Between the Shelves

Saturn's face was smooth as butter - blank - as the fox tailed girl with her arm out, her treat in hand, began to form what the Genin thought to be an incredibly long and complicated sentence. He avoided gazing at the candy offered to him, weaving to the sides should Hikari attempt to wave the piece of sugar in front of him to get his attention. When she finally paused, Saturn frowned and smacked the candy out of the girl's hand with his backhand, sending it flying across the cathedral and out of the window. "Kusoyaro!" He scowled and stuck his finger out as he began to scold the fox girl, "I'm cutting. That means I'm trying to get leaner, eight pack and all. You shouldn't offer candy to shinobi whose aspirations lie in caloric deficit. Bad d-" He stopped and curled his finger, taking some time to buffer. He was used to giving tough love to his familiar but he had forgotten that he wasn't talking to Mimas. He pinched the bridge of his nose and rubbed his face, then chose to move on - taking his cold metal hand off of his face to reveal a warm, genuine smile.

As Hikari began to make her comments about Warmonger's Arena, he listened carefully. Saturn's piercing blue eyes became just a little bit duller as he remembered the name of Moyasu "McBurn" Nokoribi, his dear friend, who had been brutally murdered in cold blood during the last stage of the Chuunin Exams. His mind drifted as he recalled the time when he was tasked with containing an unruly mob, led by the woman known only as Mother of Martyrs, whose foolish message it was that freedom and justice were rights of the people. The young and inexperienced Genin at the time had made the situation worse with his insensitive comments about the mother's late son, causing the aggravated mob to charge at him. He only had a moment to body flicker and then disguise himself as one of the mob, running about frantically in search of Saturn while he thought of a solution. It was then when McBurn, shepherd of dragons, descended upon the group and revealed his golden aura. He spoke eloquently, and reasoned with the villagers as a diplomat representing the 11th Raikage even though he himself was a Genin as well. He spoke so well that the mob, in spite of their cult head's presence at the scene, resonated with his words and came back to their senses.

"I appreciate your compliments, Miss. However, do not mistake my opinion for the truth. It is quite the experience, one to be had for yourself if it calls you.. Whether they're serving small fries or big fries, someone's always going to want to eat.  But there are other things that a shinobi can do to serve their village besides only ever striving to be strong, which I think is the real delusion plaguing those who perish in the arena." He paused as his animated face morphed back into a blank slate,  "As for why I ended up there, that.... is a topic for another time." As Saturn stared out of the window he could see ravens fighting over the piece of candy he helped launch out of the building.

Purrveryor? Saturn thought as he brought his attention back to the room and nodded at the fox-girl who introduced herself. He extended a warm smile, "Nice to meet you, Kobayashi. I wish you well on your academic endeavours." He placed his metal arm on his heart, "I am Saturn. Should you require any assistance in your career, or Raijin forbid ever face any unsurmountable hardships, consider me as a friend that you can rely upon to help you find your way." Saturn turned to Jun as he began to speak. He raised his brow, intrigued by the points of inquiry brought to Hikari. In his mind, none of this was real anyway - who would have thought that there exists a man whose intensity could directly affect the nature of sunlight? To add to that was the new specimen, half-dog, half-cat. He thought that the scene before him was clearly just a lucid dream, probably brought about by his own mental escapades.

"This one?" Saturn held out the book that he himself had just been reading as he looked back and forth between the duo in front of him. This isn't about the book, it dawned on him - Jun didn't strike him as the type of guy to be interested very keenly on the The Fungal Diversity in the Lightning Country Mountains. He tossed the book at his friend's direction. "Sure man, knock yourself out."

"I'll get going. Nice to meet you, Kobayashi. And Jun, do hit me up with some good quests - the last couple of months have been slow." With that, unless he were stopped, he would walk past the duo and make his way towards the exit.

EXIT;

WC: 819
TWC: 1916

claims:

Stunned by the reaction, Hikari's ears folded down once more this time to the sudden outburst from Saturn. Letting him go with the candy now gone to the wind and out the window left Hikari relatively stunned from the reaction. Deciding that Saturn was not worth more than what she already gave in terms of energy. The young Kitsune had not the strength to defy the man nor wanted to make a bigger scene than what had already occurred within the confines of Thunderpeak Campus. Although not able to process the antics of the young adult that stood before her. In contrast to herself and Jun, the age gap jumped a few years from one to the next. Especially with consideration of the fact they were in a library, Saturn's outburst was sure to stir the librarians within the campus. Thankfully as fast as Saturn flipped, he pulled back and held his tongue before relaxing and proceeding with the rest of their conversation, though her ears remained lowered for most of the rest of the time.

As the input she received got a few contrasting remarks, Hikari knew the truth from Saturn's own experience would be more valid than just her commentary and observations. Though her understanding of what he was referring to was a simple rendition, she gave an affirming nod to what was being said. As she also suspected the story for why he was in the arena to begin with was a deeper matter to the genin. With a proper introduction between the two formalizing their meeting, Hikari's assessment of his attitude seemed to be rather polarized in contrast as her thoughts and focus bounced between the two genin that stood in front of her. With the commentary about Raijin, Hikari's ears perked a bit before giving a smile to the other genin, her tail swaying softly behind her, "Raijin forbid that should that occur. I shall count your assistance should the world rise against us. Inari has blessed my clan and Raijin defends my home, I am truly thankful for the circumstances that I have." She included as their original objective was brought back to full circle with Saturn tossing the book towards Jun. Her ears skyrocketed to full length as her eyes widened behind her thick glasses. Watching the book fly in the air towards Jun, she was not quick enough or willing to dive forsaking the books in her own arms for the one that Jun wished for and just hoped he caught the tome.

Baring the result of that, Saturn took this time to depart and leave, walking past the two of them. With that sorted out, Hikari's attention turned back to Jun who had asked her questions but Saturn's antics kept her attention locked on the potential responses, reactions, and actions of the genin. "Ah yes, my clan." She started as her focus was disrupted a bit thinking back to a few of the instances that she had encountered growing up. Her ears lowered once more and her skin paled before shaking her head. "Yes, the Kitsune Clan. The development of Inari's Blessing changed and our abilities came through in this form we take now." She said, her mind a bit distant than before, as the rather alert and focused kunoichi seemed distracted to the thoughts that filtered in her mind. "I'm sorry Shibsaki-san, I think I need to leave..." She started and trailed off on that thought looking around her before breathing and focusing herself a bit more, the books in her arms loosing grip before she realized it and corrected her, moving her arms to better support the books. "I know you were seeking another, The Art of Sealing, is in the section over there. Fourth aisle, sixth bookcase, third shelf from the top, seventeenth from the left." She described the location of the other book that Jun had asked to help find for their short interaction.

Her mind was scattered and shattered in the moment and even as she shook her head, her glasses stayed and remained on her head, which also likely piqued Jun's curiosity more considering her ears were atop her head and due to her hair, covered where standard ears would be located if she had them. "I will see you around campus Shibasaki-san. It was nice to meet you and Saturn-san. It appears he is rather different to others but I do not believe many of us within the shinobi system here in Kumogakure are standard individuals." She said, her focus returning briefly before giving a bow towards her senior in this situation regardless of age. "We should reconvene another time to discuss our readings and possible conceptual understandings." Hikari stated before heading deeper into the shelves within the library, departing from this random encounter.

[Exit]

WC: 800, TWC: 3,000

Claims:

Hikari Kobayashi wrote:
[Exit]

WC: 800, TWC: 3,000

Claims:

Approved