I am Lost, but I Must Dig! [Open!]

[Kuru Naohiro]

The armored shinobi marched through the land with his companions, his armor clunking about as much as it could, in one hand he carried a map and in the other he held a flag bearing the Kagetsu insignia. They had been tasked with heading to a nearby village and preparing a well for them, and to plant the Kagetsu flag so they knew the clan that had done such a kind deed. It may of also been chance to toss their most ‘valuable’ clan members out of village for a day or two. Unluckily for them there was one key factor to this mission they didn’t account for.

“What’s the point of these things,” Boken complained, tearing up the map, “It doesn’t make any sense. Not everything here is the same shade of green, and we in different parts of the map then or did we move countries? Useless!”

As he declared useless, the armored Kagetsu tossed the torn map bits into the air like confetti. With that, he took the chance to view his surroundings. Giving a confirming nod after viewing the scenic view for a few moments.

“Well,” Boken declared as he checked the flag, “We may be lost. But we can say we’re lost in Kagetsu territory!”

With a small grunt, the shinobi slammed the flag into the dirt with a proud stare at it. Getting back to the village is going to be fun, but atleast they’ll get to dig a well before it gets to that. Boken reached for the bag on his back and removed the vital equipment that had been supplied by them to begin digging. As always, each piece of gear given to them by their clan was to be valued. The choice of equipment however … made that difficult.

“No time to lose I guess,” Boken said with a shrug, leaving the spare ‘shovels’ on the ground, “We won’t move until we finish this well!”

With that, Boken slammed his own plastic shovel into the dirt and began digging!

 

[Kuru Watashi]

Kagetsu Kawachi started at the little plastic shovel-trowel thing that almost disappeared in his meaty hand. The more he stared, the more he drooled; the longer that he looked at its bright plastic yellow, the more similar the thing looked to a stick of butter. Kagetsu Kawachi continued staring at the thing for a good few minutes before deciding against eating the shovel. Even the Butter Boy had standards, he would eat butter but he would not eat shovels. Popping the weirdly shaped stick of butter into his mouth, the fat Akimichi picked a weird green colored spoon off of the ground and started digging away at the ground.

"WELL MAKE BUTTER RIGHT BOKEMAN?" The Buttery Boy tried to clarify again as he shoveled up earth onto the ground. "ME WANT EAT BUTTER SOON", The fat lad said once again as he continued crunching at the last savory remnants of his previous stick of butter. It was a weird one for sure, the boy thought; crunchy and without much flavour but all butter was good butter in his opinion, and the fat lad was not one to discriminate.

Scraping away at the earth, the Akimichi looked down at the tiny hole that they were making with these tiny spoons and started salivating. A well of butter coming from deep inside the ground. He might have had dreams about this. He had definitely had dreams about it, and they were going to become real. Oh boy oh boy. Would it be faster if he replaced all of the butter knives on his harness with spoons so he could dig faster?

He could almost taste it already as he crunched on his butter. He might have drunk liquid butter before but butter directly from the earth? This was going to be a sight to see and a taste to.. taste? In any case, the Fat Lad was shaking with anticipation as he tried digging deeper and deeper with his spoons.

 

[Kuru Naohiro]

“We’ll get to the butter soon,” Boken assured as he continued to dig, “By the end of the day, we’ll be up to our knees in butter!”

As the digging continued and the lack of conversation material became apparent. One can only speak about the wonders of dirt and how it is probably the dirtiest thing one can encounter in the wilds for so long. The thought did make Boken prepare a mental note to go clean himself after this mission, Kagetsu aren’t to be dirty!

“Let us set up some music!” Boken said, slamming his plastic shovel into the dirt.

The armored shinobi placed his bag on the ground and reached into his backpack once more and pulled out his favourite device. The cassette player. With a small examine of it to confirm that it’s still working, Boken crouched down and pulled out the small container holding his favourite cassettes. With a quick read of them, he found one that seemed good before placing it into the player. With that, he hooked the player onto his belt with a small click before grabbing his plastic shovel as the music began.

[The music of choice!]

As the music began, Boken threw the hand with the shovel in it to the side, nodding his head to the beat as he awaited the lyrics. Once it began, the shinobi began striding towards the hole, his armored shoulders swaying with the music. Once he reached the hole, he spun the shovel in his hand for a moment before gripping it properly and raising it to his helmet, acting as if he was singing to the music! After those few moves Boken then slammed the shovel into the dirt and began digging, his feet and shoulders moving with the music as he tossed clumps of dirt out of the hole.

 

[Kuru Watashi]

With his hopes of butter reconfirmed by Boken, Kawachi doubled his efforts at digging away with the little spoon thing again. He didn't know when it would happen, but being up to his knees in butter was something that the Akimichi boy had wanted ever since he had been banned from ever visiting the butter factory again. With the Kagetsu tax, the boy had never gotten the chance to truly be full of butter and he hoped that today would be that day.

Dirt and soil were the least of the Butter Boy's thoughts! No, his head was filled with the phrase "up to our knees in butter!". Kawachi began saving up his super butter power so that he could expand his body later when the time came. It wouldn't be for digging, ohh noo. It was to make his knees even higher off of the ground than they already were! His plan was foolproof. If he was taller, then there would be more butter since Boken had said that they would be up to their knees in it!

As Boken started playing the music, Kawachi started digging to the beat of the song with strong, forceful bashes into the ground. In his mind, he was already imagining eating all of that butter. The diggy spoon was no longer the diggy spoon, but rather his special butter eating spoon! And instead of digging to the beat of the music, he was pounding his spoon on the dining table waiting for the butter! Shoveling with one hand and scooping the dirt out of the hole with the other hand, the boy started running around the small hole that he had dug as he widened out the edges.

The boy had completely gotten the "beautiful spins" of dancing wrong; instead thinking that the graceful circles were supposed to be him half running, half crouching as he walked around the hole continuing to try to dig. Man, was he not very good at this. He knew that if there was one thing he was skilled in though, it was eating butter. And Kawachi was ready to show that skill off.

 

[Kujo Kazuya]

Ryu was wondering around the area of De Cevitate Attonbitus, Ryu was just coming back from his training and heard someone digging holes. As he seen there, he saw some similar person like the Armor guy and the other one was chubby guy. As Ryu remembered seeing them in clan house, then he remembered that both of them are in the same Kagetsu clan as his. As Ryu can’t stop himself now because he has training to do but he found it hilarious about what they were doing digging up holes in the ground and they always tell themselves monster hunters, Ryu was laughing inside just about thinking about what they were doing there sitting and digging holes.

As Ryu can’t stop himself, he starts heading their way. While Ryu was going towards them, he puts his leg on a stone and slips down as he sees that he still has his metal arm in open and then he thought that he can’t show these guys his metal arm. Or it would make a riot in the clan or something similar to that think and then he starts thinking about something to hid his arm as he remembered that he still haven’t wore his jacket. And then Ryu puts his jacket on and starts hiding his left hand. And then he once again starts hiding towards them. As Ryu was walking slowly observing what they were doing. As he reached without making any voice and he doubted that they will feel his strong chakra running through his veins. And then as Ryu arrives there and then says “Hello guys, I’m in the same clan as you guys so you guys have seen me there but I don’t know your names so I doubt you know my name as well, so for starters I’m Kagetsu Ryu, so what about you guys and what are you two doing here digging in this place.” And then Ryu waits for their response, while thinking about how great this scenery is.

​

[Topic Entered]
[336 WC]
[OCC: My name and Banner isn't changed yet so my characters name is Kagetsu Ryu and banner is cloud chunnin]

 

[Takaki Saeko]

"So, are you able to like, earn a living off of these 'ride sharing' gigs?" I ask my shambling mount as we slowly lurch our way into the countryside.

"Most of the time," the ancient bear says, with a shrug. "Like, during holidays and weekends, there's peak demand and rates go up, but most of the time I'm in some pretty fierce competition. A lot of people would prefer to ride in a carriage or on horseback, and not on me."

"Aw, that sucks," I say with a shake of my head. "I mean, you're like, the very same bear that Aion Dawnbringer rode around in some of his posts way back when. You know, before the h**k. Who wouldn't want to get toted around by a piece of important history like that?"

"Aw, that's sweet of you," he says. "But the problem is, that's all pre-h**k material that's lost forever, so people only know about Aion from some old books that no one actually reads anymore. None of those sources mention my role in toting him around. It's all 'teehee, did you know he fucked his sword?' and 'I heard he was super moe to whose who knew him well.'"

"Yeah, that's the problem with kids these days. All focused on the salacious stuff, and pretty pictures. I mean, Yuii even tried to update and re-release the histories, but no one bought them. She ended up losing a lot of money, and they take up all of her basement storage space. Now she just gives them out as holiday gifts that no one actually wants. But you can't just tell her that, because you don't wanna hurt her feelings."

"Well, I'm glad that you at least remember," the bear says. "We should be at your stop now. If you see her, say 'Hi' to Kiyo for me, alright?"

"Yeah, I will," I say, dismounting the mythical creature-turned-pseudo-taxicab. "Here's five stars and a nice tip," I say, swiping my shinobiphone.

"Thanks!" says the bear, as it lumbers away. As I look at its receding profile on the horizon, I can't help but feel a little badly. That was the same dread mount that Aion himself had ridden into countless battles before I was born, and here I was using it like any old taxi. And on a ride-sharing service, too. But as they say, the economy changes, and those who can't change don't survive.

The reason I've Ubear'ed (get it?) out here to the middle of nowhere is because of yet another Yuii request. Clan Kagetsu had sent a detachment of their younglings out to the countryside to ostensibly construct a well for some drought-stricken village. Likely, this kind of assignment was a punitive act--Kagetsu clansmen are the untouchable dread lords of vast swathes of lightning territory, and regularly competed with Lightning's other oligarchs to expand their influence. So to send a bunch of clan scions out to dig holes in the dirt meant only one thing: they'd really, really fucked up somehow. Even worse, the kids had been out of communication for longer than expected, so it was now my job to go check up on them, make sure they were actually performing their punishment, and then report back to Yuii. I suspect this may have also been intended to punish me, too. Still, as Yuii's faithful Hand, I had no choice but to comply. I mean, I've already done much more demeaning things in my life, so what was checking in on some stupid kids in comparison? I took it as a nice chance to take a scene tour of the countryside.

Of course, the kids were nowhere near where their map had told them to dig. In fact, the main reason I'd even taken a ride by bear was because they weren't even remotely close to where they were supposed to be, and there was no goddamned way I was going to do that stupid "running with your arms stretched out behind you" thing that people think shinobi are supposed to do when traveling. But, after much trial and error, I chanced upon where I thought they'd set up.

I mean, it's pretty obvious when you see some Goblin Smasher-looking freak trying to move earth with a beach shovel next to the Most Enormous Ball of Lard I've ever beheld, with some edgelord emo-goth gawking at it all while trying desperately to hide his HIDDEN POWER DEMON HAND.

"Ah shit," I mutter to myself when I see it. This is truly terrible. If Kiyo saw the state of the clan right now, she'd totally sudoku. Except she'd fail because she's immortal, so all she'd be able to do is carve out a bloody three-by-three grid and a buncha numbers on herself! I have to act quickly, before this tainted sight reaches anyone else's eyes, and totally destroys the legitimacy of the clan forever and ever.

"Hey! Kagetsu kids! Explain yourselves!" I shout at them. "What's the meaning of this nonsense? What kind of idiot tries to tunnel through earth using plastic? Where'd you get your engineering degrees from, Australia? Yuii's gonna be super pissed if she ever finds out how screwed up your mission went!"

 

[Imaya Kuza]

If one were to look, with their undivided full attention, they very well might see the last member of the Kagetsu sent to dig this well from the corner of their eye off a small distance away from Boken and the rest on the side of the road. After making the mistake of allowing Boken to take the lead as their map-reader and going on long treks in figurative and literal circles, this pale-skinned clansman had accidentally cut himself on an outstretched tree branch. It wasn’t so bad, however after an hour or so of wandering he had begun burning up and eventually fainted, some sort of infection having gotten in. While for most shinobi this was but a minor illness that they’d be able to walk off or their body could fend off, Byoki was a boy of weak constitution with little in the way of an immune system. And so, once the disease had properly invaded his body, he had fainted while his clansmen and friends went ahead without him.

When he woke up, he saw his comrades a short ways away and felt appreciative that they had waited for his Kaguya healing to kick in to fend against the infection, however soon noticed they had begun making a hole (albeit inefficiently). They were digging his grave.

Panicking, Byoki poured chakra into his bones to help speed along the healing process, checking the filter on his beak-shaped respirator, and began wobbling to his feet.

“Guys” the beaked Kagetsu yelled in his raspy, soft voice as he ran over.

Ironically, it was at this moment that Byoki remembered why he doesn’t normally use his chakra to speed up healing infections and the like: he takes a few hours of gradual fatigue in only a few seconds. Just as he made it to his group, Byoki fell down into the hole.

“I’m still alive, guys,” he said again, though any onlooker witnessing his sickly appearance was would question whether this was anything but a burial.

 

[Kuru Naohiro]

Boken continued to nod away to the amazing jam that came from his cassette player, his armor clinking away with every movement as he tried digging with the plastic shovel. It was only when the song finally ended and Boken had to move to replay it that he began to notice the small grouping of people that weren’t digging with plastic shovels. As the armored shinobi began to climb his way out of the waist high pit, his armor clanking at the efforts.

“Hey Byoki,” Boken greeted with a nod, his expression hidden behind the helmet as he raised a hand, pointing towards the bag he’d abandoned on the outskirt of the hole, “You live another day! Grab a shovel from the bag, we got work to do!”

With that, the shinobi looked towards the two strangers for a moment. His face not betraying any signs of his feelings, primarily because of the helmet covering it. It was surprisingly handy for poker games. After only a moment of examination, Boken began to explain.

“Well uhhh …” The shinobi muttered, his vision going towards the tattered remains of the map he’d abandoned only a few feet away, “The mission was apparently to build a well for a village, but they didn’t specify where to build it. It was felt this was a vastly superior location for it. Kawachi can confirm, he’s an experienced …. well .. engineer.”

With that lie, Boken pointed towards the rather large Akimichi in the pit. A small bit of sweat came from the shinobi behind the helmet, he mostly only assumed the mission didn’t specify a location. In reality, he just couldn’t read the mission specifics. Reading was hard. The thoughts passed as the shinobi gave a small laugh with that, a hand gesturing towards the bag of plastic shovels.

“Regardless,” Boken said, “While the pit is here, it might as well be finished, right? If you wish, you can join in. We brought music.”

To prove the point, the armored shinobi pressed a hand to the cassette player at his belt, rebeginning the music once again. He of course assumed the powerful beats of Bee Gees would assist in getting him out of this mess.

[music]

He then leaped back in the pit with a resounding clunk as his armor hit the bottom, before continuing to dig, wanting to avoid being in hitting range incase the lady was upset.

(OOC: So maybe I posted a little slow. Only SLIGHTLY behind schedule, but hey! I'm here now, right? Haha ...)

 

[Kuru Watashi]

As Kawachi munched on what he previously believed was a stick of butter, he was quickly realizing just how wrong he was. Spitting out the shards of plastic out into the part of the hole that he was digging, he looked up and realized that there were more people here! Continuing to dig the hole using the plastic trowel in one hand and wiping his tongue off with the other, dirt-covered hand as they talked, he looked up at them and tried to gurgle a question back at them.

“Where butter!?”, the boy tried to make out, though with his tongue completely out and his massive arm waving around in front of his face, all that he could get out was one, despairing long stream of gurgling. He pointed back into the hole that he was in, before pointing back at the small pile of trowels that Boken has tossed on the ground previously. “Want help dig butter?” He mumbled as loudly as he could back at them. Maybe they would help to look for the sad lad’s craved butter.

Satisfied that he did his best attempt at communication, he pointed at the growing hole in front of him before continuing to paw at it with hand and spoon, trying to dig even further down into the rocky soil that hid his one true goal in life. He had no time to look around at the scenery - not like it was any good though - there was butter below the ground and there sure as heck wasn’t any butter anywhere around him.

Unless.. The fat boy looked back up at the two, his watery eyes hopeful as he started sniffing at the air rapidly to see if any of them had brought butter. His hopes dashed when he didn’t smell any, Kawachi started digging with a renewed vigor, pawing up soil and tossing it behind him even more rapidly than he was doing before. It was only a matter of time, the lad kept telling himself, before eventually he would strike liquid gold and this would all be worth it. It was going to be any moment now. He could let Boken deal with figuring out why the others were watching them dig the pit. Boken was always better at knowing what words meant - the Fat Lad knew about a hundred words and that was good enough for him.

The more he convinced himself that the next pawful of dirt would reveal butter, and the deeper he dug, the Akimichi decided to just start stuffing dirt into his cheeks to save himself the extra effort of tossing it out of the pit that was getting deeper and deeper. Besides, lifting his massive arms above chest level was a workout all by itself and efficiency was the name of the game. The bad taste, the Kagetsu assured himself, was just to stave off his growing hunger until he hit butter level. He could almost taste the butter on the dirt anyways, another hint for his desperate mind that it was soon to come.

 

[Kujo Kazuya]

Topic left due to inactivity and also Rebooting my PC