Cleaning Up.

[seiuchiblarg]

The sand trickled out, like water between his finger tips, as Jiigo's tiny pin worked. Slowly, carefully, between each and every groove. Jiigo was cleaning Nefarious. The puppet in his lap would have smiled happily, given a face or a mind or a soul.... Well, Jiigo didn't like to dwell on that. The care he took for Nefarious was as a mother for her child, as a father for his household, as a lord for his people. He worked through Nefarious' wires, undoing all the knots, reworking and winding until they were tight and sweetly wound for him. He toyed out the kinks in his chains, sharpened out bluntened spikes. It was hard, laborious work that took him well into the day, but worth every bit of it.

He was working on the winding mechanisms for the chains to which his spikes were attached at noon, and when all of those were finally cleaned through, voided of any and all sand, he began wrapping the chains the way they should be, clearing out sand from the spaces at which they connected, winding it just the way it should be wound. Only a genin, Jiigo had done this countless times before. It was a mindless task by now, but a peaceful one, one which brought his spirit to rest. Here, he forgot his japes, his jokes, his paranoia and unrest. Here, he could focus on his companion, his friend, his puppet... His Nefarious.

[CDF]

Hito let out a sigh of relief as he stared off into the sunset. His cloak billowed with the wind as he stood up on top of the roof, staring out into this beautiful village that he loved oh so much.

He had just finished his daily patrol and was just taking a little break to appreciate the majestic Suna. When he was finished, he hopped down from the roof and started making his way home. As he walked, he saw something interesting.

A man, a boy, was cleaning out what seemed to be a puppet. This was far from peculiar, of course, in a village with many puppeteers. Still, it interested Hito. There was a moment in time when Hito considered using puppets, but he dismissed the idea because he thought it would be too troublesome.

Now, however, he was beginning to think it would be the best choice.

"That's a nice puppet you have there."

Hito said with a smile, attempting to start a conversation.

[seiuchiblarg]

Jiigo was just about finished. All that was left now was to coil up the chains and load their mechanisms properly, and then to close up the armor. Jiigo was nearly finished with the mechanisms when a man spoke to Jiigo, making him jump visibly. "Oh!"

Looking up from his seat on the sandy desert ground, Jiigo glanced around, until his gaze came to rest on an older looking man who was staring interestedly at the inner workings of his puppet. The man's bodily features were mostly hidden away by a cloak, but Jiigo could tell from his height and his face that the stranger was older than himself. Jiigo set to a rush, then, blushing furiously as he hurried to replace everything to the way it should be in Nefarious: A kairainin was mostly helpless if his only puppet had been taken apart, and for the enemy to see the insides of Nefarious, for Jiigo's puppet to be held open like a whore's legs... it was very much like being caught with his own pants down. Nefarious' "nudity" was his own.

Stammering, Jiigo closed up his puppet in a rush, speaking as he finished up. "Um... Uh, th-thanks," he said, trying and failing to regain his own composure. "I've-- I've had him since I was in the academy." Jiigo gave the man a looking over, noting that the man was from Suna, but his headband indicated something else as well. What was it, though? Was he part of some task force? Well, if he were on a mission, Jiigo doubted that this person would make the time to talk to Jiigo, unless he was for whatever reason part of it. So it had to be something more basic. Maybe a personal mark then, Jiigo guessed. He wondered what it meant.

Now that Nefarious was covered up again, it's nakedness hidden from prying eyes, Jiigo felt a bit more curt towards this stranger who had intruded. Someone may as well have walked in on him in the bathroom without knocking! "I call it Nefarious," he said, his words a bit colder than perhaps they should have been. Jiigo was no sensor, but there was something about this man that told him he was not to be trifled with... though the young kairainin couldn't quite place it on him.

[CDF]

Hito held back a smirk as the Genin worked quickly to cover up his puppet. He admired the passion the boy had in keeping his puppets secret.... secret. It was a good quality in a suna shinobi, and Hito expressed that thought. "Don't worry, i'm not here to pry into your puppets secrets. It's good that you're cautious with them around people, despite your cleaning of a puppet in such a public place." Hito waved his hand, direction the genin's attention to their surroundings. It wasn't like the boy was in a basement or something.

"Either way, my name's Ouji Hito. I've been a little interested in puppetry lately, i'm still deciding whether i should get into it or not.

[seiuchiblarg]

Jiigo cocked a prideful eyebrow at the man as he expressed his interest in puppetry. He accepted the praise with a cocky smile, not bothering to explain his choice of places to him. "Well, puppetry's not the kinda thing you just get into, Ouji Hito." Jiigo was eyeballing the man now, sizing him up, trying to figure out how he would work out as a puppet master. "You've gotta have just the right set of skills, which I happen to have." More of that cocky smile before Jiigo went on. "It takes a lot of work... My name's Samata, Jiigo, and I can tell you that puppeteering is more than just a hobby or an extra jutsu; A puppeteer's puppets are his lifelines, his comrades, and his most powerful allies. You might have jutsu now, you might be able to throw a mean technique at the opponent, but if you're going to put every ounce of time and effort into puppetry that you should to get good enough for it to be worth your time, then odds are you'll want to change your whole style of fighting to fit in with it."

He considered his words after he said them, rather than before, and softened; He hadn't wanted to lecture, only to warn. "It is a lost to get into, but puppeteering is a versatile art. I wouldn't count on becoming a master if I were you, but maybe you could learn some tricks and get a couple neat toys to play with." The man was older, and probably half again as strong as Jiigo, if not more,but that didn't stop the young Kairainin from saying whatever was on his mind: Jiigo was brutally honest, perhaps to the point of stupidity, and, as is the bane of many among shinobi young, was just cocky enough to be a little braver than he should be.

[CDF]

Hito didn’t need to be as intelligent as he was to notice the arrogance in the young shinobis voice. Instead of irritating him, however, it amused him. It was good that the youth of Suna were so confident in their skills.

On the other hand, however, the boy was being rude. Hito was his elder and he could not allow such behavior. It wasn’t too serious, so he’d just drop a hint for now and proceed from there. “You seem to be quite the expert. But I’ve been fighting for a long time now, I’ve seen more comrades die than I’d care to, even the ones who use puppets. I don’t take any fighting style as a hobby or just an extra jutsu, they’re all parts of me that I train to the fullest extent so I can become the best weapon possible for my village. As for not becoming a master, I wouldn’t underestimate the learning capabilities of a Suna Jounin, Samata-kun.”

Hito smiled at the end to make it clear that he was not angry. He was still looking with interest at the puppet in the genins possession, pointing towards it with interest. “So, what kind of tips could I learn, exactly?”

[seiuchiblarg]

Arrogant though he was, Jiigo had the wits to listen without interruption. A jounin, hm? A little late to get started in the art, but who knows? This guy's one of our elites for a reason, I suppose. The man seemed to bristle a bit at Jiigo's commenting on his ability to master puppetry, or lack thereof, and Jiigo waved a hand dismissively. "I've been practicing in this art for four years, and I'm still far and away from mastering it." He kept looking at the man, considering. "I've practiced just about nothing else but my puppetry. Now, I'll admit, my special brand of talent was refreshing to teachers in the academy, but even as a full fledged ninja now I'm no master."

The kairainin didn't want Hito to think that Jiigo was trying to dissuade him from it again, so he expanded on what he was saying. "The most important things are to be patient, and to be familiar with your puppet. You're going to make a lot of mistakes, especially at first, and more importantly, you'll want to try the puppet out in real combat. Don't. You won't be ready. Not for a long time. Work hard and practice and make absolutely sure that you're puppet sin no more danger than you are before you hit a battlefield with it, and that'll cover the patience bit.

"But what's helped me and a couple of other puppet ninjas I know is to know your puppets down to the core. A lot of puppeteers work with the materials they want to make a puppet out of before they actually make a puppet. Take Nefarious here; I worked with metal and wood, toying with it on my specialized chakra strings, working with the durability and flexibility of a hundred different materials before I picked the ones I like. Because I know the strengths and weaknesses of the materials I used to make Nefarious, I know the best ways to use him, too. It's not enough to know how to work your mechanisms and to spring your weapons. That's plenty important, but it's just as valuable to know just what your puppet can take and what it can't."

Jiigo was quiet then, having finished his lecture, just about. He certainly didn't want to bore the old man -- though admittedly, he loved that a jounin elite was asking genin Jiigo for shinobi advice. It gave him just enough confidence to continue a little more. "Chakra strings are another thing; You need to be able to channel your chakra through thin air with no medium but that, with precise enough control over it to keep your puppets working from multiple yards away; optimally, you'll want to be far away enough to be hidden while your puppets do your dirty work."

Another moment of silence, and then he said, "If you want to get started on puppetry, those are the places you want to do it." He stood up, Nefarious resting on his shoulder, it's spikes hanging down around the puppet master's body loosely, limply, making him very well protected indeed. "So, you just about got all that, or do I need to repeat myself?" A cocky Jiigo was smirking at Hito, not to insult him... just thoroughly enjoying helping out one who could be considered elite.

[CDF]

Hito smiled as he listened to the Genin boast and lecture him on puppets. It was a little obnoxious, but it made Hito proud to have such a talented and intelligent Genin in his village. Of course, he wouldn't dare say this out loud. The boys ego was already incredibly large, the last thing it needed was to be inflated even more.

Still, the tips were in fact useful, especially for one that was thinking of starting into puppetry like Hito.

"How well does your puppet move? In terms of combat?"

[seiuchiblarg]

Jiigo kept that smirk on his face, standing when Hito asked about his combat speed. "Well, you could always see for yourself, if you wanted." Jiigo flexed his fingers, and Nefarious rose into the air in front of him. "How about a spar? Promise not to kill me or my Nefarious here, and might be I can teach you a thing or two about puppets." Jiigo's eyes looked the boy over and over again. This man was an elite, by the look of him; a jounin, if the young kairainin had to guess. Jiigo had no doubt that he was going to lose this fight... But that was part of the fun. Maybe he could put on a good show -- and a good show for a jounin could mean recommendations for a genin. And of course, that prideful part of Jiigo that was all of Jiigo couldn't help but imagine how bad-ass it would be to defeat a jounin -- even if they were taking it easy on him.

"Whuddya say? Spar?" Nefarious' chains clinked and rattled as they lowered slowly, like so many angry snakes from the head of a feral gorgon. The spikes rose up, threatening Hito, daring him, staying close, always, to Jiigo. Objective is to neutralize the target without killing or permanently wounding. Hmph. Not my best, but... we'll see how I fare.

The cocky smile remained as Jiigo waited for his opponent to make a move.