follow up to a puppet sup(P/IO Niko)

It was a new day. The rain fell lightly across the streets of the village hidden in the mist and despite her better judgment Saya had gone to bed at an unbelievably early three fifteen pm, leaving her up and rested before the sun finally peeked over the horizon at noon. This is what we call sarcasm. Still she found herself clothed in her standard getting things done outfit with a retinue of puppets following her to her favorite restaurant, and then onward to the training facility. The trip was more dificult now, with her current residence floating at the end of the Kiri docks, but with the speed of herself and her puppets and a complete unwillingness to follow the defined laws of gravity or social expectation about how one is allowed to travel in a civilized society. Taking off at a run she'd practice her free running skills. With one leap she found the edge of a large metal fence with the palms of her hands, curling her body inward as she lost connection to cat pass over the structure and directly towards a horizontal brick wall on the other side. When her feet touched down she activated surface walking, and rushed horizontal to the ground for another ten feet before vaulting up again and rolling across the rooftop of a tailor's shop.

"Saya we do NOT have surface walking. PLEASE!!" Pinochio yelled back as he scaled the wall. His height made it impossible to clear the structure, but that only took a few seconds of extra time. Behind him he heard a third voice.

"YOU don't. She and I do. I'm sure you two will find a way to keep up or get left behind!" Ai was directly on her sisters heels. As Saya leapt high Ai dropped down to slide under her, each taking an opposite path around a curved metal bike rack just outside of the facility. back on her feet she put on a burst of speed at the last moment, and touched the door just in time to give it a tug and cause Saya's fingers to barelly brush the polished metal as it slid from her reach.

"Dang it AI. You totally cheated! You aren't supposed to be faster then me!!!" Saya was giggling the whole time as they entered the building. Several minutes passed, and then finally the coach puppet entered, jogging knees to chest. On his shoulder, the pinochio puppet sat with arms crossed, his painted face somehow showing the frusteration he was feeling.

"It's not fair that you two can do ninjutsu and we cannot. Isn't that right coach?!" His glance down for confirmation of their combined frusteration did not exactly go as planned. At this the puppet stopped jogging in place, but simply shrugged.

"Alright alright. We have lunch, and then we need to work on some more things. We've taken a good bit of rest, and I bet if we don't get back on the grind the next time we see Daiko he'll be ahead of us."

Niko had awoken early this morning so early in fact that the ever bustling streets of Kiri where quiet almost unnervingly so. Taking his time to rise he went over to Johnsons supplies, the clerk or Johnson as he preferred, did not like him at first probably due to lack of buying as Niko spent most of his time browsing, but the middle aged man took a liking to him after he made his first purchase. Probably due to the quantity of said purchase but Johnsons reaction was expectable. Looking through the windows for a brief moment browsing all that the store had to display he realized the lack of lights present in the building looking at the opening time he sighed. It seems Niko had showed up just a "little" late. So going to the next best place he made his way over to the training area.

Taking his time to get to the training center he diverts and heads around the village taking the jog at a lesuirly pace, taking good care to memorize any landmarks that would be helpful in the future. Arriving just before Saya he heads immediately for his go to room, that being room number 12. Reaching his room he knew the technique he wanted to practice. Suddenly his entire body including his clothes and backpack disappear, he sits down for a moment in a meditative position approximately ten meters from the door. When suddenly he heard a large commotion in the hall way getting up to check he enters the door way. There he sees, his first friend one he had made quite recently bantering with her puppets. This friend was of course the future Cosplay Queen of Kiri, Saya. Watching them bicker for a few moments he leans against the frame of the door way trying his best to conceal his presence, wondering the entire time if the puppeteer would notice him.
(TWC 320)

With their discussion over, Saya would turn on her heels. She wanted to get quickly to what had become her personal trainingroom. Training room thirteen. The fact that thirteen was an unlucky number had never even crossed her mind. What even was luck really except the forces of fate acting in the way that they will. Of course for Saya it was not so philosophical. She didn't spend hours considering the reality of a force that causes good or bad to happen to someone without purpose. She just kind of.... existed. With her chakra sensory she could pick up the signatures of those within range inside the facility, but she didn't need it to know that Niko was leaned against a wall watching her and her puppets interact. As she turned she simply saw him. Like. With her eyes.

"NIIIIIIKKKKKKOOOOO!!!!!! I was hoping I'd see you here. After our convorsations yesterday there was something I desperately need your healp with." In a flash she crossed the distance betwen herself and the doorway to room 12. With one great sweep of her arm the three puppets rushed into action, pinochio and coach floating as if weightless about a meter behind Saya. Ai followed her sister on foot, her heels digging into the tile floor as she matched speed with the puppet master.

"Did you get any of your puppets fully done?! I'm still working on my goddess level puppet but I had another vision and I think I have everything I could ever need to get the pieces just right. My friend Ita is carving out the body cavity and working on joints as we speak! Oh! did you get a chance to go visit Ita's shop? I'm telling you you're gonna love her so hecking much. She's such a total sweetie pie and her skill with carving tools is super scary. "

(TWC 821)

Niko sighed turning visible, his frown quickly turning into a smirk, he had known the superior shinobi would detect him if he could make a technique such as that at his level there was simply no way a higher level ninja would not have been able to detect. He would continue to improve and maybe next time the two met he would be at a higher skill level. Though the thought of her needing his help was concerning, how would he help her she was obviously far more skilled then him.

"You know when I heard the ruckus out in the hall way a part of me, knew it was you Saya." Watching the girl fly at him with intense speeds that he could only recognize due to his training regimen. What could the girl want with him, he doubted it would be advice nor training, puppetry maybe but she was far more skilled in the.

"Sure I can help with what ever you need if its to my ability I still owe you one or two. Yeah I finished the blue print for your Pinocchio. But if the thing starts talking" He chuckles slightly before continuing "goddess level puppet that is quite ambitious I must say, though in regards to your friend Ita I have not taken the time to visit maybe I will later today."

" I simply must see this goddess puppet when it is complete your other puppets are great so I can only guess how good this one may be" Turning around and walking into the training room he takes out the child like puppet complete with all of its mechanisms and its signature hat and nose. Niko then turned to face the Cosplay Queen to be and said "Building this one was quite easy I only had trouble installing the mechanism, though it should work just fine."
(TWC 632)

"Only Tria would be loud enough that she could be heard all the way down the hall." From atop his perch on coach's shoulder Pinochio shot the quip. Though he was still mouthing off a bit to her, he did seem to be in a slightly less cranky mood than the day before. Saya ignored him, turning to the task at hand.

"Perfect. So Remember the stuff we were talking about yesterday? the thing we disagreed about super hard core? Well I think i've found a means to give you undeniable proof that I was right. Irrefutable evidence!!!!!" She turned to climb the coach puppet, small hands fitting easily between the openings in its body to get to a small hatch on his back. She pounded twice on the center of the hatch, and with a slight creek it flipped open to allow a target in or out. On the edge of one of the wooden slats there was a barelly there flash of white plastic that came clearly into view as she hoisted it out of coach's chest cavity.

"Alright. So. THIS is from the place I was telling you about. Right across the street from my house." She ripped the bag open, pulling out two plastic containers of food. There were clear deep brown chunks that looked like some sort of meat, a load of broccoli, and it was all soaking in a firey red sauce.

"Take one bite of this and you'll never want to eat meat again I promise!!!!" She offered one containter to him and the second she opened and immediately took a piece with her chopsticks, slipping it into her mouth with and excited mmm. As she ate, she'd continue to respond to their convorsation as if it wasn't rude to talk with your mouth full, though most of the time she'd wait until it was at least mostly empty.

"Right. So like. I had a dream right? and there was this woman there and the only thing i got asside form like a forrest and the womans vissage was this one single word. Freyja. Dunno what it means. Wish I did. But i've been seeing her in my dreams at night and even one time when I shared visions with my friend via some nino or nishko or something she was able to see her. When I wake up I have this idea i can't get out of my head for a mechanism or a new puppetry technique or something which wasn't unusual until I realized that they were all reffering to stuff with the same puppet soooo I figure she means for me to make a puppet version of her or something? Dunno but its wierd and I gotta do it." She took several more bites in quick succession, the food having found itself halfway gone as she took a nibble at the end of every sentence before this. The way she ate was almost like she'd never had food before. Every taste was perfection on her lips.

"Wow. Coming along real good. The mechanisms were a little tricky so I just outsourced."

(TWC 1342)

Taking note of the puppets quip he simply laughed in response, while it was still weird for him to know that the puppeteer was voicing all of these puppets he tried his best to disregard the fact. Soon enough he would be used to it, hopefully. Niko flexed his body briefly letting loose some of the cramps. After doing so he then brought the Pinnochio puppet to life. For some reason the puppet just seemed like he was meant to be a puppet. Taking the time to ignore such a realization he then listened to what the girl had to say.

Listening to her brief but intense rant on the food the had spoken about just the day before he took the offered food. "I don't know about liking this more than meat but ill give it a try" Taking a quick bite and smiling for a brief moment before dropping the smile into a expressionless face he said, "This, this is quite good its definitely up there with some of the most exquisite meats I've eaten, though I would not say it surpasses them. The flavor is quite immaculate ill have to go visit the cook if the food is all up to par with this." 

"hmm, in my albeit limited experience with puppetry I know that the best work comes from your dreams" Niko looked the girl in the eyes before continuing "Though i will be extremely disappointed if the puppet is not of a high quality." Looking the girl in the eyes trying to look serious, but such a face was hard to maintain so he dropped it into a smile before chuckling.

"just kidding it will probably be of a higher quality than any puppet I have created though on the topic of puppets I also have one I have been working on." Pausing for a minute to rummage through his exceptional large bag he pulls out a mask that of an oni, from Shintoism. "my mother used to tell me stories of youkai and deities this here is the mask of a oni youkai."
(TWC 984)

As he popped the top off the container Saya leaned in close, watching his expression for any changes as he tested the dish. Pinochio had had several conversations with her about how important it was to have a variety of foods in her died for both health and energy reasons. AI had tried to gently coax her towards trying something new on a handful of occasions. Every attemped ended the same. She headed out the door and directly to the old lady across the street to grab a circular plastic to go container of the good stuff.

"See! It's amazing. It's better then any meat I've ever had. its spicy and umami and I even had them add vegitables as a comprimise cuz my sister says I can't live off nothing but tofu for the rest of my life, despite the fact that I could absolutely eat nothing but tofu if its from this place cuz its so dang yummy." With her worries sated she set to the task of finishing her container. As the last bite was popped into her mouth she turned the cup like plastic up to pour the last remnants of sauce into her mouth. She considered the next statement for a moment. Was he visited by crazy goddesses trying to get him to make puppet versions of him too? That would be an interesting coincidence, but considering what had happened with assumption with Kiku the day before she decided it best not to head directly towards thinking that was the case.

"yanno. I can't say that I've had dreams about puppets before today. There's definitely some weirdness going on, but I can't argue with the results. This is the most intricate craft I've ever done. There's absolutely no way that I could have figured this all out on my won." his follow up caused a very particular reaction. Ai and Saya both gazed on in worry and distress at the suggestion that she could create something not of the highest quality. Pinochio cocked his head to the side in confusion.

"You think I/she could create something of inferior quality?! that's actually impossible." Heres where things get interesting. Saya and both puppets spoke in unison, three voices matching pitch precisely asside from the required shift in pronouns. That meant that the girl had some way of producing three voices at the same time. Now that was a feat that would be hard to reproduce. Thankfully it was just a joke and each calmed down as he explained his actual thoughts.

"I... I thought you really were doubting my quality. I would have literally cried!" As he pulled the item from his bag Saya leaned in close. She studied every cut and crevise of the oni mask. It was well made, but only one piece of a larger product. Still this was a great improvement.

"Woah. This... This is only a small bit, but I bet this is gonna be such a cool puppet once you're done with it. Is it gonna be called Oni youkai?"

(TWC 1852)

Maybe some day he could be visited by what she had described as a deity in his sleep for ideas, but now a days he had to rely on his own sources and creativity. He had thought of the oni and started its creation for mainly two reasons. One because the concepts were cool quite simply, and two because it had reminded him of his late mother. Grimacing for a brief moment he then sighed. Making a high quality puppet would be nice, though if he wanted to make a puppet of such a quality he would need more ryo maybe he should pick up a side job? The quality of the food he was eating was just above his own he would have to step up his game. A cooking job would be nice it was one of the only things he enjoyed besides the shinobi arts.

"This food is surely of high quality but I could not see myself eating it for every meal"  Maybe he should practice his social skills more. He had not used such skills for nearly two years, he would definitely need the practice. Though Niko could argue he was doing such a thing at the moment. Pushing the topic aside Niko got ready and braced for the girls reaction to his teasing.

Chuckling which transformed into full blown laughter he took note of the girls reaction to his teasing watching her pull off three voices simultaneously. How she did such a feat he had no idea. Teasing was something he had enjoyed when he was younger,  he himself had not performed the act in a long time so he was a bit rusty. But if the girl and her puppets reaction said anything his skill in the act had not fallen much.

"this itself is not a part of the puppet its simply a mask." Niko then lifted the mask to his face before lowering it and continuing, "the puppets chassis and head are almost finished I was planning on working on them when I got home, if I had to say it's probably similar in quality to those two" He then pointed at the original Pinocchio and the copy he had created. 

"I have a copy of the blueprint for you but it may not be worth the time of a master such as your self to create. Especially while your working on another puppet" He then pulled the blueprint from his bag and offered it to the girl while awaiting her response.
(TWC 1405)

Now here was a concept that was completely foreign to the small girl. Saya was the type to obsess over something endlessly until she found the next, and then forget that her last obsession ever existed. This meant that for her there was only one food, only one song to sing until it was completed, only one thing to craft until it was done. Variation was not something she desired or needed. Pinoch absolutely hated that fact. She would get into a routine and follow it day in and day out. This lead to the most mind numbingly boring weeks of his unlife. Get it? Cuz he's a puppet. Anyway.

"Hm. Well I suppose when you've accepted your fate to become a world class chef you'll get to eat whatever you want. Just gotta get some ingredients and cook to your hearts content huh? Have you gotten your apron and knives yet? I think those are like really important for a chef!" She'd give him time to respond, and then to speak again, taking in his explanation on the puppet. Before she responded, she'd take the schematic and look over it. She studied every single detail, for the mechanism to the dimension, every assigned increase or decrease in the width of every single piece. This is something she loved to do. She'd take something and break it down to its most basic elements in order to understand what each was meant to do, and eventually end up with a plan to improve upon it.

"I see. So does the mask go on the puppet? I assumed that it was part of the face. I'd be glad to give it a look see when you've completed it. I bet we could test them against one another to see how they square up. Pinochio totally wouldn't mind. He hasn't seen actual sparring since like. I battled Travin weeks ago. Yanno. Thinking about it I haven't seen much combat in quite a while. " She didn't even look at pinochio as she made the suggestion. She wasn't actually giving him the option. If it meant helping her new friend get a stronger understanding of both craftsmanship and how to control his new creations, he would be the teacher as he always was.

"I um. Well sure. I may have a bit of rust in the ole hinges, but I'd be glad to shake it off for a quick tussle some time. Honestly it would be amazing to have a student to teach that didn't ignore or back talk every single command I gave. Tria is not exactly an easy student. I don't know how I've dealt so far. " Pinochio's boastful tone emphasized his own assumed skill. he was the first, of course, though not the most powerful tool in Saya's arsenal. Honestly it was hard at this point to say what actually was the best tool. Both her ninjutsu and puppetry had come a long way since they started.

"It's probably because you push to hard and don't actually listen to her needs Pinoch. That's literally Why I'm here. "

(TWC 515)

"A world class chef huh, maybe after i become a great ninja. Though the steady money from such a job would be useful for my tendency to overspend on supplies, anyways" Niko stopped himself from going on a full blown rant. He would definitely consider the career but while he enjoyed cooking he enjoyed the thrill of the fight oh so much more. Maybe he could start a restaurant chain that would be an excellent source of ryo. But first he would become an excellent shinobi, he had his ever growing list of priorities to worry about.

Niko stood there watching the girl look at his blueprint in excitement he himself enjoyed the art of creating the puppets as much as using them. Niko then responded to the girls question with "The mask on the puppet is complete metal as the major mechanism deals with the separation of the head to use as a ball of fury. So the mask is firmly implanted and the notable horns are sharpened to a point unlike the wooden one I have." Niko then took a small amount of time to point out the horns and the separating mechanism on the puppet.

"sure I would be down for a spar at anytime but I think we both know the likely winner. I have to work on increasing the durability of my puppets as well as the speed in which i use them. Right now any genin worth there rank could take me in a fight and probably win" Niko's words while harsh were completely true in his mind, while he trained every day he just could not match most if all of the shinobi in the village. Maybe after a few weeks or months of training and preparation he would be able to but at the time he simply would not make it.

(TWC 1715)