The Calm after the Storm [Hanakuri]

[Yōsuru Shin]

Yōsuru had been kneeling in quiet contemplation for some time now. Pondering his life since the war had ended. Obviously peace in his time was a huge positive. The children of his clan could learn and grow and experiment without having to worry about being soldiers before they'd even hit puberty. All the same, his position as clan leader was not unassailable. Many had accused him of driving the Shin clan towards weakness. That they never should've stopped fighting, that they should be out harvesting more DNA to make their bloodline strong. 

Of course, not all of them were like that. They couldn't be, else his position would've been overthrown long ago. But they were a very vocal majority, and sometimes he had to get away from them else he may start thinking that they're right. 

It was those subfactions in his clan that had made his efforts to seek out allegiances in the Wind so fruitless thus far. The Shin had a grim reputation as thieves and scavengers of various powers throughout the Ninja world, and it wasn't a reputation entirely undeserved either. Even though he had trained with the Kabuto clan to learn their Serpentine Transformation his clan had still not held up their end of the bargain. Making him a thief all the same.

It was why he had come to Sakuzenriku, to kneel, to contemplate, to clear his head for a bit. He opened his eyes for a moment and examined his hand. "Hmmph, I'm getting old." He sighs, looking forward at the dried out Savannah in front of him. It was true he was far past his prime, and the bickering and politics of his clan had meant he'd had little time to keep his skills sharp. He was certain he was a mere shadow of the warrior who'd bled for Wind country all those years ago.

"If I'm not careful I'll become one of those fools who can't stop blabbering about his past War glories. Or worse yet, I'll start talking to myself." He chuckles, only stopping when he feels the hairs on the back of his neck rise. He doesn't turn his head, but he is well aware of another presence. "Luckily that won't happen, as long as you're still listening to me." He calls to the stranger.

[Hanakuri]

STATISTIC SCORES NINJUTSU 4 TAIJUTSU 2 GENJUTSU 1 TECHNIQUE 1 TOUGHNESS 3 SPEED 3 STAMINA 1 COMBAT DETAILS CHAKRA POOL 16/16 CHAKRA REGEN 4 HEALTH STATUS 460/460

Sakuzenriku was a beautiful place once you got past the dry, hot and windy conditions with practically only expansive fields of grass as far as the eye could see. The miraculous existence of various herbs, roots and smaller plants, not a tree in sight... Yes, Hanakuri had long since gotten past the atmosphere of this area, if anything else it was one of the greatest places in the world in her opinion. Here, she had found some of that peace that she desired. Only few other places could grant her this clarity, and even fewer had less chances to run into some other Senju. It was almost as if those infernal tree hugging snobs had an aversion to this place. Good, as far as Hanakuri was concerned. Hanakuri was Content to simply walk around the animals, examining the condition of several local creatures, providing some water should they seem to be in need of it before moving on. This pattern continued for a while until Hanakuri had eventually walked up to some older fella that had sat down on the ground. He seemed to be talking to himself, to which Hanakuri raised a brow. He noticed that she was there, not that she was making any effort to hide herself. Putting a hand on her hips, she tilted her head. It was a touch strange that the man didn’t even bother to look at her, but she chose not to bring attention to it— “Luckily, I’m not an assassin sent to kill you.” Er, not mention it directly, at least. “What’s your deal, talking to the wind like that?”

[Yōsuru Shin]

"Sounds like something an assassin sent to kill me would say." He laughs heartily before moving from a sitting position to a kneeling position and swivelling around to face the newcomer. Who seemed to be inquiring about his choice in conversation partner. "Ah well, when you reach my age and older. Nobody wants to listen to you anymore. Too busy creating their own stories to sit around listening to mine." He shakes his head softly and smirks. "Luckily the wind has nothing better to do than listen to me."

Yōsuru reaches into his pack and pull out a mortar and pestle. Placing it in front of him he then withdraws some dried roots from the same pack and proceeds to start grinding them into a fine powder. "So...seeing as my stories seem to bore the youth to tears. Why not tell me yours?" He suggests without looking at her, focused on the task at hand. 

"Of course, if you've come to sit in quiet meditation, don't let me disturb you." He explains, the roots slowly becoming powdered as he mashes them. "Though...given the air you have about you. I somewhat suspect that your intention is not merely quiet contemplation."

[Hanakuri]

STATISTIC SCORES NINJUTSU 4 TAIJUTSU 2 GENJUTSU 1 TECHNIQUE 1 TOUGHNESS 3 SPEED 3 STAMINA 1 COMBAT DETAILS CHAKRA POOL 16/16 CHAKRA REGEN 4 HEALTH STATUS 460/460

Hanakuri raised a brow somewhat judgmentally at the response that was given to her. Why have a laugh about that? Whatever, it didn’t matter. “Pff. Yeah, because assassins absolutely go for chit-chat in the middle of nowhere first.” She remarked sarcastically, rolling her eyes. Now Hanakuri thought this man was strange, if not also a little... Depressing, given what he had said. Maybe she didn’t have to be so standoffish, but she wasn’t going to apologize, she had little reason to. “I dunno, it seems to me you’ve just been dealing with people not worth your time.” Instead, she chose to speak derisively of those that supposedly caused the issue. With little more than a quick glance at the man’s preparations to make some sort of medicine or ointment judging by the plants of choice, Hanakuri shrugged. “Gonna be honest, I’d rather not. So, you go ahead and talk about your war stories since you seem willing to.” Perhaps that meant she was willing to listen? At the very least she wasn’t going to discourage him. “I’ve just been looking after the local critters, nothing special. I’m not the meditation type anyway.” However, she would be lying if she said she didn’t enjoy the silence of solitude every now and then.

[Yōsuru Shin]

"I take it you're not a local then?" Yōsuru inquires, seemingly unprompted by anything Hana had said or done as he  was still grinding down the herbs in his mortar. After a few moments he collected them, packed them into his pipe and ignited them before taking a deep drag of the herbal smoke. He let it softly out of his mouth after a few moments, no real sound but his breath and the gentle winds around them.

"Not that it's any of my business of course. You just have an air about you. Of someone on the run from something. Not something physical mind you, not that you're being pursued by some kind of attacker just...you're distancing yourself."

He smiles softly and offers Hana a drag from the pipe. "Or perhaps I'm just a crazy old man and you're as native to these lands as the Sands themselves. But you don't walk in the same way. Your footsteps are heavier than most who have lived their lives in these deserts."

It seemed that despite her offering to hear out his old stories he wasn't quite as interested in that as he was in making her into an unwilling conversational partner. Leaving her two options, partake in dreaded polite conversation or book it out of there as fast as possible.

[Hanakuri]

STATISTIC SCORES NINJUTSU 4 TAIJUTSU 2 GENJUTSU 1 TECHNIQUE 1 TOUGHNESS 3 SPEED 3 STAMINA 1 COMBAT DETAILS CHAKRA POOL 16/16 CHAKRA REGEN 4 HEALTH STATUS 460/460

“Maybe, maybe not.” Hanakuri shrugged. Of course she knew the answer, she wasn’t a local in truth, but nobody else needed to know that for certain. “It isn’t like the answer matters, I’m here all the same.” Which was all she needed, just to be here and far far away from the Land of Fire. The old fella’s observation was in fact correct all things considered. However, with Hanakuri’s largely aloof and detached attitude to that which she was avoiding it could be just as easy to assume that Hanakuri was particularly antisocial most of the time. “I find it easier to observe certain things at a distance. You’re one to talk, you seem distant too, just for a different reason.” Hanakuri politely waved away the pipe. “No thanks.” As for however she walked, it wasn’t something she thought about since to her it didn’t matter in the least. “Yeah, and who cares?” For all this man’s effort, he was getting much of the same direct and blunt attitude— while not inherently rude per se, it didn’t give much in terms of conversation, it certainly helped with distance from others at least.

[Yōsuru Shin]

Yōsuru takes a long drag of his pipe and chuckles slightly. He knew the general type of person this mystery woman was. The type that didn't engage in conversations that they didn't have to engage in. The type that worried about giving away too much about themselves and having that information turned against them. The type that simply worried too much. It was an understandable way to be, even more so in this era of rocky peace they all found themselves in. He blows a long stream of smoke into the air and watches it drift away into the wind.

Then he looks at Hanakuri. And doesn't say a word. He's not...staring, per se. His eyes do ocassionally move to other objects of interest. The ocassional bird in the sky, but every time his gaze drifts back to looking at her. And not saying a word. To his mind if she didn't want to engage in conversation, he would oblige that. But he would do it in a maliciously compliant fashion. Leaving Hanakuri with four potential options.

1. Continue to sit here in awkward silence with a stranger that kept looking at her.
2. Walk away and leave the situation.
3. Engage in battle for no reason other than being looked at funny.
Or 4. Actually try to converse with him.

An interesting conundrum for sure.

[Hanakuri]

STATISTIC SCORES NINJUTSU 4 TAIJUTSU 2 GENJUTSU 1 TECHNIQUE 1 TOUGHNESS 3 SPEED 3 STAMINA 1 COMBAT DETAILS CHAKRA POOL 16/16 CHAKRA REGEN 4 HEALTH STATUS 460/460

What a strange guy this was. Hanakuri found it slightly weird that he decided to not talk when as far as she could tell he was practically desperate to do so since he was conversing with himself until she found him. That said, if he decided to say nothing further, it would be fine by her. Hanakuri only slightly raised a brow as the man looked at her, only periodically giving attention to their surroundings with the odd local critter passing by. Hanakuri herself found the animals interesting as she was helping several kinds along her path. At some point a bird even landed nearby, to which Hanakuri tossed out some seeds from a pouch which the bird happily pecked at before waddling around her and eventually flying away. All the while, the odd man seemed pretty intent on getting Hanakuri to talk first. At first it seemed that there were only four options. Sit here in silence; be it awkward or otherwise, walk away without looking back, fight when there was literally no reason to or actually talk about something— but she knew this methodology, to her it was easily recognisable— malicious compliance. Hanakuri smirked subtly, she was no stranger being annoyingly on point and maliciously compliant. It was part of her own playbook when it came to certain things such as dealing with Senju blowhards, but in this case? In this case, it was just kinda funny.

[Yōsuru Shin]

Funny or not to Hanakuri, Yōsuru was quietly having a blast. Not that his face would betray anything of the sort. It seemed he was just quietly enjoying the sights and sounds of nature whilst gently puffing on his pipe. If the old man enjoyed talking to himself he loved observing others even more, and right now he'd had his fill of the former so he was taking time to enjoy the latter.

He holds the pipe between his teeth as he fumbles in his pack for a few moments. Fetching out a small sack out of which he pours some small glass orbs filled with gel and ink. It was quite possible Hana would recognise these 'marbles'. An invention all the way from the Land of Earth. Often children would play with them, seeking to win the nicest looking ones of their friends.

Yōsuru's set seemed quite humble to be frank. Not an elegant design or fancy uniqueness to them at all. In fact he quite literally had two duplicates in his set. Silently he sets aside three, seemingly at random. They weren't damaged or defective in any manner, and similarly bland to the rest. But for whatever reason, these three would not be used in his little game.

Marble by marble he set them down, aligning them in position to play a game by himself. Though of course, the spot for a second player remained open.