Lin sipped her water and took up her spoon, taking a mouthful of the miso soup, she savored the flavor. Miso always tasted like garlic, with a hint of lemon to her, and she didn't know why. It was a fermented dish of some origin, and you could buy miso paste that was both yellow and brown, she enjoyed the yellow one better, but the old woman's was a sort of... almost chicken-broth color and it was the best miso soup around.

It had tofu in it, and cilantro and it was as filling as a normal Konoha breakfast Ramen, or so she was told. She started to much, and watched Alwen, wondering if she would tuck in, "You know, I was thinking that we could go and get you some swimming gear as well, and hit up the hotsprings. There is a couple of them that run into the lake, so you can swim out and have it be as cool as you like, and then swim back and bask in the hot waters, what do you say?" She smiled and drank some of her water, and then her sake.

WC: 197

((OOC: sorry for the short post, but here it is!))

Watching as Lin took her first spoonful, Alwen soon followed suit, taking a mouthful of the Miso soup. Whether it was the hunger she had felt, or the fact that it was good soup, manners left her as she quickly took in another gulp, the hot soup barely touching her lips as she took in the second mouthful, before nearly choking on the food and turning to the side to cough slightly. “Um, sorry…” she muttered a quiet apology, feeling a bit embarrassed about her sudden acting out, yet upon seeing Lin eating happily, continued to eat, watching and listening as she spoke up, now at least allowing the food to be properly eaten, rather than just flat out swallowed.

At Lin’s suggestion, it would seem that, gradually, Alwen would perk up, her attention growing ever more. Water? Water? The amber in her eyes seemed alive with energy, seeming more vibrant than ever, and Alwen quickly nodded, taking another gulp of soup before speaking. “Y-yes please! I would love to do that! Thank you very much!” she exclaimed, smiling wide. Then, after a pause, the disguised yet horned Alwen put the water to her lips, taking a sip, a thought going through her mind. She hummed slightly, nodding to herself, before looking to Lin with a stern expression. “This will probably sound like it’s out of nowhere, but… You’ve been a really good friend to me in the day I’ve been here. You didn’t hate me for how I look, or for being a new face, and for that, I’m so happy… So, um… I would like to… Help out with the village, if you don’t mind. I know I don’t look it, but, I can hold my own, so, um…” she hesitated a moment, rubbing at the back of her neck before gathering the words into a proper sentence. “I guess what I’m asking is, um, do you mind if I go with you to work for Kumo for a bit? To, like, repay you for being kind, and also just… Because I think it’d be fun.”

She finished what she had to say, gulping and deciding to finish off her water in the silence that followed, waiting for Lin to reply. She expected to be told no, and was fine if that was the case. They’d only known each other a day after all, and when Lin first met Alwen, Alwen was bloody, injured, half dead, and a foreign ninja. Still, she hoped. She just wanted to give back a little to the village, even if only for the odd two or three people.

436

Chakra: 185/190 (-5 for transformation technique from last thread)

Lin smiled, sipping some of her soup. It was good to see that Alwen enjoyed it at much as she did. She tilted her head and giggled at the affirmative from Alwen. It would be fun to have a friend in her that she could go to the hot springs with. Lin wore, whenever she went to the village outside of Kumogakure, a swimming suit under her clothing. If only she had thought of that before she had left the house today. Oh well, she needed a new swimming suit, and would see if she could get another one with Alwen picking it out for her.

Alwen then looked at Lin with a stern expression, catching her a bit off guard. Perhaps she was going to tell Lin that she was really a spy for Kirigakure? Oh... Nope, good. She wasn't. "I don't have any problem with you working for Kumogakure, no. There might be some people that do have a problem with it, but I am certainly not one of them. One thing that I would look out for is that the Raikage must accept you as an acting member of Kumogakure and give his Okay for you taking the missions here in Kumogakure before you take one.
It will be a bit difficult to get his O.K. as he has been sorta...
grumpy? Well, with his humiliation in front of all of the ninja world, I might be a bit sore as well. But I also wouldn't have done the damned thing in the first place." Lin said with a huff, "All of this to say, if you want to accompany me on missions, you are more than welcome to do it. I am not sure if Sanosuke will pay you for them, but I would be glad of the help."

"There is a village that I absolutely love that we could help out when or if the time comes, they seem to be attacked by bandits of some sort or another every couple of weeks. They own tobacco fields and it is run by an ancient man that used to be a jounin in the village. He had his name stricken from the records as an ANBU agent, and so now he just goes bt Jii-san. Or Old man." She giggled, "As for now, though, I could use a soak in the hotsprings." Lin would finish her miso soup while talking, along with her drink and wait for Alwen to finish hers. She would also wait for Alwen to make the decision to leave or stay.

WC: 643

Lin responded to Alwen’s question after a very brief pause, Alwen listening intently while she continued working at her soup, still rather hungry and indulging herself as Lin stated her reply. It was pleasant to hear that Lin had no qualms with Alwen providing aid to the village as best she could, although, she nodded in agreement as Lin explained how not everyone would be okay with it. Still, she made the Raikage sound scary. The thought of being caught just seemed even more bad. Good thing there was absolutely no event happening in the short future which would cause her to become noticed for who she was by the main village. No way at all.

Still, as Lin finished, Alwen smiled, nodding and finishing up her soup. “I’d love to help out! I don’t really want the pay. Money’s nice, but, I don’t want to do a mission for that reason. I want to do it for the sake of helping back.” She declared with a nod, before shrugging. “Heck, I could teach you some things if you’d like while we’re out and about. I know zappy zappy things, although my speciality is splooshy splooshy.” She declared, smirking and nodding slowly at her perfect explanation of her skills. As Lin stood up, Alwen followed suit, quickly finishing off her water before sighing gently, stretching out as if she had just woken up again. “I agree one hundred and ten percent! Water is like… Good, so, let’s go!” she grinned, before turning and waving. “Thank you dango-oba-san lady! You made very nice Miso soup! I’ll be sure to come back and recommend you!” she declared with a grin, spinning on her heel to gesture to Lin expectantly. “Well, you’re the tour guide. Lead on!”

294 + 436 = 730

Lin smiled, she ate the rest of her soup as Alwen was explaining about the zappy zappy and splooshy splooshy. It was quite entertaining, and she giggled half-way through. She enjoyed bubbly people, and the gods only knew that she needed one.

Having Alwen make their exit, she nodded to the old woman who waved them off, ducking under someone's arm who was yawning, the plates and glasses not even protesting her movement. She was a mythical waitress, and chef when it came to it. That is what Lin decided, "Oh, I am the tour guide... right..." Lin looked up and down the street. The morning sun had set in, and it was bright, but not the same harsh brightness that the early morning sun gave, but more of a bright and happy feeling permeated everything.

Today had potential, and Lin didn't want to squander it. She put a finger to her lips, "This way!" She pointed to the right, winding in and out of people, looking behind her occasionally, smiling to Alwen, "I think that purple would be a really cute color on you, if you would go for that kind of a bathing suit. Perhaps a two piece with your body type." It was a speculation, half-musing to herself and half asking a question of Alwen.

"As for not making any money, I don't have any say in it, but if I were the Raikage I would give you some money.
I mean, I think it is honestly slavery to have outsiders do work for no pay."

She nodded her head, and that was that. She didn't agree with the Raikage's decisions of late, but she wasn't all about anarchy either. She knew there were rules for a reason, but that some of them needed to change. A wind picked up, blowing across lin's face, bringing the warmth from the springs, and the scent of the sulphuric waters upward as well. She wanted to be done with shopping as soon as possible, but didn't want to rush through shopping. What a happy conundrum!

With that, they were at the shops.

WC:1017

Alwen simply followed along as Lin went out of the café and into the street, looking back and forth in an almost mimicry of an action as Lin did the same. As the sun shone bright, Alwen found herself squinting, not wanting to be blinded from the sudden change in atmosphere. She wasn’t much of a morning person. Actually, yeah, she was. But, compared to the mists of the land of water, this was far harder to see with. Still, it was pleasant if nothing else, so, Alwen could not complain.

Without warning, Lin suddenly declared a direction, pointing before heading off, Alwen waddling on behind, still unsure of directions and keeping sure to stick close so as to not get lost. The crowd caused her to grow more anxious, desperately hoping nobody within the crowd would notice her being an oddity, despite the fact she had a transformation up. She was frantically looking left and right, sticking to Lin like glue in an attempt to not get lost among the crowd. As she made her comment about what colour she thought would work for Alwen, Alwen simply thought for a moment, humming to herself. Yeah, she could see purple. She wasn’t sure what the big deal of a two piece was, fashion not being her best suit, but, that mattered little. The fish girl trusted Lin’s judgement.

At Lin’s mention of her views on it, Alwen shrugged somewhat, waiting for her to finish before speaking up her own views on the matter. Although, before she could do so, the wind picked up, blowing her hair in front of her face and caused a “ptew” noise from Alwen as the hair went in her mouth – the curse of having long hair on a windy day. Moving her hands to get the hair out from her face and mouth, picking strands off her tongue, Alwen now gathered her composure before speaking up. “I mean, think of it less like slave labour, and more like volunteering? Like I said, I’m happy to do it without pay. I do understand there’s a large amount of hostilities. There was the invasion after all.” She said with a solemn nod. “I can’t imagine the Raikage would even be happy with me being allowed free in the country aha!” she said, with a slight giggle that covered the legitimate nervousness she felt as she accepted that.

400 + 730 = 1130

Chakra: 180/190 (-5 for transformation tech)

Well, she certainly did know how to sway Lin, she cleared her throat, thinking of what to say to Alwen. She didn't really know, but she smiled, "Well, I would love to have you along on missions with me,
if you would have me that is." She giggled, and smiled at Alwen, ducking and weaving through the crowd. She went to the shop that she had chosen for going to before for her swimming suit. She bounced in, surrounded by water paraphernalia. She lifted up her hands, offering all of the things in the shop to Alwen, "Well, what do you want to buy?" Something caught Lin's eye as she moved into the room further.

The swimming suit that she saw was one that was the same blue as her eyes, with black designs on it that reminded her of the wind whistling through the rocks of the mountains. She thought, perhaps, that they would be the ones that she would go with, then ones with gold, the same color, caught her eye. They were depicted with pictures of lillies, roses, and tulips all trimmed in gold. Perhaps that one. Across the room, something stood out to her for Alwen as well, a black two piece that was striped with blue and pink. An interesting suit, but she looked between the girl and the swimming suit and tried to imagine her in it.

"Well, let's pick out a suit, I mean, what are friends for if not picking out pretty things together?"

WC; 1281

“Of course, I’d love to go on a mission with you!” Alwen replied with a grin, before feeling somewhat sheepish at the sudden outburst and falling quiet, looking around before doing her best to keep herself from standing out too much in the crowd of Kumogakure’s citizens. Sticking to Lin, the disguised horned girl followed around, being careful to not make contact with those around her. No matter how friendly everyone was, it didn’t stop her being nervous. Scared, in fact. The ever looming anxiety of death made her feel tense. Still, the two made it to a shop that Lin seemed to go straight for, and Alwen just followed along close behind.

As they stepped in the shop, the amber eyes of Alwen glanced around, taking in the details and the different things used for water recreational activities. There were little floaty things, some life jackets, and the thing they arrived for – a swim suit. Well, quite a lot of swim suits. Following Lin to the correct area, and following her eyes to look at whatever attire she was looking at. At what Lin said, Alwen found herself smiling again. The word friend was… Comforting. She walked over to one of the suits that Lin seemed to look at, the one with purple and blue, and picked it up from the rack, holding the two piece swimsuit up and holding it next to her hair, tilting her head. “In that case, uhh, I’ll trust your sense of judgement! Do you think the colours clash, or, are the colours close enough that they work?” she asked, grinning and waiting happily. For the first time in a while, Alwen was having fun. She felt giddy inside at the prospect of friendship.

290 + 1130 = 1420

"I um... I don't know!" She blinked, tilting her head, and taking off a swimming suit from the wall and placing it on her shirt, seeing if it fit and tilting her head, "Maybe we should try a few on and see what we like the best rather than just jumping into it?" She smiled sheepishly, she had no idea how to shop with another girl. The last time that she had, it was a friend a friend that had disappeared from her life. She tilted her head once more and looked from the swimming suit on her chest to Alwen, and back again.

"What swimming suit should I try on first, you should try that one and perhaps like... two more on?" She placed the swimming suit that had caught her eye back on the wall and placed a tentative finger to her jawbone, biting her lower lip and furrowing her brow. She didn't know what to pick out for herself, the last time, she had gone with a white and blue swimming suit with horizontal lines. It was getting a bit small for her. and the elastic was wearing out. Perhaps she could get Alwen to give her some advice on fashion.

WC: 1496

Alwen looked around somewhat, scratching her head somewhat as she tried to figure out which one to suggest for Lin, before eventually pointing to a white one with kitten patterns on it. “You said you have a pet kitty right? So, maybe one that has to do with kitty cats? But, that’s just a suggestion, so, you know, if you find anything you like better you should go for that!” she declared, waving her arms in exaggeration before picking up a black and white bikini, and a wet suit, and walking with them over to the changing area.

After a very, very brief time within the changing area, Alwen popped her head out, looking around, before blushing bright red, shaking her head, and slipping her head back in. A short time later again, and she walked back out with all three in hand, putting the latter two that she picked up back where she had found them. “I think I prefer the first one. Plus, it’s a comfier fit. I don't know, I guess I’ll see how it looks when I need it? Um, your turn! Choose which ones you’re going for and all!” she nodded to herself, still somewhat nervous. Why did she have to be so jumpy in such a small, nice environment? Although perhaps it was because it was such an environment. Who knew? She wasn’t a fishy therapist. That was the job of, well, therapists, or psycho analytical people. Alwen was none of those, although the titles did amuse her to think about somewhat. Suddenly, however, she pointed to a second bikini – this one had no fancy designs, however was a silvery colour with yellow and purple streaks. “Oo! This could also work for you! Try that on as well!” she stated with a nod, as if she knew anything of what she was talking about.

310 + 1420 = 1730

Chakra: 175/ 190 (-5 for transformation technique)