Akward jobs for a hobo magical girl (IO, P, NK)

The Kunochi’s Eyes would open.

It had been a day or so since the woman found herself in this alternate dimension, and she had very little success in finding away to escape this spring wonderland and maker her way back to the main realm. After searching around for the waning hours of the day, the Akari had to give up and try to find shelter for the night. Opening her purse case to pull out some Ryo, the Kunochi felt disappointed about her findings, and elected to find a place outside of the local tavern to spend the night at. The thought of camping out a forest full of Sakura flowers under a beautiful spring night sky did seem appealing to the woman, but crossed the thought out after she realized if there were any hiding shinobi or monsters that lurked in the forest, she surely would be the first person to die at their hands if they decided to do anything. After scurrying around for a while from building to building, the kunochi broke into a stable, gathered some hay into a pile, and passed out on it for the night.

And this was where the kunochi was now, waking up to the sound of some roosters calling for the morning sun. Waking up and feeling her sore body’s joints popping from being in an akward position for hours on end, the girl would start to stand up and get ready to leave, she knew farmers often liked to get there work done early in the day, so she figured she would need to move now before she was caught.

Slipping out of the window she used to break in, and planting herself on the ground, the kunochi started to limp away from the property, looking more like a hobo than the once to be spouse of the star village’s  shadow.  After getting some distance away from the estate, the woman would feel a low growl from her stomach, pausing for a second and looking down at it. Drat. It must have been…. at least two days since the girl had last eaten anything. That in combination with her body still believing it was in its early stages of pregnancy, made it clear that her body was going to be fighting her at every turn coming up soon. She needed to get food, and to do that, the kunochi needed to get ryo for her to be able purchase said food. Well…. This was going to be a hassle.

Without much of an idea of what to do, Hikari would start to limp towards the center of town, trying to figure out if there was anything she could do for food or water.

Wc: 454

While making her way through the town, the Akari took notice if something. Feeling out with her chakra, the kunochi noticed that that many chakra signatures with developed chakra networks were sleeping in near by taverns. To many for this to be a mere coincidence. There was no way such a small town had such a developed shinobi military system, so these had to be shinobi who were grabbed like Hikari was. Were they all Hoshigakure like Isr and all his friends were? Or was it shinobi from the greater shinobi world? Could the Abbysal walker be here? Could Tadashi? Who knew how many former allies and foes could be sleeping a mear dozen meters away from Hikari right now.


While still making her way through the town, the Akari could smell something burning. At first dismissing it as a simple breakfast gone wrong, the woman stopped when she could tell that it was coming from a nearby building that seemed more like a church, rather than any sort of place where people slept and ate at. Looking over at the religious building, Hikari felt like it would be a good idea to check things out. If nothing else, maybe they had a homeless shelter or something that the kunochi could recover or freshen up at.

WC: 216

Hikari stepped up on the old wooden poach of the church. Feeling out with her hand, the woman would take the door handle in her hand and find the large wooden door unlocked. Prehaps the priest in charge of the church didn't want the house of God to ever not have its doors locked to anyone. Stepping into the building, the Kunochi would take note of the dirty dusty innerards of the church. It seemed to be quite a number of days since anyone was last in here. Did no one come into the church to celebrate daily mass or anything of the like? Looking around, the Kunochi would find the pews empty. Looking around, the only sign of movement the kunochi could find was flicker of light coming from the alter. Upon it, there was two candles placed on the left and right on each side. The right one looked like it had much wax left to burn on it, whereas the left one appeared to not have much left in the way of was left, as the candle was still burning with a bright flame. With a bow as a sign of reverence, the Kunochi would walk up to the alter, and blow out the candle, it having been obviously been accidently left burning from the previous service the church had provided.


WC: 225

Stepping off of the alter and giving a bow of reverence, the kunochi would start to step out of the building and close the door behind her. Not thinking about how that ended up being a waste of time,  the Akari proceeded to limp more towards he center of town in search for work or food. After some time had passed and the woman found herself more towards the center of town in the center of the festival. People seemed to be gathering around the group of tables towards the center of the place, many large men seemed to be sitting around a group of tables in the center area. It seemed like some sort of even was going on..... Prehaps a contest of some sort? Looking around, the woman saw some sort of registration table towards the center of the town. Approaching the room, Hikari would take a second to look around at some of the few onlookers, and saw one middle aged man with short red hair and a goatee, standing around on his own. Stepping forward, Hikari would reach out to the man. "Um.... Excuse me... Sir?" 

The man would turn to face her, obviously looking groggy from it being early in the morning. "Huh? Wadayawant?"  

WC 209

“Sorry to bother you sir.” The Akari would respond, and give a respectful curtsey. “I just saw the commotion, and was wondering what was going on.”

“Ugh, can’t you read?” The man would groan as he would point out at various posters posted around the grounds. “Why the heck are you bothering me when you have all of these options around ya?”

The Kunoichi would squint her eye to read at a distance, before turning back toward the man. “Those don’t really look legible my good sir. It seems like they have been up for a few days, and clearly it has been raining recently, since all the words are smudged. I can’t say I saw them before I asked, but I’ll be honest, even if I did I doubt I would have been able to understand what it was advertising for.”

With another deep groan, the man would jab his thumb at the various tables set up towards the center of town. “Well, ya see here missy, there are going to be a large number of contest and what not going on today at this here pavilion. There are many contest, for many prizes if ya want to try your hand at any of them.”

Hikari would take a look around, seeing many large men at the main table right now. “Um…. What kind of contest is going on right now? Judging by the participants, I’m guessing its some sort of contest of power, maybe weight lifting or tug of war contest?”

Laughing at the young woman, the older man would slap his knee and fall over in his chair, almost as if he had just heard a good joke. “No, no, no, little missy. This right here is a drinking contest. A cold, hard, burban drinking contest. Whoever can drink the most in a 30 minute time period without blacking out is the winner.”
 
Raising and eye brow, the Kunochi was quite shocked to hear that. Seto and his friends had many drinking contest during her time in the land of the dead, but… “This early in the morning?” Hikari would ask in a shocked tone. “But… Any one involved would still being feeling the effects of the drinks for the rest of the day, and probably be hungover by night. They woudn’t be able to enjoy the rest of the events for the day.”

The register would snap his fingers and point at Hikari. “Exactly. It would be hilarious for the rest of the patrons involved! And 10K Ryo will be given to the winner!  Talk about motivation! It is going to be hilarious!”

The Kunochi would bite her lip and look over at the drinks. Normally, the woman hated alcohol with a passion. But right now, her stomach was growling and she honestly was at the point that anything would seem good right now. After all, the girl didn’t need to try to win, just have a few sips to get something into her system, and then drop out. “That… sounds like a tempting offer if I should say so myself. Could I sign up sir?”

The man’s mouth would drop upon hearing this. “My my little missey, are you sure? This isn’t your fine wine or other run of the mill alcohol. This is hard liquor. Like, hard liquor. This is what boys drink to become men and put hair on their chest! It isn’t something that a purrty little thang like you should be drinking. You sure about this?”

The rogue Akari would nod her head. “I think this would be fine. It sounds like fun. And there is no entry fee, right?”

The old man would shake his head. “I mean… no… but still…”

The former Deputy Kage of Hoshigakure would reach out for the form, and quickly jot her name down with a spare pen that was lying around. “Don’t worry Sir. I may not look like it, but I am someone who knows how to hold her drink. I should be fine.”

The man would awkwardly fidget for a few seconds, before handing Hikari a number tag. “Ok… well… the game starts in 20 minutes. Best of luck to you.”

Heading over to the table, the Kunoichi would cross her legs and sit properly at the edge of a table squeezed between two large, extremely overweight men, who had been throwing some banter toward her. Even this early in the morning, Hikari was forced to hold her nose as the sweat pouring from these men was just to much. In addition to that, the woman could also smell another strong and dark smell, which had the vague hint of alcohol. Was this the burban Hikari had been told about?

After some time, the Akari could hear the gentleman from before starting to give some announcements, hyping up the crowd for the contest to come, and explaining the rules. The Kunoichi nervously fidgeted, perhaps this had been a mistake. But surely, one glass couldn’t hurt that bad, could it?

After some time, the announcer finished and a few women came up and started placing some drinks in front of all the competitors. Now with the drinks closer, Hikari could for certain tell this was the horrible smell she had smelled earlier. With a nervous bead of sweat starting to form over her temple, the Kunochi would hold the rather large mug in between both of her hands.

“Ok Gentlemen! Oh, and lady. On your marks….”
Hikari would feel a lump forming in the back of her mouth. She really didn’t want to do this, but she needed something in her system.

“Get set….”
Other men grabbed their ale and started to get ready to chug it. On the contrary, Hikari didn’t even seem like a proper woman compared to who else was around. It made her look and feel like a small girl who had gotten lost without her mother, which to be fair, was basically the exact situation Hikari had found herself in.

“GO!”
As the men proceeded to chug their drinks down, Hikari slowly raised her own mug up to her lip. Just a small sip to see what it taste like, nothing more than that, Just plug your nose and take a sip… it couldn’t be that bad right?

Pressing her soft lips up against the alcohol, the kunoichi would let a small bit of the alcohol pass into her mouth, brush past her tongue, and start its journey through her digestive system.


WC: 1084

"Uhhhhhh....”

The Akari would slowly start to sit up, holding her head as she felt it throbbing. The whole room seemed to be spinning, and Hikari needed to take a second to get her bearings. While the room was slowing down, the Kunoichi put her hand on her sleave to feel her raggedy old jacket over herself. Ok, so she still had her clothes on. Feeling down, the woman noticed a blanket pulled over her body. A blanket? And a soft mattress? Ok, so someone was taking care of her, so this isn’t some sort of kidnapping. The last thing the Akari could remember was….. the drinking contest? She was about to start drinking…. Oh gosh, she had to much, didn’t she? Thinking about it, Hikari had been only planning to have a single cup of the alcoholic beverage. What could have possibly made her interested in having more? As the world slowly stopped spinning, the girl started to take note of her surroundings. She wasn’t on a bed of sorts, but more of a booth at a restaurant. The room was well lit, and the various sporting equipment that was being put on the wall made the woman think this place had more of a sports bar vibe to it, not unlike the Light of the Night bar that she had worked in for the past few months.

WC: 229

Approved.

"Ah, well it seems like you have woken up missy."

With this in mind, Hikari quickly looked around for the source of the mysterious noise, casting her gaze around, the woman would notice in short order that about 5 meters away from her, sitting at the bar was a slightly older gentleman, in his late 50's or early 60's, sitting wearing a komono. He had a long, well kempt dark beard, and short dark hair. The Kunochi would rub her head as she cast her gaze over to the man. "I'm sorry... where am I? What happened to me?"

"You passed out during the drinking contest." The man would explain, slouching down and bringing some chopsticks down on a bowl of Ramen he had in front of himself. "Honestly, I was surprised that someone passed out from drinking nothing more than a single drink sip of alcohol. It was most impressive."

Slumping over, the woman couldn't believe what she heard. "A.... A single sip? Tha... thats it?" The Akari assassin would ask, quite in shock about the turn of events that led here here. Sure, the Kunochi knew she wasn't great with the spell of a bottle, but she honestly couldn't handle even a single drink of it?

WC 208

"So..." Hikari would ask, her eyes narrowing as she wondered what was going on. "I am assuming that you saw me passed out, grabbed me, and brought me back here to recover."

"That about sums it up." The man would explain in between bites of his plate. "Not for anything nefarious mind you. Just looking to help a little lady like yourself out." He would say, and toss her a small hand bag. It wouldn't be the prettiest catch, but the Kunoichi would pat the bag up into the air before struggling and then catching the sack.

"What is this?" The Kunoichi would ask opening the sack to find a small amount of coins in the purse.

"Call it a constellation prize." The man would say. "You didn't look like you were in the best of shape. So... people came together and decided to pull a little... well, participation reward for you, if you get my meaning."

The Alpha would hate the thought of having to accept a pity prize, but at the same time knew she wasn't in much of a position to say other wise, and would put the old sack into her pocket, well at least the woman had some money for food for the next few days. "Well, thank you, I very much appreciate this. Now.... If you don't mind, I didn't expect to be out for this long, and I do have to be on my way."

As the woman would start to stand and collect herself, the man would look over at her. "Now, hold up a quick second. You're free to go if you like, but I have a proposition for you, you seem like you might be a bit short on cash. Tell me, you staying around these parts for a while?"

The Akari Assassin would turn back to the man and give him a quick once over, trying to determine the man's honesty, but decided that if he had wanted something weird or to take advantage of the blonde kunoichi. He could have done it by now. "I haven't decided yet, but I probably won't be leaving tonight at this point, so I suppose I could at least hear out my savoir. So... what do you have for me?"

The man would finish his bowl of Ramen, "Well, you see.... once a year, at this festival, we have a yearly competition for wood working. We gather a large amount of Senju wood and have a crafting competition. The person who can create the best structure scored by a panel of judges will be considered the victor. I was looking for someone to participate under my shop's name. Even if you don't win, it getting my shops banner up on the score board will be a great advertisement. And if you do win.... all the better! I'll pay you 2,000 Ryo for taking part if you can make a good show, and 10,000 ryo if you can win."

Doing a quick calculation, Hikari figured that if she did take part in the event and win, she probably would have enough money to purchase supplies to get back to Hoshi with. Besides, what was she going to do anyways with the rest of her day? "Ok... that sounds good to me. I'll take you up on that offer. I'm not much of a craftswoman, but I can at least give it a shot."

Tossing a small flier to Hikari with the information required to get involved with the event, the man would respond "Wonderful! And with a looker like you taking part in the event, I'm sure that my restaurant will get loads of customers! Just try to clean up before the judging takes place!"

With a nod, Hikari would make her way out of the building, attempting to find a way to doll herself up before the events that were to come later tonight.


WC: 652