The noon hours passed at godspeed. Sunlight reached such a low of luminosity as to cast such a boring grey across the sky... even the horizon was splotched with angry clouds of deep grey. Perhaps it was normal here, but the entire experience was foreign to the former Sand kunoichi who stood by the water's bank. The rain clouds that glazed the blank sky forming a foreground that leaked water down upon the ground, soaking and muddling together in a disturbing way. Melancholy. It certainly wasn't Sumire's cup of tea, but it was something to take relish in. Of the world's environmental palette, this unsightly scene was likely the least desirable color upon the easel. Such an adamant grey that was resilient of change and perpetually unappealing. [break][break] Thus she cast her gaze downward, sighing and waiting for an impulse or sudden drive that had long since wandered off since she arrived. "The land of water had to be so literal..." The scenery didn't hold her interest much longer as she began staring at her feet and walked at a steady, slow pace by the murky lakeside. Her entertainment for the day had been the music of the water's purrs despite her sightseeing being restricted to the tidal movement and the endless grey above it. It hadn't actually rained until recent, but the almost musical beat of the cliche "pitter patter" now resounded and somehow she couldn't imagine that it wasn't there just a bit ago. "Hmm. Where to go now..."
Raindrops splashing off the leaves above shook him from his sleep; sluggish eyes slowly opened to the sight of dark green foliage on a background of dark grey sky. The shinobi watched the clouds moving lazily as they gathered overhead. Suddenly a fat drop of water fell from above, landing squarely in one of his half-open eyes.
Hideyoshi groaned and shook his head like a dog drying his coat, finally awake. With a pained sigh he pulled himself to a sitting position on the wide bough he'd been snoozing on and then dropped down to the ground.
A day like this was a perfect opportunity to get out of town in his eyes. With everyone either back in the village or otherwise inside, he'd have plenty of peace and quiet to relax on one of his few days off. Where better to spend it than far away from prying eyes like his father's?
The lakeside path led him to the west, through damp groves of trees and past many small ponds. A sudden decline in elevation brought him towards the edge of the lake and as he left the tree line he saw a woman standing in the distance looking over the water. As he got closer he saw her move to leave and barely overheard her muttering to herself.
"The zoo isn't bad this time of year," he joked. "Oh, or the library, or the theater." A mocking grin crossed his face. "You're not likely to find much else besides a tea house this far from the village."
Sumire Kabeya | WC: 259 | A hot spring would be really nice IRL about now
A hot spring IRL does sound nice. Hope you were able to find one
I'm the champagne that'll quench your thirst
[attr="class","itsover"]
"Hm?" A brief self allaying hum sang as the rose haired woman paused and turned towards the invasive voice to her thoughts. A child? Judging on first impressions there wasn't very much to be impressed about. The look on his face portrayed arrogance. The ridicule laden response made things no better, but honestly was there really any other expectation? As such the woman didn't act hastily nor allow any of those thoughts to reflect on her features. On the contrary, moving past that initial pause she hovered a hand over her lips and offered an amused laugh in spite of the rain's leeching effect. "Haha. Any of those sound delightful. Even the teahouse." Surprisingly her voice portrayed her usual levity as she locked eyes with the boy. [break][break] While she couldn't tell much else about this stranger, their daring to approach another in such a manner and blatantly mention 'the' village gave her enough ideas. Whether it was a bluff, the truth, or some local village she knew not though she didn't abandon that line of thought altogether considering where they were. From what she remembered, this was the norm for folks around these parts. Of course it was fully within the realm of possibility that the miko garbed maiden erred in that judgement too so she didn't think too hard on it. More importantly she had to entertain her new guest. Or maybe that was backwards... [break][break] Regardless a timeless smile remained on her lips as she placed that same hand to her chest with a half bow. "Apologies. It seems you took offense, but I simply was searching for a new destination. I'm on a pilgrimage you see. Uttered with the utmost tone of sincerity. Being dressed as a shrine maiden in the middle of nowhere was surely odd to anyone after all. "You are from around here, correct?"[break][break]
Now that he was close enough to see her in detail, Hideyoshi scanned the stranger. A shrine maiden?, he wondered to himself. Didn't see too many of those around these parts, fewer still away from their temples, if that's what she was.
A look of distrust crept over his face as he listened to her and tracked her courteous movements with tired eyes. Could be anyone. Regardless of who she really was, he wasn't much in the mood for 'preserving the safety' of Kirigakure. He did enough of that when he was forced to, so he certainly wasn't going to waste his time or attention on that on his day off.
"No offense taken," he said with a sickly smile. "This is hardly Amegakure."
Attention drifting, he looked to one side of the lake to see smoke billowing from an obscured chimney that he knew belonged to the selfsame teahouse he'd made mention of.
"And yeah, I'm from around here." He pulled his headband out from a fold in his clothes, flashing the symbol at her.
There weren't any shrines near here, at least any he knew of, and she didn't look like a native of the area. "Where're you from? And what's this pilgrimage you're on about?"
"Looks like we've both got nothing better to do, and besides, maybe someone at the teahouse will know where your next destination is."
"Wouldn't do to have anyone say I'm a godless heathen afterall."
Perhaps being wary was unnecessary considering that that boy apparently wore their thoughts on their sleeve, or at the very least their face. Disbelief was reasonable, but most would usually make more of an effort to hide it. Then again that may have been the training talking. Not everyone was familiar with deception and anyone that took everyone they met at their word was a fool. The false miko not trusting this stranger was a prime reflection of that sentiment, though she did a much better job internalizing it behind a playful smile. Even when Amegakure was brought up, all she had done was subtly tilt her head at the name. [break][break] It's true. Amegakure's people in general were more sensitively irksome than anyone else and she knew that firsthand as a former sand kunoichi, though she might have been more than a bit bias. Still, mentioning another hidden village to a complete stranger at a drop of a hat did raise a few red flags. Something to keep in mind as she followed the boy's gaze into the distance while raising a hand over her head. The motion was meant to shield herself from the falling droplets despite knowing the futility of such an effort, but it did keep the water from blinding her to the sight of different shade of smog overhead. A wonder that a teahouse could be found in the middle of nowhere. [break][break] Nevertheless now she knew the direction to go next. Yet once the boy had answered her casual question, never did she suspect him to subsequently flash something. The symbol that laid beneath however made it quite clear what he was trying to portray and this time she didn't hide a look of surprise at it. Otherwise would be unnatural. "Oh so you're...." her voice trailed, not bothering to finish the sentence aloud. What a bold move. Kid was either cocky or seditious - and admittedly one was more intriguing than the other likely possibility. [break][break] Speaking of possibility, while there was no denying that if this person had a headband then they were some level of shinobi, she wasn't quite convinced they were specifically truly from the hidden mist. Either way it did affirm some of the woman's initial underlying suspicions, not that it mattered in this scenario had the game be played correctly. Which is why she chose to speak the truth. "Ah. I'm from the land of wind... and the purpose of my pilgrimage is for spiritual enlightenment. It's more about the journey than the destination so there's no rush to go anywhere specific." [break][break] Her voice remained light and airy to contrast the dreary weather. Doing so was natural after all just as the chuckle that followed from his rejection of being a godless heathen. "You'll come with me then? You honor me. I hope it's not too much trouble." He wanted to be her guide. No surprises there considering he was clearly suspicious and she didn't particularly mind since having some company might be nice. Thus she offered a slight bow once more and awaited his lead. "I can tell you more about my pilgrimage if you're still interested. I'm afraid it may bore you though."
Her surprise at his reveal of the headband likewise surprised him. He didn't wear it openly, while he was off anyway. Sometimes he didn't bother wearing it even during missions with Genin, but if a Jonin or if the Mizukage himself was around he would slap it on haphazardly. Hide didn't consider himself to be much of a patriot, but the Land of Water wasn't so bad in his eyes. So her reaction made him wonder. Impressions didn't paint her as a fellow shinobi, but he wasn't interested in paying nearly that much attention to anything today.
More about the journey than the destination... Part of him wished he had that kind of time on his hands, to wander with no one waiting for him. "Land of Wind, eh? From the big city, I'd guess?" He'd never been that far and not much into history or geography, so the idea a priest like her could be from Amegakure didn't seem so absurd to him.
"Sure, I'll come with you. Again, nothing much to do today anyway." Taking off down the path to the teahouse, he continued. "Go ahead. I'm sure you've got some good stories from the road. It'd take a lot more than those to bore me."
In truth, he was interested at least a bit in hearing what she had to say. At the very least, he didn't mind spending his time in the company of a foreigner. Better than the fisherman hicks this far out, he thought.
"Where all've you been?"
Sumire Kabeya | WC: 254 | Not on Discord? Reminds me of the old days: I wish people still used plotters and OOC threads, old man moment I guess - I'll leave getting to the teahouse to you, could be a good spot to pick up another person for the thread too
Ah, I'm not a fan of discord. I'd make a plotter but then I'd feel obligated to certain plots or otherwise feel bad when no one posts in it. I prefer organic development through threads and events anyway. [break] Also I don't mind another person joining as long as things remain chill~
I'm the champagne that'll quench your thirst
[attr="class","itsover"]
Big city... the term cause a momentary pause thinking such a phrase over before chuckling at it. He wasn't wrong, but nowadays no one ever thought about the Hidden Sand anymore and the only other large village out there was the Hidden Rain. Which was a funny assumption considering how she was reacting to the water droplets that pelleted them now. Nevertheless, replied unreservedly. "Not quite. A neighboring village, but there's nothing noteworthy there to mention." Just lots of sand. Plus there had to be some credit for telling the truth. She'd leave it at that though and followed along the bedraggled path that the mystery shinobi treaded, taking the time to step carefully as to not stick herself in any mud along the way. White clothes were hard to clean after all. [break][break] "I'm sure my stories are nothing compared to your own. Truthfully I haven't had the pleasure to meet many shinobi on my travels." Which hence was why the stranger kept raising the nukenin's suspicions. Revealing themselves to be a shinobi yet failing to mask their own body language, and now casually assuming that a supposed miko would have more interesting stories than a shinobi? She wasn't doing that bad of a job with her disguise, was she? Or maybe there was a reason he was making himself abundantly obvious, aside from the most basic assumption that he was a newbie. Though were genin in the mist actually allowed outside their village alone? A question for another day as she made an effort to keep pace, though occasionally lagging a few steps behind. [break][break] Thankfully it didn't seem that the building in question was too far off. Within a few minutes the silhouette was within sight much to the silent relief of the pinkette. The sight alone also seemed to spur her to answer the next of the endless barrage of questions. "I've been through a portion of the Land of Earth and Fire. I remember being shocked the Land of Fire had so much water. I expected more lava or something of that sort." While she didn't answer in too much detail, the route she stated was a sound one. That said, while being by the coast was pleasant, that tidbit about the land of fire shouldn't be unexpected for a shinobi with training which was why she kept her eye on the shinobi for his reaction to that sentiment. "Naturally, visiting the Land of Water seemed to be the next reasonable place to travel. I was curious to see if the shrines would be located by the water this time since the nation has plenty of it too, but I haven't run into any shrines at all." [break][break] Finishing off that statement with a disappointed breath, Sumire made the effort to sprint the last few paces to the patio cover right after. It wasn't coming down pouring, but they were out there long enough that enough water could be wrung out from the false miko's sleeves and hair. Doing that was more for herself than anything else though. Before either of them had the chance to approach the doorway though, she thought it best to ask first as if being hush about some state secret. "Is it proper for me to ask about your work?" And technically it was supposed to be even if she was the only one acting like it. [break][break]
"Pftt," he laughed. "Being a shinobi isn't that big of a deal." And to him, it was true. It was a job, more or less. "I'm sure you'd get better stories out of the teahouse host than me. What's there to tell? Went here, killed this guy, went there, escorted someone. It's all very inane. At least you'd get a laugh out of their's."
The building seemed to be quickly approaching. Some tea on a rainy day like this sounded euphoric. He couldn't wait.
Hideyoshi snorted at her description of the Land of Fire. "Really? You mean you haven't seen our volcanoes and lava-pits? They're so hard to miss."
Pretty well traveled. He looked her over again. "Wind, Earth, Fire, and now Water? Pretty impressive for a lone priestess," he jested. "No need for protection? Guess no one would dare to attack a helpless servant of the heavens." She certainly didn't seem new to dealing with shinobi, or at least, didn't seem nearly as unnerved as most civilian foreigners would.
He wasn't surprised she hadn't found any shrines, though he was starting to doubt she was simply on a pilgrimage to see different shrines. "You shouldn't be surprised to hear many of us aren't very religious. Bloody mist and all that. I'm sure our reputation precedes us. And I'd bet the fishermen out here only really pray that they'll catch more fish."
They had finally arrived. Hideyoshi stepped under the patio beside the woman. Before they entered, she asked him about whether him talking about his job was alright. "Who exactly do you take me for? I'm no Kage, and so long as you don't start asking about troop movements and village weaknesses, who really cares?" He certainly didn't anyway. Even if shinobi activities were supposed to be secret, they were his whole life. He didn't have much else to talk about anyway.
"I never caught your name."
Watching her wring out the water from herself, he used his neck scarf to wipe the moisture from his own face.
"Let's dispense with the formalities," he said with a twisted smile. "I, at least, don't give a shit. I'm Hideyoshi. Satō. No need for fake identities." Despite the snake-like blue eyes that were staring at her, there was no hostility in his body language. "Call me Hide."
let me know if you need more to work with. I stopped it here because I didn't want it to get too long.
I'm the champagne that'll quench your thirst
[attr="class","itsover"]
"Ah... that..." was utterly unbelievable. Not that the thought reflected on the pinkette's features instead of the plain speechlessness of being told such things things so casually. Seriously though, kill? Is this boy really meaning to try and tell her that he's killed a guy before? This child? Fat chance. Honestly, even for the exiled kunoichi, she wasn't sure how else to proceed upon being told that. Best to let the topic go and not explore it any further. Which was why she was lowkey glad that the topic focus moved to her own travels. Waving off the obvious jest to her supposed failures, she offered a lighthearted chuckle to avoid having to explain the reasoning further. What she could explain was the clear implication of suspicions from the supposed mist shinobi towards her travels. Was she surprised? Not particularly, but she's developed this facade for quite some time so she knew how to address these types of questions - with the ambiguous concept of spirituality. "I do have protection. The gods watch over me and guide my way. If I were to be attacked or even killed then surely it would be no one's fault but my own for failing them." Not that she believed any of that despite how her tone portrayed otherwise. [break][break] "After all, I was fortunate enough to meet you. Is that not proof of the god's guidance?" Could it be argued? Absolutely! But who would honestly argue religion with a priestess? It simply wasn't a winning fight though he was welcome to try. She was a false miko after all. Still, with the declaration of the lack of faith in the land with a list of reason as to why that should be the case, Sumire couldn't help but raise a brow to it. Not because she didn't know about the reputation of the hidden mist, but because the reasoning was inherently flawed. "I disagree. From my experience, it is precisely when others face adverse conditions that they turn and pray to the gods the most. Part of my journey is to understand the state of the land and it's people so that I may better serve the gods' will." She should know. You'd be surprised how many people begged for forgiveness when their lives flashed before their eyes. [break][break] No need for things to get too serious though so with a brief chuckle did she add onto the sentiment. "Besides, even if there are no active shrines, I'm quite sure there is some form of shrine somewhere." But anyway it mattered little one way or another. Perhaps it was within the nature of being a shinobi that they weren't too religious in general. Nevertheless the answer that came with Sumire's question did silently befuddle the woman. Not because he specifically stated not to ask about village weaknesses but because he seemed to open to talk about it. Considering the behavior so far that shouldn't have been too shocking though it was still a wonder to the former Sunagakure kunoichi. It was almost... off putting. "I see..." That uncertain mutter alone was all she'd offer in return to his supposed sincerity. [break][break] Admittedly she didn't care to think further on the topic and therefore attentive enough to not be caught off guard to the next statement at hand. "Ah!" The vocal realization struck, though the surprise was more so due to the shinobi even wanting to offer a name to begin with. After having rung enough moisture to water a starved flower she immediately turned to face the strangely smiling male with an impromptu bow in spite of the declaration to dispense with formalities. She had to make it seem that formalities were a habit after all. "Yoshiwara Miho, but please call me Miho. Pleasure to- ah!" Another breath of shock having to catch the words before bringing herself back upright. "I mean... well met?" [break][break] No need for fake identities, huh? What an odd statement to make. Was that to assure her or clear the air that there were some suspicions between both of them? Either way there was no reason to play by this boy's rules. Names were hopelessly irrelevant anyway so there was no guilt or hesitation providing a different one than the one granted at birth. It also wasn't the first time she used that name either so it slid off the tongue easily enough. Naturally in turn Sumire herself didn't think much about the name the kid provided. It could have been a true name or not, but considering that he had already revealed himself to be a shinobi of some sort and given a name first there was a possibility it was truthful naivete. If that was the case then it was a good marker in his favor for now since she didn't recognize the surname Sato offhand as one belonging to the famed clans of old yore. [break][break] Nevertheless Sumire had no intentions of dropping her guard. That was what gets a ninja killed, wanted or not, and she quite preferred living. Thus she'd continue on easily, playing dumb and allowing her personality to take care of the rest. Which is why she added on an chuckle that was aimed to brush off the manufactured awkwardness. "Forgive me. Truthfully I believed shinobi were more... secretive? There is still much I need to learn, I see."
