Grass Whistle [Open/Social topic]

The day was a rather boring one, neither hot nor cold, neither gusty nor still. The weather held out at a decidedly bright and sun-induced heat that made the man slightly uncomfortable; he preferred the rain. Even some cloud cover would be nice on a day like this, but at least the breeze, light though it was, would allow him a certain coolness. Still, he felt the faintest sheen of sweat gather around his body as he strolled idly through the village, stopping at nowhere in particular and speaking to no one aside from the polite issuing of a well-placed hello. As he moved out away from some of the more populated areas, and certainly away from the dense compound of his clan, a sound game to his ears, high and piercing and with a reedy quality of vibrating plant life. Well played, to say the least, though of a musical variety that was not the man’s favorite.

He rolled out his shoulders and joints, feeling the fullness of his body once more. It had been now some time since he was complete, the product of a technique of his, but rejoined together again he felt his full strength return to him and, with it, a whole host of knowledge from both of the lesser beings he had become. While being apart had been nice in a sense, being whole felt much better and without as much of a liability. He could really focus on the here and now, on the niceness of the moment and the beauty that abounded in the village around him.

He followed the sound a while, moving farther and farther away from the buzz of the village and out towards a semi-secluded meadow, a fresh, grassy expanse mostly devoid of flowers and people, save a pair standing idly and chatting. One, a large blade of grass hanging loosely from his hand, triggered a memory in Yogensha’s mind, a recent one at that in which he and this young boy had met. The man smiled, mostly to himself, at the knowledge that the boy had arrived safely back home. While Gen had not harbored a great fear of attack or derailment, one could never be certain when dealing with shinobi from foreign village, particularly those of the Sand. A certain… reputation existed surrounding that village, one of a duel air one part harmony and the other part madness. At least a few of the inhabitants favored a strong isolationist and war based policy for handling outsiders. Thankfully they were far from power, at least for now.

The other girl remained a mystery to the man, a little thing of thick, shocking red hair who appeared to be chatting up Neah. A girlfriend, perhaps? Gen’s smile persisted. Whoever it was, the two seemed to be having a pleasant time, and while not normally one to simply intrude rudely into the conversation of others, Gen did wish to ensure that Neah had made it back safely and without difficulty. The boy was brave, no doubt, to have journeyed for such a long distance on the behest of some mysterious mission. Gen desperately wanted to know what could have brought the boy such a ways, but declined asking out of politeness; were he able to tell now, perhaps he would. Otherwise, as unfortunate as it may be, official business was official business.

He had moved closer now, well within the eyesight of either of the pair. He waved out to Neah once he was sure that he could be easily recognized, not attempting to hide himself or anything of that nature, and calling out to the boy. ”Hey! Neah-kun! Fancy seeing you here!” He would hurry then, closing the distance between him and Neah in an excited jog, eager to confirm that the boy had gone unmolested during his time abroad. He huffed a bit, breathing hard once he had arrived before the two. ”Hi. I’m glad to see that you made it safely home. How faired you on the trip, if I may ask?” He paused briefly before continuing. ”And I trust you did make it safely. No one attempted to obstruct you?” He smiled lightly as his spoke, not a full on blinding affair of teeth and such, but a small, conversational one. One, perhaps, of friendship even.

He then noticed, for the second time, the woman next to him, her sky blue eyes of a disarming and penetrating quality. He looked over to her, turning to acknowledge her and bowing as he spoke. ”Oh heavens, do forgive me, please. I did not mean to so rudely interrupt your two’s conversation. I only just met Neah a relatively short while ago on a trip and was pleased to see that he had made it back safely.” He spoke a bit rapidly, not so as to be unintelligible but simply faster than many spoke. He did this always – a habit of his – but in this case it was even quicker than his personal norm, a symptom of the embarrassment of having injected himself into a potentially personal matter. ”Oh, and forgive me again, I seem to have left my manners behind me on my journey. My name is Gen, and it is a pleasure, I must say, to meet you!” He smiled brightly, bowing once more. ”A friend of Neah’s is a friend of mine indeed.”

Gen listened impassively as Neah spoke, introducing him to the other girl present. Hitomi was her name, it seemed, as Neah confirmed that she was as shy as she seemed, not even managing to introduce herself for her strangling nerves. He smiled anyway at the girl, showing politeness even where she did not. Neah continued talking about his trip and how he had made it safely home, something that Gen had assumed but was now fully assured of. The news was nice, especially considering that Gen had already made the connection with the boy and did not want the time spent there to have gone to waste. It was good, then, that the boy had exited the Sand unscathed.

Gen, having nodded in acknowledgement to the girl, Hitome, would return his gaze to Neah, hearing his question about the summoning scroll. In truth, the man had not had an opportunity to do a great deal with it, having spent most of his time simply relaxing in the bathhouse or traveling, a venture which allowed little in the way of practicing getting to know the inner working of a summoning contract. He had, however, read the thing and all of the techniques therein, something that he would not forget about. ”Unfortunately no, Neah-kun, I have not had much of a chance to practice with the snakes, having had little privacy while I was in Sunagakure. However, I did read the scroll you gave me, and I thank you again for lending it to me. If you should need it back, I’d be more than happy to return it to you. I should be able to recall the abilities listed in it, so if you have additional use of it or if anyone else needs it, you need only ask.”

He withdrew the scroll from a pocket in the light jacket he wore, the thing rewrapped after having been opened and read. The thing contained a light dusting, likely a product of the sand blowing about from the place the two had previously visited. ”Oh, and my apologies. It looks a bit dusty, but I fear that is a danger of wandering in the desert. Still, I can assure you that it is in no way damaged, just a bit dusty.” He smiled again, brightly, as he offered the scroll to the boy.

Once again Gen spent a large portion of the conversation simply listening to the boy Neah speak about various things, from his possession of the snake contract and pleasure at having the thing back, to reassuring the ball of nerves that was Hitome as she had an apparently near-heart attack because the other boy had mentioned something about her family and called it a clan. A dumb reason to have a meltdown to be sure, especially when considering that, as a person who comes from a clan, Neah likely assumed that everyone conceptualized of their families in the same way. Gen could hardly hold back a colossal roll of the eyes as he heard this dithering.

He had managed to give back the scroll though, a thing which he had read and memorized and which Neah was rightly impressed by; most everyone was impressed by the man’s ability to seemingly remember everything after even moments of seeing or hearing or otherwise experiencing it. The spores of the scroll had also gone unnoticed, implanting themselves tightly onto the boy and allowing Gen to keep close track of him wherever he should go. This pleased the older man and he smiled fully and brightly as the other boy strode away, dismissing himself for some appointment or something. ”Goodbye, Neah-kun. I hope you enjoy the rest of your day!” He turned then to the younger girl, Hitome, smile still glowing. ”I’m sorry if I startled you earlier and I’m sorry to have inserted myself into your day in such a rude manner. I just was overwhelmed to see that Neah was ok after his trip to the sand. I too have not seen or heard of your aunt or cousin, though I am certain that they are perfectly happy! He held his hand out to the girl for a shake as a formal first meeting. ”At any rate, it truly is a pleasure to meet a fellow denizen of this here village. Hitome, correct? Would it be alright if I called you as such, or would you prefer something else?

Spoiler:

The girl declined to shake the older man’s and, as a general rule, seemed to decline talking or human interaction of any sort. She was, in the green eyes of Gen, incapable of human interaction for some bizarre reason which he, frankly, could not be bothered to consider. This was not, as it appeared, simple anxiety or nerves but rather some kind of deep seated terror at the simple idea of other human beings existing anywhere near her. She did not speak quietly or in small amounts and did not retreat easily into herself exclusively. Rather, she did those things all and then physically recoiled whenever a person came anywhere near her or spoke any louder than a whisper. Except for Neah, as it appeared. Odd to say the least, and an strange and frustrating mixture of boring and annoying to say the worst.

Case in point, a loud and boisterous young thing with spikey orange hair, arrived on the scene. He spoke loudly at in an endless stream, granting no pause between the words which tumbled out of his mouth like water from a faucet left on full blast. While he may be annoying to some, Gen did not mind talking at all and, in this particular situation, thought that the boy’s apparent inability to stop talking may prove a grace from beyond. How blessed could he be? The boy’s speech, however, seemed to drive a stake of terror into the very soul of the red haired girl, Hitome, who actually jumped away from the boy and the man with whom she was currently… attempting some lame approximation of speech. He hoped that she didn’t actually think it was succeeding. He doubted that such a hope was accurate.



”It’s very nice to meet you Ban! My name is Gen,” he smiled and continued, ”though I must unfortunately excuse myself as well. I have a few last minute affairs to take care of before I’m off on additional business.” He had to get out of here. He could not stand another minute of slow, dripping awkwardness and stale conversation and awful, groundless fear. He smiled once more to the pair, waving lightly as he departed. ”Thank you for sharing part of your day with me, Hitome. And it was nice to meet you as well, Ban. I too envy the clouds sometimes. I hope we meet again soon.” And with that, he was gone, strolling away slowly toward the heart of the village, one spore target less than he had wanted, a bit steamed and more than a bit annoyed, but sure not to show it until he entered the nearby crowed where he allowed his face to fall back into a blank, bored expression. As he made his escape, the chuckles of the beast echoed all about him, shaking the world and rupturing his mind repeatedly.

Hehehehe… That was... fun, wasn’t it? They are inferior. They all are. There is no one here who can match you, no one who is your equal. You must leave. This… this will help. You will need it in the near future, so use it, preferably with that Ryujin man. The beast cackled as he faded away slowly, dimming but never fully vanishing.