Connections [Private]

[Shiruko Makoto]

The obvious answer to the question, 'where do I find a specific medic?' was very clearly 'the medical building.' It was on the level of 'which direction is the sky?' and 'what is two plus two?' to Makoto's reckoning. This may have had something to do with the fact he had a medical ninja for a sibling, or maybe it was just sense. He was trying not to think of his siblings, after all, lest he get even angrier at them.

No, today he was trying to find someone who was, in all likelihood, a distant cousin of his.

After the mental turmoil and physical healing of the past while since returning from the desert mission, he had finally recovered enough to seek out and talk to Nanami. Hopefully she would be recovered enough from her own injuries to talk, but he doubted any medic would be laid up for long, even if they hadn't had other medics around to heal them.

The question resounded in his mind whether she knew anything, or if he was going to have to tell her. He wished he were better at reading people.

What he didn't need to be better at reading people to see was the noticeably lighter atmosphere of the city. Now the storm was gone and people could freely venture aboveground again without fear of it, people were much happier. He could even hear the odd snatch of cheerful conversation on the streets between the hotel and the medical complex.

That's...good, I guess?

The phoenix hummed in approval at the back of his mind. It seemed to like doing that when he made note of others.

He ignored it as he reached the complex. Another thing the phoenix had given him was a flood of knowledge of healing techniques, but he didn't have the training or knowledge--or for that matter, interest--to use them properly in such an environment, so there would be no point in hearing it croon at him to go help at the patients or some nonsense.

It did not even try.

Interesting.

He felt slightly foolish looking around an area swarming with medics for a specific medic, but shrugged mentally and made his way to what appeared to be a type of front desk. He waited until the harried-looking assistant was done with...whatever it was they were doing, he wasn't a medical assistant, how would he know...and turned to him.

"Excuse me, but could you page Mizushima Nanami to come down here and meet me just outside? Thank you."

Without waiting for a response, he turned on his heel and exited to wait just outside, assuming it would be done. No need to take up more of the person's time, or his own dealing with people he didn't care about for that matter.

He leaned on the wall of the outside of the facility, brushing off the phoenix's attempts to chide at him for his rudeness and waiting for his probably-cousin to show herself.

 

[Akako]

[col]Doctor Mizushima Nanami. Paging doctor Mizushima Nanami. Mizushima-hakase? Reception to Mizushima-hakase.

The call on the speakers didn’t register. Nothing but cold numbness was felt as she reread the letter in her hands over and over again after what must have been a dozen times. Nanami sat alone in the tiny office lent to her while she stayed and aided Suna’s relief efforts. But, the tiny room felt smaller than ever, claustrophobic even, in the light of the news she had received.

Nanami-hakase.

It was a letter from Shoukyou Gin, another mercenary who worked with her on her island clinic, often running errands or protecting their patients and doctors. She had been excited, elated, at the sight of the letter. It had been a while since she heard from them, although she still kept on sending the money she earned from mercenary work to them. For a good while, she thought it would bring great news which would just make her day and make her be filled with pride and joy while she worked here in Suna. Alas, that was not the case.

The island is frozen. Everyone else is dead or gone. I couldn’t save them. The Great Freeze spread too quickly. I barely escaped with my own life. I’m sorry. That was the gist of the letter, at least, if one were to dissect it in its simplest form.

There was much grief on Gin’s part, knowing him. The man was a warm hearted shinobi who had a great sense of justice and wanted to protect the peace. He had been devastated when his half sister, Aika, had disappeared along with her family. And he had thrown himself into protecting the clinic, promising Nanami that he would make sure everything was in tiptop shape.

A part of her wanted to pen a letter; tell Gin it wasn’t his fault and to order him to come meet up with her in Suna. Another part of her wanted to trash her office, scream and to let her grief be known by all, although she knew that nothing good would come of it. And a small part of her wanted to throw away the letter, act as if all was alright, go on with her rounds and go back to the hotel to wallow in sorrow privately.

The part that wanted to destroy was winning over slowly.

It was unfair, that all these people were so happy, being free of the Cabal and of the Storm God’s wrath. Meanwhile, the Water Country and its constituents were forced to flee from their home lands due to an unnatural freeze. Of course, a good portion weren’t even able to flee, whole towns freezing over in the middle of a busy day or in the dead of night, whole populations rendered into frozen wastelands.

But, when she finally snapped to, she finally heard the summons for her and stubbornly wiped away at the tears she didn’t realize were there. With some effort, she made herself ever so slightly presentable and hurried out. It was a moot effort, of course, considering that her eyes were still puffy and red and her hair was slightly dishevelled from how quickly she ran down the stairs. For all she knew, it could be Gin, arriving here faster than a letter courier could. She was really hoping it was.

“Shouk- Oh. Shiruko-san,” she quickly corrected herself, seeing her silver haired companion of before. A flash of silver and blue was enough to confuse her for a moment. Gin was very much of silver and blue hues too, after all, although he was certainly of a larger build than the lithe Makoto. “I hope I haven’t kept you waiting. I apologize, I was on break and didn’t quite hear the summons right away,” she added, after clearing her throat, one hand still clutching the letter shakily.|</FONTFACE>[legend="[b]Out of Character Notes[/b]"]

• Topic Entered

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[Shiruko Makoto]

Makoto would never really mind an opportunity to basically just lounge around, especially with a convenient wall to lean against. Not to mention when he was about to dive into a conversation with a person he barely knew, voluntarily. This was one of the rare times he wished he'd had more people skills.

Especially when she came out and called him...that. He jerked up to full standing height, staring at her in confusion with a touch of anger for a second before wiping his expression clear.

How the hell did she know...?

His mind accelerated, trying to pin down how she could possibly have figured out anything like that. He hadn't let slip even that he was from Moon, although an incredibly clever and not drunk person could have made an outside guess, based on his brief talk with the giant man in the bar. That was extremely unlikely.

On the mission itself, he'd said nothing even of his real origin location, let alone clan name. It was possible, at the outside, that she knew that his clan used different surnames, but that too seemed unlikely. Not to mention that if she'd known before, why only make the slip now? She would have had to encounter someone who knew in the last couple of weeks.

Was someone from Moon here, now? Unlikely, at best.

There was not a single likely scenario he could come up with of how this specific person, who had used clan seals, could know what clan he was from without also being in it herself. The seals themselves were already a pretty good marker, this was really just confirmation.

"...Well," he said after a second. "After consideration, it is patently impossible for you to know my clan's main name, as I'm certain no one else in Sand does. Still. That is partially why I'm here. Can we...walk and talk...?"

He made a vague gesture at the road, awkwardly. It was quite clear he wasn't very good at talking to people, if she hadn't already pegged that from the mission itself.

 

[Akako]

[col]Now, never let it go unsaid that the doctor had a brilliant, brilliant mind. Although not on the level of geniuses and prodigies, she could cut it pretty close in her fields of interest. But, as of this moment, she was utterly oblivious as to why that sudden pass of anger came over the man's face (of course, brilliant minds often than not, were usually socially inept for one reason or another). Internally, she was already panicking, hoping he still wasn't mad about-

"If this is about the Shadow Threads, Shiruko-san, I do believe I already apologized. And I am apologizing again... don't hit me with your umbrella," she replied firmly, faltering only at the last part. Although it caused no grievous injury, being smacked with a titanium parasol was still not preferable. "Furthermore, I-" She stopped when the other non Sunan finally said his peace.

What was all this talk of clan and names now?

Now she was curious, ever so obvious by how she tilted her head to the side and the slight thoughtful expression on her face. "My break finishes in thirty minutes. There's a... cheap noodle house not too far from here. We can talk there unless you have somewhere else in mind," she sighed, a slight twitch of annoyance. Hopefully, he didn't take this as some sort of invitation into thinking that she was going to pay for him. Even if she no longer had responsibility to a now dead clinic (and a deep grief went through her at the thought), she was still on a tight budget.

She had to think about the here and now. She could mourn Hashima Island later, so the letter was heatedly shoved into the pocket of her white labcoat. And the here and now said she needed food while she was still off the clock.|</FONTFACE>[legend="[b]Out of Character Notes[/b]"]

• Nothing of note

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[Shiruko Makoto]

Makoto paused and gave her an odd look. That previous naming of hers made very little sense without her having known his clan name. Especially given how unlikely it was that she'd ever met anyone with that surname--and from what he'd heard, none of his distant cousins bore a close resemblance to him, anyway.

"I'm not going to hit you again," he said as he started walking again. "One shot for one shot, that's fair. And I suppose a noodle place will do. I don't mind."

It didn't take very long to get to the noodle house. He drummed his fingers on the table in front of him absently after settling into a chair. Fortunately, it wasn't so busy that he was worried about being overheard, not that this information would make much sense to most people anyway.

"The place to start would be my reason for coming to find you, I suppose," he decided. "Which is to say--the seals you used to heal us in the battle, near the end there. I recognized them. Specifically, they're part of the seals and seal language my clan is taught. As far as I know, they are unique to us."

He ceased drumming his fingers, and turned to give her his best piercing look. This was mostly an analytical one, as if he were assessing everything about a person somehow just by simply looking at them. He'd found it quite effective in the past, largely thanks to the fact he'd been lucky enough to be born with pale blue eyes.

"So I find myself asking how, exactly, you are able to use them. The most likely option being, of course, that you are a distant cousin of mine, either known or unknown to others in my clan." He paused. "It is also, of course, possible that someone taught you the seals for some other reason--but there's plenty of evidence that shows only people actually of Shoukyou blood can use them in the first place."

His hands were still resting on top of the table, to show they were empty and that he was not going for a weapon despite the fact his tone had hardened.

"I suppose my question to you is this: how did you learn those seals, and did you know who they were associated with?" He paused, then added, "and I suppose, did you know we were related before just now...? I can't think of another reason why you would have slipped with me name in that way just now."

He really was a bit too sheltered to think that there might have been people kicked out of the clan--namely, that anyone related to him would willingly not only risk their family ties but also the good chance of harm to the children of a marriage to a bloodline carrier.

 

[Akako]

[col]The doctor relaxed, glad she wasn't going to get another umbrella shaped bruise in her side. That lifted one, relatively insignificant, problem from her shoulders and she was soon ordering a chicken noodle soup (extra large) for her lunch break. Waiting for the food wasn't going to be too much trouble, considering what they came here for anyway.

But as Nanami fidgeted with the hem of her coat, she echoed dumbly: "Seals... in the battle?" Ah, those seals. The woman quickly clamped her mouth shut though, seeing the piercing look. And, considering that Nanami was horrible at hiding her expressions unless it was to practice good bedside manner, it was obvious there was some confusion.

The mention of Shoukyou immediately cleared everything up though. Well. Okay. Not everything. A good chunk of it. "Ah! Well! Ah, I know some Shoukyou! Gin-kun works for me at the clinic," she smiled airily, although a flash of sadness crossed her eyes. "And his sister Aika-san, with her husband and daughter, stayed with us for a while back? Ah, Aika-san must have taught me some of the seals." She hummed, listing the clan members she knew.

The choice of words, some, was interesting too. Did she mean that she only knew some of the Shoukyou seals? Or only some of the seals she knew were taught by Aika and she had been taught by someone else? It left a ringing in her head as the words left her mouth. Gin. Aika, Nashi and their daughter. Those were all the Shoukyou she knew. But that didn't seem right. It felt incomplete. She knew more Shoukyou than those? Two more?

"I didn't know you were a Shoukyou, Shiruko-san. I just thought you were Gin-kun, is all!" she quickly added, raising her hands defensively.
|</FONTFACE>[legend="[b]Out of Character Notes[/b]"]

• Nothing of note

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[Shiruko Makoto]

Makoto barely paid attention to what he was ordering, only pausing to make sure it wasn't something with tofu in it. (It gave him stomach problems.) The information was the important part, here.

She was open enough about having met other Shoukyou, at least, though none of those were names he recognized offhand. Which was...strange. He would have thought it were a different Shoukyou family, if it weren't for the mention that they had been the ones to teach her the seals.

Some of them, anyway. Apparently. Well, he knew they had books of them...perhaps she had had access to one of those. He let that bit slide for now in favour of pursuing a more, to him, salient point.

"That would...explain your learning of them only partially," he said slowly, speaking as if to someone either very young or very scatterbrained. "Only people with Shoukyou blood are capable of using those seals. We do not know why. We have attempted to teach others them, and it does not take. They can learn the forms, but in their hands the seals do nothing. In your hands, the seals work. You undoubtedly are a distant cousin of mine, somehow."

He stopped talking as a waitress came around to fill glasses of water for the both of them, then resumed when she left.

"Which is...concerning to me." He frowned at the water glass, resisting the urge to tap on it, then turned his head back to her. "As far as I knew, my entire clan lives in Moon right now...there should not be others, outside of it. That not only you but several others, apparently, are...that does not make sense to me."

He was dancing around the subject that she had a bloodline, for now. There was no point in bringing that part up yet, even though the shadow threads had made it intensely obvious. Most people did not consider that any kind of issue at all, big or small. He'd been outside Moon enough to know that before now.

"You mistook me for..." He internally facepalmed. Well, if you started from the premise he had--that it was intensely unlikely people of that surname lived outside Moon now--then it was easy to jump to the conclusion he had, too. "Well. That's...better than any potential alternatives, actually."

Probably. Better than a slip related to his new 'cousins' who had joined them from Mist, anyway.

 

[Akako]

[col]"Unless extensive research was done, you mostly have a theory in your hands. But, say theory is proven fact and only those of Shoukyou blood can use the seals..." She thought about it. Was she distant cousins with some big, hotshot clan from some powerful country? "Possible. I was told once that my great grandmother belonged to a prestigious clan from Mist and was disowned when she married my great grandfather Nara," she spoke bluntly. She cared little for bloodline politics and thought the degrees of separation when it comes to relation with a great grandparent was far enough to render blood ties like that moot.

Apparently not.

"But I do remember that Aika-san and her family were from Mist. Exiled, something or another, with the rest of their family. They came to Hashima Island to visit Gin-kun," she added with a small shrug. The revelation of relation was not of note to her. It wasn't as if they suddenly found the cure for cancer. Nope, she just found out she was distantly related to this man in front of her by... eight degrees, at minimum.

Besides, she wasn't too happy to know that she was, in fact, related to the Shoukyou if Gin's stories were real. He had painted them as elitist. Much like Nanami, as was evident, Gin had been a bloodline filthy halfbreed too. The doctor was just ever so lucky that the clan blood in her must have diluted and the most she got when using her Nara abilities was a slight fever, when worst came to worst. Gin, on the other hand, was born with a horrifying skin condition as well as chakra impairments, considering his mother had a bloodline.

Another shrug. "You and Gin-kun are both silvery and blue. But he's a lot taller than you... six foot eight, if I remember correctly." Not to mention, the other guy was covered in natural armour.
|</FONTFACE>[legend="[b]Out of Character Notes[/b]"]

• I really need to make an outline of what went down with my little group of Shoukyou, lmao

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[Shiruko Makoto]

"A fair bit of research, yes," Makoto said noncommittally. It wasn't one of his particular fields of interest; Saito was more the seal expert of the trio. "Enough for me to put stock in it, at least. We are quite an old family after all, and there are records on this going back multiple centuries."

Past relative disowned for marrying a Nara. Ah. He frowned again, more just in general. Do people who do that...just not know, that it's bad for our blood to mix with theirs? I know some treat it like a matter of simple bigotry, and some of us perhaps act that way, but it causes real problems for their children. Are some people so invested in the idea of 'fighting against hate' that they ignore they're consigning their children to suffer a genetic disease that's perfectly preventable if they married someone else...?

The human mind really could work in baffling ways.

"I take it you suffer from the effects of that," he said carefully, watching her closely to gauge her reaction. "Perhaps you have some kind of problem with your chakra, or suffer from an invisible physical affliction that flares up more when you use it, I do not know. We have genes that mix...badly, with bloodline genes. The frequency of stillborns is higher by far in such marriages, for one; those lucky enough to survive to adulthood almost always have some kind of affliction. Severe or otherwise. And it is always related, somehow, to the bloodline genes they possess. Even if they are dormant."

Stating it as pure, simple facts, stripped on any emotion he might have had towards people with bloodlines, one way or the other. To be sure, he didn't specifically hate them. He just thought they were better off in their places--namely, not marrying people in his clan, or any other carriers of the gene that caused debilitating mutations mixed with bloodline genes.

There were plenty of people among the clan who did outright hate them, or see them as useless and worthless, though. The slurs they coined too, tended to be too crass for him to even consider uttering. So he had to try and be careful not to give the impression that it was hate there.

"And yes...we do disown people for that." He shrugged, as if to say he certainly didn't have a say in that. "It's a punishment for consigning their children to that sort of fate."

Nanami clearly didn't realize the view that clans took of their people, though. It didn't matter how distant a relative you were. In the clan was in the clan and family. His cousins were eight centuries out from him, but still his cousins.

He uttered a sigh at the last bit. "Every man I meet is taller than me," he complained. "Completely unfair. I can never win there."

 

[Akako]

[col]The information coming from Makoto was of great interest. Aika had never told her that the seals could only be done by those in the family. And she had never been told that Gin's genetic defect was also due to their peculiar blood as well. It was all certainly... interesting, from a scientific point of view. To think that a certain family would have such a genetic disposition to reject other blood traits and to be able to imbue capabilities to such extent.

A glazed look overcame the doctor's eyes.

「That would explain why they took us. And Gin. And Aika. And the tw- tw- two. Doesn't it? It all boils down to genetics. Only we could carry the Reaper gene. The- The two- two- we-」

But the line of thought disappeared as quick as it came, a pained look crossing her face. She had to bring her hand up to her temple, rubbing away at a point to alleviate the pain. "Just headaches, fevers, if I overuse the Nara skills," she admitted, blinking away the spots that invaded her vision.

True to her word, she had been ill with a forty degree fever for two days after their mission into the sandstorm. A reason why she rarely, if ever, used the shadows as lost time meant lost money. But when needs must... They had to pull out all stops against that Storm God, hadn't they? Of course, it didn't help that she near forgot about the gaping hole in her chest on their first day back.

"Not as bad as Gin-kun's plight, fortunately for me. From him alone, I can see why your clan would not wish there to be union with bloodlines. But it is not my business or anyone else's business who others come to love. Human emotion, on that front, is a terribly complex and irrational thing," she hummed, neither defending nor condemning those who did come to create halfbreed Shoukyou children like herself and her friend... or perhaps cousin (and wasn't that a wonder, thinking she actually had family still alive)?

A grin graced her face though, at Makoto's own despair. "Don't feel too awful. I think his generous height is a side effect of his genetics as well. Gin-kun is built much like a tree... and even looks like one in certain lights," she laughed awkwardly. She had long stopped thinking of the man as a patient and more as a colleague, really. And they often poked fun at his odd appearance and her space case, air headed self.

"You could probably meet him if he hurries his butt here?" she added, hesitantly. She had yet to reply to the... letter in her pocket. But, no doubt, the man was on his way here as it was the last place Nanami had reported from. Even if he didn't think of going here, the doctor would have ordered it. And maybe... maybe the thought of having relatives here would give him cause to carry on. One who didn't seem wholly bigoted like the ones Gin had apparently met, anyway.

When their noodles came, the woman decided to silence herself by taking a few bites.|</FONTFACE>[legend="[b]Out of Character Notes[/b]"]

• You know how I hate making people wait. Bad habit.

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[Shiruko Makoto]

Despite telling himself he wasn't really all that hungry or thirsty, Makoto missed Nanami's momentary distraction when draining half his water glass. It was Sand after all; the city itself wasn't that much less dry than the surface.

"You got off relatively lightly," he said when he put the glass down, noting the pained look and attributing it to the aforementioned headaches. "I assume that's because you're several generations out. You should hear the stories recorded in the archives from before people figured out what exactly was going on. People whose Uchiha blood burned them up from the inside and so on. Not bad, if you like real life horror stories."

And the historical records, which he wasn't entirely sure he believed. It sounded like something out of a bad science fiction or horror story. He wasn't entirely sure part of what their clan called 'historical records' weren't just some teenager's bad attempt at a novel that got accidentally preserved.

He didn't note the stomach wound. She was a medic and ought to have been able to mitigate any infection chances on her own, and certainly didn't need him to point it out.

"I'm assuming he's an adult? He would be one of the ones lucky to make it that far." He shrugged casually. "I'm not sure how love is an excuse for inflicting such things on your potential children. You would think most people love their children as well and want to spare them that. But then, I've never accredited most people with an abundance of foresight unless they prove they have it."

Which was about five inches off 'I don't believe in love to that degree' and also 'people are idiots,' but that was him all over, really. His even-more-than-usually-cynical view was brought on my his lingering irritation at his brothers for hiding important information about his own condition for so long. Something the phoenix spirit was actively trying to convince him to forgive near-constantly now, meaning it wasn't quite simmering under the surface unless something triggered it, just colouring him a little more irritable.

Kyoujouran, then? I think that would have to be it. Or an adverse side-effect of those who deal with wood element, perhaps. He wasn't a medical expert. Besides, who knew how their odd genes could mix with bloodlines?

"I could...possibly meet him, I suppose?" Meet...people? That was just...never, ever an appealing prospect. "If you think it would be a good idea? Technically I still have a bit of time left here..."

He had not, after all, exactly found out all the details required for his mission yet. Somehow. Some of them, yes, but he still had very little idea what this 'Cabal' was, and whether they had been responsible for the initial loss of contact or something else had.

What he had ordered turned out to fortunately not have tofu in it. He didn't pay much attention to the flavour, instead falling silent again as the waitress dropped off the food and not speaking again til she left. Part of it was not liking being overheard, yes, but he also didn't feel much need to make small talk with waitstaff.

"I don't suppose you know the specifics of why Sand dropped out of contact with the world, or why they suddenly started to open their doors again?" he asked hopelessly. "Or anything about this Cabal, mind. I have a feeling the Maelstrom could have been partly responsible for the dropping out of contact, but, well..."

He was really...just not the sort of person inclined to run around making social connections for the express purpose of asking questions. Making do with ones from other sources would have to do. He spread his hands as if to say he was helpless to change how he was to the universe, and started eating.

 

[Akako]

[col]There was that small shrug again. Her own troubles with the Nara blood (and really, her uncle once said that she was quarter Akimichi too) was insignificant and negligible.

But the stories of half Shoukyou, half Uchihas whose blood burned? It sounded “Exaggerated. Most likely, in order to scare off clan members from mingling with Uchihas, at the very least, considering they specified which bloodline it is. It could easily be an allergy or,” she hummed crossing her arms and thinking for a second or two. “Actually, that sounds like Erythromelalgia, if I was to take an educated guess. But we can’t really prove or disprove it unless any more half Uchihas crop up.”

She did consider it all fascinating, if it didn’t put all these part Shoukyou through pain and humiliation. Alas, science could be a cold and detached mistress.

“Gin-kun should be turning twenty seven soon, I believe. Or was it twenty eight? I’ve long surmised that his own condition is a genetic variant of Hypertrichosis, with scales, or Ichthyosis Vulgaris. And, yes, he is half Kyoujoran.” Indeed, Kyoujouran Gin had only taken the Shoukyou name as his own mother had long given up the bloodline’s practices and she insisted that he not hate the father he never knew. “I’m sure he’d like to meet one of his... our cousins, I guess. But maybe I should show you a picture so that you don’t react to violently to his unique appearance,” the doctor said, in a serious manner, despite the seeming humour of her words. It greatly affected how people perceived and treated him as he grew up, considering he had long been... as he would jokingly say and she quotes ’a dinosaur’.

The only reason Nanami had quickly adapted to his appearance and presence was her lack of care for the average idea of aesthetics and normalcy people had. Even back on Hashima Island, his state made him perfect to guard the clinic as his look made people think twice on trying any funny business. Of course, that made the man’s interpersonal connections suffer, although that was hardly the worst of the trouble that it got him into.

Looking down into her bowl, she stirred her chopsticks lazily into the noodles and soup. “As for the Cabal business, I know as much as any civilian here probably. When I arrived in Suna, on my first day, I had to help stabilize the terrorist’s condition and disarm a bomb. That’s where I first met our two other teammates,” she informed him in a straightforward manner. She had not been asked to sign any sort of nondisclosure agreement about those events, after all. “Although, I’ve been generally busy ever since stepping into the village. I had to investigate a murder at some rich person’s party and there was that pink mist attack during Valentine’s day. When I came to visit the academy, I had to stop a slave trader from kidnapping one of the students present. I’m not even sure if that’s the normal affairs around here with you crazy shinobi.”
|</FONTFACE>[legend="[b]Out of Character Notes[/b]"]

• Gin is a handsome dinosaur.

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[Shiruko Makoto]

Makoto raised an eyebrow. "All right then. No way to actually know, of course, but given the nature of both this gene and ninja abilities in general, it doesn't sound like something impossible. According to our records, the clan healers at the time this started happening originally thought these afflicted people were infected with an illness, although they're fairly fragmented records and who knows, really."

He still felt his 'this is outright fiction' theory had merit for a good deal of it, though not the observable effects of course.

He drummed his fingers on the table again idly, seemingly not noticing he was doing it. "Around the age of the eldest of our generation, then. I'm one of the younger ones. I have two older siblings--three is standard, it's a clan tradition in fact. Although twins also run in the family, so sometimes various branches end up with four instead. But that's beside the point; it certainly does sound like a mutation based on our clan genetics interacting with Kyoujouran blood."

He paused, although the tapping didn't. It was a good thing he was holding his chopsticks in the hand not drumming, or else it would have been fairly noisy.

"Appearance means very little to me," he said, not bothering to be anything but blunt now it was a relatively safe subject. "I don't care what a person looks like, only what they can do. If either Sousuke or Katsuo had turned out to be entirely mechanized people, it wouldn't have bothered me in the slightest. The only reason I don't say that it means nothing at all is because sometimes a person's appearance can give clues to their skills. This Gin could be a literal rock monster, and it wouldn't bother me in the slightest as long as he could hold up his end of a conversation."

This view of the world, he'd found, could grate on some people. The fact that he judged people based solely on whether or not they were skilled and intelligent and absolutely nothing else frequently did not endear him to people. Namely, people who failed to pass the initial check. However, this was not really a problem in his eyes. For one, he didn't really care what people who didn't meet his standards thought and for two, this meant that people who objected were more likely to leave him alone, so he thus had to interact with less people. It was basically a win-win.

It was also one of the reasons he was one of the more open-minded members of his clan when it cam to bloodlines--whether or not someone was born with certain genes made no difference when it came to whether or not they were worth talking to, and there was certainly nothing wrong with talking to them as long as you didn't engage in any sort of relationship with them that would result in passing an avoidable genetic defect on.

Clinical, maybe, and certainly not the most ideal mindset from most moral people's viewpoints, but Makoto felt he was quite fair about it.

He duig into his food absently while Nanami answered his question. She didn't know much, and not what he needed, unfortunately. He'd still have to speak to a native Sand nin for the details, it seemed. Unsurprising, since she wasn't a native. But...

Civilian?

He stared at her for a second after she ended with 'you crazy shinobi'.

"I wasn't aware you weren't a ninja, actually," he said slowly. "I assumed you were a medical ninja. If you are a civilian, your...reactions...during a field mission of that type make a good deal more sense in retrospect. But I don't know if this is the normal state of affairs in a ninja village, as I am not part of one, and never have been."

Technically true. Moon held no claim to being a ninja village, despite housing and training a sizable amount of ninja and other users of chakra.

"Where I live normally is quite a lot quieter, certainly." He shrugged. "But then, it's a civilian village. Based on things I've heard, it certainly wouldn't surprise me if they were all like this, of course, but Sand appears to be a special case...ah well, I suppose I'll ask a native."

Drat the luck, anyway. It was also now potentially possible Nanami could have figured out that he was from a place like Moon, although probably not the specific place. But that didn't bother him much; she wasn't a Sand native and therefore outside the parameters of his mission.

 

[Shiruko Makoto]

[Inactive Left]