Spending time efficiently? (Open)

[Tao]

Tao couldn't remember the last time he have been in a place surrounded by absolute silence, where the only thing he could hear would be his own footsteps in an echo, well, he couldn't remember such a scene because he have never been in one ever since he left his original home which by now he have somehow managed to completely forget about it. The constant sounds of people's voices speaking aloud or whispering could be heard from every direction, after all, this place was famous for the huge concentration of worship buildings of all sorts dedicated to any religion one could ever think of, heck there was even a religion where the people were worshiping a piece of rock that laid on an alter of some sort with many rows in front of it of people who are bending to their knees and lowering their heads until their forehead would touch the floor and straighten their arms forward in a sort of yoga-like position, one of the odd things Tao have managed to witness not too long ago when he aimlessly wondered into one of these fascinating facilities. It has always fascinated him how people have managed to create this higher being figure whom they believe would bless them with good fortune, great wealth and good health, at most cases at least. He have managed to even stumble upon some Jashin fanatics who were cleaning their hands in a metallic object that would contain thick dark red liquid that reminded him a bit too much of the same liquid humans have flowing within their bodies... Blood, yes! That was it's name.

After quite a while of wondering around, he have found himself a semi-quiet place to sit in and absorb all the knowledge he could take from the place, his figure seemed peaceful and relaxed as if he, himself was one with some higher being, which might make people around him mistakenly presume that he was some kind of heavenly messager of some sort or maybe a sentinel being who have descended onto the earth to help those who required it the most. Though in truth none of that would be true, because in reality life is not that nice to most of the people, luckily for Tao, he disregarded with most of that bitter thinking and tried to find a silver lining somewhere within all those twisted concepts.

"I wonder if some of them would worship a lemon if I were to place it on an alter..."

Tao wondered to himself while gazing aimlessly into the scenery above where only the peaks of the buildings would be visible. The place wasn't exceptionally cold today, heck, it was quite nice, not too warm either... A bit chilly maybe, but nothing too sever, people seem to walk.... Ohh right, they were all wearing robes for their rituals and whatnot, but then again, so was Tao, not for a ritual or anything but he just kind of liked wearing them, it felt quite more comfortable that way, besides it'd cover most of his body which was a win-win situation in case his skin would ever crack.

 

[Sakaku Kiku]

Kiku would look around her town but thought to herself on what she was planning on doing and she went to the book store and got a novel. "Hmmm.... This might be a good book" and she left the store but as she was walking back home she saw the tall man that was talking to himself but ignored him and went past him to get to her house and said to herself. "I've never seen him before" and she shrugged her shoulders and continued walking.

 

[Tao]

In the corner of his eye Toa saw a girl pass by with brownish hair. He looked down to get a better look at her and realize exactly how bored he was, I mean, its extremely hard to describe the levels of boredom Tao got to at the point where he was sitting by himself and staring at what appeared to be either the ceiling or the sky, he could no longer determine which one was it considering how dark it's depth seemed at the time. He could barely hear her murmer something to herself, but for some odd reason he decided to have some fun, maybe this would prove to be of these spontaneous moments that would lighten his day a bit further.

Excuse me mis, have you ever heard of our lord and savior, Lord Terra?"

He asked while smiling vividly and having both of his hands held together and pressed against his chest. The name just randomly popped out of his head like an erupting volcano of what appeared to be a mixture of creativity and utter randomness. What have seemed to him as amusing to pose as one of those fanatics that were crawling at every corner in this district would actually normally be translated as something quite creepy and unheard of, considering how serious he seemed about that question.

Please allow me to take a moment of your time to tell you the epic legend of Lord Terra and how he saved the world and especially this village"

He continued without the single hint of jesting or the will to stop talking, it seemed at that point that resisting his approach would be not only futile but also somewhat dangerous if he were to happen to be a real fanatic who would be shot down to everything he believed in, though in the end it all was some cruel joke that at the time seemed quite entertaining for the bored man who have tried to approach what seemed to be a small, defenseless girl.

[OOC: wow, how the hell did Tao become so creepy O_O]

 

[Sakaku Kiku]

She stopped walking and turned around with a small scowl on her face. "Why?" And she stared up at the man. "I don't even know you..." As she said still looking at him. "I guess it would not hurt to hear something about lord terra so sure go ahead" and she put her book in a small carrying bag.

 

[Tao]

Tao glanced at the girl for a moment, she seemed to question him why he even approached her to begin with and why was he even talking to her considering that they haven't even met before, nor does she even know who he was... Well, that would normally ruin someone's prank but suddenly she seemed to agree to listen to his story. Tao's smile grew a bit brighter as he heard her statement as if a moment of delight descended upon him and blessed him with a bit more entertainment than he would normally expect from random people he would stop on the street.

"Well, once upon a time, there was a peasant who lived right here in this very district, called Terra. He wasn't much of a worker, he would often daydream and mess up on his chores and would often be scolded a lot. But one day as the skies began to become darker and darker and the air began to get colder and colder he began to sense that a lot of misfortune will fall upon these lands, it appeared that he was gifted in things that at the time not even he was aware of."

Tao began speaking, he couldn't believe the words that came out of his mouth, he never expected to have such a vivid imagination and he continued to make up the story as he went on.

"Terra was not a heroic man, but he had something that none of the other peasants had, which was the power over life itself, he could manifest extraordinary energy out of his body which changes and shifts into various elements which he would use to help his family and friends with, when the winter would come, he would heat their stoves and when they grew hungry he would make trees spring out of the ground and lay fruit for them to eat and when they were thirsty he would dig tunnels and create rivers of fresh water for them to drink. But when the dark day have come when the skies turned pitch black rain of blood began to pour down on this very village, and back then it was not carved into stone like it is today, back then they were living on the mountain itself."

He continued, he began to realize what he was speaking of, a tale which could potentially change the mindset of all those monsters this village was breeding and instead of them becoming killing machines they would instead become saints who would help this village prosper and become peaceful, that is at least Tao's greatest hope.

"On that day, Tao have built shelter for the men and women of this village and carved a small town inside the rock and earth which was the foundation of the Iwagakure you know today, the rain poisoned the land that it hit upon, it killed the crops and blackened the water, the trees dried up and broke and everything seemed hopeless, so Terra used his awesome powers to ascend himself into the clouds and he used all his might to purify the death cloud that purged the village and turned it pure again where fresh water would rain instead of blood and everything that was once destroyed by it is now healed, but this act has cost him his life and his essence poured down on the ground with the rain and made a forest grow, that is the forest outside of our village's gates, and while Terra's tale is old and mostly forgotten, I believe that it is still wise to go and spread his story around the village so that he could still live within us today like he used to back then."

Tao concluded his story with a semi-climatic ending where the protagonist dies for the sake of his people to make him appear as a hero and a role model. He at that point considered to write a book about it and publish it to make the children of this generation as strong and wise as his completely fictional character whom he made up on the spot. He hoped that this girl will now too will be able to spread this story around to forecast an alternative path for generations of shinobi we have today. Then Tao took a lengthy pause before he spoke again.

"So, what do you think? Believable?"

Tao said with a childish smile, while he appeared to be a grown up adult, he was still somewhat of a child in heart, although he, himself would never admit it to anyone.

 

[Sakaku Kiku]

As she listened to him talk and talk her ears twitched a little after he was done talking she leaned against a tree and started to read her novel but said to the man. "That was made up don't underestimate me because of my size and age" and she looked up and scowled at the man. "I was testing to see if you could make something up it's what I do to every person I just met so don't worry about that little test I gave you" and went back to her book.

 

[Tao]

Tao was astonished from the girl's response, without as much as rising a brow or flinging or any sign at all she declared Tao's story to be false and that she was actually testing HIM to see what kind of story he would make up... That reaction surely threw him off, especially considering the district they were in right now was not only the most religious in the already incredibly religious village but also crawling with religion freaks that would try to sell their religion to anybody who would listen, but this girl... She is either incredibly brave or incredibly stupid. None of these two options occurred to Tao however, he was actually somewhat amused by her response.

"Oh? So how did I do? Did I overdo it a bit with the flying part? Or maybe was it the instantaneous stone carving? Was it even interesting at all or were you actually tormented by listening to a boring story like the one I just told you?"

Tao bombarded the poor girl with questions, as he tends to do at almost any given time, he was incredibly curious and that was diminishing his boredom and even increasing his enthusiasm, maybe this girl could entertain him a bit more than he though...

 

[Sakaku Kiku]

She was get irritated by his talking and then she climbed up a tree and looked down at him. "Sheesh you like to talk don't you and it was pretty descriptive but you are really annoying me" she said with a stress mark obove her head as she sat on the tree branch. "So who are you if I may ask" with no expression on her face.

 

[Tao]

Tao listened to her argument, it appeared that he didn't lack description in his story, which is good, but on the other hand it got the listener annoyed... Well, so far it was extremely difficult to talk to the girl in the first place, but now it seemed even harder, she was like a vacuum whose sole purpose was to suck away Tao's positivity, at that point he had to attempt at least to cheer the girl up... And talk less it appears, although he did enjoy engaging conversations, it seemed that it turned into some sort of mental drug to him the moment he was taught how to converse properly, just half a year ago. He watched the girl climb up the tree she was leaning against not too long ago and as she was looking down at him from the tree she asked him who he was, she was probably referring to an interdiction, ohh Tao could do that!

"Oh, excuse me, I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is Tao and I'm... What do you people like to call it... Erm, a scholar? Or maybe a very enthusiastic student maybe..."

Tao began to forcefully limit his words which in turn began to distort his ability to speak. He was still speaking very clearly and properly nor did his voice changed, but his sentences began to lose their weight in a sense, much like a balloon that gradually loses it's air and starts to descend back to the ground.

"And may I ask of your name, mis?"

The man asked while still looking at the girl who was still stuck in the tree like a helpless kitten.

 

[Sakaku Kiku]

As she looked at Tao she said. "Then if I offended you then sorry about that.... Tao" and she leaped on the branch and landed a few feet in front of him then said. "And my name is kiku and I'm only an academy student" and she put her book away again and looked up at Tao. "But it's nice to meet you.. Tao" and she wanted to go home but she waited for what he would say next.

 

[Tao]

Tao blinked for a moment, her next statement seemed weird to him, while it was true that he was roughly disappointed at what she said, he didn't really show any sign of it on the surface and while he wondered that, she has introduced herself while jumping off of the tree. Her expression still blank and unchanged as the first time he seen her. She ended her greeting with a gesture of pleasantries, which appeared in any formal conversation at which point he had already began to lose his words entirely. He at this point felt that it was sort of needless to continue to talk to this girl, who doesn't seem to care or reflect on anything he have said so far, maybe he was simply bad at handling people like that and while he did want to try, he figured that he had something better to do, like train further on his energy control.

"Well, Kiku-san, it was pleasant to meet you. I believe that I've bored you enough with my speeches so I'll let you continue doing whatever it is you do and will go to tend my sick friend."

He spoke, searching for a way to end this conversation quickly, for some reason he felt unease when being near this girl, something about her just... Wait, did she say she was an academy student?... Now he began to understand what rooted his sudden change of heart towards this girl, she was a shinobi in training, in other words, a monster in training. It began to become clearer to him the reason behind why she behaved the way she did and why her expression would never change, she was training to become a tool of mass destruction, much like the other little monsters in that institute that they like to call Academy... He have met shinobi before, some were a high ranks, some were at lower ranks and some were mere students much like her, but unlike her he could still hope to change them for the better, but not her, she seemed like she's beyond help. He had hoped to never cross paths with her in combat, because then he'd be forced to protect the world against the evil she is destined to become. He smiled slightly, a clearly fake smile that he could no longer hide

"Goodbye... Student Kiku-san..."

He stated as a farewell before turning around and walking away, trying to wash away any remaining thought that still lingered in his mind about this girl while his mind was still rumbling with distasteful thoughts about what potential evil this girl could become in the future.

[Topic left unless stopped]

 

[Sakaku Kiku]

"Wait! No don't leave!" As her facial expression changed into a lonely look and for once it changed and clung to his robe. "Please don't go... I can't... Stand being alone all the time that why I never shown any expression towards others" but then she realized that she was clinging to some person she just met and she let go of him. "Sorry about that, I don't even know why I clung to somebody that I only just met so.... Sorry" and put her head down in disappointment.

 

[Tao]

Tao stopped at his tracks as the girl began to beg of him to stay, he was confused at what was going on. He looked back at the girl who was clinging against Tao's robes and it seemed that as soon as he noticed her doing that, she left go. His expression at least at first was indifferent, he was still somewhat disgusted at the very sight of the girl, such a young thing, being trained to be a monster who will later on will take other people's lives without any mercy or consent of any kind... The girl began to show expressions, she even explained why she never actually shows them to begin with... He couldn't quite grasp this girl, at this point he figured that she tried to trick him into believing that she was still just a little girl who doesn't want to be alone, but in the end he just couldn't believe her. His eyes narrowed for a moment as he stared at her with a piercing judging expression of someone who have found her guilty for some crime she committed. He then smiled slightly with a slightly happier expression as his skin began to emit a dim light.

"Okay, student kiku-san... What would you like to do?"

He asked, his skin stopped shining gradually while his eyes were fixated at the girl who stood in front of him while trying to pay extra careful attention to his surroundings in case someone would attempt to jump him all of the sudden. His senses weren't dull, actually they were far greater than what a normal human being was capable of, he was almost like a sonar that can sense the presence of anyone who would be a few feet away from him, especially when he's actually paying attention.

 

[Sakaku Kiku]

She was being serious without tricks or games so she went and looked up at Tao who had a cold expression. "I want to be a shinobi and help others but on the other hand it's like I just don't like being alone because have no more family but it's one I can't decide and I do not like it at all" and she pulled her hair back into a pony tail and looked back at him. "But I am sorry for clinging onto you and now I just feel pathetic for doing that" and she sat against the same tree. "The reason I read book is because it keeps my mind off of me being lonely and I search for knowledge as well but it's a temporary thing" and looked even more disappointed.

 

[Tao]

Tao examined the girl again, she was acting weird, weirder than anything he had seen thus far anyway. At first she was trying to shake him off and telling him that he's annoying but now she doesn't want him to leave her and began going on about her being an orphan. Tao could not honestly expect all of this to be true, what bothered him the most was that he simply could not get the right angle about this girl, which ultimately lead him to believe that she was lying through her teeth, he could bet that none of what she said so far was true aside from being in the academy and maybe her name too. At this point he felt as if it'd be dangerous to even stay near this girl for too long, who knows how many of these monsters might jump him next.

"I'm sorry to hear that... Student Kiku-san... Can I maybe--"

He immediately stopped his sentence before he said something utterly unnecessary. He was about to offer her some ice-cream, but considering that he doesn't have any money on him at the time would only lead into complications, especially since that situation would lead him to stay by her side for longer than he'd hope. After contemplating on what to say he figured he'd at least give her a sense of closure and finish that sentence

"Can I maybe at least escort you home?"

There was no escaping this, he had to spend some more time with this girl, although he really wouldn't like to do so. He was strong enough to hold his own ground, sure, but what if she would start killing innocent by passers, he'd be forced to take action and attack her instead to protect THEM. He stood there, wondering what she would do or say next, maybe her plan was already in progress... Whatever it was, but not for one moment did he stop to think that she might be some innocent little girl who lost her way and is now truly lonely.

 

[Sakaku Kiku]

she looked at tao trying not to cry and hid her face again with her hand to help her calm down and then she looked up and saide. "sure if its ok with you then it would be nice if you could" and her ears and tail popped out and when she noticed she tried to put them away so he does not find out that i am a human-cat girl and she let out a small "mew" she covered her mouth at that instant and she had a stress mark obove her head. she said to herself in her head "dear god i hope he did not hear that.

 

[Tao]

Tao saw something especially interesting for just a brief moment. As her face saddened even further, a set of ears and tail popped out of her in an instant, which she quickly attempted to hide. This girl was not human, just like him, she was something... Different. The way the ears were shaped he'd have to guess that she was a descendent of some animal form which somehow take a human form or maybe a merge of the two? Maybe even some kind of demonic essence that just happened to look like a cat or a human or both. Then she let out a small mewing sound, much like a cat would, which intrigued him even more. She seemed to be embarrassed by this form, or so it seemed to Tao at least, which made her look a lot more human than she looked before, to him at least, since beforehand all he saw was a monstrosity that stands in front of him, just waiting to take the souls of the innocent and fragile.

"Please lead the way."

He acted as if he didn't see what just popped out of her head and rear and instead acted casually as if nothing really changed. Now all that he needed to do was to get this girl home safely and leave, that's actually all that was on his mind... Aside from these comical cat ears.

 

[Sakaku Kiku]

she finally put her ears and tail away. "ok, follow me" and she started walking towards her home. "im guessing you saw my ears and tail its probably weird to see somebody with cat ears and a tail but thats how i was born dont know how i was but i cant know now my parents are dead" and she kept walking toward were she lived. "but dont worry about it almost everybody knows it now"

 

[Tao]

[Topic Left due to Kiku's char being voided]
[Topic Voided]