Mission spiders on your nightstand asking for a drink

[Akane Kiseki]

Chōdayū would, in her capacity as a Genin, be handling a seemingly unimportant task for the village of Kumo one untroubled afternoon. The turning of the season had not yet grasped these inidle streets with their chill, a peek of autumn 'round the corner and one last wave from summer days. In truth, this was a state attempt at community outreach - and from all current candidates, Chōdayū was the ... most free. They also believed it would help to further acclimate her with the finer duty and purpose of being a ninja of the Cloud: the Village itself. It couldn't all be grand magic battles and falling on swords, the maws of dragons and demonic possession. Somebody had to make sure peace didn't mean stagnation and deliquency. Somebody had to think of the children.

Today, Chōdayū would be that somebody. There were two tiny girls - Kaya and Miri - relinquished to her noble hands and noble cause by exhausted parents, and they had a very clear goal: run the best got danged lemonade stand a wartorn mountain country had ever seen. Ideally, without any bloodshed, and while avoiding the piercing gaze of inspectors, agents, and generally displeasant adults all ... but would Chōdayū's poise hold through the perils of community service?

Kaya, shy, gripped the back of the older lady's haori - staring from behind at their makeshift stand of wood and crayon that needed a touch up before the vaulted Lemonade could be served. Miri, rambunctious, was trying and failing to juggle the honorable lemons behind this stand. How will this harrow clear?

[ E Rank Modded / 1k WC (2x) Target ]
[ 266 ]
[ i don't forgive you for this ]

 

[Chodayu]

Simple architecture splayed before her; the bud of a lemonade stand housing her duties for the evening. "My, this will be a lovely sign," she starts, her voice tempered to the pliancy of candle wax. Molten especially-so for girls of two. And, for the one attached to her side, she adds: "perhaps we could paint some lemons on it, if you'd like."

The kunoichi had never any appetite for building, creating. Growing up, it had simply never been a part of her curriculum. Still, she steps forward with moxie all the same. Careful movements make up for careful hands that take & weigh a plank. Careful movements ensure that — if Kaya's grip happens to persist — nothing feels as though it is being yanked. Only guided. "Now, let's see..." The plank rises up; high, and yet simple. A piece of wood, awaiting reform. Or, in this case, re-positioning. She needn't complicate things. "Miri, darling, do you happen to have any rope back at home? Some that I could borrow?"

With the question left in the air, she returns the plank to its original state and steps back, again.

Chodayu doesn't think aloud, but the long finger that comes to rest its tip over the shy corner of her chin rules her in thought. Her arms fold just slightly, just enough for a palm to hold her elbow, but not enough for her sleeves to block the view for little Kaya did she happen to remain behind her haori. She tips her crown, dipping mind into invisible clouds. "Hmm." Then, back out. Lowers it, again towards the angel at her side (if she was still there). Although not stood atop her shoulder, Chodayu hopes a willed smile will bring about the angel's judgment. "How about decorating the stand with a few lemons? I could try to attach them to a cord. Then, we'd hang it over the top of some planks. Like vines... lemon vines."



—
wc 322 (322/1000)
[get absolutely trolled x // great post tho]

 

[Akane Kiseki]

It was love at first sight for children that knew nothing of horror save the perils of boredom and chores - two little creatures, wide-eyed and puffy lipped, with hands that always seemed somewhat jammy. Kaya looked up at Chodayu with glittering green, her mouth hanging open, and adoration beamed in the warmth that would brush the larger girl with the closeness of the smaller's. Miri, too, stumbled in her poor juggling, a lemon left in each hand (the rest discarded around the lawn) that hung quiet and agape the moment Chodayu begin to address them with real plans. She actually wanted to play in their space. They were little, not simple - they knew they were being pawned off by parents far too drained from their daily lives to keep up with such energy at all times - and they had thought Chodayu would be just the same. On a job: and perhaps she was, but she wasn't above being on their level. They sparkled. All three of them, together.

"O... okay! Yeah! We have LOTS of stuffs! I'll grab it, Choya! Hol'on!" Miri sent herself scampering dutifully under the command of their leader, taking with her both lemons forgotten in her grasp even as she tripped onto fours and - kept going. She was off, but it wouldn't take long to wrestle in their shed. Just ... noisy. Kaya, for her graces, didn't move from behind the larger creature she had attached herself to - she did her best not to step over the other, but it did mean she ambled as if trailed. The nearer Chodayu came to her - lowered, equaled - the brighter Kaya shown, popping off a gasp from a body too small for its own excitement. She vibrated on her feet. "D... decoration ... y-yeah! Miri's reel creative, Ch-Choya-senpai. I just like drawering. Can I color vines too? I have... green." She was smiling, both to herself and the lady she was trying to impress with her color knowledge, and then shifted just enough away to start picking up the lemons Miri had dropped on the grass without troubling them.

Miri, on her way back, would watch as Kaya waddled about with tiny hands too full of the fruits, yet offer the ones she had scampered away with onto the pile in her sister's arms. Kaya squeaked, but kept at it, losing lemons with little oofs until she could spill the bulk of them back onto the stand. Miri beamed at Chodayu, holding up a tangle of rope that wound around and around her body, moreso as she held it up to present. "ROPE."

They did not have much time before patrons appeared with watering mouths and grubbering paws. Would Chodayu be able to punctually overcome this childish wonder?

[ 728 ]

 

[Chodayu]

They meet Chodayu with a sweet diligence, giving a tug to the strings on her lips. (A memory follows with a bell's toll and her smile nearly slips. Doesn't; knows the art of self-control more than she knows to sell to a customer. Which...) "That's a great idea, darling." (how would she go about that, now...) With a slower pace, she moves after Kaya as a means to think. To strategize. Each fallen fruit is easily scooped up and carried behind the little girl, and — she reasons, and reasons; it can't be any different to her real job, can it?

"So quick," comes a comment from woven corners. She uses a free hand to untangle little Miri from her ignored predicament and takes it, carrying both the rope and what lemons had slipped from Kaya before. Brings them to the stand where she beckons for the girls to join if they haven't already.

"Let's see now," an eye runs its course over the ingredients. "Kaya, darling; wouldn't your vines go great over this board right here?" she points to one of the boards she'd picked at earlier. "And Miri," she turns, "think you can snag us a few customers? Maybe spread the word of our great lemonade stand?" Her chin rises, a gesture to the streets facing them back.

And whether work would pick up or not, Chodayu pulls out cords from her sleeves, snapping them in smaller pieces and attaching them to two or three lemonades. Not enough to starve them of their supplies but enough to allow for a display which she willfully attaches to the top of the stand. Then, she settles at Kaya's side, borrowing a yellow crayon and.. drawering the lemons to Kaya's vines. All whilst keeping her smile dedicated to the other girl lest she loses her to the crowds. Or, better yet: brings a customer.



—
wc 310 (632/1000)
[sincerely grateful for ur patience : pray : ]

 

[Akane Kiseki]

They learn quickly, the two, that Chodayu was more than capable as their dutiful assistant - with hands of rope and lemon, a gentle studiousness previously unknown to either Miri or Kaya, they could clearly dream their dreams of enterprise. Eyes alight as they stared back at her grace, both kids saw the future of the shacky little stand they stood together: three stories, no, four! Five! Armed security with chakra cannons! Airships bringing FOREIGN, EXOTIC fruits and carrying back their promised ambrosia to the POOR AND DOWNTRODDEN; unlike them, of course, with piggy and bunny coinpurses bulging underneath splayed, scrooge-like frames. "Sunglasses," came the muttered voice of Miri, somewhat dazed. "Lik'a movie star." It was only an instant that passed between Chodayu correcting them on path and offering suggestions to bring it all in, but that instance was enough. They had been set for life. They were going to be famous.

Kaya giggled to herself in the prance around to the mentioned board, armed with a green crayon that practically bent under doughy little fingers that couldn't wait to craft its masterpiece. She squiggled. She squiggled SO GOOD, and Miri wasn't going to be outdone by Kaya's due diligence and her closeness to Chodayu in the moment where the two tended the stand together. She scampered.

Chodayu's trained prowess allowed her to keep up with the hooting tiny girl along the cul-de-sac for all but the split of a moment where she turned behind a bush, only to 'yippee' to announce her supposed victory (and location kept, for any worried.) When she drew back from behind the greenery and Kaya loosed a little hiccup that drew a line down the side of the board, Miri held out a cat she could barely lift - docile, at least. Confused. "HE'S THIRSTY." In triumph, and the smile that came was gap-toothed and blinding. The animal went: "mewr?"

A gasp and a draw back; Kaya pointing at the side of the stand where, on close inspection, the smallest black shape with many thinner legs could be seen tip-tappering along. "INTRUDER!" Ah, but then, --

"Oh, you found Raiko! Thank goodness, my son's been worried sick all morning, haha. That's our cat, little miss. Would you mind?" An older, kindly gentleman moving from distance near Miri.

"Lemonade first." Blackmail???

[ 1111 ]
[ bless you for your patience. daisuki ]

 

[Chodayu]

She decides it's a(n innocent) chaos of sorts. If not... movie stars, then they were certainly just stars alone. Excited little bodies of pure fire, dancing, vibrating with an infectious vigor.

Mind adrift, Chodayu offers a nod to nobody in particular. Energy resumes as it does — its source darting from A to B, then back to A — and Chodayu is careful with every hair of movement. When she tilts her head, when she draws forth a "hmm?", when her brows follow the question in her voice. Fur thrusts itself in her face, and she bats away the shock with a blink of her gaze. "Oh?"

"For lemonade? A... cat?" Chodayu retreats a step. "I've never seen them drink it. Shall we?" She rethinks. "Should we?" Before she can move a third step back, Kaya brings her attention to a second customer.

Ah. Here goes.

The older girl poises high. It's a routine; the way her arms curl under one another, the way her smile corrects itself. "Hello," she addresses the man. "I think what little Miri means to ask here is; would you like to try out our very special lemonade? If you will, think of it as..." her eyes drift in thought. Then back: "a means to thank her. For finding the lit... for finding your dear Raiko." As she goes on, she shoots Kaya a quick wink and a nod towards the lemonade stand.



-
wc 234 (866/1000)

 

[Akane Kiseki]

Miri was not so much distraught as disappointed that her little criminal act attempt at negotiation had somewhat failed - Chodayu seeming unwilling to extort the man with promise of receiving his cat back (who the little girl had grown quickly attached to, as pliable as the animal made itself) but the older girl handled herself with immense grace and mediated the problem to nothing. It was impossible not to be amazed with Chodayu. Her very aura, her every word, her gentle touch and gentler still her voice; you never wanted to say no to her. Far beyond her own disappointment, Miri didn't want to disappoint their new de-facto guardian. She relents, smiles gaptoothed at the older man, and sheepishly passes back his - Raiko. "Mmm... ooookaaaay... buh'like Choya says, you gotta try th' lemonade, okay?" The pitter patter of her feet at supposed rest offered little imagination that she'd chase him down if needed.

"Well, I - er. You know, that sounds pleasant." You could tell the man was not unused to the antics of children, and the sympathetic look passed Chodayu's way offered empathy from one herder to another. He held the docile Raiko in one arm while the other fished out a number of yen coins, approaching the stand. Kaya, on her knees in the grass nearby, messing with the spider that had shown itself while this interaction played out, blinked back up at Chodayu upon her passing the baton. Little eyes alit with responsive fervor. A bit of lemonade was spilt in the process of her stumbling to her feet and preparing a cup before the man had quite crossed the distance, but this quickly met the many legs of the creature she had somewhat befriended (cautiously, for this was not its home), and it seemed no worse the wear for the refresh.

"Thank you very much," came a jolly rumble when the visitor accepted his prize, dropping the change on the stand between Chodayu and her charge. More than enough for one drink, even. He followed this up with a request for a few more glasses - stating an intent to bring his own little ones by soon - and exclaimed in playful reverence. "This is quite the creation you have here. It's really good, actually!"

It seems they had hooked their first customer - by whatever means necessary - and would be receiving more soon. Chodayu had succeeded not only in her mission, but in the wonder-filled eyes of children everywhere; ah, but most especially the two nearby, sticky & doughy hands holding at the sleeves and trim of her clothes. How warm they felt. How warm the air felt, today. It was Kaya, with Miri's attention still on Raiko yawning in the man's arms, that fished out a cup to hold up to Chodayu in a trembling young hand. Her giggles were practically a titter. "On th' house for Choya. You worked reeeeely hard, too ..." "Yeah, yeah!" came a voice despite its estrangement, Miri peeking back. Radiance in motion. "You were reely cool, Choya-samba." "!! Yeah! Choya-samba!"

Beloved, even.