Tourist Resident (Private)

Chuunin? Interesting. Learning the ranking system that the Ninja’s used was something that was going to take a bit of time, but it wasn’t that complicated either. The conversation with the Hokage had gone fairly well, all things considered. Akuma would be responsible, financially, for gathering the funding to get her Clan up and running, but the Village would provide various missions and landspace to allow her the opportunity to build what she had invisioned. It would take a fair amount of time, but that wasn't a big deal; she was more than patient enough to be a Sage, working hard at something that was long term was nothing new. So now her primary objective was to get a lay of the land, or village in this case, and maybe procure some food while she was at it. Nothing against Lathliss, but Dragons were not known for their exceptional cooking skills, and she was extremely curious to see what humanity had to offer in the culinary field.

Everything was different here; buildings of every shape, size and design rather than the perfectly scultped caves that she grew up in… humans populated the area in mass, compared to how each Dragon had their own territory and only got together occasionally. Learning about humanity as a whole was going to take some time as well; she knew about them in the book-sense from the studies with Niv-Mizzet, but that was from afar, not as a part of the culture. It was a bit of a culture shock, but she hid it well behind that confident walk and the smirk that never left her face, showing just a bit of teeth, her messy mane of blonde hair bouncing slightly behind her.

She was wearing a more combat-style uniform, leathers and sturdy fabrics tightly woven around her, form fitting around her generous curvature, and she had her brand new headband secured at her waist looking like a belt-buckle more than anything else. Her violet eyes were taking in the sights, watching folks interact with their day to day lives, and most seemed curious about Akuma, but simply seeing her belt-buckle seemed to put most of them at ease. Niv-Mizzet and Nico Bolas would have both seen this as an immense weakness, but they were not of the same mindset because they weren’t humans. This was enough to put them at ease, then that was fine by her. She had a feeling that other people who owned this piece of metal who didn’t recognize her would be more likely to challenge her. That would be interesting too… she hadn’t developed her Sensory yet, was still working on that, but her ability to read people was on point.

Most humans, it seemed, were not strong at all. Most were just normal people, going about their lives and trying to manage the best way that they could. She would need to spend a considerable amount of time simply observing them in mass and getting used to how they operated and their mannerisms. She had been walking while lost in thought the entire time, watching people while not really paying attention where she was going. She blinked a few times and came to a stop, looking around, noticing that she wasn’t entirely sure even relative to her position of the village. Looking up, she found the mountain, knew how to use terrain association, could guestimate her relative position in the village in relation to ther outer walls… but that was about it. Because she wasn’t familiar with the interior much, it didn’t really help her at all. Mentally she cursed, took a deep breath and sighed, and looked around. Only one person, who wasn’t sporting a shirt at all, was in the general area, but that would have to do. Approaching, she gave him a million watt smile and cocked a hip, and said in a proud voice, “Hey there. I’m a bit new to the area, and got sorta lost. Any chance you could show me around a little? Help me get my bearings?”

There was a fair amount of respect in her voice, but an odd accent that he wouldn’t be able to place, as though common human speech was not one that she was all that used to using fluently.

It was a beautiful day in the village hidden in the leaves. The sun was shining, the sky was blue, and Tekashi was effectively off today, taking a break from training and such in order to rest and enjoy the day. He was garbed in his usual apparel. Which was to say, black pants with a hole in each knee, black shinobi boots, and his headband tied securely around his arm. That might seem lacking, given the lack of upper body wear, and indeed he was walking around without a stich on above the waist, beyond his headband of course. However the reasoning for such a fashion decision was simple, and practical. For his body, destroys such garments. Or at least his bloodline does when he extends any of his bones from his torso. There was simply no point in wearing upper body clothing if he was constantly going to destroy it. Wearing armor that wouldn't be broken by the bones would then of course prevent him from even using his bloodline. So he was left with little options. Using a robe or jacket that was quick to take off still required time to do so and that was not something he was interested in wasting in a fight. As it shouldn't be, in his opinion.

So when he walked around Konoha with no shirt on, he obviously got a few looks. Although not particularly many. It wasn't like seeing a man walk around shirtless was obscene, or even unheard of. Although a few scenes regarding his lack of upper body clothing had occurred. He still refused to wear any, because he refused to spend so much many on either repairing them, or buying new ones. Takeshi was fairly tall at 6'2 and he looked to have a solid amount of muscle weight on him. He upper body certainly wasn't unappealing in the eyes of many he was told although it was interesting to note that he didn't seem to have a single scar. This was due to his skins natural ability to repair itself, a requirement of his own bloodline. His blue hair was swept back and his deep blue eyes was enjoying the day.

It was a relatively quiet part of the village, not too far from the Hokage's office actually but off the beaten path a ways. He was holding a bottle of root beer, a spare bottle being in his pocket, still cold from where he'd just bought them. He was taking a drink of it when a voice drew his attention. The accent was strange but certainly not unappealing, but definitely not one he had heard before. Turning toward the source of the voice he would see a tall, blonde woman approaching him in a form outfit of leather and other strong fabrics. A Konoha headband was securely fastened to her waist and she spoke of being new and being lost. She asked him if he could show her around and he blinked at her a couple of times as a few thoughts ran through his head.

Now, Takeshi was not the most brilliant shinobi in the world. He would be the first to admit it. When it came to the intellectual side of being a shinobi he was more suited to combat tactics, as in, acting in the moment. He was not suited to overall strategy and any other overall thinking. He would never be a master genjutsu user and had to work hard to ensure he didn't fall prey to it in fact. However one thing they drilled heavily during his time in the academy was to always be vigilant for spies. Did a woman wearing a Konoha shinobi headband who seemingly didn't know her way around Konoha count as suspicious in that regard? Takeshi thought that a reasonable assumption. After all, why the hell would a shinobi not know their way around the village they were seemingly from?

Given he was a close combat specialist, he much preferred her to get closer and he put any ideal thoughts on just how much closer he might like a woman who looked like her to be. His day off probably just became full very quickly if the security of the village was at stake. So when she got within arms reach he would speak then, lifting a finger gun at her, pointing right between the eyes. His other hand, the one holding the root beer slid the beverage into his pocket. The pocket wasn't wide enough to cause it to spill but he'd have to be careful of his movements in order to avoid spilling his drink. "You'll have to forgive my rudeness I'm afraid. However I find the idea of a shinobi of a village being unaware of their way around it as more than a little suspicious. Would you mind giving me the story behind that Miss?" He would ask, a blue eyebrow raised in curiosity. He was normally far more blunt than this, ruder too, but he didn't want to run the risk of being too rude and he was already pointing what was effectively a loaded gun at her. Even if she didn't know it, although his words might imply to her that there was indeed some sort of threat. Shinobi by their very nature, were notoriously suspicious. She had a headband alright, but was it a real one? It was possible she was a new shinobi, having just been inducted in. However when that occurred word was spread quickly he was told. He supposed she might have happened upon him before that word reached him, which given his low rank within the village, wouldn't be a priority in the least. However why take chances?

If she claimed she had just come from the meeting, he would give her the benefit of the doubt, but he wouldn't let her out of his sight. He couldn't afford to until he received word that she was indeed a shinobi of Konoha. He hoped this was resolved quickly, he didn't actually like threatening pretty women. Fighting them? Sure, he loved fighting anyone who could fight. But threatening them? His mother taught him better, with pain.

To say that Akuma hadn't expected the man to literally turn  her direction and approach her directly would have been very accurate, but not all that shocking.  But when he brought up his finger and pointed it at her, making her go cross-eyed for a moment, definitely gave her pause, and resulted in her blinking a couple of times before shaking her head and looking at the blue eyes across from her instead, her facial expression blatantly showing her confusion.  Then she listened to his words, and tilted her head only slightly, not sure what he was on about. She had explained it pretty plainly, she thought, but why was the fact that her claiming Konoha as her new home and not knowing her way around the place something that would be considered rude?  She honestly had no idea, but the first thing that needed to be addressed was the finger in her face.  A dragon would have bitten the hand clean off, but that wouldn't likely go very well in this case, especially when there seemed to be some kind of miscommunication somewhere that she didn't understand.

Humans were weird.

"I am still learning human customs, but I do believe you are doing it wrong."  That was her first statement, followed by reaching up and taking the man's hand in her own, and bringing it lower into a handshake, which she did firmly, but not too much.  "And I never claimed to be from Konoha, only that I am new here.  Your Hokage was kind enough to allow me to begin working towards a brighter future within your walls.  Is there a reason that such a thing is suspicious?"  It was completely obvious that she had no idea the threat that had been aimed between her eyes, but that was hardly the point of the matter; his tone and word choice indicated that something had led him to be concerned about her current status, so hopefully this would clear everything up.  She noted his headband around his arm.  "I was given the rank of Chuunin, although I am likely to get a tattoo to replace the headband.  Unless they are specially made, not much clothing survives long with me."  She gave a chuckle, then smelled for a moment, noticing something.

She was a Nature Clan Dragon Sage, and as such, her senses were much more tuned to the environment and people around her, especially their chakra, and she noticed something with the young man before her that was most interesting.  "Oh?" she asked, mostly to herself, stepping forward and getting very much in his personal space, sniffing intentionally now before taking a step back.  Suddenly her blonde hair began to glow, and her eyes turned red, the pupils changing to a dragon eye looked him up and down a bit more, taking another deep drag through her nose.  Then, just as suddenly as the demonstration had started, it faded, her hair returning to normal and eyes reverting to the normal lavender human that they were before, but a smile crossed her face.  "You have potential... my name is Akuma Ryujin, the Dragonborn.  Who might you be?" she asked, her interest in the young man seeming to have peaked.

As he pointed his finger at her the woman's eyes would cross for a moment, almost eliciting a chuckle from him. However the seriousness of the situation did not warrant such a thing and he couldn't afford to be a clown at the moment. when she spoke though her words would surprise him. 'Human customs? What the fuck?' He would think as he tilted his head to the side as she continued. When she stopped to ask him if there was a reason to be suspicious his eyebrow would raise in surprise. "The idea that someone is a registered shinobi, required to follow orders and defend the village, of a village they don't know, is frankly, insane. So when you say you're 'new here' and you wear that headband, yes it's suspicious. Spying is a real danger to guard against in this world. However if what you're saying is true than the Hokage really did make you a shinobi and the word simply hasn't circulated yet. Which is understandable, especially if you just came from that meeting." He would say, lowering his hand. He could demonstrate why that was dangerous, but there was no reason to. It could be a surprise later if they sparred or something. No reason to show off the Bone Bullet now.

As she continued, claiming she was a Chuunin his eyebrows would rise, that meant she outranked him and that she could realistically give him any lawful order. Of course he had ability to have that order confirmed by another first. He would nod at her statement of potentially getting the leaf symbol tattooed. He wasn't sure why her clothing would be destroyed if it wasn't specially made. However he understood that issue. Hell the cost of apparel was the entire reason he went around shirtless and had holes in his pants. "I suggest either getting the headband specially made, or get your already specially made outfits altered. A tattoo can't be hidden as easily as simply taking it off after all." He would say idly before before shrugged. "Sorry about being suspicious. You wanted to be shown around right? I can do that, we'll pick up a map at the tourist desk so you have it for reference until your comfortable. Do you have a place to stay? You can board with my mother and I on the farm for a time if you need. We have the space."

His offer was simple and straight forward. An apology for his rudeness, agreement to the tour, and an offer of shelter should it be required. His mother wouldn't mind. At least, she wouldn't mind until she could use the fact that she was 'oh so alright with letting the new girl stay with them.' in an argument against him later. She sniffed for a moment before looking at him before saying something and then closing the distance to him and getting much closer than expected. He felt a little heat rise to his cheeks as she got nearly full body contact close and began sniffing around him. Then she stepped back, her hair glowed, her eyes turned red and turned into some kind of lizards eye he would guess and then looked him up and down like a side of beef. Then her sudden transformation ended. To say he was moderately confused would be an understatement.

feeling like a 100% grass fed longhorn aside the Kaguya would raise a curious eyebrow a her comment and introduction before responding. "Uh...Takeshi, Takeshi Kaguya. Look I can't stink that bad, I shower after working the farm every morning and before leaving for the village. What in the world were you doing? Not that I minded you being close of course!" He would say, the last coming out in a sudden breath as he realized he might have given offense to an extremely attractive woman. He was after all, still young man with certain desires that difficult to keep from his mind at all times.

Apparently something about her terminology had confused him too, because his head tilted and he looked a bit confused as well. But his explanation as to why he felt suspicious of her made a lightbulb in Akuma’s mind light up, her eyes opening in realization and a gentle nod. She supposed that made sense if you were worried about spies. “New or not, it is only natural for me to want to defend my home from hostiles, so I likely made some assumptions there. I also ensured that I reserved my freedom to have my own voice in regards to orders; I’ll follow them if it really comes down to it, but I can put in my opinion. Freedom is something important to me, and I will not relinquish it completely to anyone.” She gave a smile at this, and obviously bore no ill will towards the command structure, but wasn’t going to sugar-coat anything either. She was bluntly honest, and wouldn’t be changing that about herself either, but she too knew the importance of safeguarding certain bits of information. But even with that, one could be bluntly honest and simply state that they couldn’t talk about it. He would soon discover that; it wasn’t something she hid.

Hearing his suggestion regarding the symbol brought on a nod and a thoughtful look crossed her face. She could pretty easily take the simple design, dye some of it a different color, and add it to her clothing. She had to wait until she wound up with enough loose hair to make that happen, but that wasn’t a huge factor either; she was more than patient. She too understood that there might be situations where they might need to conceal that they were from the village of the leaf, and this is where it was starting to truly show the difference in education between the two people present. She was taught second-hand, learning only what was discussed as important to know, not the in depth war-fighting mentality that apparently was more common amongst the shinobi of a village. Considering that they were essentially soldiers, it only made sense that they would have that mentality. She was learning quite a bit from this small interaction.

His apology brought another smirk to her face. “No worries. Now that you explained it, makes perfect sense.” But her reply to his other offers came after a short pause. “And the tour is most appreciated, as would a map be. And I wouldn’t feel right imposing; I’ve never lived in a house before, so I’ll likely find a comfortable tree to rest in and be perfectly fine, but I appreciate the offer.” It was sweet of him, really, but if he still stayed with his mother than it wasn’t truly his to offer. Akuma would never ask Lathliss to suffer another person in her home without discussing it first with her, introducing, and so forth. She didn’t know what kind of situation that Takeshi had with her mother, so she wouldn’t be asking or imposing her opinions on him about it, but that was reason enough to politely refuse such accomodations. Takeshi Kaguya… a good name. Kaguya was a name she knew, academically, because it was one of the big noble families that belonged to the village, but they specialized in war if she remembered correctly; yet he was a farmer? Odd. Perhaps that mystery would reveal itself in time.

His comment about stinking made her smile and shake her head. “Oh no, you misunderstand. You smell fine physically… I was getting a read of your Mana, er… Chakra. Apologies in regards to my terminology. My education was not what you call orthodox, so many names of things have been mixed. I can detect it far more clearly if I enter my Sage state, and I was getting a read on what I could sense regarding your potential.” Despite her accent and slight tendency to use shorter variations of her words, she was obviously intelligent and well educated, and revealing that she was a Sage to an ally served two purposes; first it would show a bit of her capabilities to another person that could come in handy later, and the second was to generate interest in what was the equivelent of her faith, and that was her devotion to her family. Being the daughter of one of the Big Three Dragons of the Blind Eternities, she couldn’t help but want to share in their splendor. She walked quietly with him, each footfall carefully placed but not something she focused on, something that came as muscle memory, but her stride and demeanor was with a confidence seldom seen.

He would listen to her words, nodding at appropriate moments. Although he would finally say something when she mentioned staying in a tree and being comfortable. "I would like to point out, that the farm has plenty of space, and my mother really wouldn't mind. She actually makes sure I ask people who are new to ensure that have a safe place to sleep. I ask with her in mind knowing full well she would be okay with it." He would say, raising an eyebrow as the offer was once again presented in a different light. He had no problem if she said no again, but he didn't want her to be put off by the fact that he offered when his mother couldn't possibly know at that moment. At this point they would be walking down a side street toward the tourist booth. It wasn't uncommon for Land of Fire citizens to have never been to Konoha before, and even citizens from minor nations came to visit. So a tourist booth was erected to give them a starting point for the sights and points of interest within the village.

It of course didn't mark the locations of anything important, like the academy, the training grounds, or anything else shinobi related. However he could give more detailed directions from each point of reference to give Akuma an idea of where everything was. If Akuma did accept his offer of hosting her for a time then they could even go off in the morning and he let her try to take them to specific locations and he correct them for her to give her practice without her actually getting lost. Of course that was up to her. He didn't really mind either way. As they walked she began to speak of 'mana' which is apparently what she refers to chakra as. He hadn't heard of any kind of special word or term for it. And he found it mildly interesting that there might be other terms for the energy source around the world. However one thing she said was leaving him curious.

Now, Takeshi would never be what one might call the brightest bulb in the box. However he wasn't stupid. He wasn't particularly rude either but at times when his curiosity got the better of them his manners slipped. So it was with great 'aplomb' that Takeshi asked without any real hesitation. "The fucks a Sage?" He would say, his tilting to the side as they reached the tourist booth and he reached for a map booklet and opened it up. He would take a sec to scan it understand their point of reference on it before nodding. Giving her time to respond.

Akuma considered his words a bit longer, as he once more repeated the offer to give her a place to stay, even going so far as to say that it was a standing rule that he was to offer it to new people. Considering how suspicious he had been initially, this complete change of pace was something interesting to see, as though the bit of interaction they had managed was enough to garner a level of trust that could potentially put him and his mother in harm’s way if she had meant to do him harm. The blonde obviously had no ill-will towards him, and it was the way the interaction occurred that made her more curious than anything, but she said nothing, only considering for a moment. “I will take it into consideration. Let me mull it over while we have our tour, and I will give my answer before we are finished.” She finished her statement with a warm smile.

So they walked along, she let the idea of letting him host her for a time run around in her mind, and that was about when he posed a new question in a way that made her laugh a moment, just a bit… almost a giggle, followed quickly by shaking her head. “Apologies… I was taken aback by your wording, not your lack of knowledge. I will always encourage asking questions, as I was taught the only stupid question is the one that goes unanswered. A sage, simply put, is a human who has mastered what you might know as Nature Chakra, or as it is known where I am from as ‘Dovah Sos’, which translates to ‘Dragon’s Blood’. For the people who are born Cursed like me, we have a natural affinity for it, and it overwhelms our minds if untamed. My mother and her friend taught me how to harness that power and bring it to heel, and that process almost made me a Dragon Sage.”

It was a long-winded explanation, but it was the best she could sum it up. Chances were this would only serve to raise more questions, but they would need to wait for the moment; they had arrived at the ‘tourist’ place he had referred to, and was plucking whatever documents he needed from there. Akuma took that moment and looked at the mountain, mentally calculating their position once more. She had originally scaled the tallest building and looked around from the top of it, just to get a basic lay of the land, so she knew sort of where she was in relative to the Admin building and the front gate she had used to enter. Waiting for him patiently to interact with whoever was there, she gave him a smile as he re-approached. “I have given it some thought. If you are certain I will not be imposing, I think I’ll take you up on your offer of shelter. It will give me a chance to see more interactions in a different setting, at a bare minimum.” With that said, she gave a gentle bow of her head in respect, and awaited his reply.

When he returned from grabbing the map she would speak to him, accepting his offer of hospitality and he would nod his head with a small smile. "Sounds great. Now then, lets get this tour started shall we? Follow me." He would say before nodding down a nearby street before heading down it at a calm pace. It was simply a casual strolling pace that he maintained while he spoke. "So your bloodline forced you to deal with this 'nature chakra' and you had to be trained to be able to keep from losing your mind? Sounds wild to me." He would say as they moved. He stopped at a small cart selling cotton candy and bought two. He passed her one, it was yellow, and his was blue. The maker coloured it according to their hair to be cute he supposed. Either way the sugary confection would be a nice little treat for them to enjoy as they walked. "So, this is market street. Here you can find all sounds of vendors from street hawkers, to various shops and restaurants. It's usually the busiest street in the village at any given time of day." He would say as he walked. Market street was fairly long so they would be on it for a while yet before turning to continue the tour. As they moved he would point out some of his favorite places to eat when he ate out. His cooking skill wasn't amazing by any stretch, but his mother kept both her and him fed. When he asked her about it she explained that it was part of her duty to him. Whatever that meant. Regardless, they would be on the road for a while so he turned toward her.

"What kind of food do you like?" He would ask curiously, a raised eyebrow at the question. He could perhaps recommend some places for her favorite kind of food. At the very least he could certainly mention them to his mother who would want to treat their guest kindly. Of course she would be an absolute dear to Akuma, but having a guest in the house wouldn't stop her from beating his ass in training every morning. He still thought she got some kind of sadistic glee out of the ritual. Still it would be nice, and different to have someone else around the farm for a bit. Or however long she chose to stay so long as she helped out. That was his mom's rule, they could stay for a bit with no issue while they got their bearings. But if you chose to stay for a while you had to start pulling your weight.

He wondered if that meant his mom would have Akuma spar him too now. He didn't know how powerful she was. It would be interesting to see what this 'Nature Chakra' could do. That however was for the future and not now. After a time they would reach the end of the street and Takeshi would step to point to the left. "That was will lead you back toward the Hokage's Building and the road that heads back toward the front of the village and the tourist booth. The hospital is over this way, along with other part of the village you might not have seen yet." He would say, turning to the right and moving along.

Akuma had only chuckled at his comment about her formative years being ‘wild’, adding in “I was fortunate my mother was so strong, or I could have easily hurt someone, especially if I had been left in the Human Realm.”  She realized shortly after stating that it might be good to explain a little bit, as she was finding out it wasn’t that common for any human to not be raised here.  She was getting ready to explain when she was distracted by being handed what looked to be a yellow cloud on a stick, making her blink in surprise.  She noted silently that the vendor had matched their hair, and offered him a smile before addressing Takeshi again.  “I appreciate it, but you need not worry about me.  I can always hunt if I need to get some food…” she said a bit awkwardly, noting how he ate a bit of it and considering it for a moment before taking a bit herself.

She paused in walking outright as the flavor and texture rolled around in her mouth, looking at the cotton candy as though it was one of the most alien things she had ever tasted, and the subsequently devoured it bite after bite, a smile on her face that was pure and almost child-like.  Only once it was completely devoured did she speak again.  “That was absolutely incredible!  What is this called?!” she asked, whirling for a moment to mentally mark the location of the cart so that she could come back and get some more when she wanted to and had earned some Ryo.  Once she had the name she smiled again, shaking her head to try to banish the thoughts of simply buying the entire stand but not losing that smile on her face while the tour continued.  She nodded to the information about the street, looking around and taking in the sites.

Then he posed a question and she blinked.  “I used to be able to tell you… but the food here is so different and flavorful it’s unlike anything I grew up eating.  Dragons are not the best cooks, especially in comparison to what I’ve tried here.  Big fan of most meat though, if that helps?” she asked, still looking at the little map and looking around, marking things in her mind and mentally building her own map in her head.  It would take a little while to fully get a grasp of everything and learn her way around, but she was usually pretty quick to learn and adapt so it shouldn’t take more than a week for the basics.  She nodded as he connected the road and all the other bits, including the hospital, which she only knew of in regards to what had been described in books.  As they continued along, she decided that it was her turn to ask a question about her impromptu guide.

“You seem pretty strong, based on what I could tell of your Chakra.  What rank did they give you?” she asked, curious, and still learning the ranking system.

At her comment about being able to hunt if she needed to obtain food he would chuckle before taking a bite. "This isn't real food, it's a sugary treat." He would say as they walked. When she herself took a bite of the yellow fluffy cloud of spun sugar she paused and he waited before she devoured the threat in record time. At her exclamation he would chuckle again before speaking. "Cotton Candy, it's basically just spun sugar with coloring added. It's a nice treat now and then." He would say as he motioned for her to continue to follow him. As they moved he would use a pen to mark things on the map. At his question of her favorite type of food she didn't seem to have a good answer but he did note she said 'meat'. As such he would stark marking down various places that served that type of food as a staple. Steakhouses, barbecue joints, chicken vendors and the like. Sandwich places and burger joints went on too and in general anything she might like. "That helps a lot actually. Mom usually cooks enough to feed extra's anyway so there won't be an issue on breakfast and dinner, but if you're training late or something in the village or just want a treat I'm marking down various restaurants for you to try. Actually, that cotton candy only really emphasized how hungry I myself am. How about as part of the tour I treat you to lunch?" He would ask, his blue eyes peering over at her casually.

Should she say yes he would look like at the map he had just quite handily marked for this exact purpose. He didn't need it to know where everything was. It did however work wonderfully as a reminder of what options they had. She clearly liked sweets, so perhaps a barbecue place would be the best bet. Looking for the closest one he nodded. "This way." He would say before walking down the road they'd been going down anyway. "As I stated before the hospital is down this way, they'll you'll see a turn, it'll one road, but after it turns and moves back into the village proper a ways you'll see multiple streets again. For the most part I'm just going to focus on large landmarks so you don't get lost. At the end of the tour I'll take you to the best view in the village. That's after lunch though of course." He would say with a chuckle. "I'm taking you to a barbecue place, lots of options for meats and vegetables cooked with options for sauces including sweet ones, hot ones, and tangy ones. I think you'll like it a lot. That sound alright?" He would ask, his blue eyebrow raising in curiosity.

Akuma blinked a moment as the blue-haired man explained that it wasn’t real food, as the comment itself didn’t make any sense to her. If it was solid, and you ate it, it was real food. She didn’t even understand how their could be such a thing as ‘fake’ food. Was she missing something? “What makes this… cotton candy, as you put it, fake? Tastes real enough to me.” It might have seen like something that was common sense, but it was just showing how truly new to humanity she was. She had spent the past two decades in the company of the only family she had ever known, the Dragons of the Blind Eternities. While she had been warned when coming here that she would have to deal with a considerable learning curve, she was still shocked by the sheer amount of things she needed to learn. Her tour guide would prove most useful in that regard, it would seem.

She noted all the places he was marking on the map, occasionally looking up when one of those places looked to be nearby to try to identify it, listening to him again as he spoke about the hospitality he was offering and the advice of the places to eat. She made a mental note to try and find a way to try everything at least once, so that the next time someone asked what her favorite food was, she could give an honest answer. But then he went and offered to treat Akuma to lunch, and she realized very quickly how appetizing that sounded; the blonde had been taught proper manners, so she didn’t dare complain before about how hungry she truly was, but it looked like she wouldn’t need to worry about that. The only thing that bothered her now was the fact that he was going to be offering it up, and she had no way to repay all the kindness that he had shown her so far.

“You are already doing a considerable amount of kindness for me. I would like to find a way to repay you if possible.” Equivelent exchange… something Niv-Mizzet had taught her well, and something that her mother had driven into her as a sign of respect for others who deserved it. It was about that moment that her stomach growled, audibly, and she gave him a smile. “Perhaps we can discuss how I could repay this debt over lunch. It has been some time since I’ve eaten properly. A day or so, perhaps.” She chuckled a little bit. Compared to how a Dragon could only eat a couple of times a month if they needed to, her metabolism was extremely fast. Giving the timeline might be a way to discover what a normal human’s metabolism was supposed to be like; she never had anyone to compare herself to before. He continued the tour, and she noted the different landmarks once more, following him along and wondering what this place was that he was taking her for lunch.

"No nutritional value. Meat had protein, dairy has calcium, vegetables have all sorts of healthy stuff in em. This stuff is literally just made to taste good. It does nothing else." He would say in response to her question. later on when the discussion of lunch was brought up she would comment that he was showing her a great deal of kindness and that she would like to repay it if possible. That perhaps they could discuss how over lunch. Of course the blue haired mans first though was that she was offering some kind of sexual favor. Of course that was because was he twenty with no experience with women and hormonally charged like a battery. However considering he had threatened her with violence earlier he felt the need to make up for it. The requested tour and lunch was simple enough and the offer for a roof came from his mother. He was just the proxy. "There's no need to repay me for this." He would say before wordless pointing his finger toward a tree. It stood amongst others in a small field that the road took them by. It was technically part of the hospital grounds although they hadn't figured out what they needed the most to put something there yet. Until they did the field was open for kids to play or couples to have dates on or whatever.

Now of course it was empty, or he wouldn't be doing this. Too risky otherwise. Wordless he would fire the bone from the tip of his finger at the tree and with a heavy crash the bone bullet would smash into the tree and topple it over, kicking up dust into the air with it's landing. "It's the least I can do for threatening you earlier. So don't worry about it, it's me paying you back." He would say, emphasizing the 'me' and 'you' specifically. With that done he would move toward the barbecue restaurant before going in and taking a seat down near the middle of the line of booths. He would take the seat that allowed him to see the door and sit down. A pretty waitress, were there any other kind in their world? Called out that she'd be with them in a moment and he nodded idly at the words. Not really caring if it took her a few minutes or an hour. He had the day clear besides this tour. "Some places like this have grills on the table and they bring the food out raw after having cut them and you cook it to your liking. This place doesn't do that though, but don't be surprised if you go to a different barbecue place than this one and see the different set up." He'd say as he idly looked through the menu that was on the table. "Pick whatever you want, I don't care." He would say as he looked, he was hungry as hell and he burned a shit ton of calories doing all of the taijutsu so he'd end up getting a lot of food himself. Most shinobi did, women, men, even kids put food down by the truck load. It was actually kind of incredible how the country produced enough food for people to eat.

“Oooooh,” she muttered, realizing now what he was saying. She was intelligent in the way that she had been formally educated about things; she knew the values of protein, calcium, vegetables and all that, so the explanation did much as to why he would consider the food ‘fake’. But then he went on to say that she didn’t need to repay him, and that made her eyebrows knit together in confusion, watching him point at a lone tree. When he fired his bone bullet, her eyes would open wide, and in a blur of movement, she had moved around, taking his hand into her own hands and watching as the skin and bone healed over from where he fired, watching it carefully. She didn’t seem in the least bit worried about anything, but more excited than anything else.

“That’s awesome! You use ma-- err, Chakra as propulsion for the bone? How do you compress it? In the joint between the fingertip bone and the one behind it?” she asked, feeling his hand just a little bit before starting to realize that she was probably being overwhelming for him. She knew how excited she got when she was learning about something new, or witnessing new techniques and such. She had already connected the dots as to why he might feel guilty, having ‘threatened’ her earlier, but that was already a done deal in her mind. Still, perhaps she needed to vocalize that. “And don’t worry about it. I’m tougher than any silly tree, promise you that. And you were just doin’ what you thought was right in a situation that could have been risky. Doin’ your job, really. I would protect my home with everything I am, so I get it. And now, this is my home too.” She flashed him a wide smile, showing off her elongated cuspids a little bit, and finally letting go of the man’s hand.

Then he followed him to the restaurant, sniffing occasionally and hearing her stomach complain audibly as the scent kicked her appetite into high gear, the noise coming from her gut sounded like a growling, angry animal. They were quickly shown to a table, and let her eyes linger on the waitress for a moment longer than necessary before turning her attention back to the nice young man before her. Takeshi explained the differences between some places, causing Akuma to nod occasionally, and reaching into a pocket and pulling out several large, solid gold coins she reached up towards the waitress, depositing them into her stunned hands. They were easily worth far more than your traditional Ryo, and likely was more money’s worth than that waitress had seen used in the restaurant her entire life. “Bring us a bit of everything and keep it coming until we pass out… plenty of drinks too, please. You do a good job, this place can keep the change.” She flashed another warm, toothy smile at the waitress who, despite being stunned, hurried off to go talk to her boss. That settled, she smiled across the table at Takeshi.

“Nothing against you, but I’ll probably eat you under the table. You found the place, I’m paying for the food. My thanks to you for the tour, the hospitality… everything.” The smile was smaller but warmer. Idly the blonde wondered what they had to drink here. It also made ‘choosing’ a lot easier; put all that pressure on the guy cooking. “So… tell me some more about you, eh? What’s your specialty? What do you like?” she asked, making small talk while they waited on food.

When he fired the bullet the response was not exactly what he had expected. She seemed excited as she took his hand and watched as the skin closed up and the bone seemed to be replaced. Questions began to fly from her mouth as she observed and he shrugged. “Yeah pretty much." He would answer the last given the first one seemed rhetorical although in the end his answer could actually be applied to all of the questions except for the second which he was simply confirming by answering the follow up question. She would wave away his apology and feeling of needing to make things up to her simply because in her eyes he was only doing what his job required him to do. Then they would arrive at the restaurant and she would nod at the proper times as he explained the differences between some of the barbecue places she might end up in the village.

When she decided to pay instead she chose to pay in some strange kind of currency. They were gold coins that seemed to have some heft to them. The waitress looked surprised at them and when Akuma ordered he shrugged. He couldn’t take back her actions now could he? Besides it would be rude to decline the offer if she insisted so strongly. “There’s no need to thank me.” He would say as the waitress walked away. They hadn’t ordered drinks but that would probably occur to the waitress soon enough when she put the food order in and she could return to ask. Drinks were inexpensive and consisted of mainly carbonated sodas, water, tea, and other such things. The refills were free too which made this place a popular place for shinobi to come in after a long mission and sit down with a cup of something in their hands while they relaxed and unwound a bit.

At Akuma’s question he would shrug. “I specialize in close quarters combat, taijutsu especially. I live out on a farm with my mother. My mornings generally consist of waking up at 2 AM, doing chores and then training with my mother before heading into the village for the rest of the day to do whatever. Be that more training, shinobi duties, or whatever that may be. I like to fight, I like to fight alot. It doesn’t matter if I win or lose, I just love the test, the adrenaline, the thrill. My blood pumping through my veins, my heartbeat in my ears. The rush of combat as so many moves are done so quickly. I consider it the ultimate test. As a hobby I like to carve things out of bone. A given I suppose given my ready supply. I’ll also make other things too, little pieces with meaning of some kind or other.” He would say, giving a brief, but detailed rundown of himself. As he spoke the waitress would come over and ask about their drinks. “I’ll take a root beer please.” He would say with a smile before turning to Akuma and giving her a moment to respond to the waitress before speaking. “What about you? Tell me about yourself.” He would say, a quizzical blue eyebrow raising as he asked.

Akuma smiled at how humble he was.  Not too bad on the eyes either… but that wasn’t something she could focus on.  She needed to learn more about him before she could even risk going out on a limb and seeing if he was someone that she could trust.  So as he began to speak, she listened closely and realized that they were similar in a lot of ways.  Because of her own bloodline, Akuma tended to get up close and personal when dealing with confrontations, although she was working on ways to give herself some ranged options as well.  Hearing about his schedule brought a thoughtful nod… it was an early rise time though if that was a regular schedule.  But what brought a smile to her face was his lust to fight, and how similar it was to the sensation when she too was in a good tussle.  Just because she had her bloodline under control didn’t mean that she still didn’t crave a good fight.  But then he asked about her, and the smile turned from predatory to normal and warm.

“I’ll have whatever he’s havin’ to drink to start… but I’d like to try a little bit of all of them by the time we are done.  Thanks.”  She let the waitress scurry off to handle that, and finally began to reply, first addressing what he said.  “So, first thing… I’d love to see some of your bone trinkets… that sounds cool as hell.  Second, I’m big into close combat too… workin’ on getting my options more open, but that’s a long time coming.  But lastly, you are not the only one who lives for a good fight.” She paused for a moment, that feral predatory grin coming back, showing off her teeth again.  “We definitely gotta spar sometime soon.  Ain’t no way that won’t be entertainin’.”  There was a slight ulterior motive to that too, she supposed; she could see his reaction to her other form, where she looked like a legitimate monster, and see if he was someone she could trust to be herself around without scaring off.

“But that aside, I told you I’m a Dragon Sage, and that is mostly because I grew up with Dragons.  My mother is their Queen, one of the Big Three that rule the Blind Eternities.  It’s kinda like an alternate plane of existence where they can chill, and I’m working on the techniques to be able to summon them here.  You’d get along really well with Yawgmoth; he’s a Bone Dragon.  A bit much for some of the other dragons, but that’s only because he’s the Dragon of Death, and that’s a touchy subject no matter what species.  But anyhow… I’m twenty, and I came here as the Ambassador to the dragons to make a place where Dragons and Humans can interact again, and that is going to come in the form of a Clan District, where they will make Dragonkin.  Aside that, I’m pretty simple.  Nature Clan is my bloodline… can’t remember if I said that.  What do you know about them?” she asked, curious what he knew about all that.

When Akuma ordered her drink she started off by ordering the same thing he had but then followed it up by asking to try all of the drinks over the course of the meal. That didn't really bother him regardless, if she wanted to try new things why stop her? Besides, she was the one paying after all. Which the more he thought about it the more he came to the conclusion that she had done that purely because she knew she would be trying to try absolutely everything. That made a certain amount of sense. As he commented about his normal everyday schedule she would begin to grin and at the end she would comment about wanting to see some of his bone trinkets. This would prompt Takeshi to reach into his pocket and withdrew a small bone pendant from it. It was effectively an intricately carved disk with two red dots in the center. Expanding outward from the dots were lines that were stylistically engraved that covered the rest of the pendant to the ends. The red dots were the Kaguya Clan symbol of course. He made soon after his mother had told him about them being in a clan. "I have this one on me now." He would say as he passed her the pendant.  

After that the waitress would return with their drinks, setting down two glasses of root beer before speaking. "We're going to bring things out one or two plates each at a time if that's alright. There's only so much room on the table and we can only prepare the food so quickly." She would say, prompting an understanding nod from Takeshi. The woman would wait for Akuma's response before speaking again. "The first plates will be out in just a minute." She would say before bowing her head and backing away. The woman still looked a tad shell shocked but she played it off well. Once that was done he would listen to Akuma's explanation of the Blind Eternities. Her being an Ambassador for dragons seemed interesting, although her question about if he had ever heard of something called the 'Nature Clan' bloodline caused him to think.

"No, I can't say I have." He would say after a moment of thought before meeting her eyes again. He had averted them as he thought, looking up and to the right in the instinctive movement many make when trying to recall a memory. "Tell me about em? I'm curious." He would say as the waitress arrived balancing four plates of food on her arms. She set them down on the tables before bowing again and walking away. The plates set directly in front of each them had short ribs that were slathered in a sweet barbecue sauce with vegetables on the side, green beans and corn mainly. The short ribs were well cooked with the meat nearly falling off the bone at the first touch. The second plate held sliced brisket, a pasta with elbow shaped noodles and cheese that Takeshi couldn't recall the name of, and mashed potatoes. The bluenette quickly clapped his hands together and closed his eyes "Itadakimasu." He would say before starting to eat.

Akuma’s eyes widened as the trinket was brought forth, looking forward intently as he passed the pendent over to her, which she took as though she were holding the most fragile egg on the planet.  It didn’t matter that she knew it was strong enough to withstand most things life could throw at it, it was art, and that was something that the blonde had a great amount of respect and admiration for.  She flipped it over, running a finger gently over the edges and taking in the details, obviously very impressed and almost enthralled with the design.  “When I make my Clan District, I’ll have to commission you for some jewelry.  Having things made from bone is definitely something that some of the dragons would appreciate."

Her train of thought was interrupted with the waitress returning with their drinks, and Akuma very gently handed the pendant back to Takeshi before the drinks were set down, not wanting to mix two of her favorite things.  She listened to the plan as it was laid out for them, nodding occasionally to indicate that she understood what they were going to do.  “Sounds like a plan to me!” she said happily, looking at the drink before her like it was an alien of sorts.  It was dark in color with cubes of ice and had bubbles that seemed to spawn from inside of it… odd indeed.  She could hardly wait for the food, but an oddity in the drink was hardly something that was going to stop her from trying it.  Taking a swig, she worked it around, her eyes growing wide and bewildered for a moment before relaxing into a happy and content expression, a pleased hum escaping her lips before she swallowed it down.  “Now that is the weirdest tastiest thing I’ve ever drunk.  Root Beer right?  Gotta remember that one.”  

Then he posed a question about her bloodline and she nodded, willing to share that much over a meal certainly, as the food began to arrive, and she paused long enough to appreciate what was before her and thank the waitress.  “So, Nature Clan is a bloodline that is notorious for being ‘monsters’ and ‘demons’... and in a lot of ways, they are right.  Whereas most people prefer the company of other people, we are more attuned to Nature and can even communicate, sort of, with animals.  Instead of hunting animals, we are naturally designed to hunt other humans.  We passively absorb tr-- er… Nature Chakra, sorry, still re-learning your terms versus Dragon, but the energy literally drives us insane.  If we lose it, we will kill any human we can find until we run out of energy.  I don’t have that problem anymore, but you can see part of why we are considered ‘monsters’.  The other half of that is what it does to our bodies.  I don’t wanna show it here… too many people, but maybe later.  It’s not pretty.”

She didn’t seem overly bothered by it, but she didn’t want to sit there and show off something that could instill fear in the restaurant and spoil the atmosphere either.  So, for the moment, she turned her attention towards her food and began to taste each thing before beginning to rapidly consume what was in front of her, leaving portions uneaten.  At least she seemed to know how to use utensils.  “If there’s anything you don’t want or anything you do, let me know.  Don’t want to hog it all to myself.”  Despite her eating rather rapidly, she was amazingly neat about it, not spilling anything and rotating things around as she ate.  If he let her, she would destroy pretty much everything before her, occasionally moaning a bit in glee as she tasted each thing.[/color]

Her reaction to his small charm brought a smile to his features. He always loved having his small trinkets appreciated but he quickly shook his head in denial. "No no, I can only really do small pieces really. After all bone only gets so big." He would say with a laugh. The idea was nice enough and it made him quite happy to know that she liked his work but he was limited with what he had and all he had were his own bones really. Unless he could get some bigger ones of course but that involved desecrating the remains of a creature and he wasn't all that a fan of that besides using the meat of whatever was killed for sustenance. So he much preferred the idea of just using his. To him it was the equivalent of finding a chunk of wood and whittling it down. After all when he expelled the bone it instantly grew back anyway. Literally as the old one was pushing pushed out. He had a limitless supply. Either way, he could only really do small things, small trinkets and gifts. Of course he supposed that didn't mean dragons still wouldn't appreciate them. He just imagined they would prefer something a bit...to scale.

Once the waitress had come and gone, delivering plates of food, Akuma would begin answering his questions about her bloodline. All in all the nature clan seemed more like a clan of berserkers that frequently went on a rampage. The fact that seemed to not have the problem of going on them anymore was a good thing but it did make him worry about other nature clan users arriving in the village and possibly causing trouble. Still, the idea of fighting someone who could do something like that was...intriguing to say the least and he felt a vicious grin touch his features as them prospect of a fight. Win or loss, he loved them dearly and he got to really cut lose in them and show what he was made of. It was always his favorite part of training with his mom, despite the fact that she always kicked him within an inch of his life. He just loved the thrill, the adrenaline coursing through the veins and the split second decisions that made up combat. They told you what kind of person you were more truly than any words ever could.

When she finished speaking of the nature clan he would begin to dig into his own plate, eating ribs, brisket, mashed potatoes, mac n cheese, turkey, chicken, all in short order. He loved a good barbecue joint and the sauce here was on the sweeter side than most and he absolutely loved it. "Don't worry about it, you ordered pretty much everything in the restaurant and you'll get it. They sell this stuff by the pound. Also, we should fight." He would say between bites. All in all his manners were quite polite enough, his mother would rip his spine out of his ass if he made a fool of himself at anyone's dinner takes. Well, anyone reasonable. He didn't know how to eat at some nobleman's table and she didn't expect him to either. Regarding the fight, why not? He wanted to fight one of these nature clan users and she was sitting right in front of him. Of course they'd have to wait till after lunch and possibly after all the rich food settled and such. But it would be fun regardless of the outcome and that was what he was after.

Akuma tilted her head at him denying the ability to make something bigger, thinking for a moment.  “I mean, I can’t say I know about how your ability works, but couldn’t you make a bunch’a smaller parts fit into a bigger thing?  Like uh… bundle of flowers makes one nice big thing when squished together.  I dunno, just thinking out loud.”  She chuckled a little bit, shaking her head as she continued to eat, but she had to admit she was thoroughly impressed with what he had managed to do with such a small piece, and couldn’t deny that he had talent.  “With a keen eye like that, I’d be surprised if you weren’t in crafting and stuff.  Weapons and Armor and all that jazz.  I’m sure you’d make some amazin’ stuff if you tried.”  But that was going to be as far as she went with all of that; she had no idea if that was something even remotely interesting for him or not.

She had to admit that all the flavors were absolutely stunning and the blonde was enjoying all of it very much, but she seemed to enjoy the smokey and savory side of things a bit more than the sweet when it came to what was on her meat.  Perhaps that was simply because that was how she had cooked growing up, but she could tell now that her range of tastes was expanding that she definitely did have a preference, contrary to her mentality before which was along the lines of ‘It’s Food, Eat’.  Expanding the horizons meant that she could actually decide what she liked instead of what was edible.

Akuma was quickly brought out of this mental frame of mind though when he reassured her that she would be getting her fill of the food, and then just as casually implied that they should fight.  Almost instantaneously she could feel her blood spark, the idea of combat making those tamed instincts to seek out combat light inside her heart.  Of course they should fight… but she wasn’t about to be the one to suggest it.  She had learned that humans, in comparison to dragons anyway, were incredibly frail and easily frightened.  Her violet eyes looked upwards and locked with his, food coming to an abrupt pause for a moment as she considered the seriousness of his proposal.  He would recognize that fire behind her eyes, and once she got her confirmation from him, likely without saying a word, she would let a very predatory smile cross her lips, spreading wide and framing her face in such a way that he could tell made her look very eager indeed.

“Don’t tempt me with a good time… but you better be able to back that up.  The last spar I had was against a beast much larger than you.  I’ve never gotten to fight a human before but I’ve been itching to try, but I don’t want to break you.”  There was a hunger in her tone that had nothing to do with food, but there was also restraint; she didn’t want to hurt the first person she met that seemed halfway decent and break that bond they had made.

As she asked her question he would shake his head. "It doesn't quite work that way. I don't get to form smaller bones into bigger ones. I could something like rip my spine out and use it as a whip since the individual vertebrae and cartilage would allow it to extend. But I couldn't so, expel an elbow bone and then expel another one and connect them together. There's the chance for me to make bigger ones later, but the technique to do so is extremely destructive to the surrounding area. It isn't something I can really do for the carvings." He would explain, as he himself continued to eat. He had cleared one plate already and had moved to the second. Having so many chores to work on in the morning before he could train and then leave for the village meant that he long ago wasted little time at things. This included eating and so while he was eating very politely and without mess, he was doing so very quickly as well. At her comment toward crafting things such as weapon and armor he gave it a shrug. "I've considered going into creating armor, maybe find a way to make a shirt or something I can wear that won't become holier than religion when I actually use my bloodline." He would say, moving the plate of barbecued chicken, some kind of lightly fried vegetable and beans to sitting in front of him.

At her response to his comment about fighting he would grin viciously, his fork pausing toward the plate as he had begun to move it spear some of the chicken. "I can take much more than most give me credit for and am more capable than my rank might indicate. I challenge you then, after we eat, lets hit the training ground for a spar. Only death blows are barred, we can 'play' to our hearts content." He would say, his mildly wild and excited blue eyes meeting hers. "I don't care if I win or lose, so long as we have fun," He would add with a small widening of his grin before he went back to his food. He proceeded to spear the chicken he had been aiming for and eating it as he considered. If she was as berserk as she stated before in a fight..but no. She had admitted that she had learned to control that. So what did that meant for the spar?

One thing was for sure, Takeshi couldn't wait to find out.

Hearing that he could literally rip his own spine out of his back was something that made her blink in surprise. She waited for him to finish before clarifying. “I think you misunderstood, but I’d love to see that ultimate technique sometime. I’m working on developing a few good ones myself, but it’s slow going. I have had to learn the human method of techniques from scratch essentially. But what I meant was this; can you make a piece of bone that is relatively small like a puzzle, where it is intentionally designed to fit into another one? If you can do that, you can piece a ton of small ones together to make something bigger, but it’d take a ton of time and effort. Might not be worth it in the long run.” She gave a shrug, having just finished her second plate and starting on the third.

Him speaking about crafting armor made her smile again. “You start with armor crafting, I’ll be one of your first customers… promise you that. As soon as I have the Ryo to spare, naturally.” There were a lot of things she was going to need to worry about purchasing, and Akuma was simply happy she managed to remember to say the word ‘Ryo’ instead of ‘Gold’ as the currency was back in her home realm. “And I had a problem with that with my own Bloodline, but I found a good work-around for it for me. Almost everything I wear is made out of refined strands of my hair, which allows it to morph the same way I do. Don’t know if that trick would work with bones, though.”

Another shrug, and more food consumed. Akuma seemed to be a bottomless pit when it came to food, able to eat her fill and then some while showing no signs of slowing down. She listened to him propose his challenge to her directly, and finished the mouthful she had and swallowed, nodding in return before taking a swig of her drink and replying. “Alright then, I’ll come at you fairly strong then. Still, I’m not going full out until I make sure you can handle it. Ain’t nothin’ against you, but I gotta get a gauge of what to expect before I go all out in order to know what a ‘death blow’ would be, ya know? Ain’t never fought a human before.”

She then moved on to the next plate of food, rapidly consuming it as well. She had to admit that she was looking forward to this spar probably more than he was, but she wasn’t going to get her hopes up just yet. If he was up to the challenge of fighting her full out, she would and enjoy every second of it, but she also knew that she wasn’t any sort of pushover either; she had the stamina for days and was capable of far more than your typical Human.

Her clarifying explanation of what she had meant would cause him to shrug at her. "Possible yes, but what's the point then? If all I did was expel smaller bones to make bigger things like puzzles pieces then it takes all the fun out of carving things. When I carved them they wouldn't fit together anymore after all. So I don't really see the point." He would say, taking a sip of his root beer afterward. He could theoretically create great large puzzles, but that's all they would be. A series of interconnecting bones that only really made a single shape which was frankly, boring to him. Part of the fun was quite literally making whatever it was he was making. Be it a small gift for someone with simple beads and twine, or carving a bone into a shape. It mattered little to him, it was the journey he found enjoyable, not the destination.

The waitress would arrive once more and set down third and fourth courses for them at that point and Akuma would start on the third. These held brisket and sausage with carrots and slaw as the side for one, and honeyed apples, and corn for the sides of the second. When she commented that if he himself went into armorcrafting that she would be one of his first customers he would grin at her before nodding and continuing with his meal. However when she commented on how she had a similar problem to him with her bloodline and her workaround he would chew thoughtfully before shaking his head. "Wouldn't work I'm afraid. Any material I use would have to be able to effectively repair itself, the problem with that is that while using my hair might help me if I were to say, increase my size or something, my bone would puncture through the material and leave the holes." He would say as he finished his third plate and started on his fourth.

When the discussion turned to sparring he would nod at her. "That's fine, I'm still confident I can handle whatever you wanna throw at me. I might even surprise you." He would say back to her with a vicious grin before he continued eating. Provided the conversation continued they would probably continue to eat for a time before both felt satisfied with the meal. Late afternoon would come before they were finished and with that done it would be time to head to the training grounds. Takeshi lead the way there, continuing the tour as they went. The day just really starting really given the spar that was yet to come.

[Exiting here to start a new topic in the training ground]

Akuma listened to his explanation on why he didn’t put them together like a puzzle and shrugged; perhaps some time she could show him what she meant and how something like that could be just as beautiful as what he was describing, but that was a project for a later time and date.  It was unfortunate to learn that there wasn’t much he could do in regards to clothing, but where there was a will, there was a way.  Surely something would be able to regenerate as his flesh did.  Perhaps that was the answer; his skin.  It didn’t seem like the most fun ordeal, and chances are that wouldn’t work either; the moment it was detached, it would lose his regenerative capabilities… so the question was how to connect his clothing to his regeneration.  Perhaps some kind of technique, or perhaps soaking it in his blood when it was being made and infusing it with his chakra.  A few possibilities came to mind, but nothing concrete yet, and she would have to do some investigating.  Perhaps consult with Niv-Mizzet.  If it was a puzzle, he loved to solve them, and challenging his mind was always something that he appreciated.

The conversation turned towards their spar, to which she responded simply with, “I guess we’ll find out, won’t we?” she said with a chuckle, continuing to talk with him over the course of the meal, surprising the staff with just how much she could eat and rapidly putting together a list of preferences in her mind of what she enjoyed more than the other.  Naturally, she found that she leaned towards many of the meats and grains, but not so much as to completely overshadow everything else.  Each item had a unique flavor, texture and was very enjoyable no matter what, and learning about these foods had opened her eyes to the possibilities of what it was going to be like in the Human Realm.  She was always going to miss her family, her home, but things like this were going to make it a lot more bearable.  The meal and conversation took them well into the afternoon, but that didn’t mean she was going to back out of the spar.  If nothing else, she found herself enjoying Takeshi’s company, and was looking forward to the little battle they were going to have even more.  As they left, following the blue-haired man’s lead towards the training grounds, she pondered the idea of how he would react to the other side of her.  If it was favorable, she might see about trying to have his company a little more often.

[EXIT] - 12 posts