Mushroom For Improvement

[ThatGuy]

Yutaka slept peacefully on a branch of a tree. He was faced with a rather crucial decision the night before on account of his lack of funds. Either he spent what little he had on a room for the night or bought a few more bottles of cheap alcohol. So naturally, he got some bottles of what might better be used to remove paint and drank himself to oblivion. At some point, he began wandering outside of town and exploring the nature nearby. Luckily, none of the wildlife deemed him a worthy meal. Maybe the overwhelming stench of alcohol warded them off.

CRACK

The sound woke him from oblivion, along with the unmistakable feeling of falling from a high place. Yutaka slammed face first into the ground, eliciting a loud groan. Sitting up and attempting to figure out where he was, he spotted a small figure. Slowly, the man’s vision cleared, and for a minute he could swear he saw a giant mushroom. He was somewhat correct in that assumption. It was a kid. A kid with a giant mushroom head, that is.

Yutaka figured he had hit the ground much harder than he realized. Rubbing his eyes once more, he checked to see if the hallucination was still there. Sure enough, they were. As fantastical as what he was seeing was, it seemed too mundane to be a hallucination. The landscape was as dull and boring as it ever was. Where were the vivid colors? So his mind jumped to the only reasonable conclusion he could muster.

"Ah hell. You’re one of them forest spirits, ain’t ya? What’d I do last night? Piss on a shrine?" Yutaka looked at the tree he was in and, with a surprised expression, looked back at the girl. "Don’t tell me that was a special tree."

The man racked his brain, trying to think of a way to appease the spirits. From what he could remember, they accepted offerings of food. But he didn’t have any. Digging through his bag, Yutaka found himself thankful that he had fallen on his face earlier. Pulling out a bottle, he placed it before him.

"I don’t have any food, but please accept this offering. It’s not much, but I kindly ask that you remove whatever poor fortune curse you guys have cast on me. I’m a gambling man. Bad luck would be the end of my uh… ‘career’."

He stood to his full height and offered a slight bow. It was by no means formal, but it was the closest a man like Yutaka could muster. With a smile, he lifted his head back up and spoke once more.

"I haven’t even eaten a mushroom before, honest! I mean no harm to your home, in fact, I have no idea how I got here. Normally I’d be in some dirty alley by now."

Wasting no time, the man reached into his bag and pulled out a little hangover remedy: his trusty bottle of emergency sake. Taking a swig he awaited the mushroom spirit’s judgment.

[Golnax]

The whistling song of a spear being thrust rang out against the cacophony of cicadas that roared out against the burning summer sun. Shiun Kinoko was practicing with her spear just outside of town, sweating up a storm in the heat even with the protective shade her purple cap afforded her. She puffed out heavy breaths as she worked on her stance her thrusts, swipes, upward jabs, downward swings, hypothetical parries and counter strikes. It was all very methodical and at least a little amateurish, hence the need for practice.

The dark skinned child was so absorbed in her practice, though, that she didn't notice that she was actually in the company of another. Laying on the branch of a tree that she herself was taking shelter in, Shiun was simply not aware that there was a man sleeping above her! Thus it should really not come as a surprise that, when she attended her most daring feat yet - a pole vaulting summersault that ended with a harsh, strong downward strike - that the tree she wasn't paying attention to would suddenly halt her practice as the blade of her spear came crashing through the lower two thirds of the branch the man was sleeping on.

Of course, the young samurai hadn't meant to hit anything so the force of the impact cause her to stumble, moving forward a few steps once she was back on the ground and examine first her spear to make sure that the golden weapon wasn't chipped or otherwise damaged. The crackle of the tree branch made her whip around backwards to find that there was suddenly a large man in the ground along with a broken branch that she had unwittingly caused!

Gentle spirit that she was, Shiun's first instinct was to see if the man needed help! With a small sampling of her chakra Musu returned to being a ring on her finger as she turned around fully and stepped towards the man. "Excuse me, are you... she began to ask and see if the man was ok, but that was before he started speaking.

"Eeeeeh...." she responded, vocalizing her confusion as she was called a 'forest spirit's, which was new, for starters, but also baffling considering this was the only tree around. It wasn't even that far off the road! "Aaaaah..." she again mumbled as he placed a bottle of alcohol in front of her as an 'offering' to the 'spirit'. That was right about the time she noticed the smell coming off of this guy. The stench of booze was not one she was terribly familiar with but the bottle places in front of him and the second one he pulled out to drink from were easy indicators for what the smell belonged to.

"Mister, are you drunk? I'm not a forest spirit, I'm a Kinoko! Open your eyes a little wider and see the person underneath the cap!" Shiun huffed, hardly believing that she was dealing with a random bum when she'd come here to try and be alone. As a samurai, practicing martial prowess in solitude often doubled as an act of meditation which is what she was going for, but now she had to deal with some bum! She just hoped he wasn't going to be too much of a bother...

[ThatGuy]

Yutaka looked at the girl, confused, for a moment. What the hell was a Kinoko? Well, if they weren’t a forest spirit, then there was no reason to waste a bottle of booze. He spent his hard earned con money on that. Putting the bottle back in his bag, the man spoke.

"Well from where I’m standing it’s hard to see anything under the cap. Kiii-noh-koh huh? Don’t think I’ve hear- OH! You’re from a clan, aren’t ya? Me too! That definitely makes more sense than a spirit. But no, I’m not drunk, I just woke up! It’s gonna take at least another twenty minutes before the sake kicks in. "

With that, the man chuckled and took another drink. He took a quick glance and checked his surroundings. From the looks of it, he wasn’t far off the road, which was a good sign. He’d never hunted before, and from the looks of it, there wasn’t much around. Turning back to the girl, he let out a yawn. While she definitely wasn’t a normal kid, he found it hard to believe that it was normal for her to be wandering outside of town. It sounded like terrible parenting to him.

"What’s a kid like you doing out here anyway?" Shouldn’t ya have like… an adult supervising? It’s dangerous to be out here alone given all the unsavory characters. Lucky for you, I’m not that kind of criminal, but you never know who might be lurking around. I certainly hope you know how to defend yourself."

Yutaka let out a groan as he stretched his back. His whole body was sore. He wasn’t sure if it was from the drinking, sleeping on a branch, or the fall. Probably a combination of the three. There was a satisfying series of popping sounds from his joints as the man continued to stretch. Once he was content, he took another drink, satisfied with the warmth that was building in his stomach. While he had no plans on babysitting for the day, he awaited the girl’s response. In reality, he was simply curious. After all, it wasn’t every day that you encountered a mushroom person.

[Golnax]

Shiun huffed and puffed her cheeks, tilting her head back so that her face was more clearly visible beneath her large purple mushroom cap. He was quite a bit taller than her, it was true, but there wasn't such a height difference that he couldn't see underneath her cap! ... If she were standing a few steps back. Which she promptly took so she was more easily visible.

"You're kinda sad for an adult, huh?" Shiun asked, choosing to use a pilote word when she meant 'patheric'. She tried to see the good in people, especially those she just met, but even at eleven she understood that your life has to be in the toilet if you were getting drunk first thing when you woke up - he even had an estimation in how long it would take! She didn't even really register that he said he was from a clan like she was. Not yet, anyway.

"I'm a samurai, I'll have you know! I can take care of myself just fine!" she declared, crossing her arms over her bosom and turning her head away as the taller, red haired man took not one but two more drinks! Man he was pounding them back! "How can you drink that stuff, anyway? Is it supposed to be good? I e heard that it doesn't taste good," Shiun asked with all the curiosity of any child, turning her pale eyes back to the drinking man.

[ThatGuy]

Yutaka let out a hearty laugh as the girl called him sad. She wasn’t the first to carry that sentiment, but she was certainly the youngest to voice it. Everyone got it all wrong, though. The alcohol was what kept him from being sad, at least most of the time. She was quite young for a samurai, Yutaka took that as a sign of strength, not that the military was lowering the bar. When she asked about the alcohol, he pulled his sake bottle back out.

"I think I’ve already shown you but if you need another demonstration, I drink it like this." He brought it up to his lips and turned the bottle upside down, taking several gulps until the bottle was empty. Setting the empty bottle down, he laughed once more at his own joke. "I was a samurai too, you know. Completed my contract. Now I do whatever the hell I want. It’s a nice life. Even better than yours, I would guess. Oh, and as far as the flavor goes,"

The man used his bloodline ability to form cups from each of his forearms, pulling them from his fully tattooed arms before setting them down on a nearby boulder. Next, he pulled out his bottle of cheap alcohol from earlier and poured them each a glass. Grabbing one of them, he offered it to the girl.

"You’re free to try it if you want. Just don’t tell your parents. While it does taste like shit, the effects are what people really drink for. Some might call me a monster for offering this to ya, but I started drinking at six years old and I turned out just fine!"

When she took the cup, he tapped his to hers and quickly threw back the drink. Even with his insane alcohol tolerance, Yutaka was already getting drunk. With a smile on his face, he took a seat on the nearby boulder. With his head swimming and his cheeks burning, the man waited to hear the girl’s verdict. Pondering the possibility of making some money by buying alcohol for them. He’d done way worse things in the Yakuza, plus everyone ends up trying it eventually. Why not give her a head start?

[Golnax]

Shiun's face wrinkled up in a grimace as she watched the man completely chug back his drink. She didn't have any frame of reference for the taste of the drink, it's true, but she still somehow had an inherent understanding that what she was witnessing was gross. "If you're a samurai then maybe you should act like it instead of a bum! Your contract might have ended but you're always free to start another. Don't you have any pride?" she asked, the contents of her words being judgemental but her tone was anything but. She spoke with curiosity, mild disdain (for what she was witnessing) and just a hint of shock that she was echoing back words that her lessons at the academy had taught her for the first time.

The young samurai watched as the man pulled sake cups from his arms eyebrows shooting up and mouth falling open slightly at the sight! What had he just done? Was it fuuinjutsu? She seemed to vaguely recall that one could tattoo seals into themselves and store objects in their body, but the memory was only vague. Fuuinjutsu, as a concept, hadn't been her strong point at the academy.

As the man sat the cups down and poured the liquor Shiun's mouth closed. She chose not to explain that her parents were far, far away from where they were now. One of the things that had quickly become tiring since she's left home some three years ago was explaining the cultural expectation of her people to go out into the world and explore, and it wasn't like she knew this man anyway. Besides all that, said cultural expectation had her looking at the cups with curiosity. One drink couldn't hurt, right?

Shiun stepped forward and picked up the glass. She froze for a moment as the man clinked the cups together and he tossed the liquid down his throat. She simply stood there, looking down at the sloshing, clear liquid in her hand. She brought the cup up to her nose and sniffed, immediately regretting it as the burning alcohol touched her sensitive nostrils, causing her to jerk her hand back, spilling a bit in the process, while turning her head away with a wrinkled nose. "Eeurgh! Smells awful!" she proclaimed, but she didn't toss the cup away.

Instead the curious Kinoko brought it back towards herself, took another look at it, took in a deep breath before holding it with her cheeks puffed out, and then brought the drink to her lips and tossed it into her mouth in one go! As she lowered her head she kept the cheap liquor in her mouth just long enough for her to actually taste it before she reflexively jerked, body seizing up from the taste alone! Her eyes watered and she let out little moans of displeasure before swallowing the drink at long last, the swill followed by a fit of coughing as she dropped the cup and brought her hands to her throat, mouth open wide, tongue hanging out!

"ACK! That's absolutely DISGUSTING! FOUL!" she rancherosly declared, resuming her coughing as soon as she said it. The young samurai bent over and placed her hands on her knees as she coughed. Sweat dripped off of her brow onto the dirt below as her cheeks grew flush. It was hot out, sure, but she was now feeling a heat underneath her skin as the alcohol worked it's way through her system. Her tongue tingled. Her throat burned. She could still feel the graininess of the drink on her throat like a fine sandpaper, the hallmark of any cheap liquor as shed eventually come to know.

Turning her head upwards to look at the man, Shiun would point an accusatory finger at him, demanding to know, "Why the hell does anyone drink that stuff!? It's poison!" Of course, being so young and this being her first adult beverage, she didn't realize that the feeling of warmth radiating from her gut in all directions and the vague numbing sensation she could barely even feel were the positive effects that the man had told her about. Instead she was far too focused on the taste alone!

Jutsu TrainedShow

Drunken Fist • Throw One Back
D-Rank Taijutsu Maneuver
Prerequisite: Must have some form of alcohol to consume
The user takes their container of alcohol and brings it to their lips, tilting it upwards and taking a shot's worth of a drink. Imbibing alcohol like this increases the user's Endurance by 3 for 3 posts as the alcohol dulls the user's sense of pain, making them seem tougher than they actually are.

705/1000

[ThatGuy]

When the young girl chastised him, Yutaka couldn't help but smile. He was never given the chance to have a proper childhood. The fact that he was just a bum and not buried in a ditch was a miracle in and of itself. While he wouldn't exactly call the girl normal, it seemed she still had a degree of innocence. Something that was taken from Yutaka at a very young age. The man shook the thoughts from his head. He had gotten dangerously close to feeling guilty for a second.

Her reaction to the smell of the drink elicited a deep belly laugh from the man. He had a similar reaction to alcohol his first time, albeit less pronounced. Well, when it wasn't being forced down his throat in an attempt to get him to use 'Kisama magic' at least. As expected, the girl had a visceral reaction to the drink. The stuff he gave her was downright awful, but it got the job done. As she asked why anyone would drink it, the man picked up her cup and started to pour them both another drink. 

"Give it a few minutes. You'll learn exactly why people love this stuff. But to answer your other question, no, I don't have any pride. Pride gets ya killed, kid. You can be as honorable as you want, just don't get full of yourself. Turning your nose up at others just leaves your neck exposed, if ya catch my drift."

Yutaka let his words linger in the air for a moment. Who the hell did he think he was? Pretending like he had words of wisdom. He took care to pour less alcohol than last time into the girl's cup. She'd likely protest, but he figured the least he could do was teach her how to drink properly. So, offering the girl a drink once more, he spoke. 

"Alright it's easier said than done, but you want to avoid letting the drink hit your tongue. Relax your throat and tilt your head back at the same time as the glass. "Down it all in one go, it'll still burn, but it should help with the taste." With that, Yutaka gave a demonstration, making it look effortless. "Careful though, if you drink much more, you'll be puking all night. Or... day I guess."

Yutaka was positively smashed at this point, his head swimming with a stupid smile on his face. It was a peculiar situation that he found himself in. He didn't even know this girl's name, and yet he felt like her bad uncle. There was a small voice in the back of his head, nagging at him. Calling him a hypocrite and saying that he was no better than the Yakuza who bought him. But this was different. Right?

[Golnax]

Shiun continued to cough, partially for dramatics and partially because of a genuine need to get that funny feeling out of her throat all while the older man kept talking to her. Something about "pride bad, honor good", she wasn't paying attention for obvious reasons. When she straightened up, however, she looked over to see that he had poured her another cup and was offering it to her. The Kinoko's gut instinct was to retch and refuse the drink outright, but curiosity can kill more than cats, and as the man explained how to "properly" drink such a beverage she watched and learned. Just relax your throat and tilt your head back with the cup... well it sounded easy, anyway.

Filled with mixed feelings, the purple mushroom reached out and took the offered sake cup back from the man and once again looked down at the cup. She didn't smell it this time, no need for that, but she did gulp and the movement in her throat was a stark reminder of what it was she was about to do. Still she did as she was instructed, took a deep breath, relaxed her throat as much as she knew how to do, and threw the cheap drink back down her gullet. Her attempt wasn't exactly successful as some of the foul liquid did splash against the back of her tongue, but it did go inside of her and she once again made a face, sticking out her tongue and crying out loudly, "Blech!"

Wiping her mouth, Shiun sat the cup down on the boulder and frowned. She was pretty sure that she wasn't going to have any more of that stuff. She was starting to feel... funny. Not "haha" funny, no, but strange in a way she'd never physically felt before. She definitely didn't want to be puking as the man suggested she would be if she kept going, so that was all the more incentive. "I still don't get why people drink the stuff if it makes you puke... isn't the point to have a good time?" she asked cynically, shaking her head first as a shiver ran up and down her entire body. Shiun sniffled and looked up at the smiling bum.

"What's your name, anyway?" she asked.


1088/1000

[ThatGuy]

"Yutaka is the name and what do I call you? Little Mushroom?"

Yutaka thought carefully about how to explain why people drink. There were a lot of different reasons ultimately it was to simply "get drunk". But how could he put it into words?

"Well, when ya drink it you start to feel all warm inside. Kinda like you're wrapped in a blanket. Then you get a funny feeling in your head. Suddenly that voice in your head that says 'don't do that' gets quieter. If you want to laugh, you'll laugh. If you want to dance, you'll dance. If you want to finally punch that guy in the face that you hate, then you might just do that too. It's not that you have no control, you just care less than normal. In fact I once met a guy who used being drunk to fight."

Yutaka mimicked the man's movements from memory to the best of his ability. A series of stumbling steps followed by strikes from unexpected angles. It was a sloppy display, but enough to get the idea across. He got through a few moves before losing his balance and falling over.

"Eh, it wasn't my style anyways. I don't really like fighting that much. Or training for that matter."

[Golnax]

Shiun puffed up her cheeks as she was called 'little mushroom' by Yukata. That was a baby name among the Kinoko! Something you'd call infants and toddlers which she most certainly wasn't! "Shiun Kinoko will do just fine, thanks!" she huffed, standing up straight again but wobbling ever so slightly. That was weird. It kinda felt like her head was full of liquid all the sudden, then it was gone. That had never happened before...

The young samurai listened to Yutaka explain briefly the reasons why people got drunk. He said it was because alcohol made you care less, but that sounded a whole lot like losing control to Shiun. She didn't get it. Probably wouldn't for a long time, but the bit about fighting drunk intrigued her. Now Shiun was no expert on drunkeness, unlike Yutaka, but she'd been around older people who drank before and understood that imbibing alcohol tended to make you louder, in a lot of cases dumber, sometimes prone to violence and way more often than not clumsier than one normally would be. She'd seen a normally perfectly composed samurai stumble around like he was a toddler for goodness sake! How could anyone fight like that?

Then Yutaka gave a small demonstration, and to Shiun it looked... like a lot of bullshit, frankly. The tall redhead even fell down! Being prone was like, 'How-To-Die-101' at the academy, if you were on the ground and your opponent was ruthless you were basically dead! Again she had to ask, how could anyone fight like that!? "That sounds stupid and made up," she said, her tone not necessarily grumpy but more incredulous, skeptical. She pulled her cheek up to express that skepticism and held her hands up, kind of curled in front of her palms up before she corrected herself, turning her wrists inward. Her finger positions weren't quite right but they were close enough. Then she looked down at her feet and pointed her toes together like Yutaka had. She felt stupid. She was pretty sure she looked stupid, too. "Seriously, how is anyone supposed to fight like this? There's no center line!" she exposed, again recalling lessons from the academy about posture and how you were supposed to hold yourself in battle. "Little wonder that you never ranked up as a samurai if you didn't train and hung out with people who claimed they could fight better drunk!" she said flatly, wobbling a bit on the spot.

Jutsu TrainedShow

Drunken Fist • Hold My Sake
D-Rank Taijutsu Stance
The basic and default stance of all Drunken Fist, the user enters this stance by holding their arms out in front of them, one arm extended out further than the other while the opposite is kept closer and curled inwards towards the body with both hands further curled inwards, pinkie and ring fingers curled against their palms while the thumb, index and middle fingers are held out so as to mimic the gesture of holding a sake cup. Simultaneously, the user will sway and tilt from side to side and in circles in an erratic and unpredictable fashion while the legs are held in a position that seems counterintuitive, with one leg forward but both feet angled inwards. Assuming this stance makes the user's movements harder to follow and predict while also increasing the user's Speed by 2 and reducing their Strength by 1 for as long as they maintain this stance.

415/1000

[ThatGuy]

Yutaka shook his head as the girl spoke. What a rude little fungus! She’d definitely make a good samurai, just like the rest of the stuck-ups. With another laugh, he approached the girl and assumed a fighting stance.

"That’s the point! Look, when you’re in a fight, you can get a feel for your opponent. If I’m going to try and hit you, then you can try to read my movements and predict where the strikes are coming from."

He threw a few punches at the girl, not intending to land any of them. Making sure his movements were as stiff as possible. Next, he assumed the stance of his drunk friend. It wasn’t perfect, but it was a decent enough demonstration.

"Obviously, the more orthodox the person is, the easier it is to read. But when you have a stance as nonsensical as this, then you have no idea what the hell your opponent is thinking."

After stumbling back and forth and sideways a few times, the giant suddenly sprung his body forward, utilizing the momentum for another strike. He made sure not to land any strikes, it was just a demonstration, after all. Yutaka made sure to never fall into a rhythm, always making his strikes at random intervals. After he finished his example, the man stopped and continued to speak.

"See? The whole point is to not make sense. Sure, you can hone your fighting skills enough that it doesn’t matter if they can predict or not. But there are other ways to fight! Not everything is as prim ‘n proper as you samurai like to think. That’s why I couldn’t wait to finish my contract. I didn’t want to get promoted. I’d end up as stiff and stuck-up as the rest of you military types. But by all means, practice your swordsmanship or whatever shee-yun. I’m sure you’ll do just fine as a fighter anyway. Don’t make no difference to me."

He really didn’t mean for it to come off as much of a lecture as it did. But he was starting to get sick of everyone assuming he wanted to be some kind of military hero. Who would want to be chained down to a ideal like that? After taking another drink and noticing his vision start to blur, he spoke again.

"I’m sorry, kid, I don’t know where that came from. I guess I should take my own advice about pride, eh?"

After laughing once more, he sat down, waiting to see if the girl would give the stance another shot. He decided to take a break from drinking for the moment, not wanting to pass out again so early in the morning.

[Golnax]

Shiun squinted her eyes. To say she was skeptical was an understatement. After all, she'd been taught at the academy a certain way to fight which was direct and honorable, not necessarily open and easy to read per say but more simply being more skilled than whoever you're going up against to win in an honest fashion when it came to clashing blades. Yet she couldn't deny that there was a certain... appeal in what he was saying, although she couldn't quite articulate what that appeal was. And he was her elder, after all, so she could probably do well to listen to what he had to say...

As the much larger man threw some punches at her Shiun responded by swatting his hands away using Kugapou techniques, her preferred form of hand to hand combat. Yeah his punches hadn't been anything serious, but she'd thrown her hands up on instinct, really. She wasn't trying to impress the man. When he assumed the stance again she did the same, taking a step or two back before bringing her hands up, turning her feet inwards and trying to sway from side to side though she only really managed to do so with her shoulders rather than her whole body. She kept her posture like that as she watched Yutaka demonstrate how this unorthodox way of fighting was supposed to go, her eyes sharp and paying attention. The way he swayed was of particular interest to her, because he was right - she couldn't in her right mind figure out what he was going to do or where he might strike with all of that wibbling and wobbling! Of course it helped (or maybe didn't help?) that when he was throwing out strikes it was with no particular cadence or rhythm...

And... Hm. That was interesting. He wasn't actually striking with his fists... more like... the backs of his hands? His wrists? As he spoke again she turned her gaze down towards her own hands and adjusted them until they were in a much more 'proper' position for this weird drunk-man stance. Then she started to step, swaying, tilting, back and forth, kind of just letting the weight of her body go wherever it wanted to. It helped that she was still very much feeling the warmth in her gut and cheeks and her head was starting to feel a bit light as well. "I don't actually fight using a sword. Never liked the feel of one," she told Yutaka as she threw a couple of practice punches. Or strikes, maybe, might have been more appropriate. This stance was weird! "And I don't actually want to be like my teachers or the generals either. I actually want to be more like ninjas! If... I actually knew any..."

She trailed off, turning away from Yutaka and practicing some movements and strikes together. It was actually a lot more difficult than it seemed to walk and tilt at the same time without losing your balance, let alone while throwing off some punches... strikes... whatever! And what about kicks? Come to think of it, she didn't actually know any specific kicks beyond the basics. Her studies and aptitudes had sent her towards using her upper body more when it came to taijutsu based combat, she preferred to use her legs to keep herself steady and sturdy. As a way to practice, she turned her body back around and then threw a... kick? Mule kick? With one leg? Backwards. It didn't look that good, and she definitely lost her balance and had to pinwheel her arms to keep herself from falling as she regained her footing, but it was... kind of what this style of fighting was going for? You were supposed to look foolish so people couldn't predict you... right?

"This is harder than it looks... Maybe you're on to something after all," she said, straightening back up and placing her hands on her hips as she looked at Yutaka. "You know, I don't think I can blame you for not renewing your contract or anything. My clan isn't very big on fighting people either, we usually use our kekkei genkai to heal and feed people. I don't think there's any shame in pursuing avenues that are outside of the military... even if they're ones that lead to you being a bum!" she said, her tone completely serious. She meant her words to be kind, not really realizing that the last bit might have come off as sort of harsh and unempathetic.



1175/1000

[ThatGuy]

Yutaka clapped as the girl caught her balance. The kick was a nice touch. Shiun had picked up the movements much quicker than he had thought. He didn’t know if it was a testament to her talent, or his teaching ability. When the girl spoke, he listened intently, waving his hand dismissively when she finished.

"Don’t worry about it, ki- er Shiun. I'm just cranky from my rude awakening, that's all. My clan is somewhat similar… I think. Been a long time since I’ve seen any of ‘em. From what I remember, they’re craftsmen."

He once again used his bloodline ability to create an object, this time a small wooden mushroom figurine. After tossing it to the girl, he continued speaking.

"I’m gonna be honest with ya, there ain’t nothin’ I’m pursuing. Well, money, I guess, but only cause I wanna be free. I’m not one for being chained down, even if it’s for a good cause. When you’re a bum, you don’t have any attachments, meaning you don’t have to listen to anyone. It’s not the life for everyone. Certainly not the kinda life to live if ya want to be like one of them shinobi. Speakin’ of… That gives me an idea."

Yutaka got up and walked over to the tree, breaking off a few more branches. He supposed that some people would have issues with him damaging the tree, but who was going to stop him? The tree police? After breaking off some branches and using his ability to make small wooden spikes for the ground, he began setting them up. Each sticking out of the ground a short distance from each other. When he finished, he turned to the girl once more.

"Seeing as you caught on to the stance so fast, let’s try something else! All ya gotta do is use what you learned earlier to get the bottle outta my hands. But without knocking over any of these sticks. Seems simple enough, yeah? Come on, give it a go."

He shook the bottle mockingly as he made his way over to the makeshift obstacle course. Yutaka wasn’t sure why he felt the need to teach someone a style that he didn’t even know himself, but there was something about seeing the next generation improving that excited him. It wasn’t that he wanted the glory or credit, he simply wanted to be able to tell the story down the line. 

[Golnax]

Shiun did her absolute bestest to not sweat about the fact that she was responsible for Yutaka's sudden awakening. So far they had handily avoided talking about that fact but, well, yeah. He was very much bigger than she was, a very much drunk at this point (he had to be, right?) and she didn't really like, know him know him or anything. He could get mean at any time for all she knew! Thankfully Yutaka interrupted her just as she was about to say something by tossing her way a small wooden mushroom figurine which made her snap her mouth shut and hold her hands out to catch the small bauble. She looked it over in her hands as the taller man walked past her to go do something she wasn't paying attention to. This was... good, actually. It wasn't like a master crafted artifact or anything like that, didn't even have varnish on it, but she'd just watched this guy produce it from out of his body the same way she could make real mushrooms grow from hers! In her experience, such an ability was both very useful, and potentially financially lucrative. If he wanted money, why wasn't he making use of this to sell things?

"Hey, why don't you - " she began to ask as she turned around, already thinking of ways she could have him sell these cute little mushroom bauble things like she was some kind of entrepanuer and understood business (she did not) but stopped right in her tracks as she saw he had set up an obstacle course! Of sorts. Punji spikes? She looked up at him as he spoke again and furrowed her brow. "What? Me? I don't, I mean..." she tried to say as she turned towards him fully. She had quite literally stumbled through mimicking being a wobbling drunk and had managed to not fall down, now he was asking her to try and navigate between a bunch of wooden stakes and snatch a bottle out of his hand!?

Well, why not?

It was a mixture of the two drinks she'd had and her young enthusiasm that convinced her to do just that. Turning her face down towards the wooden mushroom again, the Kinoko knelt down and placed it on the ground before stepping forward to the edge of the maze of wooden stakes she hadn't actually seen him make, which made her wonder if there was any limit to the things he could make or not! If there wasn't, she'd be kind of jealous! Being able to make your own dishes and objects seemed WAY more useful than just mushrooms! Regardless, she took in a quick breath and then got back into the "drunk man" stance (she still didn't really have a name for it, that'd come later). "OK, here I come, then!" she said, her delivery a bit off because of general awkwardness and the booze.

She lurched forward and tried to step in between two of the stakes and immediately ran into trouble by way of almost immediately losing her balance. She lurched forward, let out a small cry and threw her upper body back upwards! Then she pirouetted and spun-stumbled around the stake in front of her before once again almost losing her balance and toppling over to the side, saved only by the grace of her balance as she stood on one foot and hopped dangerously close to yet another piece of wood, crying out all the while, "Ahti-ti-ti-ti-ti-ti!" She slammed her foot back down and pulled her arms back in front of her, turning on her heels on the spot and facing back towards Yutaka with a flustered look on her face. Fuck! This was so hard! "Don't look at me like that!" she cried grumpily, cheating a bit by getting a bit of a head start with some actual steps before weaving between stakes to get close enough to the tall man that she could turn her body halfway and swipe her hand upwards towards the bottle, looking like she was trying to throw an uppercut were it not for the fact her hand wasn't in a fist!

Jutsu TrainedShow

Drunken Fist • Get Your Own Drink!
D-Rank Taijutsu Discipline
The user makes full use of their ability to use unorthodox, sudden and unpredictable movements to snap their body to and fro, arms and legs, torso and head swiveling around obstacles as needed to get around objects or parts of the opponent's body in order to keep away or otherwise avoid an object within the user's hand, to get at and take something from an opponent's hands or otherwise create openings for strikes that come from unusual angles and positions.

700/1000

[ThatGuy]

Yutaka was pleased to see the enthusiasm with which the girl dived into the training he had set up. He didn’t want to admit it, but he was starting to have fun. Especially as the girl barely stumbled her way through the makeshift obstacle course. It was hard enough to keep your balance while using that stance, but to weave in between sticks was a whole other beast. He let out a hearty laugh as the girl bounced on one leg, trying to maintain her balance. Her embarrassed reaction only made him laugh harder. It was understandable, this wasn’t exactly an easy task, and it was her first time attempting it. But she was picking up insanely fast, and before he knew it, she was already reaching towards the bottle. Panicked, Yutaka stumbled backwards and was met with a stick stabbing him in his lower back. It didn’t break any skin, but it certainly didn’t feel good!

"Ow! Fuck!"

He had made this little course with the young girl in mind, so it was extremely cramped for someone of Yutaka’s size. Carefully taking a few steps to the side, he tried to make some distance between him and Shiun. His leg hit another stick on the way, and he let out another grunt. Okay, maybe this wasn’t the smartest idea. Looking back at the girl, he spoke.

"See? Happens to the best of us. Now let’s try again."

With that, the giant took a few more steps, this time making sure he didn’t hit any of the sticks along the way. Hopefully he wasn’t going to find any nasty bruises the next day. Switching hands, he moved the bottle further away from the girl. With his other hand, he gave a taunting gesture, hoping to bring out some competitive spirit in the young Kinoko. 

"Not gonna let an old drunk like me make a fool of ya, are ya? Let’s go little mushroom! Show me some spirit!"

[Golnax]

"Hey! That's a bad word! Apologize!" Shiun sanded suddenly as Yutaka cried out from the stick jabbing him in the back. The dark skinned samurai had entirely broken composure in that moment, breaking her stance, standing up straight, putting one hand on her hip and using the other to point at the taller red head accusingly with an overly serious look on her face like Yutaka had just broken a serious taboo. This would be yet another sign of how young she was, despite what her appearance might suggest, as typically only children cared about not using curse words.

Of course her sudden demand for the 'naughty behavior' caught up to her and she realized what she'd done, pointing arm going limp as she felt her cheeks warming up in embarrassment. "Ehehe... Uh, sorry, let's continue," she said sheepishly, quietly, before getting back into that cup holding stance and advancing. By now she really was getting a knack for moving like this. It was kind of like letting your hips do the leading when you walked rather than your eyes with the rest of the body above and below them being dragged along for the ride. She weaved through the stakes, criss crossing her legs over each other awkwardly, spinning around and tilting forward as was needed to both advance and to look as stupid as possible while doing so.

Naturally her smaller size and dexterity made it so that she caught up to Yutaka in no time and once she was in his face again she started to strike out, using both hands sequentially to jab, try to grab at and otherwise reach for the bottle. Of course he had a height advantage as well as age and experience, so it was one inevitable that she'd miss the first few times. And if he'd really wanted to keep it from her he'd just hold his arm up above his head, entirely out of reach, but that wasn't the point of this exercise! He continued missed made her expression grow more and more sour as she attempted to snatch the thing again and again, her repeat failures causing her to get creative.

Rather than just going straight for the bottle, Shiun started to get tricky, jabbing, instead, towards Yutaka's face in the hope of making him flinch long enough that she could dart her hand down and grab the bottle. When that didn't work, she'd try going under him, so to speak, throwing an upwards hook that came up underneath his arm, placing hers between it and the older man's torso, only to once again dart her hand and try to grab from this strange angle! Another miss, but she'd touched the bottle this time!

As the two of them kept at it, moving through the stakes, avoiding one another, Shiun getting closer and closer each attempt, a sort of rhythm was born, one where she would continually find new ways to tackle this problem that wouldn't quite work, she'd be just a hair too slow or didn't come at it from a clever enough angle, all the while the Akibushi and the bum kept in close proximity to one another. Finally the moment would arrive when, in her most creative idea yet, Shiun would throw her upper body backwards ever so slightly, tossing out two separate uppercuts in the process which inevitably made Yutaka position his hand just right so that she could further commit to the bend and throw a kick upwards, smacking the bottom of the bottle and sending it flying upwards in the air, out of his grip, only for it to clatter to the ground a few feet away where Shiun once again broke stance, ran as fast as she could through the stakes to get it, and picked it up!

"Yes! I did it! Woohoo!" she said excitedly, jumping up and down on the spot, all smiles, eyes closed - a perfect opportunity for her to run into a stake painfully herself, grab at her back and cry out, "Ow! Crap!"



1000/1000

[ThatGuy]

Yutaka was honestly surprised at the speed at which the girl moved as she continued her attempts at grabbing the bottle. He didn’t know if it was a sign of his laziness or her skill that he was barely able to keep up. Finding himself pressed as he struggled to keep the bottle from the girl’s reach. It wouldn’t be as difficult if he didn’t have to carefully maneuver around the stakes as well. Sure, he didn’t have to move like a drunk for this exercise, but he was drunk. So it was with great focus and effort that he managed to keep the bottle out of Shiun’s grasp. Thankfully, her movements were sloppy, allowing him to react in time despite the unpredictability. The girl was cheeky enough to even throw some jabs at his face. But the height difference meant she was reaching for the sky. Once he started to get his rhythm, Yutaka gave the girl a smile as he continued to evade. Sometimes he forgot that he was technically a trained fighter. Unfortunately for him, however, so was Shiun.

He evaded a few more strikes, and eventually the girl managed to touch the bottle. Her movements were already getting smoother. Yutaka entered a state of focus that he rarely cared enough to attempt. He managed to evade each of Shiun’s attempts even as her movements got quicker and more unpredictable. But seemingly out of nowhere, she threw an upward kick and knocked the bottle into the air. Yutaka let out a surprised chuckle as the bottle hit the ground, and she quickly scampered to retrieve it. Damn, this kid was a prodigy. Or was this simply the strength of the Heart Empire’s new generation? As she accidentally poked her back on one of the spikes, Yutaka mimicked her reaction from earlier. Putting a hand on his hip, he pointed at her.

"Hey! That’s a bad word! Apologize!"

Sticking his tongue out in a childish manner, he started removing the damned sticks from the ground. They ended up being more of a pain in the ass than he expected. Literally. Of all the things he had expected to do today, helping someone train was not one of them.

"You’re pretty damn good for a nine year old! Now beating me is not exactly the bar by which one should measure their success, but you picked that up insanely fast. Heart certainly didn’t fail ya with their trainin’!"

As he finished gathering the sticks, he created a string from his palm and used it to tie the bundle together. There's no use in letting them go to waste!

[Golnax]

Shiun glowered st the taller man as he teased her, rubbing her back and narrowing her eyes at him as he stuck out his tongue. Rude, drunk old man! She wasn't gonna apologize! Crap wasn't a bad word, kids were allowed to say it! Weirdly enough what got under her skin more was his random and inaccurate guess about her age. "I'm not nine! I'm eleven!" she corrected. This was one of the first times that she'd been undershot as far as her age was concerned since she had... Developed, and for some reason that ticked her off! When people assumed she was older and treated her and such she felt embarrassment in gently correcting them, a bit of bodily dysphoria washing over her every time. It was tough being s girl when your body sudden changed, boys didn't get it!

As Yutaka continued gathering sticks and complimenting her she sighed and wiped her brow of sweat. It still was hot out, and all of that just then had been more strenuous than she had initially prepared for. She felt covered in sweat, gross, and moved over to the tree to go sit under it's meager shade. She huffed and turned away, frankly disbelieving what he said about her being all great and stuff. "I'm not that good, I barely knew what I was doing. You're just drunk and out of practice," she retorted sincerely, really feeling it more appropriate to equate her efforts and prowess as Yutaka's lack of ability rather than her own capabilities.

She sighed and leaned as much of the back of her head as she could against the tree trunk - which was to say the back of her mushroom cap, which kept her from even so much as laying her back against the wood for support. "It is a kinda cool style, though... I can't wait to show Suzuko, I'm sure she'll think it's great...!" she mused wistfully, hoping that she'd get her friend's approval once she showed her.

[ThatGuy]

"Well excuuuuse me lil miss. Eleven it is."

Yutaka continued to tease the young girl. Based on his limited interaction with her, he didn’t think she was used to joking around like this. It was probably linked to her skills. Yutaka had never taken anything seriously, meaning it didn’t take long for others to outpace him. When the girl expressed that very same sentiment, he laughed once more.

"You picked the movements up in, what? Like an hour? That’s pretty damn impressive, even if your opponent is an out of practice drunk! Think of it this way, you’re young. You have nowhere to go but up if you stick to your training."

Starting to get sick of his own encouragement, Yutaka let out a yawn. The workout had made him a bit tired. Wiping the sweat from his brow, he realized that he didn’t have any water on him. Looking around, he realized that he’d have to make it back to town first. So, feeling backed into a corner, he drank some more booze. It’d keep his throat from getting dry, at least. Plus, it’d take a lot more than that to put him out of commission.

"Is Suzuko a pet or a friend? Oh and uh... I’d appreciate it if ya didn’t mention me giving you alcohol."

Yutaka took a seat on the nearby rock from earlier and caught his breath. It might be time to accept that he was getting out of shape. He didn’t plan on getting into any fights in the future, but given his ‘profession’, he knew he’d find himself in one eventually. Maybe he should find a sumo tournament. There was nothing like a bit of competition to encourage you to train.

[Golnax]

Shiun grumped in the shade of the tree as Yutaka continued to mock her for her age! She didn't know why but it bugged her!! That annoyance fairly quickly disappeared though as he gave her words of genuine encouragement, and while she didn't really believe him, they were nice to hear anyway. Shiun bowed her head to hide her smile, maybe she wasn't such a fraud after all...

Naturally she looked back up at Yutaka and narrowed her eyes at him at the implication that she was a snitch! "I'm not gonna tell no one about this! Geez!" she huffed impetuously. The little bit of alcohol in her system was making her slightly more moody than usual, but even so, she was offended by the thought that she'd be dumb enough to tell her peers that she'd taken alcohol from a stranger! And on the eve of the Pilot Program no less!

Calming down, Shiun looked down at Musu on her finger, holding her hand up to examine the golden ring in the early afternoon sun. "Suzuko's a friend of mine. My best friend. It feels like we've known each other for a life time some days," she explained wistfully. "She's eleven too, we were on the same class together. Now we're part of the pilot program and are going to go visit a lot of foreign countries in less than a week's time... I wonder what we're going to see, going to do..." She trailed off again, her young mind not able to formulate an imagining beyond the physical acts of sight seeing. The future was entirely unknown to her...

The last, however, suddenly came ringing like a gong in her noggin. Yutaka was old - at least twice her age! That means he might have heard about -

"Have you ever heard of Aimi Kaguya?" she blurted out suddenly, looking back to Yutaka for an answer. Yeah he was definitely like, dirty or something; definitely alive and around when the Great War happened, when Aimi Kaguya was alive an active in the world. Maybe the red headed bum had heard some stories about him?

[ThatGuy]

Yutaka didn’t exactly know what the pilot program was, he didn’t really care about military affairs. Or political ones, for that matter. Most of his time was spent thinking of a way to make enough money to get his fix. Whoever this ‘Suzuko’ was, if she was as skilled as Shiun then Heart’s military had a bright future.

"Let me just say, traveling is the most freeing experience there is. Everyone anchors themselves to their home. But to see the rest of the world... It’s liberating. Even as a vagrant, I loved the experience."

He was unexpectedly honest with the girl. Maybe it was the alcohol, but deep down, he knew it was something else. Yutaka didn’t have a childhood, and seeing the girl’s future seem so bright, he felt the need to play his part. He just hoped there wasn’t another war around the corner. They deserved a good childhood, everybody did. When they asked about Aimi Kaguya, Yutaka thought for a moment.

"It sounds.. Vaguely familiar. They were a shinobi right? I remember him being part o’ the war. But I really didn’t pay attention, sorry. Until recently, I’ve been a low level criminal. Never paid attention to the big stuff, just was looking for my next meal. Ya know?"

Why had she asked that all of a sudden? She had mentioned earlier that she wanted to be like a shinobi. Was this Aimi Kaguya somehow related to that? Regardless, it wasn’t really his place to ask. He’d just met her, after all. Hell, he barely knew her name!

[Golnax]

Dang. Another adult who didn't know who Aimi Kaguya was. Honestly at this point her search was starting to get tiresome. It seemed like there was no one she could ask in the entirety of Tea who has beyond the faintest idea of who her idol the Great Unifier was! She already he was a part of the Great War, he'd informed the Kinoko clan of it! She could even faintly remember the morning when a lot of the Kinoko left with Aimi to go off and fight, but she didn't know where they'd fought, who or why for that matter. All she had were questions a d no one who could answer them...

At this point she was getting used to the disappointment. "Not really, no," Shiun replied with a small sigh, getting up from the tree and looking up at the sky to get a rough estimate of the time. The sun wasn't quite directly over headz which meant it was either just before or just after noon. She was best from all this practice and the heat, not to mention ingesting alcohol. It felt like the right time to head back.

"I think I'm gonna go. Get some rest, drink some water or tea, that sort of thing," she said as she pushed off the tree and took the first few steps towards town. She stopped and turned to the boulder Yutaka was still sat on before bending forward and bowing her head, her hands pressed flat on her thighs just above her knees. "Thank you for training with me, teaching me that strange taijutsu, and sharing your alcohol! I promise I won't tell anyone about this! I :mokuton: hope we see each other again, goodbye Yubaba!"

And then she was gone, not realizing that she'd accidentally slurred her name. She jogged on back towards town, head full of thoughts and noise and confusion. And booze. It had been a very eventful morning, as it turned out!

[ThatGuy]

When the girl said she didn’t really understand what he meant, the man could only think ‘good’. It was for the best that the kid didn’t know that kind of life. She’ll learn what others go through as she travels, but there’s no reason she should experience it for herself. A nice kid like that? She’ll definitely grow up with a sense of empathy. Assuming nothing horrible happens. But that was too depressing a thought. So he waved to the girl as she left and took another drink. It was around noon already. Had they really been talking for that long?

After standing up from the boulder and stretching, the man decided it was time to head back to town. He had done his good deed for the day. Now it was time to trick people out of their hard-earned money.

-End-