Highly-Visible Ninjutsu

[onehandsomeslickninja]

Who: Edge and OPEN
When: November 2
Where: The park in the Northeastern District
What: Edge practices, and perhaps thinks too much.

Practice Makes Perfect

The training at Bishamon's temple felt inadequate to Edge. Oh, they had their merits for things like sparring and practice with unfamiliar weapons, and their side activities always had value... But you couldn't just go winging sharp objects around for sport. Too many neophytes, too many people in general, and too little opportunity for real training.

And Edge wasn't normally one to train to excess, but he was bored and had way too much on his mind. To an active ninja without much desire for introspection, he might as well be poisoned and on his deathbed!

So in the southwestern park of the northeastern district, Edge had set up numerous targets in various places -- some open and obvious in clearings, some tucked away in trees or behind bushes, whatever made for a diverse and challenging environment.

Thok thok thok rolled through the air as three shuriken punched into one of the centeral targets, a handsbreadth apart. Thok thok thok as another three landed in the one next to it. Then Edge turned and with one swift flick of his wrist sent a kunai flashing through the air and into the barely-visible curve of a target tucked into a branch, thok!

Sunset

The targets lay around him, most of them reduced to scraps of wood and straw and paper after the countless projectiles slammed into them. The weapons themselves sat atop them, some still stuck into them, a veritable arsenal that Edge normally kept concealed on his person.

As for the ninja himself? He lay in the grass in the center of this detritus, arms folded behind his head, eyes to the sky, and a frown visible in his eyes if mostly hidden by his mask. Despite all his efforts, too much thinking had gotten the best of Edge at last, and the clear skies above conflicted with the clouds in his heart.

Comments

[swordofzero]

Suzaku had been trying to get his barings. He was starting to get used to things here and felt a lot less lost than he had when he had first arrived. Confident enough that he would be able to find his way back to Lady Grell's temple he was wandering, learning where everything was.

By sunset it was definitely time for him to be thinking of heading back but he spotted the wrecked targets. Someone had been training here and Suzaku figured they were not far away, the weapons were still there and he doubted someone who had been practicing would leave their weapons behind.

Sure enough there was someone lay in the grass frowning at the sky. Suzaku stood for a moment, not really wanting to disturb their peace.

[onehandsomeslickninja]

Keen ears are a ninja's virtue. Edge sat up slightly, propping himself on one elbow to see who'd wandered past. "Oh, hey there."

[swordofzero]

"Hello." Suzaku smiled at the man politely. It seemed he had disturbed them after all. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you. Are you alright?"

It occurred to him that lying in the middle of a park surrounded by weapons and destroyed targets maybe wasn't the most normal thing to do.

[onehandsomeslickninja]

"Aaah, this place is bad for people." He waved a hand, encompassing the Far Shore as a whole. Nothing against the park itself. "Especially shinki with empty heads. Who can do anything about that? Don't mind it."

[swordofzero]

"Bad for people?" Suzaku looked around as the man gestured to the surroundings. This place was confusing, strange and he still felt very unsure and lost but bad? He's not sure he would describe it as bad. Hakkai's warnings about conspiracies aside.

Of course he had nothing to compare it to and he hadn't been here long.

He wouldn't push, but nor did he move away. He glanced around again, at the targets.

[onehandsomeslickninja]

"Terrible," Edge said, hopping up to his feet with lithe grace. "I mean, half of us are dead and don't have any memories. We're all way far from home and most of us from anyone we know. We're under frequent assault from monsters we can't even kill, and when we're not, we're bored out of our skulls waiting for some action. And all the girls are either crazy, taken, or kids. Try and tell me what place would be worse!"

[swordofzero]

Well when he puts it like that. Suzkau frowned as he thought about what was being said. He hadn't fought any ayakashi yet but Hakkai had told him about the trouble at the meeting and how people had been hurt.

He hadn't been bored at all either. But he hadn't been here long at all and a he had been asleep for a few days.

"I don't really know any other places." He shook his head. "Have you been here a long time?"

[onehandsomeslickninja]

"Well, me neither," Edge admitted with a hidden frown. Shinki memories and all, but still, how could it be worse? "Been, I don't know, a month? A few weeks and change? I tell you what, I'm honestly losing track with nothing to divide up the days."

[swordofzero]

"I've been here a week, maybe a bit more. I was asleep for a few days." Making it harder to keep track.

"Maybe you need to find something to do? To stop yourself from being bored."

[onehandsomeslickninja]

"Yeah, trust me, I've been looking. Since social engagements aren't actually a thing." He looked around at the remnants of his training session, then with a sigh began to pull them into something like order so he could give thought to hauling them off. "Not a lot of options for us dead folks, though..."

[swordofzero]

Suzaku followed him over and started helping clear up. It didn't feel right to just stand and watch.

"Do you train a lot? Have you found people to train with?"

Because though some training was best done alone, some was better with people.

[onehandsomeslickninja]

"Aah, you know they have us all meet for training sessions once a week-ish." Not that many people seemed to come to those unless they were looking for someone, it seemed... "But my style's pretty unique. Sometimes people are up for a spar though."

[swordofzero]

Suzaku nodded, though he had only been to the one when he had arrived, he didn't think there had been another since then.

"I'd be happy to spar with you sometime. I sparred with Lancer when I first arrived, it would be good to train more."

sunset

[in_praetego]

He didn't think he'd ever get used to this whole god business. It was a whole different set of responsibilities from being an exorcist, much less an exorcist in training and a student. It seemed like an even bigger task... especially when you had a soul you were responsible for. He'd taken to wandering the town in the afternoons, visiting old haunts and noticing them different from those he was familiar with back home. Same town, different streets. Jarring. Both familiar and unfamiliar. Unsettling.

But he knows that certain things are consistent in this world at least which is what has him crouching by Edge's side and nudging him lightly with a chilled pet bottle of Pocari Sweat. Always good after any workout. "Good work today." he smiled before sitting down on the ground next to his shinki. "Did training help?"

[onehandsomeslickninja]

"Naw," Edge admitted, sitting up to accept the bottle with a smile that shows in his eyes even as his mask hides it. "It was just a distraction, not an answer. This place is bad for people."

Meaning the Far Shore as a whole, not the park. Nothing wrong with the park at all!

[in_praetego]

"You think so, too?" he replied, fighting the urge to let out a soft laugh. So that's what that was. He'd felt it with that odd god-shinki connection, not enough to discern what exactly was on the man's mind but certainly enough to tell that there certainly was something he was trying to distract himself from. With that, he cracked open his own bottled coffee and took a sip as he stared ahead.

This place certainly was terrible for answers. "I know we're practically strangers but... if there's anything you want to get off your shoulders, I'm willing to listen." he continued, resting his arms on his knees. "There's something that's on your mind, isn't there?"

[onehandsomeslickninja]

"A bunch of things that all kind of amount to one... looking for a way forward." That sounded way too deep and philosophical for his tastes, which made him huff as he tugged his mask down to take a drink.

"I mean, what the heck are we shinki doing, for one? You gods at least have a day job, but my hours are pretty empty."

[in_praetego]

A way forward... when he put it that way, it did seem pretty philosophical. But it did raise some valid questions. What were shinki supposed to be apart from a glorified living armory for some gods? The smallest thoughtful hum slipped from the boy as he took another sip of his coffee, as if to buy some time to find an answer.

"I... don't really know." he replied finally. Prayers, he really wouldn't consider much of a day job. It's not like he did them all the time, after all. "I guess... the afterlife's what you make of it. I've heard some shinki get actual jobs. Or is this more of a question about what you're doing here rather than how to pass the time between ayakashi?"

[onehandsomeslickninja]

Yes, but he COULD do them if he wanted. Answer supplications from the faithful, for there never seemed to be a shortage.

"I don't think there are many jobs for ninja down in the Near Shore, but it's all of that at once. Not that I can do anything about ayakashi without your help either... Well, not permanently anyway."

He couldn't pretend he hadn't helped out during that latest disaster, even if he hadn't outright killed anything.

"The days are just empty. Hell, I can't even get a date. Everything is terrible, and I don't just mean for me."

[in_praetego]

"Tell me about it." he replied, sighing as he shakes his head. Everything was pretty terrible. His own twin didn't remember who he was, heck, he were supposed to pretend they were perfect strangers. It was a little hard trying to keep tabs on a guy who you had to pretend wasn't someone important without looking creepy about it.

"Can't get a date...? Dare I ask what happened with the last attempt?"

[onehandsomeslickninja]

Edge hadn't considered that aspect of godhood, and he'd agree it sucked. At least as a shinki he had no reason to worry about who he knew... even as he wondered who he'd forgotten.

Damn, he'd picked up on that part, huh? "I don't think it's going anywhere. Things went bad for her. I've barely even talked to her since then..."

[in_praetego]

There's a wince back. That's rough, buddy. Unfortunately, he doesn't have any sage advice to give even if he does happen to be Edge's god. His own experiences in dating are nonexistent. Instead, there was a soft thoughtful hum as Yukio turned his attention back to his shinki. But hey, he could always try.

"I'm sorry to hear that. She seemed nice..." he considered. "Have you tried talking to her? Maybe things aren't as bad as you think."

[onehandsomeslickninja]

"I was trying to convince her to come out with me to update her outfit, but..." He shrugged. How many faces of failure could a man wear in a day? Cut him some slack. "It's fine," he added, lying, "just kind of weird that all the cute girls around here are totally uninterested. Bad luck, you know?"

[in_praetego]

Yukio certainly wasn't a bad looking kid. If anything, his problem was they wouldn't leave him alone back home. It was ironic, the fact that the ones who wanted to be surrounded by girls were the ones who ended up without any. Those who just wanted to be left alone were the ones who were left to fend them off.

"Maybe... girls... prefer the unattainable instead of the openly flirtatious..." he mused, unaware of the fact he'd said it out loud.

[onehandsomeslickninja]

He'd settle for just one, frankly.

"That's stupid," he said flatly, without saying it was untrue. "But whatever the case, it's irritating!"