Invited persons:

Mission:

It was time to earn some money. The budding storm had been recently promoted to Genin, and it was time to start working, to earn his keep at home. Early in the day, the male would report to the mission board to receive his first assignment; simple patrol duty. Fortunately, it was something very easy for him to do. Unfortunatly, it was night patrol, third and fourth shift. He would according to the briefing, due to the recent escalating tensions with Kirigakure, patrols would be increased in the village at night as a precaution against retaliatory actions taken by Kirigakure no Sato and the Mizukage. While the finer details were above his pay grade and thus, he was not privy to the knowledge, he was informed that he, and those else working his shift would be patrolling from dusk until dawn. Each shinobi would patrol with a partner that would be selected based on skills and ability, and would be notified of whom they were working with when the shift began.

As the briefing was dismissed, the Toku Jo in charge of the mission advised them all to be well rested for their shift. Anyone who was found to be slacking off would be sent home without pay for their time, and given corporal punishment for their actions.

It was still early in the morning, so Ramza decided to spend his time wisely; his sword was in need some repairs, so he decided to drop it off with a well known weaponsmith. Upon being informed by the smith that the repairs would take most of the day, Ramza decided to leave the weapon to the man until completed, and go about his errands. He figured it would be done by the time he had to report for duty at seven pm, so he could get some rest. After leaving the weapon smith, he ventured home where he ate breakfast, assisted his aunts and uncles with a few chores around the home. It was almost noon when the male settled himself down to get some rest so that he could be ready for the shift.

~~~Later in the day~~~

It was five pm when the male awoke. After a quick meal, the male took a shower and proceeded to grab some clothing he thought suitable for the mission; high collar sleeveless black shirt, black pants and boots, and black cloth covering his left leg and arm; the cloth on his left arm hides his village Hitai-ate, which is tied around his upper arm. On his left shoulder Ramza wears a pauldron, and his chest is covered by two straps, held in place by a badge emblazened with the crest of a wolf. When he was satisfied with his appearance, the male gathered up his kunai and shuriken, then ventured out of his house after letting his family know that he was going off for a mission, and made his way to the weapons smith's shop.

Upon arriving, he was greeted by the weapon smith's assistant, who informed him that the weapon smith had to leave early due to a family emergency. As such, all the orders that were placed that morning, were on hold until the man returned the next day.

Great. His first mission, and he was sans his weapon. Just wonderful.

With this news, the male would make his way to the rendezvous point at the village's main gates, arriving a half hour early. As he would lean against the massive gates and wait as people filtered in, he would watch them carefully. The male was not the type to socialize with people, he tended to keep to himself, but would speak if spoken to. Arms folded across his chest, glowing blue eyes watched the world go by as the sun sank behind the mountains.

636|636

Sleep... the frick was sleep? Did sleep exist? Could it exist? Uh, that would be a no. Sleep was a lie! Of course, Ai was no stranger to all nighters. In fact, during her near decade of being sequestered there were long stretches of time where she saw neither the sun or the moon and thus her internal clock that told her when it was time to be awake and when it was time to be tired had changed. It had changed so much that she by he end of it had been able to stay awake for sometimes up to three days at a time before becoming tired. So, to say that it was something her mind and body were used to was an understatement.

Of course that didn't mean she wasn't going to have herself a nice and hot cup of peppermint flavored tea before heading off for what was likely going to be a long and boring patrol: Ai simply didn't have the kind of luck for it to be anything but that after all. When her tea was finished and her watch checked to reveal it was almost time, Ai sighed softly and stood up. "I suppose it's time to go...", she muttered to herself. Ai grabbed her jacket, her outfit for the day a bit different than her usual attire when she was lounging around home: a tank top dark gray in color which went down right below her buttocks, a pair of black leggings, black shinobi sandals, and now a black cotton jacket with a hood was being slid into place over top; the jacket itself going down almost to her knees - baggy and comfortable. As an after-thought Ai snatched up her few weapons she bothered with - her beloved katana still off being fixed after a particularly ruthless sparring match - and her village headband. The weapons were deposited into a pouch tied to her right leg, and her headband was tied around her head to push her long pink and brown hair back and out of her face.

Sure that she had everything she would need Ai headed out and toward where she knew she was to meet everyone else. Not being quite the social butterfly as some of the other people she knew Ai kept to side streets and alley ways as to avoid the massive throng of people moving about still. It didn't take her long to reach the meeting point and find that there was already someone else there. Pulling the right sleeve back of her jacket Ai glanced down at her watch to realize she was roughly twenty minutes early.

"Meh.. suppose it's better to be early than late.", Ai said softly before folding her arms across her chest and adjusting her weight so that most of it was on her left leg; making it look almost like she was leaning on nothing but air.

Word Count: 490 / 600

Ramza remained quiet as people began to filter in behind him. He watched them as they came into view, wondering which of them he would be paired with, if any. It was a smorgasbord of strange folks; ninja who covered themselves into bandages from head to toe, even their eyes. Some carried strange weapons, like giant conch shells. Others carried more standard weaponry, like swords and kunai, and even a war hammer. There was even one guy with a pair of knunchucks.

Seeing all these people show up with their weapons caused a sigh to escape from the male. He still wished that his weapon had been ready when he'd gone to pick it up, but he could not be angry at the weapon smith. Things happened, and to be honest, Ramza should have taken the sword sooner than this morning. But, at the very least, he still had his Kunai and some shuriken. He was proficient enough with basic taijutsu to hold his own for a while, and his prowess with ninjutsu was adept. He would be fine if something were to happen.

Hopefully.

With roughly ten minutes to spare, the Toku Jo from the morning briefing appeared in their midst, whistling to capture everyone's attention. Ramza would move his learning post, and fall into formation with the rest of the gathered crowed. He could not help but glance around one last time, wondering whom he might end up paired with.

“Settle down, everyone, we're gonna make this quick! If you do not know, or missed this morning's briefing, my name is Satomi Takashi, and I'll be in charge of everyone and leading this mission. I ask that you take this mission serious, even though this is simply a patrol mission. Since we have roughly twenty one people present, we're gonna be splitting you guys up into nine teams of two, with one team of three. As I said earlier today, each team has been selected based upon your strengths and weaknesses, so that you can easily cover each others faults should a situation arise. For those who do not have one already, you will be issued wireless radios so that everyone can keep in touch. They are already set to the appropriate frequency. For those who do have their own radios, the frequency for this mission is 347.34. Mind you, this frequency will be used for the mission only. Unless there is an emergency, this channel is to be kept clear for those who need it.” The Toku Jo would pause for a moment, allowing an assistant to pass out wireless radios to those who did not possess one and allow those who already had one time to adjust their frequency to the mission appropriate one. As the assistant chuunin came to him, Ramza would remove one from the sets and attach it to his person, securing and hiding the earpiece beneath his hair.

Once the wireless radios were distributed to those who needed them, the Toku Jo would clear his throat, and then begin speaking once more. “All right, so. When I call your name, please step forward. I'm going to announce to everyone where the patrol rounds will be. Each Route will overlap with at least two others so that no area is left unchecked – if you are forced to deviate from your route, please call it in. We need to be aware of whats going on out there in the event of an invasion, as unlikely as it is.” Reaching into one of the pockets of his flack jacket, the Toku Jo would pull out a scroll and unravell it.

“Tsukino, Ai!” Heads would turn about, attempting to locate the owner of the name, hoping to spot the persona as they stepped forward. However, Takashi would not wait. “Okuyama, Ramza!” Once more, eyes would begin searching for the owner of the name. Ramza himself said nothing, but simply stepped forward.

“You guys are Alpha Squad. Get to know your teamate; your life is in their hands for for the next twelve hours.” Ramza frowned a bit; he was supposed to trust someone he didnt know with his life? Ehh..

They were a ninja of the village; they were skilled in thier job, and depending on thier ranking, perhaps it would not be so bad. He might even learn a few things from them in the meantime, or gain some valuable insight on how to be a better ninja.

Maybe.

745 | 1381

Several more people arrived in and around the time that Ai showed up. She kept herself off to the side and out of the way, trying her hardest to ignore the severe height difference between herself and those around her. She might have been twenty five years old but she didn't look it; in fact, she normally ended up being looked at like nothing more than a child instead of the adult woman she was. Ai shook her head, attempting to use it as a way to actually clear her mind of the thoughts: she didn't want to judge these people too harshly too soon especially since she might end up paired working with one of them.

“Settle down, everyone, we're gonna make this quick! If you do not know, or missed this morning's briefing, my name is Satomi Takashi, and I'll be in charge of everyone and leading this mission. I ask that you take this mission serious, even though this is simply a patrol mission. Since we have roughly twenty one people present, we're gonna be splitting you guys up into nine teams of two, with one team of three. As I said earlier today, each team has been selected based upon your strengths and weaknesses, so that you can easily cover each others faults should a situation arise. For those who do not have one already, you will be issued wireless radios so that everyone can keep in touch. They are already set to the appropriate frequency. For those who do have their own radios, the frequency for this mission is 347.34. Mind you, this frequency will be used for the mission only. Unless there is an emergency, this channel is to be kept clear for those who need it." As he spoke Neo moved her way carefully through the crowd and to the front so she could actually see: making sure she didn't shove anyone out of her way or bump into anyone - dirty looks were not something she wanted to deal with right at that moment.

“All right, so. When I call your name, please step forward. I'm going to announce to everyone where the patrol rounds will be. Each Route will overlap with at least two others so that no area is left unchecked – if you are forced to deviate from your route, please call it in. We need to be aware of whats going on out there in the event of an invasion, as unlikely as it is. Tsukino, Ai!" Blinking Ai stepped forward as she had been instructed, wondering who it was she was going to end up paired with. “Okuyama, Ramza! You guys are Alpha Squad. Get to know your teamate; your life is in their hands for for the next twelve hours.” Well, that seemed a bit... dramatic. If they were really expecting some serious trouble then wouldn't it make sense to have some higher ranked individuals doing this? Whatever. She doubted her life was in danger... then again, she had been sheltered for the past ten years.

While everyone else got paired up Ai made her way over to Ramza and stopped near him. She waved in greeting. "Hello, I'm Ai. It's nice to meet you." Always be polite! She had been taught as such, and would stick with it - maybe she'd make a new friend out of this mission.

Wordcount: 565 + 490 = 1,055 / 600

As the rest of the people present began to pair up, Ramza would notice someone making their way in his direction. To him, this child – woman, perhaps – was a strange sight. She was wearing what looked to be a  tank top, dark gray in color which went down right below her buttocks, a pair of black leggings, black shinobi sandals, and a black cotton jacket with a hood. What was most odder was her hair and eye colors; pink and brown.

[i[Such an odd combination...[/i]

Those glowing blue eyes would watch this female as shes stepped closer, head tipping curiously as she spoke and wave at him.

"Hello, I'm Ai. It's nice to meet you."

Ah, so this was his partner for the patrol? She seemed a bit... short. He wasn't one to judge; instead, he nodded his head and extended a hand in her direction. If she took the offered hand, he would shake hers; if not, it wasn't a big deal. It would not change what would happen next in any scenario.

“Okuyama, Ramza. Its a pleasure. I guess we're in this together, hm?”

As the rest of the people present would be paired off with their partners, the Toku Jo in charge, Satomi Takashi, would speak again, addressing everyone present. “Now that everyone's had a change to meet their teamates, lets get this underway. Alpha team, you're taking the market district. You'll be a bit closer to the command post than the rest on account of your ranks. If something happens, you'll be runners for me. You'll head straight to the Jounin stand by station, and alert the attendant.”

Ramza would nod them, showing that he understood his role in the hierarchy. It seemed that this man knew what he was doing; Ramza himself was only a genin, and he came to the conclusion that Ai herself was one as well, given what Satomi Takashi said about 'Given your ranks'. It would make sense to send the most skilled in tracking and patrols out to the front lines, and leave those who were a bit newer a bit closer to home for the easier tasks.

He was not about to argue with this decision.

When the Toku Jo was done assigning the squads their patrol routes, Ramza would turn in the direction and set off, walking at a decent pace. He had all night, and there was a coffee shop in the district that he wanted to stop it. He'd forgotten to prepare some kind of snack or drink for the night, and figured it would be easiest to stop somewhere early in the shift to grab something. It would take about ten minutes to reach the district from their current location; if Ai were to follow him, he would turn his head in her direction and begin speaking.

“So, you're a Tsukino, hm? What's your family ability?” A simple enough question, and he hoped he was not being unintentionally rude. The male reasoned that it would be best to know what his team mate was capable of doing, should it come down to combat. However, if she felt offended, he would not press the issue. For him, his immediate family did not possess the same abilities he did, so the male assumed that they had been passed on to him from his father, wherever he was.

That was a sore subject...

567 | 1948

Ai could only imagine what was going through her patrol partners mind, yet she tried not to dwell on it. She didn't want to make assumptions and pass judgement until judgement was needed. Ai looked to his extended hand for but a heartbeat of a second before extending her own and shaking his; her grip neither too loose or too tight. “Okuyama, Ramza. Its a pleasure. I guess we're in this together, hm?” Ai nodded to her partner's words with a polite smile still plastered on her face.

So far, so good.., Ai found herself thinking as she folded her hands in front of her again. Her mismatched gaze shifted back to the man in charge as he once more started to speak. “Now that everyone's had a chance to meet their teamates, lets get this underway. Alpha team, you're taking the market district. You'll be a bit closer to the command post than the rest on account of your ranks. If something happens, you'll be runners for me. You'll head straight to the Jounin stand by station, and alert the attendant.” Well, Ai couldn't say she didn't see that coming. Spending the majority of her time around someone who was Jounin in rank tended to give her an insight on how things worked, as well as the power difference between a Genin and those of higher ranks. So, she wasn't going to complain about having to patrol the market district, in fact she honestly prefererd it: they would get a longer break since they wouldn't have to worry about traveling too far to grab a bite to eat or a drink if either of them wanted it.

When Ramza turned to begin walking in the direction of where they were to patrol Ai followed automatically and fell into step next to him. When Ramza turned to speak to her “So, you're a Tsukino, hm? What's your family ability?” Ai flickered her gaze between looking forward to see where she was going and to make sure she didn't trip and fall flat on her face, and looking at him as to be polite.

Ai thought quickly on how it was she wished to answer his question. Most clans tended to be all hushed up about their abilties, they considered them highly guarded secrets. Ai, however, wasn't one of these people. Oh, she wouldn't give him every detail, but enough as to not come across as rude - the stuff anyone would figure out just by being close enough to a Tsukino for a long period of time. "Eh... well. We're rather skilled when it comes to Fuuinjutsu - the best most tend to claim. We're also... quite shocking.", a sly and playful grin spread across her face at this. She would for the moment allow him to make of that what he wanted; Ai was playful after all and she was curious to his thoughts on this. If he asked what she meant by that then she would offer up a better example, but for now she wanted to see what he made of everything.

Wordcount: 516 + 1,055 = 1,571

"Eh... well. We're rather skilled when it comes to Fuuinjutsu - the best most tend to claim. We're also... quite shocking."

An eyebrow was raised at this comment. A clan skilled in Fuinjutsu. Was she to play a support role to him? Ramza himself was skilled in offensive Swordsmanship and Ninjutsu, as well as his clan abilities. He supposed that Fuinjutsu was good for messenger work; sealed codes and whatnot. Personally, he would have rather someone with a bit more offensive power than someone who used just seals, but then again, the male knew nothing of Ai's fighting style.

For the moment, Ramza would nod at her, to clearly indicate that he was indeed listening to her. After a moment passed, he would begin speaking in response, keeping a calm even tone.

“My own family... we don't really have a clan ability. We're more of.. a clan of diplomats. But for some reason, I was born with the ability to control storms.” A simple enough response. If she knew about the clans of Kumogakure, she would more than draw the conclusion that somewhere along the line, Ramza was a descendant of the Raui clan. While the male would not go into detail as to how only he out of his clan could do this, he was prepared to answer most questions she might have had.

As the duo would make their way into the Market District, he would motion for Ai to follow him down a side street. Provided that she did, he would begin speaking once more. “There's a small cafe down here... I did not grab a coffee or anything before I left home for the patrol, so I could really use something right now to keep me awake. I'll pay for you if you would like something.” True to his word, in the distance flickering neon sign could be seen, advertising the Cafe. It was a small establishment, barely noticable save for the sign out front. As the male came upon it, he would order a plain coffee with milk, then step aside and allow Ai to order if she wished for something.

With this done, he would patiently wait for the order(s) to be made and delivered – a being the quiet person he was, he did not have much to say, but felt that something needed to be said, or else this was going to be a very long night.

“So... how are you?”

409 | 2357

“My own family... we don't really have a clan ability. We're more of.. a clan of diplomats. But for some reason, I was born with the ability to control storms.” The ability to control storms? That was... epic. Ai had always loved it when storms rolled through the area so the ability to control something like Storm Release sounded grand. Still, she had her lightning, and that would do to keep her sated.

"Storms, eh? I got to say.. I think I'm a bit jealous.", she said before she grinned. "Most I get is to mildly shock someone right now when I touch them; and even then it won't be strong enough to harm until I'm stronger. Until then I rely on my katana mostly... though it's off for repairs after a nasty sparring match the other day with some of my clan cousins." Ai fell silent then, glancing around in order to keep an eye on everything as they continued to walk.

“There's a small cafe down here... I did not grab a coffee or anything before I left home for the patrol, so I could really use something right now to keep me awake. I'll pay for you if you would like something.” Oh? Well that was definitely a nice gesture, and one she wouldn't pass up. If they were meant to patrol all night long she was probably going to need something a bit stronger than the tea she had had earlier: something with a lot of caffiene and a whole bunch of milk and sugar.

"That'd be lovely, thank you.", Ai would respond When they reached the cafe with the neon flickering sign Ai would listen to Ramza order his own coffee before ordering her own; with plenty of milk and a boat load of sugar. It was how she liked it: light tan in color and sweet - just not sickly sweet.

At Ramza's question she found her usual guard she kept around herself slipping, and so she answered honestly and without her usual filter, "Adjusting." Upon realizing what it was she had said, and figuring it would likely cause some confusion for her partner she decided to add a bit more in explanation. "I uh... spent the past ten years, give or take, sequestered. Just recently returned to being a Genin..." She fell silent then, figuring she would give him a chance to think about her words: it wasn't every day someone openly admitted to being locked away for ten years after all - even if she had done it to herself. Perhaps it was because of this known strangeness that made her willing to answer any question he had were he to ask.

Wordcount: 450 + 1,571 = 2,021