Current Invite List:

He was checked in at a local inn, nothing fancy sadly, his funds where a bit low at the moment, but that was fine. While he preferred a more... luxurious lifestyle; he was very, very used to living hand to mouth, basically. He'd grown up an orphan after all, a rather unpopular one to boot, so he knew how to scrounge for his meals and sleep in doors. It had been years since life had been that bad, but he never forgot where he came from; especially since his time at the orphanage was all he had. He had no memories of the time before the orphanage, so as much as he hated what he'd gone through before he was taken in by his 'father', it was a time full of life lessons and survival tactics he could ill afford to lose.

Now that he was in town and settled, he needed to get to work. He was leading his camel to the stables of the company that he'd rented it from; there was a stable in all the major settlements within the Land of Wind thankfully, especially so within Sunagakure; so he didn't have to worry about violating the time on his contract. He had a day left, but there was no reason to hang onto the beast. There wasn't a huge amount of room to move around in much of the village, and a beast that large wouldn't fit where he needed to go. Better to take it back before dark and be done with it. It was a simple enough task; he lea the beast to the open stables and turned in his contract copy to be signed off, and his deposit returned. Thank the Gods for that, too; as it was basically the only way he'd have food money on this trip. The transfer was easy, the camel was in perfect condition; hell, he'd even brushed the beast down that morning, before leaving the oasis; in reality it was in better shape than when he rented it out at the edge of the desert.

He got his deposit back and dropped the small handful of coins into the small cloth coin purse he wore around his neck; it was just easier to keep it around his neck than to keep it on his belt, or in a pocket, or something. He didn't wear 'normal' clothing; or what was normal for most people. His clothing was a very old style; 'classical' robes and yakuta, with geta or waraji footware, depending on the region he is in and what is most appropriate for the area. At the moment, he was wearing a special pair of waraji with thick, wide soles, which helped him walk on the blazing hot sands without sinking deeply. As light as he was, he still had some weight to him, so anything to help to keep from sinking was welcome. He just wasn't strong enough to fight the sands for long. Currently, outside of the modified waraji, he was wearing something more normal for the desert peoples; over his usual hakama and yakuta was a long desert cloak; made of thick, coarse material died to a dark dusky brown to help protect him from the blazing sun and stinging sands. It helped, significantly; his albino nature made him particularly vulnerable in the desert heat and sun; so adding extra layers that actually helped to repel the fury was extremely welcome. He knew he'd be working at night mostly while he was in the region; but that was the norm for him. It just wasn't worth it to go outside during the day unless he had a job; he could get things done early in the morning and late in the evening when he had to and be fine.

With his camel returned and the little bit of coin in his possession, he made his way toward the temple to which he'd been summoned; one of the Uzumaki clan temples, he was told. He wasn't much for following the politics and nobility of the ninja world; he was trained in some ninja skills, and had some proficiency with them; but he was an exorcists by profession, and a folklorist on paper. The jobs went hand in hand, thankfully. It was far easier to make a living as a folklorist than as an exorcist in this modern times; a folklorist could get work as a scribe (oddly enough a profession that hadn't died, even with education being mandatory and literacy rates being so high), a librarian, in the temples and shrines. Not a great life, but it was a life none the less. The temple wasn't that far away from the stables; maybe a few miles at best. He wasn't physically strong, but that didn't mean he couldn't walk for a decent distance. He rarely sprung for mounts or transports; so he had to be able to walk for long distances.

Across the streets he walked, attempting to blend into the crowds the best he could. He had the hood of the cloak pulled up over his head, with his head wrapped in thick cloth; his silver hair and red eyes marked him as an outsider, and an albino; two things that many people didn't like. Most mistrusted albinos for no reason other than they where different; and anything different was scary and had to be dangerous and driven off. He'd been run out of plenty of villages the moment people found out he was albino; they'd let him stay long enough to deal with whatever possession was plaguing them, then run him out without paying him. Those where the good instances; he had a fair few scars hidden on his body from times when the people took the fear of him farther. Well, that and the fights and beatings from when he was a child.

The temple appeared from beyond the other buildings; large and imposing in that way any decent temple was. It wasn't a bad kind of imposing, it was a living, vibrant temple at least. People came and went, and that was all that mattered. He was no Uzumaki, nor was he much for the ninja Gods; but that didn't stop him from appreciating the place. He made his way into the main area, taking a moment to look around and get his barrings. He found the first temple monk he could find and introduced himself, "I was summoned for a meeting with one of the temple priestesses, I believe her name is Misao. Would you be so kind as to take me to her?"

The young monk merely pointed; it turned out the person he was looking for wasn't that far away. He too his leave of the young monk and made his way toward the female; approaching her and bowing respectfully before introducing himself, "Excuse me, priestess. I am Ichinomiya Haruka; I was summoned to meet with you. Please forgive my lateness, the trip across the desert took longer than I anticipated."

WC: 1222

1230/1950 REA E0-D3

Misao tended to her shrine regularly. The masks that had been left here, stored in the decaying building, had been attached to the walls for years and years - centuries, likely. Before Misao began her restorations about two years ago, they had been covered by thick layers of dust and cobwebs, forgotten by the world. As an Uzumaki discovering her heritage, the young girl had decided to clean up and restore the shrine to its former glory, even if she had to do it on her own. At first, that had been the extent of what she was planning to do with the place. She felt like she owed it to her ancestors, especially since her Uzumaki father had never really been around to instruct her on how to use her abilities and what it really meant to be a part of such an old and legendary clan. It wasn't until she began meditating that she considered dedicating more of her time to the shrine, going beyond sweeping its halls and fixing the loose tiles on the roof. And it wasn't until the masks began to speak to her - spirits of her old ancestors, whose presence was somehow tied to them - that she decided to become a priestess. The spirits instructed her on what to do and how she was to go about purifying the shrine. She followed their every word very carefully and soon, the Sunagakure Uzumaki Temple began to spring back to life once again.

When the whole process began, Misao thought that she was simply going insane and hearing voices. It seemed to be the most plausible explanation. Once she began to listen to the spirits, she saw the extent of the very real and tangible power that lay behind them. Some of them still refused to talk to her, deeming her unworthy. When she tried to approach and clean others, they would intentionally cause her harm, as if telling her to stay away. It became a bit of a problem when dealing with upkeep and cleanliness, to the point where Misao just had to grin and bear the constant shocks, burns and stings for the sake of appearances. At the moment, her hands were bandaged because of it, seeing as she had decided to restart the cycle of chores only two days ago. Usually, she wouldn't have bothered until the following month. A few visitors stopped by every once in a while to worship. It was a place of high spirituality, after all, even for those who were in no way affiliated to the clan. However, they didn't pay any attention to the masks and rarely walked towards the parts of the temple where the older and more powerful ones were stored.

So why was she going through the trouble, then? Well, she had sent out a letter a few days ago to a wandering priest in hopes of getting him in touch and arranging a visit. Well, he wasn't a priest so much as an exorcist, but it was close enough for Misao. After all, the young priestess had never had the chance to interact with other like-minded people who possessed the ability and the dedication to communicate with spirits both of nature and of the dead. She had spent all of her life in Sunagakure and had never been allowed to or had the chance to live except for one opportunity when she went to Takigakure for two days. That hardly counted, though. As a result, she didn't know exactly what she was doing, no matter how much she liked to pretend that she did. It was becoming difficult to lead the small group of monks that occasionally helped out with daily tasks. As the visitors grew in number, Misao realized that she couldn't quite do this all on her own.

At the moment, she found herself praying at one of the small altars. Her prayer was more of a meditation, a way to clear her mind and thoughts and let in those of the spirits around her, so that she could listen, learn and follow. She knelt down on a small cushion after having lit a stick on incense. Its sweet smell now filled the room she was in. One of the monks tapped her shoulder and broke her out of her meditative state before she could get too far with it. It was a shame, since time to herself had become hard to come by these days. "Misao-sama, there's a young man here to see you - a priest, I believe," he explained, bowing slightly before taking his leave. This made Misao smile widely.

She headed towards the entrance of the temple and instantly drew her attention to the man in question. He seemed to be around her age, with thin strands of white hair and equally pale skin. Misao approached him and bowed as he greeted her. She shook her head when he tried to apologize. "Don't worry about, it, really! It's enough that you managed to make it this far. You must be Haruka-sama, right? I'm honored to meet you," Misao said happily, flashing him a bright and sweet smile. It was the least that she could do. She was being calm and professional, trying to make a good impression. She was a little bit nervous about meeting Haruka, but then again, that happened to her quite often. It was a side effect of living such a sheltered life thus far. Nevertheless, this wasn't anywhere near as bad as her interactions with Suutei - the young shinobi that she had miraculously managed to befriend in spite of her chaotic family - had been a few weeks prior. This would all work out for the best, Misao was sure of it. "I don't know if you already made arrangements for your stay here, but my family would be happy to have you at our house," she offered anyways. The house was large enough that Misao could make sure that the more unruly members of the family - namely Chie - didn't interact with Haruka at all.

"I'll show you around the shrine whenever you're ready," Misao added.

[1039]

Temples were wondrous places; there was something about them that Samael loved. Perhaps it was the architecture that he enjoyed looking at. Or maybe it was the chance that they were the homes of the 'gods'. The fact that he was setting foot into these temples meant that he was defiling them, did it not?

Given his nature, perhaps it would be wise if he avoided the temples; he didnt expect people to fully understand him, nor what he was. Hell, he was not even sure what he was half the time. Given the appendage wriggling beneath his shirt, he was not sure that he was entirely human either.

Oh well. This was not the first temple that he'd gone to, and it would not be the last. He had walked right past many a priest and priestess and none had bat an eye. He wasnt quite sure of what to make of it, but it was safe to say he was at least somewhat human. It was either that, or those priests and priestesses sucked balls at their jobs.

Moving on.

There was a reason why he was here at this temple, and it wasnt to just admire the  architecture; this place was an Uzumaki temple. From what he could gather from the orphanage back in Konoha, he himself was of Uzumaki descent. It helped explain his seemingly unnatural aptitude for Fuinjutsu from a young age, as well as his seemingly overwhelming chakra presense to sensors. It was here that the male hoped he would be able to find out something, anything about himself. He had already learned his clan's signature sealing style when he visited a temple in the land of lightning; an attempted robbery forced him to unlock the ability of transforming his chakra into chains to bind and restrict his opponents movement and chakra.

Wonderful innovators, his clan was.

And so now, he was here, stepping foot into this temple in order to learn if there was something here worth learning. He was dressed in his normal attire of a black jacket covering his armored shirt. His lower half was garbed in black, red, and grey fatigues that were tucked into black boots. His black hair was combed back for once, to give him an decent appearance for once. In his hands were clasped a set of prayer beads, completely the look and giving the impression that he was mere ronin looking to offer a prayer to on high in his off time.  No one would be the wiser.

Step after step would take him deeper into the temple. There were people around him, monks  that lived within the temple and took care of it, as well as visitors that came to pray. He would step past them, and look about, attempting to find something that seemed.. familiar. Perhaps it would be best to ask for help? But how does one ask for 'help' in a place like this? Blue eyes would glance about -- there were plenty of people around that he could ask, or interact with in order to get what he wanted -- if anything was actually here.

He needed a plan. A real plan. Perhaps...

He could see two people over in the distance, female and a ...female? They appeared to be conversing about something; not that Samael could five two short and curly's what it was about. They were here, perhaps they knew something of this place. He would approach them calmly and quietly, still attempting to play the part of a soldier looking to pray with the rosary clasped in his right hand. As he stepped closer, he could hear them introduce themselves to each other, but he remained quiet for a moment. He wasnt sure if it would be rude of him to interupt them, or wait to be noticed....

[WC:639]

"I don't know if you already made arrangements for your stay here, but my family would be happy to have you at our house," ... "I'll show you around the shrine whenever you're ready," ...

"Thank you, but I have already checked into a hotel for the night. Do not worry for me, I am... a bit of a loner, you could say. I have never been one for staying within temples unless I need to; I had bad experiences living in crowded quarters as a child, you see." It was true enough; the orphanage that he'd lived at had been extremely crowded most of the time, and he'd always been the one that, as a default, drew the short stick in relation to supplies and such. Hell, he hadn't even known what a bed was until he literally made one himself; he'd found a broken frame chucked into a dump site near the orphanage, and he'd repaired it himself; using broken boards an such that had been ripped from the orphanage building when it was being repaired. It wasn't pretty, but it was his; and after he'd saved up pocket money for nearly a year he was able to buy enough fabric to make a mattress of straw, moss, and leaves. Lumpy, itchy, but his. All his. No one could take it from him, and that was all that mattered. Even once the frame finally fell apart beyond repair; he still had the mattress, and it was light enough to drag around, so he could find a safe spot to sleep; away from the bullies and adults that hated him.

"I would be honored if you would show me your temple, Priestess. We can discuss the reasoning behind your summons while we walk; I am curious as to why you chose me, and not one of my more... experienced brethren." Again, pure truth behind his words; he was extremely curious as to why he was chosen, but he wasn't the type to turn down a chance to travel, especially one that he was being paid for. Hell, his expenses where being reimbursed too, so that was awesome.

He was about to say more, when his hand snapped to his chest; the scar hidden beneath his clothing was burning heavily; something was nearby, and this was more than the usual light burning he felt whenever he was in an established temple. Spirits of the dead and otherwise always congregated near temples, so his scar usually tingled, if not lightly ached; but this was... different. It was strong enough to bring a pained expression to his face, and he kneaded at the burning flesh uselessly. "This temple... there is something here; more so than the normal spirits. Something... alive; but not. This is... difficult to articulate. It feels as though there is a... demon. A demon, but not evil. I can't... Hnnn..." He about choked on the flare of pain; this being was close by, and he was looking around quickly, trying to spot anyone(thing) that was out of place.

Wait... that...

"Priestess, there. The dark-haired outsider... can you see the aura around him?" His eyes are sharp, he had always had the gift of seeing auras and the like; his recent training had increased the power of this gift significantly. His voice was hushed, but not alarmed, nor worried; there was the sense of 'demonic', but not of danger, which was just adding to his confusion really. Most normal people wouldn't hear his words at any sort of distance, however any ninja worth their training would be able to read his lips, if not hear enough to make out what he was saying. "Blue fire.. his aura is like blue fire... demonic fire..."

WC: 653

653 + 1222= 1875/1950 REA E0-D3

Misao nodded. "Of course, I understant," she said. Considering the size of her house and the fact that only five people really lived there - Hana-obaasan, Reiko-neesan, Chie-neechan, Shinji and herself - it could hardly count as crowded. Nevertheless, she didn't want to insist or make the young man - Haruka - feel in any way obligated to stay with her. That would be rude of her. Her grandmother would hit her over the head for that. After all, she was the only one of her siblings that had actually been raised to actively mind her manners. Maybe if the older woman hadn't gotten her hands on her at such a young age, she would be more like her siblings - lacking a filter, but considerably more skilled when it came to all matters of shinobi life. Oh well. There was really no going back on that now. She knew calligraphy, was proficient with musical instruments and flower arrangements and tea ceremonies instead. Maybe those skills would eventually be of some use to her, besides entertaining important guests and decorating the house. Really, grandmother had raised her to be the perfect housewife for a nobleman and it was becoming more and more obvious with each passing year. The girl wondered when matchmaking sessions would begin. The thought made her blush slightly.

Misao once again nodded. "I'd be happy to show you around," she said as she began to walk. The courtyard was wide and spacious. It wasn't located in fertile land like her house was, so it was barren of any trees or vegetative life like most shrines had. To make up for it, Misao had done her best to refurbish the building into something worthy of the Uzumaki name. "The shrine's only been open to the public for a few months, but we have a decent amount of visitors right now. I think it's stood here for a couple of centuries, though. Inside the building, old traditional masks decorate the walls. They attract a lot of spiritual energy and can even act as conduits for spirits of Uzumaki ancestors," she began to explain. Several traditional archways, painted in bright orange-red were set over the path towards the main building that they were walking towards. "And as for the reason I called you in particular... well, I'm not really experienced myself and I don't know what I'm doing most of the time. I suppose I was just accidentally chosen to fill the role of priestess here. I guessed someone around my age would be more understanding of that and I thought that we could maybe help each other? I mean, I don't really have much to teach you, but I can try! Um... Maybe you want to learn tea ceremonies?" She was shy about her request, unsure of whether it was a good enough reason to drag the priest away from his personal plans and duties.

"I'm being terribly selfish, aren't I? Oh dear. I knew this was a bad idea. "

Her internal ramblings went on as a blush crept up her face. She was only snapped out of it when Haruka pointed out a presence, something seemingly demonic in origin. Misao tried to concentrate and pinpoint it, but had little luck. Her experience was with spirits and the ethereal. This was completely new to her. Focusing, she could see faint traces of the boy's aura. Honestly, it hurt her eyes to do so. She closed them shut for a moment to try to recover. "I... I see it. Only a little bit, but I see it," she agreed. Having never encountered something of the like, she wondered what it was that she was supposed to do in response. The boy seemed normal to the naked eye, after all, and had done nothing to provoke anyone so far. At least not that Misao could tell.

[1730]

As Samael stood there, he would look about, almost blankly. He zoned out of their conversation, catching bits and pieces. To him, this temple was amazing. It seemed like a place of wonder and magic; like he could actually find a deity living within these hall.

"The shrine's only been open to the public for a few months, but we have a decent amount of visitors right now. I think it's stood here for a couple of centuries, though. Inside the building, old traditional masks decorate the walls. They attract a lot of spiritual energy and can even act as conduits for spirits of Uzumaki ancestors,"

Was that so? Well then, perhaps it would be best to find these masks and have a look. Screw looking for a birth record, a line directly to his ancestors was a thousand times better. If real mother was dead, he would possibly be able to summon her spirit somehow and speak to her to find out about himself. But if she were alive, then perhaps  one of the other spirits would be able to point out her location to the male. A win win situation for him. He was about to slip off from the duo, and leave them to their own devices when something caught his ear.

"Blue fire.. his aura is like blue fire... demonic fire..."

Oh. Shit.

f*ck!

No biggie. Play it cool, Sam. You've done nothing, so be cool. Perhaps the kid saw something that was a trick of the light?

Samael would freeze in place, turning back towards the duo and staring at them. Perhaps this woman would think the other as crazy, a loony. Seriously, who had a demonic aura these days? Sam could play it off as if he did not know what this person was talking about, but the priestess spoke, causing Sam's heart to jump into his throat.

"I see it. Only a little bit, but I see it,"

f*ck, he was had. Slowly, the male would lift his hands up in a non-threatening manner and take a step backwards. “So uh, folks. Lets not do anything irrational here. I've done nothing wrong, I'm just here to have a look around.”  He wasn't sure what was gonna happen, but he was sure he would not like it. This was an Uzumaki temple; this place was sealing hell.  There were probably  seals in seals in seals here, particularly, those meant to trap and immobilize trespassers.

639 + 410 = 1049/1950 SPD

Even in his own pain he was able to focus on her response; the reaction his scar had was proportional to the power of the presence around him, which was the the usually benign spirits of an active and clean temple only lightly tingled or gently ached, if there was an active powerful spiritual protector; but this was... wrong. Not wrong in the sense of being evil, just... confusing. He couldn't make proper heads or tails of what he was feeling, he just knew two things: demonic fire, and a pure spirit. Such contradiction, it hurt his mind as much as his body. That she was having such trouble... she wasn't trained well, was she? Or, that wasn't fair, she was young, and he was talented, or so he had been told by his Master and trainers; he saw it clearly, it was bright and brilliant and clear. That she had issues... maybe he was overreacting? It was possible, even if it had never happened before.

"I... I do not think he is a danger. His spirit is pure, even with the demonic flames..." He released his chest, forcing himself to stop attempting to massage away an ache that couldn't be released until the demonic aura faded, was cleansed, or he grew accustomed to it. Some of his superiors had gained rather... tained auras; it was a danger they all faced, and some taint could not be cleansed, no matter how much one tried. He'd realized that when he spent time around them, the aching faded into something that he could handle and even ignore; so he figured that would hold true for anything that caused the pains. "He seems to be... waiting, or lost. We should at least investigate, some. If he is peaceful, then we can return to our meeting. Personally, I would love to discuss the finer aspects of tea and ceremony." He was even able to give the female a smile; genuine, if still slightly pained. He would explain his reactions later, for now there where ore important things to focus on.

He shifted and took a few steps toward the other male, whom he was about to offer a respectful bow when a response was illicited. Oh, well, they where overheard. "Peace. Unless the Mistress of the temple wishes to  harm you, you have nothing to fear. I am not of this temple, it is not my place to act here. I am a wandering folklorist, that moonlights as a exoricist, this is true; but I am not looking to cause problems either. As you say, you have done nothing wrong, and I am inclined to not bring attention to us anymore than what had been. Would you not agree?"

He realized he was now between the two parties, in the odd position of being both outsider and not. He turned to Misao, his tone calm and level, "What shall I do, Priestess. This is your home, of course, I will not act without your permission. I offer what council I can, if you wish it."


WC: 528

528 + 1875 = 2403

1950/1950 REA E0-D3

453 Remaining

@Andrea:

-Exiting due to inactivity.-