Private Options for your Future [Req. Nanaka]

[Tanatsu Neko]

Neko had reached out to Nanaka after some time from the class had passed via letter. She told her that if she wanted to explore options that someone would meet her at a given location in a public setting. The location given however was far less public. Upon arrival, Nanaka would notice that the address given was between two buildings, and alleyway with no lights to illuminate its passage. The alleyway had many spilt cans of trash, the sound of stray cats fighting was evident before they scurried off, and the faint smell of tobacco smoke lingered in the air. There was no mistaking it, this meeting was clearly something more than what was expected. Nanaka may have had assumptions about what was being expected here but how could she know for sure until now.

Once she made her way into the alley she'd find, with a little effort, an arrow pointing toward a red door off to the side with a crude etching of a cat next to it. Either this was the sketchiest pet store, or the sign was clearly meant for her. Reaching the red door it would open before she could touch it, opening inward to expose a room dimly lit by television static. Inside stood a woman, her hood up and her face adorned a half mask, mostly obscuring details of her face. Her eyes clearly had contacts in them as the color was beyond unnatural. They almost seemed to glow in the dim light of the room but the demeanor was not as intimidating as once expected.

A muffled and distorted voice rang out from the mask, sounding as if spoken through a tubular radio full of grain and waves. "I've been expecting you, Please have a seat. Can I offer you some tea?"

The smell of Jasmine tea hit Nanaka's nose as if on cue, next to the single chair in the room sat a single cup. It was clear that there was Genjutsu involved in the room, making things appear less realistic than they were, such as the voice and the smell of tea now permeating the air around them.

Spoiler: letter to Nanaka

Dear Nanaka,

I hope you don't mind this over step, but I've gone ahead and reached out to an associate of mine with information about yourself. I believe they would have good use for someone as talented as you, and that they would like to meet. Please head to the following address today after sundown, there they will discuss options available within the village that have not been discussed further with you at this time. Good luck, and don't take too long their not very patient.

[wc 441]
[mft]

 

[Komorebi Rin]

Oh, to be home.

There were few ways one could attempt to all intimidate, dissuade or caution Nanaka: but a meeting within an alleyway was not one of them. She believed she'd spent countless nights in the shadows of this one's boughs, if not one near it. The scent was entirely lost on a nose trained to its hearth, the squabbling of cats a tenor to her own voice, and the darkness that shaded across her lithing shape only another backdrop to majesty itself. She was home. She was so in her element, exactly, that she was ultimately somewhat unsettled - as if she'd face something just like her, and how unrecognizable that might be. "Hahaha," came the softest of laughter beneath a young girl's peal, drifting like perfume into the perfidious night. It joined every cacophony. Each beckoned her inside.

The letter was responded to - in her appearance here - out of some sense of ... what could it be? Curiosity could only kill a cat unsatisfied. Her inexplicable discomfort with Tanatsu's closeness to her foster father? That was a disgusting sentiment. Absolutely not - very well, very well then, a recognition of her own abilities? Neko Tanatsu had not come across the brightest of individuals in that room, but Nanaka had to be honest -- none of them had. As far as Nanaka was concerned, she was the sole person in this universe, let alone the only one with a lick of sense to them. That said, for a marionette at her Overseer's call, Tanatsu had done her job adequately in their class together and held an efficiency to her actions Nanaka could ... appreciate. She just had to see what this was about. Black market dealings? She supposed there could be things she didn't know, if unlikely, about the underbelly of Sunagakure.

She was nothing if not always seeking an excuse.

A painted entrance and a direction to head with the slow, languid slope of her legs, tongue snaking along the bottom of a cherry red lip and smearing it with that typical half-lid gaze. The nature of the meeting mattered less than the pomp and circumstance of it all. Nanaka had to give esteem to well-laid theatrics. All that mattered from here was that she came out the one laughing - always the victor, of course. Her nose twitched.

Lavender breathing into the twilight room as she paused a step, clicked her heel, and strode inside. Dorothy arriving at the Wizard. My, what bright eyes you have. "Hello," she responded to the distortion, one ear of two atop her head giving its catlike flit and tuning to the various oddities around them. An interesting use of Genjutsu application. She'd have to pick that one up herself. She remained near the entrance, its only exit noted, and lingered like a specter. "Lovely decorating."

"I apologize, but I do have to decline the tea. I'm sure your acquaintance, Tanatsu Neko, could offer you an anecdote why." Her smile was a wisp on such sharp features, just barely kept abreadth her teeth. "However, I don't wish to seem ungrateful for your time. I'll let you in on a secret in regard with your politeness." Fingers of one hand would shift over each other, lifting their arm enough for a black sleeve to slide down pale wrist and offer a peek of something on the inside of its fore. "I have multiple explosive notes armed on my person, as well as wire traps attuned to my chakra. With a heavy heart, if this happens to be a clever assassination attempt, I make you aware that I wouldn't be going down alone. Are these terms fair?" A lilt of her head, an upturn of her eyes. Ever polite in tempo.

 

[Tanatsu Neko]

There was a slight chuckle from the feminine figure as she tapped the television an oni mask appearing on the screen when she did so. "Come now, don't trust the Onryō to not poison you? I've had a full report on your class, seems you were.. prepared for such an occasion."

Her eyes followed the suggestion to see the paper bombs, under her mask a smile grew though it could not be seen from where Nanaka would be. "Very prepared, a shame one cannot kill a ghost then. Tell me this, do you think you know it all? All this village has to offer? All you could gain from it? I heard you follow the young novel around like he's had you on a leash, is that all you are is a good pet?"

The words were pointed like a dagger leaking off her tongue. She was trying to gauge what it was this girl wanted, what it was she was truly after. If she was right, then this conversation only needed to be about when and where to go. If she was wrong then she'd at least have the girl thinking when she left. She walked over and picked up the tea, her mask still on her face as she poured a sample into the scroll device attached to it. She then placed it down, and stared at the girl.

"Again I ask you to relax, sit, and enjoy some actual tea. As you can see no poison, or maybe I'm just trying to prove a point that you're too weak to handle it's toxin"

 

[Komorebi Rin]

"Preparation need not always mean actualization," she purred, an undercurrent of something to the flick of her tongue - consideration? Amusement? Or was she simply agitated by the situation she found herself in? The figure before her was not too different from her own perceptions -- and how strange that fun house felt. Intimidation as a tactic was ruled out early and promptly. Flattery wasn't going to get either of them anywhere. Was, then, the crassness of the other really necessary? If bloodshed was their sole companion, Nanaka would wonder if the other could keep up with her. ... Yes, most likely. Preparation once more, then. "Being ready for an event does not mean a hope for it, yes? I proved myself simply in that class. I'm doing so again, before you. If you're so eager to have your hospitality shared ..."

Her eyes sharpened, as did the knife of a cat's tempered claws. She brought one up to her cheek, tapping in at soft, unmarred skin, and then turned her head to breathe across it. The pop of cherry lips. "Do you mean to insult me, specter? That's neither polite nor tempting. If you think me so baselessly goaded ... you'd be correct, of course. And you wouldn't wish to follow that yarn to its logical extreme." Her exhalation across clawtip brought to life a spark then, following, a flame - an ember lingering atop her finger. She strode slow and seamless to the table, dipping it into the offered tea before toying her digit 'round the rim. It would steam in moments. She would lick the scalding liquid from her digit with a small, coarse tongue while mulling her response to the visage. Pop. "Unravel this with me, then, but tread careful - I'm sure you have no wish for a cat to catch that tongue of yours. While this might be an aggress, I've ruled out assassination - I've now gauged you're not that stupid. Not with my position, and not with whatever yours may be."

"... Mm, no, I answer. I don't know everything. I do like knowing things, however. Is this to be a trade of information?" Gold flickered in violet eyes.

 

[Tanatsu Neko]

She let out a hearty laugh, "you are something huh? Alright, a trade of information then yes, let's call it that. I have an opportunity for you, if you are interested in pursuing your skills for the better, and not wasting them for those who deserve nothing more than a poisoned cup. If you are interested then simply say yes, and I'll tell you where to go and who to speak with. If not then I've wasted my time and you proved unworthy of it. The choice is yours."


The woman waited patiently ignoring the commentary and fluff to the statements made rather focused on what was needed to be answered. She was certainly hoping that Nanaka would make the right choice, one that she herself has made not too long ago. She knew this girl had talent and that this path was the correct calling for her. She knew her talents would be wasted elsewhere, so maybe.. just maybe this would work.

 

[Komorebi Rin]

A quiet, peering expression offered from eyes of turned-over hazel - with roaming specks of gold to catch the light. She practically shone beneath it, the dim lighting of the room and the eerie television, as if she could melt into the static and be nothing more than another discomforting visual. She rolled her tongue over the inside of her cheek while listening, thrumming the tips of her fingers silently along the edge of the table, and remained languid and motionless in the silence that followed. Curiouser and curiouser. Was this, too, another test? "I am many things," as something of both a statement and a tease against the figure's laughing comment, the bags under her eyes darkening in the shadows with the shine of violent above them. "You have my interest, specter. I would be lying if I belayed a cat's natural curiosity ... however."

"Having it die would be most troubling. I'm not unamicable to whatever sly game you have going here, and I could care less for the legality of anything therein, but I need one more question answered before I offer my comradery. You'll find, should I, I'm a quite capable ally ... no matter your needs." A smile from a ghost, cheshiran and stark against the backdrop. "If I'm not sullying my claws for rabble, who would be worth it?"

 

[Tanatsu Neko]

She nodded at the girls comments, waving for her to come closer. Many of the illusions dropped in that moment, aside from the voice. In the building Nanaka could now see the window behind the woman's form, she stepped aside and gestured for her to look out it.

"Maybe I have the wrong lead on you, but if you want motivation.. this is mine. I hope it makes you think this offer is genuine. Take a look if you decide to do this, then go to the gate and ask for rose pedal, if not.. well then I was wrong about you."

The form was gone by the time she reached the window, having been nothing more than a clone used to hold conversation. Out the window, Nanaka would see an alleyway adjacent to this location, in this alleyway there were several groups of children playing in what appeared to be a sort of community built off the main roads. It was clear that the group belonged to the homeless population here in Suna, and further more that there was on sitting closer to the window who was very evidently sick. Neko let her in on the reality of Suna, now Nanaka could decide if she wanted to change that reality.

[Topic left if you decide to got for AiT go to gate with a thread requesting RosePedal]

 

[Komorebi Rin]

A flower amongst a garden within a hall of mirrors. A single clinging vine, branching across a transparent surface, and the quiet contemplation of its desire. Its ambition. Something budding anew, from so short an idea and so small a concept - as where all seeds started, and from which they all grew. She peered out from the window with a mull of her tongue to the back of her lips, watching the same thing the specter did - ragged, homeless children. She watched this for a moment longer.

Then she thought to snap the figure's neck where they stood. She thought: she did not act. Her fingers twitched, rising to caress the side of her own cheek in deeper consideration. She let out nothing but an unfurling and subsequent flick of her tail, tasting at air that grew increasingly more suffocating as moments passed. "I imagine you, as well, survived in these dredges. It comes as no shock that I did. They will, too. And if I could give someone like you, someone like me, someone like them - someone like us, better, I would simply--"

Leave them to die as I was. What play of sympathy was this supposed to be? The world is survival of the fittest. I survived. I'm the fittest. If they're worth anything, they'd find a way to live. If they're not, then they'll die as we might have. That's the fucking game, babe. Ridiculous. Absolutely fucking absurd. How dare you try and play at heartstrings I've long since unraveled to a dark weave? Where were people like YOU?

And yet: she simply smiled. Offered a softness to the other, in the quiet dim of their room, and peered out the window that moment longer. A vine would think to reach and wrap around either's neck in a noose. Nothing happened. Nothing changed. "-- deeply consider what I might be able to do. Thank you for having me, specter. What an enlightening evening. Calling card received."

[ topic left in contemplation and seething rage ]