Rotting Falcon Feet

Missions:

Ren was appalled. He had gotten up early ready to take on another B-rank mission only to find that the quest counter still had him registered as an unproven beginner. I was involved in that fiasco just a while ago am I not at least qualified for a mission worth more for my time? I could make this much scrubbing dishes. It was a lie. A shinobi's pay was better than a dishwashers and it came with perks. Either the quest counter lady knew this or she didn't like ren's attitude. He was directed to complete 3 E-rank missions one assigned directly to him by the counter and 2 from the board he was told he would receive a teammate only a little later into the assignment. Ren audible clicked his teeth and wore a nasty glare. The shapely woman with a long blonde pony tail handed him his mission with a smile and directed him to the board of low rank mission to select from. The boy wasn't sure why her smile felt as though it carried malic until he read his assigned task. 

Scrapping shit? You must be kidding anyone could do this job? The woman explained that not many were willing to do the job and making low level ninja build teamwork skills doing menial work helped keep taxes low and got shinobi used to working with other. Her usually closed eye smile became a wide grin as she said the next line. You really need to learn a thing or two about team work it would seem~


The boy grimaced. His last report hadn't been stellar. The casualties were higher than necessary. He apparently scared a young girl and he didn't work with his teammates. He had received a letter about poor conduct in the mail. He snatched the mission and marched angrily to the board he selected two mission that actually interested him and stormed out.

They better not match me with some insufferable, snot-nosed, brat or they're are gonna "too many casualties", once again... He muttered under his breath as he ascended towards the roof tops making his way to the aviary. 

It was located on a high cliff side with a long staircase leading to it. Ren had gotten there before the meeting time for this mission, but he wanted nothing more than to be done with it as quickly as possible. The bird keepers gave him a smock and a mop and he set to work. The boy scrubbed and scrubbed. The place was looking half way decent when his ears picked up the sound of someone approaching...   

---

WC:440

A couple of days have passed since Aura passed her Genin exams with flying colors. With better access to the technique archives located around the village, she was able to grab herself a few neat tricks that she figured would help her out in the coming days, and now she feels much more capable than she was originally. Having these delectable boons at her disposal, it was finally time for her to take on her first missions. According to her mentor, starting off with the easiest ones would be much better for her, as they actually tend to assist people around the actual village itself, rather than going out in the world to beat up bad guys and gather intel. As exciting as all of that sounds, deep down she knows that she needs to be much stronger before going anywhere but Kumogakure is a safe and fun idea. Though, when she pretty much just told the people at the mission board's headquarters to assign her anything they thought would help out the most for her skill level, she really didn't expect cleaning up the aviaries to be the first stop they'd put her on. Apparently, each one would have a partner for her to deal with though, which made the idea a lot more appetizing than doing it by herself. So, with some pep in her step, she takes a leisurely walk towards her next location, completely oblivious about who she was going to get to work with was.

Along the way, and right as she was almost at the entrance, however, she ran into a... well, a troublemaker. Indeed, conveniently enough, she overheard one of the older Genin, like her, murmuring about invading the aviary to cause more trouble for those who were being required to clean, as some sort of petty revenge scheme to get back at the birds who decided it would be a great idea to defecate on him while he was tasked with the same mission. If it were merely a harmless prank, maybe she would have ignored his mumbles, but it was clear by the wording he planned on doing something a little more harmful. So, she confronted him at the front door, which wasn't closed just yet, and tapped him on the shoulder. "You're not actually planning on taping their legs up to their stands, are you?" The blind woman asked with genuine curiosity, to which the young man replies, "Uh, yeah. What, got a problem with that, little girl?" Okay, so not only was he admitting it, but now he's insulting her? Oh, this would not do. The softness in her expression went hardened really fast, chakra swiftly flowing down to her fists, and then...

He's sent flying into the floor of the aviary, knocked out COLD.

"Oh, well just take a nap, then, little boy. Sounds like you need it to cool your head off," Aura exclaims to the unconscious sod, giggling to herself, as she didn't realize her associate was already in the building as she stepped in. However, her nose catches a whiff of someone familiar in the air, and that foreboding broodiness... oh yeah, she knows exactly who her partner is. Moving on with her life as though she didn't just punch a guy with an unnecessary amount of force using Chakra Enhanced Strength, she steps on over to Ren and gives him a little wave, putting her hands behind her back after, with a tilt of her head. "Ren! I'm a Genin now! So I think that means I was partnered up with you for the cleaning mission! Luck probably put us together for the other two I have as well. We should be able to finish this up in a jiffy, then maybe it'll be a lot better after! Especially once we get rid of the trash..." she says, offhandedly mentioning the man she just punched the lights out of. Man, stone cold.

Needless to say, however Ren reacts to all of that, they'll more than likely finish in maybe another half hour of scrubbing the walls and floors, since two heads are smarter than one, making the work more efficient. This leads into them heading towards their second mission in due time, and it seems Aura knew where to take her partner as well, not even bothering to wait for him to keep up with her, since she understands he's fine without her waiting. They're now at one of Kumogakure's favored but less enticing parlors, the Ragged Foot. For whatever reason, not only have their been rumors of black market operations associating with this fine establishment, but a citizen found a tiny cube of of decaying organic matter lying around the side of the building, which in all honesty is probably more gross than avian doodoo. Once arriving, she takes Ren into an alley right near the parlor first, wanting to talk to him one on one about the whole situation before they go in.

"Okay, so with what we know, there's definitely a lot of... scenarios that could be going on here. It's either someone's being really weird and keeping clientele DNA, or maybe even some people could be dying... if you don't want to get too involved, I suggest you stay quiet like you usually are, and I'll do all the talking. All I'd need you to do is watch and listen; observe whatever you can, and maybe sneak around if possible. We don't need to fight anyone, and doing that would only get us in trouble, right? So, after we clean up the cube, you should be able to just accompany me into their place, and I'll ask for some service while you snoop around. Sound good? Or do you got any better ideas? We gotta be a team, so I'm not gonna stamp all over what you might want to do." Saying what she had to say, she just smiles and waits for her ally's recommendations or orders.

Word Count Tracker:

Ren could over hear that a boy was going to assault the birds. Ren was angry that he had to clean up boob but it wasn't the birds fault that they were kept somewhere small and crampet for other peoples purposes and thus genin had to clean. If this child was angry he should take it out on those forcing him to do it. Not the ones he was to care for. Ren gave a dead stare at the door read to swing his mop and the guy once he got inside, but it seemed someone else had got to him first. A familiar voice spoke to the boy. A girl's voice. He'd only had two women who's voice could be familiar left in his life. It must have been Aura. I should get the guy... Ren made a move for the door only moments before the bird hater was tossed through it unconscious.

Ren was confused, but ultimately impressed. it seemed like Aura had bulked up to match her sharp tongue. She had also made the ranks of genin. Ren was happy for her but his face didn't show it. You look like you've bulked up in rank and in muscle. Good. The other cleaning stuff is over there... "happy to work with you" He said a canned phrase that he didn't really mean almost robotically. He didn't want a another poor teamwork report. He got back to the job cleaning fervently with Aura's help. He wanted to stop the humiliating task as soon as possible. With, her help it took him half the time he thought it would take. hmph she can at least carry her weight in things like this huh?  He was feeling generous as he'd just had his time saved by his fellow genin so he tried to be kind in return. Performing the transactional side of relationships that he'd always known. I'll carry the trash down the stairs, and you will tell me about your genin exam. He would say as they made their way down the stairs. Aura had taken the lead. Her confidence was starting to be amusing to Ren. Just where did it come from? He wondered as he shared with him her escapades. Her upbeat voice was slowly starting to be less of a nuisance. slowly. One day he would learn to listen, and today he would give it his best shot. He followed Aura who had turned down an alley. She then spoke of her plan to get the information they wanted.

I want to clean up the meat it sounds interesting. I don't care about the parlor you. If that's what the all might Aura thinks then we'll go with that ~ He said the last bit with a hind of sarcasm, but he quickly set off to poke at the meat pile only a few meters away.. He touched it with his hand as if he'd touched decaying masses often. After poking and prodding it and moving it around he stood up from it. With a swift kick he dislodged the hunk from the pavement it was stuck too. There we'll pick it up later. These look like human remains to me btw... He said so hand with a shrug. I'll try to look around while you get the massage make up a reason for me being with you I'll play along. I 'd rather not do anymore talking. Ren crossed his arms and waited for aura to perform the next and most delicate part of their mission. He didn't mind be a chess piece in a game he wasn't interested in playing. It was time to see what his work partner had in mind exactly. 

 

---

WC:627
TWC:1067

Yeah, it was immediately obvious to her that Ren does not want to be here right now, and she doesn't honestly want to either. It's only worth it to her, since she gets to interact with the cutest falcons, observing their fluttery wing sounds and various cries from afar while they worked. Her heart is satisfied even more when Ren decides to actually be nice again, another way to show that there was the hint of a gentleman somewhere in his rougher exterior. Talking about her day is relatively easy when you talk a lot in general, so hopefully he doesn't mind her going into too much detail. Considering the momentous occasion of her graduation, there's no way she was abridging it in any degree that was useful. So as they made their way to the parlor itself, she pops off. Here goes nothing!

"Why thank you Ren! Alright, so here's the story all about how my life got flipped upside down... will only take a minute, so lets keep walking here. I'll tell you how I became the first graduated blind woman of Kumogakure! Essentially, you were right about my skills with the two jutsu they want me to use. Apparently, even though I couldn't get the color on my clone, my level of detail was far beyond what is actually required of the test. On top of that, I think me going straight up to the proctor and grabbing his face after he told me to try and transform into him without assistance was gutsy enough for him to enjoy my ingenuity. So, here we are now! Got access to the jutsu archives right after, and I trained for a little so I'd have a bit more tricks to play with while I'm making my way up the ranks. Then, I asked the nice mission dealers to make three random requests for me. Luck is what brought us together, to be honest!" That's as brief as she can keep it, so when they actually make it to their destination, that's when she goes through her whole spiel about the mission at hand.

Honestly, she's surprised that he's willing to go along with her plans. Sure, maybe she's being a little rambunctious and cocky, but could you really blame her? Finally her life is turning out for the better, not because others did it for her, but she did it for herself. All of the ideas she's kept in her head for her twenty years of life can now blossom into her chosen field, and if there's anything she knew, it's that shinobi had to be sneaky. When you can't do that very particularly well since you can't look at your own clothes, then you use others to do it for you. That was Ren's job here, as her ally and confidant. A chess match where both of them profit, and hopefully they can get down to the bottom of what's really happening here. Smiling cheekily, she bumps her friend in the chest with her elbow, and lets off a quiet chuckle. "Thank you for cooperating. I've had so many thoughts formulating even before I found you today, it'll be great to exercise my brain! And maybe you'll learn a little something, too~" 

Given whatever 'meat' Ren is playing with has been considered to most likely be human remains, she nods and puts her hands in front of her simple peasant clothes, something she picked up for her actual missions to make her more inconspicuous. Upon entry, she introduces the both of them, and tells the owners she only wanted to get a massage while her 'little brother' hung around. To help Ren out, she mentions that he gets a stir crazy occasionally, and to not mind him if he walks off; he can take care of himself. All he's doing is helping a poor blind woman out, yeah? This gives him the openings he needs to make off like a bandit and gather more information about the whereabouts of the black market rumors, and maybe deducing where the weird cubes of human flesh were coming from.

However her partner decides to collect what they need, if he succeeds, then the problem seems to solve itself. These rumors were brought on in the first place for the possibility of organ trades being a part of it all, which would result in leftovers from the people subject to such horrendous acts. The parlor being a part of all of this is debunked when he ends up finding a hole in the basement of their building, and a nest of rats with what looks like 'meat' they're gathering. The same matter that was strewn about outside haphazardly... for whatever reason, there's something nearby producing this stuff, and the rats are using them as both nesting and food. Disgusting, but for scavengers like them, they'll take what they can get. Hopefully the problem can be resolved, and the Ragged Foot can be absolved of suspicion. 

Once Aura is done, and they meet back in the alley together, away from the prying eyes of any villagers, all she has to say is, "So, find anything interesting? From the small conversation I had with the managers, they don't sound like the type of people to be dealing with the underworld. I could hear their heartbeats, and feel their heat as well, and neither spiked up the entire time we talked. At the very least, they aren't lying... or maybe they're really good at it. What do you think?" Whatever she said after this does not truly matter to the story, so instead of dragging on this mystery any longer, when they're done with their rendezvous, they report both their successes and their findings to the mission headquarters. Needless to say, Aura will give Ren a glamorous review of his teamwork in the report, though caution that he may want to be put on a few more missions with her before they can be sure. That's more so she can spend more time with him, since she doesn't know he's actually in trouble at the moment. At the end of the day, they did what had to be done, but the question remains... who is spawning such gross objects? Maybe other missions will help clear this up later.

[MISSION COMPLETE. EXIT THREAD]

Word Count Tracker:

Claims:

Ren nodded along with her plan, and removed his headband from his waist and put it into his pocket. He followed her inside, and let her do the talking as he agreed to. She had introduced him as a squirrelly younger brother. Do I even look like I could be related to you?... He glanced at the shorter girl. Their hair color certainly didn't match, but their facial shape wasn't entirely dissimilar. The masseuse seemed to buy it regardless, and this gave Ren all he need to snoop around. 

He waited for Aura to have a conversation with the massuuse and he snuck into the back of the small establishment. He looked around what seemed to be a storage room, and noticed nothing out of the ordinary until he found himself staring down a large pit towards the rooms back left corner. This was indeed suspicious, and ren was almost ready to call it there, but he peeked into the ditch to be sure. What he ended up seeing was a den of mostly dead rats. Though there were plenty still scurrying around. Her noticed pesticide, and what looked to be similar human remains to what was outside. But if they're feeding humans to the rats.... It didn't make since to him that they would want to kill their rats. With that though the boy deduced that the rats were pest and that the remains were from elsewhere. Satisfied he left the backroom. Aura had been chatting up the shop keepers so well no one noticed a single thing.

After it was over Ren left with Aura never looking the shop keeps in the eye or paying much mind to what Aura had said to them. He just needed to finish the job. They walked back to the nearby alley to talk it through. Aura spoke a mile a minute, but ren was getting good at parsing the important things making her a little less annoying to listen to. Or at least less annoying than most humans.

It was a den of rats they probably brought the remains to the nest that's under the parlor. I don't think they're part of the trade, but I could see how such rumors could have started...We're done here. Will you be making the report? Ren was short with his words but efficient. Aura had agreed to write it but he would accompany her to the mission hall all the same. He wanted to get paid in full, and he could try writing a report for the first time. The blonde guy showed him how last time. Who knew where the human remains came from. The thought crossed his mind, but it was a mystery for another day.

---

EXIT
WC:457
TWC:1524

+307 Jotun grip to B-rank previous training
+693 Superior Strength to B-rank previous training
+524 towards Perfect body
+30 ap

Claiming mission rewards:
+3000 ryo 
+15 ap

Approved