[Graded]Friends... Not Food

[Mortalvis]

A crisp, clear morning opened the beginning of a new day. The sound of water strode down steams that traveled the sides of the mountain range. Iron gray waters meshed for miles beneath a matching sky, occasionally washing across the craggy stretch of shoreline. The mild temperature was a bit nippy with chilly ocean breezes riding in off of the waves, but it was nonetheless refreshing.

Early morning excursions had their value, and anything beat city life. A cold slab of rock was just as good as any bed, and the taste of a freshly caught prey was free of the bitter taint of process. The smell of firewood burning in a pit beat the smell of chimney stacks; or at least Doxu thought so as he inhaled a load of the smoke billowing from the fire he put together. It was one thing to be out enjoying the morning hours, it was an entirely other thing to be out enjoying the morning hours with a bottle of whiskey, a warm fire, and a stomach full of fish.

This particular shore was accessable via a path just outside of the village. It wasn't one of the well traveled paths and the bleak beach was often deserted. Driftwood and other sea-litter were scattered across the love-starved beach. Upon discovering it long ago, Doxu made a habit of spending his mornings here when he wasn't busy. The beach's gaunt appearance and how dark and cold the waters looked in the early hours had a distinctive appeal; it was a wonder that no one else enjoyed the sight.

Heaving a great sigh, Doxu got up to fan the fire. He had been sitting there since the middle of the night in light of sleeping troubles that night. His house always felt so empty that it sometimes became unbearable. Coming back to the same thing every single day had its wear on the jounin, and he spent much of his time seeking peace in nature as a solution.

The Kumo-nin sat back down and looked to his partially empty whiskey bottle, scoffing at its company. The sand behind him was constantly being pushed back and forth by the swish of his tail, but he otherwise became still and fixated on nothing but the rocking of the water.

[Punslinger]

Iori had gotten up early and made herself breakfast, mixing the warm vinegar and the rice together before patting them into balls before quietly slipping out the front door into the cool morning air. Heading north out of the village, Iori took a deep breath, expecting to inhale the fresh smell of dew on pine needles. Instead, a hint of salt air caused her eyes to open a little wider. Obeying a strange urge to eat her breakfast while watching the surf come in, the teen continued along the path, past the spot where she usually turned off in the woods to her training grounds. After another mile or so, the pine trees thinned and disappeared altogether, giving rise to steep cliffs on the left as the land gave way to black waters on the right. Something primal stirred within the girl’s chest at the sight of the white caps on the rollers in the autumn wind, and she held her hands at her side, savoring the cold instead of trying to shrink from it.

This is how it should be.

After a minute or two of searching for a way down to the shore from the high path, (in the morning gloom, she’d missed Doxu’s path) Iori decided to make her own way down. Bracing herself against the strap of her pouch, she made several handseals, and three wires snaked around her waist before wrapping around a nearby outcropping. Lowering herself the twenty feet or so to the tide-beaten gravel, the genin smiled a little at her own resourcefulness. Using chakra to walk down a surface perpendicular to the ground was a great way to spill one’s breakfast. Besides, this was classier. Reaching the bottom, a gesture of Iori’s hand loosed the wires from their holdings and sent them back to their place in the bag.

The genin spent a few minutes walking down the beach, looking for a suitable piece of driftwood to sit on before noticing the small column of smoke from Doxu’s fire against the grey sky. Not particularly enthused to have the company, the teen was nevertheless immediately reminded of just how nice it would be to have warm rice balls for breakfast instead, so she made her way over, not bothering to mask her presence as she did. No sense in scaring some solitary soul by popping up unannounced and unnoticed. As she got closer, she raised a friendly hand.

“Morning. Mind if I borrow the fire for a little breakfast?”

SpoilerShow

Densen [Electric Line]
Unlike the technique for controlling wire commonly taught in the Academy, Iori has trained to the point that she is actually able to “feel” the wire’s she’s controlling, likely caused by the fact that she uses raiton chakra to control them rather than normal chakra, which not only creates a link to her nervous system, but makes her mastery over the technique almost prehensile. In addition, her ability to control the wires goes beyond physical contact. Once she has touched and magnetized a wire, she can control it fairly well from a distance of about thirty feet without touching it, though not nearly to the same degree of control.

[Mortalvis]

Doxu dreaded the approaching company. He could smell the scent of another human nearing before she was even half way to him. It was unexpected to have company, since he usually had the beach to himself, and the look he shot her wasn't the least bit welcoming. It was closely accompanied by the 'go ahead' gesture.

"I don't own the fire, do whatever you want with it," he grumbled. He was getting the strangest vibe from the girl and he didn't like it one bit. It made him feel really off the longer she was near, and he stood up. "Are you pulling some kind of bullshit?" he growled, expecting that she knew what was going on. One could never be too suspicious. He plastered a hand to the side of his head as a slight dizzy spell came over him.

"The hell is this? Goddamn," he cursed to himself, keeping a scrutinizing stare on Iori. It wasn't something he encountered very often, but he finally realized what was wrong: her magnetic field was elevated, and it was messing with his head. What luck he had.

[Punslinger]

Iori had already sat down on a nearby log as Doxu stood, causing her to eye his tail and…were those pectoral fins on his arms? Obviously not a morning person, which was odd considering how far out from the village he was. She wore a skeptical look as she waved a hand at her pack, causing a single wire wrapped several times around a rice ball to float out over the fire.

She looked out over the sea before her thoughts were drawn back by Doxu’s growl.
“None that I know of, anyway.” She said innocently, watching the rice ball turn deliciously in its wire carriage over the fire before pulling it back to herself and placed a hand over it to test for heat. Finding it to her liking, the wire dumped the morsel into her hands and slipped back into the bag, almost of its own will. The genin tied into the ball of fluff hungrily. She paused, looking at the mound in her hand.

“You know, I always used to imagine these were little baby rabbits as a kid. My mom never liked it, but my dad thought it was hilarious. Want one? Made ‘em myself.” She gestured to her bag and yet another rice ball wrapped in wire appeared, stretching toward her host.

[OoC: I know, sorry. She’s just being nice.]

[Mortalvis]

"Bunnies? The h-" Doxu began, but was promptly cut off when offered the rice ball. He writhed and stomped the ground before reeling back a few steps. "Oh, c'mon! Now you're just being a dick." The shark-man's tail lashed back and forth as he glared at her. She looked so innocent while she worked with her magnetism skills; it was literally enough to give Doxu a headache and the beginnings of a sick stomach.

"Keep that shit away from me, dammit. It's making me sick." He was looking rather nauseous as he stumbled toward the water, but not too far from the fire. He wasn't going to let some girl drive him off of the beach, although he wasn't paranoid enough to think she came with these intentions. It made only a little difference to be a reasonable distance away from her.

"Okay, when you stop with whatever crap you're pulling with the magnetic fields, I'm gonna beat the crap out of you." It was hard to tell if he was serious, but the ill look upon his face said that he wasn't fighting anyone anytime soon.

[Punslinger]

Iori looked puzzled for a second at Doxu’s odd display. He was looking a little green at the…did he have gills? He was obviously from the Ikimono clan, some kind of beast man, but the teen couldn’t quite decide what kind of fish he was. Offhand, she would have said shark, but she didn’t like jumping to conclusions. As he stumbled toward the water, his comment struck home and Iori’s face lit up with shame and embarrassment.

“Magne-..? Oh, shit.” she muttered as she pulled the wire back quickly, almost dropping the rice ball in her haste to put both items away before forming a handseal for Kai and interrupting her chakra flow for a moment to dispel any residual effects from her jutsu.

“I am so, so sorry, I had no idea it….er, I have no idea what your name is.”

She didn’t know exactly how her host had known she was using magnetism, but she knew that animals were known to have certain abilities for sensing things like that, and assumed this was such an occasion. It struck the teen just how much like a trapped animal her victim looked, writhing in discomfort in her presence, and some nurturing part of her nature kicked in, almost in spite of her urge to comment on how stupid this man looked trying to get away from a girl who was probably a good seven or eight years his junior. She stood, feeling a little guilty and extremely awkward, not exactly sure how to make up for her faux pas.

“Uh, that should take care of it, I think, you can come back…” her voice trailed off, and she stood facing Doxu, looking extremely sorry, her right arm holding onto her left in a gesture of helplessness and uncertainty. After all, it wasn’t like giving a shark-man a headache was a common social situation someone could just smooth over.

[Mortalvis]

She looked sorry, but Doxu's frown was fastened to his face. At that point he would have preferred the usual name calling he got on occasion instead of this skin-deep stuff that was sickening him.

"Argh, damn, it's Doxu, and you're gonna damn well remember it if you wanna stay alive." Things were noticably better when the chakra flow ceased and his sick feeling subsided, but his headache remained. This was one of the first times he got to measure just how badly magnetics screwed with his body. Sometimes there were things about being a shark that downright sucked. However, the magnetic fields were definitely back to normal as far as he could tell, so it would probably be safe enough to approach...

Doxu pulled his scarf tighter around his neck and fixed the longer portion that draped over his back. He brushed past Iori as he came back to the pit and grunted when he sat down. "I think I at least get to know your name since you fucked with my head," he snarled, not dropping it until he was sure she was sorry. Even Doxu wasn't dense enough to look past the way she held herself; her apology was certainly sincere. However unwilling he was to accept this, the last bit of spite was in his large frown.

The fish-esque man glowered and looked toward the water, his expression softening. "Well, whatever. I'm sure you didn't mess up my morning on purpose but you did a damn fine job of it. Ergh. Just don't go pulling that crap around me again." Part of Doxu held scorn for how ignorant people could be of him. It was clear as day that he wasn't quite like most other people, and had different kinds of problems to worry about than the average joe.

[Punslinger]

As the big man shuffled back and took his seat, (and he was big, she noticed) Iori sat back down, looking for a flat rock.

“Iori.” She said, a little sullenly. She hadn’t quite expected him to forgive her, but the snarl was scary.

Since her wire cage trick was now out of the question, she pulled another rice ball from her pack, looking around for a flat rock. Finding one, she balanced her snack gently on top, edging the plate as close to the fire as possible. As an afterthought, she reached back in the bag, pulling out her last rice ball and offering it to Doxu again, this time with her hand.

“Baby rabbit?” she smiled weakly. He sounded like he’d almost forgiven her…sortof.

[Mortalvis]

The jounin nearly jumped out of his seat when Iori reached back into her bag. "Hey, what did I say ab-... Oh." He blinked, eying the 'baby rabbit'. She was a little odd, a little dark, and hadn't made a very good first impression, but Doxu mostly trusted her intentions. There was no right time to let his guard down though, and he kept his suspicion subtle.

"I don't wanna think about eating baby bunnies. You're kinda scary," he muttered, cocking a brow at her. He huffed and looked away. "I wouldn't consider that crap breakfast anyway. I coulda caught you a fish for all this was worth." The shark-man idly cracked his knuckles and stood up to stretch his back. The day was going to be a bleak one. No sun, just overcast skies.

"Shitty day. Always a shitty day," he grumbled to himself as he picked up a piece of suitable driftwood and tossed it into the fire. He crossed his arms and turned to her, observing her a little more closely than before.

"So what's the deal? You some kind of ninja from Kumo? Must be a genin or a chuunin if I haven't seen you around." Doxu hated to sound interested, but it couldn't hurt to make the most of the company.

[Punslinger]

It figures a fish man eats fish for breakfast. Also, remember to never kiss this guy. she thought, eying his jagged teeth as he talked. Not bothering to try changing his mind, Iori happily replaced the rice ball in her hand with the warm one from the fire, eating that one as quickly as she had the first. Her mouth still full, she replied to Doxu’s commentary between gulps.

“Hey, I’m not scary! Well, not as bad as you, anyway.” Her voice was muffled around the mouthful of food. Gulp. This guy was right about her being scary, but denying it seemed a more natural response. After all, trying to maul chuunin proctors and a few of her male classmates didn’t exactly pose the ladylike image she wanted to impart on her acquaintances.

“Wouldn’t know what a good day is like without shitty ones, though.”The last rice ball was snatched from the top of the rock. Gulp.

“Yeah, genin; me and my cousin just graduated a few months back.” She wiped her face on her sleeve and settled back lazily on the log, looking out at the sea. The sky had gotten brighter, but there would be no sunrise today. The cold wind caused her to blink.

“Shitty or not, it’s still kinda pretty in its own way…” she mused, watching the rollers come in. After a moment of contented silence, she glanced over at the tall man across from her. He certainly wasn’t anyone’s idea of normal looking, even by the elastic standards of ninja.

“So, Doxu-san. You’re an Ikimono, right? I think we had one in our graduating class. Some parrot girl; terrible gossip, but she had a beautiful singing voice. I always wondered, though. How is it that a group of people who’re related to each other all have traits from completely unrelated animals?” she blushed a little as she said this, thinking perhaps that she was being nosy, but she didn’t take it back; the curiosity was too much.

[OoC: Ergh, honorifics.]

[Mortalvis]

Doxu made a face at the -san suffix but didn't say anything about it. Iori seemed bright for her age, but the jounin had a bad feeling that she was the type that could easily get on his nerves. She seemed like a social kid; talked a lot and asked nosy questions. He would entertain her with answers for now.

"No, I'm just a shark that grew a pair of legs and a couple of arms." He paused to scoff. "Yeah, I'm an Ikimono." He took a moment to sit back down and edge closer to the fire. It was fairly chilly, and he wasn't dressed for the weather. The fire was simmering down but still had a warm glow to it.

The man yawned before continuing. "How should I know? It seems like a totally random system to me. My mother's a gecko and my father's a crocodile. What am I? A shark. How those add up is goddamn senseless. Closest I've seen any of my clan get to their parents' animals is when they're the same type of animal. Like a hawk when one of their parents are a bird too. Never the same species... or at least not that I've seen." He shrugged and looked around vacantly.

His head still hurt and his muscles were getting somewhat stiff from the lack of activity for most of the night and morning. At this point he wanted to make up some bull excuse to get the heck on out of there, but something was compelling him to stay. He sort of figured it was because she partially reminded him of a close friend that he had, and if he could stand to be around her, he surely could deal with Iori for a bit longer.

"I don't even know why I'm telling you anything. What's it gonna matter? Bah." Doxu crossed his arms and huffed, but he didn't look mad, and he was apparently not as ticked as he sounded. "So you're a nosy genin that likes to think about eating baby bunny rabbits. Besides being demented, anything else interesting?" It was difficult to tell if he was interested or not since his stare seemed rather hollow, possibly thoughtful, and fixated on the dark waters now. Maybe he was just waiting for her to say something that he could snap at, like he usually did with new acquaintances. He likely wouldn't run into her again anyway, so what did learning about her matter to him? Still, he passed her a little glance to say he was listening.

[Punslinger]

Iori was more or less completely at ease on her log, propped back on her arms while her breakfast digested. She let her legs hang lazily out and stared at the ocean, the look in her eyes closely resembling that of the jounin. She’d really wanted to see the ocean this morning, and something about the smell and sight of it all caused her to breathe a little deeper, close her eyes for a moment longer when she blinked. Shitty or not, it really was a pretty day in its own right.

Listening to the shark man grumble and grouse to himself, she smiled a little. His gruff nature was beginning to sound a lot like a front to her. Ignoring the question he posed to her, she took a deep, satisfied breath and instead answered his first instead.

“It matters because you want it to matter, you know?” she sighed. “I’m here, so you talk to me because I can listen. I sometimes talk to my goldfish when my mom’s gone; empty houses aren’t really the place for talking.”

The teen’s voice wasn’t exactly sad, but melancholy might be a good word for it. This was someone who liked peace and quiet, but sometimes had a little too much of it. Hearing the tone of her voice, she shook her head.

“Sorry, I must sound all sorts of depressing. Nobody needs to hear that on a day like this.”

[Mortalvis]

What Iori said struck a bit of empathy in the shark-man, as he knew all too well about empty houses. He hated feeling lonely all the time yet he sought out solitude; he wasn't sure what he hated more: the alienation or himself. There was never any sign of depth to his boorish attitude, but he never let it down. It was the only mechanism he had to negate his feelings of outlandishness and avoid looking like the things people said about him wounded his feelings. Maybe the attitude suited him. From the teeth to the tail, he was no cuddly teddy. He could be intimidating without meaning to, and he had a reptuation. That reputation was the only safety net there to catch him when he felt like it was all for nothing.

Doxu looked down, clasping his hands together in front of himself. "Eh, don't worry about it. Gray day; may as well match it with a mood," he murmured in reply. It bothered him that she was wise beyond her age. He didn't deal well with folk that could hit the deep points like that. They usually saw right through him and it took everything in him to keep solid.

"You're a very depressing kid, but it isn't all sunshine and rainbows. 'Least you're not some kind of blind optimist. I'd have to beat some sense into you if you were." He shot her an entirely serious glance. A moment of silence passed and he yawned again, looking to the embers of the fire. He really wasn't sure where any of this was going.

"Do you have any friends?" He seemed genuinely interested in this one. When he was a genin, friends proved to be the most important thing he had; it was still partially true, but his friends and he had already seen the prime of their ninja careers as they passed through the ranks. Iori still had a long way to go.

[Punslinger]

The hint of a smile curled the edge of Iori’s lips as Doxu mentioned blind optimists. She remembered the last talk she’d had with Sakki, and the nonchalant way the little boy had rattled off his career plans like they were completely lined up and waiting for him. She stopped reminiscing as he asked her about her friends, which stung a little. The teen decided that this wasn’t the person to impress with a ladylike façade, and gave the sharkman a sidelong glance.

“Not really; I’ve actually got a reputation as a bit of a man eater, truth be told…” she said quite seriously, then giggling as she realized who she’d said it to. “I mean, unless you count my little cousin Sakki, but I’m more like his nanny than his friend.”

She smiled now, thinking about how poorly the two would get along in a meeting. Sakki would likely try to crawl on top of Doxu’s head, and she’d probably have to do everything in her power to keep the big man from eating the pest.

“Now Sakki really is a blind optimist. The poor kid wants to be Raikage, bless his heart.” She chuckled, a motherly tone to her voice. That changed in a moment however, as her face grew determined and her voice lowered, “But the first person to tell him he can’t do it is a dead man.”

Whatever else Iori was: depressing, moody, a tomboy or a rebel, she was also scarily protective of a few things, one of which was her kid cousin.

[Mortalvis]

Doxu shrugged and sat up. "Kid wants to be Raikage? Him and a dozen other genin running around." He stopped for a moment to measure Iori's expression. "You better shape that kid up and help him get where he wants to be." He grunted and took his whiskey bottle, taking a small sip from it. That aspiration was probably the first thing he didn't immediately shoot down in a long time. Part of it involved the 'dead man' bit, since he wasn't going to mess with someone that had skills in magnetism, but the other part was much more personal and not as easy to explain.

He rubbed the back of his neck and tilted his head back. "So you're not much of a socialite, eh? Ergh, me either." The jounin averts his gaze to the ocean and gestures his bottle wielding hand to it. "I'm mostly out in the mountains and down here." He clears his throat.

"But I've got a few friends. My teammates from when I was a genin. One of 'em reminds me of you. She's sort of dark and scary too." It was the first time that morning that he showed anything like a smile; it was a curl at the corner of his mouth, showing several of his sharp teeth.

[Punslinger]

Iori glared at Doxu for a brief moment before deciding that what he’d said about Sakki was done in the right spirit, or close to it. She put her smile back on, looking a little more like a teenager and less like a she-wolf.

“Hey! I said I wasn’t that scary. I’ve just got a reputation that I keep in disrepair, that’s all.” She said playfully. At the mention of Doxu’s lady friend, she perked up a little, in posture if not in tone, “Really? What’s she like? I’ll bet she’s pretty…”

The last line was said somewhat ruefully, since Iori had unwittingly stumbled upon a bit of conversation that she instinctually avoided. So long as the conversation didn’t turn to her looks, things wouldn’t get too awkward. Still, something about the big man put her a little more at ease. Maybe he reminded her a little of her brother, semi-brutal personality and all.

Although Kenpachi is maybe a little better...er, normal looking. she noted with a smirk.

[Mortalvis]

Doxu swatted the air in Iori's direction. As much as he usually loved judging people and making snide remarks about them, he didn't like to comment on people he held respect for. It was a very small group of people, and these two particular friends were in it. Still, he would toss her a bone.

"She's sorta like you I said. She's got a good head on her shoulders and asks a lot of nosy questions," he mentioned with a bit of spite. Whatever little of a smile was there before was gone by now.

"Guess she's pretty. Dunno. Same kind of pretty you'd be, you know? Like, gonna bite your head off at any moment out here and keeping the pretty in here," he prodded his chest in a gesture as he spoke. It was difficult to tell if it was a compliment or not. He didn't sound very flattering, but he didn't sound like he meant anything bad by it either.

The fire was nearly out and the cold breeze coming off the water was making Doxu sleepy. Doxu carried an exothermic trait and had a lot of trouble warming himself without external means, so his body was more likely to shut down in cold weather. He shivered and pulled his scarf off so he could drape it over himself more like a blanket. It didn't do much, but it was a little warmer. Without the scarf in its usual fashion, the fins on his back, his meat cleavers, and the gills at his neck were visible. He really didn't care anymore, though. Iori didn't look like she was going to be batting him with any demeaning remarks about his appearance... not verbally, at least.

"Eh, isn't anyone gonna start getting worried 'bout how long you've been out? Shit, it's already been a couple hours." He wasn't amused with how the time had slipped away; this was much more socializing than he planned to engage in.

[Punslinger]

Iori’s hand lifted a little and her mouth opened as she saw just how far Doxu’s animal side went, but she said nothing. She felt sorry for him somehow, then chided herself for being so close minded. After all, he wasn’t broken, he didn’t need fixing. Still, the empathy remained. He looked like she felt on certain days.

No sooner had she thought that however, than Doxu mentioned what she interpreted to hiding her looks, and she blushed furiously, looking away at some unknown spot down the beach so he couldn’t see. Her head still turned, she answered curtly.

“Mom’s probably still asleep at this hour.”

As she regained her composure, she noticed the uncomfortable look on the jounin’s face. She made as if to stand for a moment, stopping herself while she asked,

“Are you alright?” she was genuinely concerned. She knew fish were cold blooded, and if magnets could present health issues for Doxu, then cold weather could be equally worrisome.

Oh please don't let this guy have two things to blame on me today.

[Mortalvis]

His eyelids fell to half-mast and he looked to Iori. "Yeah, I'm fine," Doxu muttered. He really wasn't, and he hadn't a clue as to why he said he was, but he was tough as nails and wouldn't let a little cold bite on him. Besides being chilly, he was feeling better than he was early.

There wasn't really anything else he could think of to say. He was surprised that he managed to hold a decent conversation so far without upsetting anyone or anyone upsetting him. It was mostly other people more full of themselves than he was that made him angry; Iori seemed pretty modest and reserved. He almost regretted thinking that she was the type that would piss him off. Well, sure she could likely do it easily, but purposely? He didn't really think she'd try, but what did he know. She was just some girl that wandered upon his camp accidentally that he knew near to nothing about. Not that he needed to scratch anything but the surface. After the two went their ways, he didn't need to burn himself by wanting to hang around a genin.

"Hey, kid--er, Iori? Tell me about your ninja stuff, and maybe I'll tell you a bit about mine. Fair trade, yeah?" He knew that nin didn't always like to share these types of things, but he figured that if he offered some info in return it would be enough of a trade off. He didn't know how Iori felt about these things, so he was careful. He already caught that she used magnets, which was probably raiton, but surely there was more to it than that. He would make it worth his while in asking, since it was easier to judge a threat when it was still small.

[Punslinger]

Iori giggled, rolling the phrase off her tongue to see if it suited her.

“Ninja stuff, huh? You’re talking about my magnetism style, I guess.” She giggled again. She realized there really wasn’t a right or wrong way to talk about one’s techniques, but something about the way he’d said it tickled her fancy. Turning back to the subject at hand, she sighed.

“Actually, I almost didn’t make it out of the Academy. They wanted me to learn all this irrelevant stuff about being a kunoichi that just didn’t make any sense, you know? Why do I have to arrange flowers to complete missions? Why do I care about the customs of another nation if my goal is to protect mine?” sensing a rant coming on, she cleared her throat and continued, “Anyway, I spent a lot of time in class doing research of my own…and by research, I mean reading whatever books on useful fighting techniques I decided to take from the archives that week.”

As she warmed to her topic, she reached into her bag, pulling out a handful of needles, showing them to Doxu before dropping them back in their place.

“We were in a sewing class one day, and I was reading this book of parlor trick ninjutsu, when I saw this one about levitating objects. Well, it was meant for any shinobi, so it needed really good control to line up the molecules, but thankfully I’d just learned about my ration affinity. A few minutes of practice later, and I was kicked out of the classroom for scaring my instructor.”

She laughed, wistfully looking at her pack and then back at Doxu. Her ability with magnetism was one of the few things she was proud of, and it was a shame she couldn’t show off.
“And what about shark men, Doxu-san? What’s the preferred technique for…uhm. Are you sure you’re okay? I’m gonna get some more firewood.” she looked at the jounin’s hooded eyes, and decided she wanted some more firewood, if not for her host, then to keep herself warm.

The beach was more or less littered with driftwood, some of which had been there long enough to dry, which would make it smoke less and burn longer. A few pieces on the embers of the fire proved unable to kindle the blaze, so she wandered over to the cliffs and pulled some smaller shrubbery out of the occasional niches. These seemed to suffice to bring the fire back to life a little, and she fanned the flames a bit before warming her hands with it.

“Mmmmuch better. You were saying?”

[Mortalvis]

Doxu curiously eyed her. He wasn't quite sure why she cared if he was alright or not, even when he clearly said he was (even though it was a lie). He grumbled to himself as he thought about what she had said. She used magnets as her focus. It wasn't just a trick or two, it was likely an entire set. This frightened him a little, but he made no sign of it.

When the fire was brought back to a stable size, the jounin huddled a little closer to it. "Eh... thanks." He said the word as if it were part of a foreign language. 'Thanks' was not a word that often slipped past those teeth of his. As he warmed up, the shut down sequence in his body turned off and he felt a little more lively. He had things that he had to be careful of that most people didn't even know about, and most didn't care about either.

"Me? Well," he coughed, "Might as well make use of this damn things on my body. I use taijutsu and ninjutsu with a lot of specialized stuff to suit me. Like batting asshats around with my tail. Making them cry and stuff, you know?" He made a 'heh' sound and scratched his head. "You're raiton? I'm suiton and raiton. They mix well. 'Cept I never use them all that much. Just recently taught myself how to make water clones and damn was that ever a disaster. Messed some of them up so bad I coulda hurt myself for ruinin' my good looks." There was never too little time for an ego stroking when the chance was there. It was one of Doxu's favorite things to do.

"Then there's the Ikimono stuff. Like, transforming into a totally badass shark. A land shark. Who the hell knew that a shark would grow legs? Ha. Fuckers didn't see it coming." The shark-man seemed very proud of this.

[Punslinger]

Iori smirked as the big man talked about his fighting style. It was exactly what she’d expected, which made it all the funnier when he started talking about his good looks.

So much for feeling sorry for him.

Her smile turned into a look of slight bewilderment when he began talking about his transformation, though. Iori wasn’t especially familiar with the Ikimono clan, but she thought that most of their transformations were at least a little humanoid. Maybe not. Either way, listening to Doxu in a good mood was a sight more enjoyable than his company was just a few minutes before. The teen was glad she’d stoked the fire, in more ways than one.

“So I take it you train out here, then? At least, this seems like a place a guy who turns into a shark would train. I didn’t interrupt you, did I?”

[Mortalvis]

Doxu shrugged and went about putting his scarf back around his neck. He made sure to drape it over his back like he usually did. When he was done he looked back at the genin without much of an expression on his face.

"Eh, no. I come out here to sit and eat. Didn't get a lot of sleep last night so I've been out here since, oh, the middle of the night?" Just thinking about it made the jounin yawn. He had gotten lost in talking to Iori that the lack of sleep wasn't much on his mind until now.

"I should probably be sleeping right now. Guess I kinda got distracted." Doxu looked away and frowned slightly, a little ashamed to admit it. He wasn't a people person, but Iori wasn't exactly the average 'people' either. More than anything, he felt that she understood, and even if she didn't, she asked questions to make sure she did. Maybe she was a tad intrusive for his liking, but it was nothing deeper than a few not-so-probing questions.

"I don't train out here very often. Mostly up the mountains for that. I just like looking at the water. I like the water, but don't think it's 'cause I'm part shark. Just think it's nice. A lot better than that goddamn village. People everywhere. Mostly a bunch of twits that don't understand anything." He stopped before he knew the tangent started and he took a drink.

"A city is like a cage. I belong out here, not in some goddamn cage." The shark-man was very passionate about this. The way he spoke was different than the regular grumbling, as it was filled with much more seriousness and had a certain depth to the words.

He looked to the girl and sighed. "I'm tired. I should probably go get some shut eye." Doxu stood up and stretched. He wasn't much of one for goodbyes, so he started walking off without one. However, before he was over the edge of her hearing, he stopped and said, "I come out here most mornings. If you ever need to cook some... baby bunnies..." he trailed off and shook his head, leaving that as an invitation for a possible meeting another time. The jounin smirked somewhat and continued on his way.

[OoC: Feel free to post one more time, then it's probably good to go.]

[Punslinger]

"Oh, bye..." Iori's voice trailed off as the jounin simply walked off, chiding herself for not noticing the rather obvious path he used to wander up the cliffs and onto the path back to the village. Granted, he'd had a very good reason for going, but the teen had almost forgotten what it was like to have a pleasant conversation with someone she didn't know very well. After all, it had been almost a year since she and Sakki graduated the Academy, and many of her missions thus far had been very cut and dry.

The teen lingered on the beach for another hour or so until the fire began to die again, then stood and ambled back up the path toward the village, walking through the pine belt without stopping to train. Somehow, this was not a day for training, it was a day for thinking. About what, the girl wasn't sure, but something about the similarities she shared with her gruff new acquaintance vaguely disturbed her. After all, she'd though of him as a grouch at first, only to realize that he had his own way of being deep, just like anyone else.

So where does that leave me?

She'd have to speak with this man again. It might very well be he had something to teach her besides jutsu.