Starring:
Date: March 23, 2011
Summary:
After gaining permission from the Mizukage to study the non-needed corpses in the Kirigakure Medical Facility morgue, Okumo Osamu calls Okumo Meruin to a meeting. This serves two purposes: to let the word get out that Osamu has taken control of the morgue and so that Osamu can hire Meruin to retrieve extra bodies. Afterall, a lot of bodies get made on bloody mist missions.
"Hiring a Body Snatcher"
Kirigakure Medical Facility Room B7: The Morgue
In the basement of the Kirigakure Medical Center is a door to a mid-sized section.
On this door is the label "B7: MORGUE", and below it is a name plaquard with the name "Okumo
Osamu". This is the section where bodies which are not suspected to have any hiden jutsu,
kinjutsu, or kekkei genkai experience stored within them are autopsied and analyzed, or
sometimes merely stored until burial. Of course, being part of an island culture, many
burials in Kirigakure consist of coffins being dropped into the sea, so there are many cases
where a body being missing or being replaced by similarly weighted garbage does not attract
any attention at all, and in other cases the bodies come from distant islands or lands and
are not expected to be buried.
The door is actually a double set with wash sinks and sterilization instructions
between each set. Glass surrounds the sterilization room, allowing easy visual access to the
Morgue. Inside the Morgue the rooms are kept clean and sterile by Okumo standards, which is
to say that the corners of the rooms are filled with rather large spider webs, and the
cabinets and furniture also exhibit their own spider webs. A body is currently laid open on
a cart with a fully stocked surgical autopsy cart sitting next to it and Osamu is standing
next to each of these. His sleeves are pulled up around his shoulders, kept there by some
unseen force, revealing his long gray arms, his delicate hands, and his well manicured black
claw-like fingernails that are currently stained with a variety of bodily fluids. Along the
far wall of the room is the body storage, separated into appropriately sized drawers with
medical charts hanging from the ends of these drawers.
One wall of the morgue is covered with several glass aquariums in which various
spider egg-sacks are kept with fresh organs sitting in the aquariums with them. Each
aquarium is air-tight and there is a minor variance in the egg-sacks which is likely only
noticable by those who are trained in the study of arachnids. It is to this place that Okumo
Osamu has called Okumo Meruin, the message only saying the room number, B7, and that Osamu
wished to speak with him.
A summons.
Meruin was no stranger to the things, for good or for ill. Much of his life — most
of it, had been spent answering them. The only difference was that this was not from a
superior clansmen, but from one below him. One relatively unknown to him. Despite the fact
that the nine year old could not have very much time left to spend on himself and the
summons was abrupt, without explanation, and from a lesser ranked ninja, Okumo Meruin would
soon be seen striding through the doors of the morgue.
He looked towards Osamu as he entered, but turned towards the washing basins, moving
over towards the nearest one, his gait smooth and carefully balanced. From his torso rose a
second pair of arms and hands, and he sets to cleaning all four of them, silent as of yet.
Osamu is absorbed in his work, but it can be expected that a decent nester would not
be unaware of the movements around him, especially in one of his own nests. His muscles and
body are relaxed, his shoulders low, and he moves in a confident and unrushed manner. Osamu
reaches two clawed fingers into the open body in front of him and he retrieves a small
organ, recognizable to those who study such things as the gall bladder, the source of the
body's corrosive yellow bile. He sets the organ in a small dish on the autopsy cart, then
carefully picks two tools from the cart, a scalpel and a clamp. Osamu turns back to the
opened body, then, and returns to work inside of it. "Greetings Meruin," Osamu says loudly
enough for the boy to hear.
Meruin shakes his four hands out, swiftly drying them off after they're thoroughly
cleaned and soon leaving the water behind. With himself properly <meticulously> disinfected,
he turned towards Osamu, sweeping himself into a smooth bow, a respectful greeting clippping
at it's heels as he rose once more. "Greetings, Okumo Osamu." The boy rode his oddly precise
stride towards the other side of the gurney Osamu was working on, hands hanging by his side.
"Would you like to exchange pleasantries or begin with business immediately?"
With the composition of Meruin's eyes, it would be nearly impossible to tell that
they were moving, but they were, sliding across the dissected body. A slight turn of the
head marked when he looked at the deposited gall bladder, making note of it, before fixing
his head back in place.
"Exchange…" Osamu begins, then looks up from his work. His expression is calm and
focused, and remains so for the time being. "…exchange pleasantries? Hmm… no, though I
thank you for the offer. I have been charged with practicing such things, but this is not
the time nor the place." Osamu then looks back at his work, then to the tray, where he takes
a moment to select another two clamps. He turns back to his work and applies the clamps to
where the stomach and intestines meet. He is currently cutting each of the organs free from
one another but leaving them in the body for some reason.
"I have been granted use of the Morgue," Osamu says, speaking easily and at a steady
pace, not leaving enough of a break in his speaking now that he could be interupted. It is
as though he is a bad public speaker reading announcements over an intercom. "For medical
research. I had requested to work on living specimens as well, but the Mizukage has deemed
these corpses to be adequate starting funds to assess my skill. It is not the exact line of
research I had been planning, but I have come up with a small number of research projects
which I hope to complete in my six week alotment before my division budget is reassessed by
the Mizukage's office. I have asked you here to propose an exchange: that in exchange for
retrieving for me an adequate number of bodies to be used in my research I will grant you
access to any techniques that I develop which might be of use to you. I wll also use these
techniques to your own benefit for so long as you continue regular delivery."
Meruin lifted his gaze from the corpse, as he had obviously not been called in to
give aid with the body in any way, or to give anatomy lessons, both of which could have been
done by another person, regardless. "An interesting proposal," remarked the nine year old,
now staring relentlessly at Osamu. His long platinum hair lifted itself away from him,
moving in a soft ripple before beginning to fall back to it's resting point. "You have
failed to mention what techniques you are attempting to develop, however. Medical research
may mean a great deal many things."
Osamu continues to focus on his work, moving slowly and meticulously through the fat
and connectors of the dead body. "My research is not currently classified. The technique I
am developing now is a method to autopsy dead bodies through use of specialized corrosive
spiders I am breeding and have dubbed 'Corpse Eater Spiders'. Abnormalities can be detected
by those skilled in communication with their spiders and organs of interest or sections of
the body will hopefully be separable and catalogable into vessels of webbing before even
needing to leave the corpse's skin. All additional material of the corpse will be broken
down into nutrient rich proteins." Osamu pauses to find another clamp.
"My originally intended line of research and development was into spider-control
associated healing and physical augmentation," Osamu says. "Our spiders often work in tandem
with our internal organs, and a better controlled application of this not only to ourselves
but to those not skilled or not able to control our spiders seems that it would be quite
beneficial. An additional route of research would be the possible uses of such bodily
infiltration for the purposes of intelligence gathering."
"An interesting proposal," said Meruin, eyes still locked on Osamu's, though the
other's were turned downwards. He paused a breath before saying, "Make sure to do your
research well. Tell me, though. Why have you chosen me to be your corpse-taker?"
"I have choseon you, Meruin, because I believe that despite your size you are both
adept at taijutsu and strong enough to carry a corpse or two without so much effort being
expended that they would be damaged terribly in the process," Osamu says. "I will warn you,
however, that I in no way have the authority to grant you any permission you might need to
take bodies. The Mizukage has granted me rights to any body that I retrieve while on
missions. I tell you now that I will not ask where the bodies that you deliver to me come
from. I will assume that you have whichever permissions may or may not be necessary. I do
not even know in which cases permissions would be necessary, so it is not as though I could
accurately judge the legitimacy of your aquisitions even if I did know. I might invite you
on missions I lead in the future where bodies have a good chance of being retrievable, and
will appreciate your assistance in such endeavors."
As the reasons were given, Meruin gave no motion showing that he'd heard or
registered anything that'd come his way. He wasted no time, however, in making an answer
towards the other Okumo. "Conditional acceptance approved. I suggest a probationary period
of two to six months wherein either may render the verbal contract null without the
expectation of retaliation by the other party. A required minimum cadaver count should also
be established to ensure smooth dealings and that the necessary operations are undertaken to
acquire them."
"Hmm," Osamu sounds a bit hesitant now, and stops his work for a moment of thought.
"I think that sounds fine. It is possible that the Mizukage might classify my research, and
it is also possible that you become engaged in other activities. As for a minimum cadaver
count… I… am not sure how to approach that. My research may require differing numbers
and you may become too involved in other missions from the Mizukage or the Clan and thus not
be able to continue with the… miminum cadaver count." Osamu returns to his work. "I would
think that so long as you make an effort and you do not continually refuse to assist me on
missions without good reason, I can keep my end. It is not as though you knowing the
techniques or my using the techniques in your benefit would not, in its own way, benefit my
research."
"You are a poor businessman," remarked Meruin, no hint or disrespect or sarcasm
hidden in the weaving of his child's voice. It was simply a comment meant to be taken for
what it was. His opinion. "If the terms are agreed upon, I would like to depart." A spider,
small and white, slipped down from the hair covering his scalp before tucking itself neatly
into the curve of his ear, soon slipping inside the canal and out of sight.
"That is fine. I have nothing further to discuss," Osamu says, fully engaged in his
work and obviously not thinking that showing Meruin out is something particularly
appropriate or needed.
Meruin inclined his head, appearing wholly nonplussed by the lack of conventional
courtesy. "Acknowledged." He turned and headed for the door, his extra set of limbs
retracting and pressing themselves back into his torso, clothing shifting to cover the
space. "Be well."
The doors soon closed behind him.
