What Not To Wear [Saya]

Saya is visited in the early morning by an ANBU operative, a sealed scroll from the Mizukage's Office in hand. Upon breaking the aquamarine wax seal, she will find a mission well-suited to her particular tastes - advising on interior redesigns of the Mizukage's estate.

The estate sits atop a hill in the administrative district overlooking the lagoon. It's a beautiful four-level building, small in stature next to the skyscrapers that have sprung up around it. It somewhat resembles a castle, though with architecture more concerned with governance than top security owing to its origin in the peaceful land of Island. Still, its location on the hill and walls make the ANBU's jobs quite easy.

The Kage's office is modest and comfortable, with windows behind the desk looking out on to the water. Much of it is in the Shimagakure style, and does not have much of Kirigakure's current luxury despite some touch-ups in the past years, which seems to have been a fairly intentional decision. The marble flooring in the lobby shows much more ostentatiousness.

Murata will be awaiting Saya in the lobby of the building. From what she can gather about Kirigakure's current roster and reports from the training centers, the girl is out of place as a Genin, with her potential obviously surpassing that level. The only reason she could gather that the girl hasn't been promoted yet is her personality, which Murata would like to see for herself. She does not wear her Mizukage robes at the moment, instead clad in an offwhite turtleneck and dark pants. They will be seeing to some of her new personal residence today, after all, so she feels more comfortable being casual.

281

"huh. Well isn't that something." Ai stood in the doorway of the clearly empty first floor of their secret undergound mansion. She much liked the solidarity of the upstairs kitchen for making breakfast, despite the significantly larger and better stocked kitchen floor Saya had put on the 7th floor. Why the girl decided that she needed to have an entire floor dedicated to her kitchen she wasn't sure, but she'd learned early not to ask about things like this.

The elevator dinged quietly as the doors opened to the bedroom level she shared with her little sister. It was about mid morning, which means that any self respecting ninja would have already been up and prepared for their day hours ago, so of course Saya was still curled up in a blanket on her king sized bed.

"Little sister.... Theres a letter from the mizukage's office? " She recived a disinterested grunt in response. The only downside to pinochio and herself having bodies now was that he wasn't around to deal with half asleep saya. "It's pretty important.... apparently they want you to do some interior design work fo--" She didn't finish the statement. Reaching out, Ai took control of PupAit and coach, sending them quickly towards the quickly closing elevator doors. Saya was already out of site when she glanced up.

Her trip to the large building that held the mizukage's office was slow going. For whatever reason it would seem like she'd gotten distracted, popping in to this store or that, but finally she stood outside the main entrance, waiting patiently.

"I don't think this is a good idea Aya. They probably must mean--" She was cut off. You will find that in dealings with the tiny terror, interuption is a common place. All of my long time listeners expect these exciting breaks in the natrual flow of my narration, which is totally planned and not just me failing to anticipate when something is going to happen in the story. moving on.

Coming down the hallway towards the main lobby where murata would be waiting, if they were allowed, would be ten extremely large men, a very tall muscular woman who is definitely not a puppet(despite the blue threads moving her) and a gym coach. Each traveled in pairs that carried ornate pieces of furniture, hand crafted and ginting in the light as their finish(and in some cases the gold inlay) gave a hint at their craftsmanship.

"AAAAALLLLLLRRRIIIIGGGHHHTTTT. FInally, I get to meet this mizukage guy. I for one am super excited. Yanno Ai, they say no one has ever met the mizukage before? It's like some urban legend that he doesn't really exist. Somehow his pet armadillo is well known though. Every time I asked how that could be possible people just shrugged and told me to leave. It was probably because I was asking everyone in their store for any information about how that could be possible instead of like buying something. " She gave a shrug, glancing back at the Ai puppet, lovingly named PupAIt to distinguish her from the Real Ai whose name was HumAIn. I'm joking. her name is just Ai. Her sister, who was in every way her mirror, the realistic craftsmanship and silicone skin making it dificult for those without chakra sensory to tell she was even a puppet, simply shook her head. If she was meeting with the mizukage, this was going to be a stressful day for team puppet.

(TWC 578)

Murata casts a sidelong glance to the lobby's receptionist, who looks like they want to hide. A small grin tugs at the corner of the Mizukage's mouth, which for some reason does not reassure them. The furniture looks a little fancy for her tastes, but she'd wanted to see Saya's personality, and it seems she is certainly going to get it in droves. Ai is here as well, which is a pleasant surprise, although Murata must note that all of these people save Saya were very much not invited.

The girl's loud voice carries across the room, and Murata quietly snorts into a hand. Alright, third tidbit of information she can gather - in addition to being bold and resourceful, Saya is quite poorly informed.

"I will be accompanying you on behalf of the Mizukage's office today," Murata calls to the entourage, stepping forward with a look of amusement on her face. 

"My name is Sugi Murata. Saya, was it? And Ai," she says, nodding in recognition to the face she knows. The two faces she knows...? Her sensory only pings one as having a proper chakra network, the other much more resembling the other puppets, so perhaps she just has a secret vain streak. Murata lifts a hand to point towards the muscular woman with chakra threads attached to her, searching her eyes for any signs of a plea for help. "...is everybody here of their own volition?"

236
TWC: 519

saya's outfit!:

There were subtle ways that an experienced watcher of our dear protagonist could tell that she was up to something. The positioning of her team, with Coach set further forward than usual was a clear indication for instance. Sayas outfit was.... Rediculous, even for her. Her blonde hair was pulled back into pigtails with a  subtle curl at the end. She wore a long gown sinched at the waist with several wave like layers that expanded outwards as they flowed down t he dress, and in her hand she held a hand mirror. While that wouldn't be odd in and of itself(hand mirrors are meant to he held in the users hand, hence the name) It was a slight suggestion that there was some plan brewing in the tiny terrors mind. Why exactly DID she have that hand mirror?

Unfortunately it would not be time to spring her metaphorical trap as the person greeting her was not the true mizukage, but instead a receptionist? An anbu black ops? It was someone. Someone who was not the mizukage. She would have to wait just a bit longer.


"We thank the mizukage for their consideration of my sister in this important responsibility mis Murata. When i read the letter to Aya she was beyond thrilled to be able to be of use to the village in this way." It was the ai puppet, lovingly named pupAIt who spoke. Her tone was respectful and her head bowed as she adressed the woman who'd intruduced herself. While saya didn't speak, it was abundantly clear that she was vibrating with excitement over something. One by one each of the movers standing behind her shifted the weight of their own carried items such that they could give Murata a thumbs up. The freyja puppet gave a solemn nod in confirmation, but the coach puppet did something a bit more clear in intention. SHifting the sofa onto his shoulder he reached back into the bag on his back, and pulled from the open flap a large sign with bold kanji written across it. it read "she's paying them very well as always lady Murata. " It never fails to confuse even I, your omniscient third person moderator how exactly the coach puppet managed to have a sign for every single situation. it was like this was created as a plot device to spread humor to the ninja world, and each of the signs was actually crafted by the hands of a skilled storyteller just before they were removed. That is rediculous of course. It would be impossible for them to simply spawn from the bag, leaving the only answer to be that he'd gotten word of her name, somehow realized, and happened to have written a sign and placed it in the backpack just in case something like this happened. Still a bit odd though.

"We will be glad to follow you in as soon as the mizukage is prepared to see us miss murata. Theres quite a number of other pieces of furniture outside of the building prepared for the project, but they will be retrieved as required, and by whom the mizukage deams acceptable if our movers are not. "

(TWC 1111)

"The Second won't be joining us today, unfortunately," Murata says, and the receptionist rolls their eyes from the desk. For just a couple of days they had thought the village was finally beyond the 'pretending not to be the Mizukage' schtick once and for all. 

It seems that the sharply-dressed Saya will not be directly addressing her quite yet, and Ai is perfectly pleasant, so Murata lets the issue of the parade being unnecessary go for now. Identifying the woman before her as another puppet (they are startlingly well-made) and seeing that the array of buff gentlemen are not being evil puppetmastered in some fashion by their thumbs-up and the Coach puppet's sign-based reassurance, Murata shrugs and turns around, beckoning the group to follow. 

"I assure you, I am an expert on the Mizukage's tastes. Come with me! I think we are going to have fun!"

It's an order, not a request. The receptionist looks expectantly at the group from their desk, or perhaps they are simply ogling the movers.

Murata leads the entourage up to the Mizukage's personal quarters. It's an expansive living space that occupies the top floor, and as the group enters they can see a number of boxes - Murata and Goro's belongings have yet to find a home in this space yet, especially as Kizmaru left without many of his things, so they need to be carefully put away to go into storage. A fluffy calico cat curled up on one of the sofas awakens with a soft 'prrp' at the noise of everybody's arrival, Princess looking over the group and wondering whether it would be best to slink off somewhere quieter.

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TWC 795

Drat. Foilied again. All of saya's plans came crashing down in one fell swoop at the realization that the mizukage wouldn't actually be there to oversee the redecorating and inevitable demolition at the hands of the small senju girl. Still, the show must go on. The group followed in silence, right up to the point with the first four of the movers stepped into the living quarters. There was a sound of creaking wood as the coach puppet unfurled, it's primary purpose revealed in this devistating sneak attack. Activating her ultimate weapon, coach's chest opened up, his body curling downwards to reveal...... a stage?! A twin sized bed and couch were placed on the stage just as saya stepped up. She took the microphone conveniently placed on its stand in the center, and began.

"i'm going to make you my new project.

You don't have to do that.

I know. That's what makes me so nice."

While she hadn't heard murata speak more than a few sentences, her ability in ventrilloquism perfectly mimiced the girls voice for the response to her first bit of narration. From within three of the oversized armoires placed by the doorway music began to flow as if she'd hidden a small acompaniment band inside of furniture just to sneak them in undetected and set up for some rediculous song and dance routine she'd planned out weeks ahead of time only to determine now was the perfect chance to put it into practice. The movers also pulled out instruments, joining in.

"Whenever I see someone less fortunate than i,
and lets face it. who isn't, less fortunate than I,
my tender heart tends to start to bleed.

And when someone needs a make over
I simply have to take over i know
I know.

Exactly what they need.

And even in your case.
Though its the toughest case i've yet to face.

Don't worry. I'm determined to succeed.
follow my lead and yes, indeed.
you.
will.
be.

Popular. You're gonna be popular"

What came next was... Well you know what happens. All of our dear listeners have been sitting on seat edge waiting for the inevitable begining of her musical interlude. Unless murata gave motion to stop her, she'd dance and spin around the makeshift bedroom set she'd created, singing something about being the most popular girl in school as she shifted between the pieces of furniture available for dramatic effect. When it was finished, she'd glance back at her moving team and nod.

"Alright team. Get this furniture out of here and bring in the stuff I picked out for the Mizukage. When we're done we can store it on the eleventh floor for the next time I need performance furniture NOW. Tell me about the mizukage's tastes. I feel like the first step is going to be redoing these walls and maybe expanding the place a bit? What do you think about a skylight? We could double the size of the room, maybe add a stairwell to a second floor, set up a proper kitchen and lounge area, a reading nook? Does the mizukage read? They must. Everyone reads. "

(TWC 1636)

Fortunately for her sanity, Murata has already had a wild few days. She sits down on her sofa opposite the impromptu stage and scoops Princess up to lie in her lap to watch the show. At the sound of her own voice, Murata tilts her head sideways in curiosity - she will certainly have to ask how to do that one.

At the conclusion, Murata applauds. It was genuinely very good. The suggestion of Murata being a 'project' might be mildly insulting, but it must of course have been a prewritten song and choreography, or it would show a level of implausibly rapid planning that suggests that she should simply abdicate the hat in turn to Saya. 

"Have you ever been to a show at the Hisori theater?" she asks Saya, not knowing much more about theater than the single show she's had the pleasure of watching. She then turns her head to call towards the movers. "Just take the furniture outside, please, the ANBU have to take a look at it before it can go anywhere." You never know with ninja, Kizmaru could have tucked anything away, and there's always the privacy issue. In addition, if any of it was donated by some rich family or another she'd get an earful about letting a teenage girl have it all for musical theater practice. Still, she's sure she can arrange for Saya to get something nice from the estate for the trouble.

At the girl's rapid-fire suggesting, Murata idly scratches at Princess' ears in thought. 

"The major conditions are that we cannot disrupt the outside façade or introduce major security hazards," she says. As nice as a skylight sounds, the ANBU would absolutely hate it. It would be possible to redo the attic and make it something of a fifth floor, with some creativity, and she would appreciate a proper kitchen. Having the house staff cook every meal for them would be a little extravagant for her, if sometimes necessary based on her workload and Goro's... creativity. "A reading nook sounds wonderful. I would describe the Mizukage's tastes as looking for something warm and comfortable."

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TWC 1150

"Well. You see. I was going to, but then there was a slight misunderstanding involving the security at the theater. Always diligent to ensure proper safety and security features for the village, I discovered a few issues with the measure taken to prevent unapproved entrance to the Hisori theater, and there was a bit of a snafu about it ending with them politiely requesting that I not return, at least until those issues were fixed i believe." She motioned towards several of the items that had been brought in, and the doors to the armoires burst open, revealing more movers holding instruments. After packing up the tools of their trade they joined in and began taking items back downstairs.

"She broke into the theater a few months back in order to put on a big performance right before curtain call and was not so politely asked not to return." The curt tone of the Freyja puppet mirrored the verbal ninjutsu she'd attempted to use to make her little stunt sound more like a positive than a negative. She really was falling into the role pinochio had left quite effectively.

"Hm.... Alright. So what you're saying is if i'm going to destroy this entire section of the building i'll need to repaint it the same color it was before to ensure no one realizes it happened? That could take some time....." She paused for barelly a moment before bursting into laughter. "Who am I kidding?! I have like. So many puppets. It'll be easy peasy. But first. " Oddly it was the Ai puppet who began forming hand seals, though Saya mimiced them with one hand at her side to help further the illusion. When Ai finished there would be a rumbling like an earthquake coming from outside the building, and then silence.

"Wait for it..... Wait for it....." It took a solid two minutes before anything happened asside from Saya standing with two fists shaking beside her head in a symbol of excitement. Then there was a tapping at the wall nearest saya, followed by what seemed to be an extremely large tree root boring its way through the wall, crawling across the floor, and finally stopping just behind the senju girl.

"Please don't be alarmed, she's not attacking anyone she's just over the top." Ai let out a sigh. She really needed to point out when she was going to do stuff like this. Sure, The 'big reveal' as she called it was great, but you can't exactly draw a giant root of mokuton up the side of a building and into the wall of the mizukage's chambers without telling someone first! Its uncouthe.

"right right. Sorry. Part of the process. Since we're not on the ground floor I have to kind of do some magic to get the work done the way I want, Don't worry I'll put the wall back how it was AND get rid of the wood style on the side of the building. I just needed the mokuton for materials. "

(TWC 2141)

Murata nods at this, not sure if it had been wise to even consider Saya staying still in an audience a possibility. Murata stands to go pour herself a coffee. Princess, sensing the way the wind is blowing, slips away to abandon the suite altogether and go curl up in the Kage's office where she's less likely to be disturbed. "Anything for any - ah," she catches herself, having for a moment forgotten that Freyja was a puppet again, "- either of you?"

Saya's statement about destroying half the building draws a chuckle from her, before an awkward silence as they wait. She thinks Saya's joking. Worst mistake of her life.

The tree root bursts through the wall and Murata chokes on her coffee. Three ANBU burst through the doors and slip through the windows immediately, looking wholly ready to murder somebody. Murata coughs loudly and quickly raises a hand to call them off before there's a brawl in her living room, setting down her cup of coffee, wiping her mouth, and clearing her throat. 

"It's fine," she says hoarsely. "Back to your posts. Except Dreamer. You stay."

The ANBU in the scary-looking mask crosses his arms and fades into the shadowy corners of the room as though he was born to do so, the rest looking as quizzical as they can behind their expressionless masks before obeying orders and making themselves scarce.

"Okay," Murata says, brushing hair out of her eyes. "That isn't what I meant, but we've already destroyed the wall, so let's see where you're going with this."

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TWC 1409

Ai and freya gave her a look as she tried to offer them refreshments. While it made sense that people would mistake them for people it was only actually Dana who had directly done so. It made sense of course. without chakra sensory of some sort they both looked completely life like down to the way their facial muscles moved as they spoke, and with saya's skill in ventriloquy being second to none there were few points when it was noticable that they weren't actually living people. Unless she wasn't hiding her threads.

"COFEE!!!"

"Water."

"but AI what if I only had on--Water would be great." The exchange between ai and saya was quick, and any pushback was swiftly canceled by a single look. The last thing they needed was to caffinate the tiny terror while she did intricate work on and important village building. That absolutely would NOT do. When the Anbu rushed in, Saya just kind of glanced in confusion. She was aware that they existed, and well aware that they kept tabs on her because of her convorsation with Keita so long ago, but seeing them in this place was such a different experience that she didn't know how to respond. AI did.


"SORRY SORRY SORRY SORRY NOT DESTROYING ANYTHING OR HARMING ANYONE!!!" She bowed her head in prosteration as the three swarmed into room, hoping that she could make up for her little sisters rash decision. "Saya. How many times do I have to remind you that you CAN create mokuton from your body in order to use that jutsu. You don't have to tear up everything in your path just because you want to rearrange some furniture. I'm so sorry miss Murata, My little sister is bad at thinking before she acts BUT she is incredibly skilled in ninjutsu and remarkably talented." Murata's response would come just after this statement. It seemed that she was less angry and more intrigued by what the girl had in store? That was probably a positive outcome. It was far more positive than them getting killed or sent off to jail for destroying public property, so she would absolutely take that.

She placed a hand on the branch of mokuton. the large mass crawled quickly up the side of the building, disappearing into the walls as she used her humble carpenter jutsu to begin creation. As the last bit of it disappeared from outside view, the hole also patched itself, turning the same color as the wall was before both inside and outside. Then the ceiling began to raise.

There was a small attic area above where they'd stood. WAS. As the mokuton activated under her jutsu started to create pieces of wall that extended the height of the building, flooring slid from the space to her right, creeping slowly across the space to create a new roof that would separate the larger mass into two distinct floors. Just a few meters off from the doorway spiraling vines rose at an angle, building a staircase to allow entry to the new location she was making. Damn she wished she didn't have to do this ten meters at a time.

(TWC 2671)