Upside Research Down

[Hayakuro]

*Clack, clack, clack*

The padding of her sandals against the thick stone tower cut through the ambient whooshing of the sea below. She stared forward as she walked, watching the water get closer and closer as she moved 'forward', her mind focused on her experiment for the day. She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, the gravity of her horizontal position starting to affect her raven locks. Luckily her messenger back slung across her back was already using her body as a platform so it didn't fall. Of course this wasn't the first time she wandered down the tower; Hayakuro discovered early on that the location of the tip of the stone spire was an excellent place for chakra infusion. She haven't had the opportunity to research it yet, but an initial inference pegs the cause as the relationship between the inverted tower's shape and the bay beneath, the chakra and energies inherent in the air move in ways that make it easy to manipulate.

She finally reached the tip of tower, taking a short breath to focus her chakra, splitting her technique and allowing her to keep herself stuck, now pointed vertically along with the tower, as well as keeping her bag stuck to her backside for the time being. She looked around slowly, even though she'd been in this position in the past, the inverted perception of the world and the motion of the waves never ceased to disorient her a little bit; luckily it's quick to get over.

Reaching up into her back, she carefully slipped her hand into the sack, rummaging for something. A second passed and she pulled out a short, jet black pipe. It looked like it was full of some leafy substance already, moist and delicious. She opened her mouth and popped the pipe into it, looking a little awkward as, if she were upright, it would be upside down. But it made sense for what it was.

She spent a moment with the pipe in her mouth, her off-color eyes freezing. Her mind had hit a revelation in her stream of thoughts, and she needed to carefully work through the answer that had come. She again reached her hand into her back, though this time much less careful than before. She caught the opening incorrectly with her knuckle, and the zipper pulled itself open.

Instantaneously something fell out of her back pouch, a small spherical thing covered in runic paper. It was almost a slow-motion scene, as she turned slightly just to watch the ball fall beside her. She attempted to claw for the falling orb, but it was no avail, it quickly left her reach and, after a couple seconds, went splashing into the bay. The way her mouth hung open had another effect as well, her pipe tipped and followed suit, tumbling down behind her object. Her eyes were fixated on the floating ball, watching the pipe fall out of her peripheral.

The much more minute splash of the pipe was the final straw, letting her frustration loudly overflow.

"#$%@!!!!"

 

[Hayakuro]

Long moments have passed of Hayakuro staring straight down at the floating tools in the water some thirty feet above her. Her mind reeled with different thoughts and emotions, most of which involved a fair amount of curse words. Her flat expression watched her pipe and her paper ball bob up and down along the serene waves, debating on a course of action. Her experiment for the day was ruined, that water would do terrible things to the contents of her research. ...Although, she pondered, raising a hand down to her chin, it could be interesting to attempt the fusion while the papers were wet. She wondered what kind of reaction that could have, with the contents of the water having been absorbed into the notes surrounding the...

Wait, she'd done this before. That one day when it was raining, and the explosion, and nearly losing her left eye... She shook her head, perishing the thoughts and resigning herself to having to wait until her materials dried out. But the fact remained that they were down above her, and she was stuck to this spire. Again her thoughts reeled with options; she could simply drop herself down into the water and swim herself back to the cliff? That would be a dreadful use of her time, that was no good. Abandoning them was also completely out of the question; she needed that little orb in its exact contents in order to perform her experiment, that was the entire point! Not only that but her favorite pipe was down there, she couldn't just let that go. She sighed, coming to a final consensus within herself. She brought her hands to her chest, cycling through a number of ninjutsu hand seals, as the water directly below her and under her tools began to churn. It agitated quicker and started to swell, growing into a bulge of contained water and chakra. It wasn't until the bubble looked as though it was at its breaking point that Haya had a second thought, that maybe Grand Waterfall was an attack-type Ninjutsu for a reason.

"#$%@."

Her curse was quickly washed out by the rushing water that exploded upward, a raging torrent column of liquid that lashed out and splashed upon the kunoichi and the tower she stood upon. It was a quick vortex that consumed her and most of the tower tip, hovering in the air for a second before the attack ended, the mass of water shifting directions as gravity took ahold of it, falling back upon the bay in the form of a short spurt of heavy rain. As the water returned to whence it came, Haya stood at her perch, luckily still attached to the stone pillar. Her hair, clothes, and bag were completely drenced, hanging down thanks to gravity and dripping wet.

Her deadpan expression was coupled with her dry body language, holding her pipe in one hand and her soaked paper ball in the other. She stood, statuesque for a moment or two before sputtering some water out of her mouth and giving a sigh. She didn't bother to straighten herself or put her tools away, simply popping her pipe in her mouth, wiping some water from her eyelashes, and beginning to trudge along the outside of the great stone spire, keen on returning home and putting this failed experiment behind her.

"How troublesome."

{Topic outta here~}