[Closed] In This Swamp Squateth the Toad of Truth

[ShinobiTruth]

One would not normally associate a cloudy day with anything pleasant. The rain often meant bitter rain, scathing winds, unpleasant thunder, and frightening lightning. Then again, it wasn't normal for people to choose to live in a desert. For those few that did, the promise of rain brought tentative promises of relief from the scorching sun and unforgiving heat. The rain meant the assurance of water, fertile plants, respite from the fiery daystar that beat down on them, cool breezes to offset the dry air that abraded their skin and lungs like sandpaper... the list could go on and on. Nearly every single villager who could was taking their time to enjoy the unusual weather.

Then again, none of those people were Okita. With a grimace, he walked toward that ever-familiar library, intent on doing more research on long-lost spirits and specters of legends past. Rain. Of course. The one thing that had to happen today. Ugh. He had been planning on simply renting out his scrolls and researching in his study at home. A mission that he'd just finished yesterday had been so insultingly easy that he struggled to understand why someone had wasted his time and their money just to see it done. And now, because it was raining, the library would not allow any rentals of scrolls for the next three days. Something about the humidity potentially causing damage to the scrolls or some nonsense. Bah. Did they not think he had the necessary conditions at home to assure the texts' safety? He was not some prattling child. Even in school, the sharpness of Okita's intellect had never been in question, soaring above and beyond his peers. And he certainly had no shortage of accomplishments to merit the respect he felt that intellect deserved.

Opening the doors to the halls of learning, Okita roughly closed the door behind him. This was not merely for the sake of venting his frustrations (not completely); rather, it was important that the climate in the building remain as controlled as possible. Walking forward, he made a beeline for the History and Legends section, an oft-untouched section before he began offering this place his patronage. His deft fingers quickly sorted through a litany of scrolls and codexes before finding one of the legends he was looking for. The pile in his arms quickly began to grow, and Okita was eventually forced to hobble over to a table and set (read: drop) the literature on one of the tables. Walking a few feet over, he then unceremoniously dragged a table over and pushed it against the first one. Reaching into his satchel, the genin pulled pens and paper from within, setting them on the table. Setting the satchel down by the foot of his chair, he sat down and immediately unlocked the first scroll, rolling it out and peering through the text.

Ah, finally. He was in his zone. He could relax and research to his heart's content.

[Kabu]

While she would never dream of going out in weather like this, Rika honestly quite liked the rain. She enjoyed listening to the pitter patter of raindrops against the roof and windows as she worked. In a way it was calming and even served as a subtle reminder that despite Wind Country's desert biome and Suna's formerly isolationist nature they truly were a part of this much larger world. It wasn't a particularly necessary reminder but it was still one that was nice to have every now and again.

Within the library it was rather peaceful, Rika herself working on sketches for her newest puppet, a stack of books related to myths and legends sitting on her table with one in particular opened to a page detailing the mythical phoenix. Her secretary Kouseki Marina meanwhile was off in a quiet corner, reading to a group of kids huddled around her. There were a number of other patrons dotted around the room either taking the time to enjoy the relative silence or quietly talking amongst themselves. It honestly brought a smile to her face as she looked up from her work, seeing all the happy people that had more than once referred to her library as something of a home away from home.

She had just looked down again, about to get back to work when she heard the door roughly close, her head jerking up at the sound. Oh... it was only one of the village Genin, Okita she believed his name to be. She hadn't had much firsthand experience with the boy but Marina had tangled with him on more than one occasion and she herself had come to have an idea of his general personality from the vast number of complaint letters she had received.

With that in mind she opted to watch him for a bit to see what he would do, her brow furrowing as he browsed the shelves and the stack of books in his arms grew increasingly large, forcing him to hobble over towards a table. Now that wasn't good for either him or the texts... Surely he wasn't so impatient that he couldn't take multiple trips.

Yet she turned back towards her work, resisting the urge to walk over and scold him. Both he and the texts remained unharmed and that was the important thing. As she pulled her book close and resumed her sketching however she couldn't help but feel a bit curious on just what it was that seemed to be so very thoroughly grabbing his attention.

[ShinobiTruth]

Okita's overactive mind came with an occasional curse: sleep did not always come easily to him. When his mind worked and toiled around mysteries that did not have easily-found answers, his mind would refuse to accept what his body's limits might be. Thus, even his dreams were not sacrosanct; he'd spend much of the following night tossing and turning as his mind sent flashes and images of the creatures he'd been studying before, the confines of his subconscious imagination embellishing one fact with another until the visions twisted and mutated into something else entirely, the monsters within now truly fantasy. The frustration that he felt as sleep was procedurally stolen from his eyes was not insignificant, and he often had to channel that into productive efforts. Much to the chagrin of those around him, he almost always channeled that into the very research that seemed to be the cause of that consternation.

He made it about five minutes into his research in silence before the muttering ensued. This myth about the Deceptions had to have a different meaning, he simply knew it did. The myth had been told and retold between nomadic tribes for centuries, however, and each of the tribes had their own interpretations of the legends. And it wasn't so simple as only one of the tribes being correct. No, to be frank, all of the tribes probably had their details wrong, but there had to be singular aspects of each story that were true and consistent with paleontological and archeological facts. He had to parse through each of the legends and then plausibly link those to concrete scientific findings. Months of research were riding on this. His pathway to the chuunin exams was riding on this. So much of his future aspirations rested on the results of this research. For what he wanted from this world, he could not afford to simply be good. He had to be great. He had to inspire respect, awe, and fear, and that could only be done by harnessing the unknown and mastering it before others had the opportunity.

The hushed words began to flow and footsteps began to echo through the halls of the library. "So, I know that the Deception infers the existence of a sixth Tricktser God, but the location of this being still eludes me. The locations in which these tribes wandered span the entire country." He rapidly tapped the map he was looking at with his pen, eyes furiously scanning the document to and fro. His brow was furrowed with confusion, pouring through the documents. "None of these archeological logs provide any sort of relevant information. All I have are vague stories. Damn it, there has to be something. Maybe I need to explore the findings for other related myths."

The whispers were quiet but intense. They would echo and rebound as he stood at the center of the set of tables left for visitors to sit at to read and research. Despite all of the bookshelves, the ceiling and stone made for excellent acoustics, his voice bouncing off of pillars and walls as it reverberated through the library. This was soon joined by furious scribbling and the occasional excited, or frustrated, hushed exclamation.

[Kabu]

Rika meanwhile was making good progress on her designs, occasionally mumbling under her breath as more and more ideas bubbled to the surface. This was going to be a very special puppet, it needed to be absolutely perfect. She however found herself soon distracted by a strange noise, closing her sketchbook as she looked around in an attempt to find its source. It sounded like footsteps and excited whispers which could only mean... She looked over towards the table where Okita sat, or rather now stood, brow furrowing at the sight. She could even see some of the other patrons staring at him, which meant he was being a bit of a bother.

She took a glance over towards Marina, wryly smiling at the sight of the woman engrossed in her quiet reading, the children seeming to enjoy the story. She didn't have the heart to interrupt which meant she would have to take this matter into her own hands. She really didn't like having to be the disciplinarian, Marina being much better at it than she was. She hated having to be strict but oh well, it was part of her job and if she was ever going to be an effective leader she would need to harden her heart at times and do what needed to be done.

Leaving her books where they were she got up and walked over towards Okita, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder in an attempt to get his attention. She did wonder what had him quite so excited, having only caught bits and pieces of his exclamations, but that wasn't important right now. "Okita... could I ask you to calm down just a little? Getting a bit excited is fine, I would be a hypocrite to say otherwise, but you're bothering the others." she spoke, firmly but gently. If she could get the point across with just this much that would be ideal... but she had a feeling it wouldn't be quite that easy from what little she knew of the boy.

All the while she couldn't help but look down at his notes, raising a brow at the contents. He certainly was dedicated to his craft, that much was for sure. "Seems like you've made some interesting finds here..."

[ShinobiTruth]

There was no way of knowing whether Rika had encountered someone who looked like they both suffered from insomnia and also had stimulants directly injected I to their veins, but if she hadn’t she was most certainly about to. Okita stopped at the feeling of Rika’s hand on his shoulder and turned to look at the source of the intrusion, who he immediately recognized. His eyes were somehow both bleary and electric, unmistakably strained red from a lack of sleep and exertion. The air around him crackles with the potent aura of a mad scientist, clearly absorbed in his work and quite averse to anything that might stand in the way of it. Okita’s relaxed somewhat as he saw Rika, but the exhale from his chest as his shoulders visibly fell was followed by a grumble. ”Ah yes, Rika,” he breathed, pinching the bridge of his nose as he closed his eyes to fight off the stress headache he’d been nursing since the late evening last night. ”You misunderstand excitement for agitation. The inclement weather requires I conduct my research here, and the topic of said research has vexed me for the past several weeks.” He seemed to ignore Rika’s request outright by speech alone, but his tone in response was at least a little quieter than before.

At the mention of his research, he turned towards his work and motioned toward the piles of parchment and scrolls. ”My findings take me into the ancient and esoteric, as you can see. Finding a cohesive strand of truth or probability in these nomadic myths and folklore is like trying to pluck an ant lion’s prey from between its mandibles.” He slowly walked over to the side of the table across from the librarian. ”I’d be out there looking for the ruins of these temples if I could. But I still have to narrow down a possible location first, and none of these texts speak plainly about where these events supposedly occurred.”