The Lazy Lagoon: Cool and Clean

With the help of a basic scroll and the water sealing jutsu, Dracoso dug out and set up a small area of freshwater a little way up off the ocean water. He knew that there were showers set up towards the edge of the beach for people to cool off and wash off the salt water, but he wanted to make a social area for it too. Having a freshwater lagoon on the beach could bring out some people who may enjoy a calmer body of water. Some of the kids running nearby talked loudly about how it was like a pool at the beach and some of the parents could watch their kids in the shallow end. 

One side of the lagoon worked like a wading pool, where the little kids who were adjusting to the waves could safely float. It slowly got deeper to where it was just about up to a person's chest so people could relax against the edge. Dracoso had dug a small channel that led over to where he was relaxing, and he would occasionally add small sheets of ice to float down the channel. This would balance out the salt by providing more fresh water to the lagoon while also keeping it cool for those in it. Sutsui lazed on his shoulder, softly draped over his leg. He had his foot in the water and her lower half was dipped down as well. Her head rested on his knee as she half napped in the combination of warm sun and cool water.

The parasol he had set up had snowflake patterns around it and there was a sign draped off the back of it. The sign was pointed towards the entrance and read: Come hang out at the lazy lagoon! Make friends, cool off, and wash off the salt! He figured this might be a nice way to give an alternative to the ocean while giving people a calmer area to spend time in.

{Starting WC: 331}

Oh, thank the gods, a normal vacation area in this absolute mess of a summer location.

Now, don't get her wrong, there were plenty of quote-on-quote normal places on Mikadzuchi Beach — but the devil was in the quotation marks. All of those places either had far too many cronies for her to stomach or enough ninja with short triggers, with no in between. Simply put, Baruga wasn't the biggest fan of fighting off peasant boys with a stick, nor was she a fan of being caught in an impromptu Mexican standoff in the middle of the ocean.

Of course, she'd win that Mexican standoff, but that was scarcely the point.

Parents more enamored with protecting their children and resting their hackles was much more acceptable for Baruga's tastes, and contrary to popular belief, she actually didn't mind children all that much. So, here she was.

There was still a young man sitting there at the corner of the pool, trying and failing to look casual with a literal bloody snake hanging off of him, but he seemed to mostly be the source of the freshwater, what with all the ice. Hence, a nonthreat at best, and negligible at worst. She froze in place, pulled down her sunglasses, and sized him up as she approached the lagoon — before mentally accepted her odds being able to kill him, putting her sunglasses back on, and continuing to walk.

Baruga had brought a big, striped inner tube to laze about on, and within moments, was completely set up to sunbathe and nap while floating on the tube. She'd even brought along the latest fashion magazine so she could finally catch up on the latest trends — her last mission, after all, had required some very long-distance travel, and that was hardly the time or place to be reading up on those sorts of things. Hoping she wasn't woefully out of style, Baruga flipped open her magazine and read until she nearly passed out.

Until she bumped something. Or, actually, someone. Her inner tube had floated against Dracoso's leg in her lethargy and the moment had shocked her awake.

She looked up at him.

"Sorry, mate," she said without an ounce of apology in her tone, before returning to her half-wet magazine.

---

WC: 379

Dracoso gave her a soft smile and said simply, "no problem. We are all here to enjoy some time away from life. Easier to forget who and what is around us sometimes." She seemed to want to be undisturbed in her time at the water and so he gently pointed a hand towards the water under her inner tube and formed the seals. A small water beast formed and swam under her tube, steadying it and softly repositioning her a foot away, at the prime spot in front of the channel he was using. The spot was the coolest, helping to keep off the sun, and the fresh water let her settle more easily in the waves. The water beast made it so she didn't need to worry about floating into others and could even reposition her just from how she shifted her weight.

"Well, that should do it. Don't want you overturning by accident. You seem very capable, but I'd say we all are vulnerable when we are asleep," he said with a soft chuckle as he seemed to think back on his own memories. He gave his head a soft shake and looked back to her, taking her in. She seemed quite confident in how she presented herself and came across as well composed. "Ah," he said softly as he pulled out a scroll and made a few seals with a foot on the scroll. He quietly turned it towards her magazine, and it drew the water out of it. This left it a bit ruffled, but in better condition. 

"Always good to know a few tricks. Whether in battle or on break," He finished with a small smile. He leaned back in his chair as he watched her float and kept an eye across the lagoon.

{WC: 299, Total so far: 630)

Well, she'd thought that his acceptance for her apology would be enough, but then she felt a giant bloody snake tug at her inner tube and pull her in a direction. A bit disturbing, but fine — he used his summons (or, familiar? she wasn't certain) well, they didn't seem to mind, all was well. Might scare a mother and her children, but unless they start obnoxiously crying, see if she gave a damn.

But then he was speaking more, and then he sucked the moisture out of her magazine using fuinjutsu, and suddenly, it was a conversation. Because when you do all that for a girl, it has to be conversation, in Baruga's mind.

"Good tricks, indeed. So, are you always on duty to create a ninjutsu-based lazy river system for all the families and children, or do you switch off with someone new every year?"

The sunlight reflected off of her sunglasses, and she flipped a page in her magazine. Baruga crossed a leg over the other, her accent as posh as always.

"I'm kidding, of course. But your idea of generosity intrigues me. Making ice lagoons, using your sealing techniques so openly..."

She gestured to the snake.

"...Letting your pets outside. Well, pet. If that."

Baruga cleared her throat, flipping another page and glancing through the catalogues. Oh, that was quite the cute swimsuit. A one-piece. Too pink, though. She'll probably order one custom-made to her liking later.

"Color me intrigued, is all."

---

WC: 245
TWC: 624

Dracoso took a peek down at Sutsui and chuckled softly before making sure the wolf water beast was settled in as it softly nudged her inner tube. "Where to begin..." he said softly as he gestured down to Sutsui, "This is Sutsui, she is my familiar. We've shared a connection for communication ever since we first met." he softly petted her and chuckled at the earlier question. "Can't say always. This is my first time trying this out. I saw the showers further up the beach and figured it might be nice to have something a bit less... active for some people. I prefer to see what I can do with my jutsu and grow out my power through ingenuity."

He sat back in his seat and looked over to her magazine-hidden face and closed his eyes. "When I was growing up, I used to ask every single person who would give me the time about anything that I thought they might know. The more I learned, the more I wanted to learn. In time, I was asking questions that stumped many of the professionals in my village because of how far down I had dug. This is a bit of a roundabout way of explaining, but I found that the more I learned and applied, the more I could make a difference," he explained.

"So many people live in this world playing a role that they think fits them. In the end, it was the world around them that shaped the role they took on. I want to be someone who instead shapes the world around us to give people more roles that they can choose from. Whether it is through medicine, jutsu, or just my sheer will. When I take on my missions, it is to help people. When I challenge other ninjas, it won't be to kill them. It will be to challenge them to find the weaknesses and strengths of both myself and the one I am challenging," he said, a bit lost in thought as he spoke.

"After all, if killing is all that this world holds, are we not all just waiting for our turn?" He asked her softly, still lost in thought.

{WC = 369, Total so far = 999}

An interesting name for an interesting familiar. All her summons tended to be named in a rather old-fashioned way; Hideyoshi, Nobunaga, Ujimasa, to name just a barren few; so she couldn't really argue the point. And to share a connection upon meeting...? Interesting. She wondered what it would be like to have a summon before dismissing the thought. It's not like one could feasibly control that type of thing.

(Could they? Hm.)

In any case, she listened to him with reasonable attention as he completely unloaded his personal backstory on her, still flicking through her catalogue and, partway through, thinking of what she'd like to eat while she was here. She'd already had caviar twice in a row, so it was between barbeque or cold yakisoba. Or perhaps something more exotic...? Apparently the ramen from Konohagakure was to die for, or so they say.

He moved into philosophy, and she paid attention, just a little bit. So, an optimist, with a desire to challenge himself intelligently through combat. That was cute. Entirely unrealistic, in Baruga's mind, but she was born and raised like a money-printing breeding hog, and was entirely proud of it. It would make sense that this man — who asked and received until people couldn't give him anything satisfactory, and then moved on — it would make sense that he would have a different opinion.

"Killing isn't all there is in the world, but it is a well-known truth that the only eternal things are death and taxes. It's inevitable to be killed, in the most fatalistic sense, and there's nothing to do about it — and so I personally like to deal in taxes."

She glanced backwards at him, past her sunglasses, to gauge his reaction. Then she turned back to her magazine.

"Though, 'taxes' is a bit reductive. It's more... exchanges? Supply, demand. Expenses, capital. Costs, profits. Instead of death, you seek things like altruism — a cost to yourself, a profit to others and, in ways, yourself — and knowledge — a cost to your time, a profit to yourself. And both these things are quite nice, indeed. Knowledge is highly funded in every government, and altruism does provide a nice tax cut."

She flipped a page.

"I'm not nearly as noble as you, unfortunately. I deal in more immediate things, like law, and order, and ...literal taxes. I love them, I uphold them, I enforce them. A cost to the people... a profit to the people."

Baruga barked out a laugh, leaning back in her inner tube.

"But, of course, your local taxpayer would say otherwise! It's funny like that."

---

WC: 432
TWC: 1056

He listened to her words and considered different parts of her statements. She seemed very analytical and focused on her role while comparing herself to others around her. He chuckled and nodded to her comments and considering the concept of taxes before taking a slow deep breath and giving her a soft smile. "It is true, we all must pay some sort of cost in our lives. Weighing out the value of each action we take, the value of the people around us, can give us a sense of security in our own abilities. If we know our role, then we know who we are and where we 'fit'." 

He held up a hand and waved it along the beach, as if presenting them, "without the people around us, those roles become ambiguous at best. Without people to pay taxes, what would the taxpayer become?" He let his hand drop and let out a soft sigh, "and I wouldn't say my desires are noble ones. To me, they are more like selfish ones. Most think that I craft this pool as a generous offer to others so that they can benefit. In my mind, it is nice to see others happy, but the original reason I did it was to test if it was possible. 

Medical jutsu was made to heal others, yet you need injuries to practice how good you are at it. Just as you said, there is always an exchange. Some people see value in creating supply. Some in creating demand. I look for the value in the process that connects the two and all around it." He sat back in his seat and looked down at the water below her. "You said that knowledge was my profit in this little endeavor. That knowledge is prized by others and provides opportunities. Yet knowledge is one of the few things, as long as you are alive, which does not depend on the existence of others. What you know can come from others and it can be enhanced and improved with collaboration. In combat, strategy and planning is the knowledge that has the most value. In tax collecting, the value comes from communication and persistence. Whether that crosses the line of combat or not depends on the communication."

He softly formed another small sheet of ice as people continued to slip in and out of the lagoon. Most choosing to keep their distance for the water parts of the water. Sutsui softly slid back up to rest under his bodysuit around the back of his neck. He chuckled as he wondered how this woman would respond. "We are getting so deep into how the mind and the world functions in our eyes, that I think we skipped over the part where we introduce ourselves. My name is Dracoso. I am here from Kirigakure. Who might you be?"

{WC = 478, Total so far = 1477}

Oh, so he does realize that his motivations are not inherently altruistic. And accepts it, even! Well, this is far more refreshing than the blundering idiots who think that all they do is in the name of some greater good. There were far too many of those, these days, and Baruga didn't much appreciate it.

In any case, the conversation was all too interesting, so she follows his line of thought the best she can, and tries to make sense of it.

"As far as I can tell, your pursuits are specifically unified with one another. Your pursuit of knowledge is independent from the people around you, and you mostly commit acts of altruism in order to observe the connection between cause and effect."

She smirked. Her pages weren't flipping anymore.

"I do like your style, if that's the case. People are far too dishonest with themselves these days. It's become somewhat popular to think oneself as 'selfless', 'undesiring', 'undeserving'... Hah! What nonsense. Everyone seeks value, just like you and me. Everyone seeks profit in some way. I suppose we're the type of people who simply embraced our selfishness instead of running away from it."

Baruga watched with intrigue as the snake slithered up his clothes and around his body, before the man introduced himself. Well, how about that? Somebody from the newly liberated Kirigakure. She should have known from his Ice Release, but being too sure of oneself was an easy way to get killed or find bad intel.

Despite how relatively cold the water around her was, Baruga didn't mind maneuvering through it to face him. Sitting up in her inner tube, the Kumogakure kunoichi held her magazine in one hand instead of two, using her free hand to pull her sunglasses up so that they rested on her head.

Her eyes were shining blue, a similar shade to her highlights and her make-up, but brighter. She openly gazed and assessed Dracoso, before leaning back and relaxing on the inflatable plastic.

"My name is Baruga, of Kumogakure. A pleasure."

She started riffling her thumb over the side of the magazine, not really reading it anymore. Her attention was on him.

"So, Kirigakure. I suppose you wanted a break from the domestic beaches, and instead went for somewhere more exotic? Or is something else about Mikadzuki Beach better than Island Country's beaches?"

---

WC: 394
TWC: 1450

Dracoso took full view of the woman in front of him and gave her a soft smile as she introduced herself. Her question made him think for a moment before responding, "well, I don't really care to compare beaches myself. It is more about the people or the opportunities they present. This event has a long list of interesting items to consider as well as the prospects of meeting some unique individuals," he said as he looked at her. "The main reason I came here was to see what other challenges or events may be occurring to apply what I have learned. 

When you mentioned the acts of altruism, I feel that the point of true altruism is impossible. To act only on behalf of another's benefit is impossible as that means that you can have no personally driving feelings. Yet for us to even act on something, there must be a desire or reason behind it. Thus, the contradiction. It is good to wish well for those around you as long as you understand how your position influences and can be influenced by those around you. Sometimes it is good to understand the cause and effect, but more so I feel that by understanding the layers which ripple with each action we take, we can begin to take the world apart and reform it towards the future." 

He sat up and leaned back, enjoying this discussion, as well as the person he was having it with. A thought came to mind as he gave a small smile, "of course, some have more fun being actors on the stage. Others enjoy watching more and learning. Yet still more enjoy learning the roles of each side and finding the path to being both when needed. Which do you see yourself as? You seem like someone who takes in value from your first impression and builds out as the opportunity arises. You act when you need to and enjoy based on your own terms. Do you find many who fit your style of interest?"

{WC = 342, Total = 1819}

"Bah, that's just cause and effect, but with multiple layers of interactions. But I'll not argue pedantry with you — you make points I agree with, ultimately."

Baruga's eyebrow raised and, with her eyes now fully visible, it was obvious that she was staring at the sky in thought.

"What do I see myself as...?"

After considering her answer, she turned her inner tube, floating it and rotating it to face Dracoso rather than away from him. At this point, the magazine was mostly a prop, or a tool, rather than anything to read — right now, she was holding it by the spine, using it to point at him and gesture while she spoke.

"I think that everyone, naturally, is a bit of both, but some can be more one than the other. No average civilian in the agricultural sector is going to as much of a mover or shaker as some ambitious fool thirsty for power, or, in the most extreme case, a fully self-aware bijuu looking for blood. But all three of them can watch and listen and react to the world around them."

Important to make that distinction, that. Bijuu sentience, historically, varied based on the time it took to regenerate, but she digressed. She sighed.

"Once upon a time, I fancied myself an actor, by your terms. Off to Kumogakure, to make a name for myself! Only, I realized after years in the business, I'd faded into being part of the passive audience. It was... discouraging."

A most unladylike snort erupted from her, and she sunk into her inner tube.

"You're mostly right about me. I'm an opportunist, reacting to world around me. It's in my nature. There's plenty of people like me — politicians, shareholders, businessmen. But I'm trying to change that, I'd hope."

With the precedence of power, and actively pursuing it. With slowly but surely crafting her own dogma, some sort of internal philosophical engine that allowed ninja to go from tools to gods, aggravating and terrifying though that process was.

"And you? What do you think you are? Is it different from what you want to be?"

---

WC: 353
TWC: 1803