Starring:
Date: August 22, 2014
Summary:
Akane and Renai come across a wandering Nanashi in the Land of Water and Nanashi shows Renai a few things about Sand Manipulation.
"Black Sands"
Black Sands Beach, Land of Water
Black-Sands Beach [Land of Water]
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Here lies a long, thin breakwater isle of volcanic black sands, surprisingly soft to the feet despite their fiery birth and the pounding since that has formed the beach. While barely 30 feet wide, the strip is well over 200 long- And is studded with spires of wind-polished obsidian, including the chissel-chipped, flat 'stumps' of stone where obelisks have been drawn forth from this beautiful creation of nature.
While little plant-life lives upon the few inches of sand that cover the volcanic glass and rock that make up the stable substrate, the garbage and refuse of birds can be seen everywhere- And their nests can be found nestled in the shadows of rocks. A single, larger 'hill' of solid rock reaches perhaps two feet above the generally fairly level isle, and upon inspection, a hole is seen in the side of it, leading into a black-glass tunnel lit by phosphorescent moss.
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Contents:
Akane
Nanashi
Exits:
North-East - (NE) [Chill River]
North-West - (NW) [Coastal Road]
Down - (D) [Obsidian Tunnel]
South - (S) [Rock-Strewn Beach]
Evening time in the Land of Water, and the tide has begun to fall in. Rather than the Kozue form it is sort of infamous for around Kirigakure, Nanashi has chosen to use the Kagura disguise it's been using around Fuuma for a bit. It doesn't make just a lot of sense with the somewhat skimpy attire and the weather here, but whatever. Not like its clothes are real anyway since they're just made out of the sand it uses for its body. It's an interesting feeling laying back on a beach made up of basically the same type of thing its body is made up of. Still, at least it has plenty of choice when it comes to what it uses, not that it makes any difference really in its outward appearance. Its eyes stare out at the horizon, hands behind its head as it relaxes.
Akane was walking along the beach on her way back from collecting some herbs int he forest. She changed her harvesting locations regularly so as to avoid over-harvesting. So she carried a messenger bag style pack and decided to walk along the black beach on the way home. Her hair is up in it's elaborate way, hairsticks galore, her clothes were typical, though she had removed her jacket and layed it over her satchel, leaving her shoulders, middrift and most of her back exposed, scars and all. She spotted the unfamiliar face relaxing on the beach and paused, her glasses simply reflecting and hiding her eyes. Caution was required as Akane didn't know if this was one of the group called Silence. She approached casually though with a smile. "Hello there. A nice day today."
Well, time to get to work. Who is she kidding? She's always working. The ex-Touketsu appears near the edge of the black-sanded beach, her eyes focused on her feet. Stupid clan. It's not like it even matters! The girl is pouting, indeed. Her lips are set in a frown and her lower lip protrudes. She doesn't even know why she's being such a child about it all. But cookies. OMG, cookies. Remembering that, Renai reaches into her pocket and retrieves said bag of items. Chocolate. She has never had sweetened chocolate. She nibbles at one and emits a faint little sound of -
Oh. Her head lifts when she hears Akane's voice. Renai pauses and sweatdrops. Quickly, she shoves the rest of the cookie in her mouth and chews fastidiously. "Akane-sama. Hi." Then her eyes turn to Nanashi, having no clue who this person is or why she's here. Inwardly, Renai kicks herself for having been so distracted as to not even notice that a complete stranger is on the very beach she came to visit.
Nanashi doesn't seem to notice anyone approach at first. Of course, given its ability to sense through sand, it probably knew the moment anyone was within range of that ability. Still, 'Kagura' seems pleasantly surprised to have a little company, looking up at Akane and smiling. "Oh, hi there. Yes, it's kind of pleasant. Thought I'd relax on this beach for a bit since the sun's gone down and let the extreme heat on this sand fade away while my crew gets readies a shipment to go back to Fuuma." There's something of a smirk within that smile, almost like the person before Akane knows something she's doesn't. Still, it raises and bows to both her and the woman appraoching. "I'm Kagura. Nice to meet you both."
Akane glanced up at Renai as she approached… was that girl eating a cookie? She stared for a moment then shook herself and turned back to the woman before her. She wasn't in the mood for a bright sunny conversation this day, not after what she had done at Mau just a few days past. But she was not /looking/ actively for a fight either so she managed to smile at Nanashi's words about the sand. Her smile came to a screeching halt when the woman spoke of Fuuma. "Oh, you are from Fuuma Alley then? Been there long?" Her voice was a bit tense but she tried to hide that. Akane had been well known int he street gangs of Fuuma for quite a while and she had only left perhaps 5 or 6 years before. The Assassin's Blade of Kyoujin had caused plenty of havoc aside from her work at one of the 'tea houses'. She wondered if this woman had anything to do wiht that or if she even knew about it.
The ex-Touketsu metaphorical cat ears would swivel as she listens to Akane, absorbing everything. Fuuma Alley. Renai scours her memory. Nope, never been. And other than it being a crime-laiden place, she knows little else of it.
Renai seems a bit taken aback by this new person. She assumes a look of quiet interest over her face, masking her expressions of petulant hate for.. other things. "You as well, Kagura. I'm Renai." The green-haired girl would bow slightly, enough to be respectful but her eyes never leave their visitor. "I hope the Land of Water has been treating you well. I see you have found one of our nicest spots." Renai smiles gently and gestures to the beach around them. "I come here often, myself. You picked a perfect time. If you had been out here earlier, the stuff would have burned your pretty skin right off." Renai leans down to sift her fingers through the substance. "Tends to absorb too much heat through the day. Even /with/ this cloud cover. It has to do with the.." She goes into a lengthy explanation of metallic substances found within various kinds of volcanic lava and rambles on for a good minute, at least, before realizing that she's started quoting pages of books stored away in her filing cabinet of a brain. The girl lets her words trail off in an awkward fashion and rocks on her heels. There's a bit of silence and then she asks, "You think it might rain tonight, Akane-sama?"
"Officially? Not really," Nanashi replies with a shrug of its shoulders. "I do a bit of moving about. You've probably seen me once or twice and just don't realize or remember." It then looks down at the sand as Renai starts to go into her rant, blinking a bit. "Well, that's all interesting," it comments a bit dully before looking back up at Akane, that faint smirk touching its lips again. "But, yes, the Land of Water is rather pleasant from what I've traveled of it between here and the docks." With that it'd bend over, quite lucky that the straps of its clothing are tied well enough to hold the weight as she scoops up a handful of black sand and starts to shuffle it between her hands as she stands back up.
Even with her glasses on Akane's expression was blank while she listened to Renai talk about the combination of lava and metal in the sand that made it black… She wasn't adverse to information of such subject matter but the fact that the girl went on a rant about it made her stare a bit. She cleared her throat. Well then. She chuckled a little, trying not to sound forced. This Kagura didn't seem to know her by appearance and so she let that slide. Still she wasn't comfortable around the woman either.
She looked up at the clouds threatening off over the water and took off her glasses, rubbing at her eyes like they hurt before frowning. Jade green eyes watched the sky silently for a long moment before she replaced the glasses. "Possibly, though it looks like those clouds are moving south…" She looked at Kagura "You may be stuck here for the night."
Renai's eyes follow the motion of the sand, seeming a bit distracted. She's quite tempted to pull it back to the ground and spread it back out. But that would be rude. Rather rude. Renai is possessive over her training ground.. With no real reason to be. It's not like she /owns/ the beach.
She inhales deeply and pushes her instinctual possessiveness aside. "Oh, that sucks." She frowns at Akane's statement. "Well, it's not the worst place to be stuck." She nods and relaxes her posture, hooking a thumb into her pocket and resting a hand on the scroll tied to her back casually, causing the fabric to pull tight to her body.
"Oh, that's perfectly fine," Nanashi says with a shrug of its shoulders, folding its arms over its chest. "The stock I setup should be good for an extra day or two until we get back." That coy smile remains on its face, having that innocent appearance that makes one think something's going on behind the scenes. Then it comes… nothing loud… no Genjutsu… nothing dramatic. Just a subtle tapping of fingers on a crossed arm. 1 2 3 4… 1 2 3 4… 1 2 3 4… 1 2 3 4… A glance is given to Renai then back to Akane, that smirk tugging at its lips again as it simply observes while still holding the black sand in the hand that is not tapping on its arm.
Akane nodded to Renai and gave Kagura a sympathetic smile about the rain possibly making water travel impossible. Well, extremely dangerous anyway. "Well I'm glad you won't be too inconvenienced by our…weather…" Behind her glasses her eyes narrowed as that finger tapped against the woman's arm. It was.. familiar. Somehow. That smirk got under Akane's skin too and she walked over to Renai's side, physically putting herself between the Touketsu and Nanashi. "You like sand, hmm, Kagura-san?"
The ex-Touketsu watches the tapping finger. Her eyes seem to glaze over slightly at the constant, hypnotic motion. Just all this stress. Perhaps if she didn't want to escape it so badly.. Just to lie down and nap. She's so tired..
The girl snaps her head up when Akane moves into her line of sight, seeming to shake herself out of her stupor. Renai shudders and reaches up to run a hand over her face. What in the world? Must be the cookies. The sugar making her fatigued. Yes, that's it. Hearing Akane's voice, Renai moves to peer around the woman curiously. Who doesn't like sand? Well, maybe not in the underwears. That sort of bites. She hmms lightly and then takes a step back from Akane, not liking the look or feel of any of this.
As Akane seems to at least begin to get the picture, Nanashi would grin slightly, eyes following her as she gets between it and Renai. "Quite a bit actually," it says as it unfolds its arms, holding the hand forward that contains the sand to watch it shape into a black rose in her palm. "Been a while, hasn't it?" it asks with a snicker. "But you can relax. I'm only passing through. I don't have a mission or anyone to try to get my things back from today."
Akane glanced at Renai when she seemd to space out and ran her hand over her face. The girl wasn't acting as normal but this probably wasn't the time for such contemplations. Akane couldnt 'sense' any genjutsu but something had made the usually alert Renai act like she'd been drugged. She would have to get to the bottom of that later. The medic watched Kagura grin and the changing of the sand to a rose in her hand. At the comment about time Akane lifted her chin. "Indeed." The last time they had met this one had taken the shape of Akane herself and Kiku as well. Akane almost laughed at the memory of "kiku" kissing the original. But that day Kyoujin had also tried to work out some agression of her own by fighting her reflection. That had been a rather annoying day actually. "Then what exactly are you doing here?"
When the sand moves into the shape of a flower, Renai's eyes harden. She stares at the black rose intensely. "You. How.." The ex-Touketsu leans down to pick up her own handful of sand. She extends her palm out and the material forms into a small sphere. She looks from her hand to Nanashi's and then up to the visitor's face, as if this being could answer everything. The sand in Renai's hand abruptly falls apart and sifts through her lightly curved fingers and back to the ground.
Renai lets her hand fall, seeming somewhat shamed by what she just did. She looks to Akane and then back to Nanashi again. Well, they seem to know one another. The girl frowns and crosses her arms over her chest. "Will someone explain things please?" She seems frustrated, abnormally so, even for a teenager.
"Like I said, just passing through and getting some items put on a ship for trade," Nanashi replies with a shrug before looking at Renai and quirking an eyebrow. "How? I've always been able to do this, at least as far back as I can remember," it answers as the rose would lift off its hand and float over to hover in front of the girl. "I'm just a passerby who happens to enjoy messing with people and taking missions that might not exactly be called gracious in the eyes of the villages, and I can manipulate sand. My body is actually made of it, which is why you can' see past me like a henge."
<Emergency AFK for Akane>
Renai watches the sand flower hover. She would even attempt to pull it from the air and cradle it delicately in her palm if allowed. She would move closer, then, to inspect Nanashi, completely intrigued and sensing no danger that she perhaps /should/ feel. Her curiosity has her in its teeth. "You're body is made of it?" She blinks a few times, looking at Nanashi's skin. "Mine isn't. Are we different, then?"
The ex-Touketsu pauses, realizing how many question she's asking. "I.. didn't know this was something.. different.. until today. It has changed everything in my life. Everything." Renai leans forward to gather up more of the sand into her palms and starts to slowly form into a shape, attempting to imitate the rose.
As Renai cups the flower, Nanashi would can its head slightly, using a bit of context clues to assume that Renai has the ability to manipulate sand as well, rare but not unheard of. "Yes, we're quite different actually, it says with a nod, quirking an eyebrow again and actually letting the girl's fingers sink into the sand of its body versus imitating skin as normal. "But not so different that you can't be shown the way." With that it'd present its hand again, the rose floating back to it and taking on the form a simple orb. "Try this first instead. It'll help you get the idea of how to manipulate it better. Don't try to match me when you're just beginning or you won't get anywhere. It takes years of practice to get to where I am and some abilities even people that can use the element still can't use because they're… unique."
Renai listens attentively to Nanashi, ever the ideal student. She imitates the orb, with.. more or less success. She seems to have the basic idea of a spherical shape down, but it might be a little oblong. Not perfect, but doable. "Like this?" She looks to Nanashi's crafting and up to the being's face and then back down to her own work.
"Have you met others that.. do this?" She nods to the sphere in her hand. The ex-Touketsu can't help but refer to the manipulation of sand with a slight terseness in her voice. It's almost like she thinks she has some weird disease someone else might catch. "What else is possible? Will you show me?" Renai is eager to learn despite her awkwardness about it though. Of course, she can't /really/ be Nanashi's student. Whoever this person is, Renai has no clue. But, when will she ever get the chance to meet someone that can do this again?
Watching the girl try to create the orb, Nanashi would narrow its eyes a bit then nods. "I've heard of one or two others through rumor," it replies with a shrug then smirks slightly at the request. "Alright then. Here's one you should be able to do pretty easily with some practice." With that a bit of sand would literally come off the ground behind Renai to sweep her legs out from under her. Rather than continue the attack, however, it gives her a moment to gather herself. "Come at me."
COMBAT: Nanashi attacks Renai with SAND-TRIP with a roll of: 27
COMBAT: Nanashi attacks Renai with YANK with a roll of: 12
COMBAT: Nanashi finishes its turn.
COMBAT: It is now Renai's turn.
COMBAT: Renai defends against SAND-TRIP(27) attack from Nanashi with a EVASION…27
COMBAT: Renai wins the roll.
COMBAT: Renai defends against YANK(12) attack from Nanashi with a TENSE…9
COMBAT: Renai loses the roll and sustains 0 damage.
Ever the alert one, Renai manages to successfully anticipate the attack. She hops up and back, leaping out of the way. Her eyes follow the motion of the sand though and the girl grins widely. That seems simple enough. The genin taps her lips, pondering briefly over the seals. Renai forms a series to mould her chakra and attempt imitating the technique. The result is more just some random shifting of the sand more than anything. She will have to think on that technique some more.
"Interesting." She looks back up to the visitor. "I need to adjust for the displacement below, I believe." Her eyes fall back to the sand again as if expecting it to leap up and dance.. And if it did, she would probably .. just die.
COMBAT: Renai finishes her turn.
COMBAT: It is now Nanashi's turn.
Nanashi blinks as Renai doesn't follow instructions and instead just practices trying to use it again. As she does however, Nanashi would lift a bit of sand in front of itself as a shield to block any incoming attack. "It all just takes practices. Once you get these down, you can start building on them. I even combine it with techniques to absorb chakra and make clones. It's truly one of most versatile elements in existence. It can flow like water and crush like stone once you've gotten good with it." Of course, Nanashi itself has literally wiped an entire town off the map with a sand technique once or twice, but it'll leave that bit out of the conversation.
Renai considers Nanashi's words and then nods once. "I will practice. Start small and grow." She nods once again as if in confirmation again.
As if on cue, a sudden lightning strike blazes through the sky and is followed by a crackle of thunder. Renai looks up, her brows lifting. She frowns and puts a protective hand back against the edge of her scroll. "I must go. I will find you again one day. I promise. And you'll see me stronger." With that, the ex-Touketsu would take off in a sprint to find shelter from the coming storm. Too bad. She had wanted to finish making her scroll. The girl pouts and continues on.
