a handful of browns in Naruto
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Desuka doesn't seem inclined to sleep; she does ask Ryousei to bring her the book she's been reading.

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"'kay!" Ryousei's been yawning, some, between bouts of trying to practice chakra control and meditation. She fetches the book and then curls up to sleep in the corner.

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Desuka doesn't seem tired at all, but spends the evening reading, eventually shifting to lean companionably against DZ.

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Tobirama returns the next morning, for a very liberal definition of 'morning' that includes 'it is technically past midnight.' He tells Reika to take Ryousei home after a short conversation, and to get some rest herself - they're not in a rush, and she can use this time to expand on her short-hand notes anyways.

He's brought yet more paperwork with him, and he settles in to read over Reika's copious notes and work on his own projects.

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Desuka's still awake, and seems alert enough; she looks up from her book when he comes in and nods approvingly at Ryousei being taken home but doesn't actually try to get his attention. She does get DZ's, though, once Reika has left and Tobirama has settled in. "Deskyl?"

    "Yes ma'am," the droid answers quietly. "What would you like to know?"

Desuka gestures from her counterpart to herself.

    "I'm not sure myself, ma'am. You move like her, though. And you think the same way, I think."

"Reincarnation?"

 

    "I don't know anything about that, ma'am - if it happens it's not common knowledge where we're from."

"Hm."

    "Maybe Raafi knows more; I haven't had much of a chance to talk to him."

"Yeah." Lean. "What..." gesture.

    "What happened?"

Desuka nods.

    "I don't know that exactly, either, ma'am. She was taken away and brought back like this. Her master didn't defend her, so he must have been involved, but I don't know anything else about it - they were close before the first time, and as far as we know she didn't offend him or anything."

"Mm."

    "She'll be all right now. She just needs time. And you're already helping her, apparently."

"Yeah."

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He listens, but doesn't make any particular comment on the exchange.

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That seems to be all Desuka has to say, at least for the moment. She reads for another few hours, and then drags a futon over to sleep on the floor next to Deskyl's bed.

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Meanwhile, Tobirama's clone had stayed nearby the inn Raafi and Ertan were in, to keep a mental eye on the clearly powerful visitors. 

The inn's proprietor is approachable, and if Raafi explores there's a few people in the common areas, mostly in small groups talking quietly among themselves.

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Raafi and Ertan stay in the room for a little while, settling in, and Raafi brings Ertan up to speed on what's happened so far, including that their hosts have unfamiliar magic not based on spell slots at all, and seem to have used some kind of mindreading or truth-detection on him without notice, but that they don't seem dangerous, merely a little paranoid and uncomfortable with outsiders.

They agree to move on in the morning; for now, the halfling will stick close to the cleric. They venture out to introduce themselves to the proprietor.

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She's an older woman, silver hair pulled back into a tight bun decorated with hair-sticks. There's stern lines around her mouth, and numerous calluses on her hands - some of them likely from sword-work. She's pretty, too, skin clear and well cared for.

She nods when they approach, continuing to write in a large ledger even as she asks, "Need something?"

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"The man who brought us here said to talk to you if we wanted to be introduced to people?"

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She nods. "I know everyone who stays here, and a good number of the people in the village. You aiming for any specific sort of 'people'?"

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"Not especially. I'm a cleric; part of my religious practice is meeting people from as many places as I can. And I'm very far from home; we had a magical accident."

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"Odd religion, but I suppose there's all types. I know a girl who's writing some traveling book, though. She's real foreign, pretty much as close to the other end of the trade routes as you can get. Ain't getting much luck here in this town, so she was talking of moving on, but she hasn't yet. The merchants are also usually up for chatter, and they'll know what the roads look like if you're going to travel. I can point out who's from where, if you'd like." She pauses, clearly thinking.

"If you wanna talk to everyday folk, there's a few bars - barriers between strangers are lower there. But you'll have to start telling your own stories first. People don't like giving away words for nothing. I wouldn't recommend trying to chat up the ninja; they're not inclined to share, and they're used to people with a lot of questions being hostile. Lord Tobirama's about the only one I know who isn't wrapped up in his own secrets."

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"Good to know, thank you. I suspect the writer and I will have lots to talk about, and I have trade goods that I believe are rare here, if there's a merchant in particular you'd like to send my way, though I expect I'll find them on my own before too long. Metal and gems, in particular, and perhaps some spices."

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"You might want local currency before setting out - or at least coin that'll carry wherever you're going. Gonna get a fairer trade here than some places, the ninja don't stand for lying about your goods or your coin. Gems and spices will do better somewhere fancy, though. The capitol, or a trade-town. Metal - depends on what type. I know someone for all of those, of course. How much do you want to trade?"

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"I'd have to check my stores for exact amounts, but I have a couple tons of iron and around fifty pounds of gold, and smaller quantities of copper and silver and a little bit of platinum. In ingots for the iron and coins for the rest."

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"Iron's not worth much pound-for-pound here, it's easy to mine - your best value for that'd be in the Land of Wind or Water, they're metal-poor - but we use it a lot so it's easy to move. Gold's basically useless to us - the samurai use it for decoration some; I'm not sure how much they'll pay. Copper - Uzushio uses that, they're a pain to get entrance to but they've got merchants here you could sell to, and they pay well. Platinum's real valuable; there's talk of using it in chemical sensors last I heard. Probably you could sell that straight to R&D. Silver's useful in a couple of things, but we're near some mines, so it's less valuable here than elsewhere."

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"It sounds like the copper and platinum will be most worth our time, then, and I have nearly as much of the copper as the gold. Is there anything else particularly valuable here? I've picked up a pretty wide variety of things in my travels, it wouldn't be practical to try to list it all."

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"Jade. Some gems we don't have locally - " She lists what they do have, and what of the local gems are most valuable. "Things that take industry: silk, brocade, art, pottery, weapons, armor. Foreign plants, especially if you've got seeds or cuttings - Lord Hokage maintains gardens, so he'll buy seeds even if it's not anything particularly useful. Knowledge trades best, and you can sell it more than once. Books, stories, maps, technology."

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"I do have seeds - a pretty good variety, actually, I collect them for a friend - and a bit of silk, and I should check if I still have that bolt of shimmerweave. Books, though, nothing I'd want to part with, and I expect a map of where I'm from to be more of a curiosity than anything else."

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"Alright. I can introduce you to the copper merchants this afternoon, and someone for the seeds in the late evening, and someone to buy the platinum tomorrow morning, when the markets open, if that pleases you?"

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"That will be fine, thank you."

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She nods, and finishes up what she's doing, then stands. "I believe the Uzushio delegation is in the tea room right now. A good place for new meetings."

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"Thank you," he says, and follows, taking the opportunity to quietly update Ertan with what's going on.

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