyper one was filled with them. This new woman seemed quite plain with little oddities. She stood with proper posture and she had a face that held almost no emotion, except for when it would be expected, like when she smiled toward the other staff. It was odd, so Taichi kept it in the back of his mind as she spoke. Always looking at her facial expressions as she spoke, but more importantly, when she didn't speak. She directed her stern side toward Taichi, asking him how he was able to get into the hospital. He told the people at the front that he had never been there before, and they allowed him to explore a little. Did he go beyond what the people at the front meant by explore? Maybe. He decided that it would be best to be fully honest. "I told the people at the front that I hadn't been in a hospital before and they said that I could look around. I think I may have taken that permission a little farther than they meant." This was the truth, but how this woman would react was anybody's guess. She turned and looked toward the hyper one, with the name Mujitsu. She offered them both, well more him and allowing Taichi to tag along, a trip to view the cactus gardens that could be seen through the cafeteria window on the first floor. While Taichi thought that that sounded marvelous, Mujitsu protested shortly after due to his less than happy interactions with them when he was stranded out in the desert. 



Stranded out in the desert he must have been, if he stooped so far as to try and eat cacti and the lizards that populated much of the desert sands. Taichi didn't really know what to say outside of his response to the nurse. Her attempt to intimidate Taichi hadn't succeeded, did she seem stern? Most certainly. Was she enough to terrify Taichi? Not in the slightest. She left the consequences that would be delivered especially vague, which he was sure was not by chance or by accident. She was certainly trying to put some type of fear inside of Taichi, but he was ulimately unphased. He responded with a light hearted, "You got it." She then nodded and asked if they were ready to go. Taichi nodded and smiled toward the both of them, trying to seem as innocent as possible, for all he wanted was to make friends.

WC: 540

(OOC: Amat said we can skip over her for now, so I'm trying to set it up so both her and Taichi can play "catchup" for a while, IC, without protracted convos across multiple timelines)

Mujitsu sat in quiet contemplation of a lizard's life for most of a minute. If others spoke at that time, he was most likely not going to hear them. Such was the focus and dedication with which he honored the fallen lizard. Maybe he could visit a museum and pay his respects to a cousin. Fortunately, he was not to be occupied this way for long. A new distraction presented itself.

A window, to be precise. One that lead outdoors, and not to the dreaded cacti gardens. Mujitsu couldn't remembered - he hadn't been outside the hospital at all. So much exploring to do. His eyes gazed wistfully past the glass panes, absorbing the features visible through the transparent solids. He jolted upright in his seat as he spotted movement far beyond the glass.

"What's that?!? I hafta see!!!"

His mind flitted away from his new companions and the lizard. He had to see what that was. His hands grasped the wheels of the chair and he spun, almost knocking over a passing doctor. Mujitsu wasn't particularly fit at the best of times. After his extended brush with death, he was definitely on the emaciated side of things. Yet he was spurred on by the curiosity of an explorer - as if he had energy drinks flowing in his veins. For a person about as tough as a civilian, he really picked up the speed, going faster and faster through the hospital. If there was a camera, it would look like a racing game, hospital edition.

His wheelchair continued to accelerate through the hallways. Room numbers decreased, a few orderlies gave chase. A few patients got frightened almost out of their skin. The occasional ninja sidestepped. It seemed he even outran the glares of some nurses - disappearing around corners before they could draw a bead on him.

He was almost to the ground floor before he realized he might or might not have left mister Taichi behind. Whoops. He started to look back, curious if anyone - especially his visitor - had been able to keep up. Of course, he was unaware that Taichi was vastly more experienced in the art of the warrior, and he wasn't about to break the fourth wall or anything....

A large pair of sliding doors greeted him as he drifted around the final corner on his wheelchair. Freedom awaited!

The doors slowly opened for a patient leaving with their family and he zipped towards a break in the traffic. The staff at the front desk tried to grab his attention before he left. The wheelchair and his clothing made it abundantly clear his treatment was not over. They were unsuccessful though, and anyone else would hear them radioing for backup to catch a "runner".

The departing family scattered as Mujitsu blasted through them. Fortunately, no other casualties were at hand. His eyes roamed the skies, searching for the unidentified flying object he had seen ear-

"Oh, it's a PUPPET!!!"

If Taichi was there with him, he would also ask: "How do you think that works?". Otherwise he would remain silent.

His enthusiasm was very, very apparent. Having come from a tiny insignificant place, there were no real ninjas he knew directly. Sophisticated arts like puppetry or spacetime were totally foreign to him. The desert trip had also not been kind, and he was starved for stimulation that didn't come from the sun or pain.

Sadly, none of the bystanders knew of his backstory - to them he looked like someone that maybe belonged in a straitjacket. He wiggled in his seat, all in a tizzy. His mind raced, trying to understand both how puppets worked, and the mechanisms that enabled them to fly. Some interesting ideas emerged, at least for him, but he had no way of implementing them at the moment. They were shelved as the puppet dipped out of sight beyond a building. Even Mujitsu wasn't feeling like dashing around more buildings to find it.

Good thing too. A swarm of upset medical staff finally caught up to the rascal and he was hauled back inside. He got a good length lecture about speeding down hallways - there were quite a few accidents he nearly caused, without knowing. The lectures lasted for a good 15 minutes. They would have been longer, but he was a known case of heatstroke, and considered unstable. More importantly, the staff were required for other functions in the hospital. Mujitsu got off with a stern warning, and fresh bandages. Some of his wounds from earlier had reopened in his haste to explore.

His apologetic contemplation lasted all of 2 minutes, back in the hospital lobby. Then he remembered....

"LIZARD!!!"

A few birds abruptly left the pavement from whence they had pecked. He got dirty looks from a lot of people who remembered his earlier escapades. He didn't notice though.

"I wonder where they keep lizards... What do you reckon?" Mujitsu would face Taichi as he spoke, if the fellow missing ninja was there. Otherwise his words were directed at nobody in particular, one hand stroking his chin while in thought. It didn't occur to him that the lizard - being a surgically removed object - was unlikely to be deposited in any sort of terrarium.

He wheeled his chair back into the depths of the hospital. He may have been mostly alone in a new land, with no contacts, and no idea where life was going to take him. But he would definitely find out what happened to that lizard.

He began poking his head into every unlocked room that he passed by. 15 administrative offices on the ground floor, and a lot of surprised staff. Obviously they weren't part of the earlier pursuit. Good news is, he found the bathrooms. The bad news, it sounded like there was an operation going on inside, and they definitely didn't see his lizard friend. He asked them, after all.

He was partway through the second floor when he found the cafeteria. His eyes got huge. The lizard would have to wait.

"Nice... check that out!" His voice carried a little, the cafeteria was in a quiet time. A few medical staff lurked in the background, nomming on some suspiciously healthy looking endeavors. His eyes locked onto the empty line at the service counter.

"Name and room please?" the lunch lady looked like a mellow woman who had seen it all, far too many times. Still, her expression was cheery. Perhaps she had grandkids around Mujitsu's age. A terminal flickered next to her, a very long list of names apparent even from across the counter.

"I'm Mujitsu. Hi! Good to meet ya! I'm from... " He racked his brain. Belatedly he realized he didn't remember his room number or her name. Not once had he looked at the plate before he bolted from the room. His eyes made contact with her nameplate.

"I... don't remember my room number, sorry.... I can go back and check, Claudia?" It never hurt to use someone's name in an interaction. When he remembered. The lunch lady shook her head in minor bemusement.

"I'll look for you. Let me see.... ..... ..... Oh, I see. You're one of Stark's charity cases. Can't have you eating anything too heavy or rich, coming off of starvation. They fixed your insulin production, and balanced out your electrolyte balances, but you can't eat much... yet. Let me throw something together for you." Claudia, lunch lady of Sunagakure, swept a plate past a number of offerings. She set it on a tray with utensils and carefully leaned over the counter to give it to Mujitsu.

"Eat up, but not too fast." If Taichi was there, she would turn to him next. "Next...!"

Mujitsu found holders in his wheelchair and set up the tray. He wheeled himself carefully to a nearby table. Hmmm. Buttered toast. Eggs. Juice - he wasn't sure what kind. A small glass of milk. And fruit salad! Man, he never thought he'd be so happy to see basic food.

If Taichi was around, he would wait until the other chap was ready to eat too. Either way, he would dig in. His first real food in what felt like years.... Ordinarily, he would have wolfed down the food. More-so because he was desperately hungry. Instead, he savored the taste of non-lizard food and non-cacti liquids. It was the best meal of his life. So, so much better than eating... lizards.

He smacked his forehead. How could he have forgotten his mission?

"Never did find that lizard...."

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(Summary: gets distracted by something outside. zips downstairs and out, is entranced briefly by a puppet. Lectured by staff. Goes back inside to find the lizard, but is distracted by the cafeteria.... IF you want to swap to chatting for a bit, this is your chance!)

ttl wc: a lot.

The other chap caught up at the table. It felt like far too long; in reality it was probably less than a minute. No matter. The food wasn't going anywhere. Was this what enlightenment felt like?

For once someone else had a series of questions. He sat on his hands - still filled with slightly nervous energy - and resisted the urge to spew a bazillion thoughts as they emerged. Hands stilled, but his body began to vibrate slightly. One could be forgiven for thinking he was a human clock signalling an important time.The figurative gears in his head whirled merrily on their rickety axles as he attempted to consider many questions simultaneously. A few minutes of silence ensued after Taichi finished speaking, as he slowly formed a cohesive plot to regurgitate.

"I'm a random dude from Dinky Village, Desert. Poor, literally under an overhanging rock. We didn't even have a name, we're that unimportant. At least, so we thought. Some important guy came to town. People had stuff they wanted to do. Some of it... failed. I took the heat and had to abandon my fellow child bandits in search of a new home. I wish I could go back and visit them, but I'm not strong enough to make the journey. Oh, and I'm on wanted posters all over, perhaps they think I'm still hiding there...."

His voice trailed off, his energy slowly petering away like a melting facade. Without the abundant energy usually on display, he looked a lot smaller. Which was good, it made the upside down smile less prominent. Then a thought hit him.

"I wonder if I would be able to nagivate back with the same map and compass. They weren't mind. Maybe the other fellow ate some lizards too.... Oh right! So I had to skedaddle when the very important goons came running. Left the loot and everything! Fortunately, nice suits don't wear well in sandy weather, so they let me go. I should have snuck on that caravan though. I'd take the risk of detection and human contact over lizards and cacti for water."

His hand stroked his chin, in thought, while his voice became more contemplative and then bright like normal.

"I think I was in the desert close to a month. Thank god I found another chap and got some waterskins. It was him or me, and he still has - had most of his supplies. I don't remember much of what happened, the journey itself was all a blur. Endless dunes - I lost count at around 1467. I ate 10 lizards, punctured 38 cacti, spotted a few vultures. The pain helped keep boredom away.... My original waterskin ruptured, so I lucked out with the one I stole. Thank goodness for the flow-wy loose desert robes though. Sooooo much cooler."

He picked at his clothing, seeming to only just realize he was wearing a hospital gown and not the robes. Apparently he hadn't noticed, all this time.

"I always wanted to be a learned fellow. The first few jobs I took involved seals, that's something I want to study when I'm a bit better. Wait. Maybe they have a library here! I hafta look later! Anyhoo, I'm no powerhouse, but I've always been energetic like this. Made me stand out, for better or worse. Especially as a civy! I have a tendency towards lightning stuff, but I only found out because I accidentally ran chakra through a book. I didn't exactly have... licensed training....." At first he was hyped looking, but he became sheepish remembering his mistake.

"Guess I count as a ninja now, even if I have no real training. Stealing from other civilians is enough to become a criminal, do it enough and they send real fighters after you. They probably think I croaked back there or something, haven't seen any sign of them around here. I'd hate to ruin a trip to my childhood dream. A real city!" His eyes glittered briefly, some of the old excitement lingered.

"I'm totally gonna climb the tallest towers and get a good view of the place! I kind of collapsed at the gates, and woke up here, so I missed out on everything! Later, not now, already gave them fits when they were kind enough to patch me up on someone else's dime...." He got really excited at this point.

"So yeah, that's my life. Goof to a tee. What's your story though? Are you from here? Who do you think the old dude was who brought me to the hospital from the gates? What do you do for ninja'ing? Where are you going? Why were you at the hospital? Do ninjas have a better time with the desert? How do you wear so much clothing? I need a notebook for all this, damnit!" It was almost as if he was a five year old who had discovered a new species of bug, not a new person to cross examine..

As Mujitsu told parts of his story in a quick manner as Taichi believed only he could, Taichi found himself becoming more interested. He wondered just what plan he had that tried that failed, but he continued to focus in on what Mujitsu had to say. When he spoke of his trials in the desert, Taichi was fascinated as to how someone who had lived in the desert could have had such a hard time within it, but he just figured that some people just fare better than others. Taichi was used to traveling the deserts for days on end, but not everyone would be used to trekking over such uninhabitable terrain. 

His ignorance of his own power as a ninja was quite the thought, how someone could have such potential and have no clue was baffling, but he figured that if he wasn't born with the cards that would allow him to nurture his abilities, how would he know. The rest of his words turned the questions onto Taichi, which Taichi smiled as they came rapid fire in his direction. 

"The old man at the gates could have been Stark, based on what the nurse at the beginning and what the cafeteria lady had said, I am almost positive that that is who brought you to the hospital. He was the same guy that was at the gates when I first got back to Suna. As for me, I am from here. I was here from birth, traversing the deserts since I was a small child, that is probably why I am able to handle the terrain a little better, just comes with experience. Since I began honing my powers, I suppose I do fare better. With my fire chakra, I am able to keep my body warm through the frigid nights that the desert provides. I am a mercenary, I kill people or steal from people for a living. I was at the hospital for a transplant of sorts. Then I began snooping around because I had never been to the hospital and was curious. I am currently looking for Stark for another transplant actually, I just happened to overhear you speaking in your room and figured I come and say hello once I heard you were new here." Taichi intentionally left the first question asked, to be answered last. 

"My story? Well, I was born here in this damned desert, in this village. My father was a real piece of shit, but he housed me until I was a teenager. My mother was a lowly guard on the wall, she was killed by a thief that she was trying to apprehend. My father sunk in his spirits and he began drinking like you had never seen. He killed himself when I was a teenager and left me the house." Taichi chuckled lightly at the odd joke then continued. "I graduated from the ninja academy here and I met a woman named Hana. We had dated for a year or two and we became engaged. The night of our wedding, the village was invaded by Konoha and Kirigakure I believe and her and her entire family's house was destroyed. The ceiling fell in and crushed my entire new family. After this, I ran off and stayed away from the village for months, I don't honestly remember how long. I was so drunk for the time I was gone, trying to get myself killed, I lost count of the days. When I got back, this place was a lawless wasteland that was filled with degenerates and criminals. After being here for a few days, I found a woman being beaten in the old scroll shop, so I rescued her and took her to my old home. After killing a couple hundred bandits that wanted this woman bad, I finally lost her to a gang that called themselves the Walls of Jericho. I tracked down the gang to an encampment a little ways out of the village. I seized the entire encampment and tried to nurse her back to health. 

Then reinforcements came and after almost three whole days of fighting, I ran out of chakra and lost. They tied me up and took her to the next tent. They did unspeakable things to her, and I was unable to save her. By the time that I had made it, her face was unrecognizable and her body laid in the middle of the next tent, naked and bloody. I burned the entire camp to the ground and made a vow to find the group that did that to her. Bri was her name, and even though we had only been together for two days, I felt such strong and honestly confusing feelings towards her. 

I finally found the Walls of Jericho's main outpost, it was split up into three outposts that I was able to enlist the help of a local gang of bandits help to clear out all three of the outposts, only to find the leader of the gang, the one who did those things to Bri, was gone. I found a lead and began searching for the bastard so I could avenge Bri and countless other victims that he surely had. But in my searching, I only found more leads that put him to other places. This game finally ended when I killed a mercenary that he had sent to kill me. Before striking the final blow, he told me that the leader was in a place just outside Kirigakure, an island called Fang Country. That is where I am going, that is where I am going to find the bastard and carry out my vow." Taichi let out a deep breath, that was the longest he had every spoken in one go, and was not sure how much of the info Mujitsu of all people would retain, but he still took a bite of his food and looked to Mujitsu for his reponse.

WC:997

Damn. Mister Taichi doesn't know much about Stark either.

Mujitsu listened as the other fellow spoke. He was curious at first about the man at the gates, purely because he seemed to be mildly important. This thought flitted in his mind for all of a few seconds, before fluttering away on the wind. Taichi quickly shifted focus though, and rightfully so. Mujitsu wanted to ask a bunch of questions about Sunagakure since he hadn't had a real chance to explore, and lo' the history! Queries about the mercenary lifestyle bubbled to the surface but were swamped by his tale of woe.

At first, he nibbled on an extra piece of toast. As Taichi's story continued, the toast was forgotten. It dangled somewhat distractingly from his mouth as he watched the man's mouth move, entranced by the tale. By the time the fellow reached the deaths of his family, Mujitsu's eyes were welling up in comical fashion. His hand started to quiver as the man continued, tears starting to roll down his face. Taichi's story seemed to pass in a blur but the words sunk in. By the time Taichi was recounting the attack on the bandits, Mujitsu looked like a quivering nervous wreck. His mouth was hanging a bit slack, and the toast had slid back onto his plate, a single bite chewed out of it.

By the sounds of things, Taichi was good at organizing groups of combatants. While the many deaths were tragic or deserved in turn, he had risen past the challenges and even now was seeking to grow further. As Taichi described his plan to challenge the leader of his bandit opponents, Mujitsu realized he was a bit of a mess. A few napkins went a long way to cleaning his emotional self up.... He even tried to suck a few tears back into his face.

Like this:

Mujitsu would ponder Taichi's tale as the other fellow crunched away at his food. Then he had a disturbing realization....

"I have... no idea where Fang is. Or Kirigakure... Maybe I can find a map later. You're so experienced, I should follow you and watch what happens some time. That would be so interesting!"

He paused, and tried to remember what was said earlier. Nobody could be too optimistic for him in this regard.

"Does your family have a grave here? I'm not supposed to drink, I have to set my bar somewhere. But I'm into milkshakes! Wait. Do you know of any good places to find Mr. Stark? Maybe he has some cool gadgets I could learn about, like that flying puppet thingo. And I want to thank him for covering me at the hospital. And what is the transplant thing you mentioned with him? Can I see it?"

Sadly, Mujitsu seemed to think a transplant was a physical object one could touch and examine....