Rise and Shine [P]

It was finally time. So much had been going on in the past days, between the tournament she had to get her big sister ready for and then the sudden reappearance and subsequent call to arrest one of her best friends Saya had taken some much needed rest and relaxation. She'd tasted all the local foods(where all is of course a euphamism for one specific food from the stall that happened to be just outside of her house every meal of every day like she had been doing for months before this), She'd been able to find some creative outlets in both music and crafting, and she'd even taken the time to practice with her summon clan. Then there was, of course, the lovely day training and doing things with Daiko. She still wondered how he'd learned wood style. It wasn't that important anyway.

The sun was hardly breaking the horizon when a young looking girl popped her head out of the small home that hid a great secret. That small girl was Ai not Saya so this is completely unimportant to the story. IT WAS JUST A FEW HOURS PAST NOON when a second young girl popped her head out of the small home that hid a great secret. She'd left her sister to her cleaning, sent food down for their favorite taijutsu recluse, and her puppets were packed and prepared to finally get back into the swing of things. She had alot of training she needed to catch up on after all.

"Alright team. Heres the plan. First we beeline to room fourteen. Maybe get some parkor practice in to loosen up and then its a whole day of techniques that will probably cost millions in property damage. As one does. " The Ai puppet shook her head as they headed out. Freyja stood silently, knowing all too well that this was not actually a plan that could ever be completed. Coach.... Well he kinda walked. He's a puppet yanno? Puppets don't talk. That would be silly.

"You know something is going to happen to change your plans right? Theres no way we make it into that room and stay there in silence for the day. I would put Ryo on it." THe Ai puppet finally commented as they approached the large doors to the training facility. Wait. DIdn't i JUST say puppets don't talk... Whatever. semantics.

"NOpe. This time theres nothing and I mean NOTHING that could possibly distract me." They passed the main sparring area, heading back to where the private rooms were. Banter between the twins was light as they passed, but then it stopped. About five meters in there was a room with a girl Saya hadn't seen before practicing something with dart boards? She was so intrigued by the prospect that the puppets found themselves inside of room fourteen and stretching for their workout before any even realized that Saya wasn't with them. THis was, of course because they had neither eyes nor ears, and only seemed sentient because of a split personifiaction of Saya's mind.

"Oye. I uh. I don't think i've met you before?" She glanced at Akikuro as she stepped into the room. There was an audible sigh from several puppets a few rooms over.

(TWC 544)

She'd gotten seven full attempts in, or was it 5? Well, it was probably definitely an odd number, and in any case being unable to properly keep track was a sign that she was drawing closer to turning her brain off entirely and operating on autopilot. In other words, a really good sign.

So focused on the task ahead of her, it takes physical effort not to jump at the sound of another's voice in the room. Just the one voice though, she's unsure if she'd actually heard the much louder set of sighs coming from the wall behind her. Were she born in a different time in a horrible place she'd wonder if she'd finally sighted the elusive 'live studio audience', but in the now Akikuro decided she was probably hallucinating that and tried her best to ignore it.

She gives off something that she hopes might be a warm smile and raises a hand to wave at the unfamiliar figure, before deciding an overhead wave might be odd in such close quarters and morphing into an awkward gesture that looked like a request for a high-five. It probably wasn't much better, in fact it was probably worse; Akikuro is thankful for her pale visage in situations like this as it made it almost impossible to be seen blushing. Or was it the other way around, being easier to spot against a contrasting backdrop? She decided to stop thinking about that.

"That's because I'm rather new here. My name's Akikuro and well, I don't believe we've been introduced?"

Well, she was new for a given value of new anyways. She actually couldn't put her finger on the exact number of days and nights that had passed her by. A byproduct of spending her time here attending the Academy either bored out of her mind or frantically rushing to catch up where she was weeks behind. It didn't leave an awful lot of time for introspection or buying a calendar.

Spoiler:

"Huh. Saya." And just like that, she was gone. Turning on her heels, she rushed down the hall and into the training room where her puppets stood, each arm crossed with a look of frusteartion on their faces.

"No. Absolutely not. Aya we're here to train. Please...." The Ai puppet held the convictions of her true self, but not the strength to follow through with the statement. She would never actually stop what happened next.

"Sayatria... It's not an effective plan. THe resources and time required..." She let the statement trail off same as Sayas sister. Freyja knew that look.

"............ ............" The coach puppet didn't speak. Never has, never will(probably) so his pleas to the tiny terror to give up on the inevitability of the next few minutes was more in a glance. Even this silent statement would fail to sway the senju girl.

My dearest listeners, it should come as no surprise what was set to happen next. Seals were formed, Clothing was summoned and changed, and a quick check ensured the last steps were in deed in place. After about five minutes time, The coach puppet would appear in the doorway to the other girl's training room. With a shrug that said 'i tried to stop this' his body would unfold, stretching out to create a stage in the doorway. THe five stage lights flicked on. The microphone in the center began to let out a soft feedback. And then There was Saya.

Song!:

"bicycle, bicycle bicycle!!!

I wan't to ride my bicycle, bicycle bicycle,

I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride my bike
I want to ride my bicycle I want to ride it where I like!!!!!"

THe first chord echoed heavily in the room, three voices intertwined with the power of what sounded like a full orchestra....Because there was a full orchestra. The band that Saya seemed to always have on hand had been set up in the room directly across from where Akikuro was training because it was close enough to where Saya's training room was in the off chance they were needed. Ai and Freyja's faces popped in on the edges of the vision given by the doorway as the three contininued a rousing performance of the Queen hit bicycle for this new genin. Chorus and verse would flow seamlessly, Saya dancing about the stage as she gave it her all in a costume consisting of a white tank top with acid washed jeans, the short black haired wig giving her as close to a freddie mercury look as the tiny girl could pull off. IN the end, they finished the final chord acapella, which was impressive considering two of the singers were puppets and they were in fact singing in unison, and each gave a deep bow.


"Alright. Now that that's out of the way. Sayatria Senju, but you can call me Saya. These are my friends and teammates: my twin sister Ai, mentor Freyja, And the coach puppet. " Every time she called specifically coach a puppet, ignoring that the other two, while looking completely realistic due to their craftsmanship, were just the same.

(TWC 1066 )

Upon Saya's very sudden introduction and departure, two events that are usually kept separate for convenience's sake lest all interactions amalgamate into dramatic messes, a perplexed look appears on Akikuro's face to denote a small wave of confusion. That was a façade though, as the Genin was currently undergoing what was best described as a tidal wave of anxiety.

'Oh no oh no oh no oh no. Did I weird her out? Or maybe I came off too cold? Oh no she might actually hate me now.'

She was beginning to seriously reconsider her earlier choice not to lie down on the floor and stare at the ceiling for an hour or twenty, when her senses were suddenly captured by the sudden lights, sounds and... a puppet?

The music took her by surprise and Akikuro was left uncertain of how to react. For one, she wasn't entirely sure where the backup orchestra was coming from or if that was technically allowed in the building, and Akikuro wasn't exactly clear on just what Saya meant by 'bicycle'. Despite her confusion or maybe because of it, the genin found herself clapping before her brain had properly registered that the puppets were bowing.

"Hi again... do I say hi to the puppets too or-"

A sudden burst of inspiration made her decide that doing just that would probably be a good idea.

"Well, hi Ai, Freyja and um, Coach. Nice to meet you all. But yes that was wonderful! Did you practice all of that and, oh! How'd you manage to change so fast?" Akikuro explodes into a burst of gushing admiration as her words grow slightly incoherent as they trail past that.

Spoiler:

Perfect. There is a point of anxiety before every performance when Saya wasn't sure if this was the best plan or if it would go over badly. There was also a long wave of anxiety in the center of the performance, but that was mostly caused by the unnamed group of ninja all with spiky black hair dressed in dark colors who brooded about the village until Saya was performing. That was because of their tendency to throw rotten fruits and vegitables in order to get them to stop. The point tho this is to say that Saya was elated to see that her performance once again went off without a hitch, and it seemed overall well recieved.

"You don't have to"

"Of course, they're people too yanno"

Ai and Saya spoke in perfect unison, which would seem incredibly strange were it not for the Ai puppet's near perfect mimicry of human life. THe eyes, facial features, and lips of the Ai puppet shifted and showed expression exactly how Saya did and her body was covered in a realistic looking latex which made it nearly impossible to tell that she wasn't a person. THe freyja puppet, of course, was outfitted with the same design features, giving them a fully human looking appearance to match their personalities. Unfortunately, Saya hadn't actually taken the time to make the threads controling them invisible, and as such it was still clear that they were puppets.

"Yanno. I mean I thought it up a few days ago and just figured it would be fun to try it out spur of the moment and what not. That's kind of what i'm known for around here. You can always find the Puppet Princess of the village hidden in the mist out and about performing for a crowd somewhere in the village! " Saya's answer was emphatic and echoed her own brilliance. It wasn't exactly true though. SHe'd come up with the idea to do this performance moments ago, but she'd been practicing it for days in order to ensure that everything was set for the moment when she could actually pull it off. Thankfully there was no one who knew this information to correct her.

"Don't exagerate little sister. You know you've been practicing this whole things for almost a week. She was just waiting for the ideal audience in order to bring her vision to life. She just likes to play it off as if she didn't prepare at all. THe costumes are actually held in her storage displacement jutsu. Apparently the technique has an item limit but not like. A storage limit so she kind of shoved eight or so entire garment racks in there and she just pulls out what she needs in the moment. " Drat. In all my years as your humble third person narrator i've never been corrected so effectively by an event I said couldn't happen then right now, watching AI ignore my simple commentary about how Saya would get away with her white lie, only for the puppet sister to spill the beans.

(TWC 1578)

For a brief moment Akikuro felt concerned, and then she continued feeling concerned after that. Part of her was tempted to poke at the strings closest to her just to make sure they were really there, but even unfamiliar with puppet anatomy as she was, Akikuro assumed they counted as a vital organ and at best touching them would be a massive invasion of personal space. At worst she might unintentionally cripple a puppet, maybe, she still wasn't familiar with puppet anatomy and couldn't clearly see what the strings were connected to.

"Whoa, still just a week for that's really cool! I don't think I've seen any other performance quite like it."

Akikuro had not in fact, seen any other musical performance besides this in living memory, so the standard was fairly easy to beat. Still, that didn't diminish her awe and admiration in the slightest and her brain would in all likelihood replay the performance as she tried to sleep for the next week or so. She didn't think she'd mind though, it was a very unique hobby with an impressive spectacle as an endproduct. Even if her initial fascination faded, she'd cherish a short reminder in mental ink, kept snug with all the other things she'd seen and wondered at, no matter how mundane, natural or not so.

"Do you really do these all the time? And use all eight of those garment racks?" Looking closely into her eyes one might see stars forming in them. Might, as whatever stars were there were strictly metaphorical and could not under most circumstances be seen by the naked eye. Perhaps with a microscope, ideally a metaphorical one as well.

Spoiler:

"She does. Sayatria often finds time to put on performances or practice the arts to the detriment of her own training. It has been a bit of a struggle for both her previous trainer and myself to keep her on task, but the soul of the artist, how you say... Cannot be quelled?" Freyja's accent came heavy in her comment about her creators work ethic. To be fair she never stopped working, it was just a challenge pushing her in the direction of something that was actually productive. Left to her own devices the girl would bury herself in a pile of fabrics or lock herself in a concert hall with her personal band. It was this fact that kept pinochio in a constant state of stress, but Freyja was a bit different. She had the blessing of the gods on her side, both becuase she was made in their image and because she was a tool gifted directly by them.

"Yea. She can be a bit overbearing with her artistic expression, but we like her anyway. " Ai chimed in here, stepping forward to tustle her little sister's hair. The resemblance was, as explained, uncanny, but it was so easy to tell the twins apart. The vibrance of youth echoed in Saya's eyes, in her posture, and in every movement taken. She was both metaphorically and literally so full of life that she almost seemed to glow with radiance. Ai however, despite clearly being barelly into her teenage years, Watched the group with almost a mothers eye. Her shoulders dropped in a calm comfort as she looked over her flock, taking the role of caregiver to heart too easily. Ai and Freyja were two ends of a care giver's scale, with Freyja's intention to push the girl to her limits and protect on one end, and Ai's urge to nuture and dote on the girl at the other.

"Too often honestly. Our dear Sayatria has a tendency to do things without consideration for the people in the area, ending with some....Problems. " It was true, but she didn't need to explain further. Saya stepped forward as Freyja explained this small morsel of insight, fully ready to take over the convorsation.

"Yea. They aren't a huge fan of the whole Village guard and anbu constantly keeping an eye on me thing. I keep trying to tell them though. It's not my fault that the best places to perform are busy streets that aren't quite wide enough to hold both my stage AND let people through. They should have planned for this. Oh. RIght. Also the new mizukage uh. She explained to me that it was important for me to cause less trouble. She didn't seem very happy when I explained that I would try, but it probably wasn't something I was able to do. SHe's hecka cool though. DID YOU KNOW THE MIZUKAGE IS A GIRL?! We could be Kage one day!!!" SHe was far too excited by this fact.

"So. What kind of ninja arts do you like to do?! I'm super good at nin and Puppetry! I also have a bit of skill in Fuinjutsu If I do say so myself."

(TWC 2019)

Akikuro squints by just the barest fraction as the puppets speak. She hasn't been here for long so she wasn't prepared to rule out the possibility of them being real living and breathing people somehow, if they needed to breathe at all that is. Still, she peered at possible signs of ventriloquism, but it was very very hard to find anything that seemed like proof. That only served to convince her that Saya was telling the truth, which was somewhat disquieting as this may have meant the wooden dartboard she'd pierced just a moment earlier was a potential person that hadn't been properly made yet.

"Well I think I like her too if that counts for something." The Genin puffed up ever so slightly, the change imperceptible owing to the fact that she was relatively small as things stood and a minor shift would not truly affect that. "It was a ton of fun to watch and well, it sounds kind of petty but I hadn't had much of a welcome when I got here, at least nothing special. This made me feel welcome though."

She knew she shouldn't expect too much coming here, no one would have known her at the start after all, but she couldn't help feeling resentful that she hadn't even eaten any cake in all her time here.

"Oh dear, are the Village Guard especially harsh about this sort of thing? I haven't had much time to read up on the local laws, so I don't know if there's a strike system where they can throw you into prison after a while."

A breath catches in her throat as Saya mentions the Kage, more importantly the fact that she thought it was possible to become them one day. Indeed, it did seem delightfully possible, and Akikuro was tempted to consider extending her own ambitions as well. It felt oddly like treason though, to come into the village with the goal of running everything. That or Hubris, but perhaps it would stop feeling that way once she was promoted into a cool Chuunin like Saya. Then it would seem less absurd for Akikuro to reach for it.

"Oh I don't have three... I don't even have two just yet. Right now I'm mostly into Weaponry, like that. She gestures at three of her Kunais still embedded in the wall. Then in sotto voce she whispers as if someone outside was waiting for a vulnerability to show. "I only know the basic stuff though. How long do you think it'll be before I can get to your level?"

Code:

WC: 431

"Well of course you do, I'm charismatic!" For most that would sound like a horrific brag, a heavy hint of arrogance that suggests consideration of oneself over all others, but her tone suggested otherwise. The matter of the fact way that Saya sated the phrase made it clear that she wasn't considering herself personally in the statement. It was just a fact she was aware of. For better or worse this is a habit our dear protagonist gets into. With her briliance comes the weakness of recognizing the implication of what she considers a simple truth. She's a genius. At base any who would say this would be scoffed at immediately for the big headed declaration, but for the tiny terror it was simply a part of life. She was proficient at nearly every task she truely set her mind to, and her vibrant charisma lit any room she walked into.

"There does seem to be a lack of hospitality in this village. Sayatria faced less than ideal conditions when she first moved here as well. It almost definitely had something to do with her status as an outsider and her propensity to master things more quickly than any others though. " THe second comment their new friend made was met with a simple analysis by Freyja, her calm, almost monotone voice explaining the situation flawlessly.

"It also doesn't help that she showed up with alot of disposable income and is far too willing to point out that she tested incredibly high in every cognative and intelegence based test she took. She could have been a high ranking ninja if she'd cared about ninjutsu as much as the arts, but Yanno. Positives and negatives." The seamless transition between Freyja's analysis and Ai's commentary on her little sisters general habits made it clear that the group had been together for a long time. Whether that was because they worked together for years, or because each of the puppets was literally a separate manifestation of Saya's own understanding was less clear.

"Well. I mean. They just aren't a fan of small girls bringing entire bands into crowded streets and blocking traffic several times a day. I haven't ACTUALLY gotten in trouble for anything yet, asside from a cross look from one of the anbu and a slightly stern talking to from the Mizukage, but they also have failed to catch me every time they've tried. Parkour is a girls best friend when stuffy ninja want to ruin your fun." THe next question was a bit more dificult to field. It wasn't dificult at all for Saya, but as she moved to speak, a hand placed firmly on her shoulder and a head shake from Ai told her she should leave this one to the "adults"

"Saya is a special case. Eidetic memory and a natural ability to learn things far more quickly than most due to her bloodline. I would say in a few years you could probably reach her power if you try really hard though?"

(TWC 2523)