Starring:
Date: Feburary 13th, 2010
Summary:
Mushi and Tsubasa meet and discuss poisons over sake.
"And The Sake Walked"
Sand Storm Bar, Sunagakure
It was late night, around midnight, and Tsubasa had finally been kicked out of Ling-Ling's room. Now, he was in the bar, drinking sake and reading a book. The man didn't drink like some shinobi and instead was calm even in his drinking. He barely finished shots of sake, let alone bottles. In fact, the bartender had nicknamed him Slow, just because it took his an hour to finish a bottle of sake.
Mushi is sitting at the bar as well, looking at the three bottles set before her. One is filled with a completely clear liquid, the other dark as night, and the third a sake bottle that was nearly emptied in the last few minutes. Eventually she'd finish it off and raise her hand to signal another one, but not before glancing at Tsubasa and saying smirkingly, "Gonna spend all day admiring that sake bottle?"
The bartender came around to Mushi and shruged, "Eh, slow there is gonna spend all year admiring that bottle." Then he takes her empty bottle away and slides a new one in it's place before turning around to do other things.
Tsubasa on the other hand just turns his page slowly and then continue to read until another page turn. At that point, he puts the book down, grabs the sake bottle and takes a small sip before putting it back down. "Why rush it? The sake isn't going anywhere."
Mushi nods her thanks to the bartender, and chuckles when he mentions Tsubasa's nickname. She looks over to Tsubasa and would say, "Really? If you leave it too long maybe it will decide to go somewhere." She runs two fingers along the table, demonstrating a sake bottle growing tiny legs and walking away. She'd take another sip. "I'm Mushi," she says. "Are you native to these parts, Slow-kun?" She smiles slightly and would push the sake away, pulling the dark filled bottle closer to examine the liquid which looks unsettlingly like dark, old blood.
Tsubasa turns the page in his book again and nods, "Tsubasa Seishukuni. I'm a chuunin." He flips another page and shrugs, "I know the sake bottle cannot grow legs, but I assume you're making an inference to someone stealing it. In that case, I would simply order another and consider that one lost." Another page is flipped, "The sake isn't really why I come here, it's just a nice extra." Another page flip.
Finally, he looks over at Mushi and nods, "It's a pleasure to meet you in person Nikumari-sama."
Mushi looks taken aback. "No," she says. "I really did mean the walk thingy, I once wrote this… nevermind." SHe lifts the dark liquid up to the light and make sure the cork is firmly in place before shaking it hard, so hard a soda would fizz up and burst apart. But when she stops there's not so much as a bubble within it. "It's nice to meet you Tsubasa-kun," she says. "As a Chuunin what do you do for duties? What are your specialities? What are you reading?" She asks the questions lightly, but her eyes are always firmly focused on Tsubasa.
Tsubasa shrugs, "This book in particular is on the land known as the Land of Water. I read everything. It's part of my purpose." He flips a page and then takes another small sip of the sake before him. "My duties are whatever they assign me. Don't have a team, so that's not part of them. Lately, I've been asked to run missions." He flips the page, "As for specialties. Are you familiar at all with the Seishukuni?"
Mushi raises her eyebrows, looking impressed when he mentions his reading habits. Her expression turns thoughtful as she thinks about the Seishukuni. Then she gives a slight shrug and says, "I read up on clans in Sunagakure before I got here. I think it mentioned Seishukuni as jewel crafters?" She looks at Tsubasa to see if he should validate her guess. In the meantime she takes another sip of her sake and would slip the dark liquid into her pocket.
Tsubasa nods, "Good enough for me. We do that and other crafts. We're also a clan of Crystal Manipulators. It's our weapon, art and curse. Kind of a strange thing when you think about it. Anyways, my specialties are obviously Crystal Manipulation and being a member of the sage clan, I specialize in knowledge."
Mushi nods slowly, taking all this in. It's something useful to know for later. However, she does look interested when he mentions specializing in knowledge. "Specializing in knowledge," she repeats. "That will make you the most powerful of all. The only difference between a warrior and a shinobi, in the end, is knowledge. To outsmart and outplan your opponent." Then, she smiles warmly. "That and it's hell of a lotta fun learning as much as there is to learn. I'd like to ask you then. What do you know about poisons." She shakes the bottle with the completely clear liquid in it. "About curing them that is."
Tsubasa shrugs, "Poisons are mixtures, which means that the simplest way to cure them is to know what made it. Knowing that, finding a cure is as simple as understanding the properties of the ingredients. An antidote isn't something that removes the poison from your body, it simply renders it inert. However, there are better people to ask than me. You should go ask a Tenjin."
Mushi gives a small shrug. She lifts up the small bottle full of clear liquid and says, "Poison. That's exactly why I came here. Some shinobi prefer to use a simple chakra technique to purge someone of poison, but I plan to do it the normal way too. To be able to decipher a poison and knows its antidote by hand. And I heard Suna was the best when it come to poison." Then she'd lift the bottle and swallow the entire bottle in one gulp. For a few moments nothing would happen. Then Mushi would start to choke and gasp, and after a few moments be unable to keep it up any longer and laugh. It was just water. But it'd worked on someone else before.
Tsubasa turns the page in his book and shrugs, "Have you heard the fable about the boy who cried wolf?" He smiles a little as he takes a sip of his sake and goes back to reading his text slowly. "That trick actually works on people?" Another page flip and he nods aftwards, "Well, Hibari Tenjin-sama."
Mushi laughs. "I work at a medical facility. I planned and staged it far more elaborately than this time. Of course he told everyone afterwards, so I could never use it in those parts again." She doesn't seem uspet that he saw through her ruse and instead goes back to drinking sake in small sips. She does look interested as he mentions Hibari. "You said a Tenjin would be someone to go to," she says. "Is Tenjin Hibari knowledgeable in that?"
Tsubasa shrugs lightly, "Tenjin Hibari is a jounin council member. Even if she doesn't know about poisons specifically, she's going to know where to find a poison expert." He flips the page again and takes a sip of sake, "You see, poisons are harder to analyze once a person ingests them. It's not like by knowing more about poisons you'll be able to cure them better. Unfortunately, the only way to cure a poison is by knowing what made it and the variations therein are quite large."
Mushi nods. "To get to a competent level of curing poisons by hand one would need to be brilliant and have years, perhaps a lifetime of study," she says. Then, she smiles. "So that's why I'll study poison for years and perhaps a lifetime. One of my fields of study, and a worthy pursuit if that small difference in my knowledge might save even one life. It's something I've decided so…that's that. (Thanks for the recommendation.)" She finishes the sake and would signal for yet another. She talks and looks quite steady, but there's a slow flush to her cheeks that's not from embarrassment.
Tsubasa shrugs, "To each a goal." Then he flips the page of his book again and looks over at her before returning to his text. "You've been drinking quite a bit, then again, you're old enough to get drunk if you want." Another page flip, "So what, you're just a travelling medic then?"
Mushi says, "Perhaps along the way I can find a cure for hangovers. Then, I'd make my fortune." She considers the bottle before pushing it away and allowing, "Maybe you're right. And yes, I am a medic nin. But I'm not a permanent wanderer. I work at the Neutral Medical Center located far east of here. I made it for *hic* the Neutral Zones. And for anyone who didn't have such advanced medical service available. We do make house calls, but as for why I'm here… I've been given *hic* some time off to travel abroad and study. Poisons in this case. So Suna.. *hic*" She looks relaxed, and it might be that she's speaking more freely with so much sake in her. She looks at the sake bottle, waiting for it to sprout tiny legs and run away.
Tsubasa shrugs as he turns the page in his book and then stops, leaning back in his stool and stretching his arms out. Then he reaches forward, the sake calling and he finishes it in one gulp. Even the bartender has to stop and look at him. Finally, Tsubasa returns the stare, "What?"
Another sake is put in front of him and he watches Mushi before snickering and making handseals underneath the bar counter. Soon, the liquid on the bottom of the sake bottle has become little legs made of a crystaline blue material and then they actually start running across the bar. Each of the legs moving in some kind of unison. Ah, the power of boredom.
Mushi looks to Tsubasa as he makes hand seals, and then her gaze darts to the bottle now running around. Her reaction is instantaneous. She gives a yelp, recoils, and topples straight off the stool to land on the floor with a thump. Being a shinobi she's hardly hurt, but she's still a little wobbly as she stares up and says, "Oh my.. that was." She'd look carefully at the bottle before shaking her head slowly. "Your skill," she says, feelingly, "is so cool!" She's either easily amused, or has rarely seen a sake bottle running about.
Tsubasa snickers, "Even book nerds can get bored." The bottle comes back to sit in front of her stool, the legs decaying into a crystal dust. Then he stands up and offers her a hand to get back up, "I didn't mean to knock you over, just thought you'd laugh at it." He shrugs at her comments, "I suppose to outsiders. Then again, when you've had something and seen it your entire life, it's not really that cool anymore." He grins at her.
Mushi does laugh then as she reclaims her stool. "Yes, I—" She abruptly gets a distracted look on her face, and glances away, before shrugging. She looks intently at her sake bottle before making a couple seals and concentrating chakra around the sake bottle. One would know the moment she tries to make hers run because it not only moves, but it flies straight off the table, twirls through the air, and smashes into the wall, shattering and sending sake flying. Mushi looks at the sake bottle, then at Tsubasa, then at his sake bottle.
"Umm…"
Tsubasa sighs and rubs his forehead, "Well, I see. I would ask what the point of destroying your bottle was, but you probably don't have a good answer anyways." He grabs his own bottle and moves it over to her before returning to his book and flipping the page. "I suppose you were trying to do what I did?"
Mushi nods sheepishly. "Yeah I was sorta trying that. I think I can get it down eventually." Then she'd go to quickly gather up the sharp shards of the bottle. After she tosses them she goes back to Tsubasa and would lay some coins on the table, enough for both their sake. "Thank you Tsubasa-kun for the help," she says. "I think I should go turn in. And tomorrow.." She nods and smiles again. "If ever you or your friends are in need of healing outside of Sunagakure feel free to remember us. We don't charge much." She'd nod and give a little bow before walking out.
Tsubasa shrugs as he grabs a shard and changes it into a half glass infinity symbol. "Take this to Hibari when you ask." He throws it at her and then returns to his book.
