Clad in his basic, black training gear, chain rattling around his neck, the large, bear-like figure of Oki Kuma walked down the streets of Iwagakure, his pet bear plodding alongside him and looking up at him with concern. His eyes looked heavy, as if the genin had not slept a wink, and his shoulders were slumped as the, technically under aged, ninja went to one of the renowned drinking locales. While not technically supposed to be there, Oki had been introduced there by his parents, allowed in without question due to the facial hair that the young, large shinobi had for a long time. So, as he opened the doors, nobody looked twice as he walked in, heading straight for the bar. He took a glance around the current locals, all grizzled shinobi. He recognised quite a few of them. A few, but not all.

He tapped his somewhat overly long nail on the bar, so as to get the attention of the current bartender. Debu meanwhile slumped its head up, continuing to look to Oki. Something was up, and the brown bear was clearly concerned with such. As the bartender of the evening arrived, the genin nodded, before speaking up. “I’ll take a whisky please… I kind of want to knock myself out tonight.” He explained, aware that the barkeep knew how much of a light weight he goliath was, and going to fetch the drink as the bear man got out some coins from the purse at his side. Putting the coins on the bar, he took his drink as the man handed it to him, before looking for a place to sit. Nearly everyone in the building looked grizzled, as if weighed down by the weight of battle. Yet there was someone, who, in colours brighter than those of the rest of the room, seemed weighed down with a different kind of thought. Deciding it was important for an Iwagakure ninja to know others of his village, the bear genin sighed to himself, before walking over to the table, drink in hand – the chubby bear named Debu plodding along behind the entire time.

Looking down at the woman, he hummed slightly, swirling his drink around slightly, before deciding to get her attention. “Hey.” His voice was somewhat hushed, likely not wishing to break the silence that many in the tavern were enjoying, or at the very least, taking in, a solemn silence to allow the weight of the world to just… Exist. “I’ll admit I don’t come here often, but, regardless you look to me somewhat new around here. Mind if I take a seat?” he gestured to the seat opposite her with his drink, the bear with him just looking to the woman now, waiting.

459

Her reply was simple, and as she took a swig of her drink before finishing her sentence, Oki couldn’t help but change tone entirely, going from the quiet, sombre giant into the jolly look of a gentle goof, laughing happily as he took a seat, setting his drink down on the table. The bear meanwhile, simply adjusted position, sitting on the floor next to the big guy and looking at the strange, alcohol loving lady with its head tilted. Sensing the trepidation in his furry companion, the big loaf began petting it on the head, grinning as the tension left him slightly. “Ah, yes, this guy isn’t a pet I’m afraid! This is Debu! My companion, training partner, and best friend for life!” he nodded, scruffing up the top of the bears head fur before moving his hand back to his drink, taking a light sip. “Which reminds me! I am Oki, a member of Iwagakure’s Kuma clan!” his voice was cheery as he set the drink down, claw-like nails of his hands wrapped around the drinking vessel loosely.

After taking a second swig of his whiskey, the genin smiled to the person, stroking his goatee as if in thought before speaking aloud what was on his mind. “So, stranger. Everyone here tonight seems to have a story to tell. Sometimes it’s that they’ve just grown to love drinking, but, I get the feeling your case isn’t. So, care to share? Oh, but, well, your name first if you’re comfortable with sharing anything.” He nodded, setting his drink back onto the table as he returned to stroking his bear. The duo were clearly Iwagakure ninja, with both Oki and Debu having a forehead protector around their necks like a collar, noticeable now that they were this close. Debu, meanwhile, after getting a quick pet, laid down.

306 + 459 = 765

The stranger replied, albeit somewhat rudely, and revealed her name to be Kuni. She wasn’t the most polite person in the world, although, Oki had met ruder, so, perhaps it was just a thing that people were getting trendy with recently? He never kept up with the acts and leisure’s of his peers. Still, it seemed this Kuni person wasn’t supremely confident in herself, as she declared herself to simply be ‘another ninja’. He wasn’t too sure how true her statement of why she was here was, but, he wouldn’t pry – that wasn’t how Oki Kuma do.

Mimicking the motion of drinking from his alcoholic beverage, he took a fairly decent glug from his drink, before setting it down with a satisfied “ah…” Then, he shrugged, putting the glass on the table. Debu yawned, lying down lazily and flopping its weight down on the wooden floor as Oki decided to resume speaking up. “I’m here because, quite frankly, I’m a light weight, and right now, I need to knock myself out!” he gave a good old jolly chuckle, nodding slowly as he looked off to the side, almost distantly, and stroked at his goatee in thought. He shook his head, his chuckle dying down as he took a slow, drawn out sip of his drink. “I had a bad night. It felt… So real. Wandering, lost, without my companion to help me. I found this ruin with this person that manipulated shadows… We were attacked by a crazy lady, and the shadow man disappeared. I… Have you ever felt like you were dying, had a dream so realistic that it felt terrifying? I can now say I know what it’s like to drown on your own blood…”

Furrowing his eyebrows, the bear genin chugged the rest of his drink quickly, before sighing and putting the empty glass on the table before him, cheeks flustered. “Yep… Lightweight… I’m sure I’ll have a nice old nap here any moment.” He chuckled lowly once more. Debu meanwhile, had decided to be adventurous, taking the chain off Oki’s neck, and wearing it like the goliath was, before standing on its hind legs… A posture of a bear that was probably a bit too startling for the drunken patrons of the pub, some who stood to fight the thing they deemed a threat, others backing away. However, all tensions ended when the bear simply leant on the table, licking Oki on the cheek, who simply laughed it off.

413 + 765 = 1178

It seemed this person was certainly not the most cheery of people, especially not with the tone of which she spoke. How… Tough, for the jolly giant. Perhaps she was in fact a meaner person than that of the grumpy guy that he had fisticuffs against. However, it’d be rude for Oki to judge a person on first impressions, so, perhaps that was a terrible idea. So instead, he shrugged. This person could be grumpy all they wanted, it was not skin off Oki’s rather hairy back. Books were more covers than their judged pages – that was how the expression went right?

Regardless, as she spoke up next, Oki found the mood somewhat lightened again. He felt the heat rush to his cheeks, reminding him that, in a few minutes at best, he’d probably be zonked out, and remember none of this. He nodded, until she asked if the bear was old enough to drink. For a moment, Oki was stopped, like a deer in the headlights. His mind raced, for a moment thinking that his current drinking partner was talking about him. Of course, the silence that had preceded this was extensive, and awkward, thus making Oki a bit… Tenser than he would have liked to admit. The jolly muppet was used to being honest, and prideful. But, living in a house of warriors, one gets… Accustomed to drinking younger than one perhaps should. He rubbed at the back of his neck, continuing to smile, red cheeks quite rosy now as he showed signs of fluster. Debu meanwhile, could already tell this was about to go bad, in one way or another, from Oki’s sheer stupidity.

Taking a deep breath, he shrugged slightly, almost ignoring the question for a moment before speaking up, his voice somewhat neutral and plain. “Well, technically, it’s debatable on when a bears drinking age is, as, bears have different cycles of age to us.” He nodded, allowing one of his few bits of knowledge to go out of his mouth before one of his many bits of stupidity also let out in the form of; “and technically speaking, I am not of age either. We of the Kuma clan are… Introduced to bad habits at a younger age. Traditional celebration and all.” He then picked up his glass, looking into it with a single wide eye, almost as if probing, inspecting it, while Debu hid his face behind his paws. Oh, the stupidity. Oki, almost at the point of passing out, then began smiling like an even bigger idiot than usual, holding the glass above him now so as to inspect for any further alcohol to consume. What a freaking light weight.

448 + 1178 = 1626

As the Kuni person, clearly influenced by alcohol at this point, stated her rather… Joyful intentions, Debu took a couple plodding steps back, away from the leaning offer of the drunken stranger. As an actual bear, just the smell of the toxic substance alone was displeasing to the bear, who was only in the building because Oki was. He didn’t seem aggressive, simply shying away from the table for a moment like one would imagine a scolded, or startled, dog might. Oki, cheeks still rosy, chuckled a final time for the evening, raising a finger as he began speaking in an attempt to seem wise. “Ah, right, well, um, bear boy Debu boy, here, had a bit of a, well, a, hum, a bad situation involving drinks!” his voice was wavy, loud, and broken – it was only a matter of time before-

In an instant, a loud thud resounded as Oki’s head hit the table, followed incredibly swiftly by the sound of snoring. His chest rose and sank as he breathed in his sudden sleep. A moment’s pause as the brown bear that had previously disassociated itself from the drunkards reappeared, getting close to the table, and biting onto the fabric of Oki’s trousers, dragging him slowly, and carefully, to the edge of the seat, before unceremoniously, with an even louder thud, dragging him to the floor. The loud thud of such a large bulk of a man hitting the ground caused several patrons to turn around and look at the commotion, however, as always, they soon returned to their drinks, and their chit chat, allowing the moment to be, well, the moment they were already in. The bear began dragging the bear genin towards the door, being careful to not pull too fast and rip the clothes, before stopping, looking up to the looney, grumpy alcoholic. Almost human-like, the bear waved its paw in a way of saying goodbye, before dragging off the Oki out of The Rock Pit, and back to the Kuma clan grounds. It would be a low trip back to the place that the duo called home, especially for the still conscious Debu that was used to keeping Oki out of trouble. But, at least he wasn’t going to disturb the rest of the pub with his drunken stupidity, right?

385 + 1626 = 2011

[EXIT]

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