he comes further into her office after dumping the sheets onto a nearby table (he'd definitely remember them later... maybe), standing over by yukio's desk to wait patiently for the other to finish packing. why she couldn't finish and then call him over was a mystery, but it allowed kyuso to avoid work for a whole thirty seconds so it was still a win in his book. [break][break] he reaches out for the container of oleander, nodding after a few seconds of casual observance. okay, white flower with pink stripes. easy enough! [break][break] "what's it for," he asks out of curiosity, letting yukio have the container back. "can i eat it?" it looked a little like jasmine to him, so maybe it was for tea?
kyuso take another large bite and gives a hum of agreement, remembering to mind his manners and not talk with his mouth full. the village was definitely too noisy for him and even the infirmary got chaotic sometimes when too many patients came in at once. probably not the best time for kyuso to disappear but it all got so overwhelming so fast. [break][break] "fennec" sounded familiar, but kyuso couldn't place why, and the explanation behind the name just had kyuso staring blankly. he didn't get it. they looked like normal ears. [break][break] he mimics fennec by tugging on one of his own ears as if doing so might give him the answer. it doesn't, and luckily it doesn't matter as the man easily slips into a different topic, leaving kyuso staring once more. [break][break] "ahh... it's good?" he starts, a little awkwardly, especially now that he's finished the rice ball and has no idea what to do with his hands. he settles for picking at some of the grass at his side and lets his eyes wander away from fennec to his tiny landscaping project. [break][break] "can't really complain, y'know? i have a bed and people have been nice," like this guy just giving away free food and asking how he's doing. that was super nice! kyuso almost felt bad he didn't have anything to give back.
kyuso swore he only let his eyes drift closed for a second, but the next time he blearily tried to force them back open, he was greeted by the sight of someone just staring down at him with what kyuso would describe as an "unsettling" grin. he shoots up from his comfy spot on the grass, nearly smacking foreheads with the stranger before the other's words even register. well he was okay! [break][break] now fully awake and barely avoiding a heart attack, kyuso takes a good look at the man in front of him. the menacing smile looks less so now, but that could just be because he was offering food... which kyuso readily snatches up. [break][break] he takes several bites and wordlessly chews while the man continues to talk to him and kyuso realizes he should probably respond back. [break][break] "uh huh," no, not like that. come on, he could do better. he swallows another bite of rice and meat. "i don't mean to. it's just... nice here?" shady, grassy, and free snacks whenever he wakes up hungry. plus people usually didn't bother him. though, kyuso couldn't be too annoyed. the man was feeding him. oh right. [break][break] "thanks, by the way." surely he'd know kyuso meant for the food.
he perks up at the sound of his name being called, the new bed sheets he was in the process of changing still in his arms while he shuffles across the room and into the doorway of yukio's office. kyuso says nothing at first, his presence being enough for yukio to continue and a slight side tilt of his head signaling he was actually listening. [break][break] kyuso wouldn't say he was all that great at "finding" stuff, and the last time he'd be tasked to go into the forest he had gotten lost for half a day, buuuuut yukio did say she needed help. [break][break] he's quiet for a moment, thinking over his decision carefully, up until yukio mentions dinner and careful thought is immediately replaced by an almost too-enthusiastic nod. [break][break] "okay!" he says before realizing, "uhhh what are we searching for?"
growing up on the streets and stealing for survival, kyuso knows the basic ins and outs of picking pockets and pilfering food from market stalls. he's not a master by any means, but it gets him by most of the time and in the rare instance he's caught, he can quickly disappear in a crowd or behind a building and make his tactical retreat.
enhanced strength (unranked)
though relatively scrawny from years of surviving off of berries and fish, kyuso does have some muscle to show for it. hacking down small trees, building shelter, swimming in strong currents, that one time he fought a pelican trying to steal his catch... okay it's nothing to brag about but it's something.
enhanced bite (apprentice)
of all the skills kyuso developed in his life, "biting good" wasn't an expected one. but still, here he is with some sharp teeth that have been honed on bark and stone. he didn't have a knife on that island and very little education when it came to tool building. his own teeth became his knife, scissors, chisel, and weapon. he can tear flesh easily and latch his jaw like a jagged little vice.
[attr="class","ping-bg"]
「 summary 」
his father was a drunk as far back as kyuso can remember. maybe he was more put together when his wife was still alive. maybe her death sent his father over the edge. kyuso was barely out of diapers when isome died as a civilian casualty in the war. her name is all that he has to remember her by. portraits, belongings, and everything else was destroyed in the attack that took his mother's life. it was shortly after that, kyuso assumes, that his father started drinking. [break][break] with their home ravaged by fire and chaos, kyuso and his father were left destitute. they began traveling from town to town, his father doing small odd jobs for wages so that he could spend most of it at the tavern while kyuso ate scraps given to him by well-meaning passersby. as he got older, his father started making kyuso work as well -- first doing manual labor that called for smaller bodies and later, when his father grew more desperate, petty theft. [break][break] the two never stayed in one place for long, especially when kyuso was robbing the locals of their coin purses. a week here, a few days there, kyuso and his father were constantly on the move. kyuso never stayed long enough to make friends and certainly not long enough to settle down and start going to school. [break][break] uneducated and mostly unsocialized outside of dealing with his father, kyuso's world was tiny despite traveling his entire life. he knew how to beg, how to steal, how to do what he was told, and how to take care of a man passed out in his own vomit... even if he'd rather watch him choke. [break][break] not only was his father a drunk, but he was a violent drunk, and kyuso was often the sole person around to be the target of his aggression. he didn't hate his father, though. despite the bruises and the screaming, he had kept kyuso alive all those years, so really kyuso couldn't complain. at least that's what he told himself. [break][break] it wasn't until he was around twelve years old that kyuso realized it was the other way around, after a barkeep casually commented on it when kyuso came to pay his father's tab and haul the dead weight out of the tavern. the realization, though it hit him immediately, was left to fester for weeks after. [break][break] kyuso did all the work. he was the one making money. his father just spent it getting wasted and then kyuso was left to pick up the tab, drag him to wherever they were settled at the time, and then was there for his father to take out his anger on after he woke back up. what did kyuso get out of their relationship? nothing. [break][break] resentment built up towards his father. every time he got drunk, kyuso was tempted to take their money and run as far away as he could. finally, after weeks of fantasizing about it, kyuso worked up the courage to go through with his escape. [break][break] it was in a small coastal town that kyuso would abandon his father, picking one more pocket to steal back the money that was rightfully his, and trying to buy his way onto a boat. unfortunately, kyuso had nowhere near enough to pay for a trip across the sea. his next plan? sneak aboard. [break][break] his genius escape was a failure from the start and only seemed to go downhill from there. though he considered himself sneaky enough to pick pockets undetected, he was not sneaky enough to remain undetected on a ship for longer than a few days. the crew eventually discovered that they had a stowaway on board and unceremoniously threw kyuso overboard nearby a small island. [break][break] kyuso just barely made it to shore, soaking wet and halfway drowned. once he could take in a full lungful of air, he realized the island he managed to find himself on was tiny, uninhabited, in the middle of nowhere. he was stranded. [break][break] the panic set in, then the anger. he cursed his father, himself, the barkeep that put the idea into his head that he didn't need his father. clearly he did or he wouldn't be stuck on a deserted island! a drop of water landing on his face quickly shook him out of his little pity party. dark clouds were moving in. [break][break] kyuso was at least lucky enough to have some survival skills living on the streets most of his life. he knew how to construct basic shelter using large fallen palm fronds and moved further from the beach and into the thick cluster of trees. the first night was rough, but the next day was clear and kyuso was always quick to push down his feelings and just handle whatever came his way. [break][break] he explored the island, mapped out a fresh water spring, found coconut trees, small bushes of edible berries, and of course there would be fish in the sea. he could do this. he could totally survive until he was rescued. the only thing kyuso forgot to consider in his checklist of surviving on an island was how to get the attention of would-be-rescuers. [break][break] he was stranded for five... maybe six years. kyuso lost track of time after a while. in however many years, he'd managed to create an impressive home for himself. his palm frond tent turned into a roomy little hut, he had a small fire pit for roasting fish and the occasional seabird, a dedicated fishing spot, a forever work-in-progress ship that was really more of a raft, and he had a whole collection of treasure that would sometimes wash up on shore. [break][break] did he even want to be rescued anymore? kyuso was used to roughing it and equally used to loneliness. however, the company of his father had still been some company and having not even that might have taken some toll on his already weak social skills. kyuso just didn't know how much they had declined until the fateful day he had to interact with people again. [break][break] storms weren't an uncommon occurrence for kyuso. he could see the signs and know to pull his raft inland, gather up the fishing supplies and huddle away in his hut until the worst of it was over. what was uncommon was a direct lightning strike. even then, it was rarely cause for concern, except the island hadn't seen rain in months and the foliage was dry and brittle. flammable. [break][break] in no time at all, the island was engulfed in flames and kyuso had to evacuate his hut before he either suffocated on smoke or burned alive. he stumbled out onto the beach and watched in shock as his home for the last however many years was eaten up and turned to cinders and ash. [break][break] the rain didn't seem to do anything but add insult to injury. just as quickly as it came, it was gone--leaving kyuso soaked and the island still burning. [break][break] lucky for kyuso, all the smoke from the fire alerted a ship nearby to investigate the matter. at least, he was told he was lucky. apparently he inhaled a lot of smoke even on the beach, would have surely died if they left him, blah blah blah, kyuso can't remember everything that was said. likely because of the lack of oxygen to his brain at the time, but that's beside the point. [break][break] he was stuck in the ship's infirmary for nearly a week and though his injuries weren't too severe (some burns needed treating and he was still having breathing trouble), kyuso wasn't eager to leave. [break][break] he hadn't seen or spoken to another person in years. to say he was awkward was an understatement. he struggled to look others in the eye, gave one word answers if he spoke at all, and felt completely out of his element in a crowd. the infirmary was quiet and didn't draw in many people at once. even fully healed, kyuso lurked around instead of joining most of the crew on deck or in the mess hall. [break][break] little by little, he got more comfortable around the familiar faces in the infirmary, and as he got more comfortable he was entrusted to help rather than sit around all day, and kyuso was eager to do something to feel useful. in the few months he's been onboard the ship with vajrakīlaya, kyuso had become something of an unofficial assistant around the infirmary and, in turn, an unofficial crew member. [break][break] he's still learning to get out of his comfort zone, still struggles with crowds and small talk, but every day he's getting a little better.
[attr="class","ping-face"]genshin impact[break]kyuso kanemaru looks like razor.
