Sunagakure no sato was a village of less interest to Karumo, not because of the way it was built or some inherent flaw or even corruption among those in charge. He had plenty of those complaints from his own country, but his complaint with this country would be in it's inherent heat and a wind that picked up the sand and blew the particles into every crevasse of his person. His eyelids hardly able to keep it out during some of the tougher gusts, and in the day or so that he had been in the country he had already experienced his first sandstorm just outside of the gates of the village. If there was anything he could say as a bonus is that the engineering of the village was impeccable, building walls to keep the wind from blowing sand around, at least in great proportions and keeping the buildings tight so that it has a minimal affect inside the city. Karumo exited the end he had stayed in, still relatively early in the morning it was cool, though the sun was beating down upon the village. Karumo exited in his usual attire, dark jeans and a grey t-shirt underneath a black jacket, his clan symbol embroidered on the back of his jacket. He immediately regretted the decision though as the heat of the outside air began to punish his decision to dress as he would have in Iwagakure. Patting his jacket out and fluffing some air underneath his shirt and to his body he began walking onto the street and looking around, the tones of yellow and brown covered the village as he began to take it all in.

In the days he had been there he hadn't had much of a chance to really explore the village and learn about it. His time in the administration building and acting as a diplomat for the two villages had been time consuming but in the days to come and the short time after he intended to learn what he could. He walked around the major roads of the village, looking at the people around and observing them and their behavior, the shops and the customs of the people around. He was intrigued to learn what he could while he was out of his village, the knowledge of other peoples and gaining what intel he could on how they worked could prove him beneficial in the future. Continuing walking through the streets and observing the faces of those around him and what they were doing, the loose sound on the ground shifting below his feet with each step. It wasn't so different from Iwagakure no Sato and yet it did feel like an entirely different country, but maybe only in its aesthetic. He hadn't gone far in the village and decided maybe it would be good to stop in a shop, think out where all he would go and what was there to do around this place.

Making his way down one into one of the shopping centers to find someplace he came across a small tea shop tucked away in between a floral shop and some other shop that hadn't been opened yet or maybe had been closed down. No signs and no identification but the one tea shop was set up like a bar, a singular bar facing towards the small kitchen area, and a couple tables around the front of the shop as well. Entering in the open frame of the shop he spoke out, Hi, do you mind if I take a seat? he said to the woman behind the counter. She turned around quickly and politely motioned towards him to sit down and then took his order. It may be an odd request but I'd like whatever the most popular drink or maybe a local favorite tea, if I may. Karumo said, pausing the latter parts of his sentence. Trying to imply his inexperience with the drinks and culture of Sunagakure no Sato, and thanked her while nodding forward and waiting for her to finish preparing his drink.

He watched her grind up some tea leaves and place them in a bag, and then prepared a small pot of water. As he watched her do so, he tried to see if he could identify the leaves, and try to figure out what they were or maybe some label on them, but nothing he could see. He watched for a second but then decided to comment while she was working, So, it may not be apparent, but I'm not from around here, just kinda drifted in, so I was wondering if you could point me around some. You know, kinda the things to see or do in the village, whatever might be worth the adventure. he said, his headband in his pocket he declined to inform her that he was apart of another village, at least for the time being. The shop clerk nodded slightly and held a finger up, motioning for him to hold on for a moment, and he smiled slightly as he nodded in agreement. Leaning back on his stool to crack his back he kinda shifted around, waiting for her to finish whatever mystery tea she was preparing and waiting for some direction on what to do with his day.

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A near empty shop with only one girl sitting at the bar, almost looking like she was napping with her drink. He took his seat two spaces over from her and began to take his order and talk to the bartender. She didn't seem too interested in him, at least not at first, mentally jolting for a second before returning to her drink and yawning away at the disinterest of his arrival. He didn't expect much else, she seemed bored out of her mind at this shop, though would someone who was bored really stay? He figured that it was not so much boredom as apathy, which he would be able to have deduced more from had it not been for the shop owner returning to him. She placed down a tea in a small white cup on a small white plate and said something about it. He looked over the tea as he saw vapors coming from it, the heat was evaporating the water, and it took him over for a moment while she spoke, probably telling him a little about his drink while he was there. He spaced out in that moment but her final words drew him back in, a tea fit for a foreigner indeed. the older woman nodded and smiled while she said so. Karumo jolted his eyes back towards her as he rejoined her conversation, wondering if there was some implied animosity in her comment about a foreigner.

He figured he would find out once he tasted it, the fairly dark drink sat before him, he picked it up and lightly blew on the surface of the liquid, creating ripples in it and pushing some of the steam away from him. As he did so, the shifting water in the cup revealed some leaves in the bottom of it, he breathed out heavily as he prepared to taste it. Not normally a fan of teas and things, it had seemed only appropriate to ask for one while he was there. The dark liquid hit his throat, he could taste the heat from it as sipped it, a bit bitter at first but it tasted fairly strong and quite good apart from that. He gulped and looked up, his eyes dilated some and he nodded his head towards her as a sign of approval for the drink. He had a quick thought about how her comment might not be quite as demeaning as he anticipated it, and perhaps the woman was just teasing him a bit. It was then that he turned his head towards the girl to his side, a moment ago she was looking around, almost disinterested in what was around her. Tapping her glass she smiled and then took a sip, when Karumo noticed how cold the glass looks, he couldn't remember if it was that cold when he walked in, but it looked totally chilled.

His head turned he watched her take a sip of it, smiling before she did so, it had his mind running for a moment. He watched her fully as she drank from her glass, he really wanted to ask her but it seemed a weird question, and if she did anything to it at all; who was he to ask about it? He took another sip of his tea that he had, some of the leaves at the bottom began to show, he turned back towards the woman and asked her for a dark coffee and some sugar when she had the chance. She nodded and returned back to her kitchen for a moment, Karumo sat there nervously. His curiosity began to take over slightly as he grabbed the center of his shirt under his neck and adjusted it slightly. He coughed some while he worked up the courage to speak to her, he turned his head towards her again, keeping his body mostly turned towards the bar area. He smiled slightly as he tried to catch her attention, Hi, I'm Karumo he said with a bit of his smile coming out in his voice, his nervousness coming off like a bit of a laugh. He gulped as he finished, How long have you been in Sunagakure? he asked based on the assumption that she didn't look like a citizen of the country, most of them wearing more yellow-brown colors and more traditional and less casual clothing. They also tended to have lighter brown hair or even blonde, and a darker skin color, most likely from tanning and things like that out in the sun. But she was a bit of the opposite in most regards, but he continued on not long after, I mean, not to say I don't think you're from here, but I...I don't really. Not to say that you can't be, but...yeah, you can call me Karumo. he couldn't really formulate his thoughts properly as he spoke.

With his introduction out of the way, he continued on and decided to share a bit of insight as to why he was even talking to her, otherwise it might seem strange and that he was a bit creepy to say the least. I'm sorry to bother you, but I'm just visiting this country, and wanted to learn a little about it. If I'm bothering you I don't mean to, and you can just let me know and it'll be done whenever you say so. he declined to inform her that he was a shinobi, though from his build and the calluses on his hands and their rough quality might lead her to suspect something of the sort. He sat there waiting for her response, hoping that he hadn't crossed any boundary she might have had, he certainly hadn't hoped or wanted to start any trouble in the village. Especially not inside of it and not when he had just gotten here.

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Karumo watched her slide over slightly as they began to converse, he shifted slightly in his seat and shifted towards her. So he could focus in a bit better and out of habit of turning his attention to her and where their conversation would go. Introducing herself as she did, Keiko, he thought about the name for a second while she shifted over. He grabbed the handle of his coffee, placing his under it he took a large sip out of it and looked at her out of the corner of his eye. Putting the drink down he swallowed, setting the cup back down onto the small plate with a quiet clank. As he did so she took a sip, he inhaled lightly, the sound of it audible though before she began talking again. "You're right about me not being from here, I've been in Sunagakure for nearly two months now on vacation. What about you? A shinobi on a mission? Merchant looking to expand business?" Her question direct and straight to the point, he figured that it would be best not to be too honest since her also being a stranger may end up poorly for him as well.

He stretched his left arm out and rubbed the back of his neck while exhaling loudly, then turning to her he spoke a little bit quieter than before yet with more confidence, "Two months is quite a long time for a vacation, but I suppose it's just as nice a place as any to get away from it all." a slight pause before he continued. A sort of questionative tone to his voice as he commented about her vacation, As for me, I guess you could say that I'm a merchant of sorts. In some sense I am expanding my business into this country. He did his best to sound disinterested in his tone, try to avoid going too much into detail if he had to, though he supposed that if he had to he could make something up to explain himself a bit better. "But I guess neither of us are here to talk about the reasons for being here at all? You're on vacation you said, how's about filling me in on this country a little if you don't mind?" He would pause for a second after and let her respond if she would choose to, better to be polite than not. And took a sip of his coffee, it wasn't really all that good but he didn't have much else to fill the gaps with.

"I mean, you've been here two months so there must be some attractive qualities about it? And if not then I think I'd actually wonder why you had stayed so long." he rolled his head on his neck like he was trying to crack the bones in his shoulder and neck, "There has to be a reason you'd want to stay around in such an unbarren and unforgivable heat." his last quip he kinda murmured, but it wouldn't take a jounin to hear what he had to say. But the current circumstances were all a bit weird, both of them just being in the same place.

And to top it off, there wasn't really much to talk about between the two, them not knowing anything of each other, he was really scratching the bottom of the barrel for conversation topics. The stuff she would tell him he could easily figure out on his own or from a brochure or something, and yet he had figured he would just put himself out there. Hopefully he could get a real conversation rolling soon, or somehow make something happen to keep himself less bored, he was after all still interested in the phenomenon with her glass. However it worked he wanted to know, and figured the conversation would do him well when learning about the rest of the world. So he was aiming to learn a little, and make a friend in a foreign country, who turned out not to even be from Sungakure. It could be worse though, at least he hadn't made anyone made or upset anything yet...

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