The Riverboys! Baywatch?

Barely getting any sleep, a common occurence for the River youth, Yami heard the conversation playing off between Satoshi and the young boy who had knocked on the door of the place they would temporarily be staying. "I'm up". Getting out of bed, he would head to the small bathroom, walking over to the sink where he'd splash some water on his face in order to help him wake up. The brothers still found themselves in a dimension going by the name of Mikadzuki Beach, unable to find out how they ended up there and who was responsible for doing so. 

Freshened up, for as much as it was possible due to his lack of sleep, the crimson haired put on a white shirt, wearing black swimming trunks underneath. With his outfit complete, the Shinkou would mentally go over the information he received, playing off the events inside his head. "And that's why I don't eat shrimp". Food poisoning, the cause of some lifeguards ending up sick, unable to carry out the shift they were supposed to. An unfortunate turn of events which resulted in a call for the River boys' help, rather strange considering they weren't the only ones present but that wasn't the only thing that could be considered unexplainable about the entire situation.

Now that they had all the information available to them, it seemed Yami and his brothers were supposed to take charge of a shift totaling to eight hours. Within that time, the Shinkou's task was to make sure that nobody would drown or get swepped into the ocean, basically what one could expect a lifeguard to do. "Well, they better hope they can swim" the crimson haired voiced, not exactly looking forward to possibly having to drag someone out of the water. All things aside, he would wait for Satoshi and Tokito to get ready before heading out, hoping those eight hours would go by fast. Safe to say, this wasn't quite the vacation he was expecting. 

(WC: 333)

He had come to relax. He had come to enjoy the beach, sun, and maybe even sights. So how did he find himself lounging not in the sands but in the tops of an outlook chair? Situated with a long palm branch against the back of the tree stand, the fern offered a little shade to the otherwise quite exposed position of the chair. Of course, it didn't help that Joski was sprawled out in the chair with one leg propped up on the edge of the watch tower. In reality, it was a rickety built stand that had a chair taking up the only space on the platform surrounded by a short railing. The entire stand was probably due to being rebuilt. But that was someone else's problem.

Joski lounged in the seat, already having been on watch for some hours with a small wreith of flowers that had been ringed around his neck. A little something he had gotten as part of a bit of Ryo to fund his vacation- most of which had been spent on luxury drinks with long, winding straws. The very same image sat in one of his hands, slowly being pulled through the straw as he kept his gaze out across the beach and the waters. A yawn would relieve tension in the straw, causing the progress to unwind as Joski rubbed his eyes behind his glasses. "Sheesh, when will the next guy get here already?" He asked aloud to himself, figuring- hoping- that someone was going to come to take over the shore guard duty at some point in the day. Or at least give him long enough to go and get another drink.

WC - 282/750

He took a sip of coconut water and lay in his beach chair. He wore red swim trunks, patterns with dark clouds, and a pair of sunglasses. Their dark lenses filtered the rays of the blazing ball in the sky that otherwise would have him squint. Tokito knew that was the authentic way to protect your eyes against the sun. Not even the Dojutsu did not save someone from this kind of delibating effect, a true shame for the ones gifted with that power. 

"Another day, another universe."  He thought as he gazed at the endless blue in front of him. That was a significant change of scenery from the hundreds of pavilions of the Fairgrounds. Or the haunted streets of Yugakure. Tokito had been in that situation before. A black-out, only to awaken in a location without remembering how he got there. Tokito's band of brothers, known as the orphans of the river always nearby, 

"So the original crew got poisoning over badly cooked shrimp tempura, and we are here to make a quick payday watching over this lot." He scoffed the remark clearly for his siblings' ears to hear. "That's assuming they pay money in this reality. I'd join the circus if I wanted to be paid in applause."

WC: 243

The sun would rise high into the sky, and yet there would be no sign of anyone coming to relieve him. The task had been promised to be a simple one- just watch over this small section of beach for a few hours until someone else could arrive to complete the shift. Those few hours had come and gone, and now the lazy lounging position that he had been in most of the day had begun to get uncomfortable, but no matter how he shifted in the stand of the lifeguard tower, he couldn't find a position in which he could sit in for more than a few minutes before he had to make himself shift again. From both legs over the ledge to nearly being upside down in the seat balancing a now empty drink on his chest as he looked upside down over the distant horizon, imagining that he was in mid-flight as a bird with the sky at his belly. After a time, however, it simply became impossible to sit in the ramshackle chair any longer, and Joski would sigh as he pushed himself up to his feet and made his way down the rickety ladder to step foot on the white sands of the beach, stretching himself this way and that in order to loosen up his muscles. It was only then that another volunteer would be seen jogging up to him, though just as Joski was settling into a sense of relief, the volunteer would speak. "Hey, Jojo. Sorry to say but, it looks like the guy who was supposed to replace you got sick as well. If you stay on till after the busy hours, the boss said he'll make it worth your while."

Joski would let his head roll back and his mouth hangs open as he let out a long, exaggerated sigh as though he were blowing a long wind of smoke into the air before he slumped his head forward again. "Alright, fine." He'd say, deciding that he was already on his feet and might as well abandon the hope of spending the next hours lounging like he had the first. Besides, people were beginning to actively inhabit the beach, and if he was going to be an effective guard, he would at least have to be partway attentive; if something bad happened on his watch, his vacation was going to be cut short in the worst sort of ways. "You tell the boss I'll be by for my bonus once the sun sets." The aid would nod before turning to depart. Whether he would actually pass on the word or not was a matter that remained to be discovered, but that was for a time when the sun would begin to sink behind the distant horizon.

People began to filter into the shores of the beach, going about their leisurely activities of building sand castles and splashing about in the shallow parts of the water. Having strayed from his watch post, Joski would wander around the small area he had been assigned that was between the north and south side of the beach. While it was technically the smallest portion of the beach to be watched, it was also the part that seemed to draw the biggest crowds, and as such, the population of the beach would double, and double again by noon. With his face covered by those usual big sunglasses, Joski would wander from place to place and keep a semi-watchful eye on the entire area less something slip past him, though for the most part, the afternoon would slowly roll into a peaceful evening, a problem was quickly approaching for Joski.

Leaning against the stand to his chair, Joski would have his arms folded across his chest and a foot tapping in the sand beneath his bare feet. An exasperated sigh would quickly leave his lips as he looked down to the ground. "Man...this isn't good. I shouldn't have drank so much," he thought before his brow furrowed. "Wait, it shouldn't have mattered! I'm not even supposed to be here right now! Someone else was supposed to come to take my spot. Don't the guard station consider bathroom breaks? How the hell am I supposed to sit out here all day, I can't even focus!" Lament as he might, he struggled to consider a way out of this particular problem until a familiar face crossed his path. An older local with short, dark hair that was in the process of setting up his own blanket to relax on the beach. "Kaidu! Hey! Come over here for a second man, I need your help!" Joski would stand, waving the man over.

There was a short delay as Kaidu emptied his arms of the rest of the things he had brought with him, setting them down on the blanket and walking up to Joski. "Hey man, you alright? You look a little-" he was cut off by Joski, who would interject.

"Hey man, yeah, I'm good. Listen, I need your help. I really gotta go but no one come to take over for me yet. Would you mind just standing here for a minute and making sure no one drowns or something dumb, alright?" Kaidu looked like he was about to argue but he hardly had a chance to open his mouth before Joski spoke again. "Thanks, man! I owe you one," before the young traveler took off towards the village side of the beach. Thankfully, public accommodation was readily accessible with the influx of visitors, and as such, it wouldn't be difficult for Joski to find a place to relieve himself. Thankful for the small break, Joski delayed his return long enough only to grab the closest, overpriced snack and a bottle of water this time as he returned to the beach, offering a thankful sigh and a bob of the head to Kaidu. "Man, I thought I was going to explode. I don't know what happened to everyone else last night but so many people getting sick is so not cool."

Kaidu would chuckle, having stood a vigilant watch in the absence of the young traveler. "It is no problem, Jojo. I used to do a lot of lifeguard work myself but when the busy season comes, I leave it to people like yourself who end up arriving with not enough money for all the fun they wish to have," a hearty chuckle was produced from the older man, who would find that Joski offered only a plaintive stare in return to the accusation of his financial situation. Of course, he wasn't wrong. "Look bud, I'll be around for the rest of the day, so if you find yourself stuck out like that again, just come give me a shout, huh?" Kaidu would offer, clapping the smaller man on the shoulder before turning to take his leave back to his blanket and snacks that had been abandoned in lieu of helping a friend.

Joski would watch the man depart, thankful that there was a soul out there that was willing to give him ten minutes of time so he could meet the demands of his biology, but even more than that, Kaidu seemed like the kind of guy that everyone would like. Not just because of his agreeable nature, but because he seemed to genuinely take concern for those around him. In some regards, Joski admired that. He wished that he could bring himself to find such an attitude but it had been remarkably difficult to do so when he moved around so much. Taking a moment of introspection, Joski would look around the beach at all the people that were gathered and remove himself from the situation. Everyone had come here to have a good time, and for the most part, they were doing so. Here on this far away beach in a place he wasn't particularly familiar with, everyone had come with the intent of all enjoying the same activity. Is this what it was like to be part of a village, or was this just a slice of what some would consider the best parts of being in a village?

There was no need to be trained as a soldier here; the guard seemed more than capable of handling most situations and were comprised mostly of older volunteers. Sure, they would not stand to any great nation that wished to come to invade them, but they were so far removed that these people had the luxury of enjoying being outside the hungering gaze of the villages and their leaders who seemed to possess a single-minded focus. Sure, there were probably places that weren't all that bad. But those same places were still likely guilty of the same sort of crimes that were plaguing the rest of the land. Wayward soldiers would abandon their post or reject the rule of law that had been placed upon them and take to the roads to steal and coerce. Ninja who would use what they were taught to take from those of a simple life who had few means to defend themselves beside the tools that they used to till the land. The thought itself threatened to darken Joski's mood before he released it all together in a sigh, shaking his head.

He hadn't come here to allow his mood to be shadowed by the thoughts of the village, though as he went back to his guard duties, his mind would begin to wander again as he thought back to the lessons he had been taught by the Old Man. The guardian of the river, who had swept under his wing a collection of lost souls- he and his brothers amongst them. The way the Old Man had spoken of the dangers of the world and had taught them all to use the same tools and abilities that people from beyond the land of rivers utilized in their day-to-day life. And since Joski had taken to the open road, he saw more and more how those with the ability to utilize jutsu with extreme proficiency continue to apply their will to the world. Was that the natural order of things? Or had we veered off course somehow, somewhere? It was a line of thought that would take Joski well into the evening.

The sun rose high and began to set, beginning to cast longer shadows over the beach. The droves of people began to dwindle, and eventually, someone would come to replace Joski. Happy to relinquish the duty, Joski would linger only long enough to share a few words with Kaidu before departing the beach and finding a spot for a hot meal, allowing his mind to reflect on the day. It had been a safe, peaceful day at the beach. And perhaps that was all of the thought that need be put into it for now.

WC - 1,819
TWC - 2,101

[Exit. Mission Complete.]

Claims:

Approved

Simply making an exit

(Exit)

(TWC: 333)
Claims:
- 306 to finish Earth-Style Wall (previously trained here, here and here)
- 6 AP

approved