Of Kages and Kings

Mission Name: The Ol' Razzle Dazzle
Mission Type: Chore
Mission Rank: D
Mission Goal: Help the local children's play
Description: A small children's theater is putting on a historic play about some event they failed to mention in the mission. Help out either backstage or as an actor and maybe learn a thing or two about Kumogakure that you may have missed.
Payment: 10,000 Ryo
Requirements: Genin+

"Who thought it was a good idea for children to go over part of the Inazuma-Hozuki war?"

Mort was, well he wouldn't say pissed. Disappointed sure, but not pissed. He had taken the mission in an attempt to find out more about the important historical events that may have been different for him. And as he looked at the brochure where he was supposed to meet his teammate, if it was anything like the Battle of Piker's Keep that he knew, they'd need to tone down the battle a lot. It was probably because of that reason that he didn't feel the need to ask why that particular battle, the adults in charge knew what they were doing. Maybe.

Currently the chunin was dressed in his grey civilian clothes, their baggier style hiding his colorful and more preferred choice of clothing. But he wasn't the star of this show, the kids were, and having an outfit that drew less attention to him was crucial. Ortenaus was underneath his clothes, while his Bokken was visible and at his side, the Kumogakure symbol burned into it's blade as his headband was currently buried under his scarf.

Leaning against one of the walls he'd close up the brochure and pulled out a fruit cup, peeled off part of the lid and began drinking it. Even with Id and curse temporarily gone, his body's need for calories certainly hadn't diminished. At least he didn't need to incorporate chocolate into his dies as a necessity for now.  Id gave him a lot of things, but the ceaseless hunger for chocolate was one he was glad to have tempered. Hopefully that Genin would show up soon and help take his mind off of food.

Emiko had brushed her long white hair to get it as straight as she could muster. She left it down today for the sheer reason she was heading on a mission to help educate children, if her hair was down it was a helluva lot easier for her to hide her ears in it than if she had her hair up in a ponytail or bun. After the monumental task of brushing her long hair was completed, she would tie her identification around the middle of her thigh as tight as she could get it. Once satisfied, she picked up her pair of gloves. She slid her hands, one at a time, into the pair of white gloves; the fabric ending just beyond her wrists. She pulled at the fabric to ensure that her hands were all the way in before she turned her attention to another part of her attire, the bow. Why in the hell she still had this outfit - she didn’t know. A black, pleated skirt that reached a third of the way down her thighs paired with a white, button-up, three-quarter-sleeve shirt. Emiko would raise the collar of the white shirt to tie the red plaid bow. However, she struggled to get it to look right. Growling, “Fuck it,” she folded the collar down over the undone bow-tie. Her scarlet eyes burned with annoyance, snatching up the dossier she was given about the mission. She’d glance around looking for her clock, eh, if she left now she would be just a little early. Which was fine and acceptable. She just hoped to be paired with someone competent on a mission about history. Lord knows that she didn’t know a whole lot about the village her clan began calling home five years ago.

On her way to the meeting spot, Emiko’s ears would twist and turn - acting like radars. Collecting all the busy sounds of Kumogakure. Occasionally they would flatten against her head in irritation of the stares. It could be because of her undone bow, could be the eight inches of rabbit ears where most would have a normal ear, it could have been how low her skirt sat on her hips, or even about the white cottontail that peaked out over the hem of the skirt. Emiko was fairly certain why she received the stares and absolutely loathed it. If walking through the village was any indication of how today’s mission was going to go, she was going to have a long day.

Coming up on the theater in Kumo, Emiko spotted a figure leaned up against the wall. She didn’t say anything to the person till she was closer. Emiko stopped about four feet away from the gentlemen leaning against the outer wall of the theater, “I assume you’re waiting on me?” She’d say in a snarky tone, no introduction from her, just a glare.

---

outfit:

Continuing to sip the fruit and their juices, debating if he'd have to dig into his reserve stash of snacks today, he was gratefully interrupted by the sight of someone with ears unlike any he has seen before...no that wasn't right. He had seen the type of ears before, rabbit rears, but never were they on a human and able to move like a real lagomorph. At first he thought that it was someone dressing up like a rabbit, the few times a mission had him work as a bouncer he'd seen people wear those ridiculous 'sexy bunnygirl' outfits, but those didn't have ears that moved. And then it clicked, she was a Leporidae.

He'd never seen a Leporidae before, and silently wondered if they were related to the Osaki, Yoru, or Tsuchigumo clans given they all had animalistic origins. Really what knowledge he knew about them was just by happenstance in his hunt to find out what happened to the Kurama in this time, and even then he didn't do much digging as they weren't his focus nor did this specific rabbit clan even exist in his old life. Really all he knew about the clan was what he saw before him: Humans who had rabbit-like features and abilities. It was probably best Id wasn't here to meet this woman, at least not yet as he could envision the horrible, horrible jokes they'd make.

Ignoring the snark and glare set before him by the woman when she spoke to him, he'd seal up the empty fruit bowl as he'd stop leaning against the wall, his index fingernail that held the bowl turning black as the seal formed to contain the trash. "Correct-o, I wanted to make sure that I met my partner in crime, seeing as we have some time to burn before they need us." He'd hold out his hand and give a smile, his eyes focus on her face as he could inspect the ears later. "Name's Mōtimā Kurama, though I prefer to go by Mort." He couldn't help but wonder if the glare was her trying to intimidate him, shame for her he'd stared down deaths door in the form of a woman with an angel and a cane, this was nothing compared to that. Or maybe it was a defense mechanism, El was like that.

Emiko eyed the hand Mort had extended to her, showing a bit of hesitation before she would reach up with her own to shake. “It’s not that early,” she would grumble before finally giving him a proper introduction, “Emiko Usagi, the Shiroi Usagi of Kumogakure.” She gave him the title that her elders had bestowed to her - since she was currently the only Usagi to have snow-white hair and fur with scarlet red eyes. “You can just call me Emiko.”

She took note of how he wasn’t staring at her unusual features, which made the snarky attitude and the hostile air about Emiko turn down a bit. Fairly evident she didn’t trust just any person, she shifted - her hip popping to the side. “Hope you’re good at history.” Emiko would state in a calm, nonchalant way, “Because I hate failing missions.” The black slits that were her irises constricted, they became a faint line in the deep pool of red, showing some slight irritation she was put on this mission. Emiko brought the dossier she brought with her up to her face to continue reading. “Inazuma-Hozuki war?” Her nose would crinkle in curiosity, “Wasn’t that a pretty brutal battle? Do they really think that’s appropriate for children?”

A softer side of Emiko slipped past her hardened exterior when she mentioned the children. Of course with the way the Usagi clan lived, she would have a soft spot for children. However, she didn’t let this show for very long as she straightened up and huffed. Feeling slightly embarrassed that she did let her shell slip, she would turn away from Mort to fiddle with her bow tie once more, attempting to finally get it tied neatly.

The White Rabbit of Kumo, it had a nice ring to it. A bit on the nose, but he wasn't about to say anything after he had taken up the title of 'Illusionair' when he was younger thank god that it didn't stick. "A pleasure to meet you Emiko." Even if he wasn't looking at them, the mix of red eyes, white hair and dark skin was something he didn't see often, usually it was a dirty blonde or some variation of that. Supposedly that specific combination of blonde, dark skin, and red eyes wasn't a clan trait but a mostly harmless mutation caused by a person's chakra and not a melanism deficiency that would cause albinism, but that felt like a cop-out. Maybe it was more like how polar bears had clear fur and black skin? Questions for later.

He'd note the irritation in her eyes as she spoke of the mission, understanding her desire not to fail but dying a little inside that she seemed slightly more concerned with the mission succeeding then the children. "Oh yeah, super brutal. I've been to Piker's Keep myself and there was still scars on the land from unrestrained storm usage and unfortunate Hozuki in the way who were using Hydrification. Still, its also important that the younger generation is prepared for the world we live in at the moment as a good chunk of them will be training to become shinobi."

He'd sigh a little and shift his footing, glad that she was facing away fixing her clothes as did so, noting that her haughty attitude was more of a defense then what she was probably like during downtime. "They'll probably focus on the stories of Eiko and Takiyo Inazuma fighting Lilith Hozuki anyways, its a classic heroes verses villains narrative that can be retrofitted into a children's tale without worry of the messier details. Its surprisingly versatile, my mother once used it to get my cousin to wash the dishes." And what a story it was. It was a shame he couldn't recall the tale in it's totality, but he knew enough he could fill in the blanks. Speaking of blanks...

He'd snap his fingers as he recalled his question. "Oh, right, I almost forgot to ask, but do you have any elements or skills you've specialized in that you think could assist in the play? I've got a bunch, Genjutsu, Fuinjutsu, and Wind Ninjutsu among others, but it'll be easier to work with you if I know what you can bring to the stage." When she'd eventually turn around he'd hand her a card that held his name, rank, and skills for her to see. In truth it was nothing more then a blank card, but his passive illusion would make it look like an info card to her.

The Usagi made note of how Mort avoided staring at her ears - it did give her a warm feeling. Still irritated with her bow, she had clumsily made one slightly neat enough to squeak by her expectations. It was uneven and crooked, but she was done struggling with it. Emiko huffed in frustration. Her ears continued with their rotation, twisting to face Mort every time he spoke. Mort was correct, even though the world was brutal, these children were being raised - most if not all - to become shinobi for Kumogakure. It’s stuff they’re going to end up seeing down the line anyway. May as well give them the tools to handle it.

She wrinkled her nose, the names of the people didn’t quite ring a bell. However, they did strike some sort of familiar chord. Practical battle strategies, count her there. However, historical book things - Emiko was as checked out as a book at the library. It was something she was lectured about regularly. The elders say it is something about preventing the past from repeating itself. When Mort mentioned his mother using the story to get his cousin to wash the dishes, she couldn’t help but chuckle a bit. She covered her mouth and cleared her throat.

When asked for her skillset that she could bring to the performance. Mort had an impressive list, however, she didn’t have a whole bunch of specialties yet. Emiko was still getting better at the ninja arts. “Well, I’m primarily trained in the arts of sensory. I have a fairly decent grab on Lightning release. Otherwise, I’m incredibly flexible.” She backed up the last part of her statement by lifting up her leg. Her shin brushed against her cheek. She didn’t hold the position for very long, mainly for the indecency with the combination of the stretch and skirt. Emiko crossed her arms, “I’m not sure what I could bring to the table with my particular skill set.”

He's note the small increased of mood in Emiko as he mentioned the dish story, glad that someone else found the tale to be entertaining. However, his own mood would shift as she explained her own skillset and showed off one of them, specifically her flexibility.

Mort's cheeks would betray him and turn a light scarlet despite keeping the rest of his outward expressions in check, not expecting the raised leg to be so high and internally screaming because he knew damn well what would happen if he broke eye contact with her. Now that he thought about it, why did she wear a skirt? This was a play, and while he was skilled enough to quickly swap clothing on a dime if need be, she was going to be on stage, above the children, and while he wasn't worried about the 'purity' of the children as the demographic would likely be too young to care or just starting to understand and would hopefully stay quiet about it, there was a good chance either she'd feel self-conscious about it or some parent would complain and that would be a mess that would suck and then paperwork as to why things went wrong and—

He'd close his eyes for a few seconds and take a deep breath, clutching his mentor's cracked pendant as he calmed himself. He didn't need Nova to focus his mind, and there was a simple fix to the possible skirt issue. He would bring it up once they were inside, but first he needed to assess the info she had given him. It was probably an odd sight for his teammate, but he was okay with that. Better she find himself to be strange then get the wrong idea and be labeled something worse. And now that he thought on it, he could make it less strange.

"Hmmmm, Raiton, Sensory, and Flexibility...not much but not unexpected. Raiton will be useful for replicating the Inazuma if jutsu are going to be used, the flexibility is tougher to place without knowing the script yet never a bad thing to have in any sort of play, and the sensory...that's useful as it'll let you receive cues without the need for eyesight." And of course there were the unspoken non-elemental ninjutsus that would likely be utilized to save on costs...and he recalled that the transformation technique would also avoid the skirt issue unless she ran out of chakra, and he doubted that would happed. By the sage he was glad Id wasn't there to make fun of him for a simple mistake like that. "Either way, we'll probably be expected to know the Hiding in Shadows Technique as well as the Transformation Technique. I assume you know the latter one, but if you don't know the former it's pretty easy to learn."

He'd turn and begin to make his way to the back entrance, motioning her to come with. "Either way we should go and meet the rest of the crew, get out scripts, learn our lines, etcetera, etcetera." Sure they could have used the front, but the side doors were more fun in his eyes as you sometimes got to see fun props from previous plays.

With a raised brow, Emiko found herself amused at the fact Mort blushed. She was covered, she was told to look nice as well as child-friendly. The majority of her workout clothing had tears or just looked rough, and the rest of her closet was a bit too skin-tight. She was impressed at the amount of self-control the chunin showed, noting his eyes didn’t leave her own during the stretch.

She’d just sway from side to side, letting Mort take a moment to himself. Her ears on a swivel and occasionally looking off to the side to get a visual of her surroundings. Emiko had a pretty good poker face going on. Not showing much emotion, just that she was present mentally - at least partly. It wasn’t until Mort began speaking to her again, did she snap back into attention. Straightening out her posture and looking him dead in the eyes.

“I guess that is one way to look at it.” she mused as he went over how her skills could be placed. When he went over the jutsu that they would possibly need, she scratched at her chin, “I don’t think I know the Hiding in the Shadows technique…” When he turned his back to her and began to walk away, she was quick to follow. “The mission is just to help out, right? How much could they possibly integrate into the play?” Honestly, once the words came out. She felt like she could have swallowed a rock.

Entering from the theatre's back entrance, trading in the bright sunlight of outside to dim lights of the back room. To Emiko, it looked more like storage. Old props made of painted wood stacked along the wall, ropes, sacks of sand, a trunk or two of what could only be assumed to be smaller props… After adjusting to the lack of light, Emiko scanned her surroundings, not following Mort closely. A few racks of clothing on the other side of the room, costumes of several different periods in time. Almost looked like they stepped into a museum.

"Depends on who's in charge really. I'm just hoping they won't ask for complex genjutsu, Kurama can only do so much without preparations."

Once he and his companion entered, it was like returning to an old home for the man. The sight of props one could use, the smell of hard work & dedication to one's craft, and while there wasn't any yet, he could envision the sound of those in the audience as they listened to those on stage giving it their all. Or maybe that was his nostalgia for the craft, the last time he'd act in any proper plays being shortly after he was promoted to chunin the first time 'round. If he recalled correctly it was on the Kurama's sojourn in the Land of Demons, nothing to write home about but still a fun play to reenact at the time.

As he'd look around himself, a layout of the area cementing itself into his head, he'd spot a man dressed in an outfit that...well it looked like the man was eaten by his closet and spat out with threads constructed by a colorblind tailor yet somehow making it look like he was in fact in charge. While he was more of a weaver then a tailor himself, he still wasn't sure if he should burn them if ever given the chance or not. "Ah, you've made it! Welcome to Kumo's very own Theatre for Young Shinobi! At least, I hope you're the two that came to help out, yes?" The man's gaudy hat would tilt back and forth as he spoke, like it had a mind of its own, yet it wouldn't fall off his head.

Mort would give a small nod, employing the same technique he used to not stare at Emiko's ears. The man would clap his hands and smile. "Good, good! We have a few open roles left and I trust you'll be able to fill them. Here's the scripts, the open roles are marked and I'll let you two look it over so you can decide who gets what. Now then, I need to go and check on the sound crew; children's theater or not I will knock the socks off of these kids!" And with his declaration he'd go off, leaving the scripts with the duo.