[Solo] Assisting the Elderly

Mon Aug 17, 2020 1:31 am

E-Rank One
Assisting the Elderly

”Mission Details”:

Yosei rapped on the door rather sharply. Patience was usually one of his virtues but he’d already been waiting about fifteen minutes to be answered. At long last he heard a raspy shout come from inside the tenement building.

“Alright, alright, I’m coming, quit making such a ruckus, will ya?”

What a delight, the geriatric he was here to assist was a character. The creaky door swung open and before him stood a hunched old man, covered in liver spots, with a wrinkled bald head crowned by a wispy ring of silver hair. His hands shook as they moved, one clasping a gnarled wooden cane and the other had it’s bony fingers wrapped firmly around the door jamb for support.

“Please, allow me.” Yosei said, extending his hand. The old man took it and leaned on it with his free arm.

“What’s that, lass?” He barked as he let Yosei take half his body weight. The elderly often mistook Yosei for a girl. He supposed that not as many men wore make-up and grew their hair long the older you got.

“My name is Yosei, sir.” The young shinobi responded in a loud, enunciated tone. “You requested assistance and I was assigned to you?”

“Oh, right, right, good. Well you can call me Mister Tendo. Don’t just call me Tendo, or Old Man Tendo, or we’ll have a problem, y’hear?”

I wasn’t going to, but okay, Yosei thought. It turned out that the old man had a cart full of old junk he wanted to take to a scrap trader’s and he couldn’t move it himself. He led Yosei out to a small courtyard behind the tenement building where the garbage cans and a bunch of other trash was stored. Pointing to a very rickety old cart, he clapped Yosei on the back.

“I don’t know why they sent a young girl like yourself to carry all this mess, but at least you don’t have the back problems I have, eh? We’re not going too far at least.”

Yosei wanted to correct him, but as it turned out he was actually quite a bit weaker than any of the kunoichi he knew and didn’t want to set the old man’s expectations too high. This kind of physical labour was not his strong suit, but maybe that made this mission a good thing. He could at least get a bit of a work out and maybe put some mass on his noodly arms.

They set out down the road. The cart was heavier than Yosei expected it to be, and after half a block of walking the octogenarian man had taken an early lead on the young shinobi.

“Yer what passes for a ninja these days? In my day you’d still be in the academy! Pah!”

“Your day? You were a shinobi Old Ma- Mr Tendo?” Damn. He’d put the idea in Yosei’s head now.

“Sure was! I was a chuunin on a straight-shot track to the ANBU, till I caught a Kunai in the spine from a bunch of bandits. Put the breaks on those dreams.”

“So, you think they made them better back then?”

“Course they did! In prime, I woulda blown you out of the water without making a single hand sign.”

“Okay then. Hop on.”

“Eh?”

“Get in the cart. You can rest up while you help me get as strong as your generation.”

“Feh! I like your attitude, girly.”

Yosei stopped moving the cart and started moving things out of the way. He noted that most of it was scrap metal - rusted old ninja tools ranging from swords, kunai, shuriken, senbon, and a few broken headbands.

“You know, Mr Tendo, I always thought shinobi would be treated better in their old age. You don’t have anyone to take care of you?”

“Who’s stuff do you think this is? Only people I knew as a youngster were my comrades. None of ‘em made it to old age, and they left me all their junk. It’s a fools game, it is.”

Yosei considered this as he heaved along the now even heavier cart.

“So being a shinobi is a mistake then, is that what you’re thinking?”

Mr Tendo stroked his chin. “Nah, that ain’t it at all. Being a shinobi means serving kage and country. There’s nothin’ better you can spend your life doin’ than that. I’m not sayin’ don’t be a shinobi, I’m sayin’ don’t be one of the ones that survives to grow old. THAT is only for suckers.”

Yosei stayed silent for a moment. Then, on a whim, he broke into a run.

“Whoa!” Tendo cried out, whiskers near flying off his face. “Whaddya think you’re doin’?”

“Just trying to catch up to my elders,” Yosei wheezed, wondering if he could hold on any longer.

“Ha! Well in that case you better pick up the pace!”

Yosei was emboldened by the challenge, and in under a minute they made it to the junk dealer’s. He gave them a modest sum for the pile of scrap, enough for maybe a week’s groceries. Yosei noticed the twinkle of a tear in one of Tendo’s glassy eyes as a certain chipped headband was picked out of the cart. He sold the cart as well, claiming he wouldn’t need it anymore, and they left.

“Well, ye’ve done yer job Lassy. Get home safe for me.”

“Actually, if you don’t mind I’d like to walk you home. I wouldn’t mind hearing some stories about the good old days. Like maybe who that headband belonged to?”

Tendo was taken aback, but quickly hid it.

“Alright well. If you don’t mind an old man talking your ear off.”

“It’s good for young men to hear about the past from time to time, don’t you think?”

Tendo blinked, this time not concealing his surprise.

“Did I hear you right? Yer a what?”

Yosei smiled endearingly, and helped Tendo cross the street to get home. His hands and feet were blistered, and he slept better than usual that night.

WC: 1003

[Exit.]

[Claims:
500 Ryo x 2 = 1000 Ryo
1003 Words x 2 = 2006 words

1 AP
1500 Words to A-rank of False Surroundings
250 Words to Queit Footsteps
250 Words to Fish Spit.]

Tue Aug 18, 2020 10:38 am

Approved (everything is doubled during the event so you can claim 2 AP instead of 1, not a lot but you know :D)

[Solo] Assisting the Elderly

[Solo] Assisting the Elderly

Re: [Solo] Assisting the Elderly