There were heavy foot steps as one exhausted ninja made his way across the border of the land of fire. He wore more 'traditional' garb of a shinobi, that being black shinobi tights and tabi with soft step slippers. Not to mention his netted shinobi shirt and shinobi gi vest. Upon his face was a mask of deep violet hue matching his hair color, concealing the lower half of his face as well as his neck, the mask leading into the netted shirt itself. The male who was walking had his hazel hues set on the village in the distance: the village hidden in the leaves. Konohagakure no sato was within his reach and soon he would be within the village gates, ready to take part in the adventures to be had around the land of fire's most prominent village.

The wanderer reached the gates after what felt like hours of walking through trees and dense underbrush, his eyes never straying from his path. He'd come far from Sunagakure no Sato, and was used to harsh climes such that the desert offered. So when he'd made it to the land of fire, he expected more heat than what he was experiencing currently. It was a pleasant surprise, to say the least, that he was only experiencing mild heat compared to even a mild desert's day. At the gates, Anon reached into his pocket and procured his ninja info card, the guards looking from it to his tool pouch on his left thigh, to the weapons sheathed on the back of his belt, before waving him in and returning the card.

Once the card was in hand, the ninja thanked the guards and pocketed his card, making his way into the village's interior. He had finally arrived at the village hidden in the leaves and it was a fair change to what he'd experienced in the sand. There were actual roads, bustling with people. The buildings weren't sand caked and weather torn, looking pristine compared to what he'd been subjected to for most of his life. There were birds other than vultures flying about and it seemed like a step up from what the young wanderer was used to. Truly, this was going to be an improvement on his life. He would need to find people to duel straight away, and make friends so that he could move up in this new place.

410

The good thing about a beautiful city was that they usually held beautiful people. Granted, beauty was in the eye of the beholder, but there was a world beyond that what they eyes could see. Beautiful souls, warm people, those who performed their jobs with heart. And then you had those girls that dressed up for a festival's occasion, sharing flowers, free hugs or even sitting behind a booty for a kiss. Well, there wasn't such a thing as a festival today, but there certainly was a girl walking about the streets with a basket full flowers that was seemingly giving them away for free today.

Small girls were eager to meet her, hoping to receive one so they could put it in their hair, become a little beautiful princess in their own rights. Sometimes a shy young man walked up, seemingly asking for a few to give to his girlfriend, or a saddened person that could use some beauty to brighten up the darker days in life. Of course, you had several who had less noble intentions just as much, but they seemed to suffer a hard time taking down her genuine smile with their sour, deprived natures.

Swinging her basket under a happy hum, green hair filled with a cluster of small jasmine flowers draped over her back like a cloak. Wearing an aquamarine simple dress reaching her knees, which was decorated with a couple of white cranes searching their balance on the ever moving cloth, Airi suddenly stopped before the unknown face of a young man. Dyed purple hair, violet mask, hazel eyes. Not someone she had seen in Konoha yet, but seeing his clothes she would certainly not be the only one thinking that thought. His clothes and tones muscles screamed 'shinobi' from miles away, most likely trained in an exotic place that wasn't Konohagakure. Considering his light attire, it had to be an equally warm area, so Kiri and Kumo were already of the records. Not that it mattered. Airi walked up to him, under the guise of sharing flowers, curious to know where he came from.

"Hey and welcome to Konoha", she flashed him a warm smile. "Need a fresh scenting flower to cool down after a long trip? They're free, so no need to be shy."

She pushed the basket a little forward, allowing full sight of a most colourful selection as their floral scent drove back most other out of the immediate vicinity. Blooming fully, each of the flowers seemed to brim with vitality, boasting good health and tender care - and bursting with Yang chakra to those who had the means to see that sort of thing.


wc 449

Anon tilted his head as he was approached so carelessly by a girl waving around a flower basket. He was surprised that someone from the village would approach him so, as he was obviously a stranger. Still, it was a pleasant surprise that someone from the village would approach him in so friendly a manner. She welcomed him to Konoha with a smile, something he returned underneath his mask, mostly smiling with his eyes. After which she offered him a fresh scenting flower that she said were free, and apparently cooled you down after a long trip. Anon had seen many desert flowers in his time within Sunagakure no Sato but he had never heard of one cooling you down. Unless, of course, you broke it up and decided to drink the collected dew from within it. But if you were that desperate for water, one would find more of it  within a cactus. You could even eat the cactus flesh within the cactus to get more hydration than a flower's dew would give you. So why exactly did she make a note of it cooling you down after a long trip like that? Were they special?

Still, not wanting to be rude, the male bowed silently and plucked a nice violet flower that closely resembled the color of his mask and his hair. He quietly took it and tucked it under the cloth arm guard on his right forearm that stretched down to his hand, patting it softly. He then decided it would probably be time to address the elephant in the room, so to speak, and introduce himself to such a polite young girl. "I thank you, very much. I've only just arrived in Konoha and it's nice to see a friendly face right off the bat. My name is Anon Brier, of the Mitarashi. Might I inquire of your name?" Manners were a good start when it came down to meeting another person from a foreign land. Doubly so when you were the foreigner coming to another person's homeland. Anon looked around as he listened, checking out if anyone else would be approaching them. It wouldn't be a bad thing, but it would be surprising as he really only expected no one to come up to him, much less one person. More than one would not only be surprising, but suspicious as well. Would he be getting watched just after entering the village?

411|821

Airi giggled somewhat at Anon's formal tone. She surely wasn't used to, or expected, any of that sort of polite behaviour from a stranger dressed like a shinobi. This stranger was so well behaved she thought he stood out immediately. She watched him pick a violet flower from her basked, probably either to be kind or smitten by her feminine grace, and decided to add another to that. She picked out an indigo flower of which its scent was known to promote a sense of peace within the mind.

"It's Airi, of Konohagakure. You're so well behaved. Where are you from?", she asked as she tucked the flower somewhere between his vest and net shirt, making sure it would hold solidly while he moved. She seemed unaware of the fact she was touching him this casually, as if he was a brother to her, and returned to her former position once she had done decorating him with the scenting flower. Anon, if only his vest had a pocket, was one step closer to being a dashing gentleman. In Airi's mind, at least.

"There. All done.", she looked at the flower with a satisfied nod. "If you'd like, I could show you around in Konoha after you had some rest? I'm sure you must be quite tired from such a road trip." She was parading through the Village already, so picking someone with her wasn't exactly an extra effort. Plus, she'd have some company and do her good deed for the day with it. Or whoever that saying went, precisely. If anything, he had to feel lonely so far from home, in a stranger's land without so much of a guide to explain him the touristic, cultural or shinobi purpose of the most prominent areas.

Though perhaps she should start with something more basic. An inn, or a restaurant, maybe. Perhaps just a simple bench to sit on, have a break in the shades while looking out on quite a lovely spot, or maybe he was looking for something else still. It was hard to tell as she had never travelled herself, but she just assumed such spots would be priority.

wc 370 + 449
= 819

The wanderer smiled softly behind his mask, watching the girl pick a second flower, of indigo colour, and place it between his vest and gi. Her name was Airi Senju and she wanted  to know where he'd come from. Anon looked up to the sky quietly, scratching his chin by moving his mask with his index finger back and forth. He was a bit embarrassed that someone thought he was so well mannered but he supposed it was only to be expected. He tried his best to be polite to others because of how he was raised in his clan. "I was born on the outskirts of Iwagakure no sato. I left at the age of sixteen and joined up with the ninja in Sunagakure no Sato. I think mostly my manners come from being raised around my clan members. Or what few of us were left in the area." Anon chuckled softly. Truth be told, there wasn't much of the Mitarashi clan that were left, but the few of them that were still around had been taught to be polite and have good manners in the company of others. Especially friends or stangers. Telling that much information on his upbringing to a complete and total stranger wasn't really on his agenda for the day, though. He had said enough and there was so much more that he hadn't said, but may get to at a later date.

She mentioned she was all done after placing the indigo flower in place and Anon bowed his head modestly to her. She offered to take him around Konoha after he'd had some rest, saying he must be tired from such a long road trip. Honestly, he wasn't too tired now that he thought on it. He was actually wide awake and feeling rather limber. Anything to do at this point would be welcome. He just wanted to get out and experience what he could in the village before he decided to begin on missions, knocking them out so that he could move up once more in the rankings. He had a lot on his plate that he wished to complete, and being a C-Rank ninja wasn't going to get him anywhere with them. He needed a few minutes to think exactly on what he did want to do in Konohagakure no sato though. There were quite a few things that  could be done, if his meager information on the village was any judge. he looked from one side to another and continued to think, rubbing his chin. Perhaps a tour would do him some good so he would actually have a validated opinion on what he wanted to do while he was here.

"If you don't mind, could you give me a tour now? I'd like to explore this village before too much time passes. I do need to find a new home, or at least a temporary one and find things to do around here. That is, before I decide to take on missions. So can we start with perhaps the administration building where you guys take missions?" Anon quietly smiled behind his mask, his eyes doing the smile for him, as that is all one could see of his face. The young wanderer was keen on getting things underway as soon as possible and figured that he would be able to find his way around himself after a tour. He didn't want to bother this young lady too much with his questions and needing to know about the land. So if she gave him a tour, he could find the information himself through experience and well, wandering. That was what wanderers did best, after all.

626|1,447

Iwagakure, Sunagakure. Interesting places she had only heard about from her family. To meet someone who had actually been there was an interesting find. She hoped he was willing to tell her about those areas since she didn't have the rank to visit them herself, and the opportunity to ask about said places was given when Anon asked for a tour right away. She worried some that the traveller would overexert himself though, already looking to explore the Village and find a new job while he just arrived, but she couldn't say he looked exactly exhausted.

"We can do that. The administration office is quite far away from here though, so I suggest we walk through the main street as there's plenty to be seen there. Shops, restaurants, Ichiraku Ramen, Shushaya Pub and a few other good places that might be of use to you during your stay. There should be plenty of inns as well, though if you really wish to have your own room for longer stays you're better off at the Administration Building."

She pointed in the direction of whence she came as she summed up a few of the buildings. The market place certainly had much more to offer, but naming them all would be just absurd. Better for Anon to see for himself. At least he should be able to find plenty of shops offering basic gear, decent clothes and tools for his missions.

"Please follow me.", she offered as she made her move towards the main street, expecting Anon to follow. As they walked through the street, she pointed out a few buildings where she shopped herself or that she had heard good thing about, hoping he would find them of use during his stay. There were all sorts of shops she showed, fit for missions, meeting places, leisure, daily cooking... Occasionally, since she had still the basket, she stopped to offer the requested flowers to passing people seeking her attention, but overall she kept her attention with Anon in case he had questions.

As a matter of picking up conversation, she slipped in her question on Iwa and Suna, avoiding the interest to go poke in his past, "What are Iwagakure and Sunagakure like, if you don't mind me asking? My family told me stories about it, but I've never been there myself. Is it really as hot and sandy in Suna as they say?"

She also wondered how different Iwa and Kumo were, but since Anon hadn't mentioned he had visited Kumo before, she guessed he wouldn't know the difference between the two. Both seemed to have mountains and rocks, but their names weren't quite the same, were they?

wc 456 + 819
= 1275

The woman mentioned that the administration building was far away, so they should take the main streets as there were many sights to behold. The man nodded along as she named each one off, following along at her lead. She mentioned that he'd be better off at the administration building should he want a room of his own for longer stays. This was alright to him, he intended to do as many missions as possible, and staying close to the administration building of the village was the easiest way to do that. That way he would be able to wake up, take missions, finish them, turn them in, and go right to sleep, repeating the process day in and day out. It might sound like a boring life to someone else, but he'd need the money and the experience to become a better shinobi. There were many ways to rise to the top in the shinobi world, he just figured the quickest way was to take on as many missions as possible until he reached his goal of power and becoming precious to someone.

As she looked back from whence she came, she'd point out buildings and other such landmarks, giving small and succinct descriptions of each. It was rather easy to follow along as she gave him a tour, noting everything she said mentally. There were a great many sights indeed, and the wanderer almost had trouble keeping up with each one and remembering the names of them or their primary function. Not for nothing that this was a completely new place to him, but so much information at once could be daunting to anyone. After point a few places out, she asked for the wanderer to follow her and they went further down the main street. She'd point out more buildings here and there, telling him more apt succinct descriptions of each, and stopping every so often to give people who requested them flowers, continuing along their walk for the tour. Anon quietly made more mental notes as they passed things, nodding along with her pointing and giving an 'I see' or 'yes, of course.' This was all very interesting to him and he hadn't even considered another village would have as much as the one he'd come from.

As they walked, she started up an idle conversation, asking about the two villages he'd visited before, how they were like, and mentioned that she was only told stories about the two. It seemed that this young lady hadn't actually been out of the village, so what she said held true. He nodded quietly before speaking. "Iwagakure no sato is nice enough. Lots of rocks and magma around, but nothing too out of the ordinary. The boulders there really put ones anywhere else to shame, or perhaps I'm only exaggerating. I couldn't say for sure. Sunagakure is pretty sandy and so very hot. It's easy enough to manage though, if you keep plenty of water on your person and dress in light clothing. Both in the heaviness of the sense and in colour. I do neither, but only because I was incredibly used to such heats and extremes. What's Konoha like?" He turned the conversation back to her, trying to learn more about his temporary home.

559|2,006

The street was rather crowded and with all the explanation and flower sharing, their pace was rather slow. She could see Anon absorb all the information, learning it as fast as possible, but she knew that it was far too much far too fast. Most likely, he'd take some time on his own to revisit a few of the places that hung around his mind. Still, just like they did in the Academy she'd just give as much information as possible and work from that base step by step.

After her question, Anon explained to her what Iwa and Suna were about. The explanation was rather basic, making her wonder if he had really been there or just didn't really care about touristic and cultural aspects of a Village. Not that it was her business, but she had kinda hoped to socialise a little along the road. Despite, she nodded as she listened to his stories, until he asked her about Konoha.

"Konoha, huh...", she mused, wondering where to begin. There was so much to talk about, but ironically she knew more of the areas just outside the Village than the areas inside Konohagakure. The fauna and flora, usually. "Where should I begin? As herbalist, I could tell you heaps of the surroundings' fauna and flora. I know a good deal of gardens and little overlooked flowers in the city but you're probably not very interested in that. Still, it might not come as a surprise that Konoha has a lot of forest and wildlife. The lands are fertile, the weather's usually good and most animals avoid confrontation with humans unless they invade their resting nest. Just be careful when it's raining as it can get quite muddy soon, and venturing in the forest can get you lost easily if you're not familiar with the environment. It wouldn't be a first someone loses its way.". That reminded her of the family she had to get just a few days ago. It had been a most traumatising experience for them to be lost in the Dense Forest of Konoha, but at least they were brought back safely. "We got quite a few rivers with fish aplenty and there's our reputed hot springs, of course, which I hope you'll be visiting. They're great after a mission or a day of hard work."

What was there more to tell? She could start summing up all the people but that wouldn't help him much, and as for missions she wasn't too sure what the administration granted to visitors. And speaking of which, Airi could see the building slowly getting closer. Soon enough they'd reach the end of the road.

"I guess you should be fine in light clothes most of the times, but it never hurts to have raincoat with you just in case. When it rains in Konoha, it tends to rain quite a bit.", she pointed at the building in the distance that was getting quite obvious. "We're almost there. That there is the administration building. They should be able to tell you if there are free rooms, and provide you with necessary information of proper procedure."

wc 540 + 1275
= 1815

Anon looked over to her as they talked and it seemed that his explanations of Suna and Iwa were not good enough for his guide. He really didn't mean to not tell her about them, but there really wasn't much to them. He didn't really care enough about the details while he was there to take them all in and so he hadn't actually learned anything about the plants. He thought for a moment while they walked and made a few mentions, before she answered him about Konoha. "I'm sorry, I don't really know enough about either place to tell you anything cool. I was born in Iwagakure but it was really on the outskirts, near the borders. There was a small clan hall where I lived and studied every day. I took the official test to be a ninja in Iwagakure no Sato's ninja academy and then spent some more time on the outskirts, in the compound. I didn't see anything new until I left at sixteen and traveled towards Kaze no Kuni. There were mostly rocks and craggy areas, large mountains and large birds. It wasn't until I stepped through a clearing that they turned to giant trees and needles on those trees. I kept walking until grass and tree turned to sand and cactus. The cacti had purple and red flowers on it, the birds had longer necks. It was more unbearably hot after. It was quite the change, but nothing I was interested in, I'm sorry Airi."

Anon then listened as the girl regaled him with Konoha's information. She was an herbalist that could tell him about any flora and fauna around the village and the country. She spoke on how it was not uncommon for Hi no Kuni to have a lot of forestry and wildlife, even fertile land that could turn muddy when it rains, getting him muddy. She said that if he wasn't familiar with the environment itself, he wouldn't be the first to lose his way. Anon nodded quietly, taking this to heart as they continued walking and she continued talking, saying they had plenty of rivers and fishing, even hot springs. It was all quite a lot and seemed like this village had more to offer than most people gave it credit for. She seemed to be thinking on what was next to tell the wanderer about and his head was already abuzz with all the new information he was procuring so far, it was almost like this girl was a walking encyclopedia of Konohagakure no sato. It was strange, but welcome in a sense.

She told him he should be fine in light clothing, which made him look down at what he was wearing, which looked light and was breathable, but was actually made of a heavy, insulated fabric. Which made the next bit about rain make him sigh, as he was sure it would soak him to the bone and weigh him down. Anon looked up as she pointed to a building in the distance, claiming it was the administration building and telling him they should have information for him on free rooms and other such things so that his stay here may be a bit easier. He nodded quietly, smiling under his mask. "I certainly appreciate you taking the time to show me around the village and explaining everything to me. I know many people are usually shy of outsiders and don't want to take the time to talk to them, but I am glad you did and with such detailed descriptions. I'll probably get lost for a while, but with this tour, it won't have me completely helpless."

627|2,633

It seemed Anon opened up a little and decided to give more details after all. From the looks of it, there wasn't much to do and she guessed that, since his priorities weren't on herbalism or nature, he would not have such a keen eye for the environment and the very world he walked upon the way she did. She was curious how a land without a lack of fauna and flora fared though. To hear an an opposite of Konoha's lush lands certainly had to be a sight to behold. How did the animals survive? What did they eat? What sort of growth was there and how did it nourish the area? Plenty of questions... for another time.

As they neared the administration office, Anon offered his thanks for the tour and stated how strangers were usually not as openly approached. She nodded in confirmation. "Everyone's equal in Mother Gaia's eyes. You're a human being like everyone else here, so there's little reason to discriminate or shy away. You might have different tastes or points of view, but that goes for everyone, doesn't it?" Airi chuckled. Even if her words were often considered wise, the had learned by now few actually seemed interested in walking the path of such wisdom. Then again, she might be much closer to Nature's wife of living than most others in the Village. Despite her kindness and care, she had an equal hard time understanding the finer things of society's structure, things she personally often found pointless.

Leading Anon before the entrance of the administration building, close to a newsboard filled with simple errand requests by various people, she halted. She guessed this concluded the tour for now. Maybe she'll see him again at a later time, or maybe even during a mission?

"Here we are. Just enter the double doors and you're inside the administration building.", she flashed him a smile. "I have to go though, but I hope you'll be able to find what you're looking for. Perhaps we'll meet again some time? In any case, good luck, Anon, and welcome once more to Konohagakure."

After his reply, she'd wait for him to enter the building, waving him off in the process, before she continued her own road.


[Exit]

wc: 392 + 1815
= 2207

Training:

OOC: Out of juice, you win this round

EXIT

Training: