Starring:
Date: July 29, 2011
Summary:
You can meet kindred intellects in the most unlikely of places…like out in the desert.
"It Happened on the Road To… - Meeting of Creative Minds"
Desert [Land of Wind]
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A barren waterless, plantless, and nearly lifeless wasteland. To the west lays some large rocky plateaus, and in every other direction is nothing as far as the eye can see, just a sure death to the baking desert sun, and the driving deset winds. There is little hope of survival unless a person is incredibly prepared to survive the elements offered by the Desert.
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Wrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr~ Kukukukukukuku WrrrRRRRRREEEE
An odd combination of high pitched whirr followed by the occasional clunking around would haunt the desert night for hours on end, leaving the sparse animals about confused but, not at all truly bothered by the sound. In the world of ninja, no sound is entirely out of the ordinary, leaving humans and beast alike to more or less ignore it as it passed by. As long as it wasn't bringing any harm to them, it couldn't be any danger, right?
Some animals… didn't exactly have the luxury of simply ignoring the noise, including one particular roadrunner like bird, stranded and partially buried under the sand while it sleeps out the night would suddenly be rudely awakened as the noise maker zips by blowing away the sand blanket and nearly running it over. Shocked into an awakened state, the bird's eyes pop open to see something a bit out of the norm, a human simply sliding across the entirety of the sands. Confused and enraged it would start to squawk wildly, barely being heard over the loud human.
"Huh?" Said human turns back over their shoulder to see what was causing the racket, spotting the bird she nearly killed and yell out a muffled, "Ooops, Sorry!" And so, it would be Kushrenada Raili speeding through the desert night, equipped with goggles and a face mask. Her feet locked into a board attatched to a large fan which apparently had the ability to propel her across the sands despite its relatively small size. Talking the sand dunes like any Kumogakure ninja would tackle snowy hills on a snowboard. The whole sandboarding thing seemed relatively easy for Raili as she zips through until….
"WOAH!"
Her board suddenly cracks, the fan half firing up and over her head as she goes flying through the air, facefaulting into sand causing herself to be buried from the neck out. Dazed for the moment she'd make no true effort to get out as her hands weakly claw at the sand about her head though… at least the noise finally stopped.
"I'm c-c-cold!" "That is how the desert is at night. It is better than the heat of the day, believe me." "I kn-n-now, but why do I gotta be out here?" "So that you may learn to survive. You will have to cross these places many times to go on missions." "But that won't be for yeeeeears! Besides, we g-go out on training like this in the academy." "Those little field trips are made for the least of your classmates. You are the daughter of a Maneshi, to master the wilds is the strength of your blood. Now pay att — "
Shemri leaves off lecturing her daughter as Shiikaa noses her leg. Listening carefully, Shemri hears what the cat picked up on: a distant buzzing noise, steadily growing nearer. Before Shemri decides to order a swift hiding, though, the noise is ended with a loud CRACK. "Wow, what was that?" Megumi remarks. "Shhh!" Shemri hisses. "Keep your voice down, and stay close." Shemri, Megumi, and Shiikaa carefully head toward the source of the noise to investigate. o.o
Eventually, Raili would regain her focus or at least, what she claimed to be 'focus', a million thoughts hit her mind at once and not a single one of those thoughts managed to become complete, the first thought going over a possible fault in her creation, the next wonder what she hit, another going on something to do with sand, then she hit one very important thought and sticked with that one. '…I can't breathe.' Reaching her hand back to her backpack summon a large claw like attachment in a light cloud of smoke. The device automatically gloved onto her hand, she adjusts her hand positioning to the right a bit before driving the claws deep into the sand.
Click… click… click. Wrrrrrrrrr!
As much noise as the device was making, it came off a subtle compared to the noise in which the sandboard was making. With the claw rapidly impaling the sand, Raili would manage to drill away and loosen a good chunk of the sand to easily slide her head out. "Phbbbt!"
A sharp shake of her head gets rid of a good chunk of the grit before she gets up and goes out to seek out the other half of the board, one side still attached to her left foot. "Great job Raili, overlooking the rocks, should've been paying more attention but noooo, another thing broken during its test run…" Her self rant would continue and eventually break down into nothing but, minceds oaths as she at least keeps her cool enough to censor what she had really intended.
Shemri and Megumi crawl up the side of a sand dune and peer over the top. Megumi boggles. "Mommy, it's a frog monster!" she whispers. "It's got big eyes and huge…wait, why is the other foot so small?" Shemri quirks an eyebrow. Can Megumi-chan really not see clearly on a starlit night like this? :P Maybe she takes after her father more than she thought. Oh well. "Stay here," Shemri murmurs, then gets up and heads down the other side of the dune. "Hoi," Shemri calls out. "What is it you are doing here?" Shiikaa prowls around to a side vantage in the shadow of the dunes. He doesn't sense much danger from this person, but it pays to be careful out here.
"Ugh, stupid thing scraped the side of my leg!" Raili would belatedly notice a multiple scratches going up her leg most likely caused by the broken board running across it and, now that she noticed it… it suddenly begins to sting. "Stupid little…" Raili pulls the other piece out of the ground and in another puff of smoke, the drill and both pieces of the board were gone. "Now what exactly caused tha… oh?" Shemri's call grabs Raili's attention and her head snaps into the woman's direction, squinting she'd realize the goggles were somewhat darkening up her view and she'd pop the goggles back up to her forehead. The mixture of sand grit and the tanning of sunrays would cause the area in which the goggles covered to be much darker. "Ah… much better. What am I doing? Falling apart, cutting myself… oh and, heading towards Sunagakure well… I was at least. Until now…. I thought that's what I saw…"
Skipping introductions, Raili would beckon for Shemri to follow her. "Check this out." With that said, Raili would crouch over the board breaking menace. "What the heck is that doing out here… better yet, what the heck is it?" Shemri would notice Raili looming over what would appear to be the tip of a large crystal jutting out of the ground. "Looks like it's lodged in good… didn't even budge despite how hard I hit it.
Shemri tilts her head. "Ah. Aha. On a sandboard? I thought it took much more wind for those to work. What was that noise from before?" "Was it a big fan?" Shemri turns suddenly to see Megumi approaching. "Hoi, I told you to stay put!" >.<; "But you told me to stay close too! Besides, she seems nice enough." Shemri grunts in exasperation, then turns back to Raili. "I am Maneshi Shemri, and this is my daughter, Megumi-chan. If you wish to go to Sunagakure, I suppose we shall guide you there." "Yay, time to go home!" n.n
Shemri steps after Raili and peers at what she has found. "Ah. Aha. There is a clan in our village who can make such things…and one of them became a rogue and has caused much trouble. Hoi, Shiikaa! Do you sense anything bad nearby?" The cat pads out of the shadows and gives a negatory meow. "I do not think he is near. Still, be careful with that thing." :/
Of course, this crystal was rather interesting yet… someone was curious about one of her inventions. Well Shemri at least posed a question, how curious she truly was is beyond Raili but she assumes… very. "Yes! A normal sandboard would require a pretty large amount of wind but, not for me… you see— oh?" Raili's side-tracking manages to be side-tracked as Megumi steps out followed by the little cat. "Woah… woah…" Raili would nearly look intimidated by the smaller companions of Shemri.
"… super cute." 'Maintain… focus.' "Right er, Earth Gear Technology engine, powers the fan and the track tires built into it. Sort of like a snowboard skateboard hybrid that runs off of chakra but, one of my lazier creations. I guess that's why it didn't last too long. I wonder… should I blow the money to make it out of steel? Of course the fact that it snapped in half may of saved me from furter injury. I could always simply pay more att-"
Right… people.
"Anyway heard about the crystal guy. Sounds like a real pain but… I'm sensing that." Raili places her palm on the ground, staying silent for a moment. "It runs crazy deep I wonder what they would've needed such a large crystal for… maybe…" Raili glances at Megumi, "Some giant sand monster is around here!"
Megumi shakes her head. "Y'make it outta steel, it'll get all hot in the daytime. Gramma says that's one of the biggest problems y'gotta deal with making stuff for out in the desert, use too much metal an' y'can't even touch it! 'Course, there are some alloys that make that less of a worry, but then you start running into trouble with smelting an' casting an' stuff." Shemri experiences that bizarre sensation of being the most mature yet most clueless person present. =.= Listening to Raili's suggestion of a giant sand monster, Megumi gives a half-excited, half-scared squeak. n.n; That's a topic Shemri's a little less clueless about, though. "That may not be a joking matter. I have seen creatures out here that could swallow deer whole. Perhaps we should not remain in this place."
"Ah that's right… always the little oversights that get me caught on fire or something. Granted I wont be really touching the board most of the time, my boots might melt onto it. No good. Eh maybe I'll find something at some point that'll work out maybe…" Raili eye's the crystal chunk. "Ah hah! Maybe this trip to Sunagakure will turn out useful for me after all!" Done with her own self wrap-uppedness, Raili looks to Shemri with a quirked eyebrow. "A deer whole huh? Makes me want to dig this thing up more but, that'll have to be another day. Right Megumi-chan?" Raili apparently trying to rope the child into this adventure.
Clapping her hands together, she rises to a full stance. "Since you offered. I wouldn't mind getting some guidance to your village, definately don't want to go off track now with having to go all… normal speed." Raili would look to her own feet, disgusted with them as if they were not worthy of carrying her along. "So! How about that clan that makes things like that? Are they friendly, fans of money?" Raili would then remember the empty pit that is her wallet and grumble out, "Actually forget the last part, are they very very friendly?"
Megumi giggles. "Caught on fire? You must make a lot of powerful stuff." X) Shemri gets the sinking feeling that her daughter has found another questionable role model. -.-; Still, nothing to do about it right now. "This way," Shemri says, trudging back in the direction they came from. "As for the Seishukuni, I do not know a great deal about them. Most of them do not live in Sunagakure. Even if they were willing to aid you with their techniques, I am not certain the council would allow you to take their crystals with you. If it were not for the rogue one making such a stir, I might think I have said too much about them already."
Megumi evidently doesn't have as much concern about village secrets and the like. She waves her arm, which is outfitted with a mechanical gauntlet. "Wanna see my grapple launcher? Gramma made it for me, and she's teaching me to upgrade it too. See?" *SHINK!* "Switchblade!" >D Kids are so adorable with their toys. n.n;
"Chemicals that should not be mixed! I dabble in a bunch of random stuff, things I don't really understand which… tends to lead to fires, explosions, the works. Chemical science… I'll leave that to my sister." Raili says this, sounding a bit disappointed, imagine what she could accomplish with that knowledge combine with her devices! The news was more or less expected, "Hrm well one could've only hoped it'd be that easy." She'll just have to get it from the rogue Seishukuni. Said too much? I'm sure with that rogue one running around more information than that is just lying around so don't worry about it too much. Raili gives Shemri a thumbs up and only just now realizes the gauntlet that Megumi had on.
"Eh? Wait… no way, that's like my claw! Only… you know, less claw like and more hand like." This would lead Raili to resummon the claw attachment and point it out in front of her. "Check it out! A soft whirr is heard and the frontal part of the claw would detach, the claws spreading and forming a propeller, twisting and turning until slamming into a cactus and grabbing onto it. The thick wire rope giving a light 'thung' as it goes taut. "One of my earliest creations… kinda attached to it."
After basking in the glory of one of her few successful inventions, she retracts it back with a snap. "This one tends to not backfire on me… maybe I can inspect yours and vice versa, see what we can do to improve our things?" Sure Raili had the strange ways of gravitating towards kids but, this created things! Not many inventors out there… that aren't the flat out homicidal type.
Megumi gasps. "Cooool! So it's self-propelling? I gotta remember that! This one's got a neat latching mechanism, though, it lets go after you pull on it and then release the tension…" And Megumi and Raili chatter about mechanical stuff all the way back to Sunagakure.
