Tea&Taijutsu [Saya]

"..."
"She really is something else. In all my years..."
"It's nice to meet you all..."
"What is this Valhalla thing?"
They're unlikely to get too much of a coherent answer, so they decide not to pry too much into other people's heathen beliefs.
"...Well, we believe in reincarnation at my temple. I'm supposed to actually be part of that, and, well, all the details are a bit much, but I'm the head priestess at the moment. Technically have been for years, but it's not like i have any influence, since I'm still 16." Makoto puts down her cup, thinking. "But the main point of it is that I'm supposed to help people. Heal the sick, and help them keep peace of mind. Because life as a Shinobi is hard, we're supposed to help make it bearable and help them carry onto the next life without regrets and pure of heart. It's... well, I've always thought it was quite a nice thing to do, but it's a lot more complicated than I believed when I was first told it was my duty." She hums "...I wasn't going to ask, but I'm too curious. The end times? How do you think things will end?"

(TWC 1598)

There was a sharp, over exagerated drawing of breath as Mokoto pointed out her age. The girl was so like. regal and stuff how could she be the same age as saya?! She'd assumed this girl to be a bit older... Like twenty or something? But this came as an incredible shock. Saya had always wanted friend her age--or at least friends her age that were not crafted from wood and various other materials to give them varying stages of seemed real life. Oh boy. I am not exagerating when I say that our dear protagonist was over the moon with what was going on at current.

"Woah! Head priestess at sixteen. IM sixteen and I'm only like. A regular ninja who is sorta a genius and also i guess got like. dream visions from a goddess of the old ways? yanno. I'm still not completely sure what is going on with that but I know it's important cuz like. Who gets visions on exactly how to make a puppet in the vissage of one of the most important paragons of an entire religion yanno? I should really talk to Ragnar more about all this stuff. He's my otter friend. Also a viking. Your religion sounds really cool though! I wonder what i'd come back as if I were reincarnated. I hope its like a puppy or like. A ferret, those are really cute. " Her hands gripped the cup so tightly that Ai was almost worried she would shatter it. That would cost them, and try as she might the girl hadn't quite learned a tea cup creating mokuton jutsu. Maybe one day.

"Yanno. Those are all things that I believe in too! I'm not much for fighting. Like, I can do it and sparring can be fun but when I was first training and stuff I wen't to an old battlefield from the past war and." She paused, Her face getting serious as memories of the horrors flowed through her mind. Her voice quieted as she continued, slowly picking up speed but not quite reaching the level of energy she'd shown before. "It was kind of tough. There was alot of death on those fields, so I kind of determined that it would be my goal to help people. I really wanna learn healing or something one day, but I dunno if I'll be able to. Either way my goal is to find a way to stop the needless killing and work towards protecting those who need it, and finding leace and stuff. My viking otter friend has helped alot with that. Did you know vikings pillage and loot and do a bunch of bad stuff? The otterbrook clan used to be super bad, but then they decided to end the cycle and now they're good people--well, otters. Maybe we could help people together?"

And that was Saya. Ai couldn't help but smile at the shift between pain and joy. This was her true skill as a ninja, being able to persevere and still bring light to the world around her.

(TWC 3186)

The centipede takes all of this in, processes it, and simply decides that well, it's not like he's got a monopoly on divinity. Certainly, it wasn't like the clan's belief system excluded other deities. He just hadn't expected to run into a presumed prophet. Or a schizophrenic. Given his host's percieved tendency of "talking to herself", though, he wasn't sure he could exactly say anything about religious otters and prophetic vision. He even sympathizes over the trauma of looking at battlefields for the first time, a experience all his hosts had gone through and suffered for.

"Well. You can definitely say she's earnest. Be nice to her, Makoto."

Makoto very quietly whispers back
"Weren't you the one who was the most put off...?"

Raising her voice though, she replies to Saya, smiling slightly. "Helping people together... of course. Actually, my clan especializes in healing, so I've been learning the basics. Maybe we could work together on that sometime?" She already knew the technique, of course, but sharing that sort of skill with others simply meant spreading more good onto the world, in her eyes. And manipulating that many puppets probably meant good chakra control.  "...A shinobi's life is full of filth. So I can't turn down helping, after all. It's nice to at least have someone who believes in gods at all. That Hyuuga boy was a real handful... He insulted my beliefs, too."

Makoto pouts just thinking back on it. It really had been frustraing, but she was supposed to let that sort of thing go. "...But you probably shouldn't worry too much about that, uhm, before you concoct any plan to confront him about it. I didn't even get his name."

(TWC: 1894)

"Omigosh! I would LOVE that!!! and if you wan't i could totally make some outfits for you! I dunno if they have cosplay over there in the...." It was at this point that Saya realized that she'd gotten a bit of information about this new girl, but she hadn't actually asked about particulars. It felt natural to name the temple in such a situation, but she had kind of... forgotten to ask that far? "Uh. In the temple of your beliefs? Yanno. I didn't actually ask the name of your temple. Or your religion. BUT listen. So one of the things i really enjoy is creating. Like creating basically anything. See all the chairs in the dining area that look super new? Made those. "

"Because she destroyed the origionals to be fair. " Ai rustled her little sisters hair as she began to brag about her accomplishments. While it was technically a jab at her inability to control the chaos she controled, it was good natured, causing Saya to look up and smile.

"Right. Unimportant. One of the things I like to create is clothes. I made all of my teams outfits and I have a huge closet full of various intricate outfits i've made so like. I dunno if you like cosplay, but if you do or want to like it I could TOTALLY take your measurements!!!!!! My friend Kiku sews too! We could probably work together to sew you up so many cool outfits. Like. If you want. " It was rare that the tiny terror actually realized she was dominating the conversation, but with this new friend's general pensive nature, it was blaringly apparent. She gave makoto several minutes to continue her train of thought, trying her best to listen intently. She only zoned out like twice! As she sat, hands in lap to try not to fidget she naturally began to rock back and forth to keep herself stimulated so her mind wouldn't wander too much. Then she heard the magic word.

"Wh. Hyuuga? mmkay so like. One, what's a hyuuga? Two, Is there another person in the village I haven't met?! how does this even keep happening!!!!! " She was beside herself at the realization that she had alot of work to do. She'd gone out of her way to make sure that at the least, everyone in the village was aware generally of who she was. Then there were these new people. Had she really locked herself in the training room for that long?

"Aya. He doesn't sound very nice. I doubt you'll enjoy meeting him. I'm sure we'll meet him at some point, and my little sister will almost definitely confront any mean tendencies he has. She's not exactly the 'allow people to be bullied if she's aware of it, and instead somehow convince the whole world around her to try harder and word towards being better people' kind of person. " It.... It wasn't wrong. She was also a bit of a "generally annoy people who were too stuck up to have fun type of person.

(TWC 3696)

"...It's technically the home of the Yoshida clan, so we just call it the Yoshida temple." She explains, listening to the explanation on making chairs, and more importantly, clothes. She could do with having more casual clothes than her standard fare. This cosplay thing was probably related to the other girl's strange outfit, so maybe not that far out there, but... well, as long as it covered her back and torso well, there should not be any problems of it risking revealing any secrets. Particularly of the centipede under the skin variety. "Well, it would be nice to have more clothes, though don't go too intricate with them. I'm not supposed to dress too richly, you know?"

Hm. She didn't know about the Hyuuga, huh? Well, it's not like she'd known before this unfortunate encounter what those awful eyes did. "Oh, they're some sort of clan that does weird things with their hands and has rather creepy eyes." The fact her own were basically black pools devoid of light that made her look like she wasn't present nonwithstanding. "Careful. I think they may be able to look at your underwear or something..."

"Makoto, are you trying to set her up to-"
Oh right. She's not supposed to do that.

"Well, I'll handle it myself, so don't worry about it. My family wouldn't want me to be feuding with anybody, so I'll just have to resolve it before it gets out of hand."

[TWC:2136]

"Yoshida clan. got it. so like. DO they have cosplay in the yoshida temple! Cuz i have lots of ideas. Also would it be totally weird if I took your measurements. It would be wierd right? People don't do that. Thats like invasive and awkward. This is fine I can probably eyeball it or like. You can take a measuring tape with you and record them later if you don't have them memorized--DO you have them memorized? Cuz like. I have the sizes for myself and most of my friends memorized but Pinochio says its really wierd to just be able to rattle off the exact dimensions of the people you come across and that I shouldn't just go around talking about it. I just like to have it in the back of my mind in case I come up with a cool idea that would totally fit someones style n stuff--like I have a sketch book of ideas that I've had so i can remember them and when I link one to someoneWAAAAAIIIIIITTT" She pulled a small sketchbook from the messenger bag at her side. THe paper had long since yellowed from use in every condition imaginable.

Flipping through pages, she'd place it on the table so her new friend could see. There were so many different designs that ranged from casual normal looking outfits to several that it seemed impossible to actually move and perform their responsibility as ninja in, but finally she stopped on the page she was looking for and flipped the sheet around for unagi to see.

On the page there were two outfits. THe first looked like a skin suit in black and red. There was an entire strip down the front and across the neck in a pure white and what looked like sensors across the chest, at each shoulder and at the hips. To accessorize, there was a pair of white technological looking cat ears. "What about this!!!! I've been DYING to find someone to wear this one!!!" While it wasn't hard to predict why she'd not been able to convince many of her friends to try out this particular outfit-- with it's skin tight look and fairly revealing nature, beside it was a throw away idea she'd had. It wasn't very well planned out. It looked a little like it was just a rough sketch, but it had a very temple feel in red and white with a large bow atop the head and other laced adornments that looked incredibly cute.

When Makoto suggested this hyuuga could see peoples underwear, Ai stepped froward, covering the girl's ears with her hands. It... It didn't actually do anything realistically due to both her hands not effectively stopping sound and the action happening after the words had been said, but still saya looked confused and didn't react.

"That. That would be incredibly awkward and unfortunate. Were that to happen, I'm afraid I would have to step in and reprimand this boy, but I'm certain you can handle things before that point."

(TWC 4203)

"...I do...not have my measurements memori...zed...no..." Makoto is slowly shrinking on herself. "I'll just take them myself. i'm not even sure it's okay for me to wear this sort of-"

Then the skinsuit is revealed, and she goes so pale she might as well be a corpse.
"Not that one."
"Definitely not that one, I feel like I could be seen through that, and I'm inside your body. I feel impure myself just looking at it...""
"Definitely not that one, my god wouldn't be okay with it." Makoto supplies as an explanation. She examines the rest of her book, her eyes landing on the vaguely shrine maiden looking outfit. That one might work. It was...cutesy, and probably unbecoming of her, but it was also less likely to cause impure thoughts to arise in the hearts of others. And the cat ears would just be wrong. On so many levels. She was dedicated to centipedes and centipedes only.

"...The red and white one with the wide sleeves and laces looks very cute, though. And yes, I'll step in and reprimand him if I ever catch him doing something like that. Don't worry." She flexes her arm as if to demonstrate, though her frail looks wouldn't do much for it-

-Good lord. This girl does train in Taijutsu after all. There is no bulk to it, but the skin has no give, the muscles simply being denser than they had any right to be thanks to her body's unusual properties.

[TWC: 2384]

"Right right. It's probably pretty wierd to just like. have your measurements memorized." SHe glanced down at the page, completely unaware of the the intense level of paleness she'd just caused her new friend to go. Ai gave a soft snicker at the girl's reaction. She had been meaning to speak to saya about some of the ideas she'd had. There was a beautiful intricacy in her design work, and her clothing often was made with the thought that she would need to be maneuverable so she could fight or flee, but alot of it was very.... How could she say this nicely.... Form fitting?

Saya looked up as her friend spoke again, and saw the look on her face. "Oh. uh. Heck. I guess maybe that one is a bit too out there huh? probably don't turn the pages. It's really cool that you can like. tell exactly what your god would be okay with though! like I guess freyja is technically my goddess and stuff and I can sorta talk to her when she talks--though she's still struggling with the talking thing for some reason. It's really neat. Alot of religions just have to like. Interpret their dieties wishes and then they just get it all wrong and end up doing bad stuff. But for us its like a direct line or something. I think? Maybe you just like. know alot about it and can predict too. Am I reading this like. totally wrong? " She was rambling. That was usual. Saya was in the unique position of being in direct contact with the vissage of a goddess, though she still needed to learn alot more. Her summons followed the old gods, and ragnar had taught her a bit in the past weeks, but it was hard even for her to believe that the woman controled by her chakra threads was actually the diety herself.

"Oh. Sorry that was just like something I did in my free time. Ignore it! " She immediately sat foward to take the book back, but was stopped again by her sister. The pair would give their new friend some time to look at the random doodle she'd made and then determined to throw out, before finally Ai broke the silence.

"I think she likes it Aya. We could make that for you if you want. " Saya nodded in agreement, her body language shifting from embaracement over something she wasn't proud of to excitement. She really wanted to make something this girl would like. She was basically her best friend forever now. well. Her and Daiko. And Kiku. And team puppet. She had alot of friends currently.

"Well. I totally bet you'd do a good job of keeping him in line, but if you ever need help or something don't be afraid to give me a shout. You can always find me where the music is--that isn't like some vague thing to sound cool, I just always do pop up performances randomly so its an easy way to tell what part of the village i'm in. "

(TWC 4714)

"Remember. No details" Yul says. Makoto nods, only halfway being able to hold on to most of this conversation. She wrings her hands as she tries to parse everything, squeezing her fingers one by one and straightening them out as she thinks.
"...Well, I can't really tell you much, but isn't a priestess's duty to know these sorts of things? I suppose the point for all my training was to be in tune with what he'd want... oh, but, ah. The outfit's nice? I would maybe like to try it, yeah."

She listens to her talk about the Hyuuga, nodding quietly. "Yeah, I think I'll do that if there are any problems. I should probably get back to, eh, well, I should probably get back home soon, since I wasn't supposed to even stay for training today. I just got caught up working out some feelings and polishing my skills." Makoto would like to stay around the village a bit longer, but she's got missions coming up soon, and... well, she was quickly reaching the limit of her social interaction abilities for the day.

"...Oh, and, uhm. Thank you? For just... trying to be my friend. It's.... it's deeply appreciated."

[TWC: 2584]

"that sounds kind of touch. It's like all this expectation placed upon you and you can't do things just for you? I really like being free to do exactly what I want and be the konoichi that I choose to. The whole family expectation and rigid guidelines for what I can and can't do thing was such a pain." She wasn't sure how much she'd spoken of her family. Not to Makoto, but just in general. It was a fairly heavily guarded secret since she came to the village. She knew what she was and wasn't allowed to talk about, though this new friend was different then most. She understood the troubles that Saya had gone through in her youth. They came from similar backgrounds, and she was all too excited to help this girl hopefully come out of her shell and be able to at least find the centerpoint between expectation and her own individuality. If she'd let her.

"Oh yea. I should uh. Definitely go keep training. I haven't destroyed anything yet today so I'm way behind schedu--" At that moment there was a loud rumbling sound that echoed from her stomach out into the sitting area. She'd forgotten lunch again.

"That does seem to be our que. It ws a pleasure Makoto. I need to get this one out of the training room and get some food in her belly before she decides to push herself so hard that she passes out... Again." And like they they were off. With a smile and a wave team puppet headed out the double doors, down the street, and inevitably to the one place Saya would find acceptable to eat. She'd take a well deserved break from testing her power limits to eat spicy tofu and plan her next big activity.

(TWC 5015 claiming 1030 towards lighting release (4k/4k)previous training 3886 twoards great grasping vines first mastery (5k/5k)previous training and 99 towards great grasping vines 2nd mastery (99/5k) exit topic closed after makoto's exit! )