Festival of Terranox

Missions:

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Oda rose from his bed with his usual excitement, making sure to turn his alarm clock off before it started blaring at him. He hopped up out of bed and grabbed the nearest clothes. He'd wear his green kimono today, as today was a festive day.

He had gotten the mission slips the night prior, a stack of them pertaining to a festival happening today dedicated to Terranox, the spirit of the earth. Oda had been surprised to receive the orders, but apparently a much more important matter was happening that required most of the shinobi at Tsukigakures disposal. He didn’t mind missing out, instead focusing on the task given to him. He was going to make sure the festival was as fun as possible.

With that, he grabbed a coffee cup of scrambled eggs, nice and watery like he likes them, and made his way out of his apartment. He stopped only briefly to have his usual talk with his neighbor, her garden had been diminished somewhat from the pack of piglets during the whole Spirit-Fiasco, as Oda was now calling it. But, it was quickly coming back to its full beauty. He offered to help, which she declined as she always does, waving him off with a friendly dismissive gesture.

As he walked to Sutageiza Koto the signs of the festival were already appearing, rows of flags depicting Terranox lined the streets, and various farmers markets were being erected, a few stalls teaching soil composition and farming techniques were already gathering crowds, and the smell of fresh vegetables seemed to permeate the whole market. Oda had always felt conflicted during Terranox festivals, he undoubtedly loved the food and camaraderie. But it reminded him of his own fragmented family, he thought briefly about what his parents might be doing but put it out of his mind, he slapped on a smiling demeanor and put those thoughts on the backburner as a somewhat flustered and busy looking woman approached him.

She was short, with long red hair and large glasses, she held an organizer in one hand and a pen in the other. “Are you here to help with the festival?” She asked in a somewhat hurried manner.

“Uh, yes! I got the mission slips last night.” He held the mission slips up.

“Great.” She said, not looking up from her organizer, she wrote down a few things before handing a piece of paper to him. “This is your schedule, please try to stick to it. We are running on a skeleton crew here. Oh and don’t drink too much on the last mission, we need you to be sharp.”

Oda grabbed the sheet and looked down at it briefly, Set-up, then a performance, then helping the vendors, then a pub crawl. He paled a bit at the performing part “Uhh… So what am I supposed to perform?” He said, somewhat flustered.

“Oh I’m sure you’ll figure it out, just any skill will do.” She turned to leave, stopping briefly “Oh and if you need any help” she paused “Don’t come to me, im swamped as it is. Figure it out.”

And with that final declaration the woman was already gone, managing and surveying the rest of the festival and quickly disappearing into the crowd. Oda looked down at his sheet and back up to where she disappeared before shrugging and setting off to help set up the festival.

He found he was particularly good at setting up the lanterns, as he could use his Scattershot Technique to aid him in lighting them all in large groups, and he was able to light most of the lanterns in the market with ease. The lanterns were finely made paper, with a stencil of the badger spirit burrowing into the ground. As he lit them he admired the rows and rows of paper lanterns that wound through the entire market.

Next he helped set up stalls, most of them were bigger, as they were designed for family events. There was a team-work based game centered around “catching the badger” which was really a stuffed toy on a string operated by the stall worker. There was a stall dedicated to eating games, simple games like bobbing for apples or seeing who could shuck corn the fastest. Mostly, there were a lot of stalls dedicated to teaching people, passing down info from the elders of Tsukigakure. The festival of Terranox was all about family and wisdom passed down from previous generations, and Oda couldn’t help but continually get enraptured by the teachings of these different stalls. Some were on farming techniques and useful tips, some were about how to make clothes, there was even one stall solely dedicated to the best way to get around Tsukigakure.

After some time helping set up stalls the final area was ready to be set, a large clearing adorned with long tables and food stalls surrounding it. As much as Terranox festivals were about teaching and learning, they were equally about the simple joy of eating and being with family.

Oda helped set up the final tables for some time, they were large beautiful wooden tables with finely carved details of the spirits of the land, with Terranox’s stencil being the only one colored in at the moment. Lamps hung above from ropes arching over the clearing, and napkins with a symbol of a badger were laid out. He tried briefly convincing some food stalls to let him help cook, he was eager to show off his cooking skills. But, they all declined after a few test dishes, citing various excuses.

He shrugged, their loss. With that, he continued to do small things around the festival while waiting for his next mission. He helped people find certain stalls, and occasionally stopped to listen to a stall give a demonstration or hand out free samples. He couldn’t help but think back to different times his family had celebrated this festival, albeit much more simply. He longed for his mothers home cooked burnt pork belly, and even had some fond memories of his father before they quickly soured. Luckily he was broken out of his thoughts by a ringing of a bell, the sign that the festival was truly underway and Oda’s sign that he needed to make his way to his next mission.

Wc: 1053

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He nervously thought about what he would do as his talent, thinking back to anything he could showcase. There was his fire jutsu obviously but that wasn’t as enticing, the village had seen jutsus used before, it wasn’t novel enough. He thought back to his childhood for inspiration. Suddenly remembering when his parents taught him fire spinning as a way to attract customers. He shuddered a bit thinking about all those mornings spinning sticks or ropes lit on fire and the permanent smell of kerosene that permeated through his clothes. He was happy when they finally decided to drop it. Still, maybe it could prove entertaining to the villagers.  

As he approached the performance stage he looked around at all of the performers, some eagerly awaited their turn, some paced nervously, some were diligently practicing. He looked around for a sign-up area and found an official looking table.

“Hi, I’m here for the talent show!” He said with a smile on his face once he had walked up to the table.

“Fill this out please” One of the attendants said politely, Oda filled out the form asking for his name, and talent. The woman handed him a number and read the sheet further “And will you be needing equipment for your talent?” He was about to respond in the affirmative before pausing “No, I should be good!” He said, the beginnings of a plan forming. He walked back to the waiting area and sat at one of the benches off to the side, he didn’t feel the need to practice, the fire spinning forms had been drilled into him and his extra cherry on top was something he was used to doing. For now he simply wanted to enjoy the talents.

The first up was a pair, a couple it seemed. They were both smaller, standing at about 5 ft 6, and they were dressed in light brown and forest green jumpsuits, an odd choice but it made sense when they started to perform.  First the pair linked arms, then the music started playing. As the heavy drums of the song beat one of the members of the pair began climbing atop the other.
Finally, reaching the top, they balanced for a breath. Then , to Oda’s amazement, the acrobat dove for the ground. Oda’s breath caught as they plummeted towards the ground for a split second before being caught and pulled through the others legs in an amazing feat of strength. They continued to perform these seemingly gravity defying flips and swings, working in tandem. Oda gave the pair a standing ovation as they ended their routine. He was glad he didn’t have to follow after that performance and eagerly awaited the next talent.

The next talent was a bit different but equally as impressive in its own way. It was a farmer, he seemed so old he would blow away in a cloud of dust if the wind picked up too much. He quietly shuffled to the center of the stage, a heavy bag in his hand. Oda could tell this was already boring the crowd, but that boredom changed to intrigue when the old man set the bag down. It shook the stage with its weight, and made a loud thud. Moving deliberately the old farmer pulled out various metal pipes of differing sizes. A gasp permeated through the crowd as this seemingly ancient man began to bend the bars into various shapes. Eventually, making a sculpture of bent bars that depicted Terranox. The crowd cheered as he placed the final pieces and the image of the badger formed. There was a brief time for the onlookers to come test the strength of the bars before the old man shuffled off stage and there was a brief lull.

“Number 330 please come to the stage” Oda sat and looked around for who would be next. “Number 330… come to the stage.” Another brief pause as people looked around. Then, in a puff of smoke and a spray of sparks a man in a purple cape appeared on the stage. Oda gave a delighted clap along with the onlookers. The man was as much of a showman as he was a magician, and he wove a story of Terranox and the ancient wisdom in its burrows, while also working in sleight of hand and magic into the performance.

By the time the show was done he had them eating out of the palm of his hand. “And then, as our hero made his way through the burrow…he found it” A shower of sparks from nowhere, the crowd oohs and ahhs. “The wisdom of Terranox!” The magician said with a flourish as he made green silk handkerchiefs begin spilling out of his ears endlessly. The crowd clapped and the magician gave a bow before disappearing in another puff of smoke.

“Number 79 come to the stage please” Oh that was Oda’s number! He got up quickly from his chair and made his way to the stage in a hurry. He had been confident up until his number was called, now he was all nerves. He began to run through the various maneuvers that he was taught as a kid. He pointed to the musical band as if they had coordinated prior, they had not. Being consummate professionals though, they began to play a tune. Oda began to whistle, quietly, then louder and louder, soon it was loud enough to be heard with the music and was actually beginning to lead the band.

Once he reached that zenith he activated the jutsus with his hand seals. The first was a Fire Lash, which he began to twirl and spin so fast it began to look solid, he spun it around his back and head with ease, being spurred on by the oohs and ahhs of the crowd. Using the fire lash he created a cone pointed towards the crowd and up, then he activated his Fire Dragon Bullet, except this time he concentrated and made it appear as a badger instead, shooting the Badger construct through the cone to give the sense of it burrowing out of the ground, he shot the badger up into the air and over the crowd in a dazzling display, only to have it turn around in the sky and barrel right towards him. He could hear the slight fear of the crowd as it raced towards the stage, at the last second Oda used the whistling to create a smoke veil to simulate the earth being kicked up,  and as the Badger collided with the cone of his fire lash, he cut off his chakra, dispelling the jutsus in a shower of flames in the sky. The crowd cheered and clapped, and Oda took a bow, quickly making his way off stage.

Wc: 1137

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As Oda exited the stage he couldn’t help but smile at the exhilaration of the performance, he was already thinking about what he would do at the next festival. His thoughts were interrupted however by the mysterious red haired manager of the festival, she appeared as if from thin air, holding a slip.

“This is your designated list of vendors to help, please make sure to be at this-” She pointed to a small map drawn onto the sheet with a name of the establishment marked down ‘The Drowning Fox’. “-Place by the appointed time for the pubcrawl, thankyou.” She motioned to walk away “And good job on your performance by the way” she said without looking back.

“Thanks!” Oda replied, still looking down at the small map with his route, he looked up “Hey by the way what's your na..mm..ee?” She was already gone, disappeared into the crowd. Oda shook his head and headed for the first vendor.


The first vendor was a lovely couple selling various farming tools. There were shovels, scythes of all sizes, grass hooks, simple wooden mallets, and a hundred different kinds of tools each with a specific purpose. The wife was a tall woman with a gentle face and tanned skin, and the husband was an equally tall and equally tanned gentleman, albeit with a sterner face. They didn’t talk much, but that didn’t deter Oda as he asked about the various tools.

“And what is this one?” He said pointing to an odd contraption

“Thats a flail, its for threshing wheat” The woman replied simply

“And this one?” Oda said

“Oh that’s a Grass Hook, it's for cutting grass.” She said again patiently.

“Name fits” Oda said, pointing to another one before being interrupted by the husband

“Alright, we got some tools in the back that need sorting, why don’t you get started on that.” The old man said gruffly

“Not a problem bossman!” Oda said, smiling as usual.

The rest of his time at the tool vendor went uneventfully, Oda enjoyed learning about the various uses for each tool, and was especially drawn to the scythe. He said thankyou to the couple and they returned the gesture, and with that Oda moved along to his next assigned stall.

The next stall was a fun game consisting of a large sandbox with various toys and prizes hidden in it, the person would then have 60 seconds to dig around and try to find the prizes before their time was up. Oda enjoyed the game a lot and promoted it with zeal.

“Step right up step right up!” He bellowed “See if you have the digging skill of Terranox and win a prize!”

“Come on down! Be the Badger and win a prize!”

He was brought back to his times helping his parents sell vegetables. The fun of coming up with rhymes or seeing his enthusiasm make others enthusiastic. As his time came to a close at the stall he begged the owners to let him try the game out, they finally relented and he won a cute little badger plushie.

With the badger plush tied to his waste, he moved on to the next stall. A lovely little stall selling various pastries, all designed to look like different things related to Terranox. There were vegetables, a farmer's hat cookie, and a cookie that looked like a badger. Oda couldn’t resist, and eventually bought some for himself. He thought they were absolutely delicious, and he spent the rest of the time pestering the merchant for the recipes. He offered to help make a batch for them as a reward, maybe even an ongoing apprenticeship! By then word of Oda's “unique” cooking style had spread, so the merchant was careful not to accept his offer. Between selling cookies to customers and helping organize the storefront, he continued to try to get the recipe. Unfortunately for Oda, his time ran out, and he needed to make his way to the next stall.

Oda briefly got lost amongst the stalls and hustle and bustle of the festival. He wandered around before arriving late to his next stall.

“I’m so sorry I’m late!” He exclaimed

The store owner was a loud and pot bellied man with a large twirled mustache. He grinned at Oda with slight malice. “Not a problem sonny just means you gotta do the full job in half the time!” He bellowed a laugh

“Aaand what's the job?” Oda said nervously.

“Oh it's simple son” The owner said, grabbing a potato and a small knife, deftly peeling the potato, leaving a skinned potato and a ribbon of potato skin.

“Well that doesn’t look too hard.” Oda said

The man gave another laugh and moved to the side revealing a large pile, probably hundreds of potatoes.

“Good luck sonny!” He said as he laughed and moved to the front of his stall to sell fried potatoes of various shapes and sizes.

Oda peeled potatoes with blinding speed, his practicing with one-handed hand signs had made his fingers adept at subtle movements, and by the end of it he had devised a way to peel two potatoes at once with one knife. A large pile of ribboned potato skins sat next to Oda and a large pile of smooth and peeled potatoes sat on the other side. He looked at his handiwork with pride and called his temporary boss to see his progress.

“Tappin out alread-” He paused as he entered, observing the large pile of potatoes “Well done sonny!” He exclaimed.

“Now do the next pile too!” A large curtain fell revealing a pile the same size as the last. Oda sighed and tightened his headband amidst the laughter of the potato boss.

Eventually Oda’s time at the potato stall was up, and he resolved to not look at another potato for at least a year. He thanked the man for his lenience and washed his hands of the starch before making his way to ‘The Drowning fox’. After all that work a nice pub crawl was going to be a breeze.

Wc:1014

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Oda approached ‘The Drowning Fox’, his energy still present but waning. He looked around for his pub crawl group, seeing that he was early, he grabbed a table and put a small flag up assigned to him. Figuring he’d do something nice, Oda ordered a flight of small craft beers to start the night off right. Upon talking to the owner of the establishment he was given a bag of sturdy cups and a stamp to mark his group when they arrived.

Sitting at the table, Oda sipped on a small glass, enjoying the slight reprieve from being in work mode. He watched as other groups formed, with other shinobi and wondered where his group may be. As if on queue the first guest arrived, a 20 something woman with long curly brown hair and the same sort of exhausted look on her face as Oda.

“Whew what a day” She said, plopping down onto the seat next to Oda.

“Hi names Mei” She extended a hand and Oda took it, shaking it and smiling.

“Pleasure to meet you Mei, I’m Oda, Oda Terumi.” He let go of her hand and motioned to some of the available beers. Then, before she could grab one, “Oh I almost forgot!” He pulled a cup out and stamped her hand quickly. “Please enjoy! This establishment has been in Tsukigakure for quite some time and they're known for their beer!” They conversed some more about their lives in Tsukigakure and waited for more of the group.

The next was an older couple, Aiko and Tamura. They had lived in the village all their lives and had been doing the pub crawl every year. They were down to earth people who owned a small farm on the outskirts of the village. Oda enjoyed talking to them about farming and how the town has changed.

“Oh there were some dark times in this village hun. But, thanks to the hard work of the Kage and the shinobi of this village, it has become a wonderful place to live.” Aiko said with a warm demeanor. Oda nodded reverently, he had heard of the troubles but had never dug too deep about it.
The next person to join was a middle aged man named Hashimoto, he carried himself with an air of nobility. Already Oda didn’t like him, but he was here for their entertainment not his own. He held his nose up at the table, looking down on the beer.

“Do they have any wine? Or sake?” He said haughtily.

Oda held on tight to his eyes, preventing them from rolling, instead throwing on a smile. “This particular place is known for its beer, I highly recommend you try it!” He held a small glass up to him and Hashimoto took it reluctantly. He took a sip and pinched his face in briefly before relaxing it.
“Hmm, it is actually not that bad.” He said. Oda nodded in affirmation and was glad to see the man was open to new things.

“Enjoy the beer sir! The next few establishments will have something more refined” Oda said, placating him. He was relieved to see another member joining the table to give him a natural out from having to talk to Hashimoto further.

The final group member was a small older woman who the farming couple also seemed to know. She had a sly smile and a demeanor like she had many years of knowledge and experience, her white hair was wrapped into a bun and she had on simple farming clothes. “Honey, I’m here to drink. Save the intros, the names Sako.” The older woman downed the glass and encouraged the others to drink more before ordering another round.

“Oh I think we only get on-” He was interrupted by the waiter as he responded to Sako.

“Oh hello Ma'am so good to see you again,of course we can give you another round!.” The waiter said. Oda didn’t know who this woman was but she seemed to hold considerable sway. He approached the older couple as the new rounds were being served.

“So do you guys know who this woman is?” He said with slight trepidation.

They just laughed and handed him a tiny glass “Son, you’re just along for the ride now, don’t worry.” Oda felt nervous but resolved to hold his liquor and keep the group in check the best he could. They were his responsibility and his alone, he wouldn’t fail his village.


Oda awoke the next morning to cold water hitting his face. He shot up in surprise only to quickly fall out of his neighbor's gardening box. “Rise and shine darling, you had quite the night.” His neighbor said, giving a cackle.

It took a moment for Oda to get his bearings as he tried to remember what happened last night. He remembered… A wine bar, then some sort of strong shots at a place called the Sleeping Whale. He rubbed the water from his face and felt like he was going to puke, he had to focus. “Did- Did I have a group of people with me? An Older couple, a middle aged man, a younger woman and a shorter old woman with her hair in a bun?” He asked as he climbed out of the garden box.

“Oh well of course your little band of hooligans was quite the ruckus. They knocked on my door and told me to give you this when you woke up.” His neighbor handed him a thick manila envelope. He looked down at it even more perplexed.

“Th-thankyou. Sorry about the garden bed.” He said sheepishly.
 
“It’s festival season, don't worry about it.” She said nonchalantly. “Have a good morning son.”

He trudged back up to his apartment and sat at his table briefly before looking at the envelope. Inside were letters from each member, some in better handwriting than others commending him on a fun mission. The letter from Sako being the shortest, it simply said “You’re welcome”.

Wc:1004

[exit]

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TWC: 4216

Claims:

Oda Terumi wrote:
Wc:1004

[exit]

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TWC: 4216

Claims:

Approved